Article URL: https://jobs.lever.co/substackinc/5b1f2f5c-3809-4278-b93d-379433a34d81
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27487407
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
Month: June 2021
Clerky (YC S11) Is Hiring Senior Software Engineers
Article URL: https://jobs.lever.co/clerky/295375d9-c3d9-4ec8-99e0-bc5ac6232a64?lever-origin=applied&lever-source%5B%5D=HN
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27491805
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
Best WordPress Booking Plugins
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.
Does your business book appointments online? Are you looking for the best WordPress booking plugins to help you streamline your workflow and increase customer satisfaction?
An effective booking plugin can be an essential part of your business puzzle. Once you find the right one, you eliminate the possibility of losing customers to faulty or less than ideal plugins that don’t do the job well.
In this guide, I share some of the best WordPress booking plugins to help you manage all your appointments with ease. Once you’ve read through my top choices, you’ll be able to make the best decision for your unique business needs.
Let’s get started.
#1 – StartBooking Review — The Best for Service Appointment Scheduling
StartBooking offers a powerful WordPress booking plugin you can easily download and install to manage all your service appointment needs.
They offer a clean customer-facing interface that allows them to choose from a pre-defined list of services with available times and dates. Once they’re ready to book their appointment, StartBooking effectively captures all their information, so they’re ready to go. This makes StartBooking an exceptional option for WordPress users in the service industry that want to offer their customers a clean and professional online booking experience they can rely on.
If you want to capture online payments as your customers book their appointments, StartBooking integrates with Stripe for easy payment processing.
Some of their best booking features:
- Offers a fully customizable booking plugin so that you configure it to book appointments exactly how you want
- Easily integrates with Google Calendar
- Manage how customers view their booking options and services from your WordPress dashboard
- Book and manage an unlimited number of appointments
- Get access to crucial booking analytics, so you always know how you’re doing month to month
- Assign different staff members to different appointment offerings
- Define booking times that prevent you from overlapping appointments
- The ability to handle class and group booking
Pricing tiers include:
- Individual — $12 per month for unlimited sites and appointments
- Business — $28 per month for unlimited sites and appointments
Both tiers offer custom fields, blocking dates, and customizable emails. The Business plan is better for a team with multiple calendars and comes with advanced reported and priority support. Try StartBooking free here for 14 days.
#2 – Bookly Pro Review — The Best for Use with Staff Members
A plugin like Bookly Pro is a top choice if you work with staff members and need plenty of assignable backend booking features. The plugin was downloaded over 34,000 times by businesses that want a strong handle on their booking workflow.
With Bookly Pro, you can enable your staff to stay on top of upcoming appointments with automated notifications and let them know when they’ve scored a purchase. Bookly lets you connect each of your employees and their Google Calendars to any number of services available for booking.
This enables you to manage your team and multiple bookings without the potential confusion that can come with it. It’s the feature that makes Bookly an immensely effective booking plugin if you’re managing a growing team.
Though Bookly offers a free plugin version, if you want access to support and advanced booking features, you’re better off making their one-time payment for full access to everything they offer.
Some of its best features:
- Gorgeous booking forms and front-facing design
- Fully responsive booking features that work on any screen size
- Integrate with Google Calendars and WooCommerce
- Accept payments through a variety of payment gateways, including Stripe and PayPal
- Built-in analytics with plenty of booking stats
- Offers the ability to connect to a number of third-party systems using Zapier
Bookly Pro costs $89, a one-time payment that includes future updates and six months of support. You can also pay an additional $31.50 to extend support for up to 12 months. Buy Bookly Pro now.
#3 – Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce Review — The Best for Use with WooCommerce
The Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce truly does it all when it comes to booking just about anything online once you integrate and use it with WooCommerce (a robust WordPress ecommerce store plugin).
With it, you can handle hotel bookings, fitness appointments, party rentals, apartment rentals, and a ton more once you get it configured with your WooCommerce shop.
The Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce lets you set up single-day or multiple-day bookings for equipment rentals or hotel reservations with just a few clicks. If you already have a WooCommerce shop set up through WordPress, adding the booking and appointment plugin can completely transform your shopping experience with a booking and appointment interface that’s easy to use in both backend and frontend views.
Some of the Booking & Appointment Plugin’s best features:
- Syncs with Google Calendar for both admin users and customers
- Easily set up and automate SMS reminders
- Enable time slots that configure to customer’s local time zones
- Capable of multilingual displays in more than 60 languages
- See all your penned in appointments in either calendar or list views
- You can setup booking for multiple products on multiple dates
For a license, you’ll pay an annual subscription fee. The tiers are:
- Starter — $119 for one store
- Business — $199 for five stores
- Enterprise — $249 for unlimited stores
All three licenses come with all of the core features, including flexible labels, exclusion dates, custom booking calendar, multi-language capabilities, and timezone conversions. Get started with The Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce here.
#4 – Bookingo Review — The Best for Scheduling Training & Classes
Recent times have taken a lot of aspects of business remote. Whether you teach classes or lead training, you’re likely doing a combination of in-person and videoconferencing sessions.
That’s the situation that Bookingo is perfect for—maintaining and growing your teaching or training business.
This WordPress booking plugin from QuanticaLabs is tailor-made for anyone who offers courses on a recurring basis. It gives you everything you need to post classes and session easily, with customizable fields that allow you to adjust the plugin to your industry needs.
