Compare the Best Local SEO Services

WebFX is our top recommendation for local SEO services due to its proven track record and extensive list of local marketing solutions. Request your free proposal to get started. 

Local SEO is crucial for businesses that serve customers within a specific area. When someone types “dry cleaner” or “nail salon” into a search, Google shows them the top results based on the user’s location. If your business isn’t ranking for local searches, you’ll have a tough time getting new customers. 

The best local SEO services know what it takes to rank high in location-based searches. They’ll help optimize your website and online presence to ensure you’re visible to the widest possible audience in your area. 

The Top 6 Best Local SEO Services

After extensive research, our team narrowed down six local SEO services that shine above the hundreds of options in this industry. WebFX will be the best option for most of you since they have the most versatile service offerings and deliver proven results. Get your free proposal from WebFX today.

• WebFX — Best overall
• Hibu — Best local SEO and digital marketing services
• Searchbloom — Best for technical SEO
• BrightLocal — Best for tracking and building local citations
• 1SEO — Best for Google Local Ads
• HigherVisibility — Best for franchises and multilocation businesses

Continue below to learn more about the features, benefits, and recommended use cases of each local SEO service on our list.

Match Your Scenario to the Right Local SEO Service Solution

Our research team identified some common needs among businesses seeking local SEO solutions. Then we matched those needs with local SEO services that fit the bill. If you see a scenario below that best describes what you’re looking for, you can use this section to quickly find a local SEO service that meets your needs. 

• You want a free SEO audit with no commitment
• You want a mix of SEO and paid advertising strategies
• You need to build more backlinks
• Your entire digital marketing strategy needs improvement
• You want to offer local SEO services to your agency clients

You want a free SEO audit with no commitment

Best Option: 1SEO

If you’re on the fence about using a particular service, it can’t hurt to start with a free audit. 1SEO looks beyond your local SEO performance and gives you a complete digital marketing audit when you sign up. There’s no obligation or payment, and it’s a great way to get the conversation started. Then you can see if 1SEO feels like a good fit for your needs.

Get your free audit from 1SEO today.

Another Great Choice: BrightLocal

BrightLocal offers a 14-day free trial for its services. The trial gives you access to the citation builder, which shows you all of your existing citations and new opportunities. This is a quick and easy way to get started using the platform without having to spend any money.

If you want a free audit, look for:

• Credit card requirements: It’s fishy if a service says you’re getting something for free but asks you to provide billing information. 
• Depth of audit: Are you getting a detailed report? Or is the company just giving you the basics so they can upsell you more services?
• Free tools: In addition to a consultation or report, check to see if you have access to any free SEO tools.
• Turnaround time: Instant audits may not be accurate. But you shouldn’t have to wait weeks to hear back either.

You want a mix of SEO and paid advertising strategies

Best Option: Searchbloom

In addition to offering in-depth technical audits and local SEO services, Searchbloom also specializes in PPC management. This is perfect for businesses that want to tackle search listings with a one-two punch of organic and paid ads. They’ll handle your entire campaign structure, research, discovery, ad creation, and budget allocation.

Outsource your paid search strategy to a trusted PPC management service.

Another Great Choice: 1SEO

If you want to focus your paid campaigns specifically on Google Local Ads, look no further than 1SEO. They’ll help you dominate search listings with multiple ads for your company appearing in a single search. Paired with SEO services, your brand can have three or four links in the SERPs.

If you’re mixing paid and organic strategies, make sure you consider:

• Platform expertise: To ensure your ads are being displayed on networks where your customers are actually searching.
• Reporting: So you can see if your advertising budget is actually turning into real leads.
• Holistic approaches: So you have an equal mix of SEO and paid campaigns that work jointly for local searches.

You need to build more backlinks

Best Option: HigherVisibility

HigherVisibility has exceptional link-building services. They help ensure you’re getting high-quality links from relevant websites with high domain authority. Unlike other link-building services on the market that just use link farms to drive up the number of links, HigherVisibility works hard to find quality links that are contextually relevant and help you rank higher for local searches. 

HigherVisibility helps you get high-quality backlinks.

Another Great Choice: WebFX

WebFX includes a detailed backlink report in your SEO audit. You’ll also see a comprehensive scorecard of how your business stacks up against three of your top competitors. In addition to providing you with on-page and technical SEO assistance, the backlink guidance can really help move the need for your business in local searches.

If you need more backlinks, focus on:

• Quality over quantity: Getting backlinks from hundreds or thousands of sites is useless if those sites aren’t related to your brand.
• Domain authority: Aside from relevance, your local SEO service provider should be targeting backlinks from sites with high domain authority. 

Your entire digital marketing strategy needs improvement

Best Option: Hibu

Hibu is a complete digital marketing agency that delivers multiple solutions expanding beyond local SEO. You can bundle your local SEO services with reputation management, social media marketing, search marketing, display ads, and more. They can even help you implement marketing automation solutions.

Hibu is a fully custom digital marketing agency.

Another Great Choice: WebFX

In addition to local SEO, WebFX has an extensive list of service offerings to help your business grow. They offer social media marketing, PPC management, lead generation services, and SEO copywriting. You can even rely on WebFX things like UX web design, landing page optimization, and development. 

For a complete digital marketing approach, pay attention to:

• Services you actually need: Instead of being impressed with the dozens of additional digital marketing services offered by an agency, focus in on the areas where your business actually needs the most help.
• Bundled pricing: Instead of paying for each additional service separately, you can usually save some money with a customized bundle by combining other solutions with your local SEO services.
• Proven results: Some agencies just list a bunch of digital marketing services on their site to cast a wide net. But you should only consider the ones who have a history of proven results in a particular area. 

You want to offer local SEO services to your agency clients

Best Option: BrightLocal

If you have a digital marketing agency or consulting service but you’re not a local SEO expert, you can expand your offerings with BrightLocal’s platform. You can white-label the citation builder and auditing tools and resell the services to your clients. More than 4,000+ agencies have already taken advantage of this unique offering.

