Posts Tagged ‘VOIP’

Run Your Business With Skype

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Skype is one of the leaders in voice over internet technology, if not THE leader in VOIP. They have some awesome services for businesses who are ready to enter the 21st century. Consider these:

  • Free Skype to Skype calling
  • You can have your own online phone number
  • Anyone from anywhere can call you and it’s local
  • Conference calls through Skype
  • Skype To Go allows you to use Skype on your mobile phone

I realize not every business in the world can benefit from this technology, but many can. In addition, you can use Skype for group calling, video calling, and screen sharing. That makes Skype a useful videoconferencing solution for small businesses. I know some small business owners who have ditched their land lines and have gone completely wireless using Skype and their mobile phones.

Skype is an affordable business solution if you find yourself wanting to ditch that old 20th century mainstay, the land line. Tired of the add-on charges your phone company keeps giving you? Tired of the disconnected service whenever you experience a storm? Skype could be a tool you’ll enjoy having around.

I think it’s just a matter of time before the whole world is connected via VOIP. Skype could be the leader for homes and small businesses when that happens.

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Posted in Tools for Small Business | 5 Comments »

Are You Prepared For Change?

Friday, July 29th, 2011

One thing that is inevitable is change. Especially online. And especially when it comes to online marketing. What’s important today may not be important tomorrow.

Case in point: Remember those old web rings? Who joins those any more? Certainly not anyone who is serious about online marketing.

At one time, you could read online debates about which method of advertising was going to win in the end – PPC or banner ads. I guess we know how that turned out.

When Flash first hit the scene everyone tried it. But the consensus was, “No, not now.” It slowed down connections and pages loaded so slow that you couldn’t enjoy them. Now, Flash is almost as commonplace as links, though people are using it differently. And online video looks to be a future force not to be reckoned with – in whatever format it takes.

What’s next?

Will Google+ take over Facebook? Will social replace search as the preferred method of marketing online? Will VOIP become as commonplace as e-mail? Will VOIP and e-mail integrate to make both more powerful tools? Will mobile marketing outpacing video marketing?

We are moving forward and there’s no stopping it. If you are just now starting to market your business online, then you have some catching up to do. It’s time to prepare for change, and that itself requires change on your part. What are you doing about that?

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Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 3 Comments »

Enter The Age Of Facebook Phone Calls

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

VOIP provider Jajah has recently announced a Facebook app that allows you to place free phone calls on your Android to any of your Facebook friends. But it’s available only in the U.S. and Canada.

If you think that’s too limited, rest assured, it’s just a start. An app for the iPhone is on the way and there are rumors that a Skype Facebook app is in development. I can see a day when this technology will be available worldwide. It also has astounding potential for small businesses who want to do business with their Facebook friends.

Imagine posting to your Facebook page that you are running a special, but the special is only available to Facebook friends who call you within a specified time – let’s say within 15 minutes. That’s not a long time. But if you have 2,000 friends and 10% of them see your post at the time that you make it and you get a 10% response, you’ve just sold 20 items at your special offer rate.

Here’s another scenario: One of your friends posts that she is looking for a particular item that you happen to sell. You can call your friend as soon as you see the post and tell her about it. Why risk the potentiality that she doesn’t see your reply because she stepped away from her computer? You just call her. After all, you’ve got the app.

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Posted in Tools for Small Business | 3 Comments »

Skype Offers A Leg Up For Small Business Website Owners

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Skype is a software program you can download to your computer and talk person to person with anyone in the world over the Internet. It’s called Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP by industry insiders.

VOIP has been around for a while and in some quarters it is quite popular. Small businesses, however, have not taken to it in the same way big businesses have. If you work for a large corporation where you frequently discuss business with other employees of the corporation who office in a different location from you where you’d pay long distance phone fees then you may already by using VOIP. But it may be a different provider than Skype, which is free. There are paid VOIP services that offer more and better services than Skype. But we’re not talking about those.

A small business cannot afford more costly VOIP services. That’s why Skype has been a good alternative. It’s free. But Skype has recently introduced a pay-per-call model. It works like this:

  • You put the code on your website that shows a Skype button
  • Your website visitor sees the Skype button and clicks it to call you
  • You answer, pay the per-call fee

Will this give your business the edge over the competition? It may.

Imagine that your website visitors can call you for free at the click of a button. You’re there to answer and offer immediate assistance to their needs. It’s free for them and you pay only when you get a call. Would it be worth it?

I think so, but there is one catch. Your caller has to have Skype loaded on their computer. Otherwise, they won’t be able to make the call. Still, it could be a competitive edge. Would you use it?

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Posted in Tools for Small Business | 4 Comments »