Some businesses today are using credit cards to help finance new purchases, pay vendors, and add employees, but what happens if those credit cards don’t get paid off, or your business needs a larger line of credit? You might think credit cards and charge cards are one and the same. Both cards are borrowing money from an issuing company based on your income and information on your credit report. Both credit cards and charge cards is a means of buying goods and services on credit. But this is where the similarities between them end.

How much cash would you save/make if you didn’t have to pay business expenses for a month? Imagine this scenario. Your company spends $50k/month on marketing.  Instead of paying by check or credit card, you pay with a charge card.  Depending when in the billing cycle your card is charged, you could then have more than a month to pay off the amount on the card.  By pushing off your payments, you kept $50k in cash in your checking account.

Businesses are using charge cards to extend their cash flow without incurring longer term debt. Sometimes a cash flow cycle is longer and the short term funding from a charge card offers purchasing power as your business evolves.

With a credit card, you have a spending limit. Business owners “borrow” this money from the issuing credit card company and have the option to either pay back the amount borrowed in full or by installments with added interest each month.

Charge cards on the other hand, do not have the option of making payments over an extended amount of time as credit cards do. A charge card is a means of making a purchase in a very short-term –it doesn’t offer you a revolving line of credit, you must pay the balance in full during a single billing cycle, but there is not a pre-set spending limit.

So Which One is Better?

Both have their advantages and disadvantages, it all depends on what the consumers are looking for and which card is a better fit for their business. Borrowers who make timely payments without being late can eventually raise their credit scores, saving money on insurance and acquire loans from financial institutions when needed down the future.

Credit cards give the flexibility for business owners to pay back in increments, giving them time to come up with the money they borrowed to pay back their credit card balance. But this flexibility could be a double edge sword as well. With no specific time limit, the borrowed balance could accumulate a with hefty interest that could make it harder for consumers to pay back later on.

You can’t carry a balance with a charge card the way you can with a credit card. Partially paying off what you may owe on a charge card could result in a costly late fee, as much a 5% of your balance, and possibly restrict your usage of the card or canceled all together. But since there is no “loan,” there is no interest accumulated in a charge card, unlike a credit card. And unlike a credit card, charge cards often comes with additional services and benefits, such as: free roadside assistance, free food at airports, free hotel upgrades and many more. The Gold Card from American Express gives travel reward points for every dollar spent (in addition to other discounts on purchases), so in the example above, you also probably earned enough points for a free round trip flight and hotel for your next business trip.

Every business plan should entail a comprehensive overview of your business’ marketplace competition. Any business that provides a similar service or product in the same region may be viewed as a primary or secondary competitor. Identified competitors underscore the impetus of expanding your company’s product or service into the selected market. As such, your business needs to highlight and build upon the weaknesses of its competitors to increase its profitability and market share. The following provides a step-by-step process in creating your competitive analysis.

Identifying competitors: To locate competitors, simply use a Google or Yahoo! map. Enter in your business’ proposed or existing address and search nearby businesses of a similar category. For example, if you’re opening a pizzeria, you can search “pizza shops” or “pizzerias” in the same zip code or city. Through this easy task, you’ve identified potential competitors. If your business operates in a niche industry, the best way to identify competitors is to leverage established contacts and web research.

Understanding your competition: Now that you have identified your top competitors (aim to analyze two to three direct competitors), it is necessary to learn everything about these companies. What do I mean? Visit their website; call the business directly to learn more about the way they operate or what they sell; physically go to the competitor’s place of business; and research customer reviews. The latter step can be implemented by simply typing in “customer reviews of XXX” in your online search bar. Also, these reviews usually are posted on websites such as Yelp.com and CitySearch.com.

Pointing out their weaknesses and strengths (eloquently): Lesson to be learned – no bashing on competitors; it is unprofessional and makes your business look worse. When I say bashing, I mean using expressions such as “they are bad” or “they have no customer assistance.” Every company has some element of customer service, so a statement like that is literally untrue. Now, the competitor may lack quality customer service, and such an observation would be a much more acceptable approach in pointing out a weakness in a business. When I am writing a competitive analysis, I always include one to two strengths and two to three weaknesses of each competitor.

