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Contact Information on Your Web siteBy Jim Frazier One of the Gadwall Web Design Commandments is to put real contact information (phone number, postal address and contact person) on your site. I'd like to provide some additional detail: You should do this to help your visitors feel that there is a human being and a real company behind all of that pretty HTML code. They'll know that there is someone to complain to if there are problems. And they'll know that you're real. Putting up images of your building and some of your staff members can't hurt either. A second reason is simply that, as more and more organizations have Web presences, the pages become more than just marketing literature or ecommerce sites. They become a reference tool for your business partners and potential customers. They not only want information about your products and services, they also might want to write a letter or email. Or maybe they met you at a meeting and don't remember your name, but do remember your company. Having the site personalized with a specific individual and phone number makes your business more accessible. A third reason is the question your visitors will ask if you DON'T provide contact information. What are you hiding? Why don't you want to give out specific contact information? It's too easy for anyone to purchase a domain name and set up a beautiful Web page. That doesn't provide legitimacy anymore. It's what's behind the page that is important. Communicate as much of that as possible to your visitors. A final reason, and one that has been particularly relevant for us here at The Gadwall Group, is to provide a media contact. We NEVER get complaints, but we do occasionally have a member of the press call for information or an interview. We LIKE being interviewed. If we didn't provide detailed contact information, we wouldn't get any positive press coverage. Of course, if you're in a business where you want as little attention from the media as possible, and you don't want to hear from unhappy customers or the local constabulary, then I'd suggest deleting contact information from your site. The other question is simply who to put as the contact person. In a smaller organization, my recommendation would be either the CEO, or whoever is in charge of business development: the sales manager or the marketing manager. What are the risks? First of all, depending on your site's traffic, this poor individual will get lots of calls. Having an administrative person screening the calls may help. The second risk is that this person will probably get a few calls from recruiters. But then again, maybe you WANT this person to get a few calls from recruiters. There are obviously pros and cons regarding detailed contact information on your site. The pros are that you'll increase visitor comfort with your company. And the media can find you. On the other hand, you may get too many complaint calls. But wouldn't you LIKE to know if people are unhappy with your company? And the IRS and various police organizations can find you too.
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