By default, you’re able to start and end dates, duration of each course and individual class, participant limits, recurring dates, location (or link to a virtual course), instructor contact details, and any additional information.
And, you get unlimited booking forms, courses, and course groups.
That makes it fantastic for companies whose whole purview is training or education. Segment course sets by instructor or topic and book as many as you’d like.
Better still, if your training service is growing wildly, you can even support payment in any global currency. So, your course on how to get ahead or add a skill can accommodate students from all around the world.
There are boatloads of other features already included in Bookingo and the devs at QuanticaLabs are constantly updating the plugin to add more and address user needs.
You can get Bookingo for $40 from EnvatoMarket, which comes with six months of support. You can easily extend that support by another year for an additional $13.13.
#5 – BirchPress Review — The Best for Easily Capturing Payments
BirchPress is a reliable WordPress booking plugin that works great if you want to capture PayPal and credit card payments hassle-free. This makes it easy to process payments without having to look for a third-party payment gateway that’ll complicate your life.
If you’d rather not use PayPal as your payment gateway, you can capture payments through other available gateways with WooCommerce integration.
Especially if you operate in the healthcare industry, fitness, automotive, salon and beauty, or the health and wellness space, BirchPress helps make the process of scheduling and keeping up with appointments easy right from your WordPress dashboard.
Even if you’re constantly taking appointments and collecting payments, you won’t always be available. With BirchPress’s holiday blocking feature, you choose which dates are unavailable for booking throughout the year.
The straightforward features BirchPress offers, along with their ability to sync with more than one payment option, make them a top booking plugin for online appointment management.
Some useful BirchPress features include:
- You can embed booking features on any page or post with their shortcodes
- Integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook, iPhone, or Android to import and export appointment dates
- Easily send reminders and emails when someone schedules, changes, or cancels an appointment
- Customize their appointments to your needs by configuring sign up forms accordingly
- Developer friendly plugin with advanced customization features
Once you make the one-time payment in the tier that suits your business budget, you can quickly start handling your booking needs. Here is the pricing tier breakdown:
- Personal — $99
- Business — $199
- Business+ — $249
All plans come with one year of support and updates, automated email notifications, and holiday blocking. The Business+ package is the only one to support WooCommerce integration. Start using BirchPress today, or go through a live demo here.
What I Looked At To Find The Best WordPress Booking Plugins
Booking plugins come with lots of different features that can strengthen how you run your business appointments. Any booking plugin worth using will offer a great user experience, integrate well with your WordPress site, and streamline the process of accepting and organizing appointments.
Still, you’ll want to take it a step further and look into some key criteria to enable you to choose the best plugin that will deliver what you need.
To choose a plugin that works for you, make sure you’re clear on your business goals to know exactly what you need a plugin for.
Are you booking online sales calls with prospective customers? Are you booking local in-person appointments? Will you need to capture payment information upon booking? Are you booking appointments or reservations?
Some plugins come with robust features like drop-down menus for multiple schedules, the ability to revise and re-schedule appointments, a dashboard that allows you to easily view and manage your calendar, or even automated appointment reminders triggered upon booking.
Here are a few other things I considered when researching and choosing the best WordPress booking plugins. Use these factors when doing your research and selecting the best for you.
Online Payments
Some plugins are designed to accept online payment solutions without having to use a third-party payment gateway. This can be useful to you as a business owner if you require payment upon booking.
Being able to capture payments within your booking plugin can go a long way in saving you time. This way, you don’t need to integrate additional plugins on your site that could potentially slow it down.
Calendar Views
Would booking appointments on your site be made easier if your plugin offered a calendar view for you and your customers? Using a plugin with calendar views can be a great option if you offer appointments over a span of time or if your business is service-based.
Mobile-Friendly
Your booking plugin won’t do you much good if you can’t easily capture appointments from a mobile device. A vast amount of online traffic is generated through mobile as opposed to the standard desktop view.
You’re always better off with booking plugins that are up to date and offer mobile compatible views. Using booking plugins that haven’t been recently reviewed or updated to be compatible with the latest WordPress version can work against you if you aren’t careful.
Conclusion
This might have been a ton of information to digest in one go. I reviewed a list of the top booking plugins for WordPress you can start using right now that go beyond the basics.
To help you choose the best WordPress booking plugin, here’s a quick recap of the plugins I recommend:
- StartBooking – The best for service appointment bookings
- Bookly Pro – The best for using with staff members
- Booking & Appointment Plugin For WooCommerce – The best for use with WooCommerce
- Bookingo – The best for scheduling training and classes
- BirchPress – The best for easily capturing payments
Now it’s your turn. Has there been a booking plugin that’s worked better for you than others? Let me know in the comments below.
How to Write Perfect Paid Social Media Marketing Objectives (With Examples)
Having a marketing plan isn’t enough for success. You need strategic marketing objectives to help you set, plan for and achieve your business goals. And you need to have them not just for your overall marketing plan but also for specific portions, such as paid social media marketing.
This guide will offer you a detailed breakdown of what marketing objectives are, what are the best practices for creating effective marketing objectives, and a few examples of what successful marketing objectives look like.
We have also included tips, tricks, and strategies to make your marketing plan more efficient with tried and tested marketing objectives.
What Are Marketing Objectives?
Marketing objectives are a set of trackable, measurable, clearly defined goals to help you expand your business. These can include, but aren’t limited to:
- Profit-based goals: making sales
- Growth-based goals: increasing subscribers, fans, etc.
