You know the old saying "the easier you make it for someone to contact you, the more likely they will!" Many people don't bother putting their full contact information on every page of their Web site —truly a lost marketing opportunity. Even if they did however, it still is not enough. Ever consider how much of a hassle it is for someone to "cut-n-paste" your name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, etc. from your Web page to their contact database? There is a much easier way. One that will allow your Web site visitors to instantly load your entire contact record, and even a unique marketing message, to their contact database with just one click of their mouse.

Your Virtual Business Card

Outlook (2000, XP and above) in addition to several other major professional e-mail software programs (AOL being a notable exception) allows you to create a "Vcard." A Vcard is a text-based contact record standard that allows people to quickly and easily exchange and store contact information within their contact database. While many people send their Vcard as an e-mail attachment, most people don't realize that you can also store it as a clickable link on your Web site. For example, if you go to the home page of my main Web site RUSSER.com, you will see standard contact information in text within the footer of the page. However, you will also see this:

"Click Here to download Mr. Internet's Vcard contact information" which contains a link to my Vcard. Go ahead, click it (if you are using Outlook Express, Outlook 2000 or XP, or any other e-mail software that supports Vcards) and see what happens!

My Vcard contact record will instantly load and you can then save it to your contact database. You will also note that my UPS (Unique Positioning Statement) is also part of my Vcard record. You can do this too; add any text to the main content window of your contact record —a great way to get your unique message out to prospects and clients.

To create your own Vcard in Outlook (2000 or XP) just go to the Contacts window and hit CTRL-N to open a new blank contact record. Fill in as much of the information you want (including any marketing message in the main text window) and hit CTRL-S to save (but not close) your information record. Next select Export To vCard File... under the File menu to save your Vcard as an appropriately named .vcf file somewhere on your hard drive. This is the file that needs to be uploaded to your Web site so it can be accessed via clicking a simple hyperlink. (NOTE: you may need your Web master or Virtual Assistant to help you with this part...)

A Word Of Caution...

Sometimes people store sensitive information within their own contact record and whatever is there will come over in the Vcard (i.e. passwords, account numbers, etc.) I suggest that you create another Vcard just for marketing purposes —free of any private information. This will ensure that prospects who download it are not going to know more about you than you want!

I picked up this tip from the last 3-Day Advanced Workshop I recently lead for RE/MAX Greater Atlanta. Someone came up with the idea, we tested it and it worked! This is another example of how you can take a tool that was meant for one thing and "repurpose" it for another.

Remember, this is not hard to do. Once you have created your Vcard your Web master will be able to install a link to it on every page of your Web site. You can bet that all my future Web sites will incorporate this feature because the thought of my contact record (and marketing message) being in the contact database of my prospects, well... just warms my heart!

Published: April 16, 2003

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