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How Much to Charge for House Cleaning in 2024

February 19, 2024

How Much to Charge for House Cleaning in 2024

Professional house cleaning is a major industry. The global cleaning industry is currently valued at over $55 billion, and that’s expected to double by 2030. That means it’s a great market for new entrants, but you’ll need a house cleaning pricing guide to make sure you charge properly, which is exactly what we provide here.

Read from start to finish or click any of the links below to jump to the section you need right now.

Case study: Queen Bee Cleaning

Chris Mondragon’s wife started cleaning houses in 2015 to make some extra money. Their company, Queen Bee Cleaning, took off so quickly Chris quit his job and helped build it into a $1.5 million empire. Today, Queen Bee is also top-rated on Nextdoor, Yelp, Houzz, Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, and Porch.

We’ll share Chris’s insights to help you create a cleaning pricing guide that will allow you to make a great living in the house cleaning services industry. We’ll cover the types of services and different ways to charge—and share a pricing list.

Keep reading for a rare opportunity to learn Chris’s unique pricing strategies from his UpFlip-exclusive course. You’ll discover exactly how he prices his cleaning services, which skyrocketed the growth of his business to $4.5M in record time.

How much to charge for cleaning a house

Gloved hands holding cash in the foreground while a cleaning crew vacuums and cleans hard surfaces in a residential kitchen in the background

House cleaning prices for a home should be between $100 and $800, but each house cleaning service will have different prices depending on the size of the home, the type of cleaning, and where you live.

There are three typical ways house cleaning prices are calculated by a house cleaner:

  • Hourly: $25 to $90 per hour, per cleaner
  • Flat fee: $100 to $800 weekly or biweekly for standard cleaning of a single-family home
  • Room rate: $100 for 1 bed/1 bath + $10 to $20 for each additional bedroom and bathroom
  • Per square foot: $0.05 to $0.10 per square foot

Now that you know how much to clean a home, let’s discuss the different kinds of house cleaning services.

What kind of house cleaning services should I provide?

A housecleaning service will normally offer other services besides just cleaning homes for people who live in them. They may also provide services for Airbnbs, moving, apartments, and commercial spaces. For instance, Queen Bee also offers:

  1. Airbnb cleaning
  2. Carpet cleaning
  3. Disinfecting services
  4. Home cleaning
  5. Move-in cleaning
  6. Deep cleaning
  7. Move-out cleaning
  8. Office and commercial cleaning

Chris told us:

If I was to start today, I would probably focus on Airbnb cleaning because it has a higher profit margin.

For standard house cleaning services, Queen Bee includes:

  • Dusting all furniture, walls, fans, counters, and other hard surfaces
  • Vacuuming all floors
  • Mopping wood, marble, tile, and linoleum floors
  • Mirror and window cleaning with a glass cleaner
  • Cleaning and sanitizing all bathroom surfaces including toilets, sinks, tubs, and showers
  • Sanitizing all kitchen surfaces including inside the microwave and the front of the fridge
  • Spot-cleaning cabinets
  • Changing linens (if fresh linens are left out) and making beds
  • Emptying the trash and relining the trash can before exiting each room

These are just some of the house cleaning services Queen Bee offers. You can find Chris’s complete cleaning services checklist, including 11 add-ons, in our Cleaning Business Master Course.

Let’s look at what you might offer as the owner of your own house cleaning business, starting with Airbnb cleaning.

What should I include in Airbnb cleaning services?

In addition to your standard offerings as a house cleaning service, Chris suggests maintaining an inventory of your own supplies to replace toiletries, kitchen essentials, and linens. For the laundry portion, you’ll need to have someone do laundry or partner with a laundry service.

He also told us:

I charge extra for the toiletries and linens, but it basically takes me the same time as a normal home clean.

Check out our interview with Chris below:

What should I include in carpet cleaning services?

Carpet cleaner steam cleaning a black and white ikat-style floor mat

Carpet cleaning services focus only on rugs, carpets, and other floorings. You’ll need to assess your time differently from other services and have the special cleaning equipment to do the job best.

Chris shared his cleaning pricing guide for carpet cleaning, and it includes five main cleaning points with time and price for:

  1. Rooms
  2. Hallways
  3. Landings
  4. Each stair
  5. Rugs

It’s typical for a carpet cleaning business to have a minimum amount, such as $99 for two bedrooms.

What should I include in disinfecting services?

Disinfecting services are focused on cleaning surfaces with medical-grade cleaning products. The goal here is on keeping the space particularly clean in a way that helps to minimize germs. I would imagine this is popular for businesses or households that have had a COVID outbreak.

Christ told us:

Eliminating germs & pathogens requires more than just a wipe of a towel with bleach. We use an electrostatic sprayer to apply the disinfectant. The sprayer ‘loads’ the mist with a positive charge, making the disinfectant stick to all surfaces killing 99% of the pathogens. Our hospital-grade disinfectant is an EPA-certified product safe to use around children and pets [that’s] safe on all surfaces.

What should I include in deep cleaning services?

Deep cleaning services should include everything you do in standard house cleaning, plus baseboards and behind furniture. Chris also includes dishes in his standard deep clean service and offers a variety of additional offerings.

How much does a deep clean cost?

Deep cleaning services are normally charged at a premium compared to a standard cleaning price. For Queen Bee clients, deep house cleaning costs between $199 and $319 above the standard house cleaning prices.

So, once you know how much you’ll charge for regular services, it’s easy to decide how much to charge for deep cleaning a house.

What should I include in a move-out cleaning service?

Move-out cleaning is a service offered to renters to help them save time and money by helping them get their deposits back. These services include:

  • Thoroughly cleaning all counters, cabinets, and appliances
  • Cleaning bathrooms, including toilets, sinks, and showers
  • Cleaning floors and carpets
  • Wiping down light switches, walls, and doorknobs
  • Disposing of any expired food items
  • Deep-cleaning the oven

Chris recommends using the move-out checklist provided by the client’s landlord as the basis for bidding on the cleaning job and told us:

I charge $279 to $479 more for move-out cleaning costs than my standard cleaning rates.

Want more great tips like this? Check out all of our UpFlip courses.

What should I include in office and commercial cleaning?

Chris Mondragon standing in a commercial office space pointing to his commercial cleaning checklist

Offices and commercial cleaning jobs are different for every building. Chris recommends touring the property and establishing the following:

  • Square footage
  • Number of desks
  • Percent of floors that are carpet and tile
  • Number of windows
  • Number of toilets and sinks
  • Square footage of counters
  • Kitchens in the building
  • Parking lots
  • Special requirements

These jobs can be more complex, but businesses need more routine cleaning services, which could be a win for you. Commercial buildings also tend to be better suited for pricing per square foot because you can assign a price per square foot to each task and then just multiply quantities. It might look like the table below. (Note that sqft = square feet.)

Task Quantity Price Per Task Total
 Carpet (sqft)  6,000  .1  $600
 Tile (sqft)  10,000  .2  $2,000
 Desks  60  1  $60
 Windows  600  .1  $60
 Toilets  50  5  $250
 Sinks  10  2  $20
 Kitchens  2  10  $20
 Counters (sqft)  100  .1  $10
 Parking lots (sqft)  50,000  0.2  $1,000
 Special Requirements  N/A  0  0
 Total      $4,020

House cleaning prices vs. operating costs

Every cleaning company will have costs associated with operating. One powerful difference between a successful cleaning business and other cleaning companies is how well the business owner manages their cleaning costs. Your house cleaning prices need to cover the following expenses:

  1. Payroll expenses, taxes
  2. Marketing costs
  3. Cleaning supplies
  4. Fuel
  5. Repairs
  6. Rent
  7. Utilities
  8. Professional fees

Based on Queen Bee Cleaning Service’s annual expenses, you might expect your total overhead costs to be approximately 87% of the amount that you make if you have employees. If you are a single-person house cleaner, the total overhead will be between 30% and 50%.

In the following sections, we share a few examples. You can use similar math regardless of what type of cleaning business you run. Queen Bee is primarily house cleaning, so I refer to house cleaners in these sections.

Let’s look at each of these to give you an idea of what they are for Queen Bee and what you can expect to pay when you start to charge for housecleaning.

How labor impacts house cleaning prices

Labor typically accounts for approximately 50% of the costs of running a house cleaning company. Whether this amount is going to you or your employees will vary. If you have employees, you’ll typically need to pay them either an hourly rate or billable hours.

Just make sure you don’t try to consider them independent contractors. Chris told us:

I was misclassifying the maids and got a hefty fine.

To help establish an hourly rate, check what house cleaning companies in your area pay their housekeepers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a lot of data on the hourly rate of the house cleaning industry, too. In most places, a house cleaner will be paid an hourly rate of $15 or more.

Remember to train your staff well because employee efficiency can impact both quality and overhead.

Assuming the following:

  • Employee pay: $15 per hour
  • Employee hourly rate, revenue: 50%
  • Number of people on cleaning crew: Two

You’ll want to charge the customer no less than $60 per hour. That is far lower than the cleaning rates for many house cleaning companies. The reason is that a house cleaner has other costs that go into the standard cleaning fees.

Payroll expenses, taxes

Business owner reviewing a Tax-Rates.org resource on a laptop

On top of employee pay, your house cleaning price will also need to cover the costs of payroll expenses and taxes. The government requires employers to collect:

  • Income taxes: You’ll need to withhold these for all employees using the information in Publication 15-T.
  • Payroll taxes: The employee pays 7.65%, and the employer pays 7.65%.
  • State taxes: There are seven states without income taxes. You’ll have to collect these from employee pay unless you live in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, or Wyoming.
  • Other deductions: Insurance, 401K, etc., will be deducted if you offer them.

There are a lot of tasks associated with compliance, so you may want to outsource your human resources. Most of these services start around $39 per month plus $6 per month for each employee.

The 7.65% tax increases the $60 per hour fee to $65 per hour, which is starting to get closer to the cleaning rates of industry leader Molly Maid, which charges $75 to $96 per hour for a basic cleaning package.

