Now imagine if there was a way to bypass traditional communications in the same way that staff can call different extensions within the same office building without incurring any per-minute costs. Such a scenario could result in a cut to communications costs by 50% or more. Well the good news is that's exactly what the technology known as voice over IP (VoIP) provides!

What is Voice over IP?

Without going into the technical details, VoIP is essentially a way of moving your business's voice communications from traditional PSTN (Publicly Switched Telephone Network) telephone lines to the Internet where data is simply data, regardless of what it is, where it came from, and where it's going. In the case of VoIP, that data just happens to be a phone call; more accurately, a phone call without the heavy toll fees and per-minute charges to which most have grown accustomed.

From that basic premise, the functionality of VoIP technology expands in a number of directions, from each of which your business could benefit.

Traditional Telephone Calls	Voice over IP Calls

How VoIP Works

Using a VoIP provider and a bit of moderately priced equipment, your business's telephone service is seamlessly converted to an Internet-based model where per-minute charges no longer apply to interstate calling. Acting as a bridge between your internal PBX system, the conventional telephone network, and a provider's VoIP network, that VoIP equipment connects each vital aspect of your communications infrastructure.

This is made possible by VoIP providers having services based in each state, allowing calls to effectively hop over the most overpriced points in connecting a telephone call and routing it via the cheapest available path. Based on the destination of each call made, your VoIP equipment routes your call to your PBX, the conventional PSTN, or your VoIP provider's network.

The behind-the-scenes action gets complicated but to end users (i.e. both your staff and your customers) it is totally transparent. You just make the calls and answer the phones the same way you always have; the only noticeable difference being all that money you'll start saving!

Basic VoIP

For the most basic example of VoIP, suppose your business is run entirely out of one office. Keeping in touch with customers, suppliers, and distributors in other states normally means racking up expensive per-minute charges but utilizing a VoIP provider's own network manages to turn your interstate calls into the cost equivalent of in-state calls. Even international and mobile calls are impacted to varying degrees, resulting in enormous savings from top to bottom in your communications costs.

For example, suppose you were to call a supplier in another state to place an order for raw materials. You pick up your regular phone and dial the supplier's number just as you always have. Your VoIP equipment looks at the number and determines that you are placing an interstate call; it therefore routes that call through one of your VoIP provider's switching centers in the state where your call is destined. Your provider then routes your call into the conventional PSTN as a local call to your supplier who probably doesn't have a VoIP system and has no idea that you do either.

Branch Office VoIP

Building on the basic VoIP concept, things begin to get more interesting for businesses when branch offices are involved. While both personal and business callers stand to save money with basic VoIP implementations, businesses with branch offices in distant locations stand to save even more by pooling their own VoIP resources. Even better, such a VoIP setup can still be done while keeping all your current PSTN equipment still in place!

Suppose, for example, that your business has branches in three different cities, each with its own PBX system and internal extensions. By setting up VoIP equipment at each site and configuring it to route calls between branches, calls can be placed to extensions at any site as easily as dialing a room down the hall. Since such calls will be placed without ever utilizing PSTN lines, they can be made without any of the toll charges you'd normally expect.

Further suppose that your business currently has a similar setup using dedicated lines leased from your telephone provider. While this probably makes interoffice communication easier, it leaves your business paying hefty fees for such dedicated lines. Just as VPN technology can connect computer networks between sites without the need for dedicated data lines, VoIP can connect offices without dedicated voice lines, allowing their use to be totally eliminated. However, in cases where your business still need dedicated lines between certain sites for massive data transfers, VoIP can still be used to route calls through those lines if and when it is the most cost effective route.

Now let's suppose your business has branches in different states; in such a case, the savings benefits of VoIP increase even more. Just as with a basic VoIP setup interstate calls become more like local calls when routed via the VoIP provider's network, your VoIP equipment can intelligently route your calls through your own branch offices' VoIP systems. In states where you have branch offices, calls can be routed via VoIP without utilizing the VoIP provider's network. In other words, if you have branches in all states where you do business, your business will practically become its own long distance carrier.

Call-center VoIP

For larger businesses with a more centralized setup — for instance, having branch offices sharing a single call-center — a toll-free number typically acts as a single point of contact where a PBAX routes calls to and between branch offices in different locations. While this setup keeps customers' calls free and cuts down on time wasted by your staff manually transferring calls, this can be an expensive venture for your business as calls can end up being forwarded literally anywhere. Even worse, with each extension mistakenly chosen by the caller and each minute used, costs are piling up. Fortunately, VoIP technology can be utilized even in this case.

For starters, using VoIP setups similar to those before can cut down the bulk of the call transfer costs. Costs to the call-center's toll-free line will still be accrued but by adding each branch office to the VoIP network, the transfer of those calls to each branch becomes essentially free as they are on-network VoIP calls just like VoIP calls between branches.

