Setting up a business phone system is a whole lot easier than it used to be. Now most start ups can get up and going in just a couple of days with a professional business phone system without all of the expensive wiring and hardware that used to take weeks and thousands of dollars to install.

If you are setting up a small office or even plan to have several remote teams you will find that using toll free numbers and VOIP phone service is incredibly affordable and fast to set up, giving you that big corporation professional presence without the bill and headaches.

Today for less than $100 a month you can set up a good number of employees and a professional business phone system that will give you amazing flexibility at very affordable rates. Some of you who will be handling a very high volume of calls may still wish to invest in solid VOIP phones, but more often than not you will find that everything can be forwarded through you PCs, laptops and even cell phones for a mobile workforce that gets the most out of every hour and reduces your labor budget simultaneously.

Today’s toll free number routing options can do just about anything you could ever demand from a business phone system and then some. Plus you get the added advantages of better branding and enhanced marketing at the same time.

Additionally you will find that the best toll free service providers offer a complete range of business phone system options including IVR (interactive voice response) for a professional image and more efficient handling of calls. Also find out if your provider offers call recording for quality assurance and call announcement which can help your staff immediately focus their message based on which of your marketing pieces a client is calling on.

It is amazing that even today with almost every company online that when it comes to business marketing, web analytics are still so under used. This isn’t even just an issue with those new to business marketing on the web, it is even rampant among those calling themselves Internet marketing experts and business marketing coaches. Why?

True, many of those just beginning online business marketing may not be aware of the access they have to web analytics or exactly how to use them. Though this really isn’t an excuse. Analytics and metrics are used in every type of business marketing today and if you aren’t watching the numbers you probably won’t be in business for very long. Web analytics for both your website and social media marketing as well as other forms of online business marketing are readily available at your finger tips so there is no reason for you not to be paying attention to them unless you really want to fail.

Other business owners and managers simply ignore their online business marketing analytics out of sheer laziness or because they just don’t feel that it is their thing. Entrepreneurs believe their success relies on the momentum of constant movement and taking action, not pouring over figures. However, they could see so much better results so much faster if only they paid attention to their web analytics. It doesn’t even take that long, even a few minutes a week can show you what is working, what is not and enable to tweak your campaigns for incredible results. This is the secret to truly maximizing your marketing ROI

Even if you don’t need the extra money in the bank that comes from better business marketing you will soon find that if you are not demanding the highest ROI you will be losing market share quickly, and if you don’t need the cash then give it to a worthwhile cause that does.

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For most the word ‘worst’ and 855 vanity numbers probably don't even belong in the same sentence. Though if you are looking to harness the power and many benefits that 855 vanity numbers can offer, of course you want to get your hands on the best possible number or numbers for your business. So what should you be looking for in a great 855 vanity number?

For a start you want to make sure that any 855 vanity numbers you are considering match your branding or at least effectively target any niches that you are going after as part of your overall marketing strategy. By using the most advanced search tools for 855 vanity numbers you can search for winning toll free numbers by keyword or phrase. You will not only find that your first choice may be available but get dozens of other great suggestions as well.

You may have noticed other companies utilizing toll free numbers that use more than the standard seven digits following the toll free prefix. However, while this can help to get your message across effectively and position your company well, this does leave room for mistakes on behalf of the caller and you may be best served by sticking to the normal seven digits when choosing your 855 vanity numbers. The same principal applies to spelling. Great 855 vanity numbers are easy to remember and should be easily spelled. Otherwise you face the potential of losing potential customers and referrals because they get frustrated trying to call you, or worse, get connected to your competition.

One thing you shouldn’t have to worry about with 855 vanity numbers compared to the other toll free prefixes is the numbers history. In the past when reserving 800, 888, 877 or 866 numbers you always wanted to make sure that the previous owner did not have a bad reputation. Fortunately as 855 vanity numbers are new and fresh you can reserve them with confidence which is part of the reason that they have been in such high demand.

By now, you have probably identified the need to use toll free numbers. However, like most small businesses, you’re probably thinking that this can be postponed. Well, this is a big mistake. You’re actually missing out on a lot of opportunities by failing to register a toll free number! Below are some things that might be doing harm for your business, without you even knowing about it.

No Business Voicemail
Toll free numbers can route callers to a voicemail system that mentions your business name and provide more details. Instead of the usual “leave a message” line, you can instead tell them when your business is open, promote your website, and encourage customers to visit your store (if you have one).

Missing Out on Inquiries
When faced with a choice of calling a toll free number versus a local one, most people will opt for the former. Why? Because it’s free. The calls you could have gotten if you have a good toll free number just went out the window to your competitor.

No Call Tracking
Regular phone lines cannot track or analyze the calls your business received. But most toll free providers allow you to log online and manage your account there. It becomes possible to analyze the call history to see how many people are calling, whether they called back, or where most calls came from.

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Direct marketing has undeniably made a comeback. Everyone is well aware of the opportunities presented by this type of promotion. However the question still remains, what type of direct marketing strategy is working now? In this article, we’ll give you a lowdown of the best possibilities to explore at this point in time:

Mobile Opportunities – with the growing number of smart phone users and apps, there is an increasing opportunity for mobile marketers to send direct and targeted messages to their market.

Local Marketing – geo-targeting capabilities that are offered these days can be taken advantage of. This will improve the impact of your local advertising initiatives on the Internet.

Social Media – while the rate of social adoption is expected to be slow because most markets are already quite saturated, social media itself has already become a part of everyday life. By monitoring conversations and trends in these areas, marketers can have a better interaction with consumers.

