I know there's many working from a home office, so you have a home mailing address. Some may have a more professional image by using a PO box as a mailing address. Here is the question...

Would you put a PO box address on your business card (along with the usual name, telephone and fax number, e-mail address and website address)?

Obivously business cards are used to hand out to people you meet at conferences or even to friends so they know the address of your website to pass the word on etc. But does using a PO box seem slightly wrong on a business card? Or would you simply put your home address?

Alan

It would be more appropriate to put your P.O. Box on there, if you have a seperate address apart from your home address then, that would be appropriate to place on the business card as well.

Originally posted by SE Networks
It would be more appropriate to put your P.O. Box on there, if you have a seperate address apart from your home address then, that would be appropriate to place on the business card as well. That's what I thought aswell. I just wanted to see what others thought on having a PO box on a business card instead of a physical address that the person you are giving the card to can actually travel to.

Alan

Greetings:

While we've been in a professional office for years, back when we were operated out of a 12x13 spare room in a house I used to own, we used the complete address on our business cards.

PO Boxes can be viewed as suspicious, and there is no shame in running a business from your home (we did it the 1st three years of our existence).

Take care.

PO Boxes can be viewed as suspicious, and there is no shame in running a business from your home (we did it the 1st three years of our existence).That's exactly what I also had in mind... I'm skeptical of using a PO box address on business cards and it seems unprofessional. It's quite a useless contact detail to have on the card if you know them in person. It's one thing to put a PO box address on a company website as anyone who you don't know can see the address, but it's another thing using the PO box address on a business card. The only worry that I see here is the person that you've given the business card to, visiting the home address listed on the card... and at that point it would look quite unprofessional if you're not all setup at the home to expect clients. Any advice there?

Alan

The main purpose of cards is to say what you do and how to contact you. Everything else (including any address at all) is secondary. Having a physical address "might" add to perceived legitimacy, but I think most people understand that a host's web site is equivalent to most other businesses physical storefont.

The best cards I've seen have all been extremely simple:

Name and Logo

Catch phrase

Phone/email/url


It should be the logo, name and phrase that imply trust, not a street address.

Originally posted by SROHost
The main purpose of cards is to say what you do and how to contact you. Everything else (including any address at all) is secondary. Having a physical address "might" add to perceived legitimacy, but I think most people understand that a host's web site is equivalent to most other businesses physical storefont.

The best cards I've seen have all been extremely simple:

Name and Logo

Catch phrase

Phone/email/url


It should be the logo, name and phrase that imply trust, not a street address. I guess there's another question that you've come up with. Do you even need to put an address on a business card, is it required?

Alan

Get an external mailing address either through a postal service, an executive office center, or a telephone answering service. Probably not worth the cost at this point, however.

You can also somewhat circumvent by identifying the P. O. Box as a "mailing address" or a "postal address".... for example...

www.alanswonderfulhosting.com
Phone: 555-555-5555
Fax: 444-444-4444
Mailing Address: P. O. Box 5555
Somewhere
UK
This is exactly what you have done on your web site.

I have my PO Box on my card. I will put the Physical location if we ever move to a office.

I guess it depends on your expected customer base. I've never met a shared hosting customer face to face and don't expect to meet many. If I offered dedicated hardware to local customers, however, I'd certainly want the customer to have the comfort of knowing there's a physical address associated with the workbench their machine is built on... even if it's in the basement of my house :)

One: I think you could get away with just the email address and url if you put contact information on your website.

Two: For about $50-60 a month you can actually get a "virtual office" with mail forwarding from http://www.hq.com/solutions/bid.asp . In Dallas, where I live, they have locations in some really nice office buildings (and they lease day offices/conference rooms by the hour so you could even meet a client there if need be).

You could always rent a small office too, in your own city. I've seen little office spaces going for $200-$300/month, which isn't bad since you could just sit there all day and do your work or have things shipped there, or meet local clients there.

