Have you ever had to give an employee a cash advance out of your own pocket so they don’t need to go to a payday loan company?

From what I’ve heard, many companies are having to accommodate their employees by giving them a cash advance so they can keep them. They understand that they can’t give them a raise, but need to do these things so they don’t leave.

It seems like it would matter most if you had the cash flow to do so and how much you trusted the employee. Of course, if they’ve been with you for years, it is something that you would do for them. But if you do it for one, would you have to do it for everyone that asked?

Are there any other alternatives that you can think of?

Amazon WebStore

Here’s your chance to test drive Amazon’s WebStore free trial for 30 days. If you’ve been thinking about adding an ecommerce shopping cart on your store, Amazon would be a great choice. Amazon’s ecommerce website has been around for just about 10 years and there technology is always up-to-date.

Ecommerce Shopping Cart

An ecommerce shopping cart allows you to sell items on your website and have the credit card processing go through Amazon’s ecommerce software. Here are just a few advantages to Amazon’s WebStore:

Simple - Easily and quickly create your own branded online store.

Reliable - Backed by the same technology that powers Amazon.com.

Powerful - Product recommendations, customer reviews, recently viewed items.

Secure - Secure checkout using Amazon’s fraud protection technology.

Get started on your very own ecommerce website and start selling today!

Amazon WebStore 30 Day Free Trial

With WebStore you get your own branded web business solution backed by the support, selection, and expertise of Amazon so you can start selling online in minutes!

Yes, you can even try out the Amazon WebStore using their 30 day free trial. This way you will be able to tell pretty quickly if this is a venture you want to work on or not. The ones that can manage the WebStore succeed in generating extra income for their business. You can too!

Anyone with a business website knows the value in tracking the number of website visitors, where they came from, where they went, and how long they were on your site. These types of metrics are necessary to analyze your traffic and adjust things accordingly so you can create a higher conversion rate.

Just imagine what you can do by knowing all of these things about your competitors! Snoop on the competition with Compete Pro. Don’t be left out!

Where are they getting their traffic? How many visits a day do they get? What are they doing for SEM and SEO? Where your site fits into the bigger online picture?

Find out all these things at Compete.com.

Site Analytics

You get complete site analytics for your own website and your competitors. Your search marketing will improve, your website traffic will improve, your website ranking will improve, and most importantly your competitive intelligence will increase dramatically by using Compete’s online tools.

There are different levels of service depending on how much information you want. Best of all, you can sign up for their free MyCompete account to get things started.

We are all in business to generate revenue and at the same time keep costs down for customers. This is one of the primary reasons why small and large businesses have a toll free number service. To reach both local customers and nationwide customers, it’s in your advantage to buy a toll free number so anyone can contact you wherever they’re at.

Toll Free Number Service

Using a toll free number service, you will be paying for any long distant calls that come in. This is attractive to customers because they don’t want to pay for calling you to order your products or services. Most customers already assume that the company is paying for the call.

Toll Free 800 Number

You are now able to advertise your toll free number on all your marketing material. So if you’re in California and you send direct mail to New York, the customer will not be able to tell your location just by the telephone number. This is going to entice more people to call your business for your products.

Toll Free Phone Number

Having a toll free phone number will allow your business to move to different areas without changing your telephone number. If you have a local telephone number and move to another city or state, you’d have to change your telephone number as well. However, the toll free 800 number will be able to move along with you so you won’t have to worry about customers not finding you or changing all your material with your old number.

Online or Internet faxing is the wave of the future. It has already become an important communication tool for countless companies and individuals. Businesses must keep up with this relatively new technology or fall behind. It’s your call!

What Is An Online Fax Service?

Online fax is simply using the Internet and your email system to send and receive your faxes. It’s paperless, inkless, more secure, more economical and more convenient than the old traditional fax machine. You can access your faxes anywhere, anytime - wherever you have the Internet and these days that’s just about everywhere.

Just How Does An Online Fax Service Work?

First, you must sign-up for an Internet fax service where you will receive a local or toll-free fax number. You also get an online interface (site) where you can view, send and receive your faxes. You can also store your faxes online. Your faxes are sent via email as attachments, usually in TIFF or PDF formats. Your online fax service acts as an intermediary, you can still send and receive faxes from traditional fax machines but most users switch totally over to this new way of faxing.

Who Are The Major Fax Service Providers?

There are many online fax service providers but some of the most well-known and used services are: MyFax, eFax, RingCentral, TrustFax, RapidFax, Send2Fax, MetroFax and Faxage.

Do I Need An Extra Phone Line?

No, all faxing is done online and threw your email system. You also don’t need a traditional fax machine.