Your revenue will also need to cover other costs such as cleaning supplies, which we’ll discuss next.

Cleaning supplies

Based on standard cleaning services, you’ll probably need to spend an average of $3 to $5 per hour on cleaning supplies. You’ll be buying these in bulk to save money, but Chris estimates that the supply list for many cleaning companies will be around $900 for startup costs.

That means a rate of $70 per hour, which gets us even closer to the price your house cleaning service needs to charge.

Vehicle, fuel, insurance, and repairs

Local businesses will have to drive to provide weekly cleaning to residential and commercial clients. That means you’ll need to maintain the vehicle and meet insurance requirements. At Queen Bee, these costs are approximately 17% of the revenue.

This is why your credit score is so important to businesses. Bankrate estimates that insurance costs 25% more for an average credit score than excellent credit, and those with poor credit spend twice as much as any other group.

If you add 17% to the $70 cleaning crew rate, that brings you to $81.9 per hour—without any administrative costs, marketing costs, rent, or other utilities.

Marketing and administration costs

Chris Mondragon holding a handful of cash and a gallon of cleaner in the foreground and a screenshot of UpFlip’s How to Get Clients for a Cleaning Business blog post in the background

The Small Business Administration advises spending 5% to 15% of your desired revenue on marketing your cleaning business (or any other business). Chris doesn’t think you need to spend that much, though

If you have good software, you can automate many of your tasks and reduce the final cost of operating. Chris runs his marketing for between 2.4% and 6.2% of revenue per month, with the lower percentages during the holidays.

Pro Tip: To learn some of the ways Chris uses marketing, check out our blog on getting clients, and don’t miss our original report on small business marketing budget statistics that will help you make the most of your marketing spend.

Rent

Chris’s rent and utilities are based on running a home-based business. These are marvelous because they are mostly legal accounting maneuvers. If you store supplies in your home or do office work out of it, you can claim the space you use and the energy associated with it on your taxes.

There are a lot of rules governing this, but if you choose the simplified method of claiming, you get an allowance of up to $1,500 a year. If use your the actual expenses, it can go higher (but may increase the chances of an audit). You’ll want to measure the square footage of the space used.

You don’t have to include the costs of operating from home in your house cleaning cost, but if you do, it will raise the hourly rate by about $1 per hour.

Utilities

If you have a home-based business, you’ll be using the energy associated with work as a write-off, but if you have a separate location where you store everything, you’ll need to cover those costs.

Utilities shouldn’t be too much unless your cleaning business does a lot of laundry or manufacturing in-house. To give you an idea, Chris only spends about $300 per month on utilities.

Professional fees

Local companies will often need a lawyer and an accountant to help them structure their domestic services correctly. You’ll want to budget for these. Chris assumes approximately $1,000 per month for his cleaning company, but different cleaning services will have different needs.

Ways to charge for professional house cleaning

There are a variety of ways to charge for a cleaning service. We’ll cover the most common pricing strategies cleaning businesses use, including:

  • Charging by the hour
  • Pricing per square foot
  • Pricing per room
  • Comparing house cleaning prices in your area
  • Offering weekly cleaning subscriptions with discounts
  • Proposing household chores as add-ons
  • Giving free estimates

How much to charge for house cleaning per hour

Cleaner wearing rubber gloves standing in an Airbnb property holding an alarm clock with a thought bubble that has a dollar sign in it hovering overhead

The hourly rate for house cleaning is the easiest pricing structure to use, but it can create fluctuations in costs based on how long it takes to clean the property. This works best if the client provides all the cleaning supplies and just needs someone to help. You might want to do this if a client wants specific eco-friendly or other specific cleaning supplies.

You’ll probably want to charge higher for the first hour. I typically assume that it will cost me $50 just to drive somewhere. Based on Queen Bee’s pricing guide, Chris has established that cleaning services prices should be approximately $70 for the travel costs and booking fees.

To calculate how much you want to charge, assume:

  • 2,000 hours per year
  • 65% profit margin when you are the worker or 15% when someone else is doing the work
  • Your income goals (let’s say $100K per year to start)

Divide your income goal by the hours in a year to get an hourly rate. See the example below:

$100,000 / 2,000 = $50 per hour

$50 per hour would be revenue, though. To calculate the profit, you’d need to divide the hourly by .65.

$50 / .65 = $76.92 per hour

Let’s make it a nice even number, so it’s easy to multiply and make it a straight $80 per hour. You need to add your first-hour fee, though. Let’s use the $70 Chris uses, and that will make the first hour $150, and each additional hour $80.

That means you need five hourly cleaners to make the same $100K profit you would if you were doing all the cleaning yourself. Now, if you have five employees plus yourself, you can make $200K per year after paying your employees their house cleaning rates per hour.

How to calculate cleaning cost per square foot pricing

The price per square foot is straightforward to estimate. Given that almost every address has a public record, you can look it up to see how many square feet their house is. Then to charge by the square foot, multiply the square feet by 20 cents (or divide by five).

Example: How much should I charge to clean a 2,000 sq ft house?

2,000 x $.20 = $400

2,000 / 5 = $400

Example: How much should I charge to clean a 3,000 sq ft house?

You can make it more complicated and separate it by carpet and tile, where the carpet is 20 cents and tile is 25 (examples for easy math).

(2,000*$0.20) + (1,000*$0.25) = $650

As you can see, the square foot billing can change based on the type of cleaning.

How much does it cost to clean a house per room?

MaidThis CEO

Another easy way is to price by the room or by the fixture. Chris charges a fee per room plus fees for other specific tasks. For instance, he has a table that details:

  • 1- to 10-room pricing
  • Full restroom pricing
  • Half bath pricing
  • Add-ons like full window cleaning

Each has a specific price, so he can quickly estimate based on the number of rooms, restrooms, and add-ons. You should really check out how he does it on the Queen Bee Cleaning Service booking page.

Pro Tip: Chris uses Booking Koala to automate the whole booking process. Check it out, and let us know what you think!

How much do other cleaning services charge?

Professional cleaners have plenty of sites to help evaluate the average house cleaning cost in their areas. Many of the sites are the same ones you’ll use to find customers for your house cleaning service.

For instance, Thumbtack makes it easy to establish the rates house cleaners charge in a particular area. While you’re on the site, you might want to sign up to provide cleaning services.

Offer weekly cleaning service discounts

Whether you are a residential cleaning business or offer commercial cleaning services, your cleaning company can benefit tremendously by offering regular cleaning services at a discount to loyal customers.

House cleaners benefit from offering discounts for routine cleaning in the following ways:

  1. Increased efficiency: Less travel time, more cleaning jobs completed per day, reduced house cleaning costs.
  2. Better forecasting: Order your own cleaning supplies with more accurate forecasts.
  3. Better scheduling: You can schedule house cleaners working each day more effectively.
  4. Better cash flow: The more of your cleaning jobs that occur on a recurring basis, the better your cash flow will be.
  5. Reduces churn: CB Insights says that subscription models change the customer retention dynamic from mostly churning to mostly retention.
  6. Increases lifetime value: The value of a customer increases consistently over time.
  7. Reduced marketing costs: Your cleaning company will be able to spend less on marketing when you have higher retention rates.
  8. Lower overhead-to-revenue ratio: As a cleaning company’s recurring jobs grow, the overhead stays the same until you have to invest in more equipment or administration.
  9. Happier customers: Everyone (except maybe hoarders) loves a clean home! Someone coming in each week and cleaning their home will delight customers.

When you have long-term relationships you may want to have a commercial cleaning contract. Chris doesn’t use them, but a lot of his suggestions still work for contracts.

We used the pricing from Queen Bee Cleaning Service to show how their subscription model increases the revenue over the course of a year. As you can see, offering a 10% monthly, 15% bi-weekly, and 20% weekly discount can dramatically increase the revenue of a house cleaning business.

How much do house cleaners charge for add-ons?

Customers might want you to offer other services like appliance cleaning. Anticipate this and have easy ways to calculate cleaning cost estimates. Some of the most common add-ons are:

  • Deep house cleaning
  • Appliance cleaning
  • Laundry
  • Dishes
  • Indoor and outdoor window washing
  • Carpet cleaning

You can add each of these to the house cleaning cost to help improve your revenue per cleaning job. A $200 cleaning job easily turns into a full day if someone wants all the add-ons. It will increase the cleaning rate to potentially as high as $1,000 and make it so your cleaning crew only has to clean one house that day.

That’s great for reducing expenses!

How much do house cleaners make for estimates?

Neel Parek holding cash in one hand and a cleaning business estimate form in the other

Whether you are doing a deep clean, home cleaning, or post-construction cleaning, people love free stuff, and businesses should, too!

Chris told us:

Most people don’t know the square footage of their house.

A free estimate gives you a chance to view the property, manage the risk of underestimating with a flat rate, and establish the square footage and whether it needs a deep clean. Plus, it gives you a chance to develop a relationship, ask questions, and help your customer develop a plan. This may increase overhead costs, but it builds loyalty.

Sign up for our exclusive 7-Figure Cleaning Business Blueprint

Knowing how to correctly price your cleaning services determines if your business will grow and prosper, or fail before it even gets off the ground. Chris will show you the best pricing strategies so you can start earning $10,000 a month in just three months as you launch your business! Sign up for our exclusive seven-figure cleaning course today by clicking here.

What type of pricing do you plan to adopt with your cleaning business?

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According to Backlinko, over a billion hours of YouTube videos are watched each month and successful YouTube channels make $3 to $5 per 1,000 views. If you want to diversify your revenue stream and make some extra cash, you might want to learn how to start a YouTube Channel. We have talked to some of the most successful YouTube (YT) channels to find out how to start a successful YouTube channel. We’ll share advice from: 
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We’re going to share their secrets so you can create content that will attract viewers from across the globe and build your authority as a master of your trade. Get ready to learn how to start a YouTube channel and make money.

YouTube Channel Ideas

You’ll need to decide what to talk about before creating a YouTube channel. The YouTube community has successful influencers in every category of content, but some are more profitable than others. A good place to start is by looking at what you’re good at and what you are passionate about. If you own a business, just create video content around your business. There are always opportunities to show what to do and what not to do.  If you don’t own another business, check out some of the video ideas that people watch most.

