Category: Growth

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best merchant cash advance service for most businesses is Fundbox or PayPal Working Capital.

Managing cash flow is a challenge for many small business owners. Consider this—82% of businesses fail due to cash flow issues, and 84% of small businesses aren’t profitable until the fourth year.

Merchant cash advances offer a virtual lifeline for businesses with cash flow troubles. Alternative financing is a viable option for businesses that need money quickly without meeting rigorous qualification requirements. 

The Top 8 Best Merchant Cash Advance Services

Read on to see our reviews of the top eight merchant cash advance services and learn how a cash advance works and how to choose the best one for your needs.

Fundbox – Best Merchant Cash Advance For Startups

• Good for entrepreneurs and startups
• Borrow as little as $1,000
• Up to $50,000 without collateral
• Credit score of at least 500

Try it today!

Most merchant cash advance services target relatively established businesses, making it difficult for new business owners to qualify. Fundbox has some of the lowest requirements to be eligible for a business line of credit.

You can borrow as little as $1000, which is perfect for solving day-to-day petty cash shortfalls quickly. You can also borrow up to $50,000 without collateral or a personal guarantee.

However, you will need to provide a personal guarantee and blanket lien for amounts exceeding $50,000. The maximum amount for borrowing is $150,000 with Fundbox.

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If you’re running a business that requires a registered agent, you might be tempted to take on the responsibility yourself. At first glance, being a registered agent seems simple, since you’re really tasked with monitoring the mail and receiving state correspondence for your business. 

But this position comes with significant responsibility, and if you make mistakes, you could land your business in financial or legal trouble – or both. 

Before you decide to be your own registered agent, it’s important to understand just what’s involved and what you’ll need to do to position yourself for success. 

Top Rated Registered Agent Services to Improve Being Your Own Registered Agent

If you want to improve being your own registered agent, you’ll need a registered agent service. Here’s the best options.

You can read our full reviews of each registered agent service here.

What is a Registered Agent? 

If you decide to operate your business as an LLC or a corporation, you’ll need a registered agent. The registered agent helps to connect your business and the state and is responsible for accepting state documents on behalf of the business and ensuring that the business stays compliant with the state law.

Some businesses choose a third-party business to act as a registered agent, but it’s also possible to be your own registered agent, as long as you follow some specific requirements. There are pros and cons to being your own registered agent, though, so it’s important to make sure that this is the right choice for both you and your business. 

The Basics of Being Your Own Registered Agent

To become your…

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Want to jump straight to the answer? The best lead management software for most people is HubSpot CRM or Zoho CRM.

Lead management software is the best way to monitor and nurture your leads at scale, ensuring your hottest leads don’t turn cold. A basic spreadsheet or handwritten notes won’t get the job done—you need lead management software.

The Top 5 Best Lead Management Software

• HubSpot CRM – Best free lead management software for solopreneurs and growing sales teams.
• Zoho CRM – Best lead management software for marketing automation.
• Pipedrive – Best lead management software for real estate professionals.
• noCRM.io – Best standalone lead management software for small businesses and startups.
• Salesforce Sales Cloud – Most robust lead management software for large enterprises.

From the long, overwhelming list of choices, we’ve narrowed them down to five remarkable brands that truly deliver on their promises.

Since your choice can potentially change the course of your business, we’ll make sure to explore each software in detail so you can make an informed decision.

HubSpot CRM — Best Free Lead Management Software for Solopreneurs and Growing Sales Teams

• Incredibly intuitive
• Add forms to website
• Use bots for live chat
• Get it for free

Get it today!

HubSpot CRM dazzles with its simplicity.

The paid plans give you…

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CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is powerful. Yet, many businesses continue to use just the basic features.

To get the most out of your CRM software, you need to go above and beyond storing contact information and managing campaigns. CRM reporting will take your business to the next level.

By generating reports that dive deep into consumer behavior and other crucial business metrics, organizations can improve the customer experience and boost retention rates.

Ready to extend the possibilities of your CRM software? Let’s dive in.

Top Rated CRM Software to Improve CRM Reporting

If you want to improve CRM reporting, you’ll need CRM software. Here’s the best options.

• HubSpot – Best for Varying CRM Needs
• Salesflare – Best for Prospect Management
• Zoho CRM – Best for Prospect Management
• Freshsales – Best for Managing Sales Leads
• Insightly – Best for Project Management Features
• Apptivo – Best for Adding Services As You Need Them
• Pipedrive – Best for Simplifying the Sales Process
• EngageBay – Best for Automating Customer Service Tasks
• Salesforce – Best for Integrating Multiple Services

You can read our full reviews of each CRM software here.

What is CRM Reporting?

CRM reports contain valuable insights designed to improve the sales process and facilitate data-driven decisions. Different departments and roles within an organization can take real-time information and generate custom reports.

Without CRM reporting, it’s impossible to know if your process is effective.

Reports help organizations create and deploy an effective CRM strategy while tracking KPIs to measure the success of all efforts.

CRM reporting is much easier if you’re…

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Want to jump straight to the answer? The best business process management software for most people is Process Street or Zoho Creator.

Business Process Management (BPM) software helps businesses streamline operations to increase efficiency and productivity. The software allows organizations to map out workflows and automate critical processes.

Business process management software makes it possible for all businesses, not just enterprises, to benefit from a workflow management solution.

The Top 8 Best Business Process Management Software

• Process Street – Best BPM Software For Small Business
• Zoho Creator – Best For Custom Application Development
• Kissflow – Best for Scalability
• Quickbase – Best BPM Software For IT Teams
• ProcessMaker – Best For Enterprise Workflow Management
• Nintex – Best BPM Software For Workflow Automation
• Kintone – Best For Nonprofit, Government, and Educational Organizations
• Dubsado – Best BPM Software For Client Management

After extensive research, we’ve narrowed down the top eight BPM solutions on the market. Continue below for our in-depth reviews, including the benefits, features, use cases, prices, and potential drawbacks of each one.