Your competitive advantages: Ah, finally, we’ve reached the point of emphasizing your strengths. Truly use this section to emphasize why you’re a better business in a bulleted format (preferred) and include a few statements in a paragraph form on how you intend to supersede your competition. Examples include greater industry knowledge, lower prices, friendlier and attentive staff, larger inventory of products, and so forth. Your best bet is to underscore your own unique competitive edge that cannot be argued with, and voila, you’ve completed your competitive analysis.

In a recent speech that addressed national concerns with the recent AIG bonuses scandal, President Obama urged Americans not to blame people’s fundamental desire for profits for the collapse of the U.S. economy, as it is this entrepreneurial (and oftentimes essentially opportunistic) drive that will motivate people to create new industries and business models that will lift the nation out of its current recession.

Contrary to many people’s belief, a recession is just as good a time as any to launch a successful new business. All that is required is that businesses find a way to cater to the needs of consumers. Recent history is filled with examples of companies that were founded during economic recessions and have gone on to become some of the biggest brand names today. Here are a few examples of companies that got their start during some of the harshest economic climates.

Hyatt Corp.

One of the largest international hotel chains in the world today, Hyatt opened its first hotel right next to the Los Angeles International Airport during the Eisenhower recession, which lasted from 1957 to 1958. There are now more than 365 Hyatt hotels in 25 different countries, offering top quality services.

General Electric

One of the oldest and most established corporate giants in America, GE was founded during the financial panic of 1873, which went on to become a full-on recession lasting six years. GE began with the invention of the first incandescent light bulb by American inventor Thomas Edison. GE ranks as the worlds tenth largest company today.

IHOP Corp.

The famous IHOP national restaurant chain first opened its doors to the public in Toluca Lake, California in July of 1958, during the Eisenhower recession. The company began franchising three years later, and today it boasts over 1,300 locations nationwide.

Hewlett-Packard

HP is one the biggest computer software and hardware manufacturers in the world. In 2007 it became the first tech company to exceed $100 billion in revenue, earning $104 billion. But HP, founded by William Hewlett and David Packard, started off as an electronics company run from a garage in Palo Alto, California at the end of the Great Depression. Its two founders formalized their partnership in 1939. Their original investment: $538.

Fortune Magazine

Fortune Magazine was founded by Time-cofounder Henry Booth Luce in February of 1930, only four months after Wall Street crashed and marked the beginning of the Great Depression.

Burger King

The famous fast food chain first opened in Miami, Florida in 1954. During the Eisenhower recession of 1957, its founders, James McLamore and David Edgerton, introduced Burger King’s signature Whopper burger. Today, the company has 11,000 locations in 65 countries.

Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft began in 1975. Its founder, Bill Gates, was a Harvard University dropout. His little company was located in Albuquerque, N.M. and it worked with rudimentary computing languages. Microsoft began its climb during the recessions of the early 80s with the introduction of its MS-DOS. Today, Microsoft is an international company that offers a huge range of computer products and services and boasts an estimated $60 billion in annual revenue.

Revlon Cosmetics

Started in 1932, with the Great Depression in full swing, Revlon went on to become one of the most recognized names in cosmetics today. Its founders, Charles and Joseph Revson and chemist Charles Lachman, pooled their resources to develop a new kind of opaque nail enamel. In the course of the next six years, Revlon became a multimillion dollar company.

Trader Joe’s

Another Eisenhower recession era company, Trader Joe’s began in 1958 as a chain of local convenience stores called Pronto Markets. In 1967, the company changed its name to Trader Joe’s. Today, it operates over 280 stores nationwide, and offers exclusive products under its own name brand.

Cable News Network (CNN)

Ted Turner founded CNN during the 1980s recession. It offered the first 24-hour news channel. Today, around 1.5 million people around the world tune in to watch CNN.

Sports Illustrated

The famous sports magazine was founded in 1954, at the tail end of the economic recession. It turned out to be an ideal time for Sports Illustrated’s launching, as it preceded a sudden boom in professional sports. The company now sells about 3 million copies of its magazine each week.

