Is Listing Your Business Phone Number Still Important?

Listing your business phone number is as important now as it ever had been. With the web business listing sites grabbing your information from the listing you need to know about your listing.

Phone books are becoming a thing of the past. They are being replaced by online directories and local business listing web sites. So, is it still important to have your phone company list your business phone number? And does every phone company list your phone number?

The answers are Yes and No. Yes, it is still important to have your business listed and No, not every phone company lists your phone number.

Listing your phone number has usually meant that your business will get a line listing in the business white and yellow pages. And if someone dialed 411 information the operator would be able to look your business up. Also your outbound caller ID text will reference your listing so the person you call will see your listing information on their phone (Not on most cell phones).

Now business listing sites grab your information from phone listings and other sources to populate their sites. Sites like Google Places, Merchant Circle, Yelp and others populate their sites from phone listings. Your listing on these sites will show up when someone does a search on Google, Yahoo, Bing or other search engine. Business listing sites are the replacements for the old phone book. The trick is to make sure you are in them all, keep them up to date and keep tabs on them. Listing your business phone number will accomplish getting your business listed in many of them.

If your company is not listed in these sites why is that? The company you have your phone number through may not have listed your number. You may have the features you need but you are not getting the advertising you would get from listing the number. For instance many low cost cable phone services, discount telecoms, online phone number providers, office suites and Google Voice may not be listing your number. Your home phone or cell phone will not be listed as a business.

The key with listing your business is the right classification. Real estate for example has many sub classifications. When your phone company lists your business you need to make sure you are in the classifications that your prospective clients would search under.

Telecoms and cable phone companies will usually list your number but not at their discounted rates, add $10 to $25 per month for the listing or upgrade to premium services. Online phone number providers may not have listing available or they will charge extra for the service. Google Voice will not list your number. All Call Technologies will list your business number if your number is with us for $15 per month.

Listing your number is a long term advertising investment. It will take months for your listing to propagate to all of the various entities. Don't expect results immediately but listing puts your business in places you need to be.