What is Popular Content on YouTube?

Popular content on YouTube People love watching YouTube content, especially the following categories. If you don’t know what kind of content to create, consider starting a new YT channel about one of these:
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Next, you’ll want to look at what successful YouTubers are doing to produce quality content.

Research What Leading Influencers Are Doing

Screenshot of InfluencerMarketingHub website You have to create quality content to get enough views to qualify as a YouTube Partner. The best way to do that is to establish what the best content creators are doing.  Serge told us: [su_quote]
  1. Find a list of your top competitors by searching subjects in your niche.
  2. Use VidIQ to analyze the topic, volume, and keyword difficulty of the competitors.
  3. Start with low difficulty and work your way to harder ones.
[/su_quote] Find 40 of the best YT Influencers in this blog by Influencer Market Hub. Pay attention to things like their banners, logos, descriptions, titles, and content length.

Create a Customer Avatar

Create a visual that helps you easily remember who you make the videos for. People watch what they enjoy, so if you upload a video that doesn’t interest your target market, it can hurt your channel and receive negative comments.

Make Your Channel Similar––but Unique

You don’t want to copy what someone else is doing, but you want to take notes on what works and find ways to do something similar. Just make sure to let your personality shine through your work.

Step 1. What Makes a Successful YouTube Channel?

  • Be consistent:  Starting a new YouTube channel can be a lot of work. At UpFlip, we have six or more people working on YT to bring you high-quality content.
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  • Make a series of videos: Series tend to do well. Use a trick from many successful TV shows and end each episode with a cliffhanger so the viewers want to know what happens in the next episode.
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[su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPrnE7MHTRc"] Serge attributes 18,500 new subscribers to this collaboration. 
  • Optimize for search: You’ll need to make sure headings, titles, tags, and thumbnails all have keywords that people will search. That means you’ll need a great tool for YouTube SEO.
Next, we’ll walk you through starting a YouTube channel.

Step 2. How to Start a YouTube Channel

Setting up YouTube to be a content creator is a six-step process. You’ll need to:
  1. Sign in to YouTube.
  2. Create your channel.
  3. Name your channel.
  4. Add a channel description.
  5. Upload a cover photo and profile picture.

How to Make a YouTube Account

Screenshot of YouTube website The first thing you’ll want to do is sign into your YouTube account if you aren’t already. All you have to do is click on the upper right corner where the “Sign In” Button is.  Next, choose which account you want to use. It expects you to have a Google account. If you have one, input the information. Otherwise, select “use another account” and create an account. Screenshot of Google website Next, input your password (current users) or specify whether the account is a personal or business account. You can find more information about signing up for YouTube on Google Support (YouTube is part of Google). It has directions for desktop, iOS apps, and Android. Next, you’ll want to create a YouTube channel.

How to Create a YouTube Channel

Screenshot-of-creating-a-channel-in-Youtube-website For those wondering how to start a YouTube channel from scratch, you can follow this process:
  1. Go to the top right corner and click on the circle for your Google profile.
  2. Click “create a channel.”
Next, it will take you to a screen that asks for your name and picture. We’ll discuss that in the next section.

Name Your YouTube Channel

Screenshot-of-YouTube-website Your new YouTube channel is going to need a name. Do you already have a business name? If so, just use that. If not, think of a name for it. For mine, I’m calling it BB’s Vegas Adventures because I’m getting a GoPro and going to start recording the mischief I get into. The picture below shows the screen. I also uploaded a picture. Mine is silly, but for most people, you’ll want a headshot or a business logo. I’ll describe that more next.

Upload a Profile Picture and Cover Photo

Remember to add a profile picture before you click “Create Channel.”  The photo should be no more than 800 x 800-pixel png, jpeg, or gif (no animations). Check out some of the easy YouTube Photo makers to find one that you like. Here are the photos Reyes The Entrepreneur, UpFlip, and Blacktail Studio use.  Profile picture and cover photo After you’ve uploaded your profile picture, click the “Create YouTube Channel” button. It will take you to a screen that looks like the picture below. Screenshot of YouTube website To edit your banner image, click “Customize Channel” and it will take you to the YouTube Studio. This is where the magic happens. You can adjust the: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]
  1. Layout
  2. Branding
  3. Basic information
[/su_note]

Layout

The layout has places to add:
  • A channel trailer for non-subscribers
  • Featured video for returning subscribers
  • Up to 12 Sections
I’ve included a screen recording from Reyes The Entrepreneur channel where he uses both the featured video and 10 sections. Check it out below: [su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/o8YsUONYLw4"]

Branding

The YT Studio Branding tab includes the ability to edit:
  • Your profile picture: The image should be square, bigger than 98 x 98 pixels, less than 4 MB, and png or actionless gif.
  • The banner image: The image needs to be a minimum 2048 (long) x 1152 (high) pixels and no more than 6 MB.
  • The watermark: This will go in videos. It should be 150 x 150 pixels and less than 1 MB. Acceptable files are: PNG, JPEG, GIF (no animations), or BMP.
You’ll want to change the banner image in this section. Check out the three brand banners below. Each takes a different approach but includes the same information: the name of the company and their social media. Notice that UpFlip adds the time we post and our mission in the banner. That helps subscribers know what to expect and when to check it. Which do you like best? YouTube channel banner You might also want to add a watermark to your YT videos. Check out two ways to watermark YT videos.

Add a Channel Description

Next, go to the “Basic Info” tab to add a description, which includes:
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  • The description box: It allows a maximum of 1,000 characters. Make sure to do keyword research before writing your description. Keep your keyword density around 1% or 2% to avoid penalties for keyword stuffing. We’ll discuss tools to help with this later in the blog.
  • Links that will be shared with your viewers: Add social media, websites, blogs, etc. You can choose to include the first five links in the banner, so organize them well.
  • Contact Info: Include an email that can be shared publicly with viewers.
The picture below shows the page for you to add a description of your channel. Screenshot of YouTube website The description will show in the section about the channel. The most detailed of the three sections is UpFlip’s. It tells what we do and includes the keywords:
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  • Business secrets
  • Interviews
  • CEOs
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Business owners
  • Your own business
  • Own a company
Then shares information on how to be featured, how to find our services, and how to reach out for sponsorship opportunities. You can see the “About” section of the channel below: Screenshot of YouTube website YouTube channels for kids and YouTube channels for gaming have some specific requirements we need to cover.

How to Start a Kids YouTube Channel

If a younger child wants to start a YouTube channel, you’ll need to assist them because the YouTube kid policies require users to be at least 13 years old, unless they are under a family account. Monetization requires someone to be over 18, and you must follow all local laws. Make sure to review the content policies if you plan to market to kids. Paid product placements are specifically excluded from the YouTube Kids app. Here’s a kid's book on starting a YouTube channel. Make it fun for your whole family: NEED A LINK

How to Start a Gaming YouTube Channel

Gamers share tips and tricks with people on YouTube frequently. YouTube policies specifically mention how to make a YouTube channel for gamers in several sections including the monetization and copyright sections. Check out the list of resources for gaming YouTube videos. Next, it’s time to create your first video.

Step 3. Create Your First YouTube Video

Milenial people making a video recording content Creating new videos will require: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]
  1. Getting your equipment
  2. Writing a script
  3. Recording the videos
  4. Editing the videos
[/su_note] Let’s start by looking at the equipment you’ll need before creating your first video.

Get Your Tools

You’ll need to have video equipment, software, and other tools before you can post your first video on your new channel. YouTube channels will typically want to have the following tools to produce quality content:
  • Camera (cell phone is okay at first)
  • Microphone(s)
  • Laptop
  • Photo and video editing software
  • YouTube & Search Engine Keyword Planner
  • Social Blade, analytics software
  • Other social media accounts

Camera and Accessories

Action camera GoPro and accessories on a yellow backgroun Cameron told us: [su_quote] I got to over 700,000 subs with my iPhone. So, it's not about the cameras and all that type of stuff. Just, you know, listening to the analytics, listening to the audience, and making good content. [/su_quote] Meanwhile, Reyes told us: [su_quote] I started with a $50 camera. I upgraded after a while and bought a $200 camera, but I’ve never bought fancy equipment.[/su_quote] You’ll need a camera and accessories for content creation. You can make videos for your own YouTube Channel on a phone or with a computer’s internal webcam, microphone, and the lighting in the space you are recording. That might cause bad audio or video, plus it could require a lot of work in post-production. To make videos that are easy to watch, there are a few ways to go about choosing the right equipment. [su_table responsive="yes" alternate="no" fixed="yes"]
Phone GoPro Desktop/Gaming DSLR Mirrorless
Best for Before Earning Revenue Point of View Videos, Sports, Music Festivals Software Reviews, Gaming Tutorials, Videos without much Movement Will Work for Most Types of Video, Discourage Use for Sports, and Events That Require Press Packages To Shoot With Removable Lenses Will Work for Most Types of Video, Discourage Use for Sports, and Events That Require Press Packages To Shoot With Removable Lenses
Camera Included on phone GoPro Hero10 Black Logitech Brio 4k Webcam Nikon D850 Video Kit Sony A7iii Package
Backup Camera N/A Onscreen Broadcast (OBS) Screen Recording Nikon D850 Lumix G5 Video Package
Lighting Selfie Ring Light GoPro Lighting ( Connects with Media Mod) Lightring Included with Kit
Microphones Media Mod LogiTech Blue Yeti Mic Included with Kit Wireless Lavalier Microphone
Lenses Phone Camera Lens Kit GoPro Max Lense Mod N/A Included with Kit Varies Based on Use Case
Extra Grip Grip for Phone Choose Based on Use Case N/A Included with Kit Ronin S Gimbal
Extra Battery Included With Camera Link N/A Included with Kit Included in the Packages

[/su_table]

Microphone(s)

I would suggest trying your built-in microphone to see if you are satisfied with it first. If you have poor audio There are a ton of different options for mics, but they typically fall into the following categories:
  • Wireless single-direction lapel microphone system: Best for presentations where you need to catch your voice while you are in motion.
  • Cardioid microphone: Great for live music, interviews, streaming, gaming, and more. There are different types, so research which one is best for your needs.
  • Shotgun microphone: Best with DSLR cameras. If you are shooting with a DSLR, consider this type of mic.
Check out this list of 40 sites that help people choose the right mic.  Let’s discuss laptops next.

