By: Co-Editor, RB:
Many brick and mortar business have found extra streams of revenue by selling online and one would expect many more to follow. In addition many folks who would be relegated to flea markets or other non-traditional venues to sell their wares are finding success selling on line. The question facing these folks, especially if they are new to e-commerce, is what software to use and what software best suits their needs.
With over 100,000,000 results in Google, when you do a simple search for “shopping carts,” it’s likely you don’t know where to start.
ZippyCart.com, a Seattle based startup launched in June of last year, is a site that has a clear mission: allowing people to easily find and compare the many different e-commerce software solutions that are available.
The site provides detailed reviews and interviews on the many available solutions, and by having a significant number of the Internet’s top ecommerce software solutions in the same spot visitors can make quick comparisons until they arrive at their own conclusions.
ZippyCart.com bills itself as the most unique and comprehensive ecommerce comparison site online.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:
Today, I will discuss a site that can be an extreme help to our readers and small businesses and startups everywhere. The site is called docstoc.com.
Docstoc.com is the premier online community and marketplace to find and share professional documents. Docstoc provides the platform to upload and share documents, and serves as a vast repository of free and for purchase legal, business, financial, technical, and educational documents that can be easily searched, previewed and downloaded.
Docstoc, Inc was founded by Jason Nazar and Alon Shwartz. Its product was subsequently launched to the public in November 2007. It is backed by the venture capital firm Rustic Canyon. They founders also received funding from the co-founders/investors in MySpace, LowerMyBills.com, Mp3.com, PriceGrabber and Baidu. The company is located in Santa Monica, California.
Docstoc also provides technology through various APIs and Widgets to help facilitate the sharing and promotion of documents across the web. The site has popularized the use of embedding documents throughout the blogosphere and mainstream media.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:
Companies seeking to provide web-based solutions for small business are easy to find on the web. Indeed, GreatStartups.com has covered several startups operating in this space. Fore example, Beezang.com (helps roommates and colleagues manage joint expenses), Outright.com (Free Online Bookkeeping), Projjix.com (helps business engage with consultants) and Invoicera.com (eBilling).
Out of Australia now comes BillsTrust.com. Launched two weeks ago, BillsTrust is a flexible and novel way to pay all your bills and invoices online, both handwritten and printed. The idea is to help users avoid late payment fees by taking care of each and every bill in due time. Once the user has signed up he will have access to a dashboard in which he will see all his upcoming bills queued up as well as historical payment information and digital copies of bills in an archive. That is, the individual will have a true overview of what has to be dealt with, instead of having to browse through bills individually.
When bills are paid by the due date, SMS or email alerts are sent to the client keeping them in the loop at all times.
The system requires no data entry, at least not in the conventional sense as users simply fax/scan and email their bills to the company to have them added to their control panels. Clients are also provided with personalized 2D bar-coded (QR code) stickers, and these are stuck onto the front of their bills as they receive them. The moment a bill is paid the individual will receive both an SMS and an email notification letting him know that the bill has been paid, and also how much money the transaction has entailed.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:
When I was in college dealing with bills was a major headache. We had one roommate who never had any money and was always late with getting it in. Also, no one in our house wanted the chore of collecting every month and keeping track of all of the house’s expenses.
To help with that chore comes Beezang.com, a new site out of India, launched in August 2009 and currently in alpha.
Beezang.com is a free, simple to use web application that helps people manage and keep track of bills they split with friends, roommates and office colleagues. You can use Beezang.com to stay on the top of your apartment shared expenses with your roommate, you can also track bills associated with weekend get away trips.
The site does one thing and does it good. The folks at Beezang.com have worked hard on the usability so that its users do not have to spend hours figuring out how to use the app. They are working towards constantly improving the application.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:
Outright.com recently announced that Xpenser.com, the online service that tracks expenses via mobile devices—e-mail, SMS, Twitter, IM, or voice, will integrate with Outright.com. The new feature went live October 8, 2009.
This announcement follows Outright’s newest integrations with PayPal, Expensify and eBay, which were announced the previous week and is the latest development in Outright’s desire to serve small businesses. Their goal is to make financial management simpler and faster so sole proprietors can spend more time growing their business and less time on their back office.
Xspenser.com lets you record expenses via whatever means are available to you for free. They can be sent in via Email, SMS, Twitter, IM or voice. For example, from your blackberry you could email “Lunch 80.00 with ABC client”. Then you use the Web interface to edit and finalize expenses or export them to your financial management software.
This integration is one of the many ways that Outright’s open API can sync up with other third parties to streamline the financial record keeping process for business owners.
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By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:
Accounting software is readily available in retail stores and on the Internet. However, there is a new company that is using the latest web-based technology to provide accounting solutions for small business that is user friendly and time saving.
MerchantsMirror.com is owned by the Greensboro, North Carolina based Firelace, Inc. Merchant’s Mirror described itself as the next evolution in accounting for small businesses. The company states that their software “breaks the mold of traditional accounting systems and challenges what we usually think of when we refer to bookkeeping software.”
By using the latest in web-enabled technology, Merchant’s Mirror provides a complete accounting suite. Most accounting packages do not take into account that small business owners do not have data entry people nor do they have employees creating reports that, for example, could help spotlight inefficiencies in their operation. Merchant Mirror takes financial data and drives it forward in a fashion that provides more interesting ways of digesting the accounting information in short order thus allowing more time for actual company operations. A multi-user feature allows you and your tax professional to access your company data simultaneously and in real time.
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By: The Editor
This interesting company that is geared strictly for entrepreneurs and small business owners, which is something that I love. bizonbytes.com is located in Canada and just launched in May of 2009.
Entrepreneurs that are looking for new business opportunities by finding new clients and suppliers will be happy to use bizonbytes.com. The website allows you to manage your day-to-day accounting activities, create and send invoices to your customers and create your own online store to sell and promote your products and services, completely free.
Unlike other accounting solutions, bizonbytes offers a community of people who are looking for new clients & suppliers, and have a vested interest in expanding the community to meet their financial goals.
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