Small business credit cards are a special type of credit cards that are meant for use by small business (as opposed to the normal credit cards or personal credit cards which are meant for the use of an individual). Some people wonder why they should go for a small business credit card when they already have one or more personal credit cards.This is a very valid question indeed. By logic, if something like small business credit cards exists in market as a separate entity altogether, there must be a special need for it. It must have some features which are useful to small businesses in particular. Though there are a lot of similarities between personal and small business credit cards (of course there would be similarities since both of them are credit cards after all), there are a few differences too. These differences are mainly in terms of the flexible credit limit, lower APR offers and attractive terms and conditions which are better for small business credit cards.Besides all the benefits which are quoted for credit cards and the additional attractive offers, there is another important reason for going for a small business credit card. The reason is business expense accounting. A lot of small businesses face this is as a major challenge. One needs to keep track of each and every business expense and log the information somewhere for the purpose of business expense accounting. Business expense accounting is needed not only for tax purpose but also for financial strategy evaluation and budget tracking. Generally speaking, two main problems quoted for small business expense accounting are business expense segregation and expense classification.By using your small business credit card for all your small business outgo, you can very easily separate your business expenses from your personal expenses. This will thus solve your business expense separation problem. What you receive on your small business credit card bill is your business expense directly. Moreover, this report is something which your tax consultant will love too.The second problem is also solved automatically. Most small business credit cards also group together the business expenses under proper heads. Some credit cards even provide credit card statement as data feeds which can be directly fed into accounting software. Just imagine how much hassle you are saved from with this business accounting feature. Wonderful, isn’t it?The other great thing about small business credit cards is the help they offer in terms of managing the expense peaks. Though such variations are part of almost every business, they are even more critical for small businesses. So when that need for immediate purchase arises, you wouldn’t need to worry if you had the backing of a small business credit card. Also, generally small business have to pay first and receive later i.e. make payments for purchases before receiving payments for services/goods, so small business credit card also acts as an intermediary who fills in the time gap at little or no additional cost.The credit card membership benefits are at its best when it comes to small business credit cards. There are discounted ticket offers, car rental offers, gift offers and many other good offers for small business credit card holders. Just check all such benefits that might be available on your small business credit card and ensure that you use them whenever and wherever required.The small business credit cards are ranked higher by the credit card suppliers too. So everything associated with a small business credit card, including the customer service, is better than the personal credit cards.Thus, small business credit cards aren’t something that a small business owner can afford to miss especially with what all it offers.

Have you a local business or service? How do you advertise it? Are you on page one of Google when someone keys in a keyword phrase looking for the business or service you provide? Have you looked recently at your Google local listing? It’s all changed at Google, and companies need to wake up to that fact. Now, due to the emphasis Google is giving to companies, when a person does a Google local search they will see a list of seven highlighted companies at the top or next to top of the search result.For too long, many companies with local services have been unable to get on page one for their Google local listing as search engine optimisation is expensive and they had to compete with the directories such as Yellow Pages online. The problem for companies was they spent money on having a website built, but getting people to it has been very difficult. Now, securing a prominent place for your company or service on Google is possible.There is an ‘art’ to being one of the top seven places and keeping it there for when someone does a Google Local search. You will benefit by having your Google local listing set up for you by online marketing experts that can give your business a boost by analysing keywords which will bring the most searches to your website thereby ensuring that all the elements are specially engineered to get you a top placementFewer than 3% of companies have actually ‘claimed’ their Google local listing yet statistics show that 82% of people who search for a business online will result in an offline action. 34% of people use a Google Map to find a business. That means a whole section of potential clients could be passing by your business without even realising that you are there. Did you know it is estimated that over 50% of all local purchases are preceded by an Internet search?To summarise, companies are too busy, on one hand sorting out their business, and they worry about getting noticed from their advertising on the other. To attract new customers, they have to look at what is happening in Google and also with mobile marketing as more and more people buy smartphones. Texting to customers and including mobile websites in the promotion is becoming more prevalent. It is time for most companies to waken up to the fact that advertising in local newspapers is not enough anymore.