Laptop

Laptop on a table YouTube creators use a lot of software that works best on a computer. While you can use a cell phone or tablet, the desktop version works better. Because of that, you might want to buy a laptop. When doing any kind of video or photo editing, you’ll want to consider:
  1. Quality of the screen: Apple Products tend to stay true to color best, but there are screen calibration tools you can use.
  2. Storage space: 1TB+ SSD
  3. RAM: Typically 16 or 32 GB
  4. Video card: 6-8 GB
  5. Software specifications: Check the video editing software you’ll be using.
For instance, here are the specs for Adobe Premiere Pro. Adobe has some of the more resource-intensive requirements for software, so if your computer meets their specs, you might be okay. I have had some success buying computers from Amazon Open-Box Deals for drastically reduced prices. You can skip a more powerful computer if you plan on hiring a video editor to help with your new channel. Next, we’ll look at the photo and video editing software you’ll need when starting a YouTube channel.

Photo & Video Editing Software

If you plan to edit videos yourself, you’ll need post-production software for making videos. At UpFlip, we hired an editor for our video content but specified the requirements for the post-production process. Some popular video editing software includes:
  • Adobe Products
  • DaVinci Resolve
  • CyberLink PowerDirector 
Check out PCMag reviews on editing software.Screenshot of PCMag website

YouTube Keyword Planner & Analytics Software

YouTube analytics tools help you plan content for your YouTube channel, analyze competitor channels, and monitor how your videos are performing on YouTube. This is a must-have when starting a YouTube channel. Check out these tools:
  • Social Blade: Recommended by some YouTubers
  • VidIQ: Preferred by UpFlip
  • Ahrefs: Used for writing and search engines but also has YouTube utilization

Script

Depending on what kind of a channel you are creating, you might want to have a script. UpFlip writes several intros and a list of 40 questions to ask the business owner. We also use a guide that specifies what we have found the viewers enjoy watching and what loses the audience. Cameron told us one of the best suggestions he’s ever heard is to come up with the title and thumbnail first and work from there. That’s especially helpful if you are learning how to start a YouTube channel. For Beginners, you’ll want to simplify the process as much as possible. I definitely think it helps to start with the SEO emphasis and go on to create the rest of the content. I’d suggest looking on Google Trends for the top searches on a topic before you start making videos.

Record

Cameron told us: [su_quote] I just make a video of the build process. Originally, I just did videos on what I was working on at the time. Now, I'm trying to branch out a little bit more. I'm trying to not make the same video 30 times. [/su_quote] UpFlip focuses on providing content the audience wants to watch. We try to keep our answers under 60 seconds, but we focus on creating longer videos because we find it helps with the metrics:
  • Watch time: Total monthly hours viewers spend watching our channel
  • Average view duration: Watch time of each video divided by the number of viewers
  • Clickthrough rate (CTR): People who watch the video divided by the people who were shown the video in search or through or other means
Don’t forget to record several intros and calls-to-action. Remember to ask them to subscribe to your channel, but always wait until after you really add value for your audience. They are more likely to hit the subscribe button then.

Edit Your YouTube Videos

This is a more advanced skill set for YouTube channels. At first, just focus on making useful videos. If you decide to edit them, outsource them. Both Reyes and UpFlip hire freelancers. We prefer using Upwork for our freelancing. Cameron specifically advises cutting out all wasted space. When he sands a new table, he only includes enough to say, ”Next, you want to sand the table.” No one wants to watch a video where someone sands a table for 30 minutes. You’d lose your audience. Keep it to two seconds.

Step 4. Post Content

Now that you have an edited video, you’re just a few clicks away from beginning your YouTube journey. You can post new content from the mobile or desktop app. Just look for the “+” icon in mobile or the camera icon on the desktop app. Mobile and desktop go through slightly different processes. I created a video on how to post a youtube video from your phone. Check it out below: [su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgOeCFktJmk"] The desktop app allows a lot more functionality. When you’re ready to start uploading videos, you’ll want to fill out the following sections:
  • Title: The title is one of the first things people will see. It is also one of the primary factors that impact SEO and visibility. It should include the target keyword or a variation of it. Titles are best at 70 -100 characters.
  • Thumbnail: The thumbnail is the cover photo for the video. Under 50 characters works best and A/B testing should be used to determine which works best on YouTube.
  • Description: The video description should start by telling the viewers what they are going to see in the first 200 characters, then include other information that further explains the video like links and  timestamps. Include relevant keywords and mention any sponsored content.
  • Music copyright information: Each YouTube channel needs to create unique content. If the AI detects copyrighted material, it will flag the content and give the revenue to the copyright owner. To avoid this, carefully review YouTube’s copyright terms and conditions.
  • Make your video shareable: Only public videos will be eligible for revenue and the more shares you have, the more people who can see it. Make sure to allow and encourage sharing of your YouTube content.
  • Allow comments: Algorithms use comments to establish whether people are interested in the material. The more meaningful engagement, the better the channel is likely to do among the target audience.
  • Relevant tags and hashtags: Hashtags in a description are a great way to see how your video is doing. They also help viewers find other videos on similar subjects. Check out this example for #cleaningbusiness. Meanwhile, tags are the basic building blocks for how YouTube indexes your video. Include all meaningful searches that you want your video to come up during. There is a maximum of 500 characters in the tag box, and only three tags can be shown above the title of the video.
Example: If this blog were a YouTube video, I would use the following: [su_table responsive="yes" alternate="no" fixed="yes"]
Tags  Hashtags
How to start a youtube channel #HowToStartAYouTubeChannel
How to start a youtube channel for beginners #CreateAYouTubeChannel
how to start a youtube channel and make money #StartingAYouTubeChannel
How to start a youtube channel for kids
How to start a successful youtube channel
How to start a gaming youtube channel
How to start a youtube channel from scratch
Starting a youtube channel
How to make youtube channel
Create youtube channel
[/su_table] Follow other YouTubers in your niche to establish what they are doing well and how you can add more value for your target audience. Creating content is all about which channels satisfy their audiences’ needs best.

Step 5. Share to Social Media

Sharing to social media can be as simple as posting the link and a description about the YouTube videos, or you can upload videos that are teaser clips for your YouTube videos. Cameron told us: [su_quote] What most YouTube creators do is they use that content, and they chop that up and repurpose it on Instagram, Facebook, and places like that. [/su_quote] Screenshot of Instagram website Meanwhile, UpFlip approaches sharing the YouTube Channel on Instagram, by posting the thumbnail and a description, then linking to the YouTube in the profile. Serge told us:  [su_quote] I would also highly suggest joining relevant Facebook communities and posting your videos there, NOT to spam, but to add value. [/su_quote]

Respond to Comments

Cameron loves responding to comments. He told us: [su_quote] It's a focus group. People spend millions and millions of dollars on focus groups, you know, these big businesses, and this is my focus group. [/su_quote] Your YouTube journey is a learning opportunity. If you get positive comments, thank them and note that the audience appreciated certain things. If you get negative comments, try to help satisfy your audience and learn about what they didn’t like. Both scenarios are a chance to connect with new viewers and gain insight into what people expect. We asked Serge about comments, and he told us: [su_quote] Reply to comments that come in within the first 24 to 48 hours of your video going live. This allows you to cultivate an active community. [/su_quote] Serge went on to discuss how to use comments in Facebook groups: [su_quote] Always try to add value, otherwise you'll be quickly banned, that's what we did starting out. If someone has a question about starting a type of business, we'll answer their question and suggest watching our video. [/su_quote] Let’s look at ways to optimize your channel and content after you upload a video.

Step 6. Optimize and Grow

Laptop, tablet, and office supplies on table There are a ton of ways to optimize your content after you upload a video, including:
  • Create formulas
  • Study YouTube Analytics
  • Buy YouTube ads 
  • Use other ad platforms
  • Improve SEO
  • Use the Community tab to improve engagement.
Serge told us:  [su_quote] I would also highly suggest joining relevant Facebook communities and posting your videos there, NOT to spam, but to add value. [/su_quote] We’ll discuss each.

Create a Formula with Templates 

You can create elements in YouTube Studio to make end screens and cards easy to add to your videos. If you find that one template gets people to subscribe better than another, add it to other videos.

YouTube Analytics

Screenshot of YouTube website Use YouTube Analytics to establish: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]
  • Best and worst performing videos
  • Average view duration of each video
  • Traffic source 
  • Type of device
  • CTR
[/su_note] Learn about the expanded analytics reports to find your gems.  Cameron told us: [su_quote] I'm a sucker for YouTube analytics. I do AB testing of thumbnails and titles, and it has made a massive difference in the success of my videos. I know you guys do a little bit of that too. [/su_quote] Serge agrees but suggests using additional software. He told us: [su_quote]Master your thumbnails. It's crucial if you want to be over 10% CTR, which is very hard to do. Our average CTR is above 5%, and we still have a long way to go. Your thumbnail should convey just one idea. Use vivid colors. Test different thumbnails by using the TubeBuddy feature. Make them curious. Your thumbnails should tell a story, it should be simple, bright, and contrastive. You need to stand out from the rest. [/su_quote]

YouTube Ads

Screenshot of Influencer Marketing Hub website If you really want to speed up the process, you can use paid ads on YouTube to connect with potential viewers. This is a high-cost way of getting viewers, but it can pay off if you are confident that your content is amazing. You’ll be spending around $2,000 for 100,000 ad views though.

Other Ads

You can also use ads on social media, Google, or Bing, but all of these are highly saturated, and you might spend a lot of money. Most truly successful YouTubers focus on SEO and engagement to help YouTube start generating revenue.

