Cheap Virtual Office Address

A Virtual Office is a great way to enhance and improve your local presence in an affordable way. e have compiled this list of things you need to know and consider before selecting a cheap virtual office address.

Is the virtual office address at a good location

Whether its house buying, locating your retail store the scenario of location, location, location always holds true. The same is true for a virtual office where location is one of the most important elements.

With a virtual office address from a professional provider for a relatively low cost, you can use the address for your companies house registration, website, business cards, business stationery and Google My Business location.

Having a good, virtual address can provide an important edge from a credibility perspective and make it look like you have a real office. In reality you could be working from home, another country or even the beach.

A great way to boost your website SEO and get your business found in search results is Google My Business. It is suggested that Google My Business features in over ninety percent of online searches today. Therefore factor this into what people see when they search for your business.

Cheap Virtual Office Address Brightfield Business Hub foyer entrance

When you Google a business name, we have become used to seeing the company card on the right of the search result. This provides a super simple way to get the phone number, website and address of the business (as well as products/ services and offers).

Importantly as this appears so prominently, it could be that a customer is able to identify and find you without ever going on to your website

One important element site visitors can see with your business address is the exterior of your “office”. For example, here’s how the exterior of Brightfield Business Hub at the Peterborough location appears

We have seen virtual offices where the image that is showcased is the back yard showing waste bins, or the view over a waste field, even worse a derelict building. If a prospective customer sees any of these this simple imagery may put them off from calling you.

Virtua Office Address Brightfield Business Hub

How quickly will you get your mail? Mail Handling, Forwarding and Redirection

The elements of mail handling can vary significantly, between Virtual office and business address providers. One thing that you should checkout is what the additional costs of mail forwarding, handling, scanning, redirection or notifications are.

Most virtual office address providers will offer you a basic package where you can come and physically collect mail from their office. You need to factor how long this activity will take. This isn’t as much of a problem if your virtual address package includes complimentary access to co working space.

Mail Handling: Typically the basic virtual address service offering is mail handling, (this is also referred to as mail collection). With this free option, you visit the office during normal business hours 9.00am to 5.00pm to collect up your mail.

Mail Forwarding: Depending on your virtual address provider the pricing of mail forwarding services may vary. It may be included as part of your package, at a cost + mark up percentage or at a fixed additional monthly cost (Be careful we have seen instances of this service being charged at an additional fee that is as much per month as the VA service.

Mail Redirection: Mail redirection is similar to mail forwarding. It refers to having your mail forwarded to you on the day it was received at your virtual address.

Digital Scans: Many businesses want their postage sent to them on demand “digitally”, and to store it online for reference i.e. tax documents, registration documents. Being able to access this in an email or online folder is significantly easier than fishing through a drawer of documents.

Additional Costs: Some companies may charge an additional fee for signage in the lobby to use the location as your registered address. Typically this will cost an additional fee from £10 per month. Some virtual business address providers may have capability to provide digital notifications when post arrives. This way you can then decide what they do with the physical post (You can then prioritise, it could be important HMRC or customer info or it could just be unsolicited direct mail )

Can you work hold meetings at the Virtual Office Address?

Working on the basis that you put your business address on your website, business cards or online business directories, you’ll hopefully start getting enquiries from prospects, customers or suppliers who may want to meet up physically.

So what happens if someone asks to meet you at the virtual address?

With some virtual address providers there are no meeting capabilities or facilities. So therefore you could offer to meet them at a location close to the office, suggest a Zoom or Microsoft team call, phone call or book a separate meeting room or office to meet them.

Most virtual office providers will make you book a meeting room if you want to meet with a customer. This typically involves calling and talking to the admin team or emailing an inbox and waiting to confirm a meeting room.

At Brightfield Business Hub virtual office customers can meet in the on site coffee shop and restaurant. As a Virtual Office customer you’re generally starting out and looking to secure your first customers and meet other people.

Creating and Building a local presence – Call answering

Whilst we live in a social media or email world. The majority of B2B people will prefer to call. So do you use your home 01733 landline phone number on your business cards and websites?

If you’ve landed on the website and only a personal mobile number is featured at the top right navigation bar, do you call it? What does just having a mobile number on a website say to you? Does it give yo a feeling of credibility, stability and trust. Or does it convey fly by night here today, gone tomorrow.

Whilst it may not be super important on a business card that you are handing out personally when meeting someone in person, it’s a critical factor on your website.

Local Phone Number: Building a local presence

These two contact numbers— 01733 595885 and 07123 345 6780—may affect how your business is perceived by prospective customers. As such, you may want to consider a local phone number depending on your the nature of your business.

Telephone number prices are now very reasonable from most providers and can vary, depending on whether you choose a freephone, national or local number. A 01733 number may be available for only £10

Do you want call answering?

Depending on how many calls you expect to receive. How capable you are to answer calls – you might be sat in front of your computer so able to provide a coherent response. You might be up to your neck in dirt and grease and totally unable to answer any kind of call.

You may want to consider utilising a call answering service. For a monthly fee, virtual office staff answer calls in your company name and forward it to your mobile or voicemail.

With professional services you will be able to indicate your availability and specific instructions, i.e. please answer my calls every Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. This is a particularly useful service if you need to ensure calls that your calls get answered, even when you’re unavailable.

How quick and digital is the Onboarding Process?

One major thing about registering a virtual office in Peterborough is that you may be required to undergo Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance and verify yourself. These are strict guidelines imposed by HMRC so beware: if a provider doesn’t ask for your identification when you sign up, then they aren’t legitimate.

In most instances, your virtual office provider will ask you to come into an office to complete your registration. You won’t be able to receive any mail before you pass compliance with a legitimate mail handling service.

How long are Virtual Office Address agreements?

The final component of a virtual office address agreement is the duration of time that you are required to sign up for. Some virtual address providers look for a 24-month agreements. Others take a 12-month upfront price.

At Brightfield Business Hub our virtual offices are available on a rolling monthly contract to suit your growing and changing business needs.. We’d rather adapt to your needs as your business grows, so you continue to stay with us as a choice. Therefore we don’t trap or tie you into any long term agreement.

Make sure you check your terms and conditions around cancelling—particularly for companies taking an upfront payment. Certain providers may require that you forfeit just the deposit, while others may not refund any payment made.