Calif Bar

The Calif Bar, a famous energy bar in the U.S., was created in the middle of the early 90s recession. Its founder, Gary Erickson got the idea for the product when he decided, during a 175 mile bike ride, that he could no longer stand the poor-tasting energy bar he was carrying with him. The Calif Bar is a tasty and environmentally friendly energy bar.

The Jim Henson Company

Famous for its puppet characters, the Jim Henson Company was founded by puppeteer Jim Henson in 1958. Today, the company is managed by Henson’s children and it continues to create popular kid-friendly television shows and films.

MTV Networks

MTV first aired during the economic recession in 1981. It showed only music videos that were hosted by various “video jockeys”. MTV went on to become one of the biggest pop culture influences throughout the world.

FedEx Corporation

FedEx was founded by Frederick W. Smith in April 1973 as Federal Express. Today, FedEx manages over 7.5 million shipments a day from all over the world.

LexisNexis

A computerized legal research service, LexisNexis lunched during the 1973 oil crisis, which led the U.S. into a severe recession. Since then LexisNexis has grown to be used in 100 countries by members of law, government, business and educational institutions.

It seems that every day we hear bad news about the newspaper industry. Simply put, readers are moving online – and fast.

Of course, one source of news is the blogosphere. It’s amazing that this is a relatively new thing (the first blogs started to pop up in the late 1990s).

With all this interest, the business valuation of blogs should be strong, right?

Well, to shed some light on this, 24/7 Wall Street has a great analysis on the topic. Interestingly enough, it appears that there has been a fall-off in valuations. The main reason: the sluggish ad market, which has become pervasive.

To calculate the business valuations, 24/7 has analyzed blogs by looking at their overall traffic and what kinds of advertising rates they would typically attract. Other factors include: employee headcounts, types of technology platforms, brand strength and growth rates.

So, which ones are the highest? They include:

Gawker Properties - $170 million
Huffington Post - $90 million
The Drudge Report - $48 million

Although women have owned successful companies for decades, over the past decade or so, women are launching new businesses by record numbers. According to diversitybusiness.com, “women-owned businesses contribute over $1.4 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy.” Success like that deserves some attention.

In January 2009, diversitybusiness.com announced they will hold their annual national business conference, at which the top women-owned companies will be recognized and awarded. They also announced their Div500, which is the annual listing of the nation’s top 500 women-owned businesses. The women-owned businesses that make their list range in revenue size from $20 million to over $1 billion. To join diversitybusiness.com and the rest of the nation in recognizing successful women-owned companies, below is a list of the top women-owned companies of recent years. These women-owned companies are continually thriving, bringing in millions to even billions of dollars annually.

• Omega World Travel – This woman-owned company tops the Div500 list as the most influential and successful business of 2008. The company is based in Fairfax, Virginia and sees a whopping $1.2 billion in annual revenues according to The Washington Post. Omega World Travel offers a broad range of travel services. The extremely successful company was launched in 1972 by Gloria Bohan, who is now President and CEO of Omega World Travel. Bohan’s drive and success has led to an accomplished career and an induction into the Enterprising Women’s Hall of Fame.
• Zorch – Named the number one woman-led company in 2008 by Inc. Magazine, Zorch was launched by the driven Nicole Loftus in 2002. Zorch is an online portal from which corporations can purchase a variety of promotional merchandise. By creating this company, Loftus has saved and will continue to save her clients millions of dollars each month by cutting out middle man distributors and putting corporations directly in touch with a network of manufacturers that meet Zorch’s high-quality standards.
• Willett Travel – This Los Angeles, California-based business was established way back in 1943. It is Los Angeles’ oldest independently owned travel agency and serves all travel needs, from corporate travel to leisure travel.
• Exact Staff, Inc. – This is another California-based woman-owned company. Exact Staff, Inc. was founded in 1996 by Karenjo Goodwin. The accomplished company has been recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the Top 100 Women-owned Businesses in California. Exact Staff is a staffing agency, finding temporary and full-time employees to match the needs of various employers. Goodwin, now President of the company, has nearly 20 years of experience and leadership in the employment industry and has been a featured speaker at various events and conventions. Additionally, Goodwin has authored several industry-related articles.
• Maria’s Italian Kitchen – This thriving restaurant first opened in 1975 in New Jersey. Owned and run by Maria Alfano, this family-style eatery has had huge success, so much that Maria’s daughter, Madelyn Alfano, opened another Maria’s Italian Kitchen in California in 1985. Since then, Madelyn has expanded the company to nine more locations.
• Associated Speech and Language Specialists – One interesting aspect of this successful women-owned business is that all employees are also women. The all-female company is owned and was founded in 1994 by three moms. The company evaluates and treats various speech, language comprehension, communication, and swallowing disorders.
• Clockwork Active Media Systems – This successful woman-owned company designs interactive web-based applications for business clients. Co-owner Nancy Lyons helped re-build this company in 2002. Among her accolades, Business Journals 40 under 40 and Business journal’s Top Women to Watch.

