Today’s super electronic communications world is overflowing with phone numbers for personal use, businesses, hotlines and prank calls. With so many different numbers floating out there, how do you make your own business number stand out among the billions of 7 digit codes? And more importantly, what are people saying about your phone number online?

Using the internet to find your own phone number is one way to figure out how to make your own number more visible to the consumer. Using directories, especially, is one way to create a ‘name’ for your business that anyone can read.

How-to Look up Your Number
If you’re curious to see how far your business information goes try typing your business phone number into a search engine. Sometimes the business name will pop right up, and sometimes you’ll get links to directories and other sites that provide business information online.

The Online Local Business Directory
Typing your town’s name into Google or Bing.com will bring up a plethora of local directories. You can choose one that is specific to your industry, or you can choose one that includes businesses from all over your town. Some of the local directories will even allow you to advertise for a small fee.

Adding your name to a local online business directory will allow people in your town to find you and read information about you, your business, your services and details about your business location and hours. Basically everything a customer might want to know about your business without having to call you to find out.

The Online Yellow Pages
The online Yellow Pages are just what they sound like they are. They are the online version of the giant yellow paper monstrosity you discover on your porch every 6 months. The online yellow pages are smarter, more eco friendly and contains business information on businesses all over the country.

If your business depends on consumerism from all over the country and not just your area, you’ll want to get your business information on the online yellow pages.

1-800-Reputation
There are websites out there that allow people to comment on the 1-800 numbers that call them, especially if their number shows up as ‘Unknown’. If your business calls a personal line, you can expect someone to write a comment, good or bad, about how the call was handled, when the call was placed (during dinner time, after 8 p.m.), and the actual call quality. These sites are important to businesses because your very reputation as a business it as stake. For phone calls that weren’t answers, consumers may type the phone number as a search query to find out who was calling them.

No one wants to do business with a company that calls families after 8 p.m. or is rude and discourteous on the phone. But everyone wants to do business with courteous, professional and compassionate customer service people that know their business and care about how their customer feels. Strive to have phone numbers that lead to positive reviews online.

Looking up business and personal information online is getting easier, but there is a caveat. Make sure that you aren’t listing information that you don’t want complete strangers to know.

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This post was written by Danica Sorber, owner of DSorber Media Works.

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3. Creating a Niche for Mobile Internet and Social Networking
4. Inconsistency in Google Maps May Be Business Killers