Process Street — Best BPM Software For Small Business

• Starts at $12.50 per user
• 1,000+ integrations
• Easy to use
• 14 day free trial

Start for free

Process Street is a simple and straightforward…

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Our recommendation for most people is Shopify because it offers the most value of any ecommerce platform. Try Shopify free for three days, no credit card required.

It’s never been smarter to start an ecommerce site. The best ecommerce platforms make it so easy for online sellers in every industry. Common troubles like inventory size and sales volume aren’t problems anymore.

We’ll give you peace of mind whether you’re starting your new business from scratch or taking your brick-and-mortar operation online. Either way, this guide has you covered.

The Top 5 Best Ecommerce Platforms

The best ecommerce platform for most of our readers is Shopify because it’s easy to use, no matter how you plan to sell online. Take a free trial of Shopify and launch your store today.

• Shopify – Best all-around ecommerce platform
• Wix – Best for stores with fewer than 100 products
• BigCommerce – Best for large inventories
• Squarespace – Best for cornering a niche market
• Hostinger – Best price for a full online store

There’s more than one way to start selling products and services online. Two of our picks–BigCommerce and Shopify–are dedicated ecommerce platforms. They’ve each been conceived and developed as one-stop shops to create an online store. 

Squarespace, Hostinger, and Wix are website builders that also make creating an online store easy. Even if you’re not a developer, you’ll be able to create a more unique website experience with these platforms than you can with the ecommerce-only platforms.

Keep reading…

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DreamHost is a well-known name in the world of web hosting. It’s been around for more than 20 years and consistently offers its beginner-friendly (and advanced) hosting services at affordable prices.

DreamHost is also one of three hosting providers officially recommended by WordPress. So, it’s no surprise that DreamHost goes all-in to make WordPress easy for their customers to use and enhance. If you know you’re going to build your site on WordPress, DreamHost should be at the top of your hosting shortlist.

How DreamHost Stacks Up to Other Web Hosts

DreamHost a great option for affordable WordPress hosting and one of our top picks for best web hosting providers this year.

If you’re looking for something else, here’s a look at our top ten:

Where DreamHost Stands Out

Getting started with DreamHost is straightforward. The entire experience is built with new and inexperienced WordPress users in mind. It’s a great choice even if WordPress feels intimidating or out of reach.

Ease of Use

DreamHost offers two shared hosting plans and lays out a clear comparison of the high-level features of each, plus renewal pricing information. You can quickly assess which plan is right based on your needs.

Once you pick your preferred hosting plan, DreamHost offers two payment options—credit card or PayPal—plus the ability to opt out of providing a domain name to complete the signup process. This is a nice option, especially if you have no idea what name you want to use. You can still complete the sign up process and add your official domain name later.

DreamHost will give you a temporary domain name to get your account set up.

Once your payment is…

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Bluehost is our top recommendation for absolute beginners looking for a mistake-proof way to set up their first website. Several other hosts we’ve used are also completely fine for inexperienced users, but Bluehost really removes the barriers to entry with an easy control panel, automatic installation of WordPress (plus whichever theme you choose), and a helpful guided walkthrough of the entire process.

It’s entirely normal to feel nervous, but you truly can’t go wrong with Bluehost guiding you along.

How Bluehost Stacks Up to Other Web Hosts

If you’re new to website hosting and feel unsure or intimidated by WordPress, Bluehost is our top recommendation for you.

Not only does the setup give you everything you need to succeed, it’s also one of only three hosts officially recommended by WordPress. So, they have a full team of WordPress experts ready to jump in if you need them. While the platform itself does a great job of guiding you, Bluehost’s support isn’t the best unless you pay extra and some basic features also come with additional costs.

If you’re looking for more hands-on support or something more affordable, one of our top web hosting picks may be a better option for you:

Where Bluehost Stands Out

Bluehost is a good place to dip your toes into web hosting for the first time, providing all the guidance a novice would need while also giving you easy paths to taking the next step up when you and your site are ready for an upgrade.

Easy to Use

Bluehost offers four different shared hosting plans and spells out the differences among each in a comprehensive table. Features are divided…

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If working with a company that puts the environment at the forefront of all it does is a priority, then GreenGeeks is the hosting provider for you. It puts three times the energy its servers use back into the grid.

The company also plants a tree for every new hosting account–it doesn’t get greener than that. Other providers have started to follow suit, but GreenGeeks were the first and are doing the most to offset their impact. Using a hosting provider like this is a great idea for businesses, web stores, and other organizations that promote going green as part of their brand values.

How GreenGeeks Stacks Up to Other Web Hosts

GreenGeeks is excellent for eco-conscious brands who prefer to work with companies that align with their values. From planting trees and adding renewal energy into the grid, there’s no doubt they do their part. But it’s not the easiest host we’ve ever used, nor is it the most scalable option.

So, if ease of use and scalability are at the top of your priority list, a different provider might be a better fit.

Our favorite web hosting services include:

Where GreenGeeks Stands Out

Aside from its focus on being the greenest website hosting company, GreenGeek delivers a top-notch experience in several ways.

Ease of Use (the good)

GreenGeeks offers three shared hosting plans and lays out the key features of each in a clear, understandable way. You can quickly find the right plan for your needs.

When it comes to paying for your hosting services, GreenGeeks only accepts credit cards. You’ll need a Visa, MasterCard, Discover Card, or American Express to complete your transaction. A minor…

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