- Awareness-based goals: gaining unique visitors
Such marketing objectives often use a popular method of goal setting known as SMART. SMART stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Timely
You should tailor your SMART goals to your unique situation, but here’s an example to get you restarted on your marketing objectives:
Smart Goal Structure
S – Specific: Visits, Leads, or Customers
Do you want to increase traffic, nurture traffic into leads, or convert leads into customers?
M – Measurable: Provide a Number
Decide on an exact number to measure and increase.
A – Attainable: Understand Benchmark
Research your past analytics to make sure the goal is realistic with your resources.
R – Relevant: Relates Back to Overall End Goal
Make sure each goal relates back to overall end goal.
T – Timely: Include a Time Frame
Pick a date that is realistic to reach your goal.
Why Is It Important to Set Paid Social Marketing Objectives?
When you launch a paid social media marketing campaign, it’s essential to start with solid marketing objectives so you create a strong strategy to meet or exceed your marketing goals.
For example, if you want to increase your newsletter subscribers, focus on building a robust email sequence and craft marketing content in a way that should convince your audience to hit subscribe. Having this marketing objective clarifies your key goals and can help you build an effective social media marketing strategy.
If you don’t have any marketing objectives, you may end up wasting time, money, and effort on the wrong marketing campaign (for example, increasing passive visitors instead of engaged subscribers).
To better direct your resources toward building successful ad campaigns, you need to understand the types of marketing objectives you can set and what they mean for your business.
10 Types of Paid Social Media Marketing Objectives
Marketing objectives are crucial to clarifying and meeting your business goals. This section is here to help you narrow down your choices and dig deeper into what each type of marketing objective looks like in practice.
1. Marketing Objectives to Increase Brand Awareness
This is one of the most common types of marketing objectives. No matter how great your business is, if customers don’t know about you, they can’t buy from you. That’s why paid social media marketing objectives aimed at increasing brand awareness often come first, especially for new business owners.
Like other marketing campaign metrics, these can be customized and measured according to your key business needs. For example, if you’re a new brand looking to increase brand awareness, you need to tailor your social ad campaigns to attract new visitors.
Here are a few examples of what a brand awareness-based marketing objective could look like:
- Increase social media visitors by 25 percent.
- Improve page visits by 50 percent.
- Increase the number of target demographic visitors by 20 percent.
The metrics to track these marketing objective plans are pretty straightforward. For instance, here is an example of keyword metrics tracked by Ubersuggest.
Your website’s analytics page will offer you all the details about your progress (or decline in growth) so you can adjust your marketing objectives and strategies accordingly.
If you notice you’re falling short of the goals too frequently, it may be a sign you’re setting unrealistic goals. Try to reduce the number and see what happens.
2. Marketing Objectives to Increase Repeat Visitors
Attracting new visitors isn’t enough; you must find a way to make them stay (and eventually convert). If you’re at that stage, you can create marketing objective plans to improve on-page retention and increase your number of regular visitors.
Here’s what that goal could look like:
- Improve click-through rates from existing visitors.
- Increase social media engagement among regular users.
- Reduce bounce rates to retain customers.
This graphic by CXL explains how to calculate your click-through rates.
Fortunately, most websites today track visitors, making it easy to see if your marketing objective plan is working. If you find a particular metric is hitting the mark, regroup and consider what needs to be fixed.
3. Marketing Objectives to Increase Subscribers
Once somebody starts visiting your page regularly, that’s a great time to ask them to subscribe to a premium level of whatever you offer. They’re already a free subscriber showing interest in your products, so they may be more likely to subscribe to your paid service than new users who don’t know or care about your business.
Marketing objectives to increase subscribers could look like:
- Increase subscribers by 15 percent over the next month.
- Reduce unsubscription rates by five percent over the next three months.
You can track these metrics from your subscription services’ analytics page to see what is working and what needs to change.
4. Marketing Objectives to Promote a New Product
When you launch a new product or service, you have an opportunity to create a timely and relevant paid social media marketing campaign.
If you’ve just launched (or are planning to launch) something new, here are a few marketing objectives you can set:
- Increase new product landing page visits to 100,000 per day.
- Boost social media engagement related to the new product by 40 percent.
- Sell 25 new units per day through organic traffic.
Such marketing objectives and strategies are often time-bound and only last for a few weeks or months, but you should track them like you would a long-term campaign to learn what works and what needs to be improved upon for the next time you run a short campaign.
5. Marketing Objectives to Increase Sales
Now that you’ve launched your new product and successfully promoted it, it’s time to focus on increasing sales. Most companies across several industries think of increasing sales when they discuss marketing.
Although marketing can serve several purposes, most businesses primarily use paid social media campaigns to boost sales, so this step is quite important.
If you’re at a stage where you’re prioritizing sales, here are a few examples of marketing objectives aimed at boosting sales:
- Increase conversion rates by three percent in the next three weeks.
- Connect with 25 influencers to increase social media sales.
- Increase affiliate sales by 12 percent in the next month.
These marketing objectives can be directly tracked by how many units or subscriptions you sell. We recommend keeping track of your results to know which marketing objectives and strategies work best for you.
6. Marketing Objectives to Increase Revenue
Even if your sales have increased, it doesn’t mean your revenue necessarily has. If you notice you’re not meeting your revenue goals, it’s time to devise new SMART goals, such as:
- Increase profit margins by 1.5 percent.
- Reduce marketing costs by two percent per month.
