New Database update is out Today!
08/14/2008
The August database and numbers is out today, and there are a lot of great numbers available right now. The updated reports 800 Watch reports are all sent or on their way to about 36,000. So let the race to get the best numbers begin!The Top 16 Toll Free Mistakes
08/20/2008
I’ve written a number of posts about several different mistakes that people make regarding toll free numbers so I figured it was time to write up a wrap up of sorts. This started as the top 10 mistakes but it’s up to 16 now. So here there are in no particular order.
1. Searching for a vanity number on the wrong website.
This is a common mistake and it’s easy to do. But unfortunately the look up tools on most websites lock up whatever number you enter so you have to buy it from them and use their more expensive service and in some cases pay them rent for the number that they just pulled out of the spare pool because of your inquiry. This is absolutely slimy but happens more often than anyone realizes. The only safe websites to search for numbers on are ours and AT&T’s.
2. Falling in love with the first girl you meet, even before you find out if she’s available.
This is extremely common as well. Most visitors come to our site with a dream number in mind and some have a hard time understanding that the first choice number they wanted isn’t available. They often think that’s the only number/girl that can make them happy and they get blinded by their desire and don’t see any other options.
3. Forgetting to transfer your toll free number to another carrier.
If you don’t transfer your toll free number, the free temporary service we give you will expire after 30 days or 100 minutes of use. You won’t lose the number and you can still transfer it to whatever company you want to use it with the same way. All you need to do is get a resporg change form, from the new company, fill it out and send it back to the new company with the Toll Free Birth Certificate™ that we send you in the toll free manual.
4. Thinking you need to get your toll free number through your local phone company.
Your local phone company is often the worst choice. They are usually more expensive, harder to work with, and more restrictive, refusing to send your toll free calls to a cell phone or phone line from any other company. I understand wanting to keep things simple and organized but just because you already get a bill from them is honestly not a significant reason to use them for the toll free service.
5. Buying a toll free number from a website because it looks nice, without researching the service.
There are a number of nice looking websites and companies that may wind up costing you an arm and a leg, with hidden fees, lieing about things, over charging you in a number of ways, or even worse providing customer service that is worse than not having any at all. Research your options as carefully as possible but also know that if you get a number from us, you can always transfer it away if whatever company you select doesn’t wind up being as good as they sounded in the beginning.
6. Relying on your personal preference for a numeric number because you don’t like to have to think about dialing a toll free vanity number.
Most of the time we as marketers try to do what the customer wants, but sometimes what they say they want, and what generates the best results aren’t always the same thing. Thousands of big companies have spent billions of dollars advertising vanity numbers for the past 20+ years for one reason, because they work.
7. Selecting a phone company on price alone.
8. Thinking a phone number is or may be available just because it’s not answered or goes to an error message.
9. Limiting your self too much (to 7 digits, only ‘800’ numbers, pure generic numbers, etc).
One of the reasons that visitors don’t get the number they want is that they put to many limitations on themselves. If someone says they only want 7 digit numbers I usually ask if they think the generic term for their business which is usually longer than 7 digits was disconnected would they want to know about that? (ie 1-800 PHOTOGRAPHER and 1-800 RESTAURANT) That shows that their “rule” is actually a preference not a requirement.
Our job is essentially to show you as many options and possibilities related to your terms as possible. Most people come into this too focused on their dream number and it’s our job to broaden their horizons. Most customers can’t get the perfect number, but they can get a good number if they really open up and work at it.
10. Thinking that generic numbers are more valuable than more creative numbers.
11. Not calling your toll free number before you put it into advertising, every time.
12. Not getting your toll free number from an independent 3rd party service.
Sure the people who are trying to sell you their toll free service and keep you there will tell you that you don’t need it, but the truth is that your ability to transfer the number is more important to you than it is to them. This is also the only way to guarantee you have the ability to transfer your number away and they can’t try to steal your number. That’s what keeps them accountable and its really no surprise that they don’t want to be accountable. You also get someone that knows what they’re doing, that’s accountable, knowledgeable, and accessible on your side.
13. Assuming your phone company will process your toll free transfer just because you sent them the form.
One of the most common ways for people to lose toll free numbers is to assume that they are being transferred to the new phone company. If you mess this up I hope you don’t mess up #10, forgetting to check your toll free number too. Give them time to process it, and realize that it’s hard to find it in process. Most companies can only see whether it’s been released or not. But follow up and don’t just assume it was done because you sent in the forms.
13. Believing and acting upon everything your phone company representative tells you.
I have by far more posts about this than any other issue in this list. Probably because they say so many crazy things that relate to so many different things, but especially transferring toll free numbers. Whether it’s how long they say the transfer will take or if they say we rejected it, or need a bill copy or even that something can’t be done. Most phone company representatives get very little training on toll free transfers and it’s like asking the cashier at Walmart for advice about cuts of meat instead of talking to the Butchers.
15. Building your house on someone else’s rented property (and sometimes not even realizing it).
The most important thing to remember about this is that the more you advertise someone else’s number the more at their mercy you become. And any time someone else has that kind of ultimate control over your business it almost always creates a very bad situation. 
And many of the shared use businesses tend to build their business on and make their most money by taking advantage of that control.
16. Falling for the flat rate scams or buying minutes in buckets or blocks.
I use the analogy of the shell game because it’s very similar in a lot of ways. They control the rules and set the terms to make it sound as attractive as possible, like you’ll save a lot of money but in the end you wind up losing more often than a drunk in a Las Vegas casino. You’re guaranteed to pay for more than you use for the first few months and then if you do use more than you’re paying for, guess what there’s a loop hole that says they can shut down anyone that abuses the system. Then you’ll pay whatever it takes to get your number back working because at that point you’re out of business and you’ll gladly switch to a per minute rate even if it’s a higher than you could have gotten somewhere else. No big name phone company ever offers this and no really large customers ever use this for a reason.
