In today’s tough economic environment, many start up businesses are turning to a leasing and financing company when they need new equipment to run their business. When entrepreneurs begin a new endeavor, there are many expenses associated with starting a company, such as leasing or purchasing commercial space, deposits required for utilities, telephone and internet service, furnishings, business licenses, supplies, advertising and employee salaries.These expenses, along with a plethora of unforeseen costs, require a great deal of capital outlay, sometimes not leaving much money in the company coffers to cover the cost of necessary equipment. When additional capital is needed, entrepreneurs must turn to other options to get the equipment they need.When expenses run over budget but equipment is still needed to run the business, equipment leasing or equipment financing can be of great appeal. Equipment leasing is a good way for a start up company to obtain the equipment it needs without having to pay a large amount of cash out of pocket. An added benefit to leasing is that maintenance of the equipment is often included in the monthly cost, eliminating the need to pay for a separate maintenance contract on the equipment. Leasing is also an excellent option for equipment that is needed only for a short while, as leases can be negotiated for variable amounts of time, with both short and long-term leases often available. In the event that a business does not succeed, leases offer an option for returning the equipment with no detrimental effect on the company’s credit rating.When equipment will be needed long term or permanently, equipment financing is often a more prudent option than leasing as the payments will be over a period of a few years rather than ongoing. This is also a good option for companies that have on site maintenance personnel who can repair or maintain the equipment. Financing allows a company to purchase needed equipment while coming out of pocket with only a small down payment.Financing is also an excellent option when a company experiences fast growth and has an immediate need for more equipment but does not have the necessary capital for purchasing the equipment outright. When a company finances the equipment, it becomes an asset of the company, adding to the company’s net worth. Financing equipment also has a benefit to the company in that the interest paid on the loan is often tax deductible.

In addition to being the most popular server-side programming language, PHP has been evolving consistently to simplify development of websites and web application. The latest version of PHP also comes with several new language features, enhanced speed and reduced resource consumption. Hence, you can always consider developing your ecommerce application with PHP 7 to make the website load faster. The enhanced loading speed will boost the search engine ranking of the website and keep the visitors engaged.You can even avail the resources provided by various PHP-based ecommerce platforms to build a custom web store without putting extra time and effort. Also, you can take advantage of these ecommerce platforms without increasing project overheads as most of them are open source and free. Also, you have option to choose from a number of PHP-based ecommerce platforms according to your business model and needs. However, it is also important to compare the features and tools provided by various PHP-based ecommerce platforms according to your specific needs.Brief Overview of 7 Widely Used PHP eCommerce Platforms1) MagentoYou have option to choose from various editions – enterprise, enterprise cloud and community – of Magento. The community edition of Magento is open source and free, whereas other are commercial and paid. But the community edition of the ecommerce platform lacks technical support. The themes and modules provided by Magento will help you to customize the look, feel, and functionality of the web store without writing additional code. You can further download a variety of themes and extensions from online marketplace. However, you have to incur additional expenses to avail the additional features provided by commercial editions of the ecommerce platform.2) WooCommerceThe PHP ecommerce platform is supported by WordPress. You can even use WooCommerce as a plug-in to integrate ecommerce functionalities into an existing website developed with WordPress. The themes and plug-ins provided by WooCommerce will make it easier for you to customize the web store and shopping cart according to your business model. Despite being highly customizable, WooCommerce also allows you to choose from a variety of extensions. However, some of these themes, extensions and plug-ins are paid. But you can always take advantage of the resources provided by WooCommerce to simplify custom ecommerce application development.3) OpenCartThe open source ecommerce platform was initially rewritten in Perl. But the developers subsequently rewrote OpenCart in PHP. In addition to providing an out of box shopping cart, OpenCart also provides a variety of themes and plug-ins to simplify ecommerce website development. Also, it supports multiple languages, currencies, tax rates, and payment gateway. The built-in SEO feature of the platform further enables you to increase the ecommerce website’s search engine visibility and ranking without deploying skilled digital marketers.4) ZenCartZenCart is originally designed as an ecommerce shopping cart program. But the features provided by ZenCart enable you to set up and run a custom web store within a short amount of time. You can take advantage of the themes and plug-ins provided by the shopping cart program to customize the ecommerce website according to your business needs. At the same time, ZenCart supports multiple