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In this article:\nWhy use a business email address\nHow to create a business email account\nTips for using your business email address\nIf you’re still using a generic Gmail, Yahoo, or other email account for your business, we’re here to tell you that it’s time to stop. Your business deserves a branded email account, and you deserve the benefits that come from it. \nWhat is a business email account and why is it important?\nA business email account is more than just an email that you use for business. It’s an email account that is branded by your domain (in other words, \nyour business’s website\n). So, instead of using joesmith@gmail.com you would use joe@[yourdomain].com. \nAnyone can create a free Gmail or other email account using your business’s name and pretend to be your business. But only your business can use an email that is on a domain that you own. Using an email address that is on your domain helps establish trust, not only with your customers but with their email service providers, too. Some email accounts will block generic email addresses that they’ve never seen before, or automatically filter them into junk mail. \nA business email address looks more professional and is generally easier to remember. Plus, it allows you to promote your brand with every message that you send. \nHow to create a professional business email account\nNow, let’s talk about how you can actually accomplish getting a business email account. \nStep 1: Get a domain for your business\nFirst, you need to have a domain. The good news is, if you have a website, you likely already have your domain! If your website is hosted on a free platform that doesn’t provide you with a domain, then you’ll need to purchase one (and we highly recommend putting your website on your own, purchased domain). \nThere are tons of domain registrars out there to purchase from; GoDaddy.com, BlueHost.com, Domains.Google, and Zoho.com are a good place to start. Just find a domain that fits well with your business (but keep it short and memorable) and make the purchase. \nIf you already have a domain, make sure you know where it is hosted and can get logged into the account. If you don’t know that information, talk to your website developer or ask the customer service department of your domain hosting service provider. \nStep 2: Choose an email service provider and create your email address\nOnce you have your domain, you’ll need to choose a place to host your email. Your domain registrar likely has an email hosting plan that you can sign up for. These are usually a couple dollars a month per email box that you need. \nCommon email service providers that businesses use include G-Suite (now called Google Workplace) and Microsoft Outlook. These are both more advanced business plans that cost a little more, but do have additional features like calendars, chat, file sharing, and more. \nIf you’re looking for the easiest and cheapest way to set up a business email account, go with your domain registrar. \nWhen you have chosen your email service provider, you can create the email address that you want to use. Keep it simple and easy to remember, and keep a consistency across your company’s email addresses. For example, if you have an email for every employee, choose a consistent format like [firstname]@[yourdomain].com or [firstinitial.lastname]@[yourdomain].com\nStep 3: Set up your email\nNow that you have a domain and your preferred email service provider, it’s time to set up your email so that you can actually send and receive mail. We can’t go through the setup of every email service provider out there, but the main steps are generally the same. \nIf you are using your domain registrar to host your email, just log in to your account to set up your email. There will generally be a section under your account that says “manage email.” With some of them you may need to purchase your email hosting first, so choose the email plan that you want, make the purchase, and then follow the prompts from your registrar to finish the setup. \nIf you are using a service that is separate from your domain registrar, you’ll need to set up the MX records to direct your mail to your email service provider’s servers. Mail Exchange (MX) records are codes or identification records that your domain registrar uses to specify the mail server that hosts your email. \nMost domain hosts will have step-by-step MX setup instructions that you can use. \nHere are some generic steps for finding those records and making the change:\nSign in to your account on your domain host’s site\nFind the section where you can update your MX records—it might say “Mail Settings,” “DNS Management,” or “Advanced Settings”\nDelete any existing MX records (you’ll be adding new ones)\nAdd new MX records for your email service provider (find these in your account for your email service provider)\nTest your email to see if it works\nNote: Sometimes it can take 24-48 hours for your DNS (Domain Name System) to reflect this new change. \nIf you are having trouble finding the settings that you need to set up your email account, talk to your IT team or your web developer. \nBest practices for setting up your business email account\nOnce your business email account is created, there are a few other things that you need to be aware of in order to have the best experience and ensure that your customers receive your emails. \nDon’t spam your customers\nIf your customers have signed up to receive emails from you or you have their email address from your numerous communications with them, respect that. Don’t spam your customers with constant messages that they are unlikely to read. That might just ensure that they miss the more important emails that you send their way. \nAvoid getting your email blacklisted\nAs you start creating email campaigns and engaging in email marketing with your new professional email address, there are some important steps you need to take to avoid getting your email blacklisted (meaning blocked or going straight to spam). \nDon’t buy email lists. It’s important that you get permission from people you send emails to (like through a sign up form), and people on email lists generally didn’t give their consent\nCraft engaging emails. Low engagement rates can cause emails to bounce or go to spam if the receivers aren’t opening the messages\nDon’t use click-bait subject lines (at least not if they aren’t accurate to the message of the email)\nInclude an unsubscribe link so customers have the option to opt out of your email campaigns\nHave customers/subscribers whitelist your email\nSome email services automatically block new emails that aren’t included in a list of safe senders or that they’ve never seen before. If your customers or subscribers whitelist your email, that will help ensure that they receive communications from you. \nUse a spam testing tool\nThere are a few email spam testing tools out there that you can use to score your email campaigns. These will tell you how spammy your emails are and how you can fix that. A couple of good ones to start with are Litmus and Mail-Tester. \nAdditional resources for email marketing\nIf you plan to do any email marketing, you should always do so from a business email address. Once you have that set up, you might find this article helpful in your marketing efforts:\n\nTop 10 best practices for small business email marketing\n\n

