By Amanda C. Kooser

Virtual businesses take off with a big boost from a variety of technologies. Here’s how to make virtual work for you.

It doesn’t matter where your office is located. It doesn’t matter how many employees in cubicles you have. You may be working from a room in your house and still marshalling the skills and experience of five, 10 or 20 workers that are scattered around the globe. When a customer visits your web site or calls your phone, you give off the impression of a much larger company. You’re a virtual small business and it takes the smart use of the right technologies to make your business tick.

Not every business is built to be virtual. Professional services like consulting, public relations, web design, real estate services and graphic design are all good candidates. Businesses that require you to be mobile or visit your clients on location can benefit from a virtual setup. When you don’t have to have employees at desks underneath the same roof, you can build a lean company that relies on trusted contractors, freelancers and virtual workers to get the job done.

NONTRADITIONAL EMPLOYEES
No business is an island. Whether you need full-time employees, temporary contractors or partners, finding the right people in the virtual world requires just as much due diligence as it does in the physical world. Kathy Donnell, founder of Donnell Meeting Management in Colorado, found her virtual workers in a decidedly old-fashioned manner. She met her future administrative assistant while working on-site in Los Angeles, and her travel and transportation expert is a friend she already knew who lives in Orlando, Florida. Being able to offer staff the flexibility of working for a virtual business has allowed her to attract top talent. “I don’t want the people who work with me to feel I own their souls,” says Donnell. “I want them to enjoy the same flexibility that I have.”

There are many web sites that can help you find virtual workers to complement your business. Elance (elance.com) lets you search for workers and sort the possibilities by criteria like feedback, reviews and hourly rates. Guru.com is a massive online service marketplace where you can look for freelancers, post your projects and get quotes. Business focused social networking site LinkedIn.com is a great way to stay in touch with colleagues and get recommendations for and view the work histories of potential employees.

YOUR HOME ON THE WEB
As a virtual business, your web site is often your main calling card to the world. You may decide to hire an independent web designer to get you started, or you can look to one of the many affordable services available online. It doesn’t get much cheaper than the Microsoft Office Live Small Business program (smallbusiness.officelive.com).

A custom web site domain name, hosting, multiple email accounts and simple do-it yourself web site templates are all free for the first year and $14.95 per year after that. Yahoo! Small Business (smallbusiness.yahoo.com) recently unveiled an $11.95 per month web hosting plan with unlimited disk space, data transfers and email storage. Straightforward web site design tools get you up and running quickly. With either of these services, it’s an easy step to move into ecommerce and online sales using Microsoft’s Store Manager or Yahoo! Stores. Many web hosting companies also offer their own template- based site design programs. Look for a company with extensive small business experience that can help you as you grow.

TALK UP A STORM
A lot of business can be conducted over the internet, but phones aren’t going away anytime soon. “For many of our businesses, their phone system is their lifeline. It’s the first thing that their customer interacts with,” says Erik Arvidson, public relations manager of GotVMail (gotvmail.com). A virtual phone system features an automated attendant that answers all incoming calls and then connects the caller to the appropriate person (regardless of where they are). Extra features like fax handling, toll-free numbers and having calls forwarded to multiple numbers (including your cell phone) can accommodate the particular needs of any virtual business. All of this comes without having to invest in any new phone hardware. Providers like GotVMail, OneBox (onebox.com) or RingCentral (ringcentral.com) can give you a professional edge while accommodating remote offices, home offices or your mobile lifestyle. Monthly subscriptions can start as low as $10 per month.

If you have more complex needs and are interested in consolidating your internet, wireless internet and voice services, an option like AT&T’s Business in a Box (att.com/businessinabox) can handle your calling requirements as your virtual business grows. This Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution is an all-in-one hardware and services system that is designed for small businesses that don’t have their own IT person. On the other end of the scale, simple home office setups can take advantage of VoIP cost savings through service providers such as Skype (skype.com) or Comcast Digital Voice (comast.com) if you have a cable internet connection.

