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For ordinary consumers, paying bills with a credit card can be a great way to rack up rewards points, build credit, and get more flexibility with payments. But can businesses get similar benefits by paying their expenses, vendors, and suppliers with a credit card?\nThe answer is yes, but with some caveats. The first is that not all vendors and suppliers (or mortgage companies, utility companies, internet providers, etc.) even \naccept\n credit cards. Roughly half of American businesses still need to pay at least 50% of their bills using paper checks. (More on this later.)\nAnother “gotcha” with using your business credit card to pay expenses and bills is that you have to be very careful to pay it off on time each month, otherwise you end up paying significantly more for your expenses, due to credit card interest charges (or heaven forbid, late payment fees).\nAlso, though using a credit card to pay business bills can help \nimprove cash flow\n, you have to resist the temptation to pay bills with a credit card if you don’t have the cash to pay the bill—or won’t have by the time the credit card statement is due. Never use a credit card to pay a bill if you don’t know how you’re going to come up with the money.\nBenefits of using a credit card to pay business expenses\nNow let’s go over some of the benefits of using a credit card to pay your business bills and expenses.\nMiles, rewards, perks, cashback, discounts\nNearly all credit cards offer special member advantages and perks, and for small business owners this can be a huge asset. \nBusiness owners who rack up lots of points or airline miles using one of these cards can pay for a significant portion or even all of their business travel expenses, get discounts for business expos, enjoy free concierge service, get free car rental insurance and discounts, and much, much more.\nSome small business owners use their cashback bonuses to buy equipment, pay for employee team-building events, or even pay utilities. The uses for rewards points/cashback bonuses are almost limitless, and the more you spend, the more rewards you earn.\n\nPaying by card saves time and can improve cash flow\nMailing a check can take quite a few days—or even weeks—process the payment. When you pay your expenses, vendors, and suppliers using a credit card, you speed up the process and free up cash for other business expenses.\nNow, please note: “free up cash” does not mean you can simply put those bills on a credit card and then forget about them. You obviously need to pay them off. \nHowever, You get a grace period, or effectively a 0% interest loan, when you use a credit card… as long as you keep paying off your balance on time every month. Since you haven’t spend that cash or sent it out as a check, you can use it to run your business or whatever else you need until your credit card statement comes due.\nRegularly using your card improves your business credit\nYour business has a credit score (from 1 to 100) just like you as a consumer do. The better your business credit is, the lower your rates for business loans, financing on essential equipment, etc.\nIf your credit card company finds you regularly pay your credit card statement on time and use much of your available credit, you can typically ask them to increase the credit limit available to your business which can further improve your business credit rating (and allow you more flexibility and more purchasing power).\nAgain, you need to make very sure you’re paying your card balance off on time to keep these benefits coming.\nPutting all your bills on one card simplifies bookkeeping \nWhen you have to keep track of expenses and bills for your business in addition to running your business, simpler is better. If you can move all of your monthly business expenses, rent, utilities, supplier payments, etc. to a single card, it’s much easier to keep track of.\nSolo makes it easy to pay and get paid\nSolo is not a bank, but is a financial super-app for small businesses, freelancers, sole proprietors, contractors, and more. Solo is the easy way to pay and get paid. Your customers don't have to sign up to pay you, and can use several payment methods, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and cards. QR codes make it easy to get paid, and you can easily cash out your Solo account balance for free, or spend it using your Solo Cash Card anywhere Visa is accepted. Learn more at \nSolo.co\n.

Is it smart to pay business bills using a credit card?

