Best Branded Promotional Items

As an entrepreneur, you’ve created a product that you can be proud of. Unlike wannabe entrepreneurs, you took an idea from concept and executed it into a tangible item that you can sell. You’re already several steps ahead of entrepreneurs who managed to fail. Now that you’ve made a couple dollars selling your product, you might want to take that traction in another direction. Logically, the next steps you might be considering is getting your product into stores. And one factor in that equation is creating a sell sheet. A sell sheet is a document that’s just a page or two and contains all the information about a product that a decision-maker needs. This powerful sales sheet can be delivered my mail or by hand, and they’re a great tool for getting your product into stores. Before you begin approaching distributors and retailers, it’s important to think about what’s the right approach for you. For instance, as a small local company, you might use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast

CDG Commerce is a merchant services provider with real-time reporting and merchant fraud prevention. Pricing starts at $1.75 + $.25/transaction. The post CDG Commerce Reviews & Pricing appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2uxWbb2

Paychex Flex enables users to manage benefits, time and attendance, hiring and onboarding, and more. Estimated pricing starts at $3,364.50/year. The post 2019 Paychex Flex Reviews, Pricing & Popular Alternatives appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2I14RyC

When you first stepped into the world of entrepreneurship, you probably knew that sooner or later you would need to apply for financial credit. Whether it’s a laptop for freelance consulting or a warehouse full of inventory, credit is part and parcel of any business, and it plays an even larger part in your business growth plans. Yet it pays to approach the process carefully. Truth is, anyone can apply for business credit, but getting accepted is a lot harder than you might think. A 2015 survey by business credit advisor Nav found that 1 in 5 small business owners had been turned down for business credit between 2010-2015, and 43% had been rejected more than once. Unfortunately, the situation seems to be getting worse. According to Fundera , the number of small business owners who have been rejected for a bank loan now stands at 80%. That’s a staggering number. On top of that, Fundera reports that over the past two decades, small business loans have fallen from about half to u

As traditional retail stores continue to close up shop across the nation, business en masse is moving online. Behemoths like Amazon and eBay are increasingly taking the place of Kmarts and Macy’s that we’re used to. Even large retailers like Walmart are ​ investing heavily ​ in their online presence to compete with the major shift. But large brands like this aren’t the only ones fueling retails’ digital frontier. Direct-to-consumer brands are also a major part of the online retail market. Brands that handle most all aspects of production, all the way to delivery, are giving consumers a new retail experience, one that caters to both the expediency of online shopping and the personalization of in-store commerce. These brands are cutting out middlemen and selling directly to their customers to ensure that they determine the experience a customer is given. One brand of interest is ​ Vincero Watches​ , a San Diego startup watch manufacturer that delivers luxury quality watches at

With only 1 in 5 new businesses making it past the 5 year mark in the U.S., it’s vital to have the largest initial investment possible. As an entrepreneur, you already know that unexpected costs can come from any direction when least expected. You may have enough capital to set up your initial business model, but at any time you could need more funds. For first time business owners, traditional bank loans can be like running the borrowing gauntlet; you never know if you will get the money that you are depending on. As a new owner, you have likely not established a long term credit record that can make traditional lenders not a viable source of funding. If you are determined and dedicated to getting your enterprise off the ground, you have several funding options at your disposal. You can liquidate your assets, sell your property for fast cash or look into private investors. Only once you know the options that are out there can you make an executive decision for what is right for yo

Want more traffic to your business’s site? Give your visitors a better experience. Here’s how to improve a website by redesigning the user interface. Your website is your right-hand man for boosting your online marketing efforts. When you have a bad user interface, it can cost you major blows. So how do you improve user experience and make your customers happy? There are easy tactics you can use to improve your site’s interface without doing a redesign overhaul. Don’t get stuck wondering how to improve a website and its user interface. Try these nine techniques to make your site more user-friendly today. How to Improve a Website and Its User Interface. Today’s marketing landscape moves so fast that it can be hard to keep up with the changes. When you have an outdated website, it can mean a serious drop in traffic. To prevent this from happening, try these tricks to get the website improvement you need. 1. Boost Your Site’s Security. Most abandoned online carts are due to poor