Additionally, having VoIP-enabled branch offices available in different regions can cut costs even more. You may not be aware of this but by making arrangements with the appropriate telephone service providers, toll-free calls can be forwarded regionally to each branch and then forwarded to the call-center from there. With care taken to make sure each region's toll-free calls route to the most cost effective branch, those calls can further be routed over the VoIP network to the call-center. If branch offices are available in all states, then such a setup results in nation-wide calls to your business's toll-free line becoming far less of a burden on your monthly bottom line.

Conclusion

VoIP is an exciting new technology that can help anyone to lower his or her telephone bills where long distance charges are currently very high. For businesses, the possible savings are even more dramatic.

Where having offices in remote locations typically means greater and greater expenses with each new branch, VoIP suddenly transforms such a problem into a benefit. Thanks to the magic of VoIP, having regional offices spread among several states has become a gateway to incredible cost savings, even greater than the already considerable cost savings of a single-site VoIP setup.

So how can you, the small- to medium-sized business manager, maximize resources in order to compete with the big guys? Though it's natural to want to replicate what established companies are doing, it simply isn't realistic with a razor-thin budget. Even so, that doesn't mean your business can't compete; history is replete with stories of underdogs overcoming impossible odds and near invincible opponents.

Along those lines, one course of study that can be helpful to the smaller business comes from what may be a surprising source: military strategy. Specifically, they from the principals of asymmetrical warfare or — to be less politically correct — guerilla warfare. Successfully mounting both asymmetrical wars and asymmetrical campaigns against larger competitors share many fundamental concepts, three of which we'll consider.

Fight the battles you can win

You may not be able to beat your larger competitors head-to-head on a national basis, but that doesn't mean you can't compete regionally or in some other targeted manner. There are almost certainly smaller regions that aren't being served where your business could potentially dominate. Providing consistent services in a few regions will always result in more return customers than providing shoddy nation-wide service; if you don't believe that, look at all the nation-wide companies doing precisely that and how many consumers are begging for alternatives.

That's not limited to physical battlegrounds, either. In the world of 21^st century economics so famously flattened by the Web, geography is no longer the sole consideration. With storefronts, driving distances and even oceans much less at issue than ever before, businesses are no longer limited to targeting locations but age, gender, interests, or virtually any imaginable demographic.

Thanks to the Internet, businesses can now make the most of what is now termed the long tail. Suppose you've got a product or service that almost nobody wants but would be perfect for men in their thirties with pink Mohawks; you may not know very many, but there are plenty on a world-scale and are likely underserved. While an outlandish extreme example, it is certainly a battle ready to be won.

Turn your weaknesses into strengths

Suppose you have only five staff providing services to 100 clients in total. Further suppose that in your industry, this is considerably undermanned. Just as in the classic half-full versus half-empty debate, strength or weakness can be a matter of perspective.

One way to turn this perceived weakness into a strength is to assign each staff member a 20-client caseload where he or she is the primary contact; a client will hold a more positive view of your business when you are backlogged and they are waiting a couple days for their guy who calls them personally to let them know of the delays and progress than if they are waiting for days waiting to hear from some guy.

If you can't do something better, do something different

Sometimes there is just no way to provide the very best in a particular service or good. That's a hard truth but in any event there can only be a single first place and it's important to learn to deal with that. But at the same time, who says you can't change the event or write your own rules?

Consider the smallest of businesses, the individual consultant. He or she can't be in all places at all times but at the same time can't just go hire a staff with the same particular expertise and client relationships. In other words, the consultant will never be able to provide the kinds of on-site services that a large firm could.

This is where doing something different comes into play. While he or she can't be on-site as easily as the large firms, offering customers “the best in online support” utilizing email, trouble tracking, and remote access over the Internet and focusing on finding those clients best served in such a way creates a very comfortable niche. On-site visits might mean days or weeks of waiting with a larger firm but an email sent via an online form can mean only minutes in a surprising array of cases. Now what client is going to turn that down?

Conclusion

Competing with larger business can be overwhelming but only if allowed be. From the legendary battle of Thermopylae to the Seven Days War, there are many examples of battles being won by underdogs. For the small business, being able to choose battles, maximize inherent strengths and setting the rules of engagement can all be used to create a considerable advantage. Not to mention, deep down everyone loves an underdog and you're likely to find support in surprising places.

While there are many established techniques for conventional business practices, the Internet is still a relatively new frontier. For even the most business-savvy individual, the digital world can be a veritable minefield of online faux pas. Fortunately, though the medium has changed, the concepts are still the same: it all comes down to approachability, quality service, and respect.

Worlds are Colliding

Something that so many of the people running small- and medium-sized businesses fail to realize is that the online world and the real world are no longer mutually exclusive; the Internet has become so mainstream that the online world is for all practical purposes a part of the real world. The result is a company's online presence is at least as important as its conventional presence and it's time for everyone to face up to that.

In many cases, an online presence is arguably even more important. The convenience of the Web has resulted in many consumers making decisions based more on brief online research than the word of mouth, traditional advertising and in-store visits businesses have relied on for decades. Although online research isn't the only factor that most consumers will base their decisions on, it's almost always a factor and is likely the first to come up.

