With most events going online, you need to find strategies to find and attract online event sponsors. Hosting an event, even online, is expensive. And ticket sales alone probably won’t cover all your costs. This is where event sponsors come in. What is Event Sponsorship? Event sponsorship is an agreement between an external brand (event …
Link building used to be simple: you would write a bunch of articles, submit them to an article submission site, and get an external link back to your site.
That doesn’t work in the post-Penguin era. While the right backlinks can grow your Google rankings, revenue, and brand, the wrong ones can get your site penalized. You need to learn how to build a high-quality backlink portfolio the right way if you want to see success.
In this in-depth post, I will show you a strategic link building technique that works. It is scalable, and when you apply it to your site, your rankings should improve. You may even improve your conversion rate because you are working as the high authority on the topic to search engines.
In this post I’m going to cover:
Understanding what Google wants
How to scale your link building efforts
Keyword research and targeting
How to earn editorial links
Why is an Effective Backlink Portfolio Important?
Backlinks remain a vital Google ranking factor. These days, an effective link building strategy is about trust and popularity.
According to Quick Sprout, domain trust/authority represents 30% of Google’s ranking algorithm.
If you’re making that kind of investment, you need to have accurate information on how to build links that Google will trust.
Step #1: Understanding What Google Wants Helps You Get Backlinks
When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing, Google dictates what works. By creating content that aligns with Google’s mission, you’re more likely to rank higher in the SERPs.
Google also believes that there’s always more information out there. With external link building, organizing information (to help your reader) becomes your mission, too. When you pay close attention to what your readers and ideal buyers want, you don’t have to use hype to sell your products.
If you want to get backlinks without getting penalized, you must understand and work closely with Google’s mission statement. If you fail to do that, the technique won’t work.
Before you start building a website link to your web page, ask yourself these questions relating to Google’s mission:
Is my content well-organized?
Do I provide useful information to the sites that will link to mine?
Let’s talk about the first question because for effective link building, site organization matters.
When people come to your site, do you leave them wondering what else to do (especially the first timers)? Make sure that your site is easy to navigate. Here’s a great example:
Here’s another site with disorganized navigation:
Getting the navigation right is the first step in organizing your content so that people and search engines can find information that’s useful and relevant. The second step is to build a foundation that will make other sites want to create an external link to yours.
How to Develop a Strong Backlink Foundation
Let’s say that you have written and published a useful post and want to get it ranked on Google. You may assume the best way to accomplish this is by gaining lots of backlinks.
This isn’t correct. If you generate links to new content too quickly, it looks manipulative and that can be a red flag for Google.
Many people find link building and link acquisition stressful. One reason is they are not producing great content that people will gladly share.
In Moz’s classic book “How to Rank,” Cyrus Shepard recommends that “90% of your effort should go into creating great content, and 10% into link building.” This is the 90/10 rule of link building.
As harsh as it sounds, Shepard says that if you are struggling to generate a high-quality backlink to your site, it’s likely that you have reversed the rule.
Link building is all about positioning your content and getting more people to link to you. In other words, a single post can be used to gain many quality links to your site.
A high-quality external link has two key advantages over traditional links: relevance and trust. Here’s the difference:
Let’s say that you have a dog training site and you get an inbound link from an article directory. Google won’t see that website link as relevant to the subject of your site.
However, if that link acquisition is from a site that’s related to dog training, like a dog food store or a discussion board that’s centered around dogs, you will not only improve your rankings, but your site will be relevant and valuable to those who visit it – and, that will help you get with more link acquisition and achieve a high PR.
How do you find authority sites where you can build relationships and start the process of gaining relevant backlinks?
The simplest way is to google keywords that bring up sites that are relevant to your field. You can filter out the ones from your competitors.
Once you have identified some sites, then you need to research them further to figure out which ones will help most in your link building efforts. You should take the following factors into consideration.
1. Domain Authority
It’s important to know the domain authority of the sites that you consider for link acquisition. A great tool for this is the Moz Bar, which shows the authority status of any domain or keyword in the search results.
2. Domain Relevancy
As I said above, getting links from relevant domains is a key part of scalable link building. Domain relevancy is also a key Google ranking factor and is especially important if you want to escape the impact of Google Penguin on your search engine rank.
3. Anchor Text
According to a study, “every single site that they looked at that got negatively hit by the Penguin Update had a “money” keyword as its anchor text for over 60% of its incoming links.”
That tells you that if you want to scale your external backlink efforts, you must combine domain relevancy with the right anchor text.
Anchor text is important when assessing the quality of a site. In the image above, 704 sites are linking to Nerd Fitness through branded anchor text (nerd fitness).
