As the Webmaster for a trade association, I occasionally get the request to “please remove my information from the website” Now on first blush that may seem like a strange request. After all, you joined the association in-part to network and gain exposure.
However, some people move to Las Vegas to reinvent themselves and others come here to hide out. So they like to network, just not be exposed too much. They like to be invisible or maintain some privacy.
In other instances, start-ups may only have one phone line, theirs. The home phone or the owner’s cell phone and they want to keep that private.
In that case, I send them over to Google for their Gmail and voice services.
Gmail
Today’s most popular smartphones are powered by Google’s Droid. That means Gmail is their default email service on the phones. That is a good thing because Gmail has also become the popular Email address for small business and entrepreneurs.
With Gmail, you can run your entire email and autoresponder system from your phone, even if your primary email address is on a different domain. Import, export and forward emails with filters and other priority set-ups. All done very easily from one mobile email address.
Google Voice
Now they merged Gmail with their popular Google Voice service. Another free service that gives you a local or regional telephone number, voicemail and other features you would normally associate with a landline.
When you get a voicemail, you also get an email with the transcript of the voicemail. The voice recognition isn’t perfect, but works very well for most calls.
You can access Google phone from an app on your smartphone and the receiving party will never know your real phone number. Plus you can call international for pennies a minute.
So now you can have a virtual office phone number that can be forwarded to several different locations or be ignored at the push of a button. Plus have a record of that call for reference. All this and much more for the low price of…. Nothing. Just logging on and signing up.
Hope This Helps,
Mark Anthony