How to create a business email account (and important tips)

In this article:\nWhy use Google Ads/Adwords\nHow to set up your Google Ads search campaign\nHow to view your ad results\nAdditional steps for digital marketing\nGoogle Ads can be a great resource to keep in your tool belt of digital marketing strategies, even for solopreneurs, microbusinesses, sole proprietors, freelancers, and other one-person businesses. It helps you show up at the top of Google’s relevant search results almost immediately. \nWe’ll walk you through the best cases to use Google Ads for your small business and how to get your campaign set up. \nWhy use Google Ads for your small business\nGoogle Ads can work in a variety of ways for your small business. You can create shopping ads that display products from your site, image display ads that show up across other websites, and search ads that show up in Google’s search results. \nWe’re going to focus on \nsearch ads\n for this article, and here are a few reasons why you might want to use search ads for your business. \nSearch ads are a great short-term strategy for showing up in the search engines. Almost as soon as you start your ad campaign, your website is shown at the top of the search results. \nGoogle Ads can be a good solution for displaying limited-time promotions when it doesn’t make sense to do a long-term SEO campaign for them. \nGoogle Ads can help boost your online traffic/sales and drive customer conversions through the roof when optimized well. \nGoogle Ads is constantly learning from users’ interactions with your ads and adapts how it displays your ads to increase conversions. \nIf you need a good short-term strategy to start driving traffic to your website before your SEO campaign kicks in, or you just want to start seeing more sales on your website, follow the guide below to set up your Google Ads search campaign. \nHow to set up your Google Ads search campaign\nLet’s get started. \nStep 1: Create a Google account and log in to Google Ads\nFirst, you need to have a Google account to log in to Google Ads. If you already have a Gmail, then this step is done!\nUsing a business Google account for your Google Ads campaign is smart because it allows any data associated with the campaign to stay with the business for future owners, managers, or marketers to use for other campaigns. \nGo to \nads.google.com\n and click “Sign in” to log in with your Gmail. \n(Image)\n\nWhen you log in, select “New Google Ads Account.” \n(Image)\n\nStep 2: Create a new Google Ads campaign\nNext, you’ll be brought to a screen to start setting up a new campaign for your new Google Ads account. We advise you to look to the bottom of this page and click “Switch to Expert Mode.”\nThis will allow you more capabilities to optimize your campaign and maximize your conversions. You may not be a professional marketer, but we are, and we’re going to walk you through it. \n(Image)\n\nNext, select the type of campaign you want to run. For this specific guide, we’re walking you through setting up your search campaign. So, select “Search.” \n(Image)\n\nChoose a goal\nThen, choose the goal that applies the most to your Google Ads campaign. \n(Image)\n\nYou’ll be given the option to select the ways you want to reach your campaign goal. Select all that apply from the following:\nWebsite visits\nPhone calls\nStore visits\nApp downloads\nThen provide the information such as website, phone number, address, and app info so that Google can help you track the activity on your ads. Click “Continue.”\n(Image)\n\nName your campaign\nUnder “General settings” enter your campaign name. You can also select “Show more settings” to display a dropdown menu that allows you to enter a start and end date for your campaign. If you want to run your ad continuously, just disregard this section. \n(Image)\n\nUpdate targeting and audiences\nScroll down the page to narrow down your targeting and audiences. If you are trying to get nationwide leads or traffic, then you can leave “United States” checked. \nBut if your business is local, you’ll want to check “Enter another location” and enter specific cities or regions to display your ads to. \nClick “Advanced search” if you’d like to add locations in bulk or add a radius to your location target. \n(Image)\n\nBy clicking “Pin Mode” you can even drop a pin to be at the center of your radius rather than choosing an address or city. Click “Save.”\n(Image)\n\nPro tip: Under Locations, click “Location options.” Check the item under “Target” that says “People in or regularly in your targeted locations.” This will keep your ads from showing up for people in other countries or states who are simply “interested in” your targeted locations and not actually in them.\n(Image)\n\nNext, select your languages and audiences. Type in any other languages that are applicable to your campaign. \nIf this is your first campaign, then you won’t have any audience options, so you can move past this. But if you’ve created other campaigns, you can select an audience from one of those to add to this campaign. \n(Image)\n\nAdd your budget\nNow, you can add your budget for this specific ad campaign. You have to add a daily limit to your campaign. We just like to take how much we’re willing to spend monthly and divide it by 30 to get a rough estimate for your daily limit. \nGoogle will use this as a guide for displaying your ads each day, and once it reaches your daily limit, your ads will stop showing until the next day. \nThere is no general recommended budgets for a Google Ads campaign, as this can vary greatly between campaigns depending on your industry and goals. You may have to experiment with this to find your sweet spot for getting the most conversions and return on your investment. \n(Image)\n\nUnder “Bidding,” you’ll only have the option to choose “Clicks” or “Impressions” for your bidding strategy until your campaign has made some conversions. \nWe recommend starting with “Clicks” and then switching to “Conversions” after your ads have been running for a little while. \n(Image)\n\nInclude ad extensions\nAd extensions are additional links and pieces of information that you can include on your search ads. They are great to include not only because they offer more information for potential customers, but they also make your ad take up more space in the search results–making them more visible and appealing to click on. \n(Image)\n\nFor a sitelink extension, click “New Sitelink Extension” and fill in the fields provided:\nSitelink text (i.e. About Us, Products, Videos, Fun Features, etc.)