Question: Is it wise to post my contact info on my site?

I've read that some directories won't include my site if I don't have my contact info listed in a prominent location. I'm not really keen on this - is it wise to give out my contact information (email, address, telephone, fax, etc) in a public location?

Answer

You're probably more worried about posting your address than you are about posting your email address.

In fact, you should probably be worried more about the email address, because once you post it, spammers are bound to get their filthy little hands on it. Whereas, in the years I've been doing business on the internet, the inappropriate use of my mailing address has been so minimal I had to stop and think about it before I could remember that I've had a handful of junk emails from web promotion companies. And (to the best of my knowledge) I haven't picked up any stalkers.

Not a big deal compared to the email spam.

Similarly, once you post your telephone number, you may start getting more telemarketer calls. And, believe it or not, once you post your fax number, you'll start getting invitations to spend a get-away weekend in Orlando, Florida, or some such stupid thing.

But email is definitely the worst problem, because it costs so little for marketers to fire off emails.

Unfortunately, as you pointed out, some directories won't include your site (which means less traffic) if you don't have contact information on the site. You need to check each individual directory to find out their rules. If getting lots of traffic is important to you, then yes, you should bite the bullet and post your contact information, then submit to those directories.

But I would advise this: the email address you post on your website should not be one you use for personal correspondence. Because sooner or later you'll end up with enough spam that you want to cancel that address and start fresh. I know. It's happened to me three times on three different websites.