With Shozam, you can add HTML code directly into the Info Page using the Long description text fields.  Why is this important? Because it lets you customize your Info Page for any number of purposes. Assuming you are not a coder in your spare time, the next few posts will provide the exact HTML code syntax for common needs. Don’t let “HTML code syntax” scare you. Shozam Guru will do the heavy lifting by providing you with the exact code string; all you have to do is copy and paste the code into the appropriate Long description field when you create your Shozam Info Page.

The next few posts, you’ll learn how to:

• Add a “Contact Us” encoded email link so visitors can send you an email
• Customize the look of your Info Page text
• Add bulleted and numbered lists
• Include links to external sites like your Facebook and Myspace pages, or other favorite sites
• Create a link to a map with directions for the location of your business
• Add video for a truly compelling Info Page

So let's get started:

How to Encode Your Email Address

Giving people a way to contact you is important in establishing credibility and increasing a visitor’s comfort level; it makes you accessible. If you want to provide an email address in your Info Page as a method of contact, make sure you aren’t exposing it to possible abduction by spam-bots.

These cyber “robots” crawl source code looking for anything with a “@” symbol which they harvest for spam purposes.  Make sure you don’t include your actual email address either as visible text or in a link unless you encode them. So how do you create an email link that with an address that isn’t visible to bots? You need the “Spam-me-not E-mail Link Obfuscator.” Say what?

The Obfuscator is a free online application that encodes your email address so that robots can’t read it. Encrypting your email is quick and easy, and could save you a lot of spam-related headaches. Here’s how to do it:

• Go to the Spam-me-not website
  
• Enter the email address you want to encode in the field provided
• Select “random-mixed notation” from the “Encoding mode” drop-down menu
• Copy the resulting “Encoded e-mail link” code and paste it into the appropriate Long description field of your Info Page
  

The Obfuscator uses an encoded version of your email address as the visible link text default. If you prefer to use text other than your email address (like “Contact Us” or “Send me an email”) enter the text you want to appear in the “Visible link text (optional)” field and select “optional visible link text” from the drop-down menu.
When someone clicks on this link in your Info Page, it will launch the visitor’s default email with your email address prefilled. If a visitor does not have email, the link will fail. That’s why some people prefer to set up Contact Forms which don’t rely on email, are more powerful, but also more complicated. That’s another blog topic for another day.

For an example, go to the Wildscape Photography Info Page and scroll down to the "Contact Me" section. At the bottom of the address block you'll see the email address. Although it looks like a regular email address, it has been encoded. When I created this Info Page, I added the obfuscated email code to the Long description field for the "Contact Us" window sign image. I included other HTML code in this image's Long description field as well, including a location map and customized text which I'll show you how to do in an upcoming post. Cool, huh?