Over time I’ve come to follow quite a few real estate, tech and marketing blogs (my google reader RSS feed) These blogs are consistently informative, have very intelligent authors and many have very large audiences. Many times I have the need to reach out to these bloggers big and small and send them a quick note. I might want to TELL THEM THEY ARE AWESOME, let them know how much I like their writing, that there is a bad link or formatting or broken something on their blog they might not be aware of, ask their advice, or perhaps refer them business. I could just as easily be a consumer trying to give them business.
The only problem is …… they don’t have a contact us page. Sometimes you have to go to the “about us” page and even then I’ve encountered blogs that give an email address that is bad or simply nothing at all. I could just drop a note in the comments, but I feel like awkward doing that, it feels very disruptive. I’m usually not going to do it.
Considering most real estate bloggers blog at least in part to generate leads and there will certainly be consumers that end up on your blog even if you are B2B facing as opposed to consumer facing in your topics, there is no reason that there shouldn’t be at least one simple contact link on the top navigation bar linking to a shiny new contact page.
It may sound silly but I’m seeing this consistently and it is a bit odd. The thing is that creating a contact page is so dead simple there is no reason not to have one. If you are a wordpress user, then my favorite contact plugin is cformsII It will accomplish the most easy tasks if needed and has extensive customization abilities.
Don’t make your readers, referrals and future clients work to get your attention. New Rule: Your blog must contain a contact page linked to from your top menu navigation.
UPDATE: I noticed the realtor.com blog was hacked this morning and guess what? No contact form.
Trace Richardson is the founder of LeadPress, which provides Mortgage Marketing, Mortgage Forums and Mortgage Education services.
Doh!
I’ve never understood making it hard for people to find you.
A contact us link is “ok”. A fill-out form on the homepage like Jay Thompson has is even better! Unfortunately I don’t think Typepad has a feature to add one (or does it?).
True that. I usually avoid doing business, or even contacting, any firm which does not have a full contact address and phone number on site. Simple fact is that putting your contact details on the site fosters authenticity and trust.
yes it is very risky to do business with those firm with has no full contact address and phone number on site
When an industry member or other person who enters into a guaranteed sale agreement with a
seller purchases the seller’s real estate pursuant to that sale agreement, no commission is
payable to that industry member or other person by that seller in respect of that trade
Sean, you read it wrong. What it says is that if the home doesn’t sell during the listing period, and the industry member (or other person guaranteeing the sale) ends up purchasing the home at the price that was agreed to, then the industry member does not get a commission.
If the home is sold to anyone other than the person guaranteeing the sale (unless that person is excluded from the contract) then the industry member(s) is/are paid the commission agreed to in the listing contract.