It’s obvious…we are in a recession. Recessions lead to bankruptcies, businesses closing their doors, layoffs, job-cuts, and more unfortunate events. Many companies, both small and large, are cutting hundreds and even thousands of jobs and the unemployment rate in the United States is at one of the highest it’s ever been at before.

Many well-known companies are reducing expenses to get through this time. Whether it be outsourcing financial services, switching to VoIP, or implementing online marketing tactics that produce a higher ROI, companies are tightening budgets and unfortunately, cutting jobs. Some of these job cuts might lead to more profit as those companies find ways to make systems better while some of them won’t. Either way, here’s a list of companies that have and will continue to cut costs. If you are looking for a job, I wouldn’t recommend you start here.

• Sears Holdings – In January, Sears Holdings dismissed 300 corporate employees as consumer spending slumped. Consumer spending will likely continue to slump, so watch for more jobs cuts and possibly even the closing of some Sears locations.
• Broadcom – They cut about 3% of their workforce (200 workers) and tightened discretionary spending. The latter resolution is probably better than the alternative of cutting back more jobs.
• Caterpillar – They announced a quarterly profit plunge of 32%, and then fired 20,000 employees. Shortly after, they increased their layoffs from 20,000 to 22,110.
• Black & Decker – Power tool sales have declined, and most likely will not pick up again any time soon, so Black & Decker will eliminate 1,200 jobs.
• Sprint-Nextel – This wireless provider giant fired 8,000 workers resulting in more than $300 million in severance charges. But, on the bright side, they will save $1.2 billion a year in labor costs.
• Harley-Davidson – Experienced a 60% drop in profits in their fourth quarter of 2008, and then fired 1,100 (10% of workforce). Not many people will have much money to buy a Harley-Davidson in 2009, so I don’t foresee profits getting much better. Watch for more job cuts and possible store closings.
• Intel – Although many have estimated the information technology field will outlast this recession, Intel closes five manufacturing plants and fired 5,000 employees.
• Target –This popular store cut 400 open positions and 600 employees sue to low sales.
• Time Warner – Television and movie giant, Time Warner and its subsidies (including big names such as AOL and Walt Disney) laid many people off over the past few months. Time Warner Cable reduced their workforce by 10% (700 workers) because of declining ad revenue and continues to fight the ever-lasting decline.
• Texas Instruments – Fired 3,400 (12% of workforce) in January alone.
• Home Depot – After firing about 7,000 at their headquarters, closing all of their high-end home design shops (Home Depot Expo), and several of their original warehouse shops, they also took or severely cut back worthwhile employee benefits and incentives, such as tuition reimbursement, dental insurance, employee discounts, Christmas bonuses, and more.
• GM (General Motors) - cut production at several plants throughout the US and in January they fired 2,000 in Michigan and Ohio. Watch for more cut backs and possibly more plant closings, especially since the car business is taking a heavy hit during this down economy.
• Starbucks – Not that there isn’t enough of them anyway, but they are closing 900 stores worldwide and firing 6,700 people in the process.
• Boeing – An aerospace giant that has historically been a leader announced in January that it will lay off an undetermined number of workers in 2009 as part of a broad effort to reduce costs. They had previously announced the firing of about 4,500 workers in 2008, and then increased the number to 10,000 workers (6% of the workforce). They continue to lay people off and apparently don’t know when they will stop or how many people they will let go.
• Microsoft – This billion, if not trillion, dollar company had its first mass layoff in its 34-year history. They fired 5,000 people.

