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cocoy
09-14-2009, 02:19 PM
Do you list or show your physical address on your webpage or advertisements if your "office" is at home?

Does a business look less legit to a potential customer if the whole address isn't available easilly or if the business just uses a city and state when stating their location?

I always use my street number and street name, but have noticed some business just list the city and state.

Thoughts? Do you prefer one to another?

KristineS
09-14-2009, 03:24 PM
My personal preference is to see as much contact information as possible, but that mostly applies to companies that sell a physical product. If you sell a skill or service, you could probably get away with just an e-mail and a phone number.

Harold Mansfield
09-14-2009, 04:18 PM
Do you list or show your physical address on your webpage or advertisements if your "office" is at home?

Does a business look less legit to a potential customer if the whole address isn't available easilly or if the business just uses a city and state when stating their location?

I always use my street number and street name, but have noticed some business just list the city and state.

Thoughts? Do you prefer one to another?

A P.O box is cheap, and if you use some mailbox type stores, the address doesn't always look like a "P.O." box.
I never use my home address online..anywhere. Not even for domain registration.
I frequently get CD's, and sometimes products to review and don't want to always check the box, for certain promoters and managers, I ask them to send to my home address, I tell them "I'll get it quicker" here.

I frequently see large companies using P.O. boxes and many are simply incorporated in a certain state for the tax or incorporation benefits and use thier address in that state publicly.
I don't think it looks unprofessional at all. People order products off of T.V. all day long and just about every one of those addresses is a P.O. box.

In Nevada, we can even use a P.O. box on our drivers license. It's great.

Once you get a mail box, you can plop your full contact info everywhere and not worry.

KristineS
09-14-2009, 05:18 PM
I didn't even think about a P.O. Box. Guess I've always worked for companies with offices. A P.O. Box is a great idea.

huggytree
09-14-2009, 05:36 PM
i put my address on everything....if you put just the city & state i dont think it looks good...PO box is ok though.

Steve B
09-15-2009, 04:15 AM
In my opinion, in some cases it looks unprofessional to list a street address if it's obviously a residence. If you're trying to appear fairly big and established, the whole image goes away if you live on 123 Winding Brook Court. Of course it depends on the type of business - I wouldn't think anything of it if it was my web developer.

I also think it adds to a security issue for your family. What if you're having a dispute with a customer and they decide to stop by and talk to the owner about it? Now, your kids have to deal with it if they answer the door. Or, even if it isn't a dispute, do you really want somebody knocking on your door to return a defective product or to ask a question about something?

Finally, I see it as one more piece of information that helps the bad guys out for identity theft and other similar scams. The more they know, the more they can convince somebody that they know you.

I work out of my home, but I have a box at a UPS Store for an address. They allow me to just list the street address of the store without the reference to my box number. This also gives me a huge benefit because they sign for all my shipments while I'm out working.

Spider
09-15-2009, 11:14 AM
When I see a P.O.Box I think, "Small company trying to be what it is not!"

GE's website had no address at all, as far as I could find.

Coca-Cola had a P.O.Box. So did General Motors.

But Hewlett-Packard listed their offices with full street addresses. As did Adobe, Sysco, Chevron and Toll Brothers (right on their front page!)

These were all the companies I looked at, at random. (No cherry-picking)

I think a home-based business is better off using a full street address or nothing. A street address for a Post Boxes company with your "suite" number would also be good --

Your Company Name
1234 West Green Street, Ste.44
City . State

Worst of all, in my opinion, is a P.O.Box.

cbscreative
09-15-2009, 01:33 PM
I tend to agree that PO Boxes send bad signals, or at least I feel that in most cases. From everything I've read, ANY online business should have full contact info. It is a matter of building trust with your market, and not listing a physical location undermines that trust.

Here is another possible solution when you don't want to use a home address. If your community has a shared business office service, it could provide an economical alternative. What I mean is a place where there is an office with receptionist, conference room, business equipment, mailing address, phone answering, etc., but all you pay is a small fee to have access to it.

cocoy
09-15-2009, 03:10 PM
IIt is a matter of building trust with your market, and not listing a physical location undermines that trust.

Trust was the main reason I decided to list my home address. I didn't want to look like a "fly by night" operation. Plus, part of my job involves going in people's home and looking though every square inch of the place.

