Did you know that 20% of businesses fail in their first 2 years of being in business? If you are making sure that your business is not part of this statistic then it might be a good idea to add a virtual address for your business. What is a virtual address for business, you ask?
We are here to explain the ins and outs of what a virtual address is.
What Is a Virtual Address for Business?
A virtual address is an actual physical address that exists and most of the time, regular mail is accepted at a virtual address. The reason it’s called a virtual address is that the business doesn’t operate at that address.
This is a great option for someone that owns a business that they run from home, because an office address looks a lot more professional than a home address. A potential client is more likely to find you professional when they think that you are running your business from an office rather than a bedroom in your house.
The rise in home based businesses has made virtual addresses a lot more popular. Internet marketing businesses and e-bay sellers are two examples of businesses opting into using a virtual address.
Steps to Receive Your Mail
When your mail is delivered to your new business address, the administrative professionals at your work address will sort your mail. Then you will normally have the choice of either picking up your mail in person, having the employees scan your mail and send it to you over the cloud or forward your mail to your address of choice.
Some companies will even offer to have your checks directly deposited for you. If you’re expecting a payment, you can rest assured that you will receive your money as quickly as possible as long as you set up your direct deposit information ahead of time.
How Much Is a Virtual Address?
The truth is that it all depends on the company you choose. You can pay as little as around $10 per month or up to around $50 per month. Usually, the price depends on the extras that you receive in your package.
There are some places that will offer to give you a secretary to answer your phone calls or the option to go in a certain amount of times per week to use the physical office there.
Most of the time virtual addresses include mail forwarding, mail scanning and shredding mail that you don’t want to keep in your virtual mailbox. One of the bonuses of virtual mailboxes is that you don’t have to sign a long term contract and if you did, it’s not as costly as having a virtual office.
Are They Safe?
If you are concerned about safety, you really don’t have to worry. The mail you receive at the physical address will be stored into a physical mailbox by the postal service. The digital copy that the company sends you is encrypted for your protection (as long as you use a reputable company for your services).
By law there are also security compliance laws that the virtual address company needs to abide to run their business.
Pros
One major pro is that your documents will be organized digitally. This means that when tax season comes, taxes can be a lot easier. All of your documents will be in one place and you can also connect your favorite business tools to the Virtual Mailbox.
Connecting tools such as Dropbox will make it easier to extract and analyze your data without getting overwhelmed.
Another pro is that you can give a better first impression to potential customers. Whenever you are doing business with someone, they need to trust you because any bit of distrust will ruin the transaction opportunity.
Having a real street address at a business location will make you look a lot more professional and will help build that trust that you need. Because we are in such a competitive time in the business world, you are competing with businesses around the entire world, not just your local area. This is why having a physical address will automatically help your authority and increase your credibility.
One last pro worth mentioning is that it will keep your home address private. If protecting your privacy is important to you then this is an important pro that comes with acquiring a virtual address. Plus if you move homes, you don’t have to worry about changing your business address.
Manage Your Mail 24/7
With a virtual address you will have the option to access your mail online no matter how much you are on the go for your business. This means that as you are going from meeting to meeting, you can see pictures of your packages and envelopes with all the details of your mail including the description, item type, dimensions, and weight.
Plus, you are in control 100% of the time. You can choose when you want to have your mail scanned, opened, and shredded.
Ready to Get a Virtual Address?
Now that we answered the question what is a virtual address for business? you can make an informed decision about whether you want to get a virtual address or not. Make sure you ask yourself if your business would benefit from having a virtual address and if your specific business requires a virtual physical address for certain paperwork.
Did our article help you out today? Please keep browsing the rest of our business section for our latest tips and tricks.