I am considering doing web design as an aspect of my website. I started this business in a shared home. The person I live with doesn’t want the phone to be used for business. Is there an alternative way to conduct business without a phone? Through e-mail, perhaps? I do have a cell phone, but I don’t like getting spam calls by advertising the number online.
I do a large amount of my business strictly over email, though it would be difficult sometimes without a phone. It does look unprofessional to not have a phone number, so keep that in mind.
It also depends on your target customers. More tech-savvy customers probably wouldn’t care that much. People running mom and pop stores that can barely turn on a computer would hate it.
i’ll bet the person you live with doesn’t want spam calls on the house phone either
get yourself a second cell phone for the business
Thank you and I agree with both replies. I have decided to do only training on my website, at the moment, until I can afford my own business phone line / cellphone. Mind you, this is a business that I started after I have been downsized. I’m pretty much doing things on a shoestring budget, at least for the moment. Besides that, I love helping people learn technologies more than just creating a website, in general. This is what I want to niche in, at least.
If you’re not willing to take phone calls then you’re effectively shutting out clients who would want to contact you by phone, and when you’re starting out you simply cannot be picky about how you deal with clients.
It is possible. We provide a design service without a means of contacting us by telephone.
All this means is that you should be available almost immediately via the other methods you offer (eg. returning e-mails within minutes during business hours etc).
There are a million ways to have your own ‘phone’ for your business, be it a dedicated business line, a business mobile/cell phone, skype or other voip etc etc. Really don’t see the problem - and it’s all claimable as business expenses.
Just set it up how best suits you - personally, I used to have a dedicated business line in my office, then moved to using Skype with a skype online number - I have a voicemail box with that and I take the calls I want to take and leave the others to go to voicemail.
I have the exact same setup. Skype with a real phone number and unlimited monthly service. Costs me something like $9 per month, and it’s accessible anywhere. I have a Belkin Skype phone in the office, I can get calls on my iMac, iPhone, etc.
While you can get a lot done through email, I think a phone is necessary and like others have suggested, I think Skype is a great solution.
Steve
If I were a customer I would be wary of giving my money to someone, in any industry, not just web design, who does not have a phone.
Not because I couldn’t deal will them over the internet, but because I would wonder why they didn’t have a phone. Are profits so bad that they can’t afford one? (In which case, what does that say about the quality of their work?) Did they not pay their phone bill on time? (What does that say about how they honour agreements?)
Also, if you have a separate phone for business it will be easier for you to separate personal and business calls for tax and accounting purposes.
I’d also like to note that I work for a mid-sized business in the IT department and we have not gone with someone specifically because they didn’t have a phone number.
You need a phone. If not just for professionalism and standard business practices, then so that you can complete registrations of domains and complete legal forms, etc.
Even the IRS asks for a phone number. It’s one thing to avoid phone calls from clients (I encourage email) but to not have a phone at all seems like a lot of trouble.
Get a fax, too! 
I can tell you that we won’t deal with vendors for professional services we can’t call – sometimes voice cuts through alot of the misunderstandings of text.
I agree, and communicating with someone over Facebook is about as unprofessional as it gets!
I can guarantee you will lose more business than you gain by not providing a phone number. Looks ‘fishy’ to the clients and makes real communication a nightmare.
Get a cheap cellphone and use that
You’d be surprised at how many people have contacted me through Facebook to get a website built. I get at least two messages a month about building a website.
However, next to 100% of them are all “I want to build the next Facebook, but I can’t pay, but if you take equity you’ll be rich. Interested?” types.
I agree with the others in that you need to have a phone number. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to advertise the number online though. Some will debate this, but personally, I do not put my phone number on my website, only a contact form.
If they are interested in working with me, I have them enter their contact info. If I am interested in the project, I can then call them to discuss. Otherwise I can simply reply via email for more details or decline the project.
At any rate, any client that I work with will receive my phone number to communicate with me. Just because you have a phone number doesn’t mean it needs to be public domain. All just depends on how you want to utilize your phone for marketing. I use it for client relations, not leads. How you choose is up to you!
If don’t want to give out your cellphone number you could try looking into getting Google Voice number and have it forward to your cell. You can turn on the screen call option which will force them to identify themselves the FIRST time they call you. Once they are on your contact list they won’t be bothered again. If its a telemarketer calling you can just not take the call and block the number. I also like the ‘do not disturb’ feature so i can have it go straight to voicemail but keep my normal cellphone on.
When i went from intern to temp to contractor at my current job, and while i work on many of the same projects with the same contact i don’t have in-office number they could call anymore. I didn’t want to hand all the different departments my cell number so i got Google Voice. I also moved my voicemail to Google voice so if you call my real cellphone number and leave a message i get a email and SMS with a google voice transcript, love it!
I have a web business without the need of a phone number. Though it may look unprofessional and suspect not to. But i’m doing ok.
I am completely agreed with first replies. I also do a large amount of my business activities over email, but without a phone it would be difficult sometimes. It’s really looks very unprofessional to not have a phone number.