I was surprised at the number of people who would leave a complete stranger alone in their house. I haven't been a "babysitter" yet like huggy tree though. :)

billbenson
09-15-2009, 08:10 PM
I don't list an address on my site. I can't think of an occasion where it hurt me. Industry dependent though.

Lets no forget that a lot of people play with google maps. My residence has a picture and is obviously in a residential neighborhood. I give it out on request.

I don't agree the PO Box means small time. Account receivable for a company I represent uses one. As spider suggested, its all over the map. Again, business dependent though.

Blessed
09-17-2009, 03:18 AM
I use a PO Box - but we had mailman problems and weren't getting all of our mail and switched everything over to a PO Box. Then we got a new mailman so now we get mail at home and at the PO Box.

I haven't decided what to list on my finally in-progress website - I'm thinking about just my phone number and email address.

Dan Furman
09-20-2009, 02:28 AM
I don't think PO Boxes are a bad thing at all. Not in this day and age (because I would not expect someone to list their home address... people have mentioned large companies as examples of street addresses, but I don't see the CEO advertising his/her home address.)

I use a PO Box, and I say on my website I work out of my home. It's a perfectly acceptable way of doing business. It would astound me that someone would really have a problem with that in today's world of internet and advanced communications. Do they have their head in the sand???

Steve B
09-20-2009, 07:12 AM
It depends on their business Dan. I would have a problem with a lot of businesses if I knew they worked out of their home. It's mostly that working out of their home is a sign they are very small and don't have a back-up in the event they get too busy for me, get sick or die. I also would have the impression that it's a pretty good chance they may not be in business long.

Examples:
My last accountant worked from his home and he only had a part-time assistant. When his son had some health issues - I couldn't get answers from him for weeks at at time. My new accountant (guess why I left?) has a real office because he has several staff members he employs (my new requirement for an accountant).

I wouldn't hire a plumber that works out of his home (sorry Huggy). I would want to know they will be in business in a few years and I would be worried they may get too busy for me if they have other projects going. This could probably be overcome if they've been around for a while and have a good reputation.

I wouldn't be too thrilled if my wife's gynecologist worked out of his home.

I wouldn't choose a stock broker that worked out of his/her home.

I would expect the company that sells and installs my heating/AC unit not to work out of his/her home. Basically, any large purchase that may need service in the future will fall into this category for me.

My pharmacists have never worked out of their home.

With that said, I have no problem with other things being from home based businesses. VanGogh does my website work, but I did require that he have me prepared for a catastrophe (wishing you the best of health Steve!).

Dan Furman
09-20-2009, 11:28 AM
It depends on their business Dan. I would have a problem with a lot of businesses if I knew they worked out of their home. It's mostly that working out of their home is a sign they are very small and don't have a back-up in the event they get too busy for me, get sick or die. I also would have the impression that it's a pretty good chance they may not be in business long.

Examples:
My last accountant worked from his home and he only had a part-time assistant. When his son had some health issues - I couldn't get answers from him for weeks at at time. My new accountant (guess why I left?) has a real office because he has several staff members he employs (my new requirement for an accountant).

I wouldn't hire a plumber that works out of his home (sorry Huggy). I would want to know they will be in business in a few years and I would be worried they may get too busy for me if they have other projects going. This could probably be overcome if they've been around for a while and have a good reputation.

I wouldn't be too thrilled if my wife's gynecologist worked out of his home.

I wouldn't choose a stock broker that worked out of his/her home.

I would expect the company that sells and installs my heating/AC unit not to work out of his/her home. Basically, any large purchase that may need service in the future will fall into this category for me.

My pharmacists have never worked out of their home.

With that said, I have no problem with other things being from home based businesses. VanGogh does my website work, but I did require that he have me prepared for a catastrophe (wishing you the best of health Steve!).

It wasn't my intent to imply that any and all businesses could be run out of the home, and should be accepted. In some of the cases you are talking about, "working at home" would be very tough indeed. Like Gynocologist, pharmacist, etc. Although I use a similar type of accountant as you do - he runs an office and has a staff. But I'm pretty sure if he dies, the business dies with him, unless there are actually "real" partners.

I'm saying that a business that could be realistically run out of the home should not be afraid of using a PO Box, etc. It's become a very acceptable way to do business.

Do you work out of your home, Steve? Or do you have an office / location?

Steve B
09-20-2009, 11:58 AM
I work out of my home. Most in my industry do, but one does not. I'm sure I've lost business to them on occasion from people that wanted to hire a bigger more established company. That's one objection I can't overcome if it's important to them.