Expand your agency offerings with BrightLocal’s white-label program.

Another Great Choice: HigherVisibility

HigherVisibility also has an excellent reseller program. Instead of just offering software, they’ll actually handle the service side of things as well. This includes running site audits for your clients, consulting with you over the phone, and providing you with detailed reports that you can pass along to your clients. Your customers will never know that you’ve outsourced these services outside of your agency.

If you’re looking for an agency solution, keep an eye on:

• Pricing structure: Every white label program is a bit different. You need to make sure the pricing model will be profitable for your agency.
• White label capabilities: Ensuring only your logo appears on tools and reports.
• Reputation and reliability: Since your agency’s name is on the line with your clients, you need to make sure the results you’re getting are accurate and reliable. 

Local SEO Services Company Reviews

Below you’ll find in-depth reviews for each of our top picks. Every local SEO service on our list stands above the crowd for one particular offering or use case, which we’ve highlighted in the review. Continue reading to learn more about the features, benefits, pricing, and potential drawbacks of all six local SEO services.

WebFX – Best Overall

WebFX is a digital marketing agency that specializes in local SEO. This expertise has resulted in more than 255,000+ page one rankings on Google for local businesses. Success with WebFX has translated to more than $3 billion in client revenue over the past five years.

When you’re looking for a local SEO service, this is the kind of track record that speaks for itself. 

WebFX offers local SEO solutions that are completely tailored to your specific business needs. In addition to the local SEO services provided by the WebFX team, you’ll also have access to software that will help you self-manage your local business listings. 

What Makes WebFX Great

WebFX is unique in the sense that you’re getting multiple solutions within a single service. LocalFX, the brand’s local SEO software, empowers business owners to take control of their business listings and ensure information is accurate across hundreds of directories. 

WebFX has a wide range of digital marketing solutions that go beyond local SEO.

When you combine this self-service tool with the expertise of WebFX’s in-house agents, your chances of success dramatically increase. That’s why WebFX has such a long history of delivering a high ROI for its clients. 

You’ll be assigned a dedicated local SEO expert when you sign up. Services include on-page SEO, citation management, review management, custom reporting, and so much more. 

Services start at $425 per month for a single location. WebFX also offers citation-only rates starting at $50 per location with a five-location minimum. 

Hibu – Best Local SEO and Digital Marketing Services

Hibu is a fully customized digital marketing agency that offers an array of local SEO services. If you’re looking to bundle your local SEO needs with other marketing solutions, look no further than Hibu.

The cool part about Hibu is its holistic approach to local SEO. They provide a comprehensive online presence solution that covers listing management, online reviews, and reputation management. Then you can add on local ranking services to boost your local SEO visibility.

According to Hibu’s website, this all-in-one approach helps increase unique site visits by 689%. They believe that results are exponential when you tackle the problem from multiple angles. 

What Makes Hibu Great

In terms of Hibu’s local SEO services, they provide everything you need to succeed in this space. You’ll get a detailed website audit and content review to see where you stand. Then Hibu will add keyword-rich content to help you rank for local searches.

Hibu’s local SEO services help you outrank the competition.

They’ll even optimize your brand to rank high for local voice searches.

Hibu handles social media posts, news articles, videos, high-quality backlinks, and more. All of these services are ongoing, as opposed to a one-and-done approach—ensuring you not only climb the search rankings but hold your position on top. 

They also provide services for display advertising, marketing automation, and other solutions to help your business take control of your digital marketing efforts. 

Pricing is 100% customized based on your needs. Just fill out a contact form to get started. 

Searchbloom – Best For Technical SEO

Searchbloom is an award-winning agency that’s best known for its SEO and PPC marketing expertise. They have tons of glowing reviews from satisfied clients across a wide array of trusted review platforms. 

If you want to go beyond basic keyword research and on-page optimization, Searchbloom’s local SEO technical auditing process is second to none. 

It’s the most comprehensive technical SEO audit that we’ve seen when researching local SEO services. Getting the technical aspects of your site in order will set you up for success as you implement other local SEO strategies. 

What Makes Searchbloom Great

Once your technical audit is complete, Searchbloom takes steps to optimize your site speed and add structured data to your pages that will help boost your rankings for local searches. 

Searchbloom is an industry leader in the local SEO space.

They’ll also take steps to optimize your URLs, optimize your site structure, clean up code, fix broken links, compress your images, and update your robots.txt files. 

Searchbloom has a proven schematic markup approach that helps small business rank for local searches. This schema makes it easier for Google and other search engines to find your business when they’re indexing your pages. 

You’ll also benefit from a Google My Business listing optimization, local business citations, on-page SEO, and so much more. 

Reach out to Searchbloom now to get your free search marketing plan. 

BrightLocal – Best For Tracking and Building Local Citations

BrightLocal is branded as an all-in-one local SEO service. But it really stands out above the crowd with its local citation solutions.

With BrightLocal’s citation builder, you can control how your business is listed on hundreds of different sites. This helps you clean up inaccurate citations and remove duplicate listings that can hurt your local SEO performance. 

If you’re a consultant or running an agency, you can also take advantage of BrightLocal’s platform to assist your clients. 

What Makes BrightLocal Great

It’s easy to start using BrightLocal’s citation builder by creating a free account. Then you just need to enter all of your business information, and the tool will automatically scan the web.

Create a free account to get started with BrightLocal’s citation builder.

You’ll get a report that highlights all of your existing citations that need to be fixed or improved. BightLocal will also identify any new opportunities for additional citations. 

Whether you’re a small business that needs to build citations for a single location or you’re running an agency with dozens of clients, BrightLocal’s citation builder makes it easy to manage everything from a user-friendly platform. 

The citation builder is a pay-as-you-go service and starts at just $2 per site. You can try it for free with a 14-day trial. BrightLocal has additional SEO services that start at $29 per month.

