I did try, really try, to help him, but…
He made it too difficult.
The Background on the Freelance Writer Website Fail …
A few weeks ago, I was taking a short breakfast break from a major freelance writing project.
While looking at a list of freelance writing jobs, I see one that pays really, really well and is perfectly suited for a freelance writer I’m acquainted with online.
I love helping people, so I went to his website.
And that’s when the trouble started.
The Problems I Encountered at His Freelance Writer Website
I had a very difficult time finding any way to contact him. I read his About page — no contact info. I looked at other pages — nada.
And then I finally saw a tiny little icon in the footer. It sent me to a contact page with a form.
I filled out my name, my e-mail, a subject line, and then a detailed message.
And then I got to the Captcha form. Damn!
Failed the first time. Failed the second time.
I gave up and closed the browser window.
I don’t believe in the expression “No good deed goes unpunished,” but I put over ten minutes of time into trying to give this writer a very important lead that could have made a big difference in his bottom line.
He made it too difficult to contact him.
The Lessons for Freelance Writers About Websites
I’ve written about the importance of inbound marketing for freelance writers, which obviously includes having a great freelance writer website. Keep in mind: this is the main way many editors find out about this writer.
I’m not going to cover everything a quality website needs, but let’s look at what this writer did wrong:
1. No Contact page that makes it easy for me to get a hold of him.
Major fail.
2. Hid the only way to contact him way at the bottom of his site…
with a weird icon that wasn’t even obviously an envelope.
3. Made me fill out a contact form.
I know I’m in the minority here, but I put my actual e-mail address in the sidebar, footer, and contact page over at my professional website, just to make it as easy as possible for prospects to reach me.
4. That damned Captcha box!
I hate those! For those of you who use them anywhere, know that I and many other visitors often just go away when we see a Captcha box, often never to return. (Especially when you use it for blog comments) In this case, I actually didn’t see the Captcha box until I’d written my detailed message.
5. Overall, your website needs to make it immediately clear what you do and how potential clients can easily contact you.
It also needs to look good to the Google god = good SEO techniques.
A Potential Client’s View of This Guy’s Freelance Writer Website…
A potential client coming to this guy’s website would likely never contact him.
Not only is it difficult, but the potential client has got to wonder if a person with such a sloppy website also does sloppy work, and if someone who makes communication difficult now will be difficult to communicate with in the future.
Your Take
What would you have done? Was I too harsh? Are you making any of these mistakes? Tell us below!
Cheryl Rhodes says
This guy might have a writer’s website up because he’s been advised by writing mentors that’s what he should do, and uses it mainly as a portfolio where he can direct potential clients to check it out when he sends out queries.
Maybe he has problems in his personal life and doesn’t want to make it easy for people to contact him for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with writing:
1. collection agents are looking for him
2. the police are looking for him
3. the Las Vegas loan shark he borrowed from is looking for him
4. his ex is looking for the deadbeat to pay his back support
5. he’s on the mafia’s hit list
6. he’s been the victim of a cyberstalker
That could be the topic for another post. How does a writer work their website so the wrong type of people don’t find them, but at the same time getting legitimate editor’s/publishers to reach them.
I think you invested as much time as you could trying to track him down and filling out a form with a captcha. It was nice of you to think about him for the work tip you had and attempt contact.
My take is this guy has reasons he doesn’t want the wrong type of people to find him and uses this method to weed out the undesirables while hoping work related messages reach him.
John Soares says
Cheryl, you may be right. However, I do think he wants to be contacted; he just doesn’t understand best procedures for making it easy.
Laura Spencer says
Good points John,
I have faced similar frustrations, not only at writer websites but also at small business websites that make it extremely difficult to get in contact with the company.
It’s possible that the writer just doesn’t understand how important that contact information is. Or, he may have been told that it’s dangerous to share personal information online. If that’s his fear he could open an email just for his website and protect it with spam filters.
Hopefully, he’ll read your post and recognize himself. Then he can take steps to fix the problem.
John Soares says
All good points, Laura. I’ve also been frustrated by business websites that don’t make email contact easy.
I like to see the actual email address that I can copy and paste into gmail.
Anne Wayman says
Oh John, you and I see this exactly the same way. And ten minutes may have been 3 more than I would have been willing to spend. A shame he probably won’t read this.
And sure, there may be a gillion reasons why as Cheryl says above… and I’ll bet if you ever found him and asked if his website was working for him he’d say no.
Over time the biggest reason I’ve heard that folks make contact so difficult is they are afraid. They hear horror stories and decide they’d better hide their contact info. It’s a shame. I’ve been online for ages and pretty public. I do screen calls, but that’s about it.
Thanks for telling us this story – it will probably help some.
John Soares says
I think he does want people to contact him. He does have the contact form.
However, I think he is sadly misinformed about the optimal ways to gain clients.
On my website aimed at clients, JohnWrites.net, I prominently feature my email address and urge potential clients to email me.
Marcie says
I’m with Anne on this one. I probably would have been done after three attempts. I’m okay with the CAPTCHA code, but the effort to find contact information would have taken a toll.
