UR Tasker

Posted by Mica Harvey / Dedicated Virtual Assistants, India Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

UR Tasker is a virtual assistant company specializing in assisting e-commerce sellers — Amazon, eBay and Shopify businesses — in growing their business and increasing sales.

The company was formed in 2015. All of their assistants are based in Pakistan and their headquarters is in Commack, New York.

About UR Tasker

The company was founded by Touseef Choudhary. Touseef has experience as an Amazon FBA and eBay seller and decided to start the company when he found it difficult to find skilled virtual assistants for his own business.

He started building a team and training them himself and first started hiring his team out to friends and family. He started taking on clients and the company has been growing steadily since 2015.

URTasker’s target customers are individuals and businesses of all sizes that need assistance managing their Amazon, eBay, and Shopify accounts.

Their assistants cover a wide range of services from ungating categories, helping with product research, optimizing listings, to increasing sales and everything in between.

When you sign up you’re introduced to a dedicated assistant. This allows them to get to know you and your business over time and you build a working relationship.

Services

URTasker offers a wide variety of assistance and solutions for anyone running an e-commerce business on Amazon or eBay, running an online store using the Shopify platform, or selling items from Jet.com and Walmart.

To give you an idea of the areas they specialize in, UR Tasker categorize their services into the following 6 categories:

  • Amazon PPC Management – Audit existing campaigns, implementing strategies to boost sales, reduce ACOS ratio, campaign management, weekly campaign reporting.
  • Amazon Account Management – Product research, product listings, listing optimization, FBA reimbursement, 24/7 customer support.
  • Amazon Ungating Services – Documents review, submissions, category approval, sub-category approval, brand ungating.
  • eBay Account Management – Product listings, inventory management, order management, marketing, performance management.
  • Shopify Expert – Store audit, store development, product listings, product research, and marketing.
  • Jet.com and Walmart Expert – Walmart product listings, inventory management, fulfillment node setup, Jet.com API configuration, Jet.com product listings.

Plans and Pricing

Although UR Tasker does not have any set pricing plans all of their team are based in Pakistan so they are able to offer competitive rates.

To get a custom quote there is a form to fill out on their site.

Include as much detail as much as you can about your business and the services you’re interested in and a member of their team will contact you for a 15-minute call.

They do however offer a 5-day free trial so you can try their services before committing to a plan.

UR Tasker Alternatives

There are plenty of highly rated virtual assistant companies with a similar range of services as UR Tasker, but fewer specialize just in e-commerce.

The couple that come to mind are eLuminous Technologies (check out my video tour of their office), and FreeeUp, a freelance marketplace built by successful Amazon sellers.

Your Turn

Have you worked with UR Tasker? If so, please leave a short review below to help others with their decision.

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Byron

Posted by Mica Harvey / US Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Byron is a US-based virtual assistant company that started operations in 2016 under a closed beta and went live to the public in January 2017.

Their headquarters are located in New York City, and their assistants are home-based throughout the US.

About Byron

byron review

The company was started by Michael Benson in 2016 due to seeing a lack of accountability and low quality of work across the freelance marketplace. Byron’s current owner and CEO, Ujwal Velagapudi, continued Michael’s work by elevating Byron’s quality standards to be a strong contender in the VA services space.

Byron only hires US-based assistants and puts them through a rigorous vetting and testing process evaluating them across more than 100 skills. All Byron Assistants are college educated and have 5 or more years of experience as a Virtual Assistant (any kind), C Suite Executive Assistant, Remote Accountant/Bookkeeper, or Virtual Administrative Officer.

When you sign up for one of their plans you have the option to submit short or long-term tasks.

Short-term tasks are generally tasks that can be completed within 24 hours. Long-term tasks give you the opportunity to work with a dedicated assistant on an ongoing basis.

Byron’s target customers are startups, small businesses, and individuals looking to outsource some of their workload. Enterprise-level support is also available on a custom-plan basis.

They have a  user-friendly platform, and it’s easy to add multiple users so all of your team can have access to your VA and send tasks to be completed.

