In this great technological age in which we live, there are so many different ways to network yourself.
We Facebook, Tweet, Pinterest, Link in, Triberr , GooglePlus, YouTube and whatever the next big thing is.
With the focus on learning what the latest and greatest is, we sometimes overlook the easiest and simplest things.
Do you list your e-mail address on your blog? I know when I want to contact someone the easiest thing for me is to drop a quick e-mail.
I ask you this because I have been having trouble commenting on a few different blogs, (mostly WordPress accounts.) When it first started happening I assumed it was a problem that WordPress was having and that they were aware of it and were working on a fix. Well you know what they say about assuming.
In some instances I’ve been able to contact the author and straighten the issue out. (Seems some comments are going into spam.) There is nothing more frustrating than taking the time to write a comment and hit publish and see nothing. 🙁
Depending upon what your goals are for your blog you may want to make a contact page. Some people also call this the “work with me” page. Either way it lays out what your blog is available for. Or what your willing to do for a buck. 😉
My contact page says,
I love hearing from you.
Please feel free to contact me at auntiejodi@hotmail.com
With comments and suggestions
For product reviews
To hire this writer for freelance jobs
It can be as simple or as detailed as you like, but it’s something I feel is very important.
Do you have contact information on your page? Have you had anyone contact you other than leaving you a comment. Have you ever found a reader’s comment in your spam folder? How frequently do you check your spam folder?
I find a Furend’s comment in my Spam about once every two weeks. I always LOOK at the Spam Tab when I check my comments… It will have a number there if there are any “Spams” and then all I have to do is click and say NOT SPAM.
I usually check my spam at least once per day! Do you have a contact me? I will have to check the next time I am visiting.
That’s a very good point. When I created my blog – I really didn’t think about the fact that someone would want to contact me! There is a link to my Web Design page, but you’re right, I should at least have a little contact me page 😉 As a web designer, I usually encourage people to use a contact page instead of a direct email – it can really save you from loads of spam . .but as long is you are not being overwhelmed with spam then go for it!
I don’t know how to set it up like a form as I’ve seen on some blogs. I suppose I should be researching how wordpress does it
Oh you’re a web designer? we may have to chat….LOL
Your idea for a contact page is excellent! I have had several people email me to say that they couldn’t leave a comment on one of my blogs. I never could figure out why it was and most people could comment with no problem. I’ve also visited blogs where I was unable to leave a comment and it is frustrating. I’ll have to look into setting up a ‘contact me’ link.
Thanks for the idea!
If you have a wordpress account Nancy I think it is their fault. I don’t know how to fix it though, I suppose I should shoot them an e-mail and let them know.
Glad you like the idea!!
I do have a contact page, but making my email more obvious is a good idea. In fact, I was looking for an email on a blog the other day, I should have thought about it…
Thanks for mentioning.
You are very welcome, it’s not my typical topic but it’s been bothering me for a bit so I thought I should throw it out there. You have a very nice contact page! Thanks for stopping by and for your comment.
I check spam every few days Jodi and sometimes find a reader there. Lately, I also appear to have become disconnected with several of the blogs I follow, despite a you follow tag at the top of the page. I have had to unfollow and then follow again. That seemed to do the trick. WordPress have been carrying out a number of changes recently and I wonder if they have caused glitches.
I hope WordPress is working on their glitches Bassa. I noticed that most of the blogs I haven’t been able to comment on our wordpress. But some of them have no way of contacting them and I don’t know what to do.
I’m glad you check your spam, you never know who might be in there!
I was reluctant at first about putting an email address on my website as I assumed all I’d get is a ton of spam. But that was completely unfounded. Sure, there is some crap that filters through but most of the emails I receive are from readers or legitimate companies. I don’t have a contact page as such but I find just having my email address posted in a clear spot on my sidebar does the trick!
As an aside, for whatever reason Akismet was dumping many of your blog comments into my spam folder. I never used to check it, just emptied it out once a week. But ever since you let me know you were having issues I have been going through it and sadly finding more actual comments that were sent to spam. So thank you for letting me know!
