new website, what is the best way to give out contact info

[gflanslo]

I've created a new website but I'm not sure how to approach giving out my contact information. Do people use alias for the email accounts? If so how do you do it. Any ideas are helpful.

Here is the my new site. http://www.gregoryflanagan.com/

[Walter Calahan]

I simply set up a 'contact' e-mail address which is separate from my personal e-mail address. Sure I get a little spam on it, but it is manageable with filters.

[Preston]

Gregory, I did the same as Walter. Yes, it gets some spam, but like spam sandwiches, one can always ignore them.

You have some nice work on your site!

-P

[Scott Knowles]

There are several ways. First, what you're doing, simple tell them and leave it to the person to transcribe into their e-mail account. Second, use a "mailto" html code, fairly easy to do and described in any Web design book, eg <a href="mailto:iamhere@mydomain.com?subject=thesubjectyouwant">contact me</a>

Third, a contact Web page, a little more work and totally variable from simple to fairly complex. These are commonly done with javascript or php, and you can find examples on the Web (aka, steal and adapt the code), buy software to build one, or ask a Web designer or ISP to write one. These offer the complete security and user (human) checks. You also need a followup/thank you Web page, otherwise any will display a blank page after the submit button.

Good luck.

[gflanslo]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Right now I'm just using info@gregflanagan.com. If I get to much spam then I might consider writing a php script. I know some PHP so that wouldn't be too much to handle.

any suggestions on the order of the photos? I've looked through them too many times and can't decided if the order works.

[Joanna Carter]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Right now I'm just using ....... If I get to much spam then I might consider writing a php script. I know some PHP so that wouldn't be too much to handle.

any suggestions on the order of the photos? I've looked through them too many times and can't decided if the order works.

Well, to start with, you should edit your post that displays your contact info, that too will be subject to harvesting by "bots".

You need to "encode" your address so that bots cannot harvest it as one piece of text. Here is a sample script :

<script language="JavaScript">
<!-- Begin
user = "joanna";
domain1 = "grandes-";
domain2 = "images.";
extension = "com";
document.write('<a href=\"mailto:' + user + '@' + domain1 + domain2 + extension + '\">');
document.write(user + '@' + domain1 + domain2 + extension + '</a>');
// End -->
</script>

[pherold]

Yes, anything that has that "@" in the middle can get picked up by automated web crawlers as an email address and end up on spam lists. Don't underestimate the annoyance of spam over time. If you plan on being in business for several years, things will get progressively worse as time goes on. Some people change contact information every few years ( ie: from "info@" to "contact@") That's not the best solution if you want people to be able to contact you easily as time goes on.

One idea that hasn't been mentioned yet is substituting the "@" with (at). Eventually the "bots" will catch on to this too, but it's an easy thing to do for those not comfortable with html.

-Patrick Herold

[Eric James]

My website's contact info is limited to my email address placed on the page as a graphic, not clickable text. As far as I can tell, this is a highly practical and efficient way to avoid spam-bots and sales.

[paradoxbox]

a simple info@domain.com is the best way
php scripts are also acceptable but you will find some people are so bad with computers that they can't figure out how to include their email in your form (even if it says "write email address here!") and you'll lose their message. pain in the ### but i've seen it happen many times

[Drew Bedo]

Hello flanslo,

Well I WANT people to know me and I WANT them to contact me. I use my name on my website and in my posts here. The website has a Contact page with whatever my current "work" e-mail address is at the time. That addre3ss usually has some easily remembered variation of my name in it. If I need to change it for some reason (so far only technicaql reasons), I do that and notify those that I wish to remain in contact with.

Regards,

Drew Bedo