In this article:\nAre free website hosting and domain services really free?\nAdvantages to free web hosting and domain\nDisadvantages to free domain and website hosting\nThe “almost free” option for web hosting\nThe importance of building a solid online presence\nIf you’re reading this article, you are likely aware of the importance of creating and maintaining a \nsmall business website\n. Every small business needs a website, even super-small one-person concerns, if for no other reason than to attract more local customers and \nimprove your local SEO\n. But a good, \nsimple website\n site can be a robust marketing, customer relationship management, and sales tool, rather than be merely informative. \nSmall business owners are almost always on a tight budget, so you may be tempted to use any of the thousands of “free web hosting” or “free domain” options available. Several of the major website builder platforms offer a free option, as Wix does.\nNaturally, like the man once said, there is no free lunch. Everything that’s “free” actually costs you something, whether in time, convenience, features, control, bandwidth, advertising space, or any number of other ways.\nLet’s go over some of the pros and cons, and some of the advantages and features, of some of the “free” domain and web hosting options, so you can make a more informed decision.\n(Please note: we have made an effort to provide accurate information as of the time of the publication of this article, but of course prices and features may change without notice.)\nAdvantages (or “pros”) to free website hosting and domain\nThere are dozens, even hundreds, of free web hosting and free domain services, so obviously there are significant upsides or “pros” to going this route.\nIt’s, well… free!\nIf cost is your primary concern when getting your website up and running, then you can’t do better than free. There are tradeoffs (see below) but you absolutely can get your domain and your web hosting for free.\nUsually quick to get set up\nMany free hosting and domain providers can get your site “on the web” almost instantly. If you want to redirect your own, previously purchased domain, that can take a little while (and most don’t allow it; see below), but if all you need is “a website for your business,” then you can get yours built and functional in almost no time.\nSimple to use\nSimple is often best for busy small business owners, and nearly every free web hosting and domain provider makes it very simple to get your website built and online. You don’t have to know any HTML or code or, really, any design principles. If you can drag/drop items around a computer screen, and maybe select/highlight/copy/replace text, you pretty much have all the skills you need.\nMany offer templatized website builders, pre-built pages, and tutorials\nWith some of the free sites, you get access to pretty impressive array of website building tools, templates, free stock images, and tutorials. Wix is a very popular choice here.\nDisadvantages (or “cons”) to free website hosting and domain\nNow that we’ve covered some of the benefits to using a free hosting and domain service, let’s talk about some of the tradeoffs.\nOn-page advertisements\nIn the digital realm, “free” always comes with a cost, and one of the primary ways you pay for free web hosting and domain is with ads that will appear on your website, pretty much on every page. \nDepending on the site you use, these can be either pretty unobtrusive or pretty obnoxious. Some sites put their ads in a banner along the bottom of each page, while some keep them prominently at the top, and make them “sticky” so they move down as you scroll through your pages.\nThese ads may be a simple pitch to visitors of your site that they should use the same free site builder you used (Wix.com does this, for example), and they may be for products and services that are related to your business’s products and services. Or, they might be completely random banner or pop-up ads, some of which might be for things you don’t want to be associated with. \n(Image)\nIf you want to get rid of the ads, many of these service providers will remove them for a monthly fee… but then your free hosting and domain isn’t free anymore, is it?\nYou generally can’t use your own custom domain name\nMost free domain and hosting options don’t allow you to specify a custom domain (i.e., www.yourbusinessname.com). Your business website will be hosted on the “cloud” via their servers and on their domain, which means your website address will typically be something like [yourusername].[thefreehostingsite].com/[yourbusinessname] or at best [yourbusinessname].[thefreehostingsite].com. This doesn’t exactly roll trippingly off the tongue and isn’t easy to remember or market.\nSome companies allow you to upgrade to a custom domain (or redirect one you already own) for a small cost, but then, it’s not actually free anymore. Are you starting to see how this works?\nBandwidth throttling and limited or no storage\nBandwidth is basically like the utilities company of your site. Data is the “water” that makes your site run, and you pay for what you use. If you have a lot of visitors/traffic to your site, you use a lot of bandwidth, which your hosting company has to pay for.\nFor free hosting and domain providers, it’s common to limit your “free” bandwidth severely, because, after all, you’re not paying for it. And if you have images or videos hosted on your webpages, they can eat up a ton of bandwidth whenever they’re streamed or downloaded.