When you are building an external link, you should use your brand name with other keyword variations. You could call this branded hybrid anchor text.
For instance, if your site is reiv.com.au, a real estate training site, you can use any of these anchor text variations to generate backlinks:
reiv real estate training
reiv realtors
reiv training for beginners
You could also vary the anchor text by using URLs with your target keywords:
http://reiv.com.au real estate
http://reiv.com.au estate training
real estate training at www.reiv.com.au
With the right approach to quality content, domain relevancy, trust flow, and anchor text, you will enjoy the benefits of real traffic and external links to your site.
Two-Tier Strategy for Backlinks
A two-tier linking structure will help you increase the strength, juice, and potential of your inbound links.
Tier 1 backlinks are links you earn/build directly to your site.
Tier 2 backlinks are links that directly pass the ranking value to tier-one links.
If you get a link to your ‘money page’ from a new post on someone else’s blog, that website link may not add much value to your site ranking.
Most of the time, direct backlinks to your site can take a while to have an effect. However, when you strengthen those backlinks, you will see a bump in organic traffic and rankings.
One way to strengthen those links is with social signals. When you pass social signals to your tier 1 backlinks (i.e. sites that linked to you), you will ultimately boost their effectiveness and this will improve your overall Google rankings and get you that high PR you desire.
As for tier 2 backlinks, there are 3 simple steps that you need to follow:
Step #1: Write valuable articles and post them on web 2.0 sites, like Tumblr, Web Node, and Blogger.
Let’s use Tumblr as an example.
First, create and publish your blog.
Next, click “Add Text”:
Next, add your post title and content, then publish.
Step #2: Get your Tumblr page indexed by sharing the post URL on Google+ and Facebook and pinging it at Pingomatic. Pingomatic will syndicate your URL to major content aggregators.
Wait for the site to get crawled and indexed. This should take less than 6 hours. To check, go to the Google search engine and paste your Tumblr URL into the search box.
Step #3: Once indexed, use a branded keyword on the Tumblr page to link back to your site:
This backlink should point directly to your site, but it may not have a strong impact on your rankings. Not everything you do will be like a press release covered by the nightly news. There is still value, however.
In that case, create a tier 2 structure for this Tumblr page. Remember that your link is already there, so all you have to do now is build more authoritative links to your Tumblr page.
Caution: when you’re using a tier 2 link building structure to strengthen your tier 1 backlinks, avoid anchor text over-optimization. Make sure that you aren’t just using this tactic for link acquisition. The new page or site that you create on platforms like Tumblr should be valuable and beneficial to users. From there, you can add a website link.
Use generic anchor text. For example, if the keyword you’re targeting is ‘UK military base,’ your anchor could be:
Learn more about military bases in the UK
Visit this UK military base
In other words, don’t link to your web 2.0 site with an exact match keyword/anchor text combination. This will actually hurt your site’s rank.
Step #3. Keyword Research and Targeting to Improve Your Backlink Portfolio
When building links that scale, it’s all about providing relevant content, so that people will keep linking to it. Keyword targeting is an important aspect of that.
How relevant are your keywords to the prospects’ needs? If you want to make your site more powerful through external link building, you can’t afford to ignore keyword research.
Keyword research helps you to dig into the minds of your target audience.
For example, what happens when you conduct a keyword search in your industry for something like “best social media strategist in NY.”
First, the people searching for that long-tail keyword are interested in talking/working with a professional who understands social media marketing. They don’t want a newbie writing a boring press release, but a strategist; someone with a proven track record.
Second, they are only interested in social media strategists who live in New York, which means that they might be a local business owner wanting a face-to-face meeting.
If you were in that niche, let’s see how you could find suitable keywords to focus your content in the search engine and attract small business owners who need help with social media marketing.
Step #1: Log into your account and select “Start Now.” Once you’re logged in, you answer a series of questions so Google can better understand your business and which keywords you should target.
After you complete the questions, Google will show you keyword themes that may be relevant for your business. You can click the ones that you want to target.
Step 2: You can use some of the themes for your keywords, or you can use tools like Ubersuggest to find additional keywords that relate to the themes Google showed you.
Take care to only include keywords that appeal to your target audience.
For example, if your target audience is a business that is looking for a social media strategist, you can use keywords such as:
social media strategist
social media marketing strategist
social media marketing company
social media consultant
The people searching for the two keyword phrases above are probably freelancers looking to make extra money through social media marketing. Your target audience is the business looking to hire the strategist, not the freelancer.
Never target keywords that are off-topic or unrelated to your core message, products or services. They are not your ideal target audience, so those aren’t the right keywords for you in link acquisition.