Starting a business is a dream for many. It is, however, difficult to do, with many start-ups failing in the first couple of years. What can you do, though, to have a better outcome for your future business? To ensure you have the best chances possible, the following guide is highlighting the five elements you will need to make your business a success. 1. A Great Product or Service. A key component to any business is a great product or service. Without either of these, your company has very little to work with. Sure, you might be able to make a big splash through media manipulation, but without a good product or service to back you up no one will be coming back. To ensure you have a good product, try investing in market research. Doing this will help in creating great marketing strategies, as you know exactly how your demographic relates to the product in question. 2. A Strong Business Plan. Every new business needs a great business plan to succeed. Its goal is to help you stay

Your business is doing well and expanding, making it possible for you to increase your output, and maybe even move to a larger location, and that’s great news: All of your hard work is paying off. But with all this growth, you might also run into some challenges. With the current low unemployment rate and hot job market, hiring hardworking employees who have the background and experience required for the job openings you need to fillcan be difficult, especially in industries such as retail and hospitality where there tends to be a lot of employee turnover. For businesses in the retail and hospitality sector, outsourcing hospitality staffing can be one solution. Read on to discover five reasons why outsourcing your staff, rather than hiring your own employees, might make sense. 1. Staffing agencies already have qualified candidates on file, making the hiring process faster and easier. Companies that specialize in staffing often have a large database of personnel eligible to work i

Have you ever noticed that, in attempting to enhance the available means of communication for your employees, you seem to inadvertently weave an increasingly complex web that your workers are left to untangle? The “paradox of choice”, it seems, can beset even the workplace. As you add more and more apps and services to your firm’s communications palette, you could leave your staff wondering which of them they should choose on what occasion. As a result, the in-house communications network can become segmented and so ironically hinder effective exchanges. The trick here is to make sure that this network doesn’t become so complicated in the first place – especially as it could have an adverse knock-on effect on how well your staff can deal with customers or clients. Here are tips for keeping simplicity at the core of office communications. Carefully weigh up what you can afford. While you shouldn’t assume that you can rectify an internal communications block by simply throwing mone

There will come a time in your business – and probably more than one time – when you will have to raise your prices. Increasing supplier costs, increased wages, and the need to make more profit generally will be behind your decision. You should never feel guilty for doing this; it’s your business, and if you want it to make more money then there is no reason why you shouldn’t. It can be a worrying time, though. The fear is that by increasing your costs, you will lose customers. Sometimes that does happen; customers whose only thought is price will certainly look elsewhere. Yet this won’t be what all customers are thinking of, and therefore there are ways that you can raise your prices and keep your customers at the same time. Here are some ways it can be done. 1. Be Honest. Don’t try to hide the fact that your prices are going up; let your customers know in advance. This will give them time to get used to the idea in the first place, and to assess how much they enjoy buying from y

by Ryan Moore, Director of Client Management,  Peak Sales Recruiting As we delve deeper into 2019, the international business environment has changed dramatically with paradigm shifts in trade. NAFTA was replaced with USMCA – a new trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. It remains to be seen which U.S. businesses will be positively or negatively affected. Moreover, a trade war with China, the world’s second largest economy, has created volatility in the stock markets and upheaval for certain corporate sectors.  The U.S.  tech industry , companies using  steel , and manufacturers of engineered hardwood  floors   are already feeling the pain. The situation could become even more tangled if the effects from China spill over into the rest of Asia (or beyond) due to intertwined supply chains. Companies buying or selling products or parts across international boundaries are likely to see higher costs which, without effort, must be passed onto the customer. These paradigm s