1SEO – Best For Google Local Ads

Founded in 2009, 1SEO is another complete digital marketing agency. They provide services to small businesses in a wide range of industries, including plumbing, HVAC, garage doors, gyms, landscaping, nonprofits, dental, legal, and more.

In addition to helping your business rank organically in local searches, 1SEO specializes in Google Local Ads management.

You’ll have to pay for the ad space in addition to the service, which makes this route a little more pricey for businesses that are budget-sensitive. But this strategy can help your business appear multiple times in a single search—both organically and as an ad.

What Makes 1SEO Great

The great part about using 1SEO for Google Local Ads is that you’re paying per lead, not per click. So Google is incentivized to only match your business with potential leads based on a particular search.

Get more local leads with 1SEO’s Google Local Service Ads services.

This means that you’ll directly benefit from a higher ROI. Not only will you be getting more leads, but you’ll be reducing your overall cost per lead. 

Rather than navigating these waters on your own, you can let 1SEO manage your entire Google Local services on your behalf. This takes the weight off of your shoulders and puts it into the hands of an agency that has a proven track record. 

1SEO also has a wide range of services for SEO, social media marketing, content marketing, reputation management, web design, and more. So you can lean on them for more than just local SEO.

Contact 1SEO now to get a free audit and learn more about pricing for their services. 

HigherVisibility – Best For Franchises and Multilocation Businesses

HigherVisibility has been providing local SEO services for more than a decade. They work with law firms, auto shops, gyms, hotels, HVACs, doctors, contractors, realtors, plumbers, contractors, and dozens of other local businesses.

But what makes HigherVisibility unique is its specialization in franchise SEO services. For local SEO purposes, this helps ensure that the right franchise locations are ranking for searches based on the user’s location. 

Some of the local SEO solutions include on-page optimization, link building, local listing citations, and more. HigherVisibility also provides in-depth reporting and analytics so you can understand exactly how their strategies are boosting your local rankings. 

What Makes HigherVisibility Great

HigherVisibility supports the needs of everyone within a franchise. This includes services specific to franchisors and other services specific to franchisees.

HigherVisibility specializes in franchise SEO solutions.

The franchisor SEO services include detailed information about each location in the franchise and how it’s performing in searches. They also assist with franchise development and on-page optimization to help you sell your franchise concept. So you’re not only ranking for customers but also ranking for potential business buyers and prospective franchisees.

Each franchisee gets a custom strategy developed around their specific location. It includes local content optimization, Google maps, schema markup, local citations, and other targeted outreach services that directly target that location’s audience. 

Schedule your free consultation to learn more about these unique SEO services and pricing.

Quick Sprout Local SEO Services Related Content

Here at Quick Sprout, we have extensively covered the subject of local SEO in various blogs, reviews, and guides. Use the resources below to master your local SEO strategy and improve your digital marketing efforts as a whole.

Local SEO Services Guides and How-Tos

• How to Promote Your Business Locally
• How to Improve SEO Rankings
• How to Get Backlinks
• How to Get Exposure and Links Using HARO
• How to Build an SEO Plan From Scratch
• SEO and Content Trends
• How to Use Google Keyword Planner for SEO
• Link Building Guide
• 23 SEO Mistakes to Avoid
• Keyword Research for SEO
• How to Avoid Google Penalties

Local SEO Services Related Top Lists

• Best SEO Services
• Best Digital Marketing Services
• Best SEO Courses and Guides
• Best Keyword Research Tools
• Best Rank Tracking Tools
• Best Free SEO Tools
• Best Digital Marketing Agencies

The Top Local SEO Services in Summary

WebFX offers the best local services for most businesses. This agency has an extensive list of local SEO solutions and a proven track record to stand behind.

But any of the top picks reviewed in this guide will help you rank higher for location-based searches. Just pay close attention to our recommended use cases and scenario-matching criteria. This will help you find the best local SEO service to fit your specific needs.

from Quick Sprout https://ift.tt/VQjbIi7
via IFTTT

Compare the Best Bar POS Systems

Toast is our recommendation as the best bar POS system due to its versatility and simplicity for both customers and bar staff. Get a free demo now for a customized walkthrough of Toast. 

Bars and restaurants have unique needs compared to other types of businesses. They must be able to efficiently track inventory for all beer, wine, and liquor while managing tabs and quickly processing customer payments. 

The best bar POS systems make it easy to pre-authorize cards, train staff, track sales, and keep customers happy with excellent service. To help you meet these standards, our team has researched the best POS software for bars and reviewed our top picks below.

The Top 6 Best Bar POS Systems

After reaching more than 25+ high-quality bar POS systems on the market, we narrowed down our list to just six that we can recommend with confidence. Toast will be the best option for most bars because of its simplicity and ability to accommodate the needs of both bars and restaurants. Sign up for your free customized demo today. 

• Toast — Best overall
• TouchBistro — Best for nightclubs and cocktail bars
• Talech — Best for happy hour and drink specials
• Upserve — Best for local bars with regular customers
• Lightspeed — Best for growing bars with multiple locations
• Mad Mobile — Best for breweries and wine bars

Continue below to learn more about these bar POS systems and find the best option for your business. 

Match Your Scenario to the Right Bar POS System Solution

Our research team found some common use cases amongst bar owners seeking a modern POS system. If you see a scenario that matches what you’re looking for below, you can quickly see which tools accommodate those specific needs. 

• Your bar serves both food and drinks
• You want QR codes for menus and drink lists
• You have lots of happy hour specials
• Your bar has multiple locations
• You want to quickly identify best sellers

Your bar serves both food and drinks

Best Option: Toast

Lots of great bars double as restaurants. Even if you’re not a full-service restaurant, you might have a limited menu of light bites and snacks to accompany your beverage list. 

Toast is actually a restaurant-first POS solution. They have a wide range of solutions for bars, quick-service restaurants, pizza shops, hotel bars, fine dining, and more. So integrating your food options, kitchen operations, and bar menu into a single POS system won’t be a problem.