When you build a website link, you don’t want to use anchor text that will make site visitors bounce. Remember that scalable link building is concerned with the relevancy of the linking domain.
Targeting Consumer Demographics
This is another essential targeting element for link building. When you know your audience’s demographics (age, gender, education, and so on), you can get inside their heads. When you do, you’ll be able to create useful content that helps them solve their problems. That’s a key component in building organic links that gets you positive results with a high PR.
To find out the audience demographics for your site, visit Quantcast, sign up, and input your site URL in the search bar. Scroll down to see the demographics:
This image shows the demographics at Metacafe. It clearly shows that most of the site’s target audience (readers) are male and aged 35 – 44. It also has many readers in the 25-34 age group.
If you’re going to build social signals, you need to leverage automation with tools like Social Pilot.
If you want to get social signals to scale link acquisition and achieve great results, you need to create them continuously by sharing your content.
Manual syndication can be time-consuming though. Imagine how long it would take for you to share your latest post on the top 20 social media networks.
Other Link Building Tools
Here are some more external link building tools that you can use to analyze keywords, referring domain names, anchor text and so on:
Open Link Profiler: a powerful tool for link diagnosis and industry checks.
Open Site Explorer: use this tool from Moz to determine the number of backlinks and the domain authority of referring domain names.
nTopic: a simple tool for topic analysis. It helps you plan content creation from scratch so that you can effectively target the right keywords and improve your rankings.
Step #4: Earn Editorial Backlinks
Earning editorial backlinks from authority sites will really skyrocket your external link-building strategy. To earn those links, you have to provide immense value. You can’t just put some text together and pray for miracles. Here are some techniques to help you gain quality backlinks.
1: Skyscraper Technique
After several years of struggling to get traffic, Brian Dean cracked the external link building code. Once he implemented it, hundreds of people started linking to his first-ever infographic and he received a little above 50,000 unique visitors with tremendously high PR:
The first tool I recommend is Moz’s link explorer. Visit the site and input your competitor’s blog URL. Let’s see which of their posts got the most shares and comments (engagement).
First, enter the URL in the search bar.
Next, log in by providing some basic information. Once you’re logged in, Moz will display detailed information about URL provided. Scroll down the page to see the top websites linking to the domain you entered.
Next, you can click on “Top followed links to this site” to see more information.
Look for the URLs that have high domain authority and are on the topic of your post. These are the URLs you should be targeting for backlinks.
3: Write a Better Headline & Title
In order to grow your business, you need to take actionable steps that will get you results. One such action is to write better headlines than your competitors.
Here are three examples of good headlines:
How You Can Grow Your Email List Through Content Marketing
6 Steps To Attract More Customers To Your Store Through Content Marketing
How a Simple Content Marketing Strategy Improved My Google Rankings by 110%
Adding numbers in titles works. I’ve seen a lot of articles go viral because the headline has a number.
Mention power users, experts, and popular bloggers.
End with a call-to-action (you can include a giveaway of a checklist related to your topic).
If you follow this proven checklist, you’ll be able to write more thorough, useful, and data-driven blog posts that will stand the test of time. This is how you get a high PR.
5. Send a Thank You Email
Send thank you messages when you mention authors and site owners in your post. They might be more willing to give you a backlink if you send a thank you.
The email template below was introduced to Backlinko’s founder by Peep Laja of ConversionXL.com. It may be brief, but it helped Laja to grow his blog to 100,000 visitors in less than 12 months:
6. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging used to be very powerful, but you need to do it the right way.
For your guest blog to be successful, you must provide useful content.
If you produce helpful and sharable posts, people will naturally want to add a website link to you.
You can use commenting to gain authoritative links.
Links from comments may not have much SEO value, but they can be natural and relevant, which are among the key factors that Google values. Here’s how you get backlinks from comments:
Search for blogs with the dofollow CommentLuv plugin installed.
Subscribe to post updates for at least 5 blogs.
Speed matters. Once you get an alert that a new post has been published, quickly read the post (if it’s a long one, read the first two paragraphs and then the last part to get the main points).
Write a valuable comment. Avoid comments like, ‘nice post’, ‘awesome write up,’ or ‘this post helped me.’
Here’s the kind of comment that can generate traffic and links back to your site:
This comment is rich, helpful, and well written, so readers can benefit not just from the blog post, but from the comment, too. And, of course, the commenter has linked back to his site in the URL field.
Here’s another example, from a guy at Moz who left a wonderful comment and then linked to his blog post:
Conclusion
These days, you need to come at your website from all angles if you want to create a successful and scalable backlink strategy. You should consider things like quality content, easy site navigation, effective CTAs, etc.
