Small Business News

A quality small business bank can help you keep your finances in order and give you access to useful financial products like loans and credit options. But there are a ton of different banks out there, from nationwide chains to community credit unions to online-only banks.

So how can you determine which options are best for your business? Small Business Trends spoke with a couple of small business banking experts to get some essential tips.

Priyanka Prakash, business finance expert for Fundera said in an email to Small Business Trends, “The best way to know what you need from your bank is to look at the last 6-12 months of your financial history (if you have an established business). If you have a brand new business, look at 6-12 months of financial projections. This review will help you answer many different questions, such as how much surplus cash you expect to have on hand each month, how much you spend on a monthly basis, your volume of credit card transactions (if applicable), and whether you need additional capital in the form of a loan or line of credit. This information will help you narrow down what you need from a bank and help you as

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Recently, many lawsuits have targeted SMBs on behalf of consumers with disabilities who are unable to fully access their websites.

In fact, small businesses have found themselves sued at an unprecedented rate in the last several years. And this often happened over websites that were inaccessible. In the U.S., the number of federal website accessibility lawsuits reached 2.2K in 2018. That works out to a 177% increase over 2017.

You own a small to medium sized business (SMB). And remember some of your potential customers are people with disabilities.

Lawsuits sometimes turn out to be questionable or even unscrupulous in nature. And here the onus falls on lawyers who specialize in this type of lawsuit and not on people with disabilities. So it pays for SMBs to be aware of the compliance issues they may encounter.

That way businesses can proactively arm themselves with convenient and cost-effective ways to address problems with accessibility before lawsuits happen.

Keeping websites compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (

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Can a small, brick-and-mortar store ever hope to compete with online retailers—specifically, with Amazon? Apparently yes: Nearly 86% of retail sales still happen in physical stores, Internet Retailer reports.

How can your store be one of those winners? Know what drives customers to brick-and-mortar locations as opposed to online. Here are five “draws” for physical stores and how you can act on them.

Today’s shoppers want to do everything their way — including choosing their payment options.

A survey by SplitIt reports offering payment flexibility is an effective way to attract customers: 22% of consumers in the survey would choose where to shop this back-to-school season based on who offers flexible payment options. (While the survey focused on back to school spending, it’s likely these preferences carry over to other times of the year.) Another 35% of consumers would spend more money if given the option to use flexible payment solutions.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Generation Z shoppers are especially interested in a flexible payment options, the SplitIt survey fou

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Even though technology has significantly reduced the necessity of travel, entrepreneurs still need to go places for a variety of reasons. Without smart management of modern business expenses, or figuring out the best methods of traveling and accommodation, such trips can end up costing your company a lot of money. That’s why we asked entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

“What is your preferred method of keeping expenses down when you travel? How can others use this approach or method?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

“I set a budget for food, entertainment, and transportation and use an app to track what gets spent on the road. When I see the adjusted figures after each purchase I know what I have left to spend. I stick to this like I would my overall business budget.” ~ John Rampton, Calendar

“Credit cards with travel points were created for a reason. Take advantage of them. We travel enough in our office where we can boo

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