What Kind Of Support Can I Expect?

Most major online fax services have 24/7 support but not all, so check before you purchase a plan.

How Much Does Internet Fax Cost?

Prices vary, but most fax services are around $10 a month. But you can get some services for as low as $4 a month, or even $20 a year if your faxing needs are very minimum.

Are There Additional Costs If I Go Over My Limit?

Yes, most plans charge around 10 cents per minute for extra pages… some companies will offer much less so again it pays to shop around. Please Note: some companies quote rates in pages, others quote in minutes… for pages it is assumed that it takes 1 minute or less to transmit your fax, however, with large faxes it may take longer. International faxes will usually cost more.

How Many Faxes Can I Send Or Receive?

Most online fax services offer you around 300 Combined Pages (Incoming & Outgoing) per month. This is usually the norm, but some fax companies offer you more so shop around.

Are Fax Services Scalable For Companies?

Yes, most online fax services cater to businesses both big and small. Scaling up to extra accounts, and large fax broadcasting can all be done to meet your company’s faxing needs.

Can I Sign Up For A Trial Period?

Yes, most companies offer a 30 Day Free Trial so your can try before you buy. Some services also offer one month free but you only get this on your second month into the service.

Why Should I Use Internet Fax?

Going with an online fax service does have many advantages over traditional faxing: it’s paperless, inkless, portable, convenient, more secure, more economical and it’s available wherever you have the Internet. Plus, because other companies are already using it, they might be slightly more competitive than yours, especially if your business deals with the quick transmission of secure information or documents.

It’s a very competitive world out there, you must ask yourself - can you or your company really afford not to use an online fax service? Again, it’s your call.

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For more information on Internet Fax Services use this handy online Comparison Guide to get your own: http://www.onlinefaxguide.com
Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing try here: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/internet_fax_service_guide.htm
Titus Hoskins.

Here are 5 tips to get you started on a successful Adword campaign:

Understand how Google AdWords works

Adwords can be a very valuable tool in your business marketing when done correctly and thoughfully. Too many people just plug in the keywords that they think web users will use to find their site and leave it at that. Google has a entire section where you can learn many different aspects of Adwords and how to use it effectively. It may take some time to go through it, but it’s well worth it. Otherwise, you’re going to be paying more in money to learn the ropes of Adwords.

Understand keyword types

There are 3 keyword types that can be used with Google AdWords, and each will affect how your ad is triggered:

Broad Match – example: cotton shirts. This type of keyword is entered using no quotation marks or brackets. When a user conducts a search that contains either word, your ad will be triggered. This type of match is not always as effective as you might like it to be and can attract the wrong type of traffic.?

Phrase Match – example: “cotton shirts” Using quotation marks when entering your keywords will narrow the field a bit. Now, only searches that contain the words “cotton shirts” in that order will activate your ad.

Exact Match – example: [cotton shirts] If you enter your keyword with brackets surrounding them, a user must type the exact phrase into the search box. This type of match will allow you to narrow the focus of your campaign and your ad will only be triggered by an exact match.

Relevancy

Your Title tag and Body of your ad should contain the keyword you are targeting. This will get your ad placed as high as possible while enjoying the lowest cost. Google wants to make sure they are serving targeted traffic so more web users will click on the ad. YOU are trying to make the ad as relevant as possible because you only want targeted traffic clicking on the ad. If your ads aren’t relevant, then you will be paying for untargeted traffic to come to your website, and more than likely, they aren’t going to buy anything from you.

Landing Page

This is where Google will make a “Quality Score” of your ad. If you chose the keyword “cotton shirts”, your Title tag should be “Cotton Shirts For Less”, and then the body of your ad would say “Purchase cotton shirts at wholesale price”. Your landing page should include the keyword “cotton shirts” in multiple places so Google knows that the page is relevant to the ad. Google believes that your landing page must be true to your AdWords copy. This will also decrease your price per click in Adwords and with the extra money you can have more pay per click campaigns to drive even more traffic to your site.

Monitor, Review, and Update

This is probably the most important aspect of any campaign. Some things will work, others will not. It’s absolutely imperative that you monitor your keywords and landing pages to see how many people are converting. You want to make sure to keep your keywords as inexpensive as possible while maximizing conversions.

Adwords is a science to be learned, but with the proper time learning how to use it effectively, your business will see massive success in your pay per click campaigns!

Payroll and other accounting tasks are tedious and time consuming. All business owners are looking for was to free up time so they can focus more on their core business.

Payroll is one of the critical elements of a business that the owner cannot overlook…or he will have a lot of angry employees waiting for their checks.