By taking a holistic approach to improving your website and marketing strategies, you are more likely to earn backlinks from authoritative sources, which, in turn, can improve your
Link building has been an effective strategy for achieving high PR with Google rankings, even before the first Panda update. I believe it still is, as long as you do it right.
If you want help creating a backlink portfolio or assistance with digital marketing strategy and management in general, reach out for a consultation. We’re here to help!
Have you experimented with scalable external link building?
If you’re using Discord, chances are you’ve heard of Discord bots. These AI-powered bots allow you to perform a wide range of actions, from welcoming new members to paraphrasing influencer content.
Discord has grown dramatically since it hit the stage in 2015, and while it was primarily dedicated to gamers, digital marketers are finding ways to make it work for them.
If you’re looking for a unique and entertaining way to engage with your community, Discord bots might be the way to go.
What Are Discord Bots?
Discord bots are one of the most useful features of the communication platform. They are AIs that marketers and business owners can use to perform a wide range of automated tasks on the server.
Building a community is never easy, but doing it on Discord is a great way to provide people with a feeling of exclusivity. If you already have an audience, this strategy will benefit you.
You’ll be able to offer tips, record videos, host lives, and teach people everything you know in a safe and closed community environment. When people feel like they’re receiving something they can’t get anywhere else, it makes them more inclined to share it with others and, in-turn, pay more for the information.
Discord bots make it easier to create an engaged community. You can use them to welcome new members to the server, moderate communications between members, and ban people who refuse to obey the rules.
You can use them to add memes, games, music, and other pieces of entertaining content to the server to make it more enjoyable for your members.
Knowing what Discord bots to add is the key. Some bots can enhance your server and provide a better community, making users want to stick around and engage with you. The wrong ones could turn people away or create a poor environment.
10 Useful Discord Bots to Try
The key to success with marketing on Discord is using the best bots to create a highly engaged and entertained community. In this section, we’re taking a look at the ten most useful Discord bots.
1. MEE6
MEE6 is the most comprehensive Discord bot out there. You can create custom commands to automatically provide users with roles and send messages in the main channel or through DMs based on specific actions.
Setting up welcome messages and automating roles is easy as well. With a few simple commands, you can welcome new members onto the server, assign them a role, and explain the rules of the server without having to do anything manually.
The best feature of this bot is the amount of customization you can apply to your Discord bot commands. You can automatically kick someone if they promote ads, unwanted links, or spam. This can help create a tight-knit community where everyone can enjoy themselves.
2. ProBot
ProBot is a Discord bot that allows you to automatically set welcome messages, so every time someone joins the server, they’re greeted with a customized message to showcase your personality.
With the automod system, you can instantly detect bad behavior and warn the person not to do it again or kick them out automatically if necessary. For example, if someone posts something obscene, you wouldn’t likely want to give the person a second chance. ProBot can kick them out and keep your group on topic.
The bot allows you to set unique commands with different tiers to determine which actions merit an immediate kick and result in a stern message.
One important factor to consider in the best bots is their uptime. ProBot has 99.99% uptime, so you (almost) never have to worry about the bot going down and your server running amuck.
3. Dank Memer
If your first thought is, “Why would memes be important for marketing?”, then you may be surprised to find out they’re a very powerful marketing tool and something you can use to create a better community.
Memes are a great way to increase engagement because people love humor and the point of Discord is to create a light-hearted community that’s rich with entertainment and fun. Memes are a simple but effective way to do just that.
Dank Memer is a great Discord bot because of the sheer number of commands you can use. They have commands from simple pictures of animals to actual games to play blackjack against the AI using coins bought with real currency.
If your goal is to create a community where people like to come to relax, unwind, and enjoy themselves, Dank Memer is a fantastic Discord bot choice.
4. Voicy
Communication is important to a community and finding new and funny ways to communicate with your members will set your server apart from the competition. Keep in mind that there are a ton of other people competing to get the same users into their channel as you. You must find unique ways to draw attention to yourself.
Voicy allows you to search through a library of more than 50,000 funny sound clips from their network. They’re constantly updating the platform with new sound effects and you and your members can use the commands to create a more enjoyable experience and entertaining environment where people want to stick around.
5. Community Hubs Beta
The Community Hubs Discord bot’s goal is to enhance the way we communicate with each other across the many servers and different platforms. It connects a Discord channel with a Hub room where there are other channels so you can share information between two spaces.
This could be a powerful way to bring two communities together if you have different audiences across multiple genres. For example, let’s say you have a server that focuses primarily on SEO and another for Influencer Marketing.
