For many small business owners, the cell phone has become the tool of choice for maintaining communications with customers, clients, prospects, associates, and of course – family and friends.

Some of you use a Business Land Line/PBX at the office, or are already familiar with Skype -- the dominant player in Internet Phone Service.

But now there is another multi-featured free phone service alternative worth looking at: Google Voice.

What is Google Voice?

Google Voice is a Virtual PBX Service from (you guessed it) Google.

Currently available in the US by invitation only, Google Voice gives you a free phone number that can ring any number of phones based on preferences you set – along with a sophisticated suite of VPBX services.

I received my invitation yesterday – and let me tell you, Google Voice is amazing!

Even though I’m just getting started with it, I can tell you that there is a mind-boggling array of features to get excited about.

Take a look.

• Free Phone Number
• Call Screening
• Call Blocking
• Phone Routing
• Voicemail
• Voicemail To Text
• Personalized Greeting (Can Vary By Caller)
• Switch Phones During A Call
• Send, Receive, and store SMS
• Block Unwanted Numbers

Remember: this is just the beginning.

There are lots more features available with Google Voice.

And have I mentioned that all of this is currently FREE?

If you’ve been searching for an affordable Phone/PBX Solution – this is probably it!

(I can’t imagine anything more affordable than free).

Visit www.google.com/voice and request your invitation.

Really Go Green.

E-mail, e-Zines, blogs, and websites do a great deal to cut down on paper consumption and waste. You can easily implement methods like printing double-sided, using PDFs instead of paper documents, and using DVD or CD Business Cards.

And by purchasing energy-efficient office machines like inexpensive printers, scanners, and netbooks, you can help conserve energy too.

Review Your Web Hosting Plan.

If your website has been around for longer than 5 years or so – it’s time to look at your Web Hosting Plan again.

Web Hosting is cheap these days, and if you are paying more than around $8 a month for a shared hosting plan – you can stop now.

Dump Your Expensive Merchant Account

It is easy to wait too long to make this move. (I know!)

When you need to cut some costs, start shopping around for lower Merchant Account rates. You may also want to consider using low cost alternative online payment services like 2CheckOut or PayPal.

Consider VOiP

VOiP is Voice Over Internet Protocol. It’s basically phone service via the Internet – with substantial cost benefits over traditional telephone networks.

Check out Skype or Vonage to compare features and prices. (If you are considering MagicJack, look very closely at their privacy issues).

Eliminate Non Essential Land Lines

Do you really need a fax line, business line, and home phone line?

If you are a very small business – you probably don’t. You just think you do.

But if you think a bit harder and really look at it, you’ll probably see that you can get along quite nicely with just 1 or 2 phone lines/numbers.

If you feel you must have more than 1 line, and you need fax services as well – you can always sign up for an inexpensive Virtual PBX Service.

See? You can always cut back just a little bit more if you have to.