Finding a Vanity Number
I have dozens of pages of information on how to find a vanity number. That is what most of my website is about, so I won’t try to repeat all that here. I’ll just give you the first few steps.
Start with the Instant 800 Lookup
Your first step to finding a good toll free vanity number is to try a few things in the Instant 800 Lookup on the top right of nearly every page at TollFreeNumbers.com. Just enter any words or phrases you think might be at all connected to your business. The most important single thing I can tell you is to be creative and try as many different combinations as you can find and follow the links from there, especially the alternatives.
Then let the Keyword Lookup do the research for you
After you’ve tried the Instant 800 Lookup a few times, if you want more help, use the Keyword Lookup. It’ll of a lot of research on the terms you give it to come up with all the potential numbers, check them all at once d then email you a list of the numbers that are available or going to be available (in disconnect). It’s amazing otherwise much easier it is to just pick a number from a list of available numbers, rather than dreaming them up and checking them all, one at a time. This really is one of the most powerful and important items on the site. There is a lot more information about how to use the Keyword Lookup in the Keyword Lookup Section.
Easy to Activate
If you find one you like I can activate it so it’s working immediately, give you better proof of ownership and help you to transfer it to any service you want. It really is fairly quick and easy if we can find something available for you and the independent proof of ownership alone is worth more than our $49 charge.
Be Creative
Like domain names, the best general names have already been taken but if you’re creative and spend some time at it, you can generally find something decent for almost any type of business. You may need to look for something more unique to your business. Don’t just limit yourself to generic terms or you’ll make your job next to impossible.
The bottom line is that the majority of the biggest advertisers in the US, use vanity numbers for one simple reason - because they work. They don’t cost any more to use than a random number, (unless you rent one from someone that marks up the cost) and they increase the response rate to all your advertising for the life of your business. So even the 
smallest advertiser should at least look for a decent number. With only a $49 one time set up fee, it certainly doesn’t take very many additional referrals or customers to be a great investment!
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Bill Syrios (1 comments.) says:
November 19, 2007 at 9:41 am
Bill,
I have a question. I have the following number: 800-PAID-CALL (got it originally as 800-PAGE-CALL–and could also be PAID-BAK). My question is: Do you think I could build a regional and then national marketing campaign around this number? I would prefer it to be real estate oriented but I was wondering what you thought this issue–if it should be more real estate oriented or if this is memorable enough and doesn’t matter that it isn’t oriented to the business itself.
Of course, I’ll continue to look for an 800 number that fits us better… but in the mean time I’d appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks much… and thanks for such a great service,
Bill Quimby (224 comments.) says:
November 19, 2007 at 10:20 am
Hi Bill,
1-800 PAID CALL is a pretty good number. It’s an ‘800’ which is hard to get. But the message for that one is a little tricky. I am thinking that PAID CALLS might be more relevant if it was promoted with a program that pays you to answer calls. A friend recently started participating with a program called ITV. Their pitch is that they do the advertising and you get paid to just handle the incoming calls for them.
I don’t know if they do advertising to promote that side of it or not though. PAID CALLS doesn’t sound like the right side of the marketing equation. To answer your question it is a good number, but it doesn’t sound like it fits a localized type of service very well, and I think the message is important.
People don’t just want a number that spells something. They want a number that relates to their business and creates the right impression too. You wouldn’t want 877-TOWEL-RACK for your real estate business. You want something not just showing you’re in the real estate business but ideally you won’t about how fast you sell homes or buy them. That’s the reason why someone would want to call you instead of anyone else in the real estate business.
In a competitive business like that you’ll have to be more creative and search more diligently than you might in some other businesses too. The Keyword Lookup is great for that because it’ll be creative and keep trying for you too.