Paper Shredder Clay
09-20-2009, 01:21 PM
Unless your home business is a retail business, I don't see a "have to." If it is a retail business, then you should list your full address, or you are losing potential customers/sales. Addresses are still somewhat of a status symbol. I live in Chicago and I know some downtown buildings that are famous, rent out some offices one by one, and rent out po boxes. So if you can't afford a big office, you can still afford a very small office for the sake of the address and for the sake of being downtown. In fact, I one time thought about doing that.




Do you list or show your physical address on your webpage or advertisements if your "office" is at home?

Does a business look less legit to a potential customer if the whole address isn't available easilly or if the business just uses a city and state when stating their location?

I always use my street number and street name, but have noticed some business just list the city and state.

Thoughts? Do you prefer one to another?

Dan Furman
09-20-2009, 01:43 PM
I work out of my home. Most in my industry do, but one does not. I'm sure I've lost business to them on occasion from people that wanted to hire a bigger more established company. That's one objection I can't overcome if it's important to them.

But then, shouldn't you cut some businesses some slack? I mean, like a plumber, etc?

I realize that "work out of home" has almost zero barrier to entry, and can thus encompass guys like us (who run a "real" business) or someone who is starting out with zero. This is why I advocate a nice website, good copywriting, nice pictures, top notch marketing materials - that's what now will separate the "real" businesses from the pretenders. Having that stuff means you are serious, because you spent money.

Evan
09-20-2009, 02:29 PM
I'd use a PO Box, and using one can just be easier to sort business from personal mail. I also have found that I do get quite a bit of spam mail sent to my PO Box, and am glad it is there and not my home address.

Regarding the accountant working out of his home -- everything depends on the accountant in question. At the CPA firm I'm with, I assist one partner almost exclusively. If there is an issue with another partners clients, and he doesn't have an assistant (which he doesn't), then having a staff doesn't really help either. Sure it's nice having someone else that may be able to assist you, but it doesn't help that they don't know all the facts pertinent to you.

Spider
09-21-2009, 11:25 AM
On the debate of working out of one's home, I think where you live has a great bearing on it. If you live in a rural community, very likely the GP and other medical practitioners do work out of their homes - the quintessential "family doctor," with an attached surgery, reception area, etc. In a city, that would be less likely and possibly less acceptable.

I can see an accountant being home-based in a rural town but a city CPA feeling the need for an office, in the smartest building in his locality. Even retail establishments, in community shopping centers, have attached living quarters, in some places.

Perhaps a lot depends on the expecatations of your particlur target audience. As the subject is small business, almost certainly we are talking about niche markets. What does your particular niche prospect expect?

Vivid Color Zack
09-22-2009, 01:59 PM
I've started to realize that you can't please all the people all the time - so try to please the ones that matter the most to your wallet.

If your target audience would most likely accept that their accountant worked from home, then you're fine. If you're trying to portray a business that's larger than you really are because your clients need to trust your "accounting firm" more than a guy in a house then maybe a PO box would be worth it. But only if you can justify the risk that most people are smart enough to realize you just don't want to let anyone know you work from home. Especially with google now, spend 2 minutes online and you can see that BAM your business address in a neighborhood, haha.

Where are most of your clients? Local? Would they ever see your place of business? Will you have to worry about meeting at starbucks instead of at your house? Can you afford the time to drive to meet people just to hide where you work? I've been there. It's no good.

I guess I just took a long time to agree with what everyone else is saying. If you can't let your customers know you work from home a PO box may be your only affordable alternative. Adding "Suite A" to your home address might work for a while too, assuming nobody ever checks. Honesty may be your best bet, a lot of benefits can be found in small companies and you can always play off of those.

Harold Mansfield
09-22-2009, 03:21 PM
I wouldn't be too thrilled if my wife's gynecologist worked out of his home.


Looked pretty cool when Cosby did it :)

For me, it's just a matter of security. I work at home, but I don't do business at home, so there is no reason for anyone to know where it is.

It's bad enough that everything else about me is online for all the world to see, that's just something you have to deal with when you work online, but I am not listing my home address as well. No way.

The Catastrophic argument is a good one, but not exactly a valid one anymore since anyone can go belly up and drop off of the face of the earth on any given day...just look at the amount of banks and mortgage companies that were business as usual on Monday, and on Tuesday had a message on the website that they were closed and no one was answering the phones. This is a possibility with businesses of all sizes, no matter how many employees and offices they have...when the party is over...it's over all at once. For everybody.

