Guide to Small Business Online Banking

Run the numbers

Banking online is a good deal, but how good? You should shop around for low-minimum offers that give you the best deal according to how you run your business.

I recommend: Bankrate.com had done an overall study of how much cheaper online banking can be. You'll still need to compare offers, but this is a good overview.

Your bank probably already has a plan for you

Consumers and big business were relatively quick to pick up on banking online. Now the attention is turning to getting small businesses connected.

I recommend: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Wachovia and Regions are all piling on with small business offerings.

Automate your record-keeping

Banks have a big interest in keeping your involved day to day so that you think of them when you want a credit line or loan. They do this in part by making it easy to download transaction records to software you likely already use.

I recommend: The three most common download formats are for Quicken, QuickBooks and Microsoft Money.

Get your payroll, taxes and retirement planning done

Thanks to broadband speed and advanced security, banks have begun to up-sell services that were once pricey extras.

I recommend: Bank of America has an extensive suite of services for small business, including payroll. Regions goes so far as to offer cash management, essentially an automated back office. Most offer business credit cards you can manage online, as well as 401(k) and pension plans.

Save even more by going completely virtual

In the late 1990s, a bunch of startup banks crowded onto the Web offering nosebleed-high rates to draw people away from bricks-and-mortar operations. Mostly, they lost, but a few battle on, and it can be a good model if you know you'll never need to walk into a branch.

I recommend: NetBank is still fighting the good fight, and E*Trade Financial has been pushing hard into the space. Traditional banks, like HSBC, Citibank, ING and Keybank, are offering super-high-rate "direct" accounts — if you work with them only online. These are more consumer-oriented but a good place to park cash.