So I thought I’d do my best to turn these tips on their head, and in the process leave you some practical tips about securing a great vanity toll free number for your business.

Bad Tip #1:  Avoid Number Hybrids

This tip points out that numbers like 888-444-BIKE aren’t as valuable as, say, 888-FIX-BIKE for a bicycle repair shop. And they have a point – the latter definitely is more valuable. The problem with this argument, though, is that there’s only one 888-FIX-BIKE. That vanity spelling translates directly to 888-349-2453, exactly one phone number out of millions of toll free numbers. Care to take a guess whether or not it’s reserved already or in use? You’re trying to find a needle in a haystack with a pair of tweezers.

Meanwhile, a vanity search for 888-***-BIKE has hundreds of numbers that will match any 3 digits into those wildcard *’s. So you might end up with 888-444-BIKE or 888-345-BIKE, which isn’t exactly the same but is still wildly effective. To minimize any drawback of using matched numbers and letters, try to find repeating or sequential digits like in these two examples (444 & 345).

Bad Tip #2: Don’t Limit Yourself to 7 Digits

This proposed tip is really just an extension of the previous, but going beyond 7 letter vanity spellings with the addition of overdial. Overdial is the practice of using a vanity spelling that extends beyond the end of the actual phone number in order to complete the spelling. Like 888-MATTRESS. Really this number is 888-628-8737, and the extra ‘S’ is just a disposable digit.

Overdial itself isn’t really the problem. Going over a digit or two (preferably just 1, though) isn’t the worst thing in the world, such as locking in a number like 888-***-HOUS(E). It really goes back to the fact that finding an 8 digit vanity number is effectively finding a 7 digit vanity number, which again has you looking for exactly one number on every search. There’s only one 888-MATTRES(S). But hey, maybe you’ll get lucky?

Bad Tip #3: 800 vs. 866, 877, and 888

In this misleading tip, the author says you should aim for 800 over 888, 877, or 866. It’s true that 800 is a more easily recognized prefix, but 888 isn’t far behind. 888 numbers, after all, have been around for over fourteen years. By now, most people get it.

Also, this tip fails to mention the fact that SMS/800, the governing body over toll free numbers, has largely disabled the ability for vanity search tools to query the national database for available vanity numbers with an 800 prefix. Why? Because 800 numbers are so increasingly scarce that 99.99% of vanity searches would return no results and simply waste resources. Stick with 888, only going to 877 and 866 if you can get better vanity spelling availability out of those prefixes.

Bad Tip #4: Vanity Name Choice

Here we have some advice to be selective in what you say with your vanity spelling. Pick words that relate to your business, avoiding ambiguity where possible. Sounds great, with the exception that they again focus on whole number and overdial spellings like 888-LAWNCARE. No chance.

Vanity toll free numbers have been around long enough for a large percentage of the more popular spellings to be taken. To find a vanity number that fits your business, you’ll need to get a little creative and shorten up your vanity spelling to 4 or 5 letters at the most to give yourself a better chance to find some results. You still want to draw some kind of mental connection between your number and your business, like my 888-444-BIKE example above, but not at the cost of setting unreasonable expectations and not finding any numbers with which you’re happy.

Bad Tip #5: Avoid Q & Z

This one may be my favorite. Three years ago next month, the patent for an international standard for phone key pads went on the books. This is what you’ve likely come to think of as common on desk phones, home phones, and cell phones, with the 7 key representing “PQRS” instead of just “PRS” and the 9 key representing “WXYZ” instead of just “WXY”. Despite this change being over three years old, and the fact that it has become a widely-accepted international standard for new phones with English characters, you still see people advising to avoid vanity spellings with these digits.

The simple truth is, you shouldn’t go out of your way to avoid these letters if you feel they’re necessary to get the vanity toll free number spelling that you want. And just to be on the extra-safe side, if you feel so inclined, get in the habit of spelling out the digits of your vanity number anywhere that you display it. This is a good general practice already, something like “888-444-QUAD  (888-444-7823)”.

Bad Tip #6 Good Tip #1: Put Your Vanity Number Everywhere!

Finally, a tip that has some meat on it. Once you’ve actually found a vanity toll free number, it’s time to plaster it everywhere you can. Get it on your business cards, your website, your company vehicles, your letterhead, your tv spots, your radio commercials, your billboards, your office door, etc. Anywhere that you would reasonably place your company logo or slogan, pop your vanity toll free number there also. The value of your vanity spelling only gets better with repetition.

Looking to get vanity toll free number service for your business? Check out our free vanity search tool.

