Professional Contact Page For WAHMs

If you don’t have a contact page up, get your arse in gear! I screwed up recently with my new business site. I was so busy designing, I didn’t add a contact page. You can read about my screw up at my small business blog. In this post I’m sharing a great contact page option that I’ve used for clients AND an alternative to having crazies calling your home.

A Contact Page That Works For You

Your contact page is NOT just a place to add your email address. It should also be a place to collect info.

What Every WAHM should have on her contact page.

1. email address or message box
2. social media options
3. a phone number
4. a mandatory field for the user’s name and email address
5. an optional field for that user’s URL
6. a mandatory area listing specific reasons why you’re being contacted (check out my small business marketing contact me page for an example)

ContactMe

contactme.com/features

ContactMe is a contact management system. They offer a free plan that comes with a contact form that you can embed on your site and on your facebook fanpage and a ContactMe button you can embed on all your blog pages for easy access to the form.

The contact form allows you to share your contact info and allows users to send you a message along with their contact info. It also allows you to collect info from the user. (See the “I’d like to learn more about” section in the screenshot) The form can be created with or without a map. Very customizable. When someone hits submit, you receive an email of their entire message. No need to head back to the ContactMe website unless you plan to use their organization and task management features.

My client uses the free version. Notice that it has the ContactMe brand on it?

I use the $5 per month plan. It removes the ContactMe brand and gives me these options:

• Custom Success Message
• Auto-Responder
• Text Message Alerts

This way I don’t leave the user wondering if their message went through and I can be notified by text message if my Android’s email is wonky.

There’s a more advance plan for $8 that has lots of task management features. I haven’t looked to deeply into it yet. That $5 a month is already a stretch at the moment. There’s no contract, you can cancel your paid account anytime and downgrade back to free and you won’t lose your contacts. You also have the option to export your contacts whenever you feel like it.

Splashing Your Telephone Number Across The Web

Don’t do it! Just, don’t do it!

I know, being a Work At Home Mom, you’re a Pro and should look like a Pro in every sense.

You want to give potential clients and PR firms a way to reach out to you. Your contact page is your online business card. It should list every possible way you can be reached. Personally, I don’t want to miss out on working with someone who’d prefer to pick up the phone and give me a call.

I also don’t want to give out my mobile number to crazies.

Here’s a great [FREE] solution I found and wanted to share with any blogger who wants to add a telephone number to their contact page and/or business card.

Google Voice

google.com/voice

Yeah, Google Voice . . . I didn’t expect it. But like the Google Apps and Gmail, it’s free for calls within the U.S and Canada. At least at this writing.

Google voice is a phone management system. Basically, you sign up for a number (and you have a choice of area codes and cities) and it’s ties into your gmail account. You add your private number for forwarding calls and it will forward calls to that number (can be mobile or landline). You don’t have to answer, though you can. Voicemail (VM) can be left which you’ll be notified of via email.

The awesome thing?

You’ll have a VM inbox very similar to your gmail inbox. All VMs will be transcribed and made accessible from that inbox, a copy is sent to you via gmail. You won’t have to make any calls to check your VM, it’s transcribed and in your box. And again, the VM inbox  is like a gmail inbox. You can organize your voicemails, search through them, etc.

There are also mobile phone apps available. Mobile apps that you can use on your Android, iPhone or Blackberry to make and receive free U.S. calls and low-cost international calls. Your VM inbox is also accessible through the app.

Now, before rushing out and getting a number, be sure to read the articles at google.com/support/voice/  and check out the youtube videos they offer.

Summary

Use Contact me to manage the info of those who contact you via email. Use Google Voice to manage the contact info of those who contact you via phone and to receive and return calls without giving out your private number.

I’m bloody sure if you’re a WAHM or planning to be one and  haven’t done the above yet, you’ve found this post pretty helpful. Help a sister out and share it using your social media choice of poison.

photo credit: © Taras Livyy – Fotolia.com

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