Toast’s POS systems are built for bars and restaurants.

Another Great Choice: TouchBistro

TouchBistro also accommodates full-service restaurants and bars. They have a complete kitchen display system that integrates with your POS so food orders can be prepared quickly and accurately. The POS also supports tableside ordering to help you turn tables faster and reduce duplicate efforts by staff.

If your bar serves food and drinks, pay attention to:

• Custom menu buttons: To easily switch between food and drink options. 
• Tableside ordering: So your staff doesn’t have to take orders twice.
• Floor plan management: So you can clearly see which tables are free and where to seat new guests.
• Kitchen displays: Make it easy for your kitchen staff to quickly and accurately prepare food orders.

You want QR codes for menus and drink lists

Best Option: Mad Mobile

With QR codes from Mad Mobile, your guests can order food and drinks without having to wait for a server. The self-ordering process gives the ability to order whenever they’re ready, without feeling rushed when a server is at the table. This also improves efficiency for your staff, as they just have to focus on bringing orders to guests instead of taking them.

Mad Mobile’s QR codes are also great for breweries and wineries that are constantly rotating drink lists. You can update the menus digitally without having to reprint beer lists every day.

Get custom QR codes from Mad Mobile for menus and mobile payments.

Another Great Choice: Toast

Toast’s QR codes can be used as a way to browse the menu when guests are waiting for a seat. You can update the digital menus in real time if a keg gets tapped or if you’re running low on food items. Toast’s QR codes also support mobile payments, so guests can quickly order and pay within a single session from their smartphones. 

For QR codes, keep an eye on:

• Digital menus: So you can add, remove, or edit items as a new case of wine is delivered or a keg gets tapped. 
• Mobile payments: Allowing guests to not only order from their smartphone but also complete the payment process. 

You have lots of happy hour specials

Best Option: Talech

Talech can automatically apply your happy hour discounts starting at a specific time or day of the week, so your staff won’t have to manually keep track of specials, and your guests will always get an accurate check. Bartenders and wait staff just need to enter the orders, and the discounts will apply automatically.

Easily customize the pricing of your food and drink specials.

Another Great Choice: Lightspeed

Lightspeed is perfect for bars that transition the floor layout during happy hour. It’s easy to make those changes directly from your POS system as you transition from lunch to happy hour to dinner. As a cloud-based POS system, you can apply your happy hour specials quickly across all of your locations with a single click.

If you have lots of happy hour specials, look for:

• Automated discounts: Set up specials that trigger automatically based on a day, time, or month, so your staff doesn’t have to apply discounts manually. 
• Floor plan management: To transition your tables from happy hour and drink specials to dinner.
• Reporting and analytics: So you can identify your best-selling drinks and most profitable items to discount during happy hour.

Your bar has multiple locations

Best Option: Lightspeed

Lightspeed gives you full access to what’s happening in real time at all of your locations. You can change menus and update pricing from anywhere without actually stepping foot in the building. 

If you’re expanding your bar and need to hire new employees, Lightspeed’s training mode makes it easy to get your staff up to speed. 

Manage all of your bar locations from a single screen.

Another Great Choice: Toast

Toast offers fully custom POS systems for high-volume bars. You can even use it as a complete back-office management system for scheduling and employee payroll across every location. Toast also has a wide range of digital loyalty programs so your customers can have a great experience and get rewarded at any of your locations. 

If you have a multi-location bar or you’re planning to expand, make sure you prioritize:

• Cloud-based software: Cloud-based POS software lets you make changes and see what’s happening, even if you’re not physically present on-site.
• Ease of use: Since you can’t be in two places at once, the software must be easy for your staff to use on a daily basis. 
• Reporting and insights: To see which locations are doing the best and how you can mirror those results at other locations.

You want to quickly identify best sellers

Best Option: Upserve

Upserve provides you with detailed reports that are easy for anyone to understand. This gives you more information on what’s happening behind the scenes at your bar. The menu intelligence reports show which items are selling the most overall and what items are popular each day. 

You’ll also have detailed reports on server performance to see which bartenders are selling the most.

Detailed reports make it easy to find your best-selling drinks.

Another Great Choice: Mad Mobile

Mad Mobile lets you generate instant reports to see which beers, wines, and food items are the most popular. This helps you learn more about your customer’s preferences so you can adjust future menu items and beer lists accordingly. 

To identify best sellers, look for:

• Inventory integrations: So you can see which items are the most profitable.
• Custom buttons: To bring your most popular items to the front of your POS screens.

Bar POS System Company Reviews

The reviews below highlight the features, benefits, pricing, and potential drawbacks of each bar POS system on our list. You’ll even learn more about the recommended use cases for each POS software—making it easier to find a solution that best fits your needs. 

You should be able to quickly narrow down the best bar POS system for your business using the in-depth reviews below:

Toast – Best Overall

Toast POS is built specifically for bars and restaurants. It’s versatile enough to support the needs of casual bars, fine dining establishments, and even nightclubs. 

Whether you’re running a drinks-only bar with a handful of bartenders or you have a full-service restaurant with dozens of employees, Toast has everything you need to succeed.

Toast provides fully customizable POS solutions. This makes it a great choice for bars with unique menus and operations. But it’s still simple enough to accommodate classic bars serving beer, wine, liquor, and a limited food menu. 

One potential drawback of Toast is that you need to lock in a two-year contract. But since the POS system is so good, you likely won’t want to switch within that window, making this somewhat of a moot point. 

What Makes Toast Great

Toast can be as simple or as advanced as you want it to be. If you’re running a small bar and just need one or two terminals to streamline orders, accept payments, and manage tabs, Toast has you covered. But it’s also advanced enough to be used for customer loyalty programs, employee scheduling, and payroll.

A simple and feature-rich solution for any bar or restaurant.

They offer a wide range of hardware options to accommodate any type of bar or restaurant. Toast has an excellent mobile solution for tableside ordering, adding convenience for your staff and customers. 