You can also somewhat circumvent by identifying the P. O. Box as a "mailing address" or a "postal address".... That's a possible way of doing it, I'll definitely consider this.

Two: For about $50-60 a month you can actually get a "virtual office" with mail forwarding from http://www.hq.com/solutions/bid.asp . In Dallas, where I live, they have locations in some really nice office buildings (and they lease day offices/conference rooms by the hour so you could even meet a client there if need be).Something I'm looking into... it's about $150/year I think for an address such as this in the UK, but I'm trying to keep things simple and costs down everywhere I can. I'll be making a visit to a local business center where they offer these kind of services. Maybe this would be the best solution.

You could always rent a small office too, in your own city. I've seen little office spaces going for $200-$300/month, which isn't bad since you could just sit there all day and do your work or have things shipped there, or meet local clients there.This would defeat the point of working from a home office, lol. Working from home is quite important as it allows you to provide a much better service especially if you're on 24x7 call.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, they've all been very helpful. The main topic of this thread is based on business cards that you use to give out to the local people, including friends and family or at conferences, that sort of thing. I'm sure many have had their friends, family... or general people that you meet at shops ask you what you do. It makes it easier to give out a business card with URL and contact details than to explain to them.

Alan

I'll be having some business cards printed and I'm using both my home address (which serves as the office) and P.O. box (which serves as the billing address).

Customer: knock-knock
You: Gee, I wonder who is at the door?
Customer: Hello are you ho247?
You: Yes.
Customer: Could you please install frontpage extensions for my account <insert domain name here>

That is the reason I do not post my home address on business cards.. If you don't have a real walk-in office I don't see any need to have a physical address. If you look at alot of your bills and other things you send into companies such as rebates etc you will notice alot of them all use a PO Box.

Or...


Customer: knock-knock
You: Gee, I wonder who is at the door?
Customer: Hello are you ho247?
You: Yes.
SFX: Crash, bang, smash
Customer: I asked you to install frontpage extensions on my account five time M*****F*****.

OKIHost and adland... those two scenarios were very funny :).

Alan

I am about to have business cards printed and I will be using a PO Box. One thing I wanted to point out is that it is easy to get someone's home address from their PO Box. In England at least, if you walk into the post office and say 'who is behind PO box 555 Manchester?' they will give you the address of the person who opened that box. So don't count on your po box as a way to avoid people finding out where you live.

Originally posted by Moriarty
I am about to have business cards printed and I will be using a PO Box. One thing I wanted to point out is that it is easy to get someone's home address from their PO Box. In England at least, if you walk into the post office and say 'who is behind PO box 555 Manchester?' they will give you the address of the person who opened that box. So don't count on your po box as a way to avoid people finding out where you live. I'm aware of that... Royal Mail in the UK are allowed and even by law to give out the forwarding address of the owner of the PO box. I think if I do use the PO box address on the business card, I would try to make it not too much as a big feature of it, it'll be small and at the bottom. That would give room to the contact details that I want the person to take notice of such as the name, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.

Alan

What are the reasons you are putting it on there in the first place? I doubt many people will be wanting to send you a letter telling you they are interested in your services.

Greetings Alan:

"The only worry that I see here is the person that you've given the business card to, visiting the home address listed on the card... and at that point it would look quite unprofessional if you're not all setup at the home to expect clients. Any advice there?"

While we've had some unexpected visitors during the three years we were operating out of a home environment, those visits allowed the metal to be tested (so to speak).

If you look at the history behind HJ Heinz company (http://www.heinz.com/) and other major companies in the United States, they all started from home.

While we are now in a professional office, I can still look back to those days when we were in our home environment with a level of pride knowing that others started from their home.

And if you never move out, there is not a stigma or problem with it. Sometimes it is better that way.

Thank you.

What are the reasons you are putting it on there in the first place? I doubt many people will be wanting to send you a letter telling you they are interested in your services.It seems standard to put an address on a business card, but it seems it's not so standard anymore.

dynamicnet, you have mentioned some very useful points and I am now leaning to simply putting the home address on the business card, thanks for the help.

Alan

In the US, PO boxes and mailbox stroes will not give out the ohysical address of the owner unless they are ordered to by court order.

Well, tht's what it says in the paperwork I got from Mail Boxes, Etc. (now called The UPS Store).

I have a personal mailbox for several reasons. First off, my husband and I are still looking for a permanent reisdence (we just finished college and are living with my grandparents until we can buy a house). We try to keep all of our mail and phone calls separate so it is less burden on them. Mostly. though, I don't want customers trying to visit me at home, since it is actually a violation of my home business license to do so. I told the city that no customers would be visiting when I got my license, and so that's what they expect. Both addresses on on my bus. license, though, so if anyone REALLY wanted to find me, all they needed to do was go look up the license at city hall, since those are public records. But, not many people would think to go that far...at least I don't think so.

Our mailing address is not a PO box, but a physical location, so our address reads:

1234 W Main Street PMB 999
Anytown, USA 12345

It allows us to have a box, plus we can get UPS, FedEx, etc. shipments as well (the US Postal service will not allow private couriers to deliver to PO boxes.) It's fairly cheap, too...about $10 a month.

Personally, I would leave the mailing address off your card. If someone ASKED for it, then you could say, "Well, our mailing address is...."

Yes, a box address may look fishy to some people, but in today's age its a matter of privacy, too. The lady at my mailbox store told me that about 90% of their boxes are rented by people running small businesses out of their home. I think its is becoming more acceptable. Even still, though, some people just address mail to the street address to me (without the PMB part), and the store will still get my mail to me.

But, yeah...as I was saying. They know where I live, I had to submit several items proving that I did indeed have a residence, including my car registration and business license, but they will not give out any information to anyone unless they have a court order or the like.

I just have my PO box number on all of my cards. For me it isn't so much what if they pop in unexpected, it is the 15 phone calls they make to me after getting lost trying to get to my office :lol:

Rural has it's perks :). But that isn't entirely rooted in just location, I was in telecom service before getting into this business, and I was programmed that the customer shouldn't have to come to me, I should go to the customer, so if they want a face to face, I'll drive, fly or (on occasion) crawl to them, if they insist on coming here I mail them a map and when they arrive I'm happy to see them. There is no shame in running a biz out of your home, I'm sitting in my office right now, my wife is watching TV in the living room, and my son is next door at his grandmother's house. That doesn't prove that I can't afford an office, or that I'm a shady character :cool: it just proves that I'm a family oriented guy and I have roots that can't easily be pulled up and shagged to the next state with truckloads of my clients cash :eek:

Biz owners that run the business out of their homes are usually more dedicated, will put in longer hours, and get the job done without being tied to the 9 to 5 timeline. So don't think it is unprofessional to work from home and whatever is most convenient for you is what you should put on your cards.

I guess if you have a PO BOX, you can meet the customers at the Post Office? :D

Home address is on mine.

I guess if I were in my OWN home, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. In fact, my husband and I are leaning towards building a house now, and in all the ideas we come up with, there is always an office with a separate entrance and room for clients to park if necesarry. Something like that wouldn't bother me very much. In fact, that's the only way I will ever be able to work again, is from home. Due to health concerns holding a 9-5er isn't very practical for me.

Right now, living with grandparents (as we are doing) or even renting can be more challenging. Not all landlords will let you run a business from your home. In fact, when I got my bus. license, I had a whole separate packet to fill out as a home business including the signature of the owner of the property. That's the reason we're staying with my grandparents, some property managers just will not do it under any circumstances. One guy even told us that he disallowed home businesses after he found out a lady, who he thought was selling Avon products, was actually running a more lucrative drug house.

It all just depends on your situation and needs I suppose. For us, we use a PMB...no business cards as of yet, but that will change. When we DO finally get a place of our own, I will probably use my home address.

Originally posted by adland
Or...


Customer: knock-knock
You: Gee, I wonder who is at the door?
Customer: Hello are you ho247?
You: Yes.
SFX: Crash, bang, smash
Customer: I asked you to install frontpage extensions on my account five time M*****F*****.

This reminds me of when I first got out of college. I was a commodities broker. We used to put other peoples pictures on our business cards. That way if we had a disgruntled investor he would be looking for someone else.

Did you ever see boiler room? I lived it. I had know idea what kind of business I was getting into. I always thought it was a respectable way to make a living. I'd rathert have a daughter in a whore house than a son in a commodities firm.:D

to build trust with your clients i would reco a physical address. but then for security that may be a mistake.

Originally posted by dapon
Did you ever see boiler room? I lived it. I had know idea what kind of business I was getting into. I always thought it was a respectable way to make a living. I'd rathert have a daughter in a whore house than a son in a commodities firm.:D

Ouch - it's a good film, shows the sleaze that goes on. :eek:

I don't see why you wouldn't put your home address on it... They can just get your address off of a WHOIS search anyway...

I think you need to make the decision based on what your home life is like.

I placed my home address on my business cards just starting out. I had clients coming to my house to signup for services. I had clients coming to my home wanting support. Why? Because they lived in the area.

I never thought it would be an issue. I was in business a year before I did that, and did I ever regret it. I did not loose any clients but it WAS unprofessional. Of course, when you put your home address out there, it takes awhile for people to "lose" it, and heaven help you if the data center is out. Expect people to "stop by" and offer to help.

Never again will I do that. I have to have some barriers between my professional and work life.

Originally posted by Netivex
I don't see why you wouldn't put your home address on it... They can just get your address off of a WHOIS search anyway...

Not if you put your PO box in the whois information (Or PMB).

Originally posted by comphosting
Not if you put your PO box in the whois information (Or PMB).

90% of my customers wouldn't know to do that, and the type that would "stop by" to lend a hand PROBABLY wouldn't be the type smart enough for a whois lookup./

I personally use a Po Box for my card and on my website, and I now also use the same PO box in my whois information, the reason for this is that a customer I currently have one afternoon just shows up at my door of the townhouse I was living in at the time with my mother while the wife and I were looking for an apartment. Well their is the primary reason why I didn't have that information on the website, but he goes and gets it out of the whois database, which prompted me changing it that night.

One reason for me choosing this business was to not have to worry about interacting in person with my customers, but then this loon shows up at my door wanting to sign up for hosting, I told him to go and do it from the website, but in a nice way.

It really all comes down to you just don't know who is going to show up at your door, and if that person is stable or not. Why risk it!

Originally posted by NJHosting
I personally use a Po Box for my card and on my website, and I now also use the same PO box in my whois information, the reason for this is that a customer I currently have one afternoon just shows up at my door of the townhouse I was living in at the time with my mother while the wife and I were looking for an apartment. Well their is the primary reason why I didn't have that information on the website, but he goes and gets it out of the whois database, which prompted me changing it that night.

One reason for me choosing this business was to not have to worry about interacting in person with my customers, but then this loon shows up at my door wanting to sign up for hosting, I told him to go and do it from the website, but in a nice way.

It really all comes down to you just don't know who is going to show up at your door, and if that person is stable or not. Why risk it! Yes, this is probably the main reason of using a PO box. Several people have mentioned the same thing, which is that anyone can just turn up at your door and ask for support, lol.

Having a PO box instead of a virtual office address or anything similar makes it easier to manage, it's simpler for people working from home. It certainly is hard to define work and personal life... but that's already hard if you're trying to offer the best service throughout most of the day. I think another factor would be the cost of having an office elsewhere. With the technology that's around these days, most people to tend to work from home and I personally don't think it's unprofessional. Over here in the UK it's called teleworking I think, not sure if it's the same in the US. Many of the larger companies such as BT support it as it means they can close down some centres and move people into their own homes cutting down on costs.

So on a conclusion of this thread... I think if I am to put an address on the business card, it would be the PO box address and it will probably be defined as the "mailing address" instead of a general address. I'll probably put it at the bottom of the card making it not the main contact point.

Alan

i dont see the point to a business card on a hosting company...

and if you saw the need for a business card, i see no need what so ever for an address... a hosting company (shared) wouldnt really need anybody to come over, billing should be online, letters should be sent by email... y do you need one?

For me the business card is a necessary evil at least more so recently, I am morphing my business to include what I do full time and changing my focus to a target group, with the primary focus no longer being hosting, but design & drafting services, but offering hosting my target market that doesn't yet have a presence on the internet.

Originally posted by OctaneDesign
i dont see the point to a business card on a hosting company...

and if you saw the need for a business card, i see no need what so ever for an address... a hosting company (shared) wouldnt really need anybody to come over, billing should be online, letters should be sent by email... y do you need one?

I have signed up numerous people that I have met somewhere and handed a card to. Anytime someone asks what I do for a living I hand them a card. Business cards are cheap, hand them out.

I am involved with a few different organizations and they all have different get togethers where a business card is a good way to get your name out there. I do agree that for hosting your email address is more important than a physical address. If I only had a PO Box I wouldn't list it. But that's just me.

Originally posted by dapon
I have signed up numerous people that I have met somewhere and handed a card to. Anytime someone asks what I do for a living I hand them a card. Business cards are cheap, hand them out.

I am involved with a few different organizations and they all have different get togethers where a business card is a good way to get your name out there. I do agree that for hosting your email address is more important than a physical address. If I only had a PO Box I wouldn't list it. But that's just me. I think dapon has explained it well on why you need business cards. It's just easy to give out to people if they ask what you do or they can be used when you meet others so you can spread your company name around.

My question now is... how many people have business cards that doesn't have any mailing address or physical address on it? It feels strange to hand out a card that provides the contact details and not have an address on it, lol.

Alan

business cards are a good idea, if you are going to hand them out..

but, why does you address have to be on it? just put your URL if people are interested in your company they will visit your site. Put your address on your site.

Originally posted by Rack Planet
business cards are a good idea, if you are going to hand them out..

but, why does you address have to be on it? just put your URL if people are interested in your company they will visit your site. Put your address on your site.

well said,

im in AU, and when i do goto corportate expo's (like a computer expo, or a dealer expo, etc) not too many people are interested in hosting, they usualy have hosting and dont want to switch. This probably isnt the case where you live though

I agree with dynamicnet; when first getting started, its ok to work out of your home. Dont be ashamed of it.

Originally posted by Rack Planet
business cards are a good idea, if you are going to hand them out..

but, why does you address have to be on it? just put your URL if people are interested in your company they will visit your site. Put your address on your site.

I tell my employees that I don't want to see there cards on their desk, I know who they are and how to reach them. I tell them to take the cards out and hand them out. Thats what they're for.

Ours have our address on them but I agree that it's not real important in this business.

I think however in todays society, putting your home address on a business card might not be the best idea.

Most customers that i have encountered are decent straight forward and you would have very little to worry about if you put your address on a business card, however i've seen a few post here and on WHT and other forums, and i don't think you would want to give out a home address to some individuals.

If you have to put an address on a business card, (and there is nothing that says that you do.) Then use a service like mailboxes etc or another similar service which gives a suite number instead of a p.o. box number.

Then when you are ready for an office, (if ever.) you can then change over to the office address or continue to use the address on the card. It's a solution that would solve all problems related to adding an address or not adding an address.

Some time ago celeberties listed home address, and you could get home address from the DMV, but the society as it's changed shows that this is not the best idea all around.