First Impressions

No manager would let their professional staff do work in a government office wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Yet, so many settle for a substandard website that can't help but give a poor first impression. Over the long term, more people are going to visit your website than will ever visit your office or make a phone call. That means that no matter how charming and personable you are, your website will be speaking for you first.

This is part of the reason why a professional website is so important. Just as quickly as a powerful website can benefit your business, a lousy one can tank it. First impressions are as important as they've ever been, except now they are taking place 24x7.

The Pieces of the Professional Website Puzzle

One of the toughest things about developing and running a professional website is that it draws upon so many varied skills. As a result, at some parts of the process are almost always outsourced to another business or contractor. Even for companies that specialize in high-tech fields, it's rare that every aspect of a website can be handled in-house.

Here are a few of the pieces you'll need to have in place to have a truly professional website.

• Domain Registrar — help you procure domain names like yourbusiness.com or yourbusiness.com.au
• Web Host — manage the servers that your website will live on, keeping it running day and night
• Web Designer — tie all the parts of your website together while making them both visually appealing and easily navigable
• Web Developer — creates the unseen code that drives your website such as retrieving database information, handling online purchases and general user functionality

As your website grows, you'll want to consider adding a few more pieces to the puzzle

• Webmaster — someone to handle day-to-day website issues such as updating content
• Copywriter — a source for additional website content to keep it constantly growing
• Administrator — someone to handle major server issues that go beyond a webmaster's skill set

Conclusion

If you are overwhelmed by all this Internet stuff, you aren't alone. The last decade has left more than a few managers with that in-over-their-heads feeling at the hands of all this “innovation”. But as is so often the case, the more things have changed the more they stay the same.

You'd never let your kid brother design your branding and logos. You wouldn't ask your neighbor to craft an advertising campaign just because he'd do it for free. So why lose your judgment the second a computer gets involved? If you have enough sense to do the things that look professional in the real world, then you have what it takes to be professional in the online world.

There are several small yet vital steps involved, but it's nowhere near as complicated as one would think. It's actually a fairly straightforward process once you understand it. With a little help, it's possible not only to go from nothing to a functional online presence in a couple hours but it's actually quite routine.

Short-Term: Domain Availability

If your business does nothing else in the way of creating an online presence, register a domain name right away. This is the most time-sensitive element of online marketing as they are harder to procure. Not that there is only a small number of them available but rather that short domain names with the most desired TLDs (top-level domains) like .com and .com.au are getting scarce. There are a number of reasons why this is so critical.

Branding — You may already have your business name and trademark's registered, but that doesn't cover YourBusiness.com.au. To defend not only your intellectual property but your very identity, it's essential to act quickly.

Availability — There are plenty of domain names available but the problem is size. There will always be some domain name available as long as you don't mind adding extra words or characters, but it's important to keep that domain name short. The longer a domain name, the tougher it will be to type in manually and the more likely there will be a mistake resulting in a potential client going to the wrong site or you never getting an important email message.

TLDs — Registrars — the people that sell or facilitate the sale of domain names offer many approved TLDs and encourage you to buy many. However, virtually ever business has a professional TLD such as .com or .com.au. At an absolute minimum, businesses should register domains for each of those TLDs so that customers don't have to think to hard to remember your domain name.

Medium Term: Getting Noticed

In the wired world we now live in, the way people obtain information is changing rapidly. With broadband connections so proliferated, your business's potential customers are more and more likely to look up numbers via search engines than going to all the "trouble" of using the yellow pages. Beyond that, the simplicity of the Web has let to increasing numbers of consumers who loath the very thought of picking up the phone for information or to place an order.

Even if your business isn't ready for full-blown ecommerce, at the very least a simple "business card" web site for your domain can provide customers with the ways to make contact. Such sites can be deployed in mere minutes by most web hosts and will help to spread your business's name, telephone number, and email address across all the major search engines.

Long Term: Portability and Professionalism

One of the most important long-term reasons for a domain name is portability. By utilizing your own domain, you are essentially making your web and email provider transparent to customers. That means if your current web host goes bankrupt or your Internet service provider gets bought out and changes server and brand names that you can easily move your business's domain to greener pastures; your domain will always be YourBusiness.com.au no matter where you take it!

Along the same lines, customized domain names are more professional. There was a time when email addresses such as YourBusiness@YourISP.com.au were the norm but today it's only slightly more professional in appearance than YourBusiness@Hotmail.com. Customers who see a professional domain name are going to assume your business is stable, established, and well-managed. Nothing says, "here today, gone tomorrow" like a business without it's own branded domain name.

Conclusion

Your business may not have the need or the staff for major online marketing right now and that's okay. There's no need for unnecessary hassles. That said, if there is any chance of such an expansion in the future, it's important to snag that domain name right away and put it to some minimal use.

Remember the old saying about the three keys to business success being "location, location, and location?" Your business's domain name is the online equivalent to real estate, and in more ways than you might think. Just like real estate, domain names can be bought, sold, traded, and even foreclosed. Even more importantly, there are only so many great lots available.