SEO Optimization

This is the aspect that all of the people we interviewed agree makes a huge difference. YouTube is actually considered a search engine, so anything you know about optimizing for Google, should apply to YouTube. That doesn’t mean it will be the exact same, though. There are three ways to get organic traffic from YouTube internally:
  1. Search: Uses search engine optimization. You’ll want to focus on this method when you first start.
  2. Browse: Helps improve the visibility of your videos in the browsing functions of YouTube based on hashtags, tags, and other indicators.
  3. Suggested: Helps to improve rankings in suggested videos.
Serge told us: [su_quote] We’re not focusing on “search” traffic but on “browse” and “suggested,” but the only way this would work is if you have high retention and high CTR. [/su_quote] He also suggested checking out these videos to learn more about how YouTube works:

Community Tab

All three of our featured YouTube channels use the community tab. This is where you can share surveys, other posts, and announcements. Each takes a different approach. Check out the overview of each below: [su_table responsive="yes" alternate="no" fixed="yes"]
Blacktail Studio UpFlip Reyes The Entrepreneur
Posts about once per month Posts most days Posts daily
Gathers AMA questions 2–3 surveys per week Mostly sharing videos 
Shares goals and requests help  Shares podcasts & blogs Low comment volume
High volume comments on each Giveaways Seems this aspect is an afterthought
Volume of comments varies, but monthly comments exceed Blacktail
Encourages discussions
[/su_table]

Step 7. How to Start a YouTube Channel and Make Money

Youtube logo with money word on scrabble tiles You’re here because you want to know how to start a YouTube channel and get paid. Good news! There are a lot of ways to make money on YouTube. The most common ways to earn revenue on YouTube are:
  1. Affiliate Marketing: Refer people to products you love and get a commission. Some you can start immediately.
  2. Outbound Links to Websites: Send people to your website to purchase products and services. Some features are available when you start your YouTube account, but there are YouTube Partner features as well.
  3. Sponsorships: Add in paid promos and get paid for marketing to your subscribers. 
  4. Become a YouTube Partner: Meet YouTube's 4,000 hours of watch time and 1,000 subscribers requirements, plus some other guidelines. Follow the monetization process in the link above.
Cameron told us: [su_quote] They always say to diversify your investments, but nobody talks about diversifying your income. You lose your job, you lose 100% of your income. [/su_quote] Reyes told us: [su_quote] YouTube is between $7 and $10 thousand, affiliate links are $2 to $5 thousand, and the new one, sponsorships are $1 to $5K. [/su_quote] Take his advice and keep reading about the different ways to make money on YouTube.

Affiliate Marketing

One of the ways that any successful YouTube channel will make money is through affiliate marketing. In your videos, you might use a tool or mention software that you find useful. If you are using it, your viewers will probably want to know where to get it. So provide them an affiliate link that makes it easy for them to buy the product and earns you between 1% and 25% commission. Cameron used to be nervous about using affiliate links, but he learned it saves him time and his audience appreciates it. He told us: [su_quote] They don't see it as an ad. They see it as a service. [/su_quote] Reyes loves his affiliate links. Check out all of the ones in one of his top YouTube videos. At UpFlip, we limit the number of affiliate links we use to only the essentials. Many videos only include the link to our sponsor as paid promotion, but we typically include around seven affiliate links in the blogs. There are eight main affiliate marketing websites you should join, but if you search “company name affiliate” you can normally quickly find where to apply easily.

Outbound Links to Website

Always link your YouTube Channels to your website and other similar videos you think your audience will appreciate. You’ll want to include links in several places like:
  1. Your banner
  2. Your channel’s “about” section
  3. At the end of each video
  4. In each video’s description
    1. Social links
    2. Home Page
    3. Relevant Content
Check out our interview with Reyes for more great information on how to make a YouTube video. [su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg-ymfCpYcQ&t=128s"]

Sponsorships

Cameron gave us some great advice about sponsorships: [su_quote] (Be) careful about the sponsors you take. I took a shady sponsor…my views and everything just tanked.  It took me like a year to get back to where I was. [/su_quote] As you can tell, we take this to heart and only accept sponsors and partnerships that are highly rated, business-oriented, and useful for YouTube video viewers. Make sure to review YouTube’s sponsorship guidelines. You can’t accept these if you want to be in the YouTube kids app.

How to Charge YouTube Video Sponsors

The industry uses CPM to charge for sponsorships. First, find the average views for your last 10 videos and divide by 10. Next, multiply the views by twice your Cost per 1,000 Impressions (CPM). The industry standard formula will work like the following example:
  • Average View Count: 218K
  • Average CPM: $33.18  
Charging your sponsorships steps During the early stages of acquiring sponsorships, you can multiply the CPM by 1.5  in Step 2 to give companies more incentive to invest in sponsoring you.

Become a YouTube Partner

This is where a lot of the real money from YouTube channels gets generated. When you become a YouTube Partner, a lot of opportunities open up that smaller channels don’t have. We’ll share the requirements to become a YouTube Partner, how to opt-in for monetization, and the Partner money making tools that are only available once you opt in.

Requirements

There are six requirements to be an eligible YouTube Partner Channel. They are:
  1. Follow the monetization rules
  2. Live in an eligible country
  3. No active strikes on your YouTube account
  4. 1,000 subscribers
  5. 4,000 public watch hours
  6. Linked AdSense Account
As long as you meet these requirements you get to join the YouTube community that gets paid for creating videos, but you have to actually apply if you want your YouTube channel to participate.

Opt-In

To opt-in and make money off the ads your viewers watch, you have to add 2-Step verification to your Google account (if you haven’t already). Next, go to the monetization tab in YouTube Studio. It will tell you if you’re eligible. If you aren’t, you can ask for an email notification when you are. Go ahead and ask it to notify you while you’re familiarizing yourself with starting a YouTube channel.   You’ll also need an Adsense account. Go ahead and get an Adsense account if you don’t have one. Your YouTube channel will automatically go into the queue when you’ve met all the requirements. Let’s look at the ways YouTube Partners can make money on the platform.

Options

Once your YouTube journey reaches this stage, you should have figured out how to create video content that people will watch. So YouTube gives you a lot of ways to earn more from your video including: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]
  • YouTube Ads 
  • Channel Memberships
  • Merchandise
  • Super Stickers and Super Chat
  • YouTube Premium
  • YouTube Short Funds
[/su_note] Let’s look at how you make money with each of these.

YouTube Ads 

YouTube shares a percentage of ad revenue with the Partners making videos. Most content creators will receive somewhere between $3 and $5 per thousand views (CPM) depending on the number of ads watched during channel videos. That's why longer videos are so important. Serge told us: [su_quote] Our average CPM is $29. [/su_quote] That’s six times the average. Keep reading because we’re going to share a secret that hurts other creators’ CPM.

Channel Memberships

Screenshot-of-Youtube-website Content creators can offer memberships to their audience like:
  • Contests and giveaways
  • 1-on-1 meetings
  • Member-only videos
These increase excitement and reward the audience for being loyal viewers of their YouTube videos. Check out more about the memberships. 

Merchandise

You can sell merchandise through YouTube videos without becoming a partner, but you have to send them off-site. As a YouTube partner, your channel can sell your merchandise directly on YouTube! The bar is a little higher, but it can be an easy way to provide products seen in your videos. You’ll need 10K subscribers before you can connect shopping items directly in your YouTube videos. You can even have different products in Your channel store and video store. Find out more.

Super Stickers and Super Chat

A content creator can allow super stickers on their videos. This can be a great tool combined with sponsored content because Super Stickers allow the audience to pay to pin their comment on the top of the thread. If your sponsor wants to guarantee their comment is seen, they can renew it as needed. Plus you get 70% of revenue from the Super Stickers. Check out the YouTube guide on stickers.

YouTube Premium Revenue Share

Partners share a percentage of the Premium memberships, too. It helps increase your view time, plus they can download your content to listen to or view it anywhere. All partners share a percentage of the revenue based on their total view time. So if your audience pays for YouTube Premium, don’t forget to remind them to download your videos so they can listen to them on road trips. Here are the details on YT Premium. Screenshot-of-YouTube-website If you create content that is really short, you’ll love the YouTube Channel ideas to make money on short clips.

YouTube Short Funds

Starting a YouTube Channel can be a lot of fun. If your audience is for funny videos, you can submit YouTube shorts. This is a chance to reach an audience similar to TikTok’s audience. You just upload a video under 30 seconds from your phone and it qualifies for revenue from the $100 million shorts fund. Learn more about shorts. These are great for a new channel or a video channel that has a low retention rate, but Serge warns against these if your channel is doing really well. Here's what he has to say: [su_quote] I don't believe in this strategy. I know a few of big business channels that are big on shorts and they get millions of views, but they attract a random audience that destroys their retention rate. Their actual long form videos get a fraction of the views (that we do) and they don't even make 1/3rd of what we do with our channel. They're big on TikTok videos as well.  Our goal is to attract the right audience, an audience that will watch and interact with everything that we put out. What's the point of having 2M subs and getting a fraction of views as most channels this size get? [/su_quote]

What Success on YouTube Looks Like

Everyone has different ways they approach their channel. From channel art to asking people to subscribe, plan ahead when you create your first video. It doesn’t matter if you have a camera or phone with bad audio. Hit the upload button and start finding new viewers today.  As you grow, you can invest in audio and video equipment. But like Reyes The Entrepreneur said: [su_quote] Why buy a new camera? If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. [/su_quote] What aspects of audio and video recordings for YouTube would you like to hear more about?
Business ideas

Opening a Gas Station: The Ultimate Guide (2024)
Owning a gas station is a business we think of when we imagine an entrepreneur realizing the American Dream. According to the National Association of Convenience Stores, there are over 120,000 gas stations that double as a convenience store in the U.S. (out of over 150,000), and 62% of convenience stores are operated by a single-store operator. That means most gas stations are not owned by multi-store corporations. They're owned by individual proprietors who invested their own money into their business. Have you ever thought about realizing your own American Dream and starting a gas station? To guide you, we interviewed Punardeep Sandhu, who left his job as an IT Consultant 8 years ago to open a Chevron gas station. He helped us break down the process, so we can show you how to do it step-by-step. Before we break it down, note that the terms gas stations and convenience stores (or "c-stores") are sometimes used interchangeably. In this article, we're focusing on opening a gas station that also includes a convenience store. You can read our article on How to Open a Convenience Store for great tips on that subject if you're not interested in selling fuel.