But beyond your napping “sleeping” habits and your personal preference to shower/shave/get dressed, the technology you deploy also plays a big role in whether your operation gets off the ground. Here are five of the top reasons you should consider using an 800 number virtual phone system for your home-based business, instead of just relying on your personal home or cell phone numbers…

1. Look & Sound Professional

Giving potential clients and customers your home or cell phone number is the easiest way to betray the size of your home-based business. Even if you’re borderline superhero when it comes to your entrepreneurial powers, you’re still going to lose opportunities if companies are afraid you don’t have the resources to take care of their needs.

An 800 number gets your foot in the door. With a professional-sounding auto attendant, voicemail service, and call forwarding to your home or cell phone, you get a professional image that reduces customer anxiety while still fitting your lifestyle. It’s not about tricking your customers — it’s about making a good first impression to earn the opportunity to show off what you can really do.

2. Nationwide Reach

Many entrepreneurs that work from home reach a nationwide audience via the Internet. To get anywhere with this kind of online business, you need to appear accessible. If you are advertising your contact phone number as a local number in Florida, you might have a tough time convincing customers in California that you’re the right business to take care of their needs. The problem is more than the customer having to dial long distance. If you seem far away, your potential customers might not feel secure giving you their business. Since 800 numbers are non-geographic, they immediately alleviate this problem and give you the appeal of a nationwide, fully-accessible business.

3. Maintain Your Privacy, Sanity

Just because you work out of your home, doesn’t mean you need to turn your personal life inside out and give up your private information to everyone with whom you do business. Having an 800 number that forwards to your other phone lines lets you keep your business life separate by maintaining the privacy of your home phone and cell phone numbers. Best of all, you can avoid 24/7 burnout by setting your 800 number call forwarding hours and days to draw a line as to when you’re “in the office” to take calls and when you need to be done for the day.

4. Prevent Missed Opportunities

As I mentioned before, one of the challenges of working from home is managing your professional and personal lives. On a micro scale, this can mean little interruptions in the middle of the day, like needing to leave home to pick up children from school or running time-sensitive errands. If you can’t avoid these tasks, you need to at least mitigate their impact on running your business.

With an 800 number, you get two quick benefits that keep you connected on the go. The first is Follow-Me-Live call forwarding that can track you down at multiple phone numbers to make a connection, such as your home office, cell phone, or personal home phone numbers. And if a missed call does reach your voicemail, it’s not the end of the world. With voicemail-to-email, your messages are delivered as audio file attachments to your email address, and you can even be alerted of these messages via text message. This gives you the ability to quickly return missed calls before they turn into missed opportunities.

5. Online Management Tools

Virtual phone systems are all about efficiency, getting more done with fewer resources and in less time. To keep you ahead of the curve, FreedomVoice 800 numbers are kept easy-to-manage with the WebLink Internet Control Panel. This secure, online back-office gives you total access to check your messages, change your settings, update your account information, run reports, and much more — from anywhere you have Internet access! With intuitive controls, you’re in control of your virtual phone system 24/7.

What are you waiting for? Get an 800 number for your home business today!

One of the more popular and creative areas that our customers like to change is their system’s hold music. Today I’m going to cover two available hold music options and how each can help your business.

Random Hold Music

The Random Hold Music feature is exactly what it may sound like – a random shuffle of several professional, studio-recorded hold music songs falling into one of four genres of your choice: Jazz, Easy Listening, Rock, or House. Each new caller will hear a different song in the same genre you’ve set, and callers on hold for an extended period will rotate through multiple songs instead of listening to the same song on repeat.

Random Hold Music can be targeted to your audience, setting the tone for the rest of the call. For example, rock music can get your callers excited about buying your product or some smooth jazz can soothe the nerves of frustrated callers on hold with your customer support line. Here, listen to some samples.

Personalized Hold Music

Personalized Hold Music gives you total control over this recording. With this feature, you are free to upload your own recorded music at any time as the hold music on your virtual phone system. This is a great way to make sure your hold music always stays current, changing with the season or otherwise swapping out new music regularly.

Many FreedomVoice customers also use Personalized Hold Music to upload a pre-recorded message in place of actual music. This lets you use this recording as a promotional space, telling your customers about your latest deals or other important information of which they may not be aware – like how to follow you on Twitter or fan you on Facebook!

To add either of the above hold music options to your FreedomVoice service for just $5 / mo., please contact your friendly Technical Support team at 1-800-477-1477 ext. 2 or by email at support@freedomvoice.com.