I don't see where a P.O box looks any less professional. Companies both large and small have been using them for years, and today's business economy is lead by small businesses. Half the people I meet with their own business, especially a start up, work from a home office. Real Estate Agents, Designers, Architects , Photographers, Accountants..just about any profession or walk of life....it's how things are today, especially if you are a one man show, or have a team that is spread all over the country.

I don't see the correlation between looking like a big business and looking professional. Just because you appear to be one, does not mean you are the other.

It's just smart economics. No one ( who is footing the bill themselves) is going to open an office, with the price of office space now a days, just to have an address. There are too many other solutions like virtual offices, P.O. boxes, Office Co-ops, Answering services, Virtual Assistants..that cost less money ! If you don't have full time employees ( or any employees for that matter), you can set up a couple of computers, fax, and phone anywhere. Depending on your business, you can feasibly run the whole thing from a laptop, and a cell phone sitting at the local Starbucks.

Especially if your clients are mostly in different cities, out of state, or even out of country...what's the point ? They won't be coming by the office anyway, and unless they have lived in your city, they won't know where the address is anyway. Rather have a P.O. box show up on Google maps (if they indeed go that far instead of just asking) than a residential neighborhood.

It looks great when you see it on T.V., Everyone always seems to have the budget to furnish a nice office in a great area, hire assistants, and the designer wardrobe to wear everyday, but it doesn't work like that in the real world, and no one that I know...no matter what their profession is, or how successful they are now..started that way.

And other business people know this, because many of them are doing it.

billbenson
09-22-2009, 03:59 PM
Just to amplify what eborg said, when the dog barks while I'm on the phone, I just say "I'm a remote employee"or "I'm working from home today". That is a big benefit in employment these days. Low overhead for the company, saves the employee commute expenses etc. There are a lot of remote salaried employees.

I don't think that a lot of people google your address. As short staffed companies are, they don't have time to be playing on google maps. I've had people complain they couldn't find "our" address on the web site. I just say "they" are updating the website and email them the address. Usually the address is only required for purchasing to be an approved vendor. The information is given to a clerk who just wants to get it entered in their system so her boss doesn't complain.

I realize this isn't the case for all businesses. But for national b2b I don't see a reason to post any address, at least in my experience.

Harold Mansfield
09-22-2009, 05:53 PM
And I just want to add to the appearance of reliability (the Catastrophic argument).

If anything a small business, especially one working from home has a better chance of surviving and being there for you than a large company with thousands in monthly overhead, because we can make it through tough times.
We only have the immediate bills to pay, no payroll, office lease, and all the other expenses support and maintenance that come with running an office that have to be paid first to even continue to be in business and have the phones on.
We can move quicker and at a lower profit margin. We don't have to answer to the boss to get anything approved.
We do it all ourselves, that way we know that it gets done and we only need to pay one person for it. Us.(unless you outsource certain tasks)

Sure , we can step outside and get hit by a bus, so can anyone but, we are less likely to go belly up and leave everyone hanging without notice, hiding behind business bankruptcy, like bigger companies are known to do...and unless we are just completely unprofessional...you know you can get us on the phone no matter what.

The only question that needs be answered is the level of service and professionalism.

I know that was of topic, but I had to get it out.

Evan
09-22-2009, 09:07 PM
The issue with most businesses is that the owner (and maybe some key employees) run the business and know it inside and out. If a huge CPA firm lost a partner, of course others may be able to pick up some of his clients -- but people have established the relationship with that INDIVIDUAL. They may be inclined to look elsewhere. That firm may have had 1,000 partners, and all it took was ONE change, and there goes the equation.

In smaller firms, still using a CPA firm, if there are two partners and one leaves -- it doesn't seem likely one partner can adequately take over all of the others clients. But again, you have the same dilemma, you were dealing with "Joe", why do you want to deal with "Mike"? And if you dealt with Joe all these years, you don't want to deal with Mike even if it was a quick question.

Even in smaller businesses, which may be just you, ultimately you know your business best. If something happened to you, the business probably won't survive because whomever takes over won't necessarily have the same knowledge and expertise as you, and certainly not an identical personality and fee structure.

Now when I talked about a partner "leaving", it could be either planned (i.e. moving away) or unexpected (i.e. death).