\n(Image)\nStorage is almost always capped as well, because every image and video and music file and .pdf on your website, and every item in your online store has to be stored on the free host’s server, which you’re not paying for. So if you have a good amount of content and images to store, you’ll probably bump up against your limit pretty quickly.\nOnce you know what level of bandwidth/usage and storage your website will require, you can generally upgrade to a paid plan that fits your needs.\nLimited design and template options\nThis is an issue with all templatized online website builders, but particularly for free options which sometimes can be even more limited than the basic “pay” versions. While they make things easier for novices and you can create a great-looking site using some of them, there is necessarily a limitation on the design and template choices you can choose from.\nSome, like WordPress, allow pretty robust plugin and customization options, particularly if you know a bit of code, but with most free options you’ll be selecting from a few pre-designed layouts, within which you can usually make certain customizations.\nAgain, if all you want is “a website” that looks good enough to make your business seem professional and provide contact information and current hours (which is indeed valuable), then this may not be a concern for you.\nPoor on-site performance, questionable SEO, and spam\nAll pre-built, templatized webpages can potentially suffer from website performance issues like slow page loading, poor image loading, and other problems. The fewer options you have for on-site optimization, the less control you have over page load speed and other performance of your pages.\nIn addition, Google and other search engines might not “see” your free site and recommend it in search results as often as you think they should, if you are using a free site hosting service. This is because free site hosting companies might be tempted to stuff too many websites on a server than it can safely handle, which can cause lag and other performance issues. Since page load speed is one of the key factors in Google’s algorithm, this in turn can induce Google to remove your site from search results.\nAnother issue is that the host company itself may be engaging in practices that search engines consider “spammy” and this will trickle down to you if you’re hosted there. Depending on what ads they run, you might be inadvertently advertising questionable products and services or even including links to malicious software or malware on your site (this is somewhat unlikely but it is possible depending on how reputable your free site host is).\n(Image)\nPotentially lower-tier support \nSince you’re not paying the company anything, they may not prioritize fixing any issues that may come up. \nOn the other hand, if you pay for “VIP” customer support on some website hosting sites, you can skip the line and get higher levels of personalized service in case of service outages, downed websites, and other broken functionality. If you are not paying them anything, you may just be subject to the luck of the draw, or even get no response at all.\nIf getting someone on the phone/chat/email quickly in the case of trouble is valuable to you, then you should make that a priority and pay for the full-service site.\nFree websites can seem “iffy”/not legitimate\nA basic webpage with a bunch of unrelated banner ads plastered all over it doesn’t exactly paint your business in the best light. If you’re trying to capture local searches and give out basic information about your business, this may be sufficient. But to truly help support your brand, your website should ideally be an extension of your physical space. \nWith some of the free options out there, this may or may not be a possibility. \nThe “almost free” hosting and domain option\nI think we can all agree that $2.95 a month for web hosting is pretty much a steal. Well, that’s what you will currently pay for a WordPress website when you sign up via \nBlueHost\n. ($2.95 for hosting, or $4.95/mo for building a website using their drag-and-drop Wordpress builder.)\nTruth be known, it’s really not that expensive to get your own custom domain registered (usually around $15 a year or so), and web hosting can be as little as $8 a month, with no ads and enough bandwidth and storage to meet the needs of some small businesses.\nIf you want to \nsell\n things via your website, you’re going to want the ecommerce functionality and shopping carts, along with the increased bandwidth and storage that go with it, and in that case we’re talking (ballpark) about $30/month for hosting (BlueHost's online stores start at $15.95/mo), and more if you need additional storage, bandwidth or features, so usually the truly free option is not the right choice for you in that case.\nWhen you consider \nhow important a website is for small businesses\n, the fairly low cost of building and maintaining a professional-looking, highly functional website seems like the biggest bargain in the world.\nWork to strengthen your online reputation\nGetting your small business website up and running is a key part of building your online presence, but it’s not the only thing you need to do. Online review sites like Google My Business, Yelp, and TripAdvisor are extremely important for local businesses.\nWhen you get regular online reviews and engage with your customers online, everything about your business performs better online, including how your website and \nonline listings\n show up in local search results.