\nDescription line 1\nDescription line 2\nFinal URL (where the sitelink points to on your website)\nSitelink extensions are great for highlighting other relevant pages on your website. \n(Image)\n\nCallout extensions are perfect for advertising additional reasons that customers should choose you, like Free Shipping, Hand-Crafted, Pain-Free, Low Cost, etc. Pick some unique attributes about your business and enter them here. \nClick “New Callout Extension” and enter at least two callouts. Click “Save.”\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nCall extensions allow you to enter your phone number to your ads. Customers can then call you directly without even clicking on your ad (win-win since it costs you money for each click you receive). \nClick “New Call Extension” and add your phone number. Click “Save.”\n(Image)\n\n(Image)\n\nClick “Save and continue” to move on to creating your ads. \nStep 3: Set up Google ad groups\nNext, we’ll set up ad groups. These are a good way to organize your ads if they fall under different categories and will require different types of search phrases. \nFor example, if you want to use Google Ads to promote a new shoe sale and a grand opening for another location of your store, you’d want to set these ads up in different ad groups so you can target them differently. \nLeave the “Ad group type” set as “Standard.” Name your ad group(s) and add any relevant keywords for your phrases. We recommend only starting out with 10-15 highly relevant phrases with the “quotation marks” around them. \nSee our example in the photo. \nThe quotation marks around your keywords will tell Google that you only want your ads to show up for searches that include that phrase. The ads may be displayed to other searches that are very similar. This will help weed out unqualified traffic. \nThe more keywords you enter, the more unqualified traffic and clicks you might drive, meaning you’re paying more than you need to. You can always add more keywords later if you aren’t getting the results that you want. \n(Image)\n\nClick “Save and continue.”\nStep 4: Create your Google ads\nNow for the fun part–setting up your ads. This is what people will actually see on Google when your ads are displayed. \nWe recommend creating 2-3 ads to start with. This will give Google multiple options to display, and then you can see which ads perform the best. \nInclude the following in your ad:\nWebsite URL\nThree headlines (make these attention-grabbing and relevant)\nTwo descriptions (include keywords and additional details about your ad)\n(Image)\n\nClick “Done” to save your ad. \nClick “New Ad” above the ad creation section to create more ads for Google to choose from. \n(Image)\n\nOnce you have created 2-3 ads, click “Save and continue” at the bottom of the page. \nStep 5: Add your billing information\nYou can’t start running your ads until you have a way to pay for them. On this final step of the campaign set up, add your billing information into the fields provided:\nPromotional code (if applicable)\nAccount type (business or individual)\nBusiness name\nBank account or credit card\nFor bank account, include name on account, account type, routing number, and account number\nFor credit card, include card number, expiration date, CVC, cardholder name, and zip code\nClick “Submit.”\n(Image)\n\nNow your ads are officially set up! It may take up to 48 hours (though usually less) for Google to review and approve your ads. Once that is done, they will start showing up in Google searches and you’ll start seeing results. \nHow to view your Google adwords search results\nOnce your ads are approved, Google will start showing them in searches that include your keywords. Then you can view the results from your ads, like how many impressions (searches they’ve showed up in) and clicks they have received. \nLog in to \nads.google.com\n with the same Gmail you used to set up your account. You’ll be brought to an overview or dashboard for your search campaign. \nYou can then view your results by Ad groups, Ads & extensions, or Keywords. In the left menu bar, click the option that you want to filter your results by. \n(Image)\n\nWhen you click one of these options, you’ll be shown the number of clicks your ads, ad groups, or specific keywords received, how many impressions they received, the cost per click, and the total cost for all of the clicks. \nYou can also filter by specific dates to see how your ads perform week to week or month to month. You can even click the “Columns” icon in the menu bar below the dates to add additional metrics into your view. \n(Image)\n\nNow, just sit back and watch as your ads start bringing in traffic. \nWhat can you do in addition to Google Ads/Adwords search?\nGoogle Ads is a fantastic strategy for getting immediate traffic and short-term results. But it can be an expensive strategy to maintain for a long period of time. \nIf you want to start showing up in the search engines organically, you should compliment your Google Ads strategy with a long-term search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. SEO takes time, but it helps you show up in search engine results without having to pay for ads forever. \nHere are a couple guides that can help you improve your SEO:\nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search rankings\n\n25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on\n\n