You can even set up a QR code for joining a waitlist, mobile ordering, and payments. If your bar serves food, Toast’s back kitchen display system helps eliminate bottlenecks and ensures food is delivered as quickly as possible.  

Toast’s point-of-sale solutions for bars start at $69 per month. Small bars with less than ten employees might be eligible for a Toast’s starter kit—up to two terminals with basic POS functionality for free. 

TouchBistro – Best for Nightclubs and Cocktail Bars

TouchBistro is branded as an all-in-one restaurant management system. But it also has POS solutions specifically designed for bars and nightclubs. 

Using TouchBistro’s “fast bar” register mode, you can take orders and close tabs with just two taps on the screen. This is perfect for fast-moving nightclubs when patrons are elbow-to-elbow at the bar and not opening up tabs. 

That said, you can definitely use TouchBistro to keep running tabs and let your guests settle up at the end of the night. The POS system also makes it easy to split checks, and it accommodates a wide range of different payment methods for varying customer preferences. 

What Makes TouchBistro Great

With TouchBistro, you can provide your customers with a high-end experience. It’s great for VIP table reservations and bottle service, and the reservation system doubles as a CRM platform. 

Give your customers a VIP experience.

The software supports two-way communication with guests so you can remind them about upcoming table reservations. Guests can also submit requests ahead of time about any drinks they want waiting at the table upon arrival. 

Nightclub owners and managers love TouchBistro’s built-in security settings. Only select members of your staff will have administrative access to the software. You’ll also get reports about bartenders who delete an unusually high number of items from open tabs, helping to prevent theft if customers decide to pay with cash. 

Plans start at $69 per month with optional add-ons based on the features you’re looking for. For example, the TouchBistro reservations system starts at $229 per month—a must-have feature for nightclubs. 

Talech – Best for Happy Hour and Drink Specials

Talech is a simple and affordable bar POS system perfect for small business owners. The fully customizable pricing options are extremely versatile. You can use it for BOGO drink specials, daily specials, manager’s specials, family and friends discounts, and so much more. 

If your bar runs daily happy hour food and drink specials, you can configure Talech POS to automatically apply discounts on specific items at certain times or days of the week. So your bartenders won’t have to manually apply discounts when they’re closing tabs. This helps you turn tables faster and keep your customers happy with accurate checks.

Maybe you have a deal of the month for something like “buy a burger and get a free beer.” Once that offer has been entered into your system, Talech POS will automatically apply the discount when the items are rung up.

What Makes Talech Great

Another reason why we love Talech is its ability to seamlessly adjust table positions. This is perfect for bars that transition from happy hour to dining or dinner to late-night menus that require different seating configurations. 

Changing table configurations with Talech is a breeze.

You can use Talech to quickly split tabs and process secure payments from chip cards, swipe cards, and even contactless payment methods. 

If your bar runs promotions and giveaways, Talech even offers physical gift card solutions with your establishment’s logo. This is the perfect prize for your weekly trivia night. 

Schedule your free demo today to get more information on Talech POS pricing.

Upserve – Best For Local Bars With Regular Customers

Upserve is a fully customizable bar POS system and restaurant management solution. If you have an extensive drink menu and serve a high volume of tickets per day, Upserve has everything you need to keep the drinks flowing and money coming in.

You can open a new tab with a simple card swipe. No more manually entering the guest’s name.

The software automatically adjusts to give you instant access to your most popular drinks. So your bartenders won’t have to sort through pages to find things quickly. 

What Makes Upserve Great

Upserve has one of the most unique customer loyalty features within the bar POS industry. You can set up house accounts for repeat customers, giving your staff access to their order history and other notes. This feature makes it easy for any bartender to remember a customer’s “usual” drink. 

Keep your best customers coming back for more.

You can use this feature to establish a customer loyalty program as well, providing discounts and freebies to your biggest spenders and most frequent patrons. 

The customer profiles are also perfect if your regulars are constantly ordering off-menu items that don’t have a traditional button on your menu. But you can easily add a custom drink to a new tab by referencing an old ticket—streamlining the ordering process and keeping your customers happy.

Plans start at $59 per month and require the purchase of an Upserve terminal as well. Terminals start at $40 each, and they’re cheaper if you get a higher-tier subscription.

Lightspeed – Best for Growing Bars With Multiple Locations

Lightspeed offers everything you’d expect in a high-quality bar POS system. They have a wide range of hardware solutions to accommodate bars with different needs, and it’s easy to manage tabs and collect payments.

But where Lightspeed shines above the crowd is its scalability. Owners and managers have access to advanced reports and analytics that not only help identify your best-selling items but also help you increase your profit margins. This can help you simultaneously boost revenue while eliminating waste.

The information from these reports can help you expand your operation with confidence. If you own a multi-location bar and want to establish a consistent menu for each location, you can use Lightspeed to edit the menu once and push it out to all of your locations with a single click.

Want each location to have its own unique look or feel? No problem. Lightspeed also lets you set up custom floor plans, menus, and pricing for each bar.

What Makes Lightspeed Great

Lightspeed empowers bar owners and managers to scale operations. As a cloud-based tool, you can use it to keep track of what’s happening at every location in real time, giving you the ability to be in multiple places at once.

Lightspeed’s bar POS offers limitless scalability.

For such an advanced solution, Lightspeed is surprisingly easy to use. This makes it perfect for training new employees as you’re opening new bars. You won’t have to worry about a steep learning curve for your staff.

Unlike other POS systems on the market, Lightspeed’s payment system doesn’t impose monthly transaction limits. So opening a new location won’t impact your processing rates. 

Plans start at $69 per month with an annual contract. Start your 14-day free trial today.

Mad Mobile – Best for Breweries and Wine Bars

More than 7,000+ bars and restaurants rely on Mad Mobile’s POS systems. These solutions are modern, scalable, and accommodate bars with different needs.

Mad Mobile works really well for breweries and wine bars because of the ever-changing menu options in these establishments. If you’re adding and removing new beers and wines on a daily basis, Mad Mobile makes it easy to adjust your offerings in seconds. 

