This question is more for the smaller hosts. When did you decide to setup a phone line for the company and how did you handle it assuming you could not be around 24/7. I want to setup a phone line but Im not sure customers will really appreciate it because most of the time they would be getting a voicemail box.

I wouldn't recommend you go for a 1-800 till you are able to hire and ensure its answered professionally during business hours at least.

Better to have a professional to attend your 1-800. you can make sure it is available on business hours atlest and in rest of the time you expect them to email.

As well i hope there are some companies do attend your 1-800 on behalf you. Have a search in WHT as well in other forums /search engines.

Regards

Will you be able to respond to the quickly? If so - it should not matter all that much. We have an 800 number for all of our services & most of the time, our consumers use it for the web development side.

I've had phone service since day 1 since I'm targetting small business owners in a rural area. I would say half of my customers don't reply to e-mail, they just call. I actually have a client that prints out all of their emails, then writes by snail mail or calls the people back.

I recently decided to get a toll-free number, but not for my existing clients (of course they could use it), but it's more of a marketing tactic to get potential clients to call and at least open a line of communication.