Consolidation –the line between traditional and digital marketing agencies is becoming blurred. Many companies prefer agencies that have expertise in both. They want a marketing firm that can work across different channels.

If you own a small business, there are even more reasons to use direct marketing to your advantage. It is relatively inexpensive to implement and you are promoting to a highly targeted audience – so your conversion rate can shoot through the roof.

1. Real Estate
While there is no industry or company that cannot benefit from toll free numbers, real estate companies and agents definitely should not be in business without one. Building credibility and branding are perhaps the top two concerns of the many real estate agents that are rushing back into the business. Taking advantage of the rebound and toll free vanity numbers are the easiest and most cost effective way to achieve this.

Everyone who does business online can benefit from Internet advertising, but for someone who has a very limited budget, it is critical to understand where the money should be allocated to get maximum impact. In this article, we’ll talk about the latest Internet advertising trends.

Social Media Marketing – the popularity and influence of social media can no longer be denied. Advertising in these mediums may provide a high return on investment if you segment your market property.

Video Content – videos have become big in 2010 and they will continue to be important in the foreseeable future. Aside from YouTube, there are also a number of video sharing sites that are rising to prominence.

Online Reputation – it is not enough to have an Internet advertising campaign these days, right now, more people are keen to do research. Companies need to have a good reputation because consumers are heavily influenced by comments and reviews of their peers.

Hyper Niches – the market is more cluttered than ever. In addition, the top spots are already dominated by big brands. The solution for most companies is to identify “hyper niches” that are passionate about very specific things.

The Internet advertising trends mentioned above are just some of the developments in the industry today. Some trends that are not noticeable at this point might suddenly shoot to prominence so it is important to keep your eyes and ears open to changes.

For Internet startups, it is important to make every penny count. That means that when it comes to domain names, finding the cheapest one may be beneficial. There are many domain name registrars on the market. These providers are based from all parts of the world. In essence, there is no significant difference if you buy from one company or another because the domain name remains the same.

The distinction lies in the customer support you receive, whether the seller also offers web hosting, and follow-ups when your registration is about to expire. Below are some tips that will help you find the cheapest domain names:

Join domain reseller clubs
A great way to find cheap deals is to sign up for domain reseller clubs. Once you become a member, you can get one piece of domain at bulk rates. As a new webmaster, this resource will also give you a better inkling about the Internet industry in general. Take note that some reseller clubs may ask for sign-up fees; try to find a club that doesn’t require payment.

Get cheap top level domain (TLD)
TLD simply means domain name extensions. For example, instead of getting a .com extension for your site name, you can consider .info, .tv, or .cc among others. Some TLDs can cost as little as $1/yr or even less. Consider country-specific domain names as well.

Along with choosing a winning vanity number, reserving a great Internet domain name for your business is one of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of your new venture. What makes a good Internet domain name?

There are two ways to select an excellent Internet domain name for your business. The first is to opt for a catchy web domain name that stands out, grabs attention and is easy to remember. While this method has worked extremely well for many others, it does unfortunately generally mean more work and will be harder and more expensive to promote.

The second and preferred way to choose a great Internet domain name in terms of SEO and ease of being found is to choose a website name that tells prospects what you do and includes your main keyword. This will make is easier for new traffic to find you when they are looking for your product or service. Ideally this will also include your business name in order to unify your branding and make it easier to receive referrals and for those have heard of you offline to find you on the web. If your business name is available as an Internet domain name then you really must reserve it even if you don’t want it as your main one in order to prevent the competition from grabbing it.

If the second method of choosing an Internet domain name is not an option either because it is already in use or because it is too complicated to remember quickly or will be misspelled too often then consider this third option that has been producing great results for others. Some companies have found that using their vanity number as their web domain name is helping to dramatically improve response rate and increase closing ratios. For example "www.1800-YOUR-INDUSTRY.com". This makes your Internet domain name and website instantly stand out in search results and online advertising campaigns. Why? Because it offers instant credibility and helps your stand out and appear as an expert.

Can you use phone number searches to build targeted lead lists?

Getting your hands on a quality prospect list today can be a lot more difficult than it was a few years ago. It used to be easy to acquire large lead lists of business phone numbers or email addresses from data compilers and lead generation companies. However since so many companies have gone out of business in the past few years many of the names in these databases are no longer valid, while those that are left have often been resold again and again.

However there is another, more creative way to build your own B2B prospect list. Using phone number searches and reverse lookup tools for toll free numbers you can quickly build a targeted list of active numbers. Utilizing the most advanced toll free number search tools you can hone in on specific niche markets using keywords and phrases that are used in vanity phone numbers. There are a number of additional benefits to this.

Firstly, it won’t cost you anything to call them. Secondly the best reverse phone number lookup tools also instantly provide provide a range of data all in one place about a given company. This often includes alternate contact information, the company’s web domain name and a description of their services as well as how long they have had the number. This gives your call center agents access to significant information in an instant which can be used to tweak pitches, sound more knowledgeable about the client’s business when you can and be able to hone in better on their needs.

This may sound a little tedious to do yourself. However when you consider that you can outsource the harvesting of these phone numbers to a virtual assistant for as little as $1 an hour it is also one of the least expensive ways to build a prospecting list.

By using the leading phone number search tools you will also find that your results include a list of other related toll free numbers which should you join a toll free number affiliate program you could offer as an add on service or bundle with your current offering to increase your revenues. Or perhaps you can even host phone number search tools on your own website that will not only provide an extra income stream but help you capture more incoming prospects from the web.