The way people do business online has changed a lot since the internet began all those years ago.

Company’s contact pages used to be very basic, but there are more elements you should include nowadays, because your customers expect them.

Below is a quick guide to six essential things every website contact page should have.

• Links to social media profiles

In this era of social media, potential customers may want to ‘tweet’ you rather than send you an email.

It’s a good idea to have links to your Facebook, Twitter Google+ and LinkedIn profiles (assuming you have accounts on these) so people can choose the most convenient way for them to contact you.

• Your full address plus a link to Google Maps

It may seem stupidly obvious to have your full address and a map on your contact page, but there are still millions of sites out there lacking these two fundamental things.

Unless there’s a very good reason you don’t want people to send you mail or visit your premises, you shouldn’t make it difficult for people to get in touch; this only creates suspicion.

• All your phone numbers

I’ve deliberately said all your phone numbers. Many companies hide their real number behind an 0844 or 0845 number. Why should potential clients pay more to contact you?

You should have all your phone numbers listed on your contact page, including more than one mobile number (if applicable).

• A user-friendly contact form

Some people like to use contact forms and some don’t. By including one at least you give potential clients a choice.

Make your form as quick and easy as possible to complete. It’s a nice touch to have an option so people can ask you to ring them back at a convenient time slot.

• An inviting email address complete with mailto: link

A lot of companies have corporate sounding email addresses on their contact pages. For example contact@ or sales@ seem less friendly than using your own name.

I know there are problems with spam when displaying an email address, but it can be done in such a way that your actual full email address isn’t displayed.

Using a mailto: link can directly link the text you use to a new mail message in Outlook so the person doesn’t have to cut and paste it.

• A picture of your premises

If customers need to come to your premises regularly, or even occasionally, a picture of your building can help them find their way.

Again, it’s all about making it as easy as possible for people to contact you; why put barriers up in front of your business?

Do you have any other suggestions for what you’d like to see on every website contact page? Please leave them in the comments below.

Image Credit: yum

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 8:00 am and is filed under Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.