How to set up a Google Ads search campaign for your small business

There’s a serious “entrepreneurial adjustment” when you go from employee to business owner, especially when it comes to hours. According to a \nGallup poll\n, 62% of U.S. small business owners work over 50 hours a week. As any founder or owner will tell you, the hours can be long, chaotic, and irregular.\nSo where do you draw the line? What hours should you work? How do you draw boundaries for yourself? You need time with family, time to unwind, get away, and focus on other good things outside of your “baby.”\nLet’s break it down to this: when should your business be open? In other words, is 9 am to 5 pm enough? Or is it too much?\nWhat about your customers who work 9 to 5? They might not have time to squeeze in a shopping stop on their lunch break or after work. If your store is only open during business hours, are you forcing people to take precious vacation hours to shop at your store?\nThere’s gotta be a better way.\nNo, it’s not just increasing your open hours. And, for Pete’s sake, we’re not saying to be open 24/7. Don’t take away from your freedom like that. (But, if you can make it work, and it makes financial sense to be open 24/7, go for it!)\nWe’re saying you can be strategic about when to retract the deadbolt and when to arm the alarm. To help you decide, here are six ways to know when your small business’s open sign should be glowing red.\nHere are 6 ways to determine when your small business should be open.\n1. Check your sales data to understand your best days and times of the week for sales\nLook at all your sales in the last quarter or year. Look at the days of the week. Any noticeable increases on say, Monday over Wednesday? Is Sunday afternoon dead? Take a look at what time your customers are buying. Notice any patterns? Is there a rush at the end of the day? Or the beginning of the day?\nIf you see a concentration of traffic butting up against a closing time or opening time, you might want to think about expanding the hour. On the other hand, if you see a repeatedly dead zone with no sales over the year(s), maybe you can afford to shave a few hours off the workweek for you and your staff.\n2. Survey your most loyal customers and collect feedback\nIf you didn’t see anything useful in your sales data, it’s time to get more direct. Go right to your customers and ask them. Use these as sample questions:\nWhat hours would you like us to be open that we’re currently not?\nWhat day(s) of the week are you most likely to stop by our store?\nWhat time of day are you most likely to come in and shop at our store?\nWhat other stops do you make on the day when you visit our shop?\nGathering the answers could provide actionable data for your decision-making framework. You might discover a significant opportunity to help more customers and generate more sales.\n3. Look at Google to see when your competitors are open… and when they’re busiest\nThis is more than just looking at the open hours of your competitors. Google is useful for much more than that. Here’s how.\nOpen a web browser (recommend Chrome) and google your competitor\nOn the righthand side, there’s a box with photos and information like phone number, address, website, etc.\nScroll down and find “Popular times”\nThis chart will show you a bar graph of your competitor’s busiest hours.\nIt will also tell you how much time people typically spend there.\nNow, compare this to your business. Are you open during these hours? Why or why not? Should you be?\n4. Look at seasonalities like events and weather to stay ahead of consumer behavior\nIf local events occur every year and cause an influx of traffic, or an outflux of residents, take advantage of these annual trends. Research the results of the years before and see which streets and areas experienced a surge of event-goers. Are they close to your shop? It might be worth it to stay open and attract the late-night concert crowd or open early to catch the hungry 5k runners in the morning.\nAlso, ask the other small business owners around you what their plan is for the event. The last thing you want is to be the only store closed on a popular street while every other shop is brimming with new tourists and passers-by.\nLastly, do you know if weather has an impact on foot traffic to your business? What’s the effect of snow, rain, and sunshine? You can help figure this out with tools like Weather.org’s \nweather history tool\n.\n5. Holidays: there’s no right answer, just make sure you clearly communicate your hours\nBased on our research, holiday hours are tricky. There are pros and cons any way you look at it. You could choose to be open during the holidays, and potentially keep your employees away from their families. Or you could decide to be closed and miss out on the increased foot traffic. How do you decide?\nThe factors that should inform your decision to stay open on say, Christmas Day, are too many to list for this single blog post. The best thing to do is make sure your customers aren’t upset by being overtly clear and communicative about when you are open and closed.\nShare your holiday hours on Facebook. Pin a tweet on Twitter.\nAdd a banner to the homepage of your website saying when you’ll be open and closed.\nChange the voice message on your answering machine.\nIf you have email subscribers, dispatch a holiday reminder email with your store hours.\nPost a legible notice on your store’s doors a week in advance of your holiday hours.\nBy clearly communicating your hours, you could be saving a desperate family member a dangerous drive through inclement weather only to find a locked door and dark storefront. Share the holiday cheer… and your holiday hours.\n6. Experiment. It might surprise you and pay off\nPerhaps the most effective way to determine when your small business should be open is trying different hours and measuring the return on investment.\nYou could try setting up two types of experiments like this:\nWhen are the slowest times of the week? Or of the season?\n Close the store and put a note with instructions for the turned-away customer to let you know they tried to shop but couldn’t.\nWhen are you busiest? \nTry staying open later, or opening sooner, and see what happens. Does new business come in and make it worth it?\nYou might learn valuable lessons that help you attract more customers and optimize staff hours. In the end, how many hours you work is up to you. By using these 6 methodologies to help determine when your local small business should be open or closed, you’ll find what works best for you and spend your time in the most economical and enjoyable way.