SOFTWARE EVOLVES
You don’t necessarily have to give up your familiar desktop software when you run a virtual business. These applications are all finding ways to connect with the web to help you share and collaborate with far-flung workers. “Sometimes it’s important to have information when you’re not online,” says Beth Kohler, director of product management for ACT! from Sage Software (sagesoftware.com). Customer relationship management software ACT! is a desktop focused program, but add-on services can turn it into a web hosted product. Most virtual businesses will find it takes a mix of online and offline applications to run smoothly.

Web applications are a great way to keep your team in touch, your business streamlined and your costs down. Microsoft Office Live Workspace (workspace.officelive.com) is an online site for storing and sharing Office documents. If you want to go completely web-based with your document needs, Google Apps (google.com/a) and Zoho (zoho.com) are two popular providers of net-based office, communications and productivity applications. You can create, edit, share and collaborate on documents with your virtual workers or clients.

With so many web applications available, chances are you can find one that will fulfill your particular business needs. Even though Kathy Donnell’s meeting management company is virtual, she still has to handle real-world tasks like registrations, name badges and travel preferences for attendees. She uses the Isis GoldReg (goldreg.com) web-based attendee management system that can be accessed from anywhere–whether she’s at her home office or on site at a meeting. These sorts of industry-specific niche web applications can be smart tools for a virtual business.

While web applications can fill the shoes of desktop software, web services are a compelling way to handle many of your virtual business necessities. Even your printing can be done without ever having to set foot in a copy shop. VistaPrint.com is a popular stop for low-cost business cards. 48HourPrint.com is geared up to quickly handle demanding virtual business print needs ranging from business cards to brochures to pocket folders. “We are a virtual business ourselves. What we’ve done is leverage the internet and very advanced technology. People all over the U.S. are getting their printing needs fulfilled from wherever they are,” says Ray Pinard, president and CEO of 48HourPrint.com. “This is a much, much more efficient, streamlined and cost-effective process.”

TAKE YOUR ACT ON THE ROAD
Most virtual business owners can’t keep still. With no main office to tie them down, they’re apt to be found on the road, in vacation spots, traveling to clients’ offices, logging onto wireless hot spots in airports and checking into hotels all over the world. Having a reliable cell phone and trusted software and services to turn to is half the battle of being a successful mobile and virtual entrepreneur. Another part is having the hardware that gets you online and keeps you in touch.

Laptop computers are still the top tools for working on the road. Since your business is virtual, you can’t afford to be out of touch with your web tools. Wireless hot spots can be useful, but wireless broadband is gaining in popularity as an anytime, anywhere way to get online. Older laptops can be retrofitted, or you can now purchase a new laptop with wireless broadband that works out of the box. “We’re starting to really integrate broadband technology into notebooks with the card, antenna and software pre-installed,” says Lisa Baker, director of Small and Medium Business Marketing with

Hewlett-Packard. “It provides that really high-speed internet connection through 3G (third-generation) wireless networks.” AT&T, Sprint and Verizon cover most of the larger cities in the U.S. with wireless broadband and are expanding their networks all the time.

GET THE WORD OUT
Your virtual business is off and running. You have a professional web site, phone system, web applications and virtual workers in your corner. Now it’s time to attend to some virtual business marketing. “If you don’t have that physical presence, your communications play an even greater role in connecting you and your customers or prospects,” says Eric Groves, senior vice president of worldwide strategy and market development with email marketing and survey products provider Constant Contact (constantcontact.com). “In many respects, your communications are your storefront.” A professional looking email newsletter, web site and search engine ad word buys can all help generate sales. If marketing isn’t your strong suit, don’t hesitate to bring in a virtual assistant or other remote worker to help shoulder the load

Virtual businesses make sense for a lot of reasons. “The greatest advantage is that you can offer the same quality of service to your clients and you don’t have to charge them for the overhead you would normally have,” says Donnell. “I can well compete with the bigger companies.” The biggest point to remember when you’re launching or growing your virtual business is that you are not alone. You’re connected by technology to your employees, contractors and customers. Experiment with the available tools, take advantage of online communities and prepare for virtual business technologies to just get better and better.

AMANDA C. KOOSER is a journalist with nearly a decade of experience covering small business and technology issues.