Are “free” website hosting and domains really free? Pros and cons

In this article:\nWhat is Facebook Marketplace?\nWays to use Facebook Marketplace for business\nHow to list your inventory\nHow to sell individual items\nHow to set up a shop on Facebook\nFacebook isn’t just for funny memes and old-time friends anymore. It is a powerful marketing tool that businesses, sole proprietors, solopreneurs, microbusinesses, and all types of side-hustlers can and should take full advantage of. And a large part of that includes the Facebook Marketplace. \nWhat is Facebook Marketplace?\nFacebook Marketplace is a platform where individuals and businesses can buy and sell items via Messenger. Users can look to the Marketplace for specific items they are in search of (like a new vehicle, furniture, or clothing item) using filters and selecting categories, or they can browse the entire Marketplace. \nSellers have the ability to add the price and details of each product so that they are placed in front of those who are searching for it.   \nWays your business can use Facebook Marketplace\nUsing Facebook Marketplace is just another avenue to get your products and inventory out in front of customers in a place that they are spending a lot of time. With almost 2 billion daily active users, it’s worth the effort. \nThere are a few ways that businesses can use Facebook Marketplace to list their products or inventory:\nSpecific types of businesses, like auto dealerships, event venues, and real estate agents, can list their inventory on Facebook Marketplace by working with a Marketplace listing partner\nYou can advertise your store or specific items in the Marketplace, even if you aren’t directly posting there\nEligible sellers can also display items on their Facebook Page shop and add them to the Marketplace for free. If you’re not able to share your shop items in the Marketplace, you’ll need to contact Facebook’s support team to see if you are eligible\nHow to list your inventory in Facebook Marketplace\nIf you have an online retail store, it may already have the ability to integrate with the Facebook Marketplace. A number of ecommerce solutions can help you add the products from your online store to the Marketplace. \nHere’s the list of ecommerce listing partners that Facebook currently works with:\nadMixt\nBigCommerce\nCedCommerce\nChannelAdvisor\nCommerceHub\nDataCaciques\nFeedonomics\nProductsup\nQuipt\nShipStation\nShopify\nZentail\nIf you use any of these solutions, find out what their capabilities are for integrating your products with the Marketplace. \nNote, as of September 13, 2021, Facebook Marketplace has discontinued the distribution of vehicle, home rentals, and homes for sale listings from partner catalog feeds. Listings provided to Facebook via partner catalogs will not be displayed on Marketplace, including the homepage, category pages, browse experience or in search results. \nRead more\n.\nHow to set up a shop on your Facebook page\nYou can set up a shop on your Facebook page and then share those items to the Marketplace (if your business is eligible). \nWe’ll walk you through setting up your shop first. \nStep 1: Go to your Facebook page and click “Manage Shop” and move on to Step 3. If you don’t have the “Manage Shop” option, then go to “Settings” and follow Step 2. \n(Image)\n\nStep 2: After clicking on “Settings,” click on “Templates and Tabs” in the left menu bar. Make sure that the “Shop” option is toggled on. Go back to your page and click “Manage Shop.”\n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Click “Start Shop Setup”.\n(Image)\n\nStep 4: Choose where you want customers to complete their purchases: your website, Facebook or Instagram, or direct message. You also have the option to use a partner platform (like Shopify or BigCommerce) or an API. Click “Get Started.”\n(Image)\n\n \nStep 5: Create your shop. Go through Facebook’s shop creator. Choose the business page you want your shop to be on, choose or create a business manager account that will connect to the shop, choose the visibility you want your shop to have, and add your items. \n(Image)\n\n \nHow to sell an individual item on Facebook Marketplace\nIf your business isn’t eligible for adding a shop or you can’t connect with an inventory partner, you can always share products from your individual Facebook page. \nEvery Facebook user has the ability to add items to the Marketplace. Just make sure that you are following Facebook’s \ncommerce guidelines\n if you want your products to show up. \nStep 1: Log in to Facebook and go to Marketplace. \n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Click on “Create New Listing.”\n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Choose your listing type: item for sale, vehicle for sale, or home for sale or rent.\n(Image)\n\nStep 4: Add your photos and product details, including title, price, category, condition, description, and tags. \n(Image)\n\nStep 5: Choose your delivery method. Some items may be eligible for shipping. But you can also just have the customer pick up the product at your store. \n(Image)\n\nStep 6: Choose the groups that you want to list your item in and publish it! You can share your product to any buy/sell/trade groups that you are a member of. \nNow you can sit back and wait for someone to reach out about that product! 

