Many small business owners use their cell phone for their business phone as well. This can create a privacy issue when it comes to listing your business online. With many online business listings (Google, Facebook, Yellow Pages) you can choose not to list your phone number. However, with others like Yelp, you have to list a business phone number. There’s also the question of how legitimate your business looks if it doesn’t have a phone number listed. Enter Google Voice.
If you live in the U.S., you can get a phone number that automatically forwards calls to any number you like. This doesn’t prevent unwanted calls necessarily, but it allows you to avoid listing your mobile number and you can always disconnect the two numbers at a later date.
Google Voice has some other great features as well. You can send text messages from your computer, read transcripts of voicemails instead of listening to them, and customize greetings for family, friends or coworkers.
This is a completely free service and takes less than five minutes to set up. Check it out: Google Voice