- Bring down customer acquisition cost to $5 per new buyer.
Here’s an example of how these marketing objectives can be tracked, explained through a graphic by Chorus.ai.
7. Marketing Objectives to Optimize the Conversion Funnel
Once you’ve set practical marketing objectives and begun working on your paid social media marketing campaign, you may notice the customers still aren’t converting. Maybe you’re attracting ample visitors, but your repeat customers are low. Perhaps you have a growing number of subscribers, but your customer acquisition cost is too high.
In these cases, it helps to set marketing objectives to optimize your conversion funnel. Here are a few examples:
- Identify and fix one weak spot in the conversion funnel per month.
- Increase conversion by 15 percent by spending a fixed sum on marketing.
- Reduce customer acquisition cost by three percent per month.
You can track these metrics by closely observing your conversion funnel. Note which step of your funnel is losing visitors and aim to fix that with one of these marketing objectives.
8. Marketing Objectives to Grow Your Digital Presence
Today, 2.14 billion people shop online, making digital marketing essential. If you have a successful brick-and-mortar business and want to expand your digital reach, this marketing objective could be right for you.
Here are a few helpful examples of what digital reach marketing objectives could look like:
- Post four blog posts per month to drive audience engagement.
- Increase social media followers by 25 percent.
- Reach 150 new users daily.
These marketing objectives can be tracked by recording and comparing your social reach.
Most social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram offer free analytics to help you understand how your audience interacts with your content. Use this data to adjust your marketing objectives and strategies.
9. Marketing Objectives to Reach International Audiences
If you’re launching a new product or service that could benefit users abroad, create a marketing objective to reach geo-targeted audiences. Once you’ve defined the demographics you wish to reach, you can set the following marketing objective plans:
- Reach users in 10 countries over the next six months.
- Convert three international users daily.
- Increase social engagement among international visitors.
Understanding international markets can be tricky, so you may have to experiment with marketing objectives and strategies before finding something that provides the best return on your investment.
10. Marketing Objectives to Increase On-site Time
Once you have an effective conversion funnel that meets your sales, revenue, and engagement goals, you can look for ways to increase each users’ on-site time. The more time somebody spends on your page, the more they’re likely to come back and buy something from you.
For this, you can set marketing objectives like:
- Reduce bounce rate by 4 percent every month.
- Increase user reading time up to 30 minutes per visitor.
You can track how long visitors stay on your page through your website’s built-in analytics tool. Measuring your marketing objectives solely through on-site time can be tricky, though, as many people leave their tabs open or are too busy to give their full attention to your page. So, we recommend you don’t focus on this objective too heavily unless you’ve completed all the others we discussed above.
How to Pick Your Paid Social Marketing Objectives
Now that you understand the 10 essential marketing objectives, it’s time to choose one for your company.
- Consider your business goals
When selecting a marketing objective, consider your business goals. Ask questions like: Do you need to increase sales, or should you prioritize social engagement?
- Get perspective
Consider the entire team’s perspectives before honing in on one goal.
- Narrow it down
Narrow your options to the top three choices you can work with.
- Test your goals
Start with one to see what works and what needs to change. If your goals aren’t supporting your overall growth plans, tweak and try again.
- Repeat the process with new objectives
Setting goals should be an on-going process, not a one-time deal.
Tips to Help You Meet Your Paid Social Marketing Objectives
If you want to increase the effectiveness of your paid social media marketing objectives, make sure you:
- Periodically check in with your team members to make sure everyone’s on the same page.
- Track your progress toward SMART goals to identify problems and possibilities for growth.
- Include external experts’ suggestions to improve your process.
FAQ about Social Media Marketing Objectives
This guide covered a ton, but you’ve still got questions. Here’s a quick FAQ to help you get started.
Can my business have more than one marketing objective?
How many marketing objectives you set depends on your business goals and planning capacity. Larger businesses with bigger teams may be able to plan and execute multiple marketing objectives and strategies at once. In comparison, newer businesses with smaller teams might perform better by working on one goal at a time.
Who should set the marketing objectives for a successful social media ad campaign?
When you launch a new social media ad campaign, involve everyone in the decisions about marketing objectives. The leaders and managers should specify the big-picture goals, while the marketing team can dig deeper into the details of how to execute your businesses’ marketing objective plans.
What are the most important marketing objectives?
Every company prioritizes different goals at different stages of its growth. Creating brand awareness and expanding your digital reach could be solid marketing objectives to aim for if you’re a new business. If you’re an established company, increasing sales and profits may better serve your key business goals.
What to do if my business isn’t meeting any marketing objectives?
If you notice your company is consistently falling short of your marketing objectives, it’s a sign warning you to change strategies. If you’re significantly behind your goals, it may be better to change your marketing objectives entirely. Track your goal metrics, see where your plan is failing, and set SMART marketing objectives to improve accordingly.
How often can you change your marketing objectives?
For your marketing objectives to succeed in accelerating your business growth, they have to be effective and profitable. If you notice you’re spending increasing time and effort trying to meet your goals without seeing great returns, reconsider your marketing objectives and perhaps swap them for new ones.
Social Media Marketing Objectives Conclusion
Setting SMART marketing objectives can truly change the way you reach your target audience and encourage them to do business with you.
You need to be especially SMART about your objectives when creating paid social media marketing campaigns, as you’re spending money regardless of how well things go.
Marketing objectives help clarify your message and simplify your goals while making them more effective in the long run.
