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When Adding Your Phone Number To Your Website Is a Big Mistake
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By Carole Nickerson
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I had been listing my phone number on my website for a while,but when traffic took a surge, I knew that it just wasn't goingto work. Being a staff of one, I soon found out that this wouldbe more than I could handle.
That 'Foreign' Guy
I still feel so badly about this, but I couldn't understand asingle word from a man who called me one day inquiring abouteither 'tampelaters" or "timpolters". He had a thick accentwhich I was completely unprepared for. I assumed he was talkingabout buying templates, but other than that I just don't know!The only thing I could do was say 'yes' repeatedly until hefinally said in a somewhat normal cheerful tone, "A thankoyouamamma" and that was that. He sounded content with ourconversation, so I guess that's all I could hope for. Thisproblem occurred a few times.
Advice Seekers
I don't know how many times people would call just to talk abouttheir problems! They didn't want to buy anything, they justwanted advice on everything from, "How do I increase mypagerank?" to "Can you help me figure out this cgi code?" Don'tget me wrong, I enjoy helping people, but I can't sit for hourswith one person on the phone trying to help them solve problemswhich could easily be resolved with a trip to Google.
God's Gift To Women
Oh my, I've had a few interesting calls from guys who justwanted to see if they could "have a date" (which is putting itmildly). One even offered to send me a Paypal payment. Yikes.
Telemarketers
I didn't mind these guys as much because they're pretty easy tohandle. If they persist after repeatedly telling them "notinterested", I simply tell them where to put their script andhang up the phone. I don't have time for their nonsense.
Pranksters
I guess kids still get their kicks pranking people on the phone.What's not funny is when you're alone in the house and someoneis claiming they are standing in the bushes watching me as theytalk on their cell phone. (My paranoia had been fueled by adocumentary I saw on internet stalkers who become obsessed withpeople they meet online even by just looking at a photo - eek!)
Midnight Callers
Despite putting a notice on the site along with a clock showingthe actual time in my area, I had a number of people call lateat night. The lesson here being: Don't count on people reading asingle word on your site, but do count on them bugging youbecause they can't seem to figure out that the FAQ section wascreated to specifically answer their questions.
In the end, I had a decision to make - get an extra phone line,or simply remove my phone number. I decided removing my numberwas the best choice because the majority of legitimate callscould have been easily addressed through the FAQ section and byemail. This would also eliminate the problems I was experiencingwith strange callers, people I simply couldn't understand, andother annoyances.
Maybe it was all just bad luck?
If you've published your phone number online for a while andhaven't had any problems, then you likely have nothing to worryabout. But if you are new to web business, especially if you area woman, you might want to consider having a separate phone lineor simply not publishing a phone number online at all.
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