How to decide when you should be open for business

In this article:\nWhat is cash flow and why is it often an issue for small businesses?\n6 common cash flow issues and how to solve them:\nMany businesses don’t make it past the first couple of years due to cash flow problems. Whether they are spending more than they are bringing in or simply can’t keep up with payments, it becomes a real problem for business owners everywhere. \nIf your business is having cash flow problems, it may be wise to hire a financial consultant or CPA to help you analyze the situation. We’ll also give you some recommendations for solving common cash flow problems that businesses face. \nWhat is cash flow?\nCash flow is the term that refers to how the money moves in and out of your business. (And the term “cash” here doesn’t necessarily refer to hard currency or paper bills… it just means “funds.”) It isn’t just about profits, but all aspects of the funds that come in and how that money gets spent. \nIf you are coming up short on payments for necessary business obligations, can’t afford to grow with customer demands, or find that you’re spending more money than you’re bringing in, you have a cash flow problem. \n6 common cash flow problems small business face and how to solve them\nIt’s good to address cash flow problems as soon as possible so you can take adequate steps to solve them and keep your business running smoothly. Take a look at these common problems and determine if your business needs to work on them. \nOverestimating future profits\nUnpaid invoices from clients/customers\nUnorganized books\nSpending too much\nScaling too quickly\nNot maintaining cash reserves\nLet’s go over each and discuss ways to address them.\n1. Overestimating future profits\nMany business owners are overly optimistic about their business and how much they are going to make, especially when starting out. While optimism is a healthy trait to have, too much of it can hurt your business. \nOverestimating future profits can hurt your cash flow in numerous ways. You may make justifications for spending too soon or purchasing too much inventory because you are anticipating a good sales month. It’s important to maintain realistic expectations, and even underestimate so you don’t find yourself in trouble later on. \nHow to solve it:\nKeep yourself from overestimating future profits by using a solid method for sales forecasting. Use your history of sales to set expectations for each month, or if your business is relatively new, use real data from other businesses in your industry, and be realistic about how much of that share your new business is likely to get.\nNot sure how to do this on your own? Talk to a financial professional to get assistance in creating an accurate sales forecast. You should have a somewhat clear idea about sales forecasting if you did \nproper research before starting your own business\n.\n2. Unpaid invoices from clients/customers\nPerhaps the largest cash flow issue for most businesses is clients that haven’t paid their invoices. Lack of payment means less money for your business. \nThis can happen for a number of reasons: your client is having similar cash flow problems, they spent too much and suddenly can’t afford the service, they forget about the invoice, or maybe they simply don’t want to pay. \nIt’s important to keep track of and address unpaid invoices right away so they don’t become a large problem for you later on. \nHow to solve it:\nThere are a few ways you can resolve your unpaid invoice problems with customers:\nRequire a deposit up front\nSend out regular reminders when invoices go out (email and text reminders with a link to a payment option are great)\nHire a debt collector to assist with problematic clients (unfortunately many people don’t pay on time unless they are threatened with “collections”)\nConsider using an invoice factoring company\n3. Unorganized books\nStaying organized is a huge factor in keeping good cash flow and knowing where your money is. Unorganized bookkeeping can and will hurt your company if it continues for too long. \nUnorganized books can result in late fees for invoices you owe, missing client payments that you haven’t received, unexpected costs, and more. It’s important to keep your finances organized from the start so these issues don’t build up and become a real problem.\nHow to solve it:\nIf you are not an organized person or you are too busy to keep organized records of your finances, consider hiring a bookkeeper to help you out. A bookkeeper can help you keep good records of your incoming and outgoing cash flow so issues can be addressed early and nipped in the bud. \n4. Spending too much\nSpending more money than you have coming the simplest definition of a cash flow problem. If you don’t have the money coming into your business, you shouldn’t be spending it. \nOf course, in most cases you do have to “spend money to make money,” so you need to find that balance and anticipate costs that are necessary so you can make good decisions about when it’s okay to spend money even if you don’t necessarily have incoming cash flow yet. \nHigh overhead expenses can become a huge problem here if you don’t have enough incoming cash flow because these are generally expenses that you have no matter what, like rent, utilities, phone and internet bills, and more. \nHow to solve it:\nThe best way to address this issue is to cut costs where possible and limit your spending. Here are a few ways you can do that:\nAudit your expenses to determine what you can cut. This may bring light to unnecessary payments or subscriptions that you have\nGet quotes from different companies for your phone and internet. Find more competitive rates\nAutomate tasks that you generally hire people to do \nGo paperless with your invoicing and record keeping\nGet lean on office supplies, luxuries in your business space, “expensed” meals, and wherever else makes sense \n5. Scaling too quickly\nTrying to grow your business at a too-rapid pace can hurt you in the long run. If you don’t have the incoming cash flow to support your growth, your business is likely to fail if you’re not smart about scaling. \nThink about this example: you land a huge client that will bring in a large payment and ongoing future business, but you need extra help to finish their project, which will still take six months. You hire three people to help with the project, but after the first month you don’t have enough money to keep up with their paychecks. Now you’re in trouble.\nHow to solve it:\nBe smart about scaling. Only take on projects and clients that you have the current cash flow to produce results. \nIf you are faced with an opportunity to scale more quickly, consider taking out a \nbusiness loan\n to help you address the cash flow issues that may arise. \n6. Not maintaining cash reserves\nEvery business should have an adequate amount of savings in store to address unexpected cash flow issues. Disasters occur, clients leave, and unprecedented events (like, say, a global pandemic) take place that we never could have predicted. \nIn these circumstances, the amount of cash reserves you have can make or break your business. Even with adequate sales forecasting, we can’t always predict the future. So, it’s important to make sure you have something to fall back on when unexpected events take place. \nHow to solve it:\nIt always a good idea to keep at least two months of operating expenses saved up so that even if you do have a slow sales month or disaster strikes, you are able to make payments to keep the lights on and pay your employees. \nIf the problem persists beyond your reserves, you may consider pulling out a \nbusiness loan\n and looking at ways to gain more business. 

