8 steps to launch an email marketing newsletter

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Matt Rushing | Leave a comment | Paysimple News, Strategy

Executing an effective communication strategy is vital in today’s connected world. Sure, you want to communicate special promotions and other marketing messages that will increase your customers’ interest in your product or service. But to be successful, you should also provide objective, interesting content they can enjoy and put to use.

An email newsletter is a great form of communication because it allows you take off the sales hat for a moment and talk to your audience in a different way. Not only does it help your brand, but crafting a newsletter is a soothing drill for YOU as well. But where do you start? Continue reading…

Will working from home become the new norm?

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Andy Greenhaw | Leave a comment | Small Business, Strategy, Technology

Everything these days seems to have gone online: marketing, meetings, online billing, customer service, networking and even invoicing. But a new trend is emerging that may someday evolve into the new norm: working online from home.

According to the Employment Review from Elance reports, the number of businesses seeking to hire independent contractors who work remotely doubled in 2011. And 83 percent of businesses surveyed said they plan to let half their employees work from home over the next 12 months. Continue reading…

Do you use ACH processing? The National ACH Association wants your feedback.

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Andy Greenhaw | Leave a comment | ACH Payment Processing, Electronic Invoicing

If you’re a business or agency that uses ACH Processing to send or receive payments, then the National ACH Association (NACHA) would like your input.

(PaySimple ACH users – this is you!)

NACHA, the governing body for the ACH Network, wants to ensure that it is responsive to the needs of its users, so the input provided in this survey will guide its strategic planning for the association into the 2013 to 2015 period. If you’re an ACH user unfamiliar with NACHA, it is the organization that makes and enforces most of the rules and regulations around ACH payments, including authorization procedures and chargeback reconciliation. Learn more about NACHA and how ACH works here. Continue reading…

Entrepreneurship explodes across the planet

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Andy Greenhaw | Leave a comment | Entreprenuers

More entrepreneurs now exist across the globe than the entire population of the United States.

According to the latest annual survey from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) from Babson College, 388 million entrepreneurs have sprouted up across the planet. The survey also estimated that 165 million are between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. And 163 million are young women.

GEM projects that 65 million of these entrepreneurs will each create 20 jobs, for a grand contribution of 1.3 billion jobs to the planet. It also estimates that 69 million will offer innovative products and services never-before-seen in the market.

Donna Kelly, Babson College professor who authored the study, said that these growing numbers make a healthy addition to the global economy because they stimulate new ideas and innovation.

“In an economy, you want to have some elements of stability, where firms maintain their businesses, despite facing ups and downs in their industry, their businesses or in the economy over time,” Kelley explained. “At the same time, there needs to be some dynamism, where new ideas and new firms sprout up and replace in part those that have run their course.”

One of the study’s most significant findings was that entrepreneurship actually grew in many of the economies surveyed, despite the economic hardships in the past few years. Continue reading…

Webinar to help CPA’s get paid faster

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Andy Greenhaw | Leave a comment | Accept Payments Online, Paysimple News, Webinar

Today’s uncertain economic environment presents countless challenges for accountants, but managing clients and getting paid are two of the most difficult and stressful. The time it takes to send out invoices and manage current and late payments can really eat into margins, which is why PaySimple is launching a webinar tomorrow at 2:00 PM MST dedicated to teaching CPAs some of the best strategies for encouraging and enabling customers to pay faster, all while being efficient and organized.

The webinar will be hosted by PaySimple’s VP of Customer Acquisition and Experience, Kevin Brown.

“In this 60 minute session, I’ll show you how to win customers and keep them, save time in your day to increase your productivity, improve your profitability, stand out from your competition and get paid on time – every time,” Brown said. Continue reading…

BBB names Top 10 Scams of 2011 – Don’t Fall Victim!

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Lisa H. | Leave a comment | Tip of the Week

Many small businesses are still struggling in this economy, and even a small loss, or a business disruption caused by an infected computer, can be devastating. With all the news about email scams, phishing scams, phone scams, social media scams, and identity theft, it seems like everywhere you turn these days someone is trying to deceive you. The best way to defend yourself is to stay informed, and to use common sense—if it sounds too good to be true it probably is, and if it smells fishy it probably really stinks.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is dedicated to protecting consumers from all predatory business, and has made monitoring and reporting on scams part of its mission. It recently published the Top Ten Scams of 2011 list. The list includes the top scam in each of nine categories: Jobs Scams, Sweepstakes & Lottery Scams, Social Media/Online Dating Scams, Home Improvement Scams, Check Cashing Scams, Phishing Scams, Identity Theft Scams, Financial Scams, and Sales Scams. Each scam is described in detail along with tips for protecting yourself. Continue reading…

5 quick tricks to optimize your marketing

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Sarah Jordan | Leave a comment | Social Media, Strategy

Whether you’re writing a press release, ad copy, content for a webpage, a blog post or an email campaign, there are some quick and easy steps you can take to optimize your marketing content.

Skip over the obvious proofread-proofread-proofread step for a minute, assuming your content is beautifully free of grammatical errors, and try out one or all of the following ideas to give your copy an extra boost. Continue reading…

Credit card payments poised for growth in 2012

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Andy Greenhaw | Leave a comment | Credit Card Payments, Money

An upward trend in credit card payments over the past three quarters suggests that plastic could make a major comeback in 2012.

Credit card purchases grew to 8.2 percent, then 9 percent and now 10.6 percent of all transactions in the first three quarters of 2011, according to First Data, which processes credit card payments for more than four million merchants.

Black Friday also saw a big spike in business as credit card purchases increased 7.4 percent from last year. And Small Businesses Saturday exceeded expectations by 14 million shoppers, as American Express reported a 23 percent increase in member card transactions. Continue reading…

Postal Service cost cutting to make getting paid by mail even harder

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Andy Greenhaw | Leave a comment | Credit Card Payments, Money, Online Payment Forms, Recurring Billing

Small businesses could find it much more difficult to collect payments quickly following the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to stop its next-day delivery.

Forced to downsize considerably, the U.S. Postal Service announced last month that it would shut down half of its 500 processing centers, fire 28,000 employees and eliminate its service of delivering mail the next day. According to the USPS, about 40 percent of all first-class mail is delivered the next day.

New research from REL Consulting indicates that the change could cost up to $100 million per year for businesses that collect payments by mail. Continue reading…