Simplosys is a virtual company, meaning that we don't really have a real "brick and mortar office space". All of us working here work "virtually" from our homes and interact via online communication tools, Etc. It is quite a thrilling experience if you ask me, though, of course, it has its pros and cons.
Well, as part of a small but growing "virtual company", we are always looking for free or low-cost options to improve the way we work. I found one for Online faxes today!
We've traditionally used a Fedex Kinkos service or just tried to avoid faxes as much as possible. We just use email instead. But some of our clients still prefer to receive faxes and not email. If you are a small business, you perhaps have the same issue.
There are tons of online fax services - some free and some paid. I am not even talking about the paid ones here since I am not interested in them. Here's a QUICK way to get a free INBOUND AND OUTBOUND fax service setup in less than 10 minutes:
1. IN-BOUND FAX: Efax or K7http://www.efax.com/efax-free offers this service. I was able to get a local fax number and set up my fax service in less than 10 minutes! Download their Efax messenger free software and you are all set. Efax does not advertise this service anymore, so this link is not available from their Home or Products page. They still support the service though, good for us!
There are others like k7.net as well that offer a similar service but I haven't tried it. Efax is the big name and they have it, why try the rest?
2. OUTBOUND FAX: Vonage or FaxZeroIf you have a Vonage phone number then
http://v-fax.vonage.com/ offers a free Outbound fax service that is very reliable and quick.
Otherwise, you can use
http://faxzero.com/ which offers the same functionality apparently but has limitations on the number of pages sent per day.
There you go - unless you use Fax a lot and care about sending and receiving from the same number, cancel your fax number today and start using these services to save a quick buck.
And here's some ideas on where to invest that money -
1. Sign up for an online coupon generation service and promote to your customers with coupons. Yes, they do work online as well!
2. Sign up for an Email marketing service such as
http://www.aweber.com and start your email marketing campaign this week!