You can even take advantage of Mad Mobile’s QR codes so patrons can see updated beers and wines directly from their smartphones. This eliminates the need for you to manually reprint beer lists or cross out items on a chalkboard. Guests can even pay from their phones from the QR code link, and bartenders can bring drinks to their seats without any prior interactions. 

For large parties and groups that order on one tab, Mad Mobile helps you split checks with just a few clicks. The software isn’t ideal for extensive food menus and back-kitchen operations. But it’s definitely suitable for simple menus at breweries and wine bars that like to offer small bites that pair with drinks.

What Makes Mad Mobile Great

Rather than having to hold onto a customer’s card to open a tab, Mad Mobile supports pre-authorizations. So you can return credit cards back to customers with ease and close checks without having to ask for them again. This speeds up your service, improves security, and makes things more convenient for your customers.

Over 7,000+ bars and breweries rely on Mad Mobile POS.

Mad Mobile makes it super easy to add or remove menu items with just a few clicks. So if a keg gets tapped or your beer list rotates daily, you can make changes within seconds. 

You’ll also have access to instant reports and valuable performance metrics about your sales. This can help you quickly identify your best sellers and generate more revenue based on your customers’ preferences.

Sign up for a free demo to get started. An expert from Mad Mobile will walk you through the process and provide you with more pricing information based on your unique needs. 

Quick Sprout Bar POS System Related Content

Check out these additional resources that can help improve your bar’s operations and ensure you have the right tools for growth.

Bar POS System Guides and How Tos

• How to Accept Credit Card Payments in 4 Simple Steps
• How to Start a Food Truck Business in 7 Simple Steps

Bar POS System Related Top Lists

• Best Point of Sale (POS) Systems
• Best Restaurant POS Software
• Best Restaurant Payroll Software

The Top Bar POS Systems in Summary

Toast is the best bar POS system on the market today. It’s easy to use, scalable, and accommodates the needs of most bars, restaurants, breweries, and wineries. 

But any of the top picks in this guide can be used for your bar. Just make sure you’re paying close attention to our recommended use cases and scenario-matching criteria. This helps ensure that you’re picking a bar POS system that fits your specific needs.

from Quick Sprout https://ift.tt/CZPtQ9k
via IFTTT

Compare the Best Free POS Systems

Our recommendation for the best free POS system is Square because you can use it for everything from healthcare to ecommerce to brick-and-mortar businesses. Sign up for free today and get a free magstripe card reader. 

Every business needs a point-of-sale (POS) system to manage transactions. When you think of POS systems, you might think of the handheld card reading terminals and tablet registers they require. And what about the complex software that keeps track of sales, orders, inventory, and more? How could a POS system ever be free?

Despite the odds, we carefully researched the entire internet to find five free POS systems for you—including a couple with free hardware. Let’s dig in.

The Top 5 Best Free POS Systems

Whether you’re in the restaurant business, own a medical practice, or run a landscaping service, there’s a free POS system for you. With Square, you can process just about any type of sale—including those that involve HIPAA-protected information. Even better, Square sends you a free magstripe reader when you sign up for a free Square account.

• Square — Best overall
• Toast — Best for small restaurants, food trucks, and cafes
• Host Merchant Services — Best for service-based industries 
• Loyverse — Best for businesses with multiple locations
• Nextar — Best free, offline POS for Windows

In the scenarios and reviews sections, we’ll take a closer look at what’s unique and useful about these free POS systems.

Match Your Scenario to the Right Free POS System Solution

No matter what you need a POS system for, one of our top free POS solutions will fit the bill. This section will help you narrow down which free POS system works best for a variety of situations. 

• You need a portable POS system for your landscaping business
• You need a HIPAA-compliant POS system
• You want to offer takeout and delivery 
• You do business outside of the United States
• You want all of your cafés to sync to the same POS system

You need a portable POS system for your landscaping business 

Best Option: Host Merchant Services

Landscaping businesses—along with HVAC, automotive repairs, plumbing, and other service-based businesses—tend to run without a tip system. In addition, these services often take lots of time and skilled labor, costing your customers lots of money. Which means more revenue for you. 

Why am I telling you this? Because Host Merchant Services offers free payment processing for any merchant who makes $5,000 a month or more and doesn’t use a tip-adjust option. Grab one of the mobile credit card readers compatible with Host Merchant Services and you’re good to go.

Home Merchant Services is dedicated to bringing merchants free and low-cost POS solutions.

Another great choice: Square

There’s a reason you’ve probably paid everyone from your baristas to your plumber using Square. It fits just about any possible situation—including that landscaping business that needs a portable POS system for collecting payment at customers’ homes. 

All you need is your iPhone to get started—or an Android phone and Square’s free magstripe reader. 

If you run a business that’s regularly on the go, keep these features in mind when you’re looking for a free POS system: 

• Payment processing fees: what percentage of each transaction goes to the POS system? 
• Hardware: is free hardware included, or will you need to pay extra? 

You need a HIPAA-compliant POS system

Best Option: Square

It can be hard to find a low-cost or free HIPAA-compliant POS system, but Square is your friend if that’s what you need. The best thing about Square as a HIPAA-compliant service is that it integrates with essential tools for medical and healthcare practices: 

• DrChrono EHR & RCM for health records and compliant video chat for telehealth
• Xero for taxes and accounting
• Acuity Scheduling and MassageBook for scheduling
• Jotform for online forms and signatures

Use the apps you need to run your practice while managing payments and sales from Square. 

DrChrono integrates with Square, connecting your HIPAA-compliant POS with a top-notch medical management system.

Another great choice: Host Merchant Services

Host Merchant Services also offers HIPAA-compliant payment processing. Plus, HMS understands that medical payment processing is a lot different from payment processing in an industry like retail. It offers a way to process recurring payments, payment plans, online payments, and HSA/FSA debit card payments. 