1. Initial Planning

Man creating business plan Like any small business, opening a gas station business begins with careful planning. A business plan is more than just an outline of your ideas and dreams; it's the blueprint for your business and the key to securing the funds you'll need to get things going. Your plan must include and account for things like:
  • Initial and Ongoing operating costs
  • Tanks, Pumps and Fuel
  • Products and Inventory
  • Location costs
  • Insurance
  • Accountant and Legal Fees
  • Licenses and Permits
  • Marketing
You can visit the U.S. Small Business Administration's site for some great tools that will help you write a business plan. It's important to get familiar with the SBA now as you'll see them again in Step 3: Funding.

How much does it cost to open a gas station?

Speaking of funding, getting into the gasoline station business isn't cheap. The initial costs of opening a gas station ranges on average from $250k to $2 million even for a small gas station. Also, unless you have access to large stockpiles of motor grade gasoline, you must enter into an agreement with a gasoline supplier. And that's the X-factor in figuring the initial price of a gas station. Do you have the funds to open an independent location with your own supplier or do you need to leverage your funds by entering into an agreement with a gas station franchise? Instead of opening a brand new gas station, you could buy one that’s up and running. Just make sure to research the area first so you know what kind of customer volume to expect in the location.

How to Open a Gas Station Franchise

Arco gas station franchise Most station owners, including Punardeep, get into the business through buying a gas station franchise. Partnering with a franchise can ease some of the financial burden (but not all!), and an established brand can serve as your key marketing tool. Punardreep explains, [su_quote]Luckily for me the Chevron brand in itself doesn't need much marketing, people recognize Chevron and are loyal even if that means paying a few extra cents per gallon.[/su_quote] However, each gas station franchise has different financial requirements for opening a location (some in excess of $1 million!) and some mandate a background in management or entrepreneurship before they'll consider you. Here's a list of some of the top gas station franchises (there are many more), so you can check the qualifications based on your business plan:

Gas Station Products and Services

Gas station products When planning your gas station, you need to consider the products and services you want to offer beyond gasoline. Gas stations have gasoline as revenue to keep the business in operation, but it's the sales inside the convenience store that make the business profitable. Punardreep says, [su_quote]Inside the store sales is where you make your real money, gas margins are very competitive, so it's a good way to attract the customers at the pump, but the ring inside when they come in for a soda, or candy or chips is where you make that money[/su_quote] Also assess services other than food and drinks that gas stations typically offer such as:
  • Car Washes
  • Air Stations
  • Tobacco
  • Lottery Tickets
  • Restrooms
Each of these services have their own costs (permits and maintenance), but have become fixtures at gas stations around the country. Your gas station franchise agreement can also directly affect the list products and services you provide. It's best to work with a lawyer who specializes in franchise law in this situation.

2. Choose Your Gas Station Location Carefully

Open a Gas Station 101: Your location is the prime determiner of the amount of traffic you will attract. Business location It's so important that when we asked Punardreep, "What are the top 3 tips you have for others who are opening a gas station business?" He answered, [su_quote]Location, location, location.[/su_quote] Choosing the location of a gas station isn't exactly like choosing the location of a used car dealership, though we covered that in section 3 of our article on How to Start a Used Car Dealership. You need to invest a lot of time and perhaps even some money into market research about a potential location of your gas station. Here are some factors that help determine whether a location is prime for a gas station business:
  • Easy accessibility from a highway or main intersection
  • Is it located on a main route for general work commute?
  • Is there a lot of competition?
  • Are there wholesalers around like Sams Club or Costco?
  • Is there existing construction or future construction in the area that would affect your permits or accessibility?
  • Assessment of state and federal location and environmental laws for a gas station
You can read more detailed information from ConocoPhillips regarding these factors, but it's ultimately up to you, the business owner, to carefully assess your location. A great tip is to find a gas station location in a new and developing neighborhood. Ideally, try to find a spot just outside the city before the area is fully established. Many people in this type of neighborhood will have to commute to the city and need gas to get to their jobs. Plus, you should be able to find cheaper real estate in these areas.

Who Owns the Tanks and Pumps?

Gas Station pump Study this section as it is the most important element can make or break your gas station business aside from the actual location. Obviously, gas is the life blood of gas stations. It's the core revenue source and marketing tool you need to stay in operation and generate profits. That means you must assess the ownership of the tanks and pumps at a potential location before you purchase or lease. Many gas station owners don't own these assets and instead lease them from a franchise or the owner of the property. If you're buying a gas station, check whether or not the tanks and pumps are included in the sale. If you're leasing a station, have a lawyer thoroughly review the terms of the tanks and pumps agreement. And most importantly, check the history of the gas station tanks and pumps. Many owners have lost their business because of purchasing or leasing tanks and/or pumps that are defective or not in compliance with state regulations.

Environmental Assessment

Business owners looking to open a gas station need to obtain a Phase 1 Environmental Assessment of their location. This assessment must be completed by an Environmental Professional (geologist or engineer) who will determine the environmental history of your location and adjacent properties. Here is an example of a real assessment. This document is essential for two key reasons: A qualified real estate attorney with experience in dealing with gas station agreements should know this clause. However, it's up to you to make sure it's in the purchase agreement as it is the only way you'll be able to legally withdraw from a sale and keep any deposits.

3. Registering the Gas Station Business

Forming a business entity is the next step in starting a gas station. However, before forming your business structure, make sure and consult with your attorney to see which type of business is best for you (limited partnership, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or corporation). It's not recommended to operate as a sole proprietor if you're going to open a gas station. There are many legal risks that would be tied to you personally if something happens at your location (robbery, leaks, accidents, etc...). Most gas station owners opt to form a Limited Liability Company (LLC) because it gives them the some of the tax and business advantages used by a sole proprietorship and a corporation. Plus, they usually play lower fees. However, it may be more difficult to get a loan. Last, you need to choose a business name and apply for an employer identification number with the IRS and your state.

4. Funding Your Gas Station

Gas station funds To start a gas station, you need money, and lots of it. Construction of a gas station alone can run over $350k (and that's in Idaho!), and if you're going to buy a gas station, the price tag can run the same or more based on the location. When asked how he funded his gas station Punardreep said, [su_quote]My life savings and family helped me with the down payment, and I also got an SBA loan to start the gas station business.[/su_quote]

SBA Loans

The Small Business Administration has loan programs to help small businesses, like gas stations, get started. They won't lend money directly to you, the business owner. Instead they work with other institutions to reduce their risk on a loan by backing it by as much as 85%. The benefit of taking a loan for your gas station from the SBA is that it has low down payments and lengthy payment terms with reasonable interest rates. However, you may be required to put down a substantial amount of collateral on the loan, and the loans can be difficult to secure and include a lot of paperwork and a long wait time for approval.

Business Loan from a Bank (Conventional)

With good credit, you could apply for a traditional business loan from a bank. However, because the bank takes on the entire risk of the loan, so they have high standards with their requirements. This means you'll need around 15 to 20% of the initial funds to start with a credit score over 700, or be willing to put up other personal assets (property, equipment, etc...) as collateral. The good news is that small business loan approvals at large financial institutions hit an all-time high last year.

How Profitable are Gas Stations?

Your ability to pay back these loans will be contingent on the profitability of your operation. And a quick search may show horror stories about gas station profitability that can seem off putting. However, we spoke with Punardreep about his margins and he said, [su_quote]We make anywhere from 30-40 % margin on average.[/su_quote] So, two things determine gas station profitability: you and your location. There are many owners out there who didn't do their due diligence when they went into the gas station business and are now suffering the consequences of margins in the 1-2% range. However, many others, like Punardreep, are making anywhere from 5 to 30% profit each month. Gas stations can be profitable if they're set up for success.

5.  Setting up for Success: Gas Supplier Contracts, Technology, and Employees

Knowing the elements that will either increase or decrease your gas station's profitability are key to starting a gas station. You will need to negotiate supplier contracts, outfit and update your location with the latest technology, and continually assess your ongoing costs to set your station up for success. Business technology

Gas Stations Supplier Contracts

We mentioned suppliers earlier, but it's important to understand how to manage refilling your gas supplies and the factors that determine gas prices. It's up to you to research local wholesale fuel suppliers (or petroleum marketers) in your area to see who has the best prices for your fuel because gas suppliers often make money from the percentage of your sales. You need to compare rates to maximize profits. For example, if your location is near Dallas you might contact SEI Fuels or Martin Eagle Oil. However, if you're in a franchise agreement, you may be required to purchase from select vendors because they have a prior agreement. Punardreep owns a Chevron location and therefore has to supply it with Chevron gas at their set rates. Gas is more of a revenue stream for gas stations and is not your key profit maker, but if you can bump your margins from $.01 per dollar to $.03 or $.05, it will add up in the long run.

Technology

Punardreep explained to us, [su_quote]Technology: it's your best friend. Whether it's the best camera systems, POS systems, use the best in the industry because investing in good technology will not only give you real time data on what's happening in your stores, you have access to all that data in the palm of your hand.[/su_quote] Before you start a gas station, remind yourself that technology isn't going away, and it's best to use it to your advantage rather than skim on cheap devices and software in your location. Eventually, it will start to negatively affect your profit margins. Here's a list of the top POS systems for gas stations: This is a list of the top camera system providers, but work with a trusted security camera company to help set everything up.

