While we often emphasize the power and importance of a virtual phone system for your business, many entrepreneurs instead use a toll free number simply to mask their private number.
By setting up your toll free number to skip your auto attendant greeting and immediately forward calls to your cell phone, you’re effectively adding another line to your mobile service. This line you can exclusively advertise to your business contacts, and gain several immediate benefits to both your work and home life…
With a toll free number and virtual phone system from FreedomVoice, your voicemail service goes well beyond just taking messages on missed calls.
One of our most popular voicemail features is the ability to set up automated question and answer voicemail boxes. These voicemail boxes prompt callers with a series of your pre-recorded questions, then string their answers together into a single voicemail message. For example, if your automated questionnaire involves five quick “Yes or No” questions, you might get a message in this voicemail box of, “Yes – No – Yes – Yes – No.”
Here are a couple great ways you can use question and answer voicemail boxes with your business…
A landing page is a specialized webpage that appears when a potential customer clicks on your online ads or a search-engine result link to visit your website. The page ideally displays content that is a logical extension of the ad or link by using specific keywords, phrases, and images that match the visitor’s expectations.
Properly executed, landing pages can be highly effective at improving your website’s conversion rate, or ability to turn clicks into new business. When given the chance, I recommend consulting with a good copywriter and designer for maximum benefit.
Here are the four basic elements you should look to include when building your own landing pages…
A gallon of gas, a movie ticket, even a cup of coffee – everything’s more expensive today than yesterday, and probably going to be even more expensive tomorrow. Call us crazy, but we’re going to swim upstream with this one.
800 numbers have grown increasingly scarce for a while – and for that reason every toll free number service provider values them with some kind of one-time premium. Frankly, the upgrade is worth it if the price is right – it’s sure to pay for itself. To say nothing bad about an 866, 877, or 888 prefix toll free number, for my money I’d go for the original, the true value. We think you should to, and to help you get there we’ve dropped our 800 number price to just $10.
Over the past couple weeks, we’ve covered using heatmaps and live user testing to diagnose potential problems with your small business website and how to correct them. This week is about turning those findings into positive action by using Google Website Optimizer to test your proposed solutions.
This quick, free, and effective tool helps you set up tests that distribute new visitors to your old and new pages and track how effective each is at getting your customers to complete an action on your website. Whether that’s filling out a lead form, downloading a report, subscribing to your service, or placing an order – you’ll know which version of your website does more for getting you new business.
Used properly, features like an auto attendant, call forwarding, and call queues get your callers to the right person within your business in the least amount of time. Used poorly, these features can create long hold times and frustrate your callers.
This week we’ll cover three ways the features of your virtual phone system can cut down the time between when a caller dials your toll free number and when they reach someone that can help.
We’ve all misdialed – swapping a couple digits or mashing multiple numbers by accident. We get connected to some random stranger who sounds nothing like who we were expecting, and we fumble for an embarrassed explanation before hanging up.
With 866, 877, and 888 prefix toll free numbers, the main cause of misdialing is in the prefix. 800 numbers have been around considerably longer than these other numbers, so “8-0-0″ is the default in the minds of your customers. If they don’t have your contact info handy, there’s a risk they might fill in the blank with the wrong prefix.
Here are some easy ways to prevent prefix misdials.
I’ve always been fond of the expression, “straight from the horse’s mouth.” It means, briefly, getting info from the highest authority. And if Mr. Ed taught us anything, nothing beats a horse’s mouth when it comes to munching hay and speaking the truth. This week we’ll see how to get usability data straight from your horse’s mouth: live humans tasked with evaluating your website.
Choosing the type of virtual phone number that’s right for your local business can be a tough decision. A local virtual phone number gives you a neighborly feel and can help you earn trust with your local audience. A toll free number has the opposite advantage, giving your company the immediate appearance of a larger, more established business. So which one is right for you?
Here’s a breakdown of the benefits of each type of virtual phone number to help you make an informed choice.
You’ve done it – you’ve launched your small business website. You’ve deployed your advertising army and are ready to sit back and watch visitors come pouring in. You eagerly await that first person to sign up online, or that first person to pick up the phone and dial your toll free number. But wait, there’s something wrong… nothing’s happening! Your analytics package tells you people are coming to your website, they’re just not doing what you want them to do. Is your call to action not clear enough? Do they not see your toll free number? What are you missing?
It’s time to stop guessing and know exactly how your visitors see and use your website. It’s time for heatmaps.
A positive company culture can do wonders for your business, turning regular employees into brand evangelists that go above and beyond for you and your customers. But to build and maintain such a culture, you have to understand what it takes to get your employees to buy-in to your company’s core values and transcend thinking of your company as, “just another job.”
Remember when we used to dial 411 for information? When it slapped our phone bills for a couple bucks, and all you got was a lousy phone number? I’m glad those days are over.
