More than just a shotgun in your closet

January 29, 2012 0 Comments

This guest post from Lenny Mcknight

When you live in the deep south there are a few things that are just expected of you. You will drink sweet tea, your husband will hunt deer, you will smile and say hi to people who pass you on the street even if you do not particularly like them, and you will defend your property if needed. I fully agree with making sure that your property is secure and safe for your family but I don’t know if that necessarily means that you need to keep a loaded shot gun in your closet “just in case.” When I first moved here everyone told me to get a gun because everyone else in the county is a gun owner. So by default I guess I should be too? I’m not too good with guns and my aim is terrible so I just decided to check out home security Alabama to protect my home instead. As it turns out once I had my alarm system installed several of the people on my street decided to get one too. I guess maybe the shotgun in the closet type is a dying breed.

5 Time Keeping Apps To Increase Efficiency: A Must have For Small Business Owner

January 26, 2012 0 Comments

This is a guest post by Michael Evans. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Do you remember the old saying – Time is Money. This rings true when you are at the helm of a small business. Being a small business owner means you will have to be exceptional at multi tasking, and this is where time management gets its share of attention. To keep employees as well as yourself accountable for the growth of the business, you need to get your hands on some time keeping apps that will keep you informed while on the move. Here we are going to share 5 time keeping apps that will let you keep track on all the tasks, their starting time and ending time to help your team becoming more efficient than ever.

Time Master: As the name suggest, this app is going to help you keep things under control no matter what. However, this is not a freebie, and you cannot expect it to be given its innumerable benefits. You need to shell out $9.99 to get your hands on this app. It is easy to use and comes loaded with innumerable features. Time Master helps you start and stop or sort and arrange tasks individually or else you can group the task for a specific client so that there is no issue related to timely delivery of service or product. And there is a decent search box to help you wade through the muddle of tasks quite easily.

Harvest: This is a power house of performance and this app runs on iOS and Android. This app looks convincing and its features are powerful enough to make you say wow while using it for managing your daily tasks. Apart from the basic features, Harvest has the ability to create and track expenses, reports and online invoicing like never before. Its interface is so simple that even a nerd can get used to it without facing any hassle along the way. So, this is a good for both casual and power users. If you need unlimited access to this powerful app, you need to pay a small amount $12 a month and there you go. However, for testing purpose, you can use its free version but this is limited to one user, four clients and two projects. So, it is now up to you.

FreshBooks: This app is more about managing and tracking logged hours and less about tracking and managing individual projects. You can use this app for free and there are good many number of options to create a secure and awesome login page for your website. A must have application for all small business owners.

Timesheet: Those of you who are unwilling or unable to fork out money for time keeping app, Timesheet is their way to salvation. This app comes free and as expected, you cannot make it work like a pro version of the same clan. However, this app looks quite convincing and lets you manages simple time keeping tasks with meticulous efficiency. Options are there to track all projects easily, add breaks and notes against each task and you are sure to love its bright and user friendly interface.

And the best thing about this free app is that projects can be exported into different formats to be used later. Though Timesheet may not be the ideal time keeping solution for small business, it is perfect for individual who are looking for a simple, easy to use and intuitive interface to manage his all tasks.

Toggl: With simple interface and useful features, this app is a good alternative of Harvest. This app runs smoothly on desktop, android and iOS. It comes packed with a suite of features that can be expected only in those apps, which are meant for top-tier users with enough money to splurge. The best feature of this app is that, it is compatible with programs like Basecamp, Quickbooks and more that gives it a definite edge over other apps of similar category. It scores high on the graphical front. It lets you generate graphic reports quite convincingly and you have a visual presentation of how you and your team have been performing. This app is available at just $5 per user and that means, there is no apparent reason why you should not try this app.

Michael Evans loves blogging on different subjects and he is a regular writer at Webhostingdeals.org. He has written articles on the topic of host alligator .

Credit Card Processing Savings for Small Business Owners

January 25, 2012 0 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Stauffer. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Speak with most small business owners about their merchant service account and they probably will not have great things to say. This is understandable because the industry as a whole is ripe with excess fees, long-term contracts and an overall lack of information being passed on to the merchants.

One of the most difficult aspects of credit card processing to understand as a business owner is how the transaction rates for each card is calculated. Most processing firms have capitalized on this by keeping merchants in the dark and providing them with what are called “tiered pricing tables.” Here is a breakdown of how they work:

The typical tiered contract is broken into three categories.

Qualified – This is the cheapest tier a card can be processed at and typically is the rate which was advertised to the merchant. A card must be present and swiped through a reader to get this rate.

Mid-Qualified – The second tier is more expensive than the qualified rate and is often reserved for reward cards and certain business cards. Those cards have higher processing costs so they pass that on to the business.

Non-Qualified – This is the most expensive tier and in some cases can run in excess of 3-5% of the entire transaction amount. Keyed-in cards, business cards and other expensive processing cards usually land here.