Byron Virtual Assistant Services

Byron’s virtual assistants can handle a wide variety of tasks that can be completed remotely. 

Click here to learn more about the tasks Byron Assistants handle and answers to their FAQs!

Byron’s Plans and Pricing

Their complete list of standard plans is as follows::

  • Pilot – $390 per month for 10 hours.
  • Regular – $740 per month for 20 hours. 
  • Plus – $1390 per month for 40 hours.
  • Pro – $2750 per month for 80 hours.

For requirements beyond 80 hours per month, Byron also offers custom plans.

All of their plans include access to a pool of senior level US based Virtual Assistants, excellent follow through and project management from the Byron operations team, and a platform with advanced technological features that makes delegating work easy and convenient. 

You can rollover unused hours as long as you have an active subscription. Enjoy wide tasking ability and  flexibility.

To get your free trial, book your free discovery call.

Byron Alternatives

Byron is a relative newcomer into the growing US-based VA space, and is more affordably priced than companies like BELAY and Worldwide 101. 

Time ETC and Zirtual seem to be a closer match, with a similar tech-focus but still slightly higher rates. 

Your Turn

Have you worked with Byron? If so, please leave a short review below to help others with their decision.

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Penbrothers

Posted by Mica Harvey / Philippines Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Penbrothers is a company specializing in providing offshore recruitment, flexible office spaces, legal services, and payroll assistance to startups and small businesses.

The company is based in the Philippines, and they have been operating since December 2014.

About Penbrothers

The company is run by Nicolas Bivero, Gui Faria, and Gabrielle Pratte. Nicolas and Gui have a wealth of experience and knowledge in global business practices and oversee the day-to-day operations.

Gabrielle is the local managing partner specializing in Filipino management and oversees all the cross-cultural experiences. It’s on her to make sure the communication between the workers in the Philippines and their international clients is running smoothly.

Their target customers are international startups and small businesses looking to cut costs by building a team based in the Philippines.

Penbrothers have several locations across Manila in the Philippines. They can help with recruiting a team, providing fully-equipped office spaces, and managing the HR and payroll for your team.

The aim is to essentially bridge that gap that international clients have when managing a team in the Philippines from afar.

Services

Penbrothers services are broken down into three main areas as follows:

  • Recruitment – Penbrothers can handle the whole recruitment process for you and build a team of any size.
  • Letting Office Space – They have several locations in Manila and have let office spaces to more than 45 companies to date.
  • They are open 24/7, can provide parking at an additional cost, and have additional meeting rooms available via an online booking system.
  • HR and Payroll – They have a team available to handle the HR and payroll for your team using their office space. This is particularly useful for international clients as there are different taxes and processes involved when paying Filipino workers.

Alternatively, you can use any of their services individually. For example, if you need a new location for an existing team you can hire the space.

Or, maybe you now want to offshore your payroll so make some additional savings. Whatever your needs are, you can work out a plan specific to your requirements by talking to a member of their team.

Plans and Pricing

Penbrothers do not have any fixed plans as all of their services are bespoke and will be tailored you to exact needs.

You can hire as many virtual assistants as you need and pay a flat hourly rate.

To discuss which of their services you want and to get a quote you need to contact a member of their team.

Penbrothers Alternatives

For similar services targeting larger companies (and larger budgets), check out CloudStaff or TayStone BPO.

If your business is still growing and you don’t yet have the need for your own office space and dedicated team check out companies like TaskVirtual or TaskBullet.

As an all-in-one package however, Penbrothers offer a suite of services that make recruiting and managing a team in the Philippines a lot easier than outsourcing and managing the different elements through different companies.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Penbrothers? If so, please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Task Venturers

Posted by Mica Harvey / India Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Task Venturers is a virtual assistant company based Kolkata, India. The company started operations in November 2017, and they offer a wide range of services to entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized business.

About Task Venturers

The company was founded by Abhishek Basu and his partner, Tanumoy Banerjee. They used to work as freelancers and decided to start Task Venturers to expand their client base and offer a wider range of services.

