Setting up a Contact Us Page

Depending on the type of your web business, your ‘contact us’ page can be one of the most used pages. It is often the only way for visitors to contact you or your business personally through your website.

Without a ‘contact us’ page on your website your limiting the amount of trust your visitors may develop towards your business, and without trust you can hinder your potential profits. This is why there should be no reason for you not to have one, especially seeing as though it will most probably be your most basic page and easiest to manage web pages.

What makes a Good Contact Us page

You would think that creating a Contact Us page would be rather simple, however, you would be surprised to see the number of websites that I have found that miss the point of what their contact page should be about. Hopefully though, with the following tips you won’t make the same mistakes.

Email Contact:

You should include at least one professional email address that is checked regularly. This gives visitors an immediate way to contact you without the need of a phone call (especially if you have international customers) and by keeping it professional (i.e.’ john@yourbusiness.com’ as opposed to something like ‘johnliveson@hotmail.com’) you appear more legitimate and therefore, easier to trust.

Creating an email link is also beneficial as it makes things even easier for your visitors simply replace “http://www.yourbusiness.com” with “mailto:john@yourbusiness.com” in a standard text or image URL link. There is a chance that you will receive spam, however, the potential loses of not including an email address can be much greater.

Contact Form:

Website contact forms can be another helpful addition to your contact us page. They give the visitor the ability to contact you directly in your contact us page. They are also useful in collecting visitor’s entered information if you need to contact them again or wish to update them with related newsletters or announcements. Remember though you will need a privacy policy page for any information to intend to keep on record.

Mailing Address:

Although you may believe that the only contact information you need on your website is an email address or a simple contact form, it is actually quite beneficial to add your physical address as well. Even if you don’t have a physical office that customers can visit directly. The reason for this is that it shows your customers that you’re a real business and you appear more legitimate. Plus this can also give local customers a boost of confidence in your business, knowing you’re not too far away.

The benefits are still their even if you use a P.O. Box address, as you can still receive postal mail and also adds a sense of security if desired.

Contact Numbers:

Listing a contact number is certainly one thing that many websites leave out of their contact pages, which can often be a mistake as it can show that you are not very customer friendly. Having at least one number, i.e. business or mobile and fax numbers will definitely be beneficial to your websites image and your web business customer friendliness.

Social Networking and Blog Links:

Sharing links on your contact page to your relevant social networking profiles and blogs will also add to a great contact page for your web business. As this provides more ways for your customers to contact and connect with you. Just be sure that they are relevant and fit in with your web business image.

Explain Best Form of Contact:

Explain the best way to contact to you and/or your business. For example: “For immediate service please call us on (number), otherwise feel free to email us or fill in the contact form and we will respond to your query within 24hrs.”

Link to Relevant Pages:

If it is necessary and appropriate, include some links to other pages of your website such as your terms and conditions page, products page, technical support, sign-up page, FAQ page and your Privacy policy. Just be careful not to over clutter your contact page as you don’t want your visitors getting confused about what the page is actually about.

If you want to find out what other standard pages your website will benefit from, check out ‘Web Business Pages You Should Have’.