There are over 600 different types of transactions that can be processed, and to simplify the experience processors group all of them into the above-mentioned three tiers. Then they assign each tier with the highest transaction rate of any one card within that tier. That means the vast majority of transactions run within each bucket are being processed at a cost that exceeds the actual price that should be associated with a card. This method does reduce the clutter and simplifies the billing process, however, the business ends up paying a premium for most cards processed.

Interchange Plus

Until recently, merchants that were doing a sizeable amount of processing every month were offered what is called interchange plus pricing. Interchange plus is sort of a wholesale pricing structure, which adds a small markup to the actual processing cost of each individual card or transaction. So instead of having three tiers, theoretically there are hundreds, since each card is run at its wholesale price.

The problem with interchange plus pricing is that is usually nets the processing company less money so their sales agents are less likely to offer it. In fact, many agents (especially independent agents) are never even taught the ins and outs of interchange plus at all.

For business owners looking to reduce their processing costs, it is important to find a processor that is willing to offer this pricing structure. For years, interchange plus was only offered to merchants doing a lot of processing, but new regulations have opened it up to all merchants (if credit approved.) If your current processor is unwilling to play ball, find one that is. The result can be hundreds or thousands of dollars back in your company bottom line.

Eric Stauffer is a credit card industry watchdog and entrepreneur. His organization reviews and rates some of the biggest processing companies in the United States, such as Pay Anywhere. Follow Eric on Twitter: @EricStauffer.

Small Business Accounting the Easy Way

January 3, 2012 0 Comments

Keeping up with business expenses can be one of the toughest things that small business owners can do. Most of us are not accountants, and all we want to do is run our business and not worry about the “books”. Unfortunately, to successfully run a business, we have to know how we are performing in every aspect. Profitability is a number that we cannot overlook and while we might be profitable in the beginning, we all strive for the black. There are many programs out there that can help with organizing your expenses and sales, but some of those can take some time to learn and can be really expensive. There is one quality service that takes most of the work out of business accounting and it comes from Outright.

Outright is a free and paid online accounting service that works similarly to Mint.com. If you have used Mint.com in the past, then you know how easy it is for personal finances. Outright takes this approach for your business and allows you to easily import and gather information from your online selling accounts at E-bay and Paypal, along with business banking and credit card accounts. Then you can easily see the information and categorize it to fit your needs. You have the option (which I recommend) of allowing Outright to access your online banking information and credit card information in order for it to automatically pull in expenses. It can track these expenses easily for you, so you don’t have to manually enter them.

Some of you may think that you are never going to let an online service have access to your banking information, but Outright uses bank style encryption. Their service also only reads the information in your bank account and you cannot edit your bank account information from inside Outright. You can change what a transaction might say, but this does not reflect in your online banking account. This process is very secure and safe. If you feel that this is not something for you, then Outright allows you to import the information, so it can still be categorized.

If you currently struggle with keeping up with your business finances, then check out the online bookkeeping from Outright. They have created an easy to use product that takes the guess work out of accounting. The best part, is that is is available everywhere since it is online. Sign up for a free account and take it for a test drive. It’s time to simplify your business finances.

Tips for Writing a Great Online Press Release

September 21, 2011 0 Comments

This is a guest post by Charles Mburugu. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

A press release is a news item release by a company. Whether the release is announcing a company, product or an event, it is vital that it is detailed and effective. Many times, people exclude crucial information and end up missing great opportunities.

Traditionally, press releases were distributed in print and sent to media via fax or mail. With the advancement of technology, online press release has become an effective way of communicating with the virtual world. It is a vital element of website marketing. Frequent generation of news shows that a website is being constantly updated.

Online press releases are made to be distributed on the internet and not for print media. Usually, they are written to promote online services or websites. Though the format for an online press release is generally the same as a print press release, the online version usually includes a link to the website being promoted.

An online press release is usually a document of about 350 words. It is always advisable to keep online content short and concise so as to retain the attention of your online audience. Keep in mind that many people are looking for summarized information. Make sure every word of your online press release counts.

Give your press release a catchy headline to grab the attention of readers. Begin with a paragraph outlining the relevance of the product/service/site. Find a way of tying the item being promoted to any major, current news story. Alternatively, you could connect it to any major problem that has been featured in the news in the recent past. For instance, a health product can be linked to current medicals stories.

After including the newsworthy element, you should then talk about the item being promoted in more detail. Make sure you have at least two links leading back to your site. These links will enable prospective customers to reach your site fast, and will also boost your site’s page rank. Online press release back links have been effective in directing traffic to my blog which features register.com coupons and webhostingpad discounts.

Using SEO tactics is vital for online press releases. You can use one of the free keyword tools available online to find the most appropriate keyword to use. If your press release is optimized and newsworthy, it will greatly interest media outlets and will be easily found by those looking for that information.

An effective online press release should include the following information.

Contact information for media inquiries. Include the name, email and number of your contact.
The date for release of the information, for example July 13, 2011
The location where the event is taking place, for example July 13, 2011 – Dallas, Texas

A writer with a particular interest in sharing blogging tips, Charles Mburugu also writes about special coupon and discount offers such as webhostingpad discounts and register.com coupons. He currently writes for a coupon blog that offers webhostingpad promotional code and register.com discount codes.

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