Getting an 800 number isn’t like setting up traditional phone service through your local phone company. Here are a few differences that make it easy to get started with a virtual toll free number…

1. No Equipment to Buy

That’s right – virtual toll free numbers are an equipment-free business phone solution. There’s no expensive call switching equipment that will swallow your budget, since all of the features and functionality are hosted from remote by your toll free number service provider. You get a professional auto attendant, multiple voicemail extensions, and can forward calls to your existing phones without any on-site installation or maintenance.

2. No Software to Install

With FreedomVoice, not only is there no equipment to buy, there’s no confusing software to download and install. Your toll free number service is controlled 100% from remote, and you can change your settings and check your messages at any time online through your secure WebLink interface.

3. Instant Number Activation

The best part of getting a toll free number from FreedomVoice? It’s activated instantly! Choose your own 800 toll free number and it will be ready for you to configure and use as soon as you place your order. We’ll help you walk through setting up your service and in a few quick steps you’ll be good to go!

So what are you waiting for? Choose your own 800 number today!

Note: As an exception to the above, vanity toll free number reservations require 1-3 business days to activate from the SMS/800 National Database.

For decades, leaders in the telecommunications industry have pushed for greener solutions, encouraging and empowering business owners to create telework programs with technologies like virtual phone systems and the hosted VoIP PBX.

These technologies increase remote productivity and allow efficient management of remote employees. But even so, the adoption of telework programs is not progressing as rapidly as it should be. Perhaps part of the problem is a failure to realize the full environmental benefit of a nation working from home.

Our good friends at the Telework Research Network released some startling statistics about the impact of telecommuting yesterday, citing, “If every person in the U.S. with a telecommuting-compatible job worked at home on Earth Day, collectively it would:

– Save 900 million vehicle miles
– Save 45 million gallons of gas, $188 million in consumer savings
– Save 2.3 million barrels of oil, valued at $185 million
– Eliminate 423,000 tons of greenhouse gasses, equivalent to taking 77,000 cars off the road for a year
– Save 28 million kWh in net electricity, enough to power 2,600 homes for a year
– Save 775 people from traffic injury and deaths

And that’s just one day! Multiply those figures across an entire year, and you have an amazing potential to reduce commuter consumption and pollution and preserve the planet. The Telework Research Network also states that only 2% of the U.S. workforce telecommutes a majority of the time, though 40% could. So it’s time to start asking: what’s the hold up? Why are people that can telecommute not doing so?

I don’t think it’s because people like rushing out the door, thoroughly enjoy being stuck in traffic, and can’t live without their morning talk radio shows on the drive to work. I believe it’s a matter of culture – we’ve always left home to go to work, so it’s stamped on our brains and in our society that this is how it should be. On top of that, there’s a great deal of management anxiety and technophobia. An employee working out of their home has to be able to be held to the same standard as one in the office, and it is a tough sell to get some business owners to understand that there are tools out there to make that happen.

The decision comes down to business owners and managers. They have to be willing and able to responsibly create a telework program with technologies that allow for efficient management from remote. But getting to that stage is going to take a stronger movement from the office worker. If you could be telecommuting more, why not bring that up with your boss? Explain the benefits, how it can help the company, how you’ll be just as productive, if not moreso, from the comfort of your own home. They may say no, but at least you’ve planted the seed and can nurture it from there.

Let’s make the next decade about finding the answers that will get more people out of the office, of the roads, and working from home to help save the planet. Personal efforts toward conservation start by examining what you do every day, and if you can cross a long commute off your list, you’ll be doing the Earth a great big favor.

Happy Earth Day 2010!

Here are some useful tools you can use today to start testing and improving your website’s speed…

1. Page Speed from Google

Google started this whole conversation, so it’s only fitting that I lead with Google’s Page Speed for a website speed enhancement tool. Page Speed is an enhancement of the Firefox browser add-on an amazing tool you should already be using for any kind of web development and testing. If these two aren’t already a part of your tool belt, add them today. Page Speed with Firebug is an all-around winner, providing an in-depth analysis of your website and showing both what you’ve done right and what you’ve wrong. Effectively, this gives you a checklist of improvements that you can start making right away to your website.

2. YSlow from Yahoo

YSlow is Yahoo’s version of Page Speed, another enhancement to Firebug. Well, to be fair, YSlow has been around considerably longer than Page Speed — but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. At this time, which you use is largely a matter of personal preference. For me, it’s Page Speed, but part of that is based on whom I consider to have a better chance of improving the tool and integrating it with other tools (see #3) in the future. Even so, both provide important diagnostics and analysis, giving you a checklist of items to work toward improving your website. If you like YSlow’s interface better, or find it easier to understand, it will perform just as well.