Other companies worth mentioning, whether for their continued economic woes, potential for cutbacks, or for another reason, include DHL Express, United Airlines, Reynolds and Reynolds, and Farmers Group.

You know those sayings that just inspire you the minute you hear them? The ones that make you think, “I can do it!” Read below for some of the best motivational business quotations and be inspired. Enjoy!

1. Business is more exciting than any game - Lord Beaverbrook
2. It takes more than capital to swing business. You’ve got to have the A. I. D. degree to get by — Advertising, Initiative, and Dynamics - Ren Mulford Jr.
3. Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were - David Rockefeller
4. If you did not look after today’s business then you might as well forget about tomorrow - Isaac Mophatlane
5. Being able to touch so many people through my businesses and make money while doing it, is a huge blessing - Magic Johnson
6. The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same - Carlos Castaneda
7. Surviving a failure gives you more self-confidence. Failures are great learning tools.. but they must be kept to a minimum - Jeffrey Immelt
8. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches - Napoleon Hill
9. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change - Charles Darwin
10. Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing - Vince Lombardi
11. In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential. It’s no different in the financial realm - Suze Orman
12. People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps - Mary Kay Ash
13. In business, I’ve discovered that my purpose is to do my best to my utmost ability every day. That’s my standard. I learned early in my life that I had high standards - Donald Trump
14. In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins:  cash and experience.  Take the experience first; the cash will come later - Harold Geneen
15. To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart - Thomas Watson, Sr.
16. The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers - John Egan
17. I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well - Alan Greenspan
18. Hire character.  Train skill - Peter Schutz
19. The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.  The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency - Bill Gates
20. Let’s be honest.  There’s not a business anywhere that is without problems.  Business is complicated and imperfect.  Every business everywhere is staffed with imperfect human beings and exists by providing a product or service to other imperfect human beings - Bob Parsons
21. The NBA is never just a business.  It’s always business.  It’s always personal.  All good businesses are personal.  The best businesses are very personal - Mark Cuban
22. You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough - Joseph E. Levine
23. Industry is the soul of business and the keystone of prosperity - Charles Dickens
24. I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages - Robert Bosch
25. For all of its faults, it gives most hardworking people a chance to improve themselves economically, even as the deck is stacked in favor of the privileged few.  Here are the choices most of us face in such a system:  Get bitter or get busy - Bill O’ Reilly, about capitalism
26. You’re most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning - Bill Gates

You see it everywhere, but probably didn’t know it had a name. Not only is it entertaining, usually humorous, witty and often times innovative, it is a great resource to maximize attention to a particular product, service or organization by offering shock value and edge. In fact, it can be one of the most effective marketing methods available. What is it? Guerrilla Marketing.

To get help with your guerrilla marketing campaign, visit Resource Nation’s online marketing business center.

Guerrilla marketing is all about getting the maximum attention of the public by using minimal resources. Usually unusual and unpredictable, guerrilla marketing techniques break traditional marketing rules, cross boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed, and even come close to breaking the law.

We must appreciate guerrilla marketing and the force it has to drive business and attract attention. If you have the right creative brains in place and understand the market you are trying to reach, guerrilla marketing can be very cost-effective, entertaining and drive eyeballs and sales to your business. Smart companies take their guerrilla marketing tactics to the streets…or bathrooms, or Rugby fields, or escalators.

A few of my favorite guerilla marketing campaigns:

1.  HBO

HBO advertised their hit show The Sopranos while playing on the crime theme of the show. This marketing campaign definitely broke traditional marketing rules and was effective in attracting a lot of attention. It is a great example of the shock value that often accompanies guerrilla marketing tactics.