When I spoke with the CEO Tanumoy, he told me their goal was, “To make services affordable and the platform easy and user-friendly.” Being a newish company at the time of writing this they are mostly working with small to medium-sized businesses, but say they have the capacity to work with larger businesses too.

They have a team of VAs and work with clients all over the world. Even though they are based in India, time zones are not an issue as they offer 24/7 support.

When you sign up with Taskventurers, you are assigned a dedicated virtual assistant and have direct contact with them to communicate your requirements.

Services

Their virtual assistants can handle any tasks you are looking to outsource that can be completed remotely.

Some of the more common tasks they do for clients include:.

  • Website development
  • Graphic design
  • SEO
  • Administrative tasks
  • Social media
  • Personal task
  • Customer support
  • Google Adwords, analytics, Webmasters management
  • Keyword research

When I asked what their areas of specialization are Tanumoy told me, “Web development, and graphic and web design.”

Plans and Pricing

Taskventurers currently have 6 different pricing plans to choose from, as well as the option to build your own custom plan if none of their set hours meets what you’re looking for.

Their rates start at $10 per hour for their lowest tier plan, and go as low as $5.50 per hour.

A complete list of their plans is as follows (accurate at press time):

  • Minimalist – 8 hours for $80 per month. ($10/hour)
  • Enthusiastic – 15 hours for $135 per month. ($9/hour)
  • Passionate – 25 hours for $200 per month. ($8/hour)
  • Eureka – 50 hours for $350 per month. ($7/hour)
  • Colossal – 100 hours for $600 per month. ($6/hour)
  • Mammoth – 200 hours for $1,100 per month. ($5.50/hour)

Those plans are quite affordable, but if you don’t want to be tied down to a monthly subscription, you might consider the “Cosmic” plan.

This plan lets you buy blocks of time at $11-12/hour and the hours don’t expire at the end of the month.

Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: mention referral code VAA10 for 10% off your first month!

All of their plans come with 24/7 support, and you must use the hours within 30 days.

They offer a 2-day free trial on all their plans.

Task Venturers Alternatives

If you’re looking to work with a virtual assistant company in India there are several highly rated companies worth checking out.

Ask Sunday, My Tasker, and VA Talks are the three main players. Taskventurers undercut them on price though, and this may be one of the factors that set them apart from their competitors.

Still, they were quick to say that they don’t compromise on quality. If you’re on a budget, my suggestion is to take advantage of their free trial and see how it goes.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Taskventurers? If so, please leave a short review below to help others with their decision.

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Please.Do

Posted by Mica Harvey / SMS Virtual Assistants, Task-Based Virtual Assistants

Please.Do is a mobile app that acts as an on-demand personal assistant service. Behind the scenes, a team of real “Doers” tackles your tasks quickly wherever you need them.

Since everyone already has a smartphone in their pocket, it’s a compelling service model for busy entrepreneurs and business owners. With no contracts or fixed fees, Please.Do is a convenient way to get tasks done on the move.

About Please.Do

The company have been operating since 2016 and their headquarters is based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Please Do have a team of real people waiting to receive tasks sent via their app. They call their staff “Please Doers,” and at a touch of a button you can have them doing research and answering your questions.

Their target customers are busy individuals who have the need for a personal assistant, but don’t quite need a monthly service or a dedicated VA.

By using Please Do you have a personal assistant available 24/7, but only pay for the minutes you use and can choose when you use them.

Services

Please.Do can fulfill just about any task that can be completed remotely and returned to you via your mobile. All they ask from you is a picture or video and some instructions.

For example, you can send an image of a document to be transcribed, ask for some research on a topic, a list of restaurants, car dealers, or pricing up some travel.

To get started you need to download their app, set up an account, and load up some funds.

When you’re ready to outsource some tasks this is how it works:

  1. Take a picture or a video on your mobile if applicable.
  2. Send the picture with some instructions on what you want via the app (either type or use voice memo).
  3. Agree to the estimated time if applicable or wait for your completed task.