Facebook Marketplace step by step: how to get set up and list items

In this article:\nWhy sell on social media?\nHow to add your products to Facebook and Instagram\nHow to start selling on Facebook and Instagram\nCompatible 3rd-party eCommerce platforms\nSmarter small business owners have been moving more aspects of their businesses online over the last few years. The world is strongly transitioning to a more digital commerce space, and even local businesses are having to compete with the likes of Amazon, Facebook Marketplace, and other online stores. \nLocal brick-and-mortar stores still have lots of appeal and unique benefits, primarily in a personalized customer experience and great service. But even this type of business should have a strong online presence, and ideally be selling in a “unified commerce” model where your products and services are available in multiple sales channels.\nSuper small, one-person shops, microbusinesses, freelancers, and sole proprietors can get started or even flourish by selling their products and services entirely online.\nThrough your business Facebook page, you can now set up an eCommerce store that allows you to get more visibility for your products from your social media audiences on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll even be able to advertise your products easily to reach your target customer. \nWhy sell on Facebook and Instagram?\nNow is the time for your business to take advantage of the number of people using these two social media giants. With nearly 3 billion active monthly users on Facebook and 1 billion users on Instagram worldwide, you have a lot of opportunity to reach new customers. \nWith more people opting to order online pickup from grocery stores, do their shopping on Amazon, and spend hours each day on social media, it’s more important than ever for you to be selling online. Facebook and Instagram are the perfect place to get started if you aren’t already there, and if you have an online store, it might be easier to start a social media shop than you think. \nHow does a Facebook store work for small businesses?\nSetting up a Facebook shop will allow you to sell products directly from your business Facebook page. You’ll have two main options for getting your page set up: upload your products directly to Facebook or import your products through a third-party eCommerce system. We’ll go more in-depth on each of these options below.\nSet up a your business Facebook page\n if you don’t already have one. \nOnce your products are loaded onto your Facebook page, visitors can click on your “shop” tab in the menu on your page and start purchasing from you like any other eCommerce site. Make sure that you continue to grow your Facebook audience in order to gain more opportunities to get new customers. \nHow does shopping on Instagram work?\nMost companies that have a Facebook page also have an Instagram account because the two are so closely connected (Facebook owns Instagram and many of the features and demographics interconnect between platforms). You can link your Facebook page to Instagram and easily cross-post content without having to heavily manage each platform individually. \nSet up your business Instagram account\n if you don’t already have one. \nWith the eCommerce options on Instagram, there is a little bit of this integration with Facebook as well. In order to set up an Instagram store, you’ll need to have your Instagram profile connected to a Facebook catalog, which comes back to those two options we mentioned previously: uploading directly to Facebook or using a third-party eCommerce system. \nOnce your page is connected, you can share posts and stories that tag your individual products and link back to them on Facebook to allow followers to complete their purchases. \nLet’s go over how to get this started. Before you can ever sell anything, you need to get your products uploaded properly to each of your accounts. \nHow to start selling on Facebook\nThe first step is to upload your products to your Facebook page. Now’s the time to dive deeper into the two ways to do this. \nOption 1: Add your products manually\nGo to your Facebook business page and click on Shop in the menu bar. If you don’t see this, follow these \ninstructions to change your page template\n.\nClick “Go to Commerce Manager” where you’ll be redirected to Facebook’s Commerce Manager to add your products and manage your store. \nNext, follow the prompts to link your business accounts, set your shipping and return options, and set up payouts. \nOnce the shop is set up you can add a catalog of your products. Select “Create Catalog” in the eCommerce manager. If you don’t see this option, go to \nhttps://www.facebook.com/products\n. \nSelect the category that best describes your business: ecommerce, travel, real estate, or auto. For most businesses, you’ll likely select ecommerce. 
\n(Image)\n\nClick next and then select “Upload Product Info.” Under “Who owns this catalog?” make sure that the correct Facebook business page is selected. And then name your catalog. Click “Create” and then “View Catalog.”
\n(Image)\n\n
\n(Image)\n\nIn the menu on the left, select “Products” to start adding products to your new catalog. 
\n(Image)\n\nFollow the prompts to add your products. Click “Add products.” From here you will have the option to add each product manually or to create a Google sheet to bulk upload your products (recommended if you have a large inventory that regularly changes). We’re going to walk you through the individual product loading in this guide. Select “Add Manually” and click “Next.”
\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nUpload an image for your product and add the following information: name, description, content ID or SKU (if you have it), link to product on your website, and price. Repeat this process for each product.
\n(Image)\n\n
\nOnce your products are uploaded, click “Use Cases” on the left menu bar.
\n(Image)\n\n
\nSelect “Get Started with Page Shops” and connect a Facebook Business page to your shop. Once your page is connected, your shop items will automatically be generated in the “Shop” section of your page. 
\n(Image)\n\nOption 2: Use a third-party ecommerce platform\nSeveral third-party ecommerce sites are partnering with Facebook to help their customers easily add their products to their business pages on Facebook. If you are currently using a third-party service to sell your products on your website, find out if your provider is offering Facebook integrations that will allow you to automatically add each of your products to your page. \nHere are some of the ecommerce sites that are working with Facebook on this:\nEcwid\nShopify\nBigCommerce\nWoo\nChannel Advisor\nCedCommerce\nCafe24\nTienda Nube\nFeedonomics\nMake sure your Facebook page has a shop section and follow the instructions from your individual ecommerce solution to upload your products to your Facebook page. \nHow to start selling on Instagram\nIn order to sell and advertise your products on Instagram, you’ll need to get your products added to a Facebook account that is connected to your Instagram account. Follow the instructions above for adding your products to Facebook. \nOnce you have your products added to Facebook, go to your Commerce Manager and click “Use Cases” in the left menu bar. Click “Get Started with Instagram Shopping” and connect your Instagram account to your Commerce Manager. \n(Image)\n\nWhen that is done, you’ll be able to tag products from your Facebook catalog on your Instagram posts and stories for users to easily click over to your Facebook store or website to make their purchase. \nDon’t wait to get started. It can take a little time to get everything verified on your Instagram and Facebook accounts, so get the process started as soon as possible so you can reach your customers with this new method of shopping online. \nAs you begin selling on Facebook and Instagram, these pages are going to become online extensions of your business, much like your website, so make sure you stay on top of it!\nSources:\n
\nhttps://techcrunch.com/2020/05/19/facebook-shops/\n

