When Adding Your Phone Number To Your Website Is a Big Mistake
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 going
to work. Being a staff of one, I soon found out that this would
be more than I could handle.
That 'Foreign' Guy
I still feel so badly about this, but I couldn't understand a
single word from a man who called me one day inquiring about
either 'tampelaters" or "timpolters". He had a thick accent
which I was completely unprepared for. I assumed he was talking
about buying templates, but other than that I just don't know!
The only thing I could do was say 'yes' repeatedly until he
finally said in a somewhat normal cheerful tone, "A thankoyoua
mamma" and that was that. He sounded content with our
conversation, so I guess that's all I could hope for. This
problem occurred a few times.
Advice Seekers
I don't know how many times people would call just to talk about
their problems! They didn't want to buy anything, they just
wanted advice on everything from, "How do I increase my
pagerank?" to "Can you help me figure out this cgi code?" Don't
get me wrong, I enjoy helping people, but I can't sit for hours
with one person on the phone trying to help them solve problems
which 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 just
wanted to see if they could "have a date" (which is putting it
mildly). One even offered to send me a Paypal payment. Yikes.
Telemarketers
I didn't mind these guys as much because they're pretty easy to
handle. If they persist after repeatedly telling them "not
interested", I simply tell them where to put their script and
hang 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 someone
is claiming they are standing in the bushes watching me as they
talk on their cell phone. (My paranoia had been fueled by a
documentary I saw on internet stalkers who become obsessed with
people they meet online even by just looking at a photo - eek!)
Midnight Callers
Despite putting a notice on the site along with a clock showing
the actual time in my area, I had a number of people call late
at night. The lesson here being: Don't count on people reading a
single word on your site, but do count on them bugging you
because they can't seem to figure out that the FAQ section was
created 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 number
was the best choice because the majority of legitimate calls
could have been easily addressed through the FAQ section and by
email. This would also eliminate the problems I was experiencing
with strange callers, people I simply couldn't understand, and
other annoyances.
Maybe it was all just bad luck?
If you've published your phone number online for a while and
haven't had any problems, then you likely have nothing to worry
about. But if you are new to web business, especially if you are
a woman, you might want to consider having a separate phone line
or simply not publishing a phone number online at all.