Web Site Cookbook

6.1. Explaining Who's Responsible for Your Site

Problem

You need to make sure that your site visitors understand who you are, how to contact you, and how the information that is exchanged over your site is created and managed.

Solution

Be ready with answers to visitors' questions about your web site by creating the following components:

• A page listing the name, mailing address, phone number, and legal name of the entity responsible for the site

• An email address for [e-mail]

• Auto-responders for emails sent to [e-mail] and other generic addresses set up for fielding specific questions or complaints

• Names of third-party content sources and destinations of offsite links

• A privacy policy

• A copyright or terms of use statement

Discussion

Web surfers will visit your site seeking specific information. Sometimes their questions pertain to the area of expertise espoused on your site. At other times they want to know more about the site itself and the enterprise or individual who runs it. Making this type of information clear and easy to find will greatly improve how visitors perceive your site.

First, list your complete contact information on a "Contact Us" or "About Us" page. A contact form works great for quickly delivering messages from web site viewers to the appropriate staff person, but some visitors will want to know how to contact you by mail, phone, and fax. Don't hold this information back just because you think the email form serves as an adequate substitute—it ...