With so many domain name hosts on the market today, it is difficult to choose the right provider. Most will offer similar basic features so you need to look at their prices, customer service, and reliability among others. It is possible to get excellent or lousy hosting service for the same amount so it is important to choose carefully.

To help you make the right decision, we have outlined some of the essential things you should look into:

It is also a good idea to choose domain name hosts that offer money back guarantee. This is testament to the company’s confidence in the quality of service they provide.

Subdomains and Multiple Domain Name Hosts – ask your domain provider about this to see if they offer the service. Most don’t advertise this particular feature. Take note, however, that it may come with an extra charge so see if the prices fit your budget.

Backup System – hard drive failure is more common than you think. That’s why it is important to select a provider that has a reliable backup system which can restore your files when needed.

Storage Space – the you select should have ample storage space. Your needs will depend on the number of files you have (especially pictures and videos). Make sure that the hosting service you get has sufficient space and bandwidth.

Price – an obvious factor is price. As mentioned earlier, you can get excellent or lousy service for the same amount. Before subscribing, read up on some online reviews and feedback.

Advertising on the World Wide Web is now more important than ever. People have migrated from newspapers, magazines, and even television to get their news, reviews, and other forms of content online. So with that being said, the next question for Internet advertisers is, “how much should I spend on Internet advertising?”

It actually depends on the kind of business you’re in. If you’re a manufacturer or are managing the online advertising campaign of a large retailer, then you obviously have the budget to launch a strong and widespread advertising campaign. For small businesses and Internet entrepreneurs though, the amount you spend for promotions should be more wisely budgeted.

For example, small businesses can usually get a higher return on their investment if they focus on local search campaigns and social media marketing. It is important to make sure that the people you advertise to are actually potential customers and not just random visitors. Then of course, it is also important to look at how much the competition is spending. You certainly don’t want your business to get drowned out by a strong campaign by a competing brand.

At the end of the day, your Internet advertising budget can range from $1,000 to $100,000. No specific amount can be provided because it depends on the factors that are unique only to your business.

1. Toll Free Shared Usage Is Affordable
Toll free shared usage plans mean only having to put out money for exactly what you need. If you are only doing businesses locally or in a few states why expend money for national coverage? Plus this means not wasting your staff’s valuable time and running up your labor budget. So shared usage helps you get the most out of your phone budget but maximize your man hours as well.

2. Get The Ultimate Branding Tool
Instead of just using any old business phone number or a numeric toll free number, shared usage gives you access to a winning vanity number that you can use to unify and strengthen your brand while improving the effectiveness of all of your marketing. There are few branding tools that can be used in many places and have such a large impact as a premium vanity number.

3. Look Big!
Toll free shared usage plans will enable you to have access to better at a small fraction of the expense you would normally have to put out. This means being able to look much bigger than you actually are and quickly grow your business both in terms of the number of clients coming through the door and the premium you can put on your products and services.

4. Maximizing Your Marketing ROI
By utilizing toll free number shared usage plans you not only get to look like the big dog on the block in your local area from your own marketing, but are able to benefit from the marketing budgets of those using the same toll free number in other areas of the country. If they are doing national advertising you could be getting free marketing done for you. Plus you will also be able to piggy back off of this additional branding visibility from those relocating to your service area of those who refer their friends, family and business associates that reside in your are to your toll free number

1. Toll Free Shared Usage Is Affordable
Toll free shared usage plans mean only having to put out money for exactly what you need. If you are only doing businesses locally or in a few states why expend money for national coverage? Plus this means not wasting your staff’s valuable time and running up your labor budget. So shared usage helps you get the most out of your phone budget but maximize your man hours as well.

2. Get The Ultimate Branding Tool

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.

Image Credit: © Danieloizo | Dreamstime.com

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.

Image Credit: © Anatoliy Samara | Dreamstime.com

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.