Image courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives

Blog? Check. On Twitter? Check.  LinkedIn? Check.

You’ve worked so hard to put yourself out there, but companies aren’t knocking down your door.  Chances are they’d love to, but they don’t know how!

Huh?

Because of fears of privacy and personal security, a lot of bloggers don’t like to make their contact information readily available.  I totally get that.  In fact, for a long time, I didn’t provide a means of contacting me on my blog either.

Here’s the deal.  If no one can easily contact you, how do you expect to get offers to contribute to marketing campaigns, product reviews, or even…wait for it…employment? {gasp!}

Now I am certainly not recommending that you just broadcast your home phone number or explicitly put your email front in center so spammers can come scoop it up.  I am however, advising you to use a few free and totally useful tools that will allow those that you want to talk to, reach you.

Do any one (or a few!) of the following:

• Add a Google Talk chatback badge, that way visitors to your site can see when you’re available and instant message with you immediately.  This has been an awesome addition to my blog and my ability to connect with those that want to talk RIGHT NOW.
• Sign up for a Grand Central account. With Grand Central you can have a phone number that rings to your home or cell phone without giving the caller your actual number.  Invites may still be needed, and I have a few left.  If you’d like one, please leave a comment saying so – first come first serve.
• Include an email contact form in a conspicuous place on your blog.  I like and use this one.
• Better yet, dedicate a page on your blog or website with ways visitors can contact you.  After I added a contact page to my site, it was amazing how much more people reached out to me.

The fact of the matter is that readers, potential clients, and companies you’d like to partner with can’t propose their ideas or invite you to work on projects with them if they can’t get in touch with you.  So do yourself, and them, a favor and make it as easy as possible.

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Jessica Smith is Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com, Founder of ChiefMomOfficer.org, and the Celebrity Business blogger for Sparkplugging.com.  You can also find her talking about all her latest projects, thoughts, and ideas at her personal blog Jessica Knows.