Which marketing objective will you choose for your business today?
'Bounty' star vow to fight
New comment by intronextron in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2021)"
Location: Chennai, India
Remote: yes
Willing to relocate: yes, if needed
Resume/CV: http://bitly.ws/eca8
Email: anaam.qureshi1@gmail.com
skills: Data analysis (SPSS/Statistics/BESA/in-house software), writing/reviewing research articles, recruiting/building profiles of participants, experimental design organization and finalization, literature review.
About me:
I’m a graduate neuroscience research student with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics. My master’s degree is currently on pause due to the pandemic. My research focus is on early cognitive development, languages, and theory of mind.
I have worked with both EEG and fMRI. That includes:
Data analysis (SPSS/(matlab/R)/BESA/in-house software), writing/reviewing research articles, recruiting participants, experimental design organization and finalization, & literature review.
I’m always open to learning new technologies.
As my experience has been in child development research, I’m open to teaching facilitator and research roles.
Open to both full-time positions and support roles too.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anaam-qureshi/
The post New comment by intronextron in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2021)" appeared first on Automation For Your Email Marketing Sales Funnel.
The post New comment by intronextron in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2021)" appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
Company Credit Card– Increasing Your Credit Line For Your New Business
Service Credit Card– Increasing Your Credit Line For Your New Business
The organization credit score card has actually currently been presented and also this has actually assisted tiny service proprietors to make acquisitions of important things as well as help in the begin up as well as upkeep of their firm. The service credit rating card sensation is a quick expanding pattern, as well as currently considerably even more than fifty percent of little companies have a credit score card customized particularly in the direction of them.
The Annual Fee
The downside, if you can call it that, of service charge card is that there is a yearly charge. When you begin to contrast company credit rating cards you will certainly quickly see that this yearly cost is just really tiny. You should, certainly, still take note of all costs that might be related to a certain charge card you are checking out however do not allow the reference of the yearly charge stop you from checking out.
Credit report Limits
Any type of brand-new service endeavor is confronted with large prices varying from the acquisition of furnishings to workplace products as well as these prices quickly accumulate. Company charge card normally supply a credit line as high as $50,000 providing you the resources you need to equip your workplace and also make several any type of various other crucial acquisitions. It is extremely hard to discover this sort of credit line anywhere else as a brand-new organization.
Staff Member Expenses And Spending
As acquisitions that the company requires to make as an entire, specific staff members might likewise need the usage of firm funds for organization associated acquisitions as well as costs. A service charge card allows you to securely keep an eye on the investing and also manage while still using your staff members the funds they call for to assist make your service a success.
Dividing Your Business Credit From Your Personal Credit
Organization bank card are not related to your very own individual credit line. By maintaining your service credit scores as well as your individual credit score different, your accounts will certainly be less complicated to handle and also income tax return will certainly be substantially much easier than without one. It likewise implies that it is not mirrored in your organization purchases due to the fact that your individual credit report score is not taken right into account.
Organization Rewards
Organization charge card are customized in the direction of organizations and also typically use exceptional incentives to organizations. Whereas an individual bank card might supply vacation price cuts, a calling card might rather supply decreased traveling costs or holiday accommodation.
For this factor you ought to pay specific focus to costs restrictions, credit history limitations, costs and also various other elements when you contrast service credit scores cards. Undoubtedly, the most significant prospective failure of your brand-new company credit rating card is the method you utilize it.
The service credit history card has actually currently been presented and also this has actually helped little company proprietors to make acquisitions of crucial things and also help in the beginning up as well as upkeep of their business. The organization credit rating card sensation is a quick expanding fad, as well as currently significantly even more than fifty percent of tiny organizations have a credit report card customized particularly in the direction of them. Service credit rating cards normally supply a credit score restriction as high as $50,000 providing you the resources you call for to equip your workplace as well as make numerous any type of various other necessary acquisitions. Company credit scores cards are not linked with your very own individual credit history limitation. For this factor you ought to pay certain focus to investing restrictions, credit rating limitations, charges as well as various other elements when you contrast service debt cards.
BrickSeek: The Hidden Tool Online Consumers Use to Find Hidden Inventory Sales
Have you ever wanted a fast way to get the best deals in retail stores like Walmart, Home Depot, Target, and more?
Whether you’re just looking to save some money or you’re into retail arbitrage, the ability to easily check product inventory from the comfort of your home is something many people only dreamed about.
Until BrickSeek came along, that is.
What is BrickSeek, and how can it help you get the best deals on some of the most popular products?
What Is BrickSeek?
BrickSeek is an application that allows users to search for sales and clearance sales in retail shops in their area.
Launched in 2014, BrickSeek started as a website to help Lego enthusiasts find hard-to-find pieces—on and offline. The website quickly evolved into a massive platform that includes inventory information on just about every product stocked by retailers.
You can choose to use the web-based version or the mobile app as BrickSeek supports Android and iOS.
While BrickSeek doesn’t support all retail brands at the moment, they do have access to inventory for retailers like:
- Target
- Walmart
- CVS
- Home Depot
- Macy’s
- Lowes
- Office Depot
- Staples
BrickSeek uses product identification numbers like stock-keeping units (SKUs) and unique product codes (UPCs) to work its magic. With these, the software can find the best discount prices on specific products you want—for online and offline stores.
Besides showing you the best deals in your area, BrickSeek also shows the availability of all products stocked by most major retailers.
While you can use BrickSeek to browse store inventories, other features require you create a member account. Pricing starts at $9.99/month.