If you want to do a live stream to both audiences because the subject matter is relevant to both, you can bring the two together using Hubs to watch the live stream together and benefit from the information. The Hubs bot also allows the two channels to communicate with each other.
Not only does this have immediate, upfront benefits, but there are benefits on the back-end as well. For example, someone may decide to join both communities.
6. Musibeth
Musibeth allows you to play YouTube content directly on Discord. This has a few advantages. First, you could share videos with members to provide context or additional information on something you want them to know.
You could also set up automatic commands that provide videos for frequently asked questions so you can spend more time building the community and less time answering the same question repeatedly.
If you have your own YouTube channel, you could use the Musibeth Discord bot to spread your channel around and get more views while also informing members on whatever they want to know. However, be careful not to spam your channel with YouTube videos users aren’t interested in.
The most obvious use for the bot is to play music, so you can do that as well. Playing music on the server is a great way to relate to people and create a comfortable environment.
7. Quillbot
Quillbot is a unique Discord bot that allows you to paraphrase something someone said. Using the commands will automatically take written text and rewrite it for you. I see a few useful purposes for this, but the biggest one involves content marketing and writing.
Let’s say you’re interviewing someone with expertise on a certain subject matter. They provide you with an answer using text from an article they wrote or a feature they had somewhere. You can’t take those words and use them directly. Quillbot will paraphrase what they said so you can use it in your article.
There are also more relaxed purposes for the bot that you can play around with if you’re just using it for fun. For example, you could use the word flip modifier, and it will change the sentence using as many synonyms as possible.
8. Spixx
Spixx is a bot that allows you to use commands for memes, music, and games. It’s all in the name of creating an enjoyable environment and a niche community where people feel like they are welcome.
By using Discord bot games, you’re indirectly marketing to your audience without realizing it. The second you create a community and engage with them, that’s marketing. It’s the simplest form of marketing, and it’s effortless when everyone is having a good time.
Spixx helps you do that. It’s important to make sure that you monitor how people are using it though, because some of the memes and commands are a little obscure.
9. GiveawayBot
What better way to show your community that you love them than with giveaways? GiveawayBot helps host a giveaway using simple commands that allow you to start, pick a winner, and end a giveaway without requiring any manual work.
Why is this important for digital marketing? Again, we’re always trying to find new and exciting ways to engage with our followers, and giving away stuff is a great way to get attention.
If you’re hosting fun, entertaining contests, you’re going to organically grow your following because people are going to share the Discord server.
10. Other Various Discord Bots
While this isn’t one specific bot, you can search for additional bots that can fit your marketing needs at top.gg. But use caution while searching.
This is a list of bots made by almost anyone, so make sure to review it carefully before using it for your marketing.
How to Add a Bot
Once you’ve figured out what Discord bots you want to add to your channel, you’ll want to find them using an online bot list (like the one mentioned in #10) or with a simple Google search.
From there, you’ll look for the invite or add button and choose which server you want to add the bot to. Remember that you can only do this for the servers where you have admin or moderator access.
Once the bot is done uploading on the server, you should be able to use it immediately with a series of commands. When you want to remove a bot, you can right-click on it on the server member list and click kick or ban.
Conclusion
Using Discord bots is a unique but powerful digital marketing strategy that we could all benefit from. As marketers, we must stay on the cutting edge of new trends and focus on up-and-coming platforms.
Discord is growing rapidly in the gaming and technology community, so if you’re in those niches, you’ll likely reap many rewards from using Discord bots. If you need help locating, installing, or implementing these strategies, we have plenty of resources to lend a hand.
Do you use Discord for digital marketing? If so, do you feel like it has a positive impact on your business?
Businesses need funding. It’s that simple. You would be hard pressed to find a business owner that doesn’t know that. However, what many do not know, is that there are more options than just traditional bank loans. In fact, here are 6 different types of small business loans, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
7 Types of Small Business Loans and Which One Is Right for You
Knowing the different types of small business loans is only half the battle. Then, you have to figure out which one is right for your business. The answer will depend on a number of things. Sometimes, you may not even get a choice. You may have to take what you can qualify for. Still, knowing your options is the first step. Then, you can work on putting your business in a position to qualify for what will work best if you aren’t there yet.
What Types of Small Business Loans are Most Common?
Types of SBA Loans
There are several types of SBA loans. These are small-business loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration and issued by participating lenders, mostly banks. They can guarantee up to 85% of loans of $150,000 or less, and loans that are more than $150,000 they will guarantee up to 75%. The maximum loan amount they offer is $5 million.
Due to the fact that these are SBA loans, meaning that they have a government guarantee, financial institutions are able to offer them at lower interest rates.
Credit Line Hybrid Financing: Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.