If you’re looking for a HIPAA-compliant payment processing system, keep these points in mind: 

• Types of payments: do the POS system process payment plans and other types of payments common in healthcare?
• Integrations: what apps does the system integrate with? Can you manage them all from the POS system?
• Hardware: does the system come with any hardware? How much does it cost?
• Payment processing fees: what processing fees are there for the different payment types?

You want to offer takeout and delivery

Best Option: Toast

Toast is a fully-featured POS system for restaurants—and it’s also a takeout and delivery app. This combination makes it easy for restaurant owners to manage everything from in-store sales to delivery orders without using a third-party app like Grubhub or Postmates. No more third-party commissions for you!

Toast lets you take charge of food delivery without having to pay commissions to third-party food-delivery services.

Another great choice: Square

Square excels at seamlessly integrating with a range of popular apps—including those for food delivery services. If you want to use Square for your restaurant or café, you’ll download the Square – Restaurants POS app. With an impressive range of integrations—including DoorDash, Food Truck Pub, Postmates, and Chowly—all sales can be managed from within the Square for Restaurants app.  

If you need a POS system to help you run a restaurant, consider: 

• Integrations: what food delivery apps does the POS service integrate with?
• Fees: does the app provide you with the opportunity to deliver food ordered through the app yourself, or will you need to pay third-party fees?
• Organization: do all orders—including online orders—come to a centralized location, a.k.a the app’s kitchen display system (KDS) and POS?

You do business outside of the United States

Best Option: Loyverse

A powerful POS service that’s ideal for managing stores across several locations, Loyverse also takes a global view of business. Whether you or your customers are in South Africa or Switzerland, it’s easy to accept money from a variety of global payment processing apps. If you’re based in South Africa, for example, Loyverse’s Yoco integration is all you need.

You can also specify which currency any customer receipt is in, helping to avoid confusion. Plus, Loyverse’s apps can be translated into 30 different languages.

Loyverse offers credit card payment integrations for a variety of countries.

Another great choice: Nextar

If you’re mainly working with cash, Nextar lets you set your local currency to wherever it is that you do business. You can accept cash payments easily—credit cards, too, if you upgrade to the Premium plan.

When you’re looking for a global POS solution, think about: 

• Currency: how easy is it to change the currency settings? Can you accept payments in a variety of currencies and convert them to your local currency?
• Fees: are there any extra fees associated with currency conversions? Are fees higher for foreign transactions?

You want all of your cafés to sync to the same POS system

Best Option: Loyverse

Loyverse lets you use your tablet or smartphone to process sales—or you can order hardware to use with the Loyverse POS. No matter which option you choose for each of your restaurant locations, Loyverse lets you manage sales, inventory, and employees across several locations from one account. 

Loyverse helps you grow by making it simple to manage multiple locations from one account.

Another great choice: Toast

Toast also functions well as a multi-location POS service. I like that you can customize the menu for each of your restaurants. If you serve lobster at your Portland, Maine restaurant but not inland at your Cincinnati, Ohio, location, Toast can easily create a specialized menu for each place. 

Prices can be location-specific, too. If you offer lobster in Portland and Cincinnati, you can charge more for the same dishes in Cincinnati since you’re probably paying extra to get the lobster shipped there. 

If this scenario applies to you, pay attention to:

• Customization: can you create custom menus and prices for each location?
• Ease of use: is it easy to manage all locations from one place?
• Data comparison: can you evaluate how well each restaurant is doing and compare your locations to one another? 

Best Free POS Systems Reviews

Free isn’t always better, which is why our research team took the time to carefully examine dozens of POS systems with free plans before narrowing the list down to our top five. In this section, you’ll learn why these five made the cut. 

Square – Best Overall

Square pioneered on-the-go payment processing in 2010 with its square-shaped credit card reader. For the first time ever, merchants could collect payments using their smartphones, which connected to Square’s point-of-sale app.

Over a decade later, Square still offers its iconic card reader and POS system—and a whole lot more. Back in the 2010s, you could get started with Square for free—and you still can today. 

The best thing about Square is its flexibility. The company has developed multiple apps and services to suit a variety of businesses, from retail to restaurants and even medical practices—thanks to its HIPAA compliance.

However, in the user reviews we researched, something came up time and again: customer service. Or rather, a lack thereof. If there’s one thing Square could bring to its users, it’s readily available, friendly, and reliable customer support. 

What Makes Square Great

Square has come a long way from the company that existed to make it easier for small and single-person businesses to take credit card payments. Now, Square offers a variety of tools tailored to different industries. 

Retailers can manage inventory, create barcodes, take in-person and online orders, build out customer profiles, and integrate all payment types—cash, card, Apple Pay, and gift cards—in the Square POS. 

Home repair businesses can send estimates and invoices with Square Invoices or take card payments out in the field. No matter your needs, Square either has its own tool or the ideal integration for your business. 

Square is there for just about any type of business that needs it.

It’s free to create a Square Point of Sale account and start selling. You’ll even get a free card reader when you sign up. There’s no monthly fee to use Square, but each tap, dip, or swipe will cost 2.6% + $0.10.

Toast – Best for Small Restaurants, Food Trucks, and Cafes

Founded in 2012 as an app to help streamline the restaurant payment process, Toast hasn’t left its restaurant-focused roots behind. Instead of branching out to other industries, Toast has dug deep into the food service and delivery business. And the results are impressive.

Point of sale is what got Toast going, but these days, Toast offers everything you need to run any type of restaurant, cafe, or food truck:

• Mobile and in-person POS system
• Kitchen display system
• Centralized management of multiple locations
• Restaurant-grade—in other words, spillproof—Toast hardware
• Payment processing
• Online ordering and Toast Takeout
• Toast Delivery Services
• Payroll 
• Team management

It’s an all-in-one system specifically designed to help restaurants thrive, and it does its job well. 

Customers report that Toast’s customer support isn’t as responsive as it was before COVID-19 hit. But the company had to lay off 50% of its staff during the pandemic, so this isn’t surprising. 