Why Should Consumers Use BrickSeek?
Now that you know what BrickSeek is, you’re probably wondering why you should even consider using the platform—especially the paid services.
There are two main reasons why you should use BrickSeek:
1. Saves Time (and Energy)
Tired of going from store to store looking for the best deal on products?
BrickSeek will take care of that for you with its inventory checker. With just a few clicks of a button, you can find out which stores offer the best deals. You can also learn whether they have the product in stock or not.
2. Saves Money
BrickSeek helps you save money by showing you the best deals on products. You also save money that you would have otherwise used to commute from one store to another.
Whether you’re a consumer or merchant, these two reasons are strong enough to make BrickSeek part of your tool kit.
How Does BrickSeek Work?
Thankfully, while it may seem like a daunting task to run through all the inventory of your favorite big box store, with BrickSeek, it isn’t. That’s because BrickSeek has a powerful inventory checker that digs into the inventory of the stores it supports.
From a user’s point of view, you have two options when it comes to using Brickseek to find deals:
1. Specific Search
To search for a specific product, you will need more information on the product than just its name. For best results, you’ll need metadata like the SKU, UPC, or model number of the product you’re looking for.
BrickSeek also allows you to filter out products by zip code, so you get the deals closest to you.
Once you’ve entered the product information, click on the “Check Inventory” button. BrickSeek will then give you information on:
- Local stores that have the product in stock.
- Available prices and best deals on products.
- Number of products in stock at each store.
Do note there may be some minor discrepancies in rare cases of miscounts or server lag after inventory has been updated.
2. Browsing for Products
Another way of using Brickseek is by simply browsing trending deals.
This function is particularly useful if you’re a small business that deals in retail arbitrage. You can use it to find products that are in the clearance section. BrickSeek allows you to search by trending deals (online and in-store) and by categories to make the search easier.
What Effect Do Tools Like BrickSeek Have on E-Commerce?
The world of e-commerce is rapidly evolving, all thanks to technological advances in the industry. There has never been a better time for entrepreneurs to start an e-commerce store as the setup has become easy and affordable.
However, one of the main challenges budding e-commerce store owners face is finding the right products to sell, at the right price.
That’s where tools like BrickSeek come in.
Whether you’re looking for stuff to sell on platforms like eBay, Amazon, or any other platform you use for e-commerce, tools like BrickSeek streamline the process of finding what to sell. You can easily compare prices without having to leave the comfort of your couch. As a result, you speed up the process and get the best deals. These are all benefits you can pass on to your customers, giving you a competitive edge.
However, tools like BrickSeek are a double-edged sword. While they help e-commerce store owners find and sell more products, they also help savvy shoppers cut out the middleman. A simple visit to the BrickSeek website is all it takes for consumers looking for a great deal in-store or online.
BrickSeek Features
BrickSeek started as a simple platform for finding Lego pieces. However, the platform has evolved into a powerful tool you can use to search through massive product inventories to find specific products, the best deals, and the local stores that stock them. To help you do that, BrickSeek has several nifty features. Here are some of the most prominent ones:
Inventory Checker
The inventory checker is by far the most used feature on the BrickSeek website.
As noted earlier, this allows you to browse through the inventory of the retail stores featured on the platform.
Recent Stock Changes
BrickSeek’s recent stock update feature shows inventory updates like availability and price. A significant advantage of this feature is it helps you compare prices in different stores and locations. If you’re a consumer, this enables you to get the best deals. If you use BrickSeek for business purposes, it helps you decide how to price the items you buy for resale.
Markdowns by Store
As the name suggests, this members-only feature shows you items that have been marked down in stores near you. The number of items displayed is dependent on your membership level.
When you access each store’s markdown deals page on BrickSeek, you’ll get information on each product that has been marked down. Apart from the product name and description, this information includes:
- previous and newest detected prices
- date and timestamp of the recent detection
- the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP)
- a stock status indicator
This information is essential in helping you know whether the product that’s been marked down is worth investing in.
Online Stock Alert
Is the product you’re looking for out of stock?
This is where the online stock alert feature comes in handy.
The online stock alert feature is reserved for users who have created an account with BrickSeek. This handy feature sends notifications when out-of-stock or hard-to-find items are available in a store near you. When a product you’re looking for is out of stock, BrickSeek will ask if you want to be alerted when the product is in stock.
For those in the retail arbitrage business, the online stock alert feature is a massive time-saver as you won’t have to hunt for a product physically. It also gives you an advantage over your competitors as you get notified first when popular and in-demand products arrive in stock.
With features like these, BrickSeek is definitely a tool you must include in your tool stack as an e-commerce store owner, especially if retail arbitrage is your primary business model.
Three Alternatives to BrickSeek You Must Know
As excellent a tool as BrickSeek may be, it’s always a good idea to look around for some alternatives. That’s why I want to make that search easier for you by highlighting some of the most popular BrickSeek alternatives.
Let’s get to them, shall we?
Dealspotr
Dealspotr is one of the most popular BrickSeek alternatives and has been around since 2015. Dealspotr is a platform that finds coupon codes, discount sales, and promotions run by e-commerce stores listed in their store directory.
Besides their software that scours for deals, Dealspotr also has a large community of users who edit and verify the deals posted on the platform. This helps ensure all coupons and deals are current and legitimate. Another reason Dealspotr is so popular with users is that it rewards them for posting legitimate deals.