What are the SBA Loan Options?
Again, there are many types of SBA loans for various kinds of businesses and needs. Here are just a few.
7(a) Loans
This is the Small Business Administration’s flagship loan program. It offers federally funded term loans up to $5 million. The funds can be used for expansion, purchasing equipment, working capital and more. Banks, credit unions, and other specialized institutions, in partnership with the SBA, process these loans and disburse the funds.
504 Loans
These loans are also available up to $5 million and can buy machinery, facilities, or land. They are generally used for expansion. Private sector lenders or nonprofits process disburse the funds. Specifically, they work well for commercial real estate purchases.
Microloans
Microloans are available in amounts up to $50,000. They work for starting a business, purchasing equipment, buying inventory, or for working capital. Contrary to most other SBA loan programs, financing comes directly from the Small Business Administration, with community based non-profits acting as intermediaries.
SBA disaster loans
Available in amounts up to $2 million, these funds are processed directly through the SBA as well. They are available to small-business owners that have been affected by natural disasters.
SBA Express loans
The turnaround for express loans is much faster, with the SBA taking up to 36 hours to give a decision. Necessary paperwork for application is less also, making express loans a great option for working capital, among other things, if you qualify.
What Are the Best Government Small Business Loans?
The 7(a) program is by far the most versatile. The funds can be used for a number of business needs. If you qualify, they are a great option. Credit Suite can help you get funding through this program.
Types of Small Business Loans: 401(k) Financing
Your existing 401(k) or IRA can help fund your business as well. The funds work as collateral for business financing. This program uses IRS proven strategies. Furthermore, you will pay no tax penalties, and you still earn interest on your 401(k). Rates are low, and this option usually has a quick closing and funding process as well.
Types of Small Business Loans: Merchant Cash Advances
If you accept credit cards as payment, you may qualify for a merchant cash advance. The minimum credit score is 500. Also, your business must bring in $100,000 or more per year in credit card sales. Typical approval amounts equal one months’ credit processing volume. So, you’ll also need 3-6 months of bank and merchant statements.
Types of Small Business Loans: Equipment Financing
This is one way to get financing to buy or lease new equipment. Rates vary widely based on risk factors, but usually you can get approval with a credit score of 650 or better.
The lender will undervalue equipment by perhaps up to 50%. Remember, this is on major equipment only. Lenders won’t combine a lot of small equipment. You can get loans up to $2 million.
Equipment Sale – Leaseback
If you already own your equipment free and clear, you can use it as collateral for financing. The process involves selling the equipment to a lender for cash. Then, you lease it back from them. You need at least one larger piece of higher value equipment to qualify, and you can get funding in as little as 3 weeks.
Credit Line Hybrid Financing: Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.
Types of Small Business Loans: Credit Line Hybrid
One type of loan many business owners do not know about is the credit line hybrid. It allows you to fund your business with no collateral and typically very low interest rates. No financials are required. Furthermore, it reports to the business credit reporting agencies. As a result, you build business credit, which will help you access more funding in the future.
Types of Small Business Loans: Traditional Business Lines of Credit
A traditional business line of credit is like a cross between a traditional loan and a business credit card. You go through a traditional bank and apply just like you would a loan. It may be collateral based or not, depending on your lender’s requirements. You may also use a guarantor to help reduce rates and get better terms if needed.
The difference between a traditional loan and a traditional business line of credit is that the line of credit is revolving credit rather than a term loan. Like a credit card, you only pay back what you use. Also, lines of credit typically have lower interest rates than business credit cards. The trade off is, there are no rewards like cash back or air miles.
What is the Best Type of Loan for My Business?
Truthfully, the answer to this question varies. It depends on the specific situation your business is in at the specific time you need funding. The answer now may not be the answer later. However, here are some ideas of types of small businesses and situations that each option may work well for.
SBA Loans
SBA government loans are an option for many business owners that find themselves stuck in the middle. For example, they may not qualify for a straight traditional loan, but still want to benefit from the lower rates and better terms these loans can offer. With a credit score slightly below what the banks typically require, many business owners can qualify for these government guaranteed loans.
401(k) Financing and Equipment Financing
These types of small business loans are great for those business owners that have these assets to leverage. They offer low rates and do not require credit scores as high as some other options. In fact, with the 401(k) financing, credit really isn’t an issue at all. The trick is, you just have to have a 401(k). If you do, and meet the requirements, these options can be a great way to get business funding
Merchant Cash Advance
This program is ideal for business owners who accept credit cards and need cash fast. See, an MCA program is designed to help you get funding based strictly on your cash flow. As a result, you usually only have to provide your business bank statements. Generally, you do not have to submit a ton of documents.