To give you an idea of the kind of tasks Please Do handle, here are some examples from their instructions page when you download the app include sending a photo of:

  • an item you want to buy and asking a Please Doer to find the item for you.
  • your dog and asking for a list of local dog walking services near you.
  • a broken air-conditioning unit and asking a Please Doer to find you a local AC repairman.

Plans and Pricing

Please Do costs $0.25 per minute for what they call “Simple tasks.” Simple tasks are any tasks that can be completed in 30 minutes or less. (Maximum charge of $7.50.)

For longer tasks, a Please Doer will contact you with a time estimate and custom quote. However, if they still manage to complete the task within the 30 minutes you’ll pay the lower rate.

A nice feature is the ability to set a minute threshold for pre-confirming. For example, you can set the app to always ask you for confirmation if a task is going to take 10 minutes or longer.

Also, it’s worth noting that all first-time users receive their first 10 minutes free.

One medium red flag for me was this note on the Please.do website:

“For tasks that require extra security, mark them as ‘Confidential.’ Confidential tasks will be confined within our pool of in-house Doers.”

So what random people are doing the non-confidential tasks?

Please.Do Alternatives

There have been a few companies emerging in this market over the last couple of years, but they seem to be disappearing too. In fact, the Please.do app ratings and even the website itself seem like they haven’t been updated since 2016. (Although a new version of the iOS app was released in early 2018.)

Magic operates on a similar model. They are a bit more pricey but they’ve also been in business longer so might be worth checking out if this type of service appeals to you.

Please.Do has the advantage over the more expensive Fin service, which carries a $120 monthly fee AND costs $1 a minute after your first 2 hours of assistance.

It might be worth looking at virtual assistant companies if you’re going to have ongoing tasks. If you don’t want to go down the dedicated virtual assistant route I recommend checking out FancyHands or OkayRelax for affordable task-based support.

Your Turn

Have you used Please.Do? If so, please leave a brief review below to help others with their decision.

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VAnetworking

Posted by Mica Harvey / Education, Virtual Assistant Resources

VAnetworking is one of the largest global networking platforms for virtual assistants to connect with each other and utilize resources to help them improve their businesses and find more opportunities.

On the client side, VAnetworking accepts job postings from businesses and allows their paid members to respond.

The company has been in business since 2003, and is based in British Columbia, Canada.

About VAnetworking

VAnetworking was founded by Tawnya Sutherland. As a virtual assistant herself in the early days of the industry, she couldn’t find a support network.

So as you might have guessed, she set out to build it that support network.

She started a forum for virtual assistants and as it gained momentum she started VAnetworking.

VAnetworking now has more than 30,000 members worldwide and has become one of the largest online resources for VAs to get their businesses up and running.

The company specializes in giving virtual assistants resources to help them find more work and improve their businesses.

They also work with clients looking for VAs helping them find the right assistants and offering resources to help them learn about working with VAs.

VAnetworking Services

VAnetworking is primarily focused on providing everything a VA needs to start and run their business. They have a system and a certification program VAs can work through — for what it’s worth — as well as various training resources, mentoring groups, and a forum where VAs can meet and talk with one another.

They offer a lot of free resources and a free membership that opens up access to their forums and some training materials.

Their paid memberships open up access to job boards, network groups, and more training tools.

But with such a broad network of VAs, it’s only natural that VAnetworking offer something for prospective clients too. If you’re looking to hire, you can post a job for free, and they’ll try and match you with the best suited VA.

Some of the skills listed include:

  • General Administrative
  • Web Design
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Real Estate

The company offers support and training for clients to ensure they are getting the most from their working relationships with VAs.

(Tawnya also sells a $97 ebook series on finding the ultimate VA for your business.)

VAnetworking Plans and Pricing

On the VA side, VAnetworking has 3 different membership options:

  1. Free Membership – This gives you access to networking forums, video training courses, ebooks, checklists, and other resources.
  2. VA Insiders Club – $333 per year. This gives you access to a job board, monthly group coaching, webinars, training tools, a brainstorming network, and some other resources.
  3. VA Career – $997 per year. This gives you access to everything above, plus a startup system to help you get your business up and running in 30 days. Members also get access to online training tools, and website hosting.