Slickdeals
Another great BrickSeek alternative is Slickdeals.
Slickdeals is touted as the most trusted deals platform on the internet as real people source all deals. The community of deal seekers that power the platform is obsessed with uncovering the greatest deals and savings opportunities online.
What sets Slickdeals apart from other platforms is the vibrant community designed to make you feel like part of a tribe of like-minded people. Everyone on the platform can share, confirm, and comment on deals to make sure everyone benefits. You can also sign up to receive notifications of deals in your favorite categories.
PriceGrabber
Getting the best deals means finding the lowest-priced products. That’s exactly what PriceGrabber does.
PriceGrabber is a price-comparison site that allows you to compare prices on products in almost every category in retail. Whether you’re a merchant looking for inventory or a savvy shopper looking for a great deal, PriceGrabber is an excellent platform to turn to.
BrickSeek for Consumers Conclusion
With retail e-commerce sales at $4.9 billion last year alone, there’s no better time than now to hop on the e-commerce bandwagon. To catch up to players who have been in the game for long, you need an ace up your sleeve.
BrickSeek might just be that ace you need to make your first e-commerce sale and many more.
Leverage the platform to find the best deals around, and you’ll soon grow a thriving e-commerce business. BrickSeek will also help you personalize your inventory as you use it to find out what your customers are looking for.
Have you ever used BrickSeek or its alternatives in your e-commerce business?
Get Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses
Check out Business Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses and So Much More
Are you one of the millions of black business owners in the US? Or are you starting a business? Money is always going to be an issue. What if you could get what is essentially free money? That’s what grants are (for the most part). Yes, you can get grants for small black owned businesses.
Looking for Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses – and Other Options
How do you find the best options for you? How do you know if you need to be looking for grants or business loans? We recommend that you explore every option. This is because it will probably take a combination of funding options to fully fund your business.
Funding and Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses
There are grants for black business owners, but not necessarily for them exclusively. Still, there are other funding choices out there. Loans, crowdfunding, and even angel investors are all viable options. More on those later.
Business Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses
The government and private organizations want to GIVE you money! Though highly competitive and rarely enough to fund a business on their own, grants are a great way to supplement other business funding. And they are still worth the effort to apply. There really isn’t anything to lose except time – it’s free money. Here are a few you can start with.
The Minority Business Development Agency
The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is operated by the US Department of Commerce. It is dedicated to helping minority-owned businesses access the resources they need to grow and succeed. The MBDA is for both men and women. Grant competitions are regularly changing.
Visit the MBDA’s website for information on all current opportunities. Currently, the MBDA helps its members apply for grants via Grants.gov. This involves help with how to apply for government grants. See mbda.gov/grants.
Enterprising Women of Color Initiative
The MBDA oversees the Enterprising Women of Color (EWOC) Initiative. The initiative works to focus on the fast-expanding minority women entrepreneur population as a revenue generators for families, communities, and the nation. Minority women are the fastest growing population of entrepreneurs. While many women are making tremendous strides in the business world, they still face obstacles as entrepreneurs.
MBDA serves as an advocate for women’s economic empowerment, by supporting efforts to advance women’s equality and promote women economic advancement programming. The vision of EWOC is to ensure women worldwide to reach their economic potential. See mbda.gov.
The Verizon Small Business Recovery Fund
The Verizon Small Business Recovery Fund is new. It was established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund offers $10,000 to successful applicants. The fund is specifically focused on providing grants to business owners of color, women-owned businesses, and other underrepresented entrepreneurs. See lisc.org/covid-19/small-business-assistance/small-business-relief-grants/verizon-small-business-recovery-fund
National Black MBA Association Scale-Up Pitch Challenge
Also known as NBMBAA, the Scale-Up Pitch Challenge has cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $50,000. The association states its purpose is to help newer businesses that have an African American ownership. This is a pitch competition for startup businesses. See nbmbaa.org/scale-up-pitch-challenge.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
Amber Grant
Black businesswomen have even more options open to them. The Amber Grant awards one prize of $10,000 per month to a woman-owned business. One of the recipients also receives an additional $25,000 grant at the end of the year. Applicants only need to tell their story and turn it in with a $15 application fee. See ambergrantsforwomen.com/get-an-amber-grant/apply-now
Cartier Women’s Initiative Award
Black businesswomen can also try for a Cartier award. This award is for women and there’s no specification that a woman be a member of a minority group. The Cartier Women’s Initiative Award has a regional category award and a science and technology award. The regional award is $100,000 for first place, with $30,000 for second and third place.
The award goes to three women from each of seven international regions. This award is a grant to 21 female business owners from around the world each year. Women business owners who are just getting started may qualify. Look over the complete application for more information. See cartierwomensinitiative.com/about-us
Cartier Science and Technology Pioneer Award and Fellowship
The Cartier Science and Technology Pioneer award is new as of 2021. With this award, three more women impact entrepreneurs at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation will be recognized for a new thematic award. Open to women entrepreneurs from any country and sector, this award will highlight disruptive solutions built around unique, protected, or hard-to-reproduce technological or scientific advances.
The laureate will be awarded a $100,000 grant. Each of the two remaining finalists will receive a $30,000 grant.
Cartier also offers a fellowship program. The fellowship is an educational program geared towards the 24 fellows selected each year. This program aims to equip the fellows with the necessary skills to grow their business. Also, it helps them to build their leadership capacity by drawing upon the experience and expertise of an array of academics, practitioners, industry experts, and entrepreneurs.