You can get a merchant cash advance through Credit Suite. In fact, our merchant financing program is perfect for business owners with credit issues. Honestly, lenders are not looking for, nor do they require good credit to qualify. You can be approved for as much as $500,000 in financing with no collateral requirements and bad credit.
Credit Line Hybrid
Maybe you do not do a lot of credit card business and still need funding. In that case, the credit line hybrid may be for you. You can usually get a loan of 5x the amount of your highest revolving credit limit account, up to $150,000. Honestly, this is more than what you could get on your own when applying for credit cards. Furthermore, you can get cash out on this program.
Credit Line Hybrid Financing: Get up to $150,000 in financing so your business can thrive.
Also, there is no impact on your personal credit with this type of financing. You need a 680+ credit score, but if you don’t meet that you can take on a credit partner who does. A lot of business owners use the good credit of friends or family to help them get the funding they need.
Traditional Merchant Cash Advance
If you have strong personal credit and want the flexibility of revolving credit without the interest rates of a credit card, then this is for you.
What are the Best Types of Small Business Loans?
The answer to this question is not as cut and dry as it may seem. There are a number of factors that make a difference. First, it depends on the needs of your business. Then, you have to consider what types of small business loans your business actually qualifies to get.
The key to ensuring not only that you get the business funding you need right now, but that you are eligible for the best funding options for your business in the future, is to work with a business credit expert. They can guide you to the best funding now, and help you put yourself in a position to have even better options next time.
You can use a 401K loan to fund a business. But, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. It appears to be a fabulous option. Your payments will just be going back into your account, and any interest will be paid to yourself. In reality, it is a good idea, until you realize there is an even better way.
Should You Take Out a 401K Loan For Business Purposes?
When it comes to using a retirement plan to fund a business, a 401K loan isn’t the only option. Technically a distribution could work too, but that’s not wise. More about that later. There is actually another option that many do not know about.
Unlock the Mystery of the 401K for Working Capital Program
It’s not so much of a mystery as it is widely unknown. This Credit Suite program offers a flexible and powerful way for a new or existing business or franchise to leverage assets that are in a 401(k) plan or IRA. These are assets which are tied up in stocks.
It doesn’t take long either. In as little as 3 weeks you can actually invest a portion of these funds into your own business. Then, you not only have more control over the performance of your retirement plan assets, but you also have the working capital you need.
This type of program even has the blessing of the IRS. In fact, they have their own name for it. It’s called a Rollover for Business Startups (ROBS).
Will it Cause More Tax Issues Than a 401K Loan?
No it will not. According to the IRS, a ROBS qualified plan is a separate entity. It has its own set of requirements. The plan technically owns the business, not the individual. That means some filing exceptions for individuals might not apply to the plan. That said, always check with a tax expert when it comes to tax matters.
Surprisingly, this type of financing is pretty easy to get. You do not have to submit financials or have good credit to get approval. In fact, all the lender will ask for is a copy of your two most recent 401(k) statements.
If the plan has a value of more than $35,000, you can get approval. This is true even if you have really bad personal credit. You can get however much of your 401(k) is “rollable.” Sometimes, you can secure a low-interest credit line or loan for 100% of your current 401(k) value.
The plan you use cannot be from a business where you currently work. It will have to be from previous employment. Also, you can’t still be contributing to it.
Benefits of a ROBS
The benefits of this option are many. First, you can get 24-hour pre approval. Also, you pay no penalties for the rollover. Plus, you pay no application fees.
You can get approval even with bad credit, and the time from application to funding is 3 weeks or less. A big bonus is this type of funding will report to the business credit reporting agencies. That means you build business credit!
How Does it Work?
It sounds kind of crazy but it works. Credit Suite business credit experts will help every step of the way. First, we’ll help you set up a 401(k) plan in your company. Then, you’ll invest your 401(k) funds in it. Your business then has cash, but no debt. Despite how complicated it sounds, It’s all super easy and fast on your end. We handle the hard stuff.
Also, with our program, you will get more than just the financing. You will work with a CPA that will help you roll over a non-contributing and qualifying account. By doing this, you can cash out half, or $50,000, whichever is lower.
If applicable, they will also structure a self-directing IRA for the rest of the fund. You will get 5 years of management and consulting services for your business.
The Question of Terms
The cost is 1% and the term is 5 years. There is a $4995 lender fee. Remember, this includes 5 years worth of management and consulting.
Why Can’t I Just Take a Distribution to Fund My Business with My Retirement?
Unless you are 59 ½ years old, there is an early withdrawal penalty of 10%. If you think about it, you would be paying a lot to use your own money. Don’t do that.