Employees and Customer Service

[su_quote]Payroll and rent are my biggest ongoing expenses,[/su_quote] says Punardreep. If one of your biggest expenses is on the front line interacting with customers every day, be sure you hire someone who is going to reflect your values and provide amazing customer service. In fact, it's one mistake Punardreep said he wished he avoided when he first started. [su_quote]Employee hiring is a critical piece as they represent your business. Having good customer service is important. I had hired some people that didn't represent my values, and they were not good for the face of the business; so I had to get rid of them.[/su_quote] If someone isn't willing to help and take care of your customers, then you have to be ready to make some cuts. Otherwise, you could see a direct affect on your profit margins.

6.  Permits, Licenses and Insurance

Now that you know the aspects of opening a gas station, let's look at the permits, licenses, and insurance coverage you need when actually starting a gas station. Business permits How Do I Start a Gas Station? Permits and licenses for a gas station differ from state to state. However, gas station business owners are responsible for making sure everything is in compliance. Some standard permits and licenses include: Each state —and sometimes county and/or city— has its own licensing laws and fees. A quick search of your state and/or county with the desired license should direct you to the correct page. Most importantly, each state requires that you apply for a Motor Fuels Retail Outlet License when starting a gas station. It's the tax license you need to sell motor fuel in your state. The title may differ a little by state (it's just called a Motor Fuel License in Massachusetts), but check on your state's government website for the proper application. Here's Michigan, Virginia, and New Jersey if you live there! Last, you want to check with a qualified insurance agent about business insurance before you begin gas station operations. A gas station is a business known for having a lot of financial risks like robbery, injury (employee or customer), equipment malfunction and property damage. In any of those unfortunate situations, you want your gas station to be covered to protect your assets.

7.  Marketing

Getting your gas station noticed by customers is essential to growing your business. Even with a prime location, gas stations need lots of marketing and promotions to keep their profit margins high. Marketing strategy Get Noticed! A great way to get your gas station noticed is through signage. You've seen the giant gas station billboards all over the country, and there's a reason for it. Many potential customers just drive to the nearest gas station, so you want them to know that your gas station is near and ready for business. Here's a list of the top Outdoor Advertising Companies in the U.S.

Offer Promotions

As you know, just because you stop at the gas station, it doesn't mean you're going to purchase anything other than gas. But as we learned, your highest profit margin is not on your gas. It's in the convenience store. To entice potential customers, offer promotions to get them to spend more money. Punardreep suggests, [su_quote]One of the things we do is offer deals to customers like '2 for$4' on sodas, energy drinks etc... Whatever that is, this always gets people to buy more. It's an effective strategy, offering multiple promotions all the time.[/su_quote]

Online and SEO for Maps

Most people don't think of having an amazing website when opening a gas station. But the primary goal of having a website isn't to be visually appealing (though it helps!); the goal is to rank as high as you can on google maps searches. When someone searches for a gas station on their phone, you want your store to be the one that appears first and most prominently. It may be in your interest to work with a qualified webmaster if you're not knowledgeable on things like web marketing and SEO. Finding a webmaster who specializes in Google Maps is easy nowadays through the power of the internet. Use this guide to help with your search. It lays out all of the steps and helps you determine a fair rate.

8.  How Much Does a Gas Station Owner Make?

Man counting profits Once you develop a business plan, secure the funding, and secure all of your permits, your gas station is ready for action! We already spoke about the profitability of the gas station, but you may wonder how much of that profit is going into your pocket. Most gas station business owners understand that they're the last person to be paid after expenses and their salary is contingent on how well the business does. Because of that, there isn't much data tied directly to the title of gas station owner. However, Salary.com has statistics on the salary of a gas station manager. The good news is that they make over $100k annually on average from their gas station. You can use that information accordingly with your ideal profit margins to make a rough estimate of your potential earnings. Whether you intend to buy a gas station or open a gas station through a franchise, opening a gas station is one of the classic entrepreneurial endeavors that has provided many Americans with their path to realizing the American Dream. On that, we'll leave you with one last piece of advice on gas stations from Punardreep : [su_quote]Be open to explore your offerings. Offer new products that other people are not carrying. Ask the customers what they are looking for and get it in the store for them to buy.[/su_quote] Do you have any experience with gas station operations to share?
Business ideas

13 Best Places to Get Cheap Business Cards (2024)
Are you struggling to decide whether to get cheap business cards online or pay more for a custom business card for your business? That’s okay. It’s an important decision. The best business cards are the ones that help communicate what your brand is about at the lowest cost. We’ll help you decide what business card vendor to use by discussing the benefits of business cards, the goals you are trying to achieve with your business card design, the features you’ll want to consider, and our experiences with different business card printing companies. Throughout the blog, we'll provide business card examples to help you choose the best business card printing service. Once you are done reading this, you’ll be ready to choose the best card for your business. Let’s get started.

Benefits of Business Cards

Woman holding business card on the table Every business should have a business card. Some of the reasons to have one include:
  1. A printed design helps portray a professional image.
  2. They are a quick way to share contact information.
  3. Business cards are the ultimate networking tool.
  4. All business cards help with lead generation.
  5. Business cards are a branding tool.
  6. It is easy to transport business cards.
  7. Cards are one of the lowest-cost marketing tools. Compare the cost of business cards to your other marketing spending.
  8. Unique business cards stand out and give your new contact something to remember you by later.
  9. Touch builds cooperation and trust. Give potential clients something to hold.
  10. Business cards can get you free stuff.
I know the last one sounds silly, but I got a $300 meal at the Foundation Room in Las Vegas from putting a 10-cent business card into a drawing. It was one of the best meals of my life.

What Goals are You Trying to Achieve?

Ultimately, a business card is to help people reach you easier. You’ll want to consider what you are trying to achieve with the business card. Some goals may be: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]
  1. Provide your contact information.
  2. Share the company values.
  3. Communicate a specific brand image. Do you want to be viewed as no-frills, a premium product, fun, or another image?
  4. Make it easy to pull up a specific web page.
  5. Provide an easy way to add contact information into phones with QR codes.
  6. Show off your artwork.
  7. Provide a personal business card while job hunting.
[/su_note] Depending on what you are trying to achieve, you’ll want to include specific features. Let’s look at the features you want when designing a business card.

How to Make Cheap Business Cards

There are a lot of choices you’ll need to make when designing business cards. You’ll have to choose:
  1. Quantity
  2. Size and Shape
  3. Material
  4. Texture
  5. Customization
  6. Shipping or Pickup
  7. Timeline
  8. Price
We’ll discuss how these impact the best place to get business cards.

Quantity

Stack of business card Business cards come in different quantities. The more you buy, the less each unit costs. Depending on the type of business card and provider, you may be able to order in quantities of: [su_table responsive="yes" alternate="no" fixed="yes"]
10 Business Cards 100 Cards 1,000 Business Cards 10,000 Cards
25 Cards 250 Business Cards 2,500 Cards 25,000 Business Cards
50 Business Cards 500 Cards 5,000 Business Cards Or More!
[/su_table] The business card printing services have the same amount of labor whether you order one or a million business cards, so they give nice discounts when you buy in bulk. Vistaprint provides an 87% savings when you buy 10,000 cards instead of 100.

Size and Shape

A standard business card is 2” x 3.5”, but many printing services have other shapes like squares, circles, triangles, rounded corners, or mini business cards. The business card printing services will normally charge a premium for anything other than the standard 2” by 3.5 “ size because custom shapes are ordered less frequently. You can even get die cut business cards in custom shapes like the cupcake business cards that UPrinting created. Custom business card design While this business card example makes an impression, unique shapes may have storage challenges and get damaged easier than standard business card shapes. Based on my experience, rounded corners (sometimes called rounded edges) are the most durable of the product options based on pricing.

Material

Your business cards can be made out of different materials. Some of the options are:
  • Paper Stock: The standard material for business cards is paper.
  • Metal: Typically, stainless steel is used for this style.
  • Plastic: These are similar to the plastic for drivers licenses and debit cards. You can find ones made out of recycled materials as well.
  • Fabric: Business cards made of fabric are most commonly used on clothing as labels.
  • Hemp: Use hemp if you want a more sustainable paper business card. It produces 4 to 10X the paper as trees per acre, but most processing is out of the US, decreasing some of the sustainability.
  • Recycled paper: Recycled paper is meant to prevent cutting down trees, but it’s more expensive to produce because of the additional production steps.
  • Cork: Be careful when buying these. Read the materials because it is often just normal paper that is designed to look like cork.
  • Photostock: If you’re using photos, this stock is similar to what you use for photographs.
  • Bamboo: Bamboo can grow up to 3.28 feet per year. Unfortunately, most of the production is in China, so the transportation costs offset some of the environmental impact that this plant could make.
  • Wood: You can make business cards out of Oak, Cherry, Walnut, Cedar, Maple, and other woods using a provider like Cards of Wood.
  • Magnets: Magnets are a great way to create a business card if you work directly with consumers. They can just slap them on the fridge and they see your logo and name every time they get a snack.
  • Stickers: Have some fun and create business cards that can also be stickers.

Cheap Business Cards Stock

Screenshot of Brandly website When you talk about business card stock, you are talking about the thickness of the materials. According to Brandly business cards are typically rated in points (pt.) and range from 11 pt. to 34 pt. Most business card printing companies use 14pt. to 16 pt. paper, but thick card stock tends to resist bending and creasing. The corners hold up better than thin paper stock, too.

Texture

In addition to stock and material, the texture will also play a role in your business card purchasing. Cheap business cards will normally be flat with a matte finish, a term that means dull and without gloss. You can get affordable business cards with other textures including:
  1. High gloss UV coating: These slide across the hand better, and are similar to a glossy finish on a photo. They might show fingerprints, though.
  2. Silk printed: These cards use silk to accent the card for a soft smooth texture. You can choose flat or raised silk to create a custom feel.
  3. Foil embossed: Offset your primary material with foil accents to create a different feel. This can be raised or flat with paper stock.
  4. Natural texture: Natural texture cards look similar to a wall’s texture.
  5. Woven: Criss-crossed fabrics give the card a pattern you can feel.
  6. Material’s texture: Many of the materials have a texture that is readily identified. For instance, most people can readily identify the difference between metal, plastic, and wood.
  7. 3 dimensional: Die-cutting has made it easy for small business owners to get unique business cards. The die-cut shapes don’t have to be flat. They can have multiple layers to them creating completely new textures and tactile sensations.