Online Payroll Services

There’s an easier way now for business owners, and it’s online payroll FREE 30 Day Trial + 2 Months At $4.99 Each! by PayCycle.

PayCycle’s Online Payroll Service

You get all of this with PayCycle’s online payroll service:

Their built-in payroll calculator instantly creates your paychecks. Do paycheck printing on your own printer, directly from our website. Or use their free direct deposit, a popular choice for online payroll.

If you are looking for an easy payroll service, you’ve found it. Online payroll is the modern way to do payroll.

PayCycle automatically withholds payroll taxes and deductions from paychecks. Choose from a wide range of voluntary payroll deductions, such as insurance premiums, retirement plans, and flexible spending accounts.

Just click to pay and file your federal payroll taxes electronically. And do the same for most states.

Their online payroll service provides all of the advantages of payroll software, with none of the hassles. No payroll software to install. No tax tables to update. Plus you get the ability to use direct deposit and pay taxes electronically with payroll online.

Additional features include their gross-up payroll calculator, their extensive links to state resources, and their anytime, anywhere access that lets you do payroll online while on the road, from any computer.

You’re supported by payroll experts from the best-loved customer support team in the industry. And with our new, online weekend support service for customers ( Sat-Sun 9am - 3pm PT, weekdays 6:30am-6:30pm PT), you get help when you need it.

Payroll processing has never been easier. Try their online payroll FREE 30 Day Trial + 2 Months At $4.99 Each!

Vertical Response Email Marketing Benefits

Whether you’re an email marketing pro or just starting out, VerticalResponse lets you create, send and track professional-looking emails quickly and affordability.

Best of all you can try VerticalResponse email marketing FREE for 30 days!

Email marketing may be the best type of advertising your business, here are why you need to start email marketing today:

Email marketing is inexpensive

Email marketing is an affordable way to stretch a tight marketing budget. Unlike direct mail, there is virtually no production, materials or postage expense. Email marketing can cost as little as fractions of a penny per email.

The expenses involved in email marketing involve having a hosted website with email capacity. You may also want to consider subscribing to a list management service, such as Constant Contact or aWeber, to help manage your email campaigns. The fees for this service range from about $15 to $20 per month, which includes unlimited emails.

Email marketing is highly targeted

You can easily segment your email database into different groups, so that your promotions go to individuals most likely to respond to your offer. For example, you may send one offer to existing clients, and send a different one to prospects who’ve expressed interest in your products or services.

Email marketing is proactive

Email marketing enables you to proactively communicate with your existing customers and prospects, instead of passively waiting for them to return to your website or storefront.

It is a highly effective way to communicate promotional offers, news, seminars, which may result in an increase in sales, drive traffic to your website or store, and develop customer trust and loyalty through relationship building.

Sending out a monthly email campaign will keep your business in front of your customers’ and prospects eyes.

Email marketing generates an immediate response

Promotional emails include a call to action that can result in immediate responses. Initial campaign responses generally occur within 48 hours of the time the email campaign is sent; testing and refining your campaigns is immediate. If you use a list management service, you can gauge the open rates of your email campaigns, which provides useful and immediate information you can use to tweak your campaign messages.

Email marketing is easy

The Web-based email marketing products available to small businesses are easy to use. The services available through Constant Contact and aWeber, as well as others, include professional HTML templates, list segmentation and targeting capabilities, as well as automatic tracking and reporting of your email campaign effectiveness, such as for open rates, bounces, and spam reports.

Email marketing works because it allows precise targeting of your marketing message, it builds loyalty and trust with your customers, it is inexpensive, and best of all, it drives sales. Include email marketing in your arsenal of marketing tools!

Just as you handle your own newspaper advertising, you can use those same concepts to create and handle your own television advertising campaign to attract new customers and increase store traffic. Here are 7 tips to do it yourself television advertising.

Tip #1

Research successful TV advertisers in your business category.

Find out the names of other businesses, just like yours, in other markets who use television advertising. You belong to state and national associations in your business category, correct? Ask your associations for names of businesses who use television advertising. Then, call them up and ask them what has worked and what has not worked for them to increase store traffic. Also, ask all of your vendors for names of businesses in other markets who use TV ads successfully. Call up those business owners and ask them the same questions. You’ll be surprised at how willing they’ll be in sharing their successes with you. This is incredibly valuable market research that didn’t cost you a dime in real dollars.

Tip #2

Pre-Plan your television advertising campaign.