6 common small business cash flow problems and how to solve them

In this article:\nWhy consistency is important in online listings\nHow to use Yext to help your small business\nYext is a powerful online resource that all businesses should take advantage of, whether you choose to pay for their premium services or not. \nYext doesn’t have its own online directory, but it helps you to find your business across several other online directories and check the consistency of your online listings. \nConsistency across platforms is vital in online business listings\nGoogle and other search engines use online directory listings, also known as citations, to help verify your business’s information across multiple sources. The more of these listings you have filled out, the better information the search engines are able to provide their users (your customers). \nBecause of this, it’s very important that your information is consistent across all of these listings. At the very least, your business name, address, and phone number (or NAP) should be exactly the same across all of your citations. \nThe more online listings you have with correct and consistent information, the better opportunity you have to rank in Google’s map pack when users do a local search for your services or products. \nSo, how can Yext help you with all of this?\nHow to utilize Yext to enhance your online business listings\nYext has some powerful capabilities that can help you improve your online listings and create consistency among them. \nHow to use Yext’s free service\nThe first thing that all businesses should take advantage of is Yext’s free business scan. With this tool, any business can enter their information to check the consistency and accuracy across the main business directories you should be listed on. \nGo to \nyext.com\n to see how your business appears online. You don’t even need to sign in. \nJust scroll down to the section where you can add your business information. Add your country, business type, business name, and phone number. \nClick “Scan Now” and Yext will generate a list of directories and how your business appears on them. \n(Image)\n\nThe next page is your list of citations Yext has found across the web. These will include Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Bing, Yelp, Mapquest, and many more (assuming you have \nclaimed your listings\n).\nThe thing that you want to look for here are any listings that have incorrect information. In the far right column, Yext will show you if any information is inaccurate with a red warning sign. \nIf you aren’t currently subscribed to Yext, you’ll likely also see “Not verified on Yext” on your listings that are correct. If you aren’t interested in paying for Yext’s services at this time, just ignore this (more on premium Yext services below).\n(Image)\n\nMake a note of any listings that are incorrect. Each listing Yext shows has a link in the left column that says “View Listing.” That link will take you directly to your listing for that site, where you can then update it. \nIf you want to update these listings yourself without paying for Yext’s premium listing service, we have helpful tutorials to guide you through the process, step-by-step. \nGoogle\nYahoo\nFacebook\nBing\nYelp\nTripAdvisor\n\nYP.com\n\n\nLinkedIn\n\n\nFoursquare\n\n\nOpenTable\n\n\nCrunchbase\n\n\nBBB\n\nIf the process of updating all of your listings is beyond the time you have available, then you might want to consider Yext’s premium services. \nHow to use Yext’s premium listings management\nYext’s premium solutions allow you to sign up for a plan that has specific listings and features. Yext will then update all of the listings within your plan to make sure that your information is correct. You will need to pay an ongoing fee to keep these listings updated. \nIf you are interested in doing this, proceed from the business scan page and click “Fix All Errors.”\n(Image)\n\nYou’ll then be brought to a form to update your information and make sure everything is exactly how you want it to appear across all of your online listings. Click “Continue” to see the four different Yext plans for small businesses. \n(Image)\n\nThe four plans Yext offers for small businesses are as follows:\nEmerging: This plan is what they call their “Starter Package” and is billed at $199 annually. With this plan, you get your information updated across 40 lower level directories. \nEssential: This “Plus Package” is billed at $449 annually and includes listing your information across the main search engines and directory sites, like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, and 10 others. \nComplete: This “Standard Package” includes all of the listings from both the Emerging and Essential packages and is billed at $499 annually. \nPremium: This last option is Yext’s “Advanced Package” and is billed at $999 annually. This includes all of the listings from the previous packages as well as review monitoring and enhanced content for your website. \nSimply select the plan you wish to use, pay for it, and Yext will update your listings and provide you with a free training session on their software. \n(Image)\n\nThe one thing that you need to remember with Yext solutions is that once you stop paying for their services, you no longer have access to your listings that they’ve updated for you. 