For clients, your Request for Proposal is free to submit, and your job will be posted to VAnetworking’s VAinsider’s job board. Prospective VAs will reach out to you directly via email if they feel they’re a fit for your role.

Keep in mind that the company caters primarily to higher-end North American VAs. That means when budgeting for your job, think in the range of $25/hour and up.

But because the company is charging the VAs, you don’t pay any ongoing markup on your hire’s hours once they start working for you.

Since it’s free it doesn’t hurt to post your job and see what kind of responses you get.

VAnetworking Alternatives

For US-based freelance virtual assistants sourced in a similar vein, check out HireMyMom or Gina Horkey’s Virtual Assistant Finder service.

If your budget is a little lower, you might consider a service like FreeeUp, where you still have some vetting done by the platform but can reach a global (and potentially more affordable) talent pool.

And if you want someone else to really do the most of the hiring work for you — and the benefits of working through a VA company — there’s always well-rated options like Time Etc.

Your Turn

Have you worked with VAnetworking? If so, please take a moment to leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Virtudesk

Posted by Mica Harvey / Philippines Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Virtudesk is a virtual assistant company based in Washington state. The business was founded in 2016 and their assistants specialize in real estate prospecting, marketing, and administrative tasks.

Their company tagline says it best: “We manage the small tasks so you can focus on what’s most important.”

About Virtudesk

The company’s assistants are home-based across the globe, with most of them working out of the Philippines.

The company is run by Pavel Stepanov, CEO, Fatima Patricia Pablo, Operations Manager, and Roan Kris Yboal, Client Relations Manager.

VirtuDesk provides virtual assistants to entrepreneurs, professionals, business owners, investors, brokers, and agents, in the real estate industry. They specialize in admin support, marketing, prospecting, and transaction coordination.

When you sign up with Virtudesk you’ll be assigned a dedicated assistant based on your requirements. It’s then up to you to communicate what you need done and build on the relationship.

Services

VirtuDesk’s assistants can carry out any remote tasks, but they group their services into 4 areas of specialization to give you an idea of how to best utilize their skills:

  1. Prospecting and Lead Nurturing – Their assistants are trained as internal sales agents. They will manage, organize, and nurture your leads.
  2. Administrative and Office Support – They will manage your calendar, do data entry, and any general admin tasks.
  3. Marketing and Public Relations – They will manage your social media accounts, write blog posts, carry out SEO tasks, website management and more.
  4. Real Estate Transaction Coordination – Their assistants are trained to oversee all aspects of buyer and seller transactions.

If you have a steady stream of work in any of the areas their assistants specialize in, it’s a good opportunity to get a running start instead of training a new assistant from the ground up yourself — as you may have to with a more general VA company.

I recommend contacting a member of their team and seeing how their skill sets line up against the type of tasks you’re looking to outsource.

Plans and Pricing

Virtudesk have 4 different plans depending on the services you want, and each comes with separate part-time and full-time hourly rates.

All of their plans require a $350 setup fee and 3-month minimum lock-in period.

A complete list of their plans are as follows:

Administrative Assistant

  • Full-time $8.60 per hour; $1,376 per month
  • Part-time $9.60 per hour; $768 per month

Marketing Assistant

  • Full-time $8.60 per hour; $1,376 per month
  • Part-time $9.60 per hour; $768 per month

Transaction Coordinator

  • Full-time $10.00 per hour; $1,600 per month
  • Part-time $11.25 per hour; $900 per month

Prospecting Assistant

  • Full-time $9.60 per hour; $1,536 per month
  • Part-time $10.75 per hour; $860  per month

Virtudesk is also happy to put together a custom package if none of the above meet your requirements.

VirtuDesk Alternatives

There are plenty of options if you’re looking for other virtual assistant companies using staff in the Philippines.

OnlineJobs.ph and Task Bullet offer very competitive rates and a good deal of positive feedback, so I recommend checking them out for comparable quotes.

Closer to home, I know Uassist.ME (El Salvador) works with lots of real estate industry clients as well.