A toll free number prefix has not been released since 2000, when 866 numbers joined the ranks of business toll free. But recent trending has shown a spike in toll free number usage as droves of small businesses emerge in the wake of the recent recession. This boom has lead many to speculate (with cautious optimisim) that the clock is again running as to when the next toll free number prefix, 855, will be released.
And 855 is an opportunity you don’t want to miss. Read More
You’ve built your toll free number to be the pulse of your business. It touches every part of your advertising, from your business cards, to your website, radio commercials, billboards, tv spots, and more. It’s your virtual receptionist, your technical support hotline, your sales contact, your voicemail service, and your dedicated fax line. It’s become an integral piece of your growing brand.
But now you want to transfer (or “port”) your toll free number to a new service provider. Can you do that?
The amount of people utilizing social media is astounding. According to the Inc 500, 91% of companies use at least one social media tool, compared with 77 percent of companies surveyed in 2008. In addition, 86% of companies plan to spend more on social media in 2010, and a further 13% are planning to keep the same level of budget, based on a report by Marketing Charts.
We’d like to share our social media success story thus far.
For some people recording an auto attendant greeting for their virtual phone system is easy. For others, they’d much rather have a professional take care of it. At FreedomVoice, we make both options available to our customers. This video shows the process behind creating an auto attendant greeting, music and on hold messages for a business’s toll free number service.
Watch the video to see how it works! And no, we did not create this video or have any affiliation with the star
As toll free number and virtual phone system fans we applaud innovation. That is why we love Tim Ferriss’ ideas behind the 4-Hour Work Week. In the video, Ferriss gives us the scoop on ways to increase efficiency, reduce stress and get organized. These are ideas any entrepreneur can appreciate.
An 866, 877, or 888 toll free number may be the missing piece of the puzzle for your business. Here is why:
Quality Toll Free Numbers are Going Fast Many valuable 866, 877, and 888 toll free numbers are available at the moment. People are recognizing that 866, 877, and 888 toll free numbers present a new opportunity for the taking.
Although FreedomVoice primarily sells toll free numbers and virtual phone systems, we still want your business to be successful in other areas outside of our toll free number and communications expertise. Because of this, we are publishing these helpful tips from Guardian Analytics.
Here, Guardian Analytics, a provider of fraud prevention software for the financial services industry, advises businesses on the risks of Internet banking, and how they can protect their companies from becoming a victim of online banking fraud.
Smart entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to reach a nationwide audience know they need a toll free number and virtual phone system for their business, but many aren’t sure how to tell one service provider’s offering apart from another. Stacked up against FreedomVoice, it usually comes down to others charging for things you should be getting for free. In this no-punches-pulled post, I’m going to help you uncover how to get the most out of what you pay for by calling out red flags that tell you a service provider is trying to put you through the ringer.
The Contest is Now Closed. No More Business Tip Submissions Are Being Accepted. Thank You to Everyone Who Submitted Their Tip. Stand By, the Winner Will Be Announced Soon!
In business, a good tip can go a long way. Whether it is advice in finance, marketing, management, etc., we’ve all heard a tip at one time that has had a positive impact on our company and/or bottom line. Especially the tip that brought you to FreedomVoice for toll free numbers and virtual phone systems!
As the first Small Business Tip Contest on the FreedomVoice Blog, we would like to ask you to share advice that has helped your business succeed. The person who submits the best business tip will be awarded a HP Mini 110-1012NR XP Edition 10.1″ Widescreen Netbook Computer!
If you have a consumer- or business-related question in the United States, the odds are there is a government agency with a toll free number whose function it is to provide an answer.
I’ve compiled the toll free number hotlines of 10 such agencies that can help you get your questions answered and otherwise provide valuable public services that can benefit both your business and personal life.
Advertising a vanity toll free number is a smart and effective tactic that can help boost your direct response campaigns as well as lodge your business deep in the minds of your target audience. By spelling out words related to your business within your number (e.g. “8**-555-BIKE” for a bicycle shop), you’re giving potential customers exactly what they need: an easy way to remember who and how to call when they need what you have to offer. FreedomVoice has introduced a new free vanity search tool that can help you find the right number for your business. Here are a few tips that can help you get started…
According to research from Emailvision, which surveyed 102 companies at the recent Online Marketing Show, marketers are failing to embrace social media, with only three percent looking into channels such as blogging and micro-blogging via tools like Twitter.
With Facebook set to catch up with Google in terms of unique users and Twitter expected to attract its 25 millionth user by year-end, marketers may be missing out on more than they realize.
Following a trying period with little-to-no-growth, industry layoffs and pay cuts, legal professionals are turning to proven business development efforts to freshen their brands and generate business.
Working with law firms to help them dig out of this smoking crater, Moire Marketing Partners, a strategic branding and communications agency, is offering some tips on how firms can position themselves for growth in the post-recession economy.