ROBS vs. a 401K Loan?
First of all, not all plans allow for loans. If your plan does, the IRS will only let you borrow up to 50%, up to $50,000, before you have to start paying taxes.
Also, you would be paying interest. That isn’t terrible, as you are paying interest to yourself. However, you will be making monthly payments, whereas with the 401K Rollover for Working Capital, there is no payment.
This is a unique program. It allows you to tap into your existing retirement account without penalties or taxable distributions. You also avoid loans, banks, or credit checks. There is no debt and no monthly payment.
What if You Need More Than You Can Get with This Type of Financing?
Whether you decide on a 401K loan or you go the ROBS route, you may find you still need more. It’s not uncommon to need other funding options to bridge the gaps between how much is available from your 401(k) and how much you actually need.
One great option that compliments 401K financing well is the Credit Line Hybrid. You can get up to $150,000 in unsecured business financing. Similar to a 401K loan and the 401K for Working Capital program, you do not have to turn in a lot of documents. In fact, this is considered “no-doc” financing.
You do need to have a 680 or above credit score. However, if you do not meet this or other requirements, you can take on a credit partner that does. Many business owners piggy back off the good credit of a friend or family member until they improve their own.
What makes this an especially good compliment to 401K financing, is that it also reports to the business credit reporting agencies. This just speeds up the rate at which you build your business credit score.
Business Credit Score
Even though neither a 401K loan or the 401K for Working Capital Program require good credit, it’s important to understand this one thing. The 401(k) for Working Capital Program does help you build a strong business credit score. It isn’t easy to find accounts that report your business credit report.
Credit Suite works with business owners every day that are struggling with this. Most account holders do not make it clear whether they do this or not. We work with those that we know do, and this program is one of the easiest ways to get another account reporting.
Do not underestimate this benefit of the 401(k) financing program and the Credit Line Hybrid. It is something that should be considered when making a financing decision. Your business credit report can make a difference in whether you are able to get funding from another source in the future.
Funding a Business With a 401K Loan
If your retirement fund allows for loans, and you have enough available in your account, then the answer is yes. You absolutely can. However, there is another, better option, for using your retirement account to fund your business. Contact Credit Suite today to get started.
Organization bank card for organizations as a whole, as well as for local business specifically, have actually ended up being significantly prominent as increasingly more companies began understanding the advantages. It could be great to evaluate the kind of benefits organization bank card manage their customers, in addition to the various other helpful functions used by small company charge card.
The small company proprietor ought to constantly keep in mind to contrast the prices versus the advantages of their company charge card. Every advantage will certainly come with an expense affixed to it, as well as there might be circumstances where the advantages from the rewards do not balance out the greater expenses in costs or rate of interest prices. Many company bank card bring the complying with rewards:
Constant Flyer Miles Credit Cards: As in individual charge card, traveling factors and also honors are popular rewards for company bank card. You will certainly enjoy this perk if you do a great deal of organization taking a trip, due to the fact that each time you utilize your company bank card, regular leaflet miles are made. Know that some cards enforce a ceiling on the variety of miles you can gather, so bear in mind to inspect this with your organization bank card provider.
Money Back Credit Cards: Cash back includes kind a component of numerous organization credit scores cards’ advantages. Given that an organization makes use of service debt cards for acquisitions and also various other needed expenses anyhow, the money back function is both helpful and also welcome.
Issuing Business Credit Cards to Employees: Most company credit history card companies will certainly enable expansion cards to be released to your staff members. Workers delight in the eases a service debt card manages them, due to the fact that it does away with having to obtain compensations for costs they sustain on part of the firm.
Tracking Expenses: As component of their solution, the card provider frequently gives monitoring records on the costs credited business bank card. This comprehensive listing currently prepares investing right into classifications. This is really valuable in preparing your economic declarations and also company tax obligations.
No Annual Credit Card Fees: Some company charge card providers will certainly forgo the fees for yearly charge card costs. The quantity can be considerable, specifically if you will certainly be providing numerous of your staff members with organization charge card. This advantage is typically approved just to those with great repayment backgrounds on their bank card accounts.
Absolutely No Interest Balance Transfers: An organization credit rating card provider might lure you to change your service from one more organization credit report card provider to them via using an absolutely no percent equilibrium transfer. This can be extremely appealing, considering that you are in impact obtaining an interest-free funding with which to pay your equilibrium on the various other credit scores card.
It pays to analyze the private functions of the different organization bank card. Attempt to choose business charge card that fits the demands of your service and also supplies you the optimum advantage.
The tiny company proprietor must constantly keep in mind to contrast the prices versus the advantