Does anyone put their home address on their website (if you are a work from home bookkeeper), im a bit hesitant to put my home address on their, I know anyone could probably find it on the net these days.
I could use a PO Box or something similar but this is more cost- anyone do this?
Up until I got some office space I had my home address on my website. My view is that our services are based on trust and if I was a client I would not use someone who hid things like this. It's the same with telephone numbers, I wont buy from websites which just have a mobile number. This makes them look like they could close up at any minute, like they don't have the confidence to become permanent. I know with the advent of VOIP this is not really the case, but it's an emotional response, not a logical one.
Yes it is hiding my home address - although my home address is on the public record because that was my first registered address - but I'm hoping no-one will really be that interested in it.
More importantly, it's an address that doesn't look like it's in the middle of a housing estate (which could give just the same kinds of impression Kris wanted to avoid - consider: XYZ Accounting, "Fairview", 1, Acacia Drive ...). Instead it looks like its in the middle of a business park; and I can receive clients there and hold meetings if I want.
It also seems to me that many businesses expect you to use a mobile number in preference to a land line. I think the idea that only fly-by-night operators run businesses with mobiles is receding into the past now.
Now what I really want is an address that looks like it's at the heart of the business centre of the city...
Just to add to this thread that if you trade through a limited company then its a requirement that your registered address appears on your website (although doesn't have to be where the reader expects to see it).
Many small limiteds use their home address as their registered office although some accountants offer a service where businesses may (at a cost) be registered from their offices.
Thats just an aside but I'm thinking here to another thread where the poster questioned the legal form of peoples busnesses and almost everyone that responded said that they were incorporated which of course takes the decision as to whether to put the address on a site out of your hands.
HTH,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
As I said Ian, I can only speak for myself, but I don't buy from anyone who only shows a mobile number. For me it's still important, it may not be rational but so much of the buying decision isn't.
As I said Ian, I can only speak for myself, but I don't buy from anyone who only shows a mobile number. For me it's still important, it may not be rational but so much of the buying decision isn't.
Kris
Worth mentioning there is that you can buy landline numbers for mobiles.
I use Vonage for £5.99 a month (and calls are well priced). People phone up the local number with no perception that it may be directed to any on of half a dozen different numbers including the mobile (client only pays local rate with any transfer costs being down to me).
I picked that one up from Bill (Wella) and its worked out really well for me especially when I moved last year but didn't need to change much of my marketing material.
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I use Vonage for £5.99 a month (and calls are well priced). People phone up the local number with no perception that it may be directed to any on of half a dozen different numbers including the mobile (client only pays local rate with any transfer costs being down to me).
Can I just mention other providers are available. I use Voipfone which has some pretty neat bells and whistles like call barring, call transfers, group pickup, music on hold etc.
Kris - if you are using music on hold have you checked your music licences? Remember the chat we got at the seminar?
(I know you - you have checked and sorted them - but anyway)
For those who weren't at the ICB thing last November - music licences - if there is more than one person in the office, even if it is only staff and no public. If you use hold music on the phone. If all you are doing is playing a CD - any and all of these can incur the requirement for music licences from both, get that both, the PPL and PRS.
Yes, all checked and happy. You can get music that doesnt need the PPL and PRS license, but it's not that great. Though just for music on hold it works.
Definitely certain requirements on websites following is quote from the register website:
Information that must be on your website
The following is the minimum information that must be on any company's website (from OUT-LAW's guide, The UK's Ecommerce Regulations).
The name, geographic address and email address of the service provider. The name of the organisation with which the customer is contracting must be given. This might differ from the trading name. Any such difference should be explained e.g. "XYZ.com is the trading name of XYZ Enterprises Limited."
It is not sufficient to include a 'contact us' form without also providing an email address and geographic address somewhere easily accessible on the site. A PO Box is unlikely to suffice as a geographic address; but a registered office address would. If the business is a company, the registered office address must be included
Is there a difference, I wonder, between hiding the fact that one is working from a home office by renting a virtual office address, and hiding the fact one is operating a business with a mobile phone by purchasing a land-line number?
(Use of impersonal pronoun intentional to avoid any implied criticism of individuals here.)
Personally I have a landline but still rent a number as I may pick up with a mobile although such is unlikely.
If however I was say off in Edinburgh or London then I see no issue with the client just phoniing one number and getting me rather than going through all the redirect milarky and paying more to add services with BT than hiring the number elsewhere.
Also, if I move house, even if I move to a different area code (We have several different codes within a very small area near me) I don't have to change the number for my business.
I don't think that the service would work if you only have a mobile as its a black box connected to your BT point (Or in my case, BT point to Router, Router hardwired to half a dozen computers, a printer and the Vonage box... And before anyone says anything, everything has WiFi. but I prefer wired connections).
So, I can see what your saying but I'm not hiding anything. Its just more convenient to process calls in this way.
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Is there a difference, I wonder, between hiding the fact that one is working from a home office by renting a virtual office address, and hiding the fact one is operating a business with a mobile phone by purchasing a land-line number?
(Use of impersonal pronoun intentional to avoid any implied criticism of individuals here.)
VOIP as a way of servicing clients, wherever you happen to be is fine. But I think my question is directed more towards those who use it to appear to be what they are not ... seeming to operate from business premises when, really, they are sitting upstairs in the box room at the back of the house, answering, "No, I'll come to your office," when a prospective clients suggests he'll visit for some reason.
And what about a business in Truro which has a Thurso code in order to appear local to that area?
Is there a difference, I wonder, between hiding the fact that one is working from a home office by renting a virtual office address, and hiding the fact one is operating a business with a mobile phone by purchasing a land-line number?
(Use of impersonal pronoun intentional to avoid any implied criticism of individuals here.)
It's all about the perception, not the reality
I agree, but I contend there is no difference between the two impressions one wishes to create. A virtual address is the same as a virtual telephone number - both can create a perception that is different from reality.
-- Edited by ilsm on Friday 24th of January 2014 12:03:46 PM
Is there a difference, I wonder, between hiding the fact that one is working from a home office by renting a virtual office address, and hiding the fact one is operating a business with a mobile phone by purchasing a land-line number?
(Use of impersonal pronoun intentional to avoid any implied criticism of individuals here.)
It's all about the perception, not the reality
I agree, but I contend there is no difference between the two impressions one wishes to create. A virtual address is the same as a virtual telephone number - both can create a perception that is different from reality.
-- Edited by ilsm on Friday 24th of January 2014 12:03:46 PM
I am arguing that it is not (now) possible to tell a reliable firm apart from a dodgy one on either of these criteria (or even both of them), because both kinds of business use virtual addresses and operate exclusively by mobile phone using a land line number these days.
There does seem to be a number of people here who have virtual offices or who disguise their home address somehow. We would regard none of them as suspect. Even more appear to have land line numbers that redirect to their mobiles. How can our opinion of them differ because they are not the important, well-established organisations within their locality/region/country they might appear to be?
-- Edited by ilsm on Friday 24th of January 2014 08:45:20 PM
I recall hearing of someone who made deliberate mistakes when giving out his address so that, if junk mail started arriving, he would know who was responsible and could tear them off a strip.
I am arguing that it is not (now) possible to tell a reliable firm apart from a dodgy one on either of these criteria (or even both of them), because both kinds of business use virtual addresses and operate exclusively by mobile phone using a land line number these days.
There does seem to be a number of people here who have virtual offices or who disguise their home address somehow. We would regard none of them as suspect. Even more appear to have land line numbers that redirect to their mobiles. How can our opinion of them differ because they are not the important, well-established organisations within their locality/region/country they might appear to be?
-- Edited by ilsm on Friday 24th of January 2014 08:45:20 PM
As I already said, this is not a rational criteria, it's an emotional or sub concious response a lot of the time. That doesn't make it any less important though.