Small business guide: How to sell your products directly from Facebook and Instagram

In this article:\nWhat is Google’s Local Services?\nHow can Local Services ads benefit your business?\nHow to set up Local Services ads\nManaging your leads on Google Local Services\nHave you seen those ads at the top of the search engines with the little green checkmark, reviews, and maybe even your competitors’ names on them? Wondering how you can get there? This guide to Google Local Services ads will help. \nWhat are Google’s Local Services ads?\nGoogle Local Services ads is a lead generation tool. When you complete the setup for Local Services, Google will present you as “Google Guaranteed” and show your ad at the top of relevant search results. Customers can book appointments with your business directly through the ad or go to your website to learn more first. \n(Image)\n\nLocal Services ads can only be set up for specific types of local services, like plumbing and pest control. There’s a complete list of services that qualify for these ads. Start the setup process (see how below) to see if your company qualifies. \nAnd, the best part is, you only pay for the leads that come in. Unlike traditional Google Ads that cost you money for every click on your ads, Google Local Services only charges you when a lead comes in through your ad. \nYou can even try Local Services’ budget calculator to get a rough estimate for your campaign. Check that out \nhere\n. \nHow can Google Local Services ads benefit your business?\nBeyond bringing in new leads for your business, you can expect great advantages from Google Local Services. \nYour business will be at the top of the search results, which in and of itself will bring more traffic to your website. You don’t have to manage any keyword for this, either! Google will determine when a relevant search is conducted and display your ad. And even if you don’t get leads or clicks from every user that comes across your ad, they are being exposed to your brand and might just become a sale later down the road. \nHaving a Google Guarantee also comes with its own benefits. The Google Guarantee badge not only looks good to potential customers (it’s a great trust signal), but it also comes with a legitimate guarantee that can help people who might be on the fence.\nIf you have customers from your Local Services ad who aren’t satisfied with the work you did and you have a Google Guarantee, then Google may refund the service. In the United States, Google Guarantee currently allows a $2,000 limit for lifetime coverage on claims. \nAccording to Google, this guarantee covers:  \nThe Google Guarantee covers claims up to the amount on the job invoice up to the lifetime cap for coverage.\nServices must be booked through Google Local Services. The Google Guarantee doesn’t cover add-on or future projects, damages to property, dissatisfaction with price or provider responsiveness, or cancellations.\nHow to set up Local Services ads\nIf you think Google Local Services ads are right for your business, then let’s get started. \n(Image)\n\nStep 1: Check your eligibility\nGo to \nads.google.com/local-services-ads\n and click “Get Started.” \nGoogle will then check your eligibility by making sure you are in a relevant service for the ads. Enter your country, state, ZIP code, and job category. Click “Check Eligibility.” If you are eligible for the ads, Google will move you forward in the process. \n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Create your profile\nClick “create profile” and fill in all of the information on the form on this page:\nBusiness name\nBusiness phone\nWebsite\nOwner’s first and last name\nTotal number of field workers (excluding the owner)\nYear founded\nCheck if you are using a home address or storefront address\nBusiness address\nClick “Next.”