The fellowship isn’t exactly a grant. But while it’s not a monetary award, the mentoring and networking opportunities could be worthwhile to apply for. See cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellowship-programme.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
The Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI) Grant
Are you also part Native American? Then check out this grant.
The NABDI Grant is funded by the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. It provides funding to business owners of Native American or Alaskan Native descent. In 2019, the program provided more than $727,000 to 21 indigenous tribes, to support economic feasibility studies for specific economic development projects or business startups.
For 2020, NABDI planned to award 20-25 grants. There is no minimum or maximum amount of funding that can be requested, but most awards range in value from $25,000 to $75,000. They only fund projects for one year at a time, which is when they expect projects to be completed. To apply for a NABDI grant for your proposed economic development feasibility study, go to bia.gov/service/grants/tedc/apply-nabdi-grant.
Indian Affairs
For black business owners who also have Native American heritage, it doesn’t stop there. There is more available via the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Businesses owned by Native Americans can get financing from the federal government through the Indian Affairs branch. An individual can fill out an application for up to $500,000, but business entities and tribal enterprises may apply for more.
Potential borrowers can apply with any lending institution, they just have to use the application for Indian Affairs. There are additional requirements if you use the funds for construction, renovation, or refinancing. In general, you must supply a list of collateral, a credit report, and an analysis of business operations. See bia.gov/as-ia/ieed/loan-guaranty-insurance-and-interest-subsidy-program.
The South Asian Arts Resiliency Fund
If your business is in the arts, and you’re also of South Asian descent, then check out this fund. The fund is run by the India Center Foundation. It supports US-based South Asian arts workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fund will disburse grants up to $2,000, depending on financial need to US-based arts workers of South Asian descent. This includes those in the performing arts, film, visual arts, and literature with heritage from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Initial funding for the program is $20,000, but the India Center Foundation is soliciting donations to expand the grant program.
Eligibility for The South Asian Arts Resiliency Fund
To be eligible, applicants must be of South Asian descent. Also, they must work in the arts and demonstrate loss of income due to COVID-19. Also, applicants must be:
- at least 21 years old
- not enrolled in a degree program, and
- able to receive taxable income in the US
You can put grant funding toward any artistic project you can develop, create, and present within four to six weeks of getting funding. See theindiacenter.us/artsfund.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
Grants.gov
Grants.gov is a running list of more than 1,000 available federal government grants. The website compiles grants from over two dozen government agencies. These include the SBA, USDA, and the US Department of Commerce. To find a grant right for your business, use the Search Grants tool on the website. You can sort through the list of grants by keyword or opportunity number.
Once you have located the grant you wish to apply for, click the opportunity number for more detail. There, you will find more information about the specific grant as well as any associated documentation you may need. To apply for a grant through Grants.gov, you must first register. Then, you can download an application package for the grant you want to get. Be ready for a lengthy process. See grants.gov.
An Alternative to Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses: Angel Investors
Angel investors are informal investors. Essentially, you are selling a part of your business to them. They tend to not want a huge percentage of your business. Also, they won’t pass by more conventional businesses, like with crowdfunding and venture capital. Hence they can be another supplement or replacement for grants.
An Alternative to Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses: Crowdfunding
If you would rather not rely on grants so much to fund your business, crowdfunding is a viable option. Keep in mind, not everyone with a campaign on a crowdfunding site is successful. More unique products and services tend to do better. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are two of the most popular crowdfunding platforms to use. Some platforms may have higher success rates than others.
An Alternative to Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses: Loans
If grants aren’t an option, loans might work for you.
Business Center for New Americans
If you’re an immigrant, then try the Business Center for New Americans. They offer a pilot program for microloans up to $75,000. They work with immigrants, refugees, women, and other minority entrepreneurs. The goal is to help minority business owners who have not been able to get traditional financing. Terms are 3% interest. Loan repayment term goes up to a year. See accompanycapital.org.
Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses: Takeaways
There are several options for grants for black owned businesses. Black entrepreneurs should apply for whichever grants they feel they are most likely to get. Other options for funding include crowdfunding, angel investors, and loans. Credit Suite can help you get the funding you need.
The post Get Grants for Small Black Owned Businesses appeared first on Credit Suite.
New comment by josephcohen in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (June 2021)"
Universe | Full time | Remote | Engineering | workatuniverse.com
With Universe (http://apple.co/Universe), anyone on earth can build a custom website or online store in seconds — without code, all from a phone. We’re looking for a few engineers to join our team:
1. Senior DevOps Engineer to take our infrastructure to the next level and unlock our development team’s potential: https://workatuniverse.com/senior-devops-engineer
2. Senior CSS Engineer, a problem solver who loves CSS way more than is reasonable: https://workatuniverse.com/senior-css-engineer
3. UI-focused React Web Engineer who loves building tools to help others: https://workatuniverse.com/react-web-engineer
We are a remote-first 25+ person company with people all over the US. We joined Y Combinator in 2018 and have raised $17.2MM in funding from Google Ventures, General Catalyst, Javelin Venture Partners, Box Group, and more top investors.
We value individual agency and ownership — which guides our product design and our company’s culture. We believe that an individual’s capacity for growth is far larger than most understand, and we’ve designed an environment to support rapid, continuous learning. Ideas here come from everyone, initiative is respected, and quality matters. We are here to build something special and enduring.
Mention HN in the text box at the bottom when you apply!