2.  Cingular

With this giant, hard-to-miss, unconventional ad, Cingular effectively attracts onlookers from the ground, from the air, from offices across the way, from a distance, and more.

3.  American Airlines

American Airlines highlights its airport wifi network in this edgy ad. With many people utilizing the Internet at the airport gates, this ad effectively relates to the vast majority of airline passengers. As a bonus, the ad also unintentionally advertises Google.

4.  Spiderman

How about this irregular ad for one of the Spiderman movies. It definitely drew attention, but let’s hope patrons didn’t actually attempt to “use” the ad.

5.  Sonic

Sonic Drive-In fast food restaurants marketed with magnetic cups that adhered to patron’s cars. It would seem as though the driver forgot to remove his/her drink from the drink’s temporary resting place on the car. Meanwhile, Sonic’s logo was pasted all over highways, roads, and parking lots. The campaign was funny and effective.

6.  Virgin

This marketing method employed by Virgin Atlantic Airlines’ is a favorite of mine. They employ the perfect combination of funny, cute and originality to create buzz about their airline company.

7.  Other

Taking advantage of pre-existing everyday features is a cost-effective way to market. Here, various companies utilize escalators as the medium for their advertisements.

8.  And finally, what NOT TO DO.

In August 2002, two men went streaking at an International Rugby game with a mobile telephone company’s corporate logo painted on their backs. While the campaign was successful because it drew an immense amount of attention from consumers, it landed both the two men and the phone company in legal trouble. This boundary-crossing technique reminds us to beware of legal ramifications when partaking in guerrilla marketing.

Recent reports show magazine revenue steadily decreasing. In fact, according to the United States Publishers Information Bureau (PIB), total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue through the first three quarters of 2008 posted a 5% decline against the previous year. Additionally, there was a 9.5% drop during the first three quarters of 2008 in advertising pages, compared to the same period in 2007. Specifically, for the third quarter of 2008, total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue decrease 8.8% compared to 2007’s third quarter. In addition, there was a 12.9% drop in advertising pages compared to the third quarter of 2007.

The magazine industry argues that magazine advertising has been negatively impacted by the ongoing economic woes, similarly to several other industries. Ellen Oppenheim, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Magazine Publishers of America stated “We’re seeing the unfortunate result of the ongoing softness in the economy. . .Consumers have cut spending and advertisers have followed suit.  It’s affected every ad category and every ad-supported sector of the media industry.”

A closer examination of magazine revenues evidences that while overall magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue, publishing, and advertising page count declined, some advertising categories posted gains. For example, retail, food and food products, and public transportation, hotels, and resorts are three advertising categories that showed increased revenue. Overall, though, magazine revenue is unfortunately steadily declining.

So, how can the magazine industry and other industries remain alive and increase revenue?

By finding other ways to produce revenue online. Banner ads, revenue share affiliate programs, and lead generation are just three examples to help drive down the total cost of acquisition per customer and increase revenue.

See Resource Nation’s online marketing business service center to connect with companies to help you with your marketing needs.

Banner Ads, also referred to as web banners, banner ads are beneficial because they can be customized with multiple images, animation, and changing colors.

Revenue Share Affiliate Programs are another way magazines and online businesses are increasing revenue. Affiliate programs allow businesses to earn a share of the profits each time the magazine refers a customer to the business. If the business provides a service that is an added-value to the magazine’s online readers, the size of the profit share can be significant. Amazon.com has been successful in its affiliate program. Our program has also been successful for partners like Entrepreneur.com and StartUpNation.

Lead Generation is also becoming more and more popular. Essentially, a lead is someone who either signs-up for a product or service or signs up to receive more information about a product or service. Magazines and companies are implementing these tactics to connect with prospective customers.  Examples of lead generation marketing include online lead generation, direct mail, telemarketing, and email marketing.