QR Codes

Screenshot of Beaconstac website These are similar to bar codes except they are square. I mentioned them briefly before, but QR codes are one of the greatest business automation tools I can have ever seen. You can use them for anything if you customize them right. 
  • Scan and pay? No problem.
  • Pull up a menu? Sure can!
  • Send people to your website? You got it!
  • Automatically input your contact information and branding in their phone? Just scan the code!
QR code business cards are readily available through most printers and you can use dynamic QR codes to track the number of uses and change what the code links to. Beaconstac is rated the easiest to use and best ROI by G2 with over 250 reviews. You can also generate free QR codes in Canva and other apps, but won’t have as useful of features.

Customization 

Screenshot of Moo website Each business card printing service will have its own professionally designed templates that small businesses can use to create standard business cards. For instance, VistaPrint has millions of variations for standard business cards when you customize based on the design, stock, finish, and other options. If you want custom business cards, printing services often have a professional graphic designer on staff that can help you for an additional cost. They will also provide guidance on the sizing templates to create your own design. Moo offers templates for custom design using: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]
  • Photoshop
  • InDesign
  • Illustrator
[/su_note] They recommend the following specifications:
  1. Text should be larger than 8 pt. 
  2. Lines must be .5 pt or larger.
  3. 300 dots per inch (DPI) are needed.
  4. File size should be smaller than 50 MB.
  5. QR codes should be as large as possible, but no smaller than ½ inch and should be high contrast. They won’t scan if they aren’t done right.

Same Day Business Cards, Bad Customer Service

Screenshot-of-gotprint website Another factor that impacts pricing is how quickly you need the business cards printed. You can normally find a much better price online. It may even come with free shipping depending on the size of your order.  That won’t work if you need a same-day printing service. You’ll have to go local when you need business cards fast. You’ll want to consider the following companies for the best, fast business cards:
  • Don’t procrastinate: A business card printing service will provide the lowest price if they have time to print them and complete the delivery.  GotPrint.com lets you know how fast they can provide their products Typically, around 7 to 10 business days will give you the cheapest price for online business cards.
  • Local Printing Companies: Find a great local printing company to print business cards and other marketing materials. You might pay more, but if you go with a big box store, be aware of their reviews. (They are often not desirable unless you find an employee who cares.) Local business owners want every customer to leave happy because it’s their business and livelihood at stake.
  • Staples Business Cards: Many call Staples the best for same-day business cards. If you order before 2 pm, Staples prints the same day. They often have free delivery for orders over $50. Their Trustpilot score is miserable at 1.6 stars, but 250 cards start as low as $12. When you need cheap business cards printed fast, it’s an option.
  • Office Depot Business Cards: You can get a box of 50 for about $12.00 (or take advantage of their sales for better values. I found eight coupons for the site). The best thing about Office Depot is they have Canva built-in. They also have a miserable 1.5 star Trustpilot Score. I have ordered print products from them and have had no issue, however.
  • FedEx Business Cards: It’s official, big box corporations are not ideal for printing cards. FedEx also has a ton of bad reviews and a 1.3 Trustpilot Score. They also don’t offer same-day orders online. Their pricing starts at $10 for 100 business cards, though.
Don’t get me wrong. The quality will be acceptable, but you may find yourself wasting a lot of time if the employee(s) don’t take pride in their jobs as they make your cards. You’ll also be limited in the options you can print. Let’s look at pricing next.

Pricing

Screenshot of luxuryprinting website You can find cheap and even free business cards, but you might not like the quality. There are online deals where you can get professional business cards for as low as a penny per card when you buy $500, but if you want higher quality custom business cards, you can spend up to $153K for 100 business cards with diamonds. If you want to make a real first impression, check out the Black Astrum cards. Now that we’ve covered the customization options that go into the price of modern designs, let’s look at some of the best inexpensive business cards.

Where Can I Get Cheap Business Cards?

There are a ton of places to order online. Depending on the features you want, there are thirteen companies that people commonly hire for printing business cards.
  1. GotPrint: Best cheap business card design and printing service
  2. MOO: Best place to get business cards
  3. Zazzle: Best for custom business cards
  4. Print Place: Best for business card designers
  5. PsPrint: Best for custom shapes 
  6. Vistaprint: Best design templates
  7. PrintRunner.com: Only provider I found with a free shipping coupon
  8. Elite Flyers: Best for bulk orders
  9. UPrinting: Worst of the white label providers others might rate
  10. Overnight Prints: Best for technical problems, they try to cover with great prices
  11. Staples: Best to print business cards the same day
  12. Office Depot: Second Best same day business card printer
  13. FedEx: Lower ratings than Office Depot, but at a much lower cost, does not offer same-day business cards for small business owners

Rating Methodology of a Business Card Printing Service

I went through some of the most commonly mentioned places for where to get cheap business cards. I gave each business a score from 1 to 10 for each of the 17 categories. 10 is the best. The companies received scores between 66 and 135, which I divided by 14 to create a 10 point scale. To convert these to a 10-point scale, I divided each value by 14. View the full sheet.

GotPrint: 9.64/10

Best Cheap Business Card Design and Printing Service

Screenshot of trustpilot website GotPrint has a 4.5-star rating from Trustpilot from over 6,000 customers. They offer a wide selection of design options and templates to customize and offer 100 standard business cards for about $10. If you need more, you can order up to 100,000 standard business cards. They also offer custom design, elegant finish options, and 500 business card magnets at a great price.

MOO Business Cards: 8.93/10

Best place to get business cards

Screenshot of moo reviews from trustpilot website Moo is focused on quality and they definitely deliver. They aren’t exactly low-cost, nor are they the fastest business card maker. They are the highest rated on Trustpilot and have the most reviews. You can get 50 cards for about $20 or 400 unique business cards for around $120. Literally, each card can have its own picture on it using Printfinity. Another reason Moo is one of the best business card makers is that they offer full branding services. I have personally ordered from them before and love their quality. The full-color pictures are amazing for photographers, but Moo is more expensive. 

Zazzle: 7.86/10

Best Custom Business Cards 

Zazzle is a marketplace of business card printing service companies and other vendors. You can buy designs ranging from their popular 100 QR code business cards for about $30 to the super cool etched plated stainless steel cards by a designer called FoxiPrint on the high end. If you use Zazzle consistently, they offer an annual package similar to Amazon Prime. Between customizability, quality, and the lowest cost shipping, Zazzle is a great option for buying business cards and other office supplies. Screenshot of zazzle website

Print Place: 7.79/10

Best if You Design Business Cards

You might want to check out PrintPlace if you are in the design industry. They are one of four services that appear to be focused on graphic designers. They have a 3.8-star rating compared to the other ones at 1.9 to 2.8 stars. In addition, they offer the largest orders of business cards.

PsPrint: 7/10

Best For Custom Shape Business Cards

Customize business cards in unique shapes with PsPrint custom die-cut cards.  They are a good deal if you want a card for business that stands out or if you order in bulk. The picture below is one of their business card examples. Screenshot from psprint website

Vistaprint Business Cards: 6.21/10

Best Custom Design Templates

Whether you are looking for personal business cards for services or other printing products, you probably know about Vistaprint. Their customer service isn’t that great, but they offer a great selection of free templates to use. If you don’t find what you are looking for, save time and money with free design assistance. Five hundred business cards for $10 is the best known promo, which makes them one of the best places to order cheap business cards online. I bought from Vistaprint back in the day when you could get 500 business cards for $5. They were quick and accurate from a text standpoint, but their full color cards were lackluster and the corners were flimsy.

Printrunner: 5.36/10

Fast cheap business cards, Free shipping over $39 (Subject to Change).

Printrunner is where to print business cards cheaply if you have a small order. Their print prices claim to be as low as under $7, but I could only order business cards online for $8.64. They seem to have the same offerings as PrintPlace, but their expedited costs are lower for 500 business cards or less. 

Elite Flyers 5/10

Fast Bulk Order Business Cards 

Screenshot of Eliteflyers website If you are looking to get your cards fast and save some money, Elite Flyers is one of the better pricing and speed performance options for expedited orders and shipping. The price is best when you buy higher volumes. They have reasonable rates and lots of options. Design starts around $50 if you need help creating a business card.  Their most unique offering is the Lenticular Business Card for 3D images with up to 30 morphing positions. These stand out among the other providers because they use screens that can tell a story.  They would have ranked higher if they had more reviews, but without personally testing them I can’t rank them as high as I would like. I personally want to test the Lenticular cards.

UPrinting 4.93/10

This is another one of the places to get cheap business cards that doesn’t have templates but has similar offerings to PrintPlace and Printrunner. I found UPrinting to be the lowest rated of the competitors that offer virtually identical services because
  1. They had more bad reviews than the others.
  2. Shipping is the only category where they outperformed competitors.
  3. The free shipping deal for over $39 (subject to change) made Printrunner a much better deal.

Overnight Prints: 4.71/10

If you want a wide variety of templates, limited size options, but cheap business cards, Overnight Prints might be an option. It’s at the bottom of the list for a reason, though. The reviews are bad, the shipping estimator didn’t work for me, and they offered an 80% discount. I wouldn’t have listed them except 80% off of $7 is definitely one of the lowest-cost ways to get business cards. 

Get Your Cheap Business Cards Printed

Ultimately, the decision comes down to three choices: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]
  1. Quality
  2. Product features
  3. Timeliness of the order
[/su_note] For business cards that communicate a brand message, I would recommend the following:
  • Rounded corners
  • At least 16 pt. stock, but higher is better
  • Consider magnet, sticker, or other specialty business card options

I Want to Leave You with This…

The value of a good impression is measured by the lifetime value of a customer. For most businesses, revenue will exceed the cost of a business card by 1,000 times (or more). While it’s great to have cheap business cards, get the ones that create the brand image you want to portray. What is your experience with printing companies? Should we add others to the list?
Business ideas

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