Why Your Blog Visitors Should be Able to Contact You

8 May 2011 in Audience Development Blog

It is important that you offer your visitors a simple way of contacting you directly, not relying on the comment section alone to differentiate between a simple comment and an opportunity.  Having a clear way to be contacted has a number of benefits:

  • It gives your readers a way to privately contact you – Comments are a very public way of communicating with a blogger and there may be some topics which your visitors might want to discuss privately. Having an email address or contact form allows you to keep the channels of communication open to all your blog visitors.
  • It gives readers a sense of power Having a direct line to a blogger might not seem like a bit deal at first, but it can mean a lot to some visitors. Giving them a route to quickly and easily let you know their thoughts, pitch an idea, or introduce themselves is an empowering and personal thing that many readers will appreciate. It helps then to create a sense of ownership, interactivity and your blogging community.
  • It’s about accountability – Giving readers a way to get in touch also shows that you are willing to be held accountable for your blog and that you are not hiding from criticism. The most common type of blog that doesn’t have contact details is the spam blog, who hides the identity of the blogger for obvious reasons.
  • It identifies problems – While no one enjoys receiving an email outlining what is wrong with what you have written or done, it is important to know it. Whether it is when features are not working, or you have server issues which is making your blog load slowly, or an image won’t load or download, or a spelling mistake, it’s the emails from readers that help you to improve your blog.
  • It opens opportunities – Giving a direct route and private route to contacting you means you are open to the opportunities your blog could potentially generate for you. This might be commissions, project work, sales or potential partnerships.