\n(Image)\n\nNext you will need to add your service area to the account. The city you entered for your address will already be selected. You can add more cities to this service area and/or select specific zip codes for each city by clicking the dropdown arrow by the city name. \n(Image)\n\nNext, you will set up the types of services you offer within your job category. Our example is for plumbers, but select whichever services you offer and would like to receive leads for. This will help Google show your ad for relevant searches. \nFor most jobs, you will be required to carry a professional license and provide verification of that to Google before they will show these ads. \n(Image)\n\nNext, set your business hours. \n(Image)\n\nNext, preview your ad. If you’re satisfied with that snippet, click next to continue through the process. \n(Image)\n\nStep 3: Finish Google’s checklist\nOnce you complete your profile set up, Google will provide a checklist for you to work through before your ads can be displayed. Follow these instructions and you will be set. (Google’s team will check on each item as they are submitted and inform you if everything is done correctly). \nAs you start submitting each of the items in the checklist, Google will assign an account representative to you, and they will send you emails and be your customer support to help make sure you get these last items completed. \n(Image)\nThose items are:\nSet your budget and payment information (your budget will determine how many leads you can get in a month–go back to that \nbudget calculator\n if you’re unsure what to put here)\nSubmit licenses (for each field worker you said you have) and insurance details (the business owner’s name must be on the insurance details)\nComplete a business entity and owner background check through Pinkerton or Evident (the checklist says Evident, but if that’s not working, reach out to customer support and they’ll send you a link to submit your background checks through Pinkerton)\nGet customer reviews. You need at least one review before your ad can go live. These reviews are different from your Google My Business reviews. These are reviews that are specific to Google Local Services. Google will provide you with a personalized review link that you can send to customers to get a couple of reviews up on your ads. Reviews are important because they will help convert customers when they click on your add to learn more about you\n(Image)\n\nHere’s an example of what your customer will see when they click on the review link. \n(Image)\n\nStep 4: Wait for verification and watch your ads\nOnce everything on the checklist is submitted, Google’s team will work to verify that everything is correct and complete. If you are missing something or something wasn’t done right, they will inform you so that you can get everything set up correctly. \nOnce everything is approved, your ads will begin showing up on Google. \nFrom there you will be able to manage leads from your dashboard (as they come in). \nManaging your leads on Google Local Services\nNow that your ads are approved and set up, you can watch as the leads start pouring in. \nYour Local Services dashboard will basically act as a booking system in which customers can request appointments (usually just a time frame for when they need the job done), what the job is that they need, where they are located, and when their lead came in. \nWhen a lead comes in, you can follow up and set up appointments for them. You can also mark when a job is completed, at which point, you can (and should) send that customer your review link to get a Local Services review. If Google can verify from your dashboard that this person came in through your ad, they will also add “Google Verified” next to the review, adding another level of trust for potential customers. \nYou don’t have to accept every lead. You can decline requests if the job really isn’t something you do or is too far out of your service area. But it’s always best to leave an explanation so they don’t take it upon themselves to leave you a bad review anywhere else online. \nCheck out these additional digital marketing resources\nGoogle Local Services ads are a great way to increase leads for your business, but there are other things that you can and should be doing to increase the potential for organic (unpaid) leads. Check out these articles to get started:\n\nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search ranking\n\n\n25 free local advertising ideas for small businesses\n\n

The definitive guide to Google Local Services ads (with walkthrough)