If you have any other suggestions to add or additional mistakes, post a comment!
How to find the Vanity Numeric Numbers
08/19/2008
Most people on our site look for vanity numbers related to the keywords for their business. But some people look for nice numeric numbers too. We have a section of the site that explains and goes into these easy to dial numbers and how they break down. But I wanted to share a tip on how to find the best numeric numbers for your business.
Read the rest of the tip to combine Words and Repetitive digits.
Do you want a toll free number to match your local number?
08/18/2008
Some visitors look for a toll free number to match their existing local number. This can look good on your business cards and give you some additional credibility. But it’s really only memorable to people that already remember your number. Matching your local number is certainly better than getting a random number, although it doesn’t create the image or memorability of a vanity number that spells something relevant. But sometimes if you can’t find any memorable vanity number matching your local number is still helpful and we can definitely help you find a good number to match or almost match.
3 tips you can use to find numbers to match your local number.
Geo specific increases your options and creates an advantage
08/15/2008
One of the best ways to get a number centered on a generic term is to add some type of geography to it, usually by adding your state abbreviation in front of the generic term.
This separates you from everyone else in your business chasing after that generic term and increases dramatically the likelihood of getting a number using that term.
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Adding your state initials will give you a home field advantage.
Monthly Recap for August 08
08/14/2008
It’s the 14th and time for our monthly summary. It’s by a very busy month. Traditionally the summer slows down for us but this summer has not only didn’t slow down but seems to be speeding up. And stay tuned because within the next couple weeks we’re going to be announcing our biggest change ever in the web based search tool too.
In terms of the website, in the past month we’ve had 23 unique new articles or posts on our website, during the past 30 days. They cover, Shared Use, Our Biggest Sale ever, Random 800 numbers, voip, Phone companies Stealing numbers and locking them up, as well as several articles in the Simplified series about Search, Transfers, Premium numbers. We pretty much have a new article ever day, so make sure you check back or get our RSS feed.
See the list of all 23 posts for the past 30 days.
Easy Buttons coming
08/14/2008
One of the things I’ve heard is that we have a lot of great information but it gets a little confusing. That comes from writing more and more about all of the different aspects of toll free numbers, our service and related topics. So to simplify things especially for new people, I’ve been writing simplified summaries of several of the main things we do, such as Activations, Backorders, Premium Numbers, Transferring and Searching for numbers.
We’re also making videos later the end of August, to go with these posts that explain the basics. These will be linked from a variation of the Easy Button to make it ‘easy’ for visitors to find the basics.
Don’t give anyone else ultimate control over your business.
08/13/2008
Building your business on a shared use rented number is like borrowing money from a loan shark or even the mob, to start your business. They may look nice in the beginning like they wouldn’t take advantage of you, but any time you put your business at the mercy of someone else, it creates a bad situation.
800 Number Portability is what keeps them honest.
Toll Free Test Drive
08/12/2008
When you’ve narrowed down the list of potential toll free vanity numbers down to a handful, one good thing you can do to figure out which is the best for your project is to take them for a “toll free test drive.”
A toll free number isn’t a car so you obviously can’t drive it, but you can put it into your actual use and see how it feels in context. Make up a mock flyer or ad, or commercial and put the number into it. Make a couple versions and show them to a few people. Sometimes a certain number will flow better or sound better or fit in with the rest of the advertising better.
Even something as simple as putting the prospective toll free numbers onto your business cards and showing a handful of people will give a mini focus group and may make it easier to know which one or ones to go with. So pick the best couple numbers and put them into your actual advertising and see how much more memorable they make your advertising.
5 times more 800 numbers than ever before
08/11/2008
Toll Free Day (8/8/8) was more than a huge success. The $8.88 activations were even a bigger hit than we had anticipated, probably too good. We didn’t just set a record for orders, we did over 5 times more than we have ever had in a single day. Customers saved over $15,000 on numbers in that one day sale but I think we nearly killed our selves doing it!
We’re working as fast as we can and on all of the processing but some of the last activations and toll free manuals should be done by the end of the day on Monday. We’re sorry for the dealy and appreciate your patience.
It was fun doing something crazy and it was good because we saw a lot of people we haven’t seen in a while. We really have a lot of great customers and we were very happy to give so many people so much value. So thanks to everyone and as always we’ve very happy to get you great 800 numbers for your business.
Can we Bend the Rules?
08/09/2008
I wanted to post something here though so that everybody understands I’m not making this decision just for them. Our 888 day sale was obviously a popular sale and a GREAT deal. So it’s natural for people to want to bend the rules a little to slip in afterwards. That’s a compliment and there’s nothing wrong with asking. I probably would if I missed it.
However I’m posting this here so everyone who asked to be let in afterwards knows that I’m not just picking on them. After the door closes on this sale, the door is closed. I’m not deciding to let some people in and not others based on how many they have bought or anything like that.
If you know me I’m a very straight forward up front person and I try to run my business that way. You don’t have to wonder about whether I’ll take the number you want and offer it to someone who’s willing to pay more money or rent it to you like other websites. You don’t have to worry whether I’ll sell your email address or whether there’s some hidden fee or fine print to take advantage of you. And for the same reason you don’t have to worry that I’m giving someone else more access to better numbers or specials either.
That may not sound like an advantage if you’re trying to get the sale price after it ended. But I think you’ll agree that not bending the rules is the best way to run this business and does help people more than bending them for you in this case really would.