A small business debt consolidation loan can lower your interest rates and reduce the size of your payments by taking your existing debts and refinancing them into one loan. Knowing when the timing is right for business debt consolidation depends on the terms of your existing debt, your business’s current finances, and your personal creditworthiness.... The post Small Business Debt Consolidation Loan: When to Consolidate Business Debt appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2yl9C0C

Passive income is making money while you actively work on other ventures or even while you sleep. While most will need a fair amount of upfront work to get going, watching the steady stream of passive income will make it worthwhile. We curated an expert list of passive income ideas to inspire your own. Here... The post Top 25 Passive Income Ideas From the Pros appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2ClASLZ

A WordPress theme is a pre-designed website template you can edit using simple drag-and-drop or menu-based editing tools. The best free WordPress themes are easy to install and edit, are highly customizable, and produce websites that are both attractive and highly functional. Below, we’ve assembled the 21 best WordPress themes for business in 2019. To... The post 21 Best Free WordPress Themes for Business 2019 appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2Wz8QXb

Digital menu boards are electronic displays of menus, typically found at quick-serve restaurants, coffee shops, and service-based businesses. It’s an easy way to show customers opportunities for upsells, calories, and prices. The ongoing cost for software and hardware could be as low as $20 per month after the initial, sometimes expensive investment of screens. Mira... The post How to Use Digital Menu Boards for Your Restaurant or Grocery appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2HNux2x

It’s difficult to find great employees who will add value to your business – and is expensive if you pay for job ads. Therefore we asked small- to medium-business owners to share how they go about recruiting employees beyond using online job boards. Below are 45 unique ways to find employees they shared with us.... The post 45 Unique & Creative Expert Tips to Find Employees appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2CaAQX5

A Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) lien filing, or UCC filing, is a notice lenders file to stake a claim in borrower assets in the event of default. UCC liens can cover all or specific assets, and can be filed against businesses or individuals. The term comes from rules governing commercial transactions in the United States.... The post What Is a UCC Filing & How a UCC Lien Works appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2FJTr0H

A stock keeping unit (SKU) is an alphanumeric code, usually six to eight characters long, that identifies a product and helps you track inventory for your retail business. You can create SKU numbers manually or in your inventory management or point-of-sale (POS) software. SKU numbers print on your product label along with the product’s universal... The post SKU Numbers: What They Are & How To Set Them Up appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2ociZwJ

Running even a small retail store can be challenging and will only get more complicated as the business grows. Thankfully, we now have tools and strategies to help manage everything from monitoring inventory to looking after retail staff. To get you started, we asked experts for valuable tips on running an efficient retail store operation.... The post Top 21 Retail Operation Tips From the Pros appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2FNw31h

GOFAR lets users monitor their trip distance, odometer, and fuel costs, as well as understand their driving behavior. It is priced at $99/pack. The post 2019 GOFAR Reviews & Pricing appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2UisZ6i

The Amazon Business American Express Card is best for business owners who make purchases at Amazon-owned companies and are not Amazon Prime members. Cardholders earn 3% back or 60-day free financing on United States purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods Market, among many other Amazon businesses. The ongoing annual percentage rate (APR) starts at 16.49%.... The post Amazon Business American Express Card Review 2019 appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2OAhQsf

The American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card is best for frequent Delta Air Lines flyers who want access to priority boarding and additional perks. It offers two miles per dollar spent on Delta purchases and one mile per dollar on all other purchases. Cardholders receive their first checked bag free, and you’ll pay... The post American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Business Credit Card Review 2019 appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2YBXaVg

The demands of starting your own business can be exciting, making new business owners want to be as hands-on as possible. However, overworking yourself can eventually lead to burnout, and will not help in getting a business off the ground. We asked experts to share with aspiring entrepreneurs their tried-and-tested ways to avoid burnout. Here... The post Top 25 Tips on How Small Business Owners Can Avoid Burnout appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2TEtJOY

ETO is an outcome and case management solution that is designed for large-scale nonprofit organizations. Prices are customized. The post 2019 ETO Reviews, Pricing & Popular Alternatives appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2JL2r9T