The easy thing Kristine is to get a free account somewhere and use that e-mail address. I don’t use my professional e-mail address in the blog, I use my hotmail one. I think at last count I had like 5 different e-mails. I’m sure there are some that I can’t ever remember! LOL If I could figure out how to put my e-mail on the sidebar, I’d delete the contact page! LOL
I had a couple of regular commenters go into my spam and so I try to check it at least once per day.
I wanted you to know that I was still commenting. I didn’t want you to think I’ve forgotten about one of my very first blogville friends!
I have always had a contact page on my web – I have it set up as a form and then also I have my personal email up on my home page as well.
I have an email just for the blog so I dont mind giving it out.
kari@houndgirl.com
Now wordpress recently changed alot of the free wordpress accounts that when someone wants to leave a comment they need to have a WP account set up , its like if you want to comment on blogger you need a blogger account. Now some people like me have a self hosted WP site where you shouldnt have to have a wp account to leave a comment.
🙂 Hope that helps some – let me know via email if you are having any troubles on my blog.
If there is a contact form or e-mail addy I always contact the author. I disagree that you should need a wp account to leave a comment. Some people may not want to blog. Why I don’t know. 🙂
Thanks for checking up, if I ever have a problem with your blog I will certainly let you know! :-0
I totally agree with that its not right to make a person have a WP account to leave a comment. I hate that but I doubt it will ever change – they are always making people sign in via facebook, pin insterest, blogger, etc… I think you should be able to log in with just email 🙂
I have a “Contact Me” button, and I have had many people use it. Some use it to privately comment or give advice, one emailed to see if I knew anybody that could help place a dog, some have contacted me to follow up on the puppy mill thing (that never went anywhere apparently), and I’ve been contacted by email for reviews, etc., etc., If I had to guess, I get more emails pertaining to the blog than actual comments!
Plus, like you, I have had trouble contacting on some blogs and not finding an easy way to contact the person, I give up, and usual stop reading the blog. So I agree, if you want to be reachable, put a contact button on your page.
I was afraid to say that in the post Donna, but many times when I comment on a blog more than once and it keeps going into the spam with no contact, I too stop going to that blog. If you just have a blog for fun then maybe it isn’t important for them to see all their comments.
How do you get people to contact you for product reviews? Besides Mr. Chewy, I have never done a product review.
Well Mr. Chewy contacted me through email to review his site, just like he did you, and then he contacted me again and asked me to try and review a dog food brand, which I refused (I had so much trouble finding a food all of my crew can eat, I’m not messing with their diet).
When I was a networked blog through Dogtime (I’m not anymore) they asked me to do a food review too, (which I also refused for the same reason as above). I think dogtime does that a lot though, so if you’re interested you might want to join them. And more recently an anthology compiler contacted me and asked that I review her anthology, (which I’m actually planning to post some time next week) but I had previously submitted stories to her…so we had prior contact.
So the bottom line is I have no idea. Sorry… 🙁
I should probably update my about-me page to include my email address, if it doesn’t already. I check my spam regularly, and usually find one or two comments a week that don’t belong in spam. great reminder 🙂
I think it’s a good idea to have an alternate contact. As I stated there are a couple of blogs that I’ve commented on where I know the comment is in spam but there is no way for me to contact them and let them know.
I’ve had a few unable to leave a contact on my blog, which is run by WordPress.com. They did make some changes to comments and if you’ve ever set up a WordPress account and then didn’t use it or went on to something else, that email address is tied to it and WordPress won’t let the comment go through without ‘signing in’ to WordPress. (Hope that’s not too confusing). It’s a bit irritating and hopefully they get enough complaints to correct this.
There are times when I put a comment on someone’s blog and then it says, “sign into your wp account” it ticks me off because many times the comment is then lost. 🙁
As you know, for a while WP was putting your comments in spam. Ticked me off…lol. I have an e-mail on my FB page. One of these days I will remember to check it…lol.
I know but how could I single you out? 🙂 See now I didn’t even know you were on facebook. We should be friends. 🙂
It’s my blog FB page. I forget to check that too…lol. I vow to do better with that and Twitter. 🙂 Someday I will be organized.
I check my spam all the time because the same thing happened to me. I don’t like it when I end up in spam either!
You ended up in mine at least once! I don’t know why.
I have no idea if I have my contact information on my blog – I will have to go check. And I almost never check my spam. Hummm – maybe I better get on that.