Stone Rant #17
I’m amazed at just how hard so many Small Business Owners make it to contact them. No phone number on the site, no e-mail address — or cleverly hidden so only the most talented and committed of sleuths could find it.
Whoever came up with the “Contact Us” form for websites never fed their family by selling, I can tell you that.
If you want to keep your sexy little “Contact Us” form go ahead . . . but for Pete’s sake (that’s just an idiom, it’s really for YOUR sake) put your phone number and e-mail address on your website — and in a prominent place, on every single page.
By the way, my new coordinates are:
stonepayton@att.net 866.42.SPEED (866.427.7333)
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
That is an interesting concept. If you look at my blog, I really do not use your thoughts on purpose. I want the information on my site to feel as far from a sales pitch as possible. I really want to make it 100% value oriented and not about me.
My goal is to be a trusted resource and only want those who really want to connect with me to find me. That may be counter intuitve though. I need to make it very easy for people to find me and not feel as if that is a neon sign.
I really will have to think about that. At least put an EMAIL ME on my front page rather than just the about area.
I am writing some ebooks and will have to think about my strategy for that as well. It really is a fine line between being responsive and overbearing… I always error to the side of less commercial… That would be hard to track and know which is more effective.
Thanks for bringing to my foresight.
Chad Rothschild
http://www.chadrothschild.com
@chadrothschild
I totally agree with Stone’s Comments regarding easy access to you, your business, your blog and your ideas.
Before launching http://www.SmartToolsCoaching.com and http://www.AtlantaCareerWorkshops.com I worked for over 10 + years as a Sales Professional. In my Sales Role, my goal was to provide a meaningful service or product and “Make It Easy for the Prospect to Say YES to a next step!!.
YES Stone. Things are changing fast and we are not in Kansas anymore. We need to leverage technology in order to enjoy the results and speed you are talking about. I like making it easy for the Prospect to contact me by making my phone, email address and social networking intelligence easily accessible. (Preferably on every page) This way I can help to move the Prospect’s inquiry into a meaningful next step with Speed!
On another note, I looked at my websites today and realized that I have some more work to do. Thank you Stone for all that you do. You offer a great reminder of just how simple it is to connect with Speed. Good Stuff.
To Your Success,
Donna Lang
Life Coach, Trainer, Entrepreneur
You are touching an exposed nerve with this rant. So, Friday i decide to organize a sporting clays afternoon with some business associates. I had heard of a spot that was in North Georgia and someone gave me their website. Great website with a HUGE flaw. It never listed the address of the place and when you hit the “contact us” tab it opened up e-mail fields to allow you to send them an e-mail. I may have been born at night but not last night so I know how to navigate a website. After 15 minutes on this website I was really excited about the course, The hours were clear, the cost was attractive and the photos of this place were amazing….but there wasn’t an address or phone # to be found. Eventually I got in touch with the person who gave me the website address and they gave me directions. We arrive and we are the only folks there shooting. I ask how business has been and they said “slow”. Imagine that since no one knows where in the world this place is located!!!!
Anyplace that relies on people coming to their location should ALWAYS have their phone number and address listed multiple times. Ok, I am finished ranting on this subject- time to go fire my 12 gauge and relieve some stress.
Yours in shooting and sales,
Amy
Yes, and I would guess that ads and websites that don’t list phone numbers
were not proofed by professionals. Technology has made it very easy for
people to create their own websites, ads, and broadcasts. Fortunately, the
attention this stuff gets is directly related to the QUALITY and
MEANINGFULNESS of the content. I viewed a blog today by a media consultant
that contained at least five typos, probably more.
An ad or website that does not contain easy-to-find contact information
tells me that the business owner may not be that good at details, and is
probably someone I want to avoid.
On putting email addresses on your website. . . If you do, you’ll get lots more spam. Spider technology will grab any published email, and contact forms that are fast and don’t require too many “required” fields help minimize this problem.
Chris, you are right about spam. However, a professional web designer can set this up in a way to mitigate the problem!
It’s true that spider technology can grab your email address (or your phone number for that matter), but I choose not to worry about that so much, for two reasons…1) If I’m selling something, I want as many people (or spiders) as possible to have my contact information. Although most of them are spammers, my spam filter will weed out most of their attempts to flood my inbox with junk. But some of those spiders are grabbing my contact information for directories and search engines and any number of sites that might lead prospective customers to my door. And 2)…well, I had another reason when I started typing, but by the time I got to this point I forgot. Must be past my bedtime.