In this article:\nThe absolute least expensive way to accept credit cards\nWays to cut down credit card processing costs\nCheapest processing options for small business\nA big reason that many small business owners don’t accept credit card payments is because of the fees that are assessed as their customers make purchases. These fees can add up fast, but not having a credit card payment option can be a huge disadvantage to any business. \nToday’s customers expect even roadside carts and truly small businesses to accept credit cards, and the fees associated with that method of payment shouldn’t be enough to keep you from getting started. \nWe’ll talk about some of the cheapest options for credit card processing so you can find a good fit for your business. \nWays to cut down costs of credit card processing \nFirst, we have a few tips to help you reduce the cost of credit card processing. \nAvoid multi-year contracts\nWhether you opt for a third-party payment processor or not, try to avoid committing to any lengthy contracts. If possible, choose an option that either doesn’t require you to sign a contract, or sign for a year at a time. You may wish to switch services down the line as your business grows, and multi-year contracts often have heavy termination fees. \nHowever, be aware that you will most likely get the lowest rates if you opt for a traditional processor who offers “interchange plus” pricing. And if you want the absolute lowest-cost processing, you will likely need to sign a contract with a traditional processor. Plus, longer contracts can often result in lower overall costs because it’s beneficial for your processor to serve your business for as long as possible.\nWatch out for added fees for services you may not need\nBeyond heavy termination fees, there may be other fees included in your monthly invoices. As you are getting quotes from various service providers, ask for samples of itemized invoices so you can see the different charges that they assess. \nSome processors include potentially helpful add-on services by default (for an additional fee), and will automatically bill you for these services unless you specifically opt out before you sign a contract.\nThese services may be very useful for your business, so make sure you understand how these value-added services can benefit your business before you ask your processor to omit the services and any associated fees.\nAsk your processor or merchant level sales agent for discounts and other price breaks\nWhen it comes to credit card transaction fees, there are two main approaches: interchange plus and flat rate. Every credit card network (VISA, Mastercard, AMEX) charges an interchange fee that your service provider pays for each transaction. Because of this, most providers have some kind of markup on that cost so they get their cut. \nTraditional processors typically use “interchange plus” pricing, charging the current interchange rate plus their markup. Interchange rates are subject to change so you might not always be paying the same fees on transactions. \nHowever, the interchange rate is usually the smallest percentage of the fees you’ll likely be paying when you accept credit cards, so your final costs will likely not vary that much, even if you go with interchange plus pricing.\nIt’s in the processor’s markup and additional fees and services where you can negotiate a little wiggle room with your processor or merchant level sales agent. They obviously need to make a profit, but they also want to keep your business, and if you develop a trusting relationship with them you can often ask for preferred rates or get add-on services at lower costs, or even get “value added” services for free.\n\nA note on third-party payments facilitators or “aggregators” \nThird-party payment facilitators (i.e., Square/Block, Stripe, etc.) are potentially very straightforward to get small businesses set up and processing. Providers like the new third-party payments facilitators that use “flat rate” pricing charge a flat rate regardless of the fluctuation of the interchange fee. This can be somewhat helpful because you always know what you will be paying and won’t have to anticipate changes in costs as the interchange rate fluctuates. \nHowever, be aware that flat rate processing is nearly always more expensive than traditional interchange plus pricing, so make sure to weigh the costs against the needs of your business. Generally, a traditional processor can save you about 20% in processing fees compared to a third-party payments provider charging you a flat rate. \nRates and fees vary though, so be sure to check out all your options.\nWhat is the absolute cheapest credit card processing option?\nAs discussed above, if you want the absolute cheapest way to accept credit cards, you’ll probably want to sign up with a reliable credit card processor and negotiate a good “interchange plus” processing fee structure rather than using one of the new “aggregators” that uses flat-rate pricing.\nThird party payments facilitators currently charge between about 2.4% on the low end (if you meet certain requirements) to about 3% or more on the high end, plus an additional .$10-$.15 fee per transaction, to process credit cards. This may not sound like a lot, but for small businesses that sell a lot of low-dollar items, or those with very small profit margins like restaurants, these flat rate fees can make it actually unprofitable to accept credit cards in some cases. The ease of entry and convenience of use may make it worth it, though.\nIt does take more time to get set up to accept payments with a traditional processor. But your processor’s local merchant level sales (MLS) agent can be a very useful business advisor, particularly about new technology and offerings in the payments world. Not many small business owners have the time to keep abreast of all the latest technology and payments innovations, and your MLS agent is very interested in keeping you as a client.\nSo, you can typically get lower rates from a traditional processor, but you'll definitely want to shop around. 

74 articles found in “Operations”

Is it smart to pay business bills using a credit card?

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Small business guide: How to sell your products directly from Facebook and Instagram

The definitive guide to Google Local Services ads (with walkthrough)

What’s the cheapest way to accept credit cards?

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