The gist of what I'm saying is that in most professions, even those that can be considerably large, succession can be quite difficult and sometimes impossible.

Dan Furman
09-22-2009, 09:18 PM
What does your particular niche prospect expect?

I'm pretty sure mine doesn't care (which suits me fine!)

Dan F
09-24-2009, 04:49 AM
I've listed my home address in my first business cards, but I've removed it completely from the second batch.

I do computer servicing, on-site most of the time, or else I do the job at home if it will take long. I had some clients coming home without even phoning, and I really hated that, not to mentioned that it's my parents' house not mine. Let's say I've just taken a bath, how are you going to welcome the clients? Or else you're doing some dirty job or helping your parents do something dirty. When I go on-site I'm always dressed smart casual, and this is a must when I present myself to my clients, especially new once. So I've just removed the address.

cocoy
09-24-2009, 11:59 AM
I don't know about some people, but if someone is going to take my computer out of my house to fix I'd like to know where it's going.

Dan Furman
09-24-2009, 02:51 PM
I don't know about some people, but if someone is going to take my computer out of my house to fix I'd like to know where it's going.

1) Why? I mean, really, if it's going to be fixed somewhere else, does it matter if it's a storefront or a garage? And are you going to follow them to make certain it's not a "Mail Store" addy?

2) Who gets computers fixed nowdays anyway? :)

3) Assuming you do get your computer fixed, is someone really going to come pick it up and drop it off? I would think once that type of charge is factored in, it's probably a whole lot cheaper to just buy a new one.

cocoy
09-24-2009, 03:16 PM
It goes back to the trust thing mentioned earlier. IMO a service like this should have some kind of address. Sure they can make one up and I wouldn't know the difference. And No, I don't care if it's a garage or an actual store.

billbenson
09-24-2009, 03:55 PM
But, for this kind of service, you probably found the company repairing it from a recommendation. Thats your trust factor? Or pay Geeks for bad service?

As to the repair issue, I bet its mostly software issues which can be very time consuming.

Suga Pink
09-25-2009, 09:37 PM
If I felt like I just had to have an address listed, I would get a P.O Box. Matter of fact, I did have one for my first business, but it was never used and ultimately just ended up being a PITA having to drive out there and check it, and pay the monthly fees, and blah blah. I don't need one now, thankfully. :)

Evan
09-26-2009, 10:22 AM
I don't regularly check my PO box; I've gone about two months before looking at it. I'm in the process of trying to get rid of it, but want to make sure I don't have any lingering things delivered there.

billbenson
09-26-2009, 01:51 PM
I don't regularly check my PO box; I've gone about two months before looking at it. I'm in the process of trying to get rid of it, but want to make sure I don't have any lingering things delivered there.

forward it to your home or office

KarenB
09-26-2009, 03:40 PM
As a virtual assistant to many freelancers and entrepreneurs, I find that most of them list their home addresses. It doesn't seem to make any difference to their own customers.

In addition, if a creep is going to really stalk you, they're going to stalk you no matter what. One can try to hide under the facade of a PO box, but if someone really has it out for you, they'll find you no matter what.

I have no problem using my full name 'Karen Braschuk'. I work from home. I trust that most people won't take advantage of that. Granted, I don't put my address out there, but if someone really wanted to find it, they could find it easily.

The internet has given us a wealth of opportunity, but with that has come a certain risk. By advertising ourselves on the web, we are, in fact, exposing ourselves to the world more so than we ever have before.

The same cautions in the 'real' world apply. If you conduct a brick-and-mortar business in the local neigborhood and you are well-known in your community and someone has a beef with you or your services, they could show up at you door, right? You can't hide certain stuff from the local community.

I agree that exposing oneself on the internet, while it offers opportunities, also offers psychos worldwide an opportunity to find you and zero in on you. But realistically, it probably ain't going to happen, PO box or not.

Just my thoughts.

Karen

Evan
09-26-2009, 04:15 PM
forward it to your home or office

I plan on doing that once I close the box... Problem is I have mail come in under all sort of business names.

jjreview
03-11-2010, 03:06 PM
Well, no one mentioned virtual offices. I have had a good experience with them so far, but none of y'all have used one????

It's halfway between a PO Box and working from home. My clients seem to appreciate that someone will answer the phone all the time, which I can't always do at home.

I use CES Virtual Offices, but I'd be really interested in hearing what y'all think.