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When it comes to being successful in the world of business, having the right company image is key. No matter how great a company may be, without looking professional, it won’t get very far. Getting that all important professional image can be a difficult task, especially for smaller businesses.
One of the major elements required to achieve a strong company profile, is having a respectable business address. Entrepreneurs starting a business from their homes aren’t going to impress clients with a standard urban address. This is where virtual services can help transform the way in which people see a company. Here is a breakdown of what virtual services entail, and how they can massively improve company appearance.
Virtual Office
Anyone running a limited company is required to provide a business address. This address is where companies will receive any official correspondence, and of course, the address that clients will see. Renting a virtual office from a virtual service provider is a great way to get a professional and modern-looking address.
With a respectable point of contact, companies will come across as both credible and reliable to their customers. Another benefit of having a virtual address is the added privacy is confers. With all correspondence sent to the virtual address, business owners can protect their homes from unsolicited callers and mail.
The Power of the PO Box
Being able to receive business correspondence via a professional-looking PO Box is a great way to raise a company’s profile. Instead of an endless supply of letters falling through the front door, company mail can be directed straight to the virtual address. Some virtual service providers also offer mail forwarding. This allows business owners to receive their important correspondence at home without needing to visit their PO Box. A virtual mail box can be great for those who want to make a strong first impression, whilst having the ability to prevent a torrent of post in their homes.
Company Growth Made Easy
For companies looking to branch out to a different geographical region, the move can be both expensive and time consuming. Instead of spending large amounts of capital on securing new office space and personnel, companies can instead make use of a virtual office in the area. Simply put, this affords companies the power of a professional business presence, without the looming overheads.
Unlike establishing a physical base of operation, utilising a virtual office is quick and cost effective, meaning company expansion is made a smooth as possible.
More than a Mail Box
As well as the ability to make use of virtual offices, it is also possible to benefit from phone answering services and dedicated business numbers. Some virtual service providers also offer the option to have company calls handled professionally by a receptionist. This service can go a long way to boosting company profile and giving a credible impression to clients. Calls to such business numbers can usually be forwarded to a home number; meaning business calls can be handled from home without losing that professional image.
Calls can be handled professionally with virtual services
Conclusion
For an easy way to get a great company profile, virtual services are an excellent solution. From virtual office space for quick expansion, to dedicated post boxes for important correspondence, there are many ways in which companies can benefit. With so many advantages to virtual services, it is easy to see how they are modernising the world of business.
Image License: Creative Commons image source
This article was provided by Nathan Griffiths on behalf of the Workstation a virtual services provider.

With the rise of digital media communications such as video advertising and remote access viewing, another element that has been showing promise for small and large businesses alike is the use of speaking avatars, or virtual spokes models.

SitePal is one of the websites taking advantage of the benefits of speaking avatars for business and education. Their features allow for detailed personalization such as the ability to upload your own photo in which to create the website avatar, as well as over two-hundred and fifty customizable pre-made examples to choose from or build upon.

Users can use their own voices or take advantage of the built-in version. The good news is that voice synthesis, or artificially produced human voices, have greatly improved since the early days of the internet. Instead of the droning monotone of old, voices now include fairly realistic inflections and the highs and lows of natural speech.

This fun and powerful tool has become more common and beneficial as seen on many of the sites that now use SitePal.

Global ranking for Sitepal is at #34,425. While around one-third of the site’s visitors are from the U.S., it is also very popular in Mexico.

LiveFaceOnWeb also offers an element of employing digital salespersons but with a bit of a more realistic slant than the average creatively constructed speaking avatars. LiveFaceOnWeb stands behind their belief that people relate better to real people, so that providing human models for their digital avatars can help to enrich the interactivity of any website.

LiveFaceOnWeb allows users to choose from a selection of live models to represent their services, products or other online opportunities. Creating the finished product gives the individual purchasing the service the ability to customize video length, shot parameters and the type of presentation.

Users will then create a script and submit it, and within a few days they will have a completed advertisement made with, and by, live professionals in their industries. They also offer packages with complete services for those who have little to no experience.

Whether due to these web sites’ ages or because users prefer the animated avatars to the human versions, may still be undetermined but global rankings show LiveFaceOnWeb at #58,595. The sites viewers are predominantly males between the ages of forty-five to sixty-five and older with some college education.

The Bottom Line

So how can this form of advertising offer any benefits to your business or services website?

Results show that placing an avatar or live human communication element on your website’s landing page can greatly reduce bounce rates.
Beyond the aesthetic and the ability to keep readers on your page longer, avatars can also supply a marketing nudge by delivering short, precise sales pitches to the visitor while they are simultaneously browsing the text aspect of your site.
Digital advertising in this format has also shown to be effective in announcing discounts, specials and bonuses on your products or services that can lead visitors deeper into browsing your product or service line, as well as closer to becoming a new customer.
Custom avatars can also be used to help site visitors navigate your site. This can help users who may be interested in your products and services, but are not net savvy enough to navigate other sites that may be more confusing.
Personalized Avatars can also be configured to collect contact information from prospective customers before they exit your website. Attaching interactive contact forms help to make this an easy and flexible format for data collection.
Call-to-action buttons or prompts can be reinforced by a speaking avatar that makes the visitor aware them.

A study conducted by Dr. Ralph Wilson, the CEO of WebMarketingToday, analyzed the influence of the speaking avatar against how long visitors spent on his website. The results showed that the speaking character had enormous impact. The average time spent on his site increased by an average of 33% with a 17% increase in page views for each visitor.

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