The online advertising industry is a billion-pound industry with hundreds of millions spent on online acquisition campaigns alone. From Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising on search engines like Google and Yahoo!, to banner ads, email campaigns, organic search, blogging and web PR, magazines and other businesses are making an investment to find additional revenue.

iPhones are high-quality, stylish, user-friendly mobile devices that offer a variety of efficient, easy-to-use applications. Business professionals are jumping on the iPhone bandwagon because of the phone’s assortment of valuable business applications.

If you are a business owner and need phones for your business in addition to the iPhone, visit our resource center and compare quotes from phone system providers.

Appealing business iPhone applications can include the capability to accurately monitor income and expenses, effectively organize details, tasks, and contacts, easily convert currency, and more. While there are several business iPhone apps, below is a list of the Top 11 best iPhone applications for businesses.

JustAddMoney Expense Tracker - this business application allows multiple users to track money in real-time. Users can enter receipts, checks, credit card purchases, and cash purchases at the moment of the purchase, customize income and expense categories, transfer money from one account to another, and generate financial reports. Because this is a multi-user application, users can share financial information and get updated instantly upon someone’s tracking entry. This is an ideal solution for businesses requiring constant updating of financial dealings, particularly if colleagues spend from the same account.

Mobile Password Safe – with the advances in technology, it is necessary to have a secure location to store multiple passwords. Mobile Password Safe allows only the user to gain access and passwords are decrypted into the browser, which means they can’t be hacked by third parties. This is the best iPhone application for business professionals with various accounts, codes for computer programs, and other hard to remember passwords. This application keeps passwords organized allowing users to specify labels, categories, and searches. It’s ideal for keeping business passwords separate from personal passwords and it is convenient and secure.

Goal-Tracker is designed to help the business professional reach his or her various goals. This application allows users to enter goals, hold themselves accountable, track progress, and separate and organize personal versus professional goals.

Currency Convert – this iPhone business application offers a quick and easy way to convert amounts of money between 23 currencies. Instant updating with the tap of your finger shows you up-to-date conversion rates on the go. Additionally, you can sort the currencies to keep your most used currencies on top for quick access and convenience.

ACTPrinter – this application is the most innovative and helps save the environment by not wasting paper. It allows a user to “print” any document from a Mac PC to an iPhone or iPod Touch. Essentially, it stores documents electronically so people can take documents with them on their phone and view them easily and conveniently without sorting through a stack of papers.

Timewerks – this is a time-tracking and invoicing application for all types of business professionals. From freelancers to consultants to lawyers to salespeople and contractors, users of this business iPhone application can track billable hours and create invoices. With Timewerks, you can manage and organize the time you spend on various projects and get detailed reports, easily filter through invoices, clients, work items, hours, etc.

iBeam – this application allows you to instantly send items such as contact information and photos directly to another iPhone. iBeam saves time and frustration by allowing iPhone users to instantly “Beam” information to each other as opposed to saying it, repeating it, and typing it into your phone or contact management system.

Ledger – with this, the best iPhone application for businesses seeking a money management application, you can record purchases, money transfers, loans, and receipts. Additionally, you can easily view transactions and details for all accounts, record simple or complex transactions, and edit account and transaction information.

TouchCall - iPhone users can conveniently, easily, and quickly find business information on the go. Say you need the phone number or address for a restaurant you were supposed to be at for a meeting and you’re running late, simply click the easy one-touch buttons on the interface and the information is provided to you.

Task2Gather – this application is ideal for maintaining all your business, personal, and family tasks. You can organize tasks, separate them, and share them with iPhone users and non-iPhone users. Additionally, the tasks are always accessible from your iPhone and your computer. Tasks can be divided into subtasks so you can delegate to colleagues.

Contact Hero – this business iPhone app is more than just a contact manager and online address book. You can collect, merge, organize and manage all your contacts from various contact management systems, such as Outlook, Gmail, or Yahoo!. You can manage your list of calls to make, keep a list of contacts you have made, and keep a detailed list of contact history for each contact. There are various ways to identify your contacts, for example numbers, colorful icons, or country flags. Also, you can schedule email messages to go out to any of your contacts at anytime in the future.