What Makes Toast Great

Since its inception in 2012, Toast has continuously worked to make food service easier for owners, managers, staff, and diners. After the labor shortage in 2022, Toast developed a new service, Toast Mobile Order & Pay. 

With this app, in-house diners can scan a QR code with their smartphone, pull up a menu, order items, and pay for them—all within minutes. The order then shows up on your KDS, making it easy for you to prepare the food and deliver it to the table. This feature saves time for your waiters, kitchen staff, and diners.

Toast is easy to learn and user-friendly to boot. If you’re new to starting a restaurant, Toast comes with a robust learning hub, complete with video courses, checklists, calculators, and templates.

This neat interactive feature helps you visualize how Toast works.

Best of all, it’s free to get started with a Toast Starter Kit. You’ll receive a point-of-sale terminal, a payment device, a PCI-compliant router, a software subscription, and free installation and support. 

All for $0 down and $0 a month. 

So, what’s the catch? Instead of paying a processing fee of 2.49% + $0.15, you’ll pay 2.99% + $0.15. If you’d rather pay the (slightly) lower processing fee, you’ll shell out $799 upfront and $69 a month for the Toast Starter Kit. 

Host Merchant Services – Best for Service-Based Industries

If you need free or low-cost payment processing for construction, landscaping, healthcare, and even high-risk businesses—think casinos and pawn shops—Host Merchant Services is your POS system. 

HMS sells Ingenico and VeriFone credit and debit card readers that sync right to your Host Merchant Services POS system. If you regularly head into the field to provide services, use one of these card readers or the HMS Clover integration to make on-the-go payments easy.

What Makes Host Merchant Services Great

Even though it suits an incredible range of industries, Host Merchant Services is particularly dedicated to making POS easy for contractors, auto repair, and other service-based businesses. 

Attach the free HMS swiper device to your iPad, iPhone, or Android, and your payments will get processed and uploaded to your POS system. 

And if you process $5,000 or more per month and don’t use a tip adjustment feature, you won’t pay any processing fees. Instead, your Host Merchant Services no-cost account will incorporate the fees onto the credit-card-paying customers’ end and discount them from cash-paying customers. 

Host Merchant Services prides itself on low prices and excellent service.

You’ll have to request a quote to get started. Just mention that you want free payment processing, and the team will see if you qualify. 

Loyverse – Best for Businesses With Multiple Locations

Whether you’re planning to grow from one clothing store to several or you want to manage your three existing coffee shops from one POS, Loyverse can help. Rather than providing payment processing, Loyverse gives you the software you need to run a business. 

Loyverse offers order management, inventory tracking, sales analytics, and customer loyalty programs in its POS system. It integrates with SumUp, Worldpay, and Zettle in the United States and countless payment processors in other countries. 

This is especially helpful for larger businesses with locations in more than one country. 

What Makes Loyverse Great

The best thing about Loyverse is that its four core products are free. Here’s what you get: 

• Loyverse POS: multi-store management, inventory management, sales analytics, and loyalty program
• Loyverse Dashboard: real-time inventory tracking and sales analytics
• Loyverse KDS: all food orders are synced through to this kitchen display system
• Loyverse CDS: customers can see their order with this customer display system

These tools should be enough to help you manage multiple locations. But if you want to track employee sales, timecards, and rights, you’ll need to pay $25 per month for the employee management add-on. 

For advanced inventory—including purchase orders, valuation reports, and stock management—pay just $25 a month. Loyverse offers special deals for business owners with more than three locations, though. 

Loyverse excels at helping business owners manage POS across multiple locations.

Of course, if you want any hardware to process payments and scan barcodes, you’ll have to pay for those. Or you can use the Zettle integration and card reader to process payments. Keep in mind that you’ll have to pay for a $9/month add-on to use any Loyverse integrations. 

Nextar – Best Free Offline POS for Windows

Nextar is a free, no-frills POS system with an offline interface that takes you right back to the late ‘90s. That might not sound like a good plan in 2022. But if you work mostly with cash and/or don’t always have reliable or speedy internet, Nextar is ideal.

Nextar keeps careful track of every sale you make, prints your receipts, and edits transactions. It’s basically a cash register on your Windows computer. And because you download the software to use Nextar, you won’t need the internet to run it. 

This free POS system is all about going back to the basics. 

What Makes Nextar Great

While cloud-based POS systems with payment processors and integrations galore are becoming increasingly popular, sometimes you just want something simple. Enter Nextar. 

The free version of this POS system acts as a cash register and inventory manager. You’ll also receive chat- and email-based support—which customers praise as being quick, friendly, and reliable.

Free, simple, and good at what it does. That’s Nextar.

If you want to offer multiple payment methods—such as credit card payments—upgrade to the Premium plan for $19 a month. 

The one obvious downside? Nextar only works on Windows, so trying to integrate it into an iPad system won’t work. But if you’re already running a mostly cash and/or mostly offline system, you probably aren’t using Apple products to begin with, so that problem may solve itself.  

Quick Sprout Free POS Systems Related Content

Want to learn more about POS systems, payment processing, order management, inventory tracking, and all that good stuff? These subsections will get you started. 

POS Systems Company Reviews

• Square Online Store Review

POS Systems Related Top Lists

• Compare the Best Restaurant POS Software
• Compare the Best Point of Sales (POS) Systems
• Compare the Best Purchase Order Software
• Compare the Best Restaurant Payroll Software
• Compare the Best Inventory Management Software
• Compare the Best Credit Card Processing Services
• Compare the Best Credit Card Readers
• Compare the Best Merchant Services

The Top Free POS Systems in Summary

When you’re looking for a free POS system, you’ve got options. A free POS system saves you money and keeps you organized. After days spent researching free POS systems, Square came out on top. After all, it’s hard to beat a free card reader and a free POS system.

from Quick Sprout https://ift.tt/MI9V3jb
via IFTTT