Crewmeister is an employee time tracking and vacation management software for small businesses. Pricing starts at €9.90/month. The post 2019 Crewmeister Reviews & Pricing appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2HJ3ZQ1

by Ronald Dod, Chief Marketing Officer and Co-founder of  Visiture Your customers are humans — right? You’re not trying to sell your products and services to Google’s web-crawler bots. That means you should be writing content aimed at humans, not algorithms. At the same time, the algorithms control search results, and SEO ultimately can have huge effects on your bottom line . So as much as you might want to create beautiful content written for a human audience, it can seem that economics favors the robots. The truth is that you can — and must — write for both. But it’s easier than you might expect. By following the principles of human-centered content, you can create the juicy content that boosts search engine rankings while simultaneously speaking clearly and directly to an audience of actual people. Read on to learn how. 1. Remember who your audience is. The most critical rule for almost any form of communication is to know your audience. Your product itself should already ha

We are living in the entrepreneurship age where people are leaving their 9 to 5 jobs and pursuing their passion of becoming a business owner. Starting a business can be easy but running a business isn’t. The hardest part of running a business is generating sales. Here are 5 growth hacks that every new business owner must use to raise sales: 1. Get Listed On Google Local’s 3 Pack. If you are able to get your new business listed on the top 3 local search results a.k.a the local pack then you have good chances of generating a constant flow of leads. This is how a Google local 3 pack looks like: However, getting your business listed on the local 3 pack is not easy as it might sound. You need to perfect your SEO , build links, generate a lot of positive reviews, keep the NAP constant, keep the business profile updated and use proper structured markup to start showing in the local search results. The key to capitalize on the power of local packs is to start early. The sooner you list y

Nowadays, as we all know that the world is moving so fast and mobile devices are the most prominent object for increasing the interest of consumers to your product. As we get to know after some research that 95% of the people living in the United States have a mobile phone and 77% of them are a smartphone. Due to this reason, marketers are having a prime platform for connecting with their customers and gaining more customers . Despite the contrary, now mobile phones are the most cherished and close channel for marketers. Buyers and consumers never want to get pounded with annoying marketing ads. That is the reason online businesses are needed to be cleverer with the strategies of mobile marketing. Below we have mentioned some important details about the tactics and strategies of mobile marketing as it will be beneficial for your online business. Marketing Via SMS. When you will begin to count the different ways of marketing through mobile, the idea of SMS marketing will definitely

Being a handy-man offers a lot of mobility and freedom. You develop relationships with all your clients and become known in the neighborhood as someone trustworthy. Plus, you know how to fix everything in your own house. This is a huge benefit if you’re trying to do remodeling. No outside costs or discounted costs from co-workers who know parts of the craft that you don’t. But, being a handy-man isn’t an end. There is farther to climb in the house building, fixing, and maintenance career field. Becoming a general contractor could be an amazing next step to having a great and independent career. Handyman vs Contractor.   Why should you try to get your general contractor’s license? Well, a handyman can only cover so much. They can work small jobs, quick repairs, or tasks that are valued under a certain dollar amount. There are also under the table jobs. However, these are risky and will give you no backing by the systems meant to support you. A contractor, on the other hand, has all

Productive.io is an integrated CRM and management tool designed for agencies and consultancy companies. Subscription costs $15/user/month. The post 2019 Productive.io Reviews, Pricing & Popular Alternatives appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2Ul9x8Y

Clari is a CRM and analytics tool for users to identify leads, monitor pipelines, and forecast sales. Pricing is customized. The post 2019 Clari Reviews, Pricing & Popular Alternatives appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2FBQVrZ

Quintly is a social media analytics and benchmarking software for brands, marketers, and enterprises. Pricing ranges from $120-$576+/month. The post 2019 Quintly Reviews, Pricing, & Popular Alternatives appeared first on Fit Small Business . from Fit Small Business https://ift.tt/2HIHrP6