languages, currencies, payment options, shipping options, and discount coupons. Also, it boost customer buying experience by keeping the checkout flow and process simple and fast.5) PrestaShopUnlike other PHP-based ecommerce platforms, PrestaShop supports over 60 languages. You can take advantage of the multiple language support provided by PrestaShop to promote and sell your products to customers residing in various regions and speaking different languages. At the same time, the modules and layouts templates provided by PrestaShop make it easier for you to customize the web store without putting extra time and effort. Also, you can avail an array of useful features provided by PrestaShop like customizable themes, mobile-friendly design, and professional ecommerce website templates. However, you have to incur additional expenses to avail the paid modules and layouts templates for PrestaShop.6) VirtueMartThe open source ecommerce platform is designed with features to complement Joomla CMS. VirtueMart scores over other ecommerce platforms due to its enterprise grade security features and performance. But many developers use VirtueMart for developing small to medium web stores. You can always opt for VirtueMart to avail a number of robust features like varying product edit options, creating and managing shopper groups, generate invoice, and a unified calculator. Also, VirtueMart supports multiple currencies, shipping options, payment options, and payment gateways.7) OSCommerceIn addition to being a mature ecommerce platform for PHP, OSCommerce is also supported by a large and active community. OSCommerce developers can take advantage of the free add-ons uploaded by members of the community to add functionality to the web store without writing longer lines of code. OSCommerce further provides a shopping cart which is developed with PHP and MySQL, and can be integrated seamlessly into an existing website. Also, the ecommerce platform supports multiple currencies, unlimited products and categories, payment process systems, and tax rate. Further, it simplifies the billing and invoice generation process by updating currency exchange rates automatically.On the whole, you have to choose from several ecommerce platforms written in PHP. But you must remember that these ecommerce solutions differ from each other in the category of learning curve, technical support, maturity, and compatibility. That is why; you must evaluate the pros and cons of each PHP-based ecommerce platform, and choose the one that meets your precise business needs and objectives.

Earning From AdvertisingWhen it comes to the business and income opportunities present on the internet, nothing beats the scale of advertising. For beginning online entrepreneurs or internet marketers, buying and selling advertisement is the easiest and most accessible way to earn.How can you earn from advertisingThere are several methods on how you could earn from advertising. These opportunities can be distinct from the point of view of the business or company needing the promotion itself, or perhaps, on the side of ad sellers or promoters.How companies earn from advertisingFor companies who are involved in the selling of goods and services, generating profit from advertising can come in an indirect way. This is one of the basic principles in marketing; advertising indirectly increases revenues and sales by promoting the product to more customers and a wider market or audience.How an internet marketer or online website earn from advertisingSelling advertisements on websites. The bulk of the profit and opportunity existing on the internet revolves around the sale of advertising spaces, banners, or links on websites. If you own a website covering a certain subject or niche and it receives a regular flow of traffic or visitors, you can sell advertising space. You can sell advertisement space directly to companies or perhaps, you can sign-up as a publisher or affiliate of an advertising program. And the most popular advertising program known today is Google AdSense. With AdSense, you will no longer need to personally look for companies who are interested on advertising. But the advertising income from clicks and visitor views will essentially be divided between you and the network.PPC and CPC Advertising. Other popular methods of earning from advertising are the PPC and CPC methods. The principles are slightly different but the concept is rather similar, they both involve the task or function of driving traffic towards a website. PPC or pay per click advertising involves the sale of traffic. The company which advertises pays the company few cents or dollars for every visitor the PPC provider or company brings to his website. On the other hand, the CPC or cost-per-click is more of the search engine type of service. With CPC advertising, the company’s website is promoted or advertised at the top of search engines and for every visitor directed to it, the company pays the agreed fee or charge per click.The New Breed of Advertisement IncomeIf you think you can benefit from either of the methods mentioned above, wait until you hear what the company earn from advertising has to offer. The marketing system of the company provides a mixture of the opportunities mentioned above to an individual or business. A business wanting to advertise its product or service can also earn by promoting the system. After receiving advertising credits and traffic exposure that would benefit its sales and revenues, the company can also earn affiliate income from referrals that also purchases ad credits. And this affiliate opportunity is not only limited to direct referrals but to the second line or level as well. The system also works best even for individuals who don’t necessarily need advertising but merely intend to earn from ad affiliate marketing.