Listen! Do You Hear It?

The sound of people talking over the Internet!

There's so much chatter it's unbelievable. Let's get out of there, it's too noisy to talk.

Better. That was VOIP in action and let me tell you, there's plenty of potential there for entrepreuners! Whoa, hold your horses Lynette, you promised no geek speak remember? I sure do. So what is this VOIP thing?

You've probably heard it mentioned before, short for Voice Over IP, it is software or service that allow people to conduct voice conversations over the Internet. If you've been online for a while, you'll know this is nothing new and if you've really been online a long time you'll know that the services before sounded crappy and half -- no make that 80% of the time the other party breaks up like crazy. It's worse than talking on a cell phone in an elevator. So why all this hype now? Simply because broadband adoption is booming like crazy. Higher speeds mean better voice quality and because technology has also advanced, you can do more with those speeds today.

VOIP Benefits Your Business

Do you already see the potential? If you need a bit of help to connect the technology to your business here are some ways VOIP technology helps your business.

Customer Service

Instead of having a toll free number, you can get people to call you and in many cases free for you and your customer. One example of this is Skype Or you can use Yahoo! Voice chat. These are services with already huge groups of users, especially Yahoo! so many people already have it on their computer without needing to install anything new.

Collaboration

Do you work with others? Joint ventures maybe? I don't know about you but talking is a lot easier and faster than typing. Sure there is the phone too but what happens when your partner is located abroad in a totally different continent? Can you say ouch? VOIP -- Internet telephones are much more comfortable on the wallet. Remember, wealth is achieved not so much by how much you make but how much you get to keep.

Interviews

Although many standard VOIP services don't have the option to record but you can using software like Total Recorder and it only costs $11.95. Again, you can always use the telephone if the user is in the same continent as you are. The minute you start dialling abroad the cost isn't negligible anymore so Internet Phones are a great alternative to help you get that interview.

Audio Testimonials

Forget monthly fees. Get on Yahoo! or Skype and record those testimonials with your customers. Sure you need to be on there with them and it's not automatic but it always amazes me how businesses want testimonials but won't spend the few minutes to talk to us. If I were the customer I'd definitely appreciate a friendly chat also and who knows, it could even turn out to be a full interview how they use your products and why. There's nothing more convincing to a potential customer than hearing it from previous customers.

There's a lot more that you can do with this and you'll find creative ways to use VOIP I'm sure, while saving some cash. If you're looking for multi-participant conferencing, then you may want to look at web conferencing. Now this here is truly interesting and holds much more potential.