Your Turn

Have you worked with VirtuDesk? If so, please take a moment to leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Deluxe Logo Design

Posted by Mica Harvey / Graphic and Web Design Services

I was surprised to learn that Deluxe has been in business since 1915 — 100 years! They started back in the day making checkbook holders and are still one of the leaders in check production today.

Naturally, the business evolved to include small business support services, including graphic design. The logo design arm (formerly known as LogoMojo) got its start in 1992 and the company has served more than 50,000 logo design clients since then.

About Deluxe

deluxe logo design reviewWhile the specific deliverable many small businesses are after is an attractive logo, Deluxe can also help with developing your organization’s brand identity through marketing, search engine optimization, social media development and website design.

They target small businesses that want an affordable logo with more options and attention to your overall brand than a cheaper service (like Fiverr). Check some of the portfolio samples in the video below to get an idea of what they can create.

How it Works

To get started, you’ll complete a short design brief. If you’ve never done one of these before, it’s a pretty fun exercise. You go through a series of questions about your personal style and your business’ “personality.”

In the case of Deluxe, they’ll ask you what other types of logos you like, what colors you like or are thinking of using in your business, any images you want included (or excluded), where you might use the logo, and some information about your company like who you serve and what sets you apart in the market.

After that, Deluxe will assign a handful of designers (number based on what package you select) from their Charlotte, North Carolina-based team who are the best fit for your project, and they’ll get to work in producing design concepts for you to review.

Deluxe Logo Samples and Intro Video

Plans and Pricing

Deluxe offers 5-tiers of logo design pricing, starting at just $99. At that price point, you’ll get a couple different design concepts from a single designer.

Higher tiers add more logo concepts and input from more designers.

From there, you can ask for a revision or two if the design concept is close but not quite where you want it.

Limited Time VAA exclusive: Get 10% off any logo design package through this link!

The mid-tier Silver package is $395 and bumps you up to 4 designers and 6 logo design concepts. Plus they’ll throw in a black and white version of your vector file.

And at the top-end, Deluxe has their gold package with 8 designers and 10 design concepts. The big value add-ons here are the fonts and color codes, which are really helpful in making your website look like a coherent extension of your brand.

VAA Exclusive: Get $100 off a Gold design package with promo code 100OFFGOLDLOGO. 

Each package comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, in which you can request a redesign from new designers or a full refund if none of the concepts are acceptable.

Logo Design Alternatives

Deluxe operates in this unique middle ground between the fully crowdsourced logo services like 99designs and CrowdSPRING, and the straight 1-person freelance shops you’ll find on Fiverr or Upwork.

I definitely like the idea of having multiple people contributing multiple concepts, and the Bronze package is less expensive than the lowest option at 99designs.

Have you ever had a logo designed by Deluxe? What did you think? Please feel free to leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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VoiceNation

Posted by Mica Harvey / Virtual Receptionist Services

VoiceNation is a virtual telephone answering and messaging service provider for businesses looking for a cost-effective solution to handling high call volume.

The company has been operating since 2003, and all of their team members are based in their offices located in Buford, GA.

About VoiceNation

The company is run by Jay Reeder and Graham Taylor, and their target customers are businesses with high call volumes such as real estate and specialty marketing groups.

They specialize in virtual PBX with multiple mailboxes and extensions, have local or toll-free number availability, provide digital voicemail and fax-to-emails, live call answering, take and pass on messages, and other virtual call answering tasks.

Their receptionists are available 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays, so you never need miss a call, or a sale again.

Voice Nation use proprietary communication technology that can be adapted to you and your business needs and provide custom usage reports to help you track how many minutes you’ve used, call numbers, and more.

When you sign up with VoiceNation a team of phone operators are assigned to answer your calls around the clock or for the hours you’ve specified.

This means you have cover in place to ensure you don’t miss any calls, and at a fraction of the price it would cost to hire employees to do the same thing.

Services

Voice Nation’s team of virtual receptionists will handle all of your telecommunication needs. They provide 24/7 coverage for call answering, instant activation, call forwarding, and more.

