by Don Campbell on November 7, 2008
RingCentral just released an iPhone application that gives you access to some of their services.
The app is free, and you need to have a RingCentral account to use it. It allows you to use your iPhone to make calls, and to make your business phone number (i.e. RingCentral phone number) show in the caller ID instead of your personal phone number on your iPhone.
This is a nice feature for a small business owner, but unfortunately, it doesn’t allow you to use some of the other cool features of a virtual phone system like RingCentral such as:
- Auto receptionist
- Company greeting and hold music
- Multiple extensions
- Dial by name directory
- Call routing to existing landline and mobile phone numbers
- Multiple voicemail boxes
- Internet fax
What I think would be extremely useful is if they allowed me to get into my Admin Panel and access things like Call Logs, Answering Rules and other things.
I’m hoping since they have added the iPhone app, they have plans to add capabilities like this in the future!
Here is a link to the app on the iTunes App Store.
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by Don Campbell on October 29, 2008
Searching for local goods and services - from your mobile device - just got easier.
AT&T announced today that iPhone users can get Free Wi-Fi at their hot spots nationwide. This includes Starbucks, Hotels, Airports and many other places.
What does this mean for small business owners?
Well, given that there are upwards of 10 million iPhone users and counting, it means that there are going to be a lot more searches for local goods and services from mobile devices. Google Maps is a standard application on the iPhone, and with Wi-Fi getting more and more ubiquitous, these local searches are going to multiply. Add to that the new devices launching with Google Maps installed, such as the T-Mobile G1 (based on Google’s Android platform) and you can easily see the trend here.
It’s a given that iPhone users can already do these searches when using Edge or 3G, but near ubiquitous Wi-Fi makes the experience better.
This is yet another reason to make sure you are listed in Google Local, and to get your profile and website optimized for local search!
How It Works
Here’s the procedure for getting free Wi-Fi on your iPhone, from the AT&T web site:
iPhone users, get started with Wi-Fi:
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Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone
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Select “attwifi” from the list of available networks
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Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap ‘continue’
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You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. You will not be charged for the text message.
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The SMS link will only be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hotspot location.
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Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot
by Don Campbell on October 23, 2008
We’re big believers in what a great tool WordPress is to power your small business website. WordPress doesn’t have to look like a blog, and it provides a way to manage your content and update your website effortlessly.
One of the other benefits of using WordPress for your website of course, is that you have a website and a blog all in one. And a blog is a great way to build traffic to your website.
Original Content Is The Key
Finding link directories and begging or paying for links to your site is no longer the path to great search engine results. Google is steadily devaluing this approach. Google wants to rank sites highly that have real content that is valuable for its users and advertisers, not pages with a bunch of links to other sites. And they are constantly updating their algorithm to reflect this. (Google updated their search ranking algorithms over 200 times last year.)
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by Don Campbell on October 19, 2008
Talk of the economy has been dominating the headlines recently. What is going to happen? It is going to get worse? Will I be laid off? What will it mean to my business? These are very real questions that worry all of us.
I’m challenging myself to look for opportunities in this situation. I’ve been thinking a lot about this and asking - how can you turn this into an opportunity for your small business, instead of getting scared and running for the hills?
Yesterday I was playing a clever little game called Galcon, and it got me thinking about what it means to play offense…
Learning from Video Games?
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by Don Campbell on October 15, 2008
Last week I was able to get Jay Blazensky, VP of Business Development at Ring Central on the phone for an interview.
In the interview, Jay addresses common questions that I hear from small business owners like:
- What is a virtual phone system?
- What is a RingMe or Click-To-Call button, and how can it provide a compelling call to action on my website?
- How can small business owners use a system like this to track their marketing efforts, both online and offline? How can you tell how many calls your website is generating?
- Is it better to use an 800 number or local number on your website?
- How can business owners use a virtual pbx or virtual phone system like RingCentral to save money?
- Some examples of businesses are using the web based interface for managing their call routing, company directory, fax and voice mail.
Listen to the interview below:
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I’ve been using RingCentral on my website, and for some of my clients as well. Be sure to check out the Expand2Web series on Small Business Phone Systems for more on this topic, I think it is a valuable tool for small business owners.
What did we leave out? Let me know in the comments and I’ll get your questions answered quickly.