This tip will save you time and money. Take time to analyze your marketplace and develop your unique benefit statement. Some people call this the USP, or unique selling proposition. Simply put, it’s a statement that tells prospective customers why they should do business with you over your competitors. Next, pre plan your creative. You’ll want two types; a.) Market Awareness with a call to action and b.) Promotional or Sale with a call to action. Now, pre plan your schedule to roll-out your creative. Do you want to air your market awareness add 12 months of the year? Do you want to alternate market awareness and promotional through out the year?

Tip #3

Write your own :30 second television script.

You don’t need to hire an advertising agency to do this for you. Save money and do it yourself. If you’ve ever have had a hand in writing an ad for your business in any form e.g. newspaper ad, yellow pages ad, radio ad, you know the basics of how to write a :30 second television script. You just don’t know that you know how yet. Let me give you some help. What ads have worked well in the past to increase store traffic? Convert them to TV ads. Like any good ad, you need the following ingredients: Attention, Interest, Desire/Conviction, and a strong Call To Action. Remember to ad benefits, benefits and more benefits. Do you want to appear in the ad as spokesperson for your business? If so, you’ll make your TV commercial even more affordable. After you’ve included all these elements, it’s important that you begin with the end in mind when writing your script. What is it you want your prospective customer to feel after watching your commercial and what is it you want them to do after watching it? Keep those thoughts in your mind as you write and you’ll have an effective ad. Do not let the television station write your script under any circumstances.

Tip #4

Produce your :30 second television script.

I don’t mean you’ll have to physically hold the video camera or adjust the lights–you won’t. I’m referring to you taking control and overseeing the production process. Now, don’t get all paranoid on me here. It’s a very easy process that anyone can follow. Plus, you’ll be receiving assistance from a television station’s production department. Show the Production Director your script(s) and review the look and feel you want in the commercial. You’ll give instructions regarding location, dates, and talent. The Production Director with select staff, camera, lights, audio, teleprompter and all other equipment necessary to get the job done per your script. On the day of the “shoot”, you’ll be able to approve all of the video shots throughout the day. So, you’ll get exactly what you want in the final edit.

Tip #5

Edit your video footage into a finished :30 second TV commercial.

Here again, you’re not operating the editing equipment. You’re overseeing the edit session at your local television station. When you enter the edit suite, your editor already has a copy of your TV script and a copy of your video footage. All you do now is cut down, or edit, the footage as per your TV script. It’s kind of like painting by numbers, everything is pretty well defined. Note: Before you leave the edit session, have them email you a copy of your TV commercial. You can use this file format on your website, add it to YOUTUBE or add to your email newsletter you send to customers and prospects. You’ll also want to have them burn a DVD of your commercial to take with you.

Tip #6

Buying TV airtime.

You’re in the drivers seat. You might be thinking to yourself, “what do I know about buying TV airtime”. I’ll give you some help so you’ll appear like a pro. Your greatest negotiating advantages are three fold. One, you are a new business with new TV ad money to spend. Two, each station knows that there are four other stations in the market that you could spend 100% of your money on. Three, you have insider TV buying knowledge from a 25 year television advertising veteran (me). Trust me, having worked inside television stations selling airtime, some of the best deals were had by business owners who knew nothing about buying TV airtime. Here’s what the TV reps. don’t want you to know: a.) They’ll take less for ads that air in January, February, March, July, August and December 15Th through the 31st. b.) They’ll take less for ads that run in the first week of the month. c.) There’s a Federal law that forces every TV station in America to keep a file of the lowest rates they’ve charged for their airtime, by program. Further, the law states that ANYONE-that means you- can view this file with 72 hours notice. This is enforced 45 days prior to political elections. Buying more commercials on lower rated shows is better than buying fewer on higher rated shows. You want consistent exposure month in and month out.

Tip #7

Continue to learn.

Call up successful TV advertisers in your market who are NOT similar to your business. Ask them what strategies work well for them in terms of script writing, production and airtime buying. They’ll help a fellow small business owner, all you have to do is ask. Read all you can, as you’re doing now, on the subject. Admittedly, not much exists in the bookstores on do it yourself TV advertising. But, information is out there, keep searching. Do it yourself television advertising is the key to attracting new customers by the bus load and increasing store traffic. Follow my 7 tips and you’ll be well on your way.

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Brian Baumann is founder of Baumann Broadcast Marketing LLC.With over 25 years of television advertising experience, Brian has helped thousands of retailers, professionals and entrepreneurs realize their dreams. Brian is creator of: “The Do-It-Yourself Television Advertising System for Small Business Owners”. Visit http://www.smallbusinessTVmarketing.com . Download his FREE ebook, “The 8 Biggest Mistakes Small Business TV Advertisers Make”