A great way to Better Your Blog is to add a contact form.
photo credit: Matthew Oliphant
A contact form has numerable advantages:
- It makes it easy for your readers to get in touch with you.
- It looks professional.
- It keeps your e-mail address away from spammers or bots.
- Helps to make you accessible, which can foster a sense of connection for readers.
- If there is a problem on your blog or you want feedback, the ease of using a contact form encourages people to let you know when they encounter errors or respond to you.
- More and more people are using web-based e-mail so a “Contact Me” link may not open up for some folks and you may unknowingly discourage someone from contacting you if this is the case.
See? Six reasons off the top of my head to make this simple change that will help you better your blog! Are there reasons I’m forgetting? Why do you think it is important to have a contact form? Let me know in the comments! Additionally, and this depends on how you create your contact form and/or what e-mail you use, using a contact form will, in some cases, let you easily see the difference between when someone has e-mailed you directly versus contacted you via your website. If you are using WordPress, creating a contact form is as simple as adding a plugin like the one we use, Contact Form 7. If you are using Blogger, a Google search netted me this tutorial, how-to contact form for blogger, which seems like a clear and easy way to add a contact form to your blog. Here are a few more sites that had helpful info on contact forms:
- Adding a Contact Form to Your WordPress Blog
- Does your blog have a Contact Form?
- Add a Contact Me Page to Blogger BlogSpot Blog [Video Tutorial]
Of course, there are even more solutions out there and depending on your needs you might want something else, so feel free to do a search to find the right form for you and your blog. You can always make your e-mail accessible to readers in other ways. Some bloggers like to type out their e-mail with extra spaces on either side of the “@” symbol to discourage spam and prevent bots and, although there is nothing really wrong with this method it isn’t necessarily the most user friendly or professional looking approach. Your reader either has to copy, paste and adjust (delete the extra spaces) your e-mail address or type your e-mail address from memory – neither approach is foolproof however and if they type or copy and paste your address incorrectly, guess what? Their message to you may get lost in cyberspace and you seem like a big jerk for never responding to them. Or it may just seem like a lot of work to them because then they have to open their e-mail and all the rest of it just to send you a note. Not ideal!
Other bloggers provide a “mailto” link on a contact page, sidebar or link bar. This can have disadvantages (see number 6, above!) but it is better to have some way to contact you than nothing at all!
So, take a half hour and add a contact form to your site to Better Your Blog!
How do you encourage people to contact you on your site? (you do encourage readers to contact you, right?) Leave a comment and let me know! If you want to contact me, check out my own contact form!
Happy blogging!