How to use Yext to improve your online business listings

In this article:\nBest free receipt tracking apps, with features, pros, and cons\nAny business owner’s receipt pile can quickly grow out-of-hand and become overwhelming to manage. And it’s important to make sure you have a good handle on receipts for business expenses and keep them well organized to ensure a smooth tax season (whether you’re the one taking care of your own taxes or not). \nThis article will cover some fantastic free options to help you organize and keep track of your receipts along with the pros and cons of each app.\n7 best free apps to track your business receipts (review of features, pros, and cons)\nEach of the following apps are free, however, some of them have additional add-ons that you can purchase or even desktop/in-browser solutions that you can subscribe to. \nExpensify\n(Image)\n\nExpensify allows you to scan in receipts by snapping a quick photo, making it easy to keep track of personal and business expenses. Sort and categorize your receipts or even send have the app email them to the right person who handles your expenses. \nExpensify also has a card that you can sign up for that can be connected to your business bank account. Using this card will automatically place your business transactions into app for easy management. (The card is part of the Expensify subscription plan which is $4.99/month per user and does not come free with the app.)\nFeatures of the app include:\nUnlimited receipt scanning\nExpense management\nTravel booking through Concierge\nApproval workflows\nMileage tracking\nReceipt integrations (Uber, Lyft, and others)\nAccounting integrations (QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and more)\nCustom reports\nPros of the Expensify app\nEasy to learn and use\nSet regular reminders\nSaves time and money\nCons of the Expensify app\nConcierge pops up to give tips now and then, this could be annoying to some users (but it could also be super helpful)\nEmails from Expensify are sometimes duplicated\nAutomated receipt processing doesn’t always work, so make sure you check the categories when uploading your receipts\nWave\n(Image)\n\nPreviously Wave had an app called Receipts by Wave, but it has been incorporated into this Wave Invoicing app that provides an all-in-one solution for your business, from sending mobile invoices to managing expenses. \nYou can easily connect your bank accounts to the app to manage your transactions, and it has a Guest Collaborator feature that allows you to share access with an accountant, staff member, or business partner. \nPlus, if you need to send customer invoices, this is a free solution that you can start with. \nOther features of Wave Invoicing include:\nUnlimited receipt scanning\nAccounting reports\nInvoice data backed up and securely stored in the cloud\nPros of Wave Invoicing app\nFree\nEasy to use and understand\nProfessional-looking invoices\nAllows creation of new categories\nCons of Wave Invoicing app\nLimited capabilities with reporting\nPredictive categorizations aren’t always right\nFreshBooks\n(Image)\n\nFull disclosure: This app is only free for the first 30 days and no credit card is required to start using it. After that time, you will need to subscribe to keep using it. But that gives you a good amount of time to decide if you like it. FreshBooks has pricing options starting at $4.50/month.\nFreshBooks is another all-in-one accounting software for small businesses. The FreshBooks app allows business owners to take their invoicing, expense tracking, and even time tracking on the go.  \nFeatures include:\nTrack expenses by taking photos of receipts\nProfessional invoices\nAccept online payments\nClient conversations \nTime tracking\nPros of FreshBooks app\nEasy to learn and use\nReliable invoicing\nGreat customer service\nCons of FreshBooks app\nFreshBooks has multiple apps out there, the classic version and this newer one, and they each have some different capabilities. This newer app doesn’t have some features of the classic app\nDivvy\n(Image)\n\nDivvy touts itself as the world’s first free, fully-automated spending and expense management software. It allows you to track business expenses with real-time budget insights to help you avoid going over budget. \nYour entire team can have access to the app to be able to make quick requests and approvals for budgets, and it allows the accounting team to see and record expenses in real-time. \nFeatures include:\nAutomatically record and submit expenses\nItemize spending data\nGlobal currency compatibility\nOnline card generator\nIntegrations with accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and more)\nPros of Divvy app\nIncorporate budgets for individuals and departments\nGreat customer support\nEasy to use and understand\nCons of Divvy app\nLimited capabilities with accounting software integrations\nShoeboxed\n(Image)\n\nIf you need something simple to just keep track of receipts and mileage, this could be just what you’re looking for. Take a picture of your receipt and let the app automatically pull all of your data like vendor, transaction amount, payment method, and date for you. \nFeatures include:\nUnlimited receipt scanning\nCategorize receipts\nCreate and send expense reports\nSoftware integrations (QuickBooks, Wave Accounting, Excel, Xero, and more)\nPros of Shoeboxed app\nEasy to use\nInvite multiple users\nSaves time and money\nCons of Shoeboxed app\nCan take a little time to load new receipts\nLimited functionality\nSmart Receipts\n(Image)\n\nSmart Receipts is another simple expense and mileage tracker. It also has fully customizable reporting capabilities so that you can easily keep track of your finances and/or send reports to accounting and business partners. \nFeatures include:\nUnlimited receipt scanning – take photos, import existing photos, import PDF receipts\nCategorize receipts – credit, edit and delete categories\nAutomatic exchange rate processing\nGenerate custom PDF, CSV, and ZIP reports\nAutomatic backups with Google Drive\nPros of Smart Receipts app\nEasy to use and understand\nSave time and money\nGreat for capturing receipts while traveling\nCons of Smart Receipts app\nLimited sorting/filtering capabilities\nAutofill data from receipts isn’t free (but this can be purchased)\nClear Scan\n(Image)\n\nThis app is for the people that still enjoy the DIY aspect of managing their receipts. It is simply a document scanning app. So you can take a photo to scan a document (or receipt) and then upload it to your file managing system–Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc. \nIf you send everything over to an accountant, this could also be a good solution for you. Just take a photo from the app and send it over. Then you have it stored in one place, rather than having to look through the photos on your phone if you need to resend it. \nFeatures include:\nCreate folders and subfolders for categorizing\nExtracts text from images\nBackup and restore data\nConvert images to PDFs\nPros of Clear Scan app\nQuick and easy to use\nGreat scanning capabilities for a phone\nCons of Clear Scan app\nContains ads in the free version\nScans aren’t always perfectly clear\nThere you have it! Good luck, and have fun tracking your receipts.\nSources:\n
\nhttps://www.trustradius.com/products/expensify/reviews\n
\nhttps://www.trustradius.com/products/wave-accounting/reviews\n
\nhttps://www.trustradius.com/products/freshbooks/reviews\n
\nhttps://www.trustradius.com/products/divvy/reviews\n
\nhttps://reviews.financesonline.com/p/shoeboxed/\n
\nhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=wb.receipts&showAllReviews=true\n
\nhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.indymobileapp.document.scanner\n

74 articles found in “Operations”

How to create a business email account (and important tips)

How to set up a Google Ads search campaign for your small business

How to decide when you should be open for business

6 common small business cash flow problems and how to solve them

How to use Yext to improve your online business listings

7 best free receipt tracking apps (review, features, pros, and cons)

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