You Don’t Want New Business that Badly?
I was recently searching around for a specific freelancer and wanted to utilize their services. I came across their web site and found that they had no “contact” page. They had an “about me” and “portfolio” page, but no means of contact. Also listed on the site was their Twitter feed… the next best solution, right? It would have been but, the user hadn’t made a tweet for several months, and they also disabled their “direct messaging” feature. So I eventually said, forget that!
The bottom line is, if you are an online business or freelancer, why would you make it so hard for people to get in contact with you. I can see this being an issue if you are overwhelmed with business and email requests, but most of the time this isn’t the case.
Are you easily accessible through your web site or blog? If not, you may be losing new business. Below is a list of three easy to use WordPress plugins for adding a contact form for your web site.
Even if you aren’t running off of WordPress, it’s still important to have your contact information readily available, even if it is just an email address or an active link to your social media accounts.
Wait... before you leave, consider these top resources:
How about morons like you who have a contact page, but never reply? I know you're busy, but it's pointless to have a blog or a contact form if you don't reply to people who read it.
haha, nice you got me! I was thinking about this while writing the post. I do need to manage my incoming blog email better. I'll look for your email now. (Update: Searched gmail for your email address and nothing was found)
@:
I hate it when people have their contact info up and they never respond to you.
I'd have to agree with Jackie. It's better to have no contact form at all if you can't be bothered to reply to messages that you do receive. Just having a contact form is not enough. You have to actually take the time to manage those messages.
Zac is no moron. Always responds to my emails. Besides, maybe you are asking moronic questions that he would rather not take time out of his schedule to respond to. Ever think of that one? Anyways, give him a break.
While a contact form is important, be sure to install a good one. Done wrong and you will get a steady stream of spam as the spambots detect your form, or worse yet your e-mail address.
Completely agree with you on that one Zac, people who are offerng a "friendly service" but do not have any point of contact really bug me! – how can you expect to gather loyal followers and customers when your service is not reflected on your own website.
As for your question… yes I offer many ways of contact on my site and I in fact encourage my readers to contact and converse with me. After all, that is what blogging is all about – building a sense of community and I think something as simple as contact information can be overlooked by many.
Thanks for a great but short post bud!…oh and yea….I emailed Zac the other day and got an almost instant reply, thanks mate.
Luke
That almost sounds like me, but my blog has a email id which you can use to get in touch with me. And yes I may take some time but I do respond.
Great tips, I am looking forward to not making my own business until later haha
It doesn't make sense not having a contact page or some sort of contact information if you sell products or services.
Hence the reason they are freelancing and prostituting their hours to people.
If they could make a decent income on their own they would never freelance so would probably be a smart cookie with many different contact ways.
Interesting but if your not able to respond back on your site then you may lose readers as well as lose trust.
It is really surprising to see people with no form of contact.
It's even more jarring when there are ecommerce websites with no form of phone contact. You're running a business and you won't even interact with your customers.
Not only are you gimping yourself from call orders but you're also ruining your trust-ability.