With their online dashboard, you can manage your on-call schedule, easily make changes to suit your schedule, and view reports for billable time and minutes used.

There is an app too, so you can keep up-to-date and make changes to your plan on your smartphone quickly and easily.

Plans and Pricing

VoiceNation offer a 7-day free trial if you’re interested in their services but want to try before you buy.

They offer six different pricing plans ranging from $59-$849 per month as follows:

  • Quickstart – 0 minutes for $59 per month.
  • Business – 75 minutes for $99 per month.
  • Pro – 125 minutes for $149 per month.
  • Platinum – 250 minutes for $249 per month.
  • Executive – 500 minutes for $449 per month.
  • Enterprise – 1,000 minutes for $849 per month.

There is also a one-time $75 setup fee for any plan.

They also offer plans for messaging only, and can build custom plans if none of the above plans meet your requirements.

VoiceNation Alternatives

Gabbyville and Vicky Virtual are two of the most well-known virtual receptionist companies in the space to also check out.

Voice Nation have the lowest cost per minute rates if price is a starting point for you. They all offer free trials though, so it might make sense to test a couple on your short list before signing up for any long-term commitment.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Voice Nation? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Brandmark

Posted by Mica Harvey / Graphic and Web Design Services

Brandmark is a logo design company that uses AI technology to generate logos based on some color and design specifications from you.

They are one of the newer AI-powered logo design companies in the space starting operations in August, 2017, and are based in Vancouver, Canada.

About Brandmark

The company was founded by Jack Qiao, an electrical systems engineer turned web developer. Jack has developed a suite of AI-powered design tools, with the Brandmark logo maker being one of his tools.

Brandmark said their target customers are small business owners looking to re-brand, new online businesses, and bloggers with a need for affordable logo designs.

The advantages of using an AI-powered logo design service is the speed in which you can produce logos (literally within 1-2 minutes), and the lower price point due to no human manpower being involved.

Brandmark do have some in-house logo designers on hand to help if you purchase their Enterprise package however, and a customer service team ready to handle any questions.

Services

There are just a few quick and easy steps to follow and you will be flicking through finished designs in a matter of minutes.

  • Step 1 – Type in your business name and tagline (optional).
  • Step 2 – Type in some brand keywords (this helps the AI select some relevant images and fonts).
  • Step 3 – Choose a color style from the 4 options provided.

That’s all there is to it.

You will then be shown a number of different logos. You’ll see there are various fonts and colors used, some will have small images, and there will be dozens of combinations and crossovers.

You can click on any of the designs and change either the font or the colors before deciding too, so you have a lot of control over the finished logo.

Plans and Pricing

You can practice generating logos as much as you like for free. So, you can design, tweak your color choices and layout, and change the images etc without having to commit to paying, or even signing up for an account.

You only pay for your logos when you’re 100% happy with the design. Then there are three different pricing options to choose from:

  • Basic – $25, you can download a PNG file of your logo.
  • Designer – $65, you can download a PNG file, print-quality vector, business card designs, letterhead designs, Facebook cover designs, social media icons and app icons, and make additional changes at any time.
  • Enterprise – $175, you can download a PNG file, print-quality vector, business card designs, letterhead designs, Facebook cover designs, social media icons and app icons, make additional changes at any time, and you have access to 10 design concepts from Brandmark’s in-house logo design team.

After making a purchase you then have access to their online brand asset studio where you can continue to customize your designs for other uses such as social media platforms.

Brandmark Alternatives

Another company operating on a very similar business model and pricing structure worth checking out is Looka. Seeing as both Looka and Brandmark let you design your logos for free before choosing it makes sense to try both platforms.

Brandmark say they have the edge over their competitors by providing better, and more unique logo designs. As well as priding themselves on having excellent customer service.

If you can’t find a logo you’re happy with from AI-powered design platforms like these I recommend trying Fiverr for an inexpensive option and access to hundreds of logo design gigs, or 99designs where you will receive designs from several different designers to choose from.

Your Turn

Have you created and purchased any logos from Brandmark? If so, please leave a brief review to help others with their decision.

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