3. Webmaster Tools from Google

Final word goes back to Google, who has integrated simple page speed analysis into a free service you may already use. That free service is Google’s Webmaster Tools, which shows you a number of useful things about your website and how it is crawled by Google. Once you’re set up with this service, the “Labs” section has a report called “Site performance”. This report shows how fast (or slow) your website happens to be, along with suggestions in the form of changes to your code that can help you create a faster experience for your visitors.

What If Search Engine Rankings Don’t Matter to Me?

Beyond search engine rankings, in fact the very reason behind Google’s decision, website speed is also a factor in how good of a visitor experience you’re providing. If your webpages take an eternity to load, you are likely frustrating your visitors. And they’re less likely to pick up the phone and dial your toll free number or shoot you an email for help, when they can simply to go somewhere else. Like one of your competitor’s sites.

So even if you live on some planet where your websites search engine rankings don’t matter, you should still aim to optimize your page speed for the sake of your visitors.

But recently, some counties in Alabama have begun reporting their residents aren’t receiving their census forms and are worried about losing out on funding. So what does the Census Bureau turn to in their time of need to reach out to residents and collect their information? Why, a toll free number, of course.

To help preserve the accuracy of the census and facilitate easier response, the Census Bureau has released a toll free number that Alabama residents can call to request a census form or even compete the 10-response questionnaire with a representative over the phone.

The toll free number is 1-866-872-6868.

For additional contact toll free numbers, including those for other languages, visit the Census Bureau’s contact page here:

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/contact

Roll Tide!

When you secure a toll free number through a service provider, you have certain protections afforded to you by the FCC that help you keep that number in the event you change service providers, or even change businesses. Today we’ll cover that protection, some pitfalls to watch out for, and how to go about changing providers should the need arise.

Your Protection, A Brief History

Set the WABAC Machine to May 1st, 1993. This is the cutoff date set in 1991 by the FCC for 800 numbers (the only toll free number prefix at the time) to be made “portable,” such that customers can change carriers / service providers without changing their toll free number. The portability of numbers serves two purposes. First, it breaks the grip companies like AT&T had on 800 numbers in the decades prior and encourages greater competition. This inspires service providers to provide only the best service to earn their customers’ loyalty. Second, toll free number portability protects the investment a business makes in promoting and advertising their number as part of their brand.

Transfers take place by changing a toll free number’s “Responsible Organization”, or RespOrg. When you’re ready to transfer a number to a new service provider, simply contact that new provider and they’ll provide you with a form that you can fill out to start the transfer process. It’s usually a good idea to contact your old service provider to double-check your account information when filling out the form and make sure your account is in good standing, so that there’s nothing to stop your transfer from going through. You don’t need to mention that you’re transferring the number away. In fact, I recommend not. Less reputable toll free number service providers have been known to go out of their way to impede transfers if they have advanced warning.

Why to Avoid “Shared Use”

One of the more notorious pitfalls that can cause you to lose the time and effort you’ve spent promoting your toll free number is unwittingly using a “shared use” number.

Time and again, we at FreedomVoice hear horror stories from businesses that turn to us after being put through the ringer by “shared use” toll free number service providers. A shared use line is exactly what you might think – there are multiple businesses dividing up (often geographically) a single toll free number. The purpose is typically to get access to some kind of rare, attractive vanity toll free number spelling. The problem is, when the time comes for you to change service providers or to grow to a nationwide reach, you don’t own the toll free number and can’t take it with you. Everything you’ve built with that number is now lost, and you have to start all over again.

Our advice? Stay away from shared use. Find a toll free number you love for your business, and own it.

Safeguarding Your Toll Free Number

It’s always important to read the fine print when signing on with a new service provider / carrier to make sure you’re not getting into a toll free number black hole. If there’s any doubt about whether you’ll keep your number should you choose to leave, don’t be afraid to ask. And watch out for extensive “transfer away” fees. Some providers charge prohibitive costs as penalties to move a number away from their service.

While your rights to keep your number are in most cases secure, certain actions on your part might give even an honest toll free number service provider leverage to deny your transfer request. For example, if you have a sizeable unpaid balance, transferring your number away isn’t a means of dodging your bill. A service provider can, and likely will, refuse your transfer if your account is not in “good standing” at the time of the transfer.

Also, should you choose to transfer your number away from a service provider, don’t cancel your service with them prematurely. Wait until the transfer is complete, or you run the risk of having your transfer request rejected.

But all is not lost. Today I’ll cover one of the lesser-explored ways around available number limitations: the vanity overdial. Businesses such as 1800MATTRESS (1-800-MAT-TRES[S]) and 1800 CONTACTS (1-800-CON-TACT[S]) have been using vanity number overdial for years with great success. By stretching your vanity toll free number one or two letters over the edge, you can get your hands on coveted, high-value vanity spellings that are otherwise unavailable.