Tom Bentley says
John, yes, all those impediments are such a frustration, and an obvious hindrance to getting in touch. And some of the Captcha boxes can put you in an endless loop, where the only painless way out is quitting the page. As Laura says above, you see the same thing on business sites, which makes you wonder how they stay in business.
My website needs some attention, but it does have various means of contacting me, on the Contact page and the home page too. I really don’t know why I haven’t heard from Beyoncé.
John Soares says
Actually, Captcha often works fine for me, but then there are times when it just doesn’t work at all.
I’ll ring Beyoncé and tell her to contact you.
Sue-Ann says
Hi John:
Interestingly, I recently heard Andy Crestadonia from Orbit Media advise NOT to have an email address shown on your website. So contact form is the ticket. But, I’m pretty sure his point was about keeping people on your site and channeling traffic for better site engagement.
The thing is, as a writer, I want to make it as absolutely easy as possible for people to contact me and so I do show an email contact address here and there on my site as well as contact nav buttons, footer button, page contact forms, PHONE number, etc. I don’t care about traffic as much as I do about relationships leading to or equaling business!
On my site for my physical business, I made each and every logo graphic a button to email! Cool and easy. And that was before I really knew anything at all about web presence or digital marketing, even.
Invite clients in and make it easy! Right?
Anyway, I guess to make a note on the first comment, if you are hiding, you probably don’t want to be on the Internet at all. Criminals get themselves busted via FaceBook all the time. Lol
I hope your writer friend does see and fix this because an opportunity lost always is a terrible thing, in any business. You can always weed out the good and bad, on contact.
Take care, John and thanks for sharing your insights.
Oh, and I’m always looking for a new writing assignment! Lol
Best, Sue-Ann
John Soares says
I think contact forms are very impersonal and there are many times I just didn’t contact someone because of it, but only when I was on the fence about doing it anyway.
Orbital Media has its phone number on the website, so that’s a step beyond what I’ve done.
Lori says
Why a Captcha code on a contact form? I don’t get it, either. It’s just one more step in an already arduous process.
I don’t use an email address because of the huge amount of spam I get. But I have a dedicated Contact page, and I have fields that allow clients to add their info and tell me about their project.
I agree they’re a little impersonal, John. However, they don’t have to be. Mine is just one more page I use to engage them (by asking them to tell me their dreams). And I show I’m interested in them by asking for some project details. It’s imperfect, but it’s at least easier than what this other writer has.
John Soares says
Lori, you bring up a good point that a contact form can in some ways engage a potential client. I’d still be concerned that some potential clients will feel like they have hoops to go through just to contact you.
Spam, of course, is always a concern. I find that both my yahoo and gmail accounts do a good job of keeping spam out of my inbox.
Lori says
I’m concerned about that too, John. You’ve convinced me to change it, so I’ll do that. I’ll still keep the contact form there, but I’ll add my email in case they’d rather use that.
John Soares says
Good move, Lori!
Gene P Burnett says
I’ve left many messages through website “contact” links…and I’ve hardly ever received a reply. I like when they just give you an email address. Contacting people and companies through actual email addresses has been much more successful for me. I don’t know what it is about those contact links and fields…but they just don’t seem to work. If a person only wants business contacts…just offer a special email address just for business.
John Soares says
It’s fairly rare now, but in the past I’ve entered all the info into a contact form, clicked “submit,” and then have a the form fail to transmit the info or just time out.
Leslie says
John, I completely agree with you. One of the main things people have mentioned to me about my own website is how easy and clear it is to connect with me. I do have a contact form and I also put my email address right on that page. If I have to spend more than five minutes looking for a way to contact the person or the business, I close out and move on.
I am shocked to see even restaurants in town not have their phone numbers on the contact page. It’s often somewhere else, like under ‘directions’ or some other place. “Contact” should be big and bold and easy to see. To me, it’s the first obvious thing that should stand out and be easy to find. If I were you, I would’ve done the same thing.
A clear, concise, easy to read and spacious website is key. Even when it’s over crowded with tiny print and cluttered with quotes, memes, etc, makes me move on.
John Soares says
Leslie, I also am frequently frustrated by websites of local businesses. When I visit the site of the restaurant, I want to know when they are open, what food they serve = menu, and what the phone number is, in case I want to make a reservation.
Sherri Ledbetter says
I would of left the site at captcha code if not earlier. A service business that assumes that I may be a spammer right off the bat, I avoid.
I don’t use a contact form on my site. I like to be viewed as friendly and accessible. I’ve had my email address and phone number online for years and have had no issues. 🙂
John Soares says
Sherry, I’m glad you’ve had no problems with your phone number on our website. My number is not on my site, at least for now, although it is on my business card.
And we totally agree about appearing friendly and accessible!
Oluseye says
No Way! I’m removing that damn captcha on my blog right away.
Thought that was a great way to prevent spam comments from flowing in, but now i know better. Thanks Boss
Carl says
Good points to take home here. It’s true your website/blog is your office and it has not only have to be presentable, but is must be user-friendly as well.
It is good to learn how to make it possible for clients and other interested individuals to reach you with ease. Certainly, some issues are not worth costing you a customer or some valuable advice/comments.
Thanks for trying to help a brother, and thanks for sharing.