Three’s a Crowd

Overdial toll free numbers have been around long enough that the vast majority of callers understand. They know that even though you’re advertising a vanity number with an extra digit or two, they still only dial the normal number of digits. Still, it’s important not to go overboard with overdial.

While you want to get a great toll free number, if you stretch your vanity spelling too far past the end of the actual number, you run the risk of having callers dial into your auto attendant and jump forward to extensions as they keep dialing your overdial digits. As a general rule, a one-digit overdial is usually safe, a two-digit overdial is a slight risk, and a three-digit overdial is too much.

Searching for Overdials

Finding and ordering vanity overdial numbers is easy. You can use the same vanity search tool we provide to search for regular vanity toll free numbers. When you’re doing your search, however, clip your vanity spelling one or two letters short and move the remaining phrase to the end.

For example, if you’re a realtor looking to find a vanity number ending in “HOME” or “HOMES”, you simply won’t find any available on the national database of toll free numbers. But with a little overdial finesse, you can change your search from, “8**-***-HOME” to “8**-***-*HOM” and get a lot of results. At the time of this writing, numbers like “888-414-1HOM” are available, which can easily be advertised as “888-41-41-HOME” or “888-41-41-HOMES”. Now that’s a great vanity number for anyone breaking into the real estate industry.

So what are you waiting for? Start searching!

While vanity toll free numbers of that caliber are hard to come by, there are still ways that your small business can get more out of an 800 number when it comes to making a name for yourself. Today I outline three straightforward steps to leading with your toll free number and building your brand.

Step 1: Get a Good Great Vanity Number

This is the hardest part of this process. The key here is to find a vanity toll free number about which you can get really excited. You want brain stickiness. When customers see your vanity number, it’s going to set up camp in the back of their mind. When they have need for your type of business in the future, they’re going to remember you first and not your competitors.

Certain vanity spellings can be very hard to find or simply aren’t available any more, and the national database doesn’t allow for searches on the “800″ prefix any longer. This makes it easy to settle on the first result you find or give up if you can’t quickly find something you like. Instead, get creative and brainstorm alternative ways that a vanity spelling can describe your business. Shorten up your vanity words – go for something that is only 4 or 5 letters, and then find a match that has a couple repeating digits leading into it (e.g. 8**-555-BIKE for a bicycle repair shop).

Alternatively, go for something that’s easy to memorize by way of repeating digits or ease of dialing. Remember 1-800-CALL-ATT? Dial down the middle! All of the vanity digits were located in the center of the dialing pad to make it easy to remember. Our own number is another example, 1-800-477-1477. Strong repeating digits, and all of the digits after 1-800 are dialed down the left side of a phone keypad.

So go ahead, start searching. I’ll wait. If you’re already a FreedomVoice customer, call us at 800-477-1477 ext. 2 and we can help you search and add numbers to your account.

Step 2: Put Your Toll Free Number Everywhere

Start with the obvious places – get your new vanity toll free number up on your website, on your business cards, and on your direct response advertisements. Then go further. Do you participate in social media like Twitter, Facebook, or putting videos up on YouTube? Get your toll free number onto these channels, both in your account profiles and in your outward communication.

Move to more niche spaces. Do you get new business through Yelp or Google Local? Make sure your toll free number is updated there. Add it to the end of your email signatures for yourself and any employees. Does your business have a street-facing sign or window? Delivery or service trucks? Yep, there too. Any possible place your business can be seen, whether online, billboard, radio, tv, or print, include your toll free number. Make it an integral part of your brand, as necessary as even the name of your business or your website.

Step 3: Provide an Amazing Caller Experience

Finding a great number may be the hardest part of this process, but the award for most important goes to making your vanity toll free number something your existing and potential customers enjoy calling. It doesn’t matter how attractive and memorable your number is if you’re frustrating those who do call with an unhelpful auto attendant, long hold times, rude representatives, or voicemails that don’t get returned.

Consider having your auto attendant professionally scripted and recorded. Keep your call forwarding and call queue hold times managable. Record calls to your customer support or other departments and review them online to make sure you’re providing only the best and most helpful service. And use features like voicemail-to-text to quickly follow-up on any missed calls.

You want to enlist your customers in your advertising army. You want them to spread positive reviews of your brand and drive people to your toll free number by word-of-mouth. The only way that’s going to happen is if you provide them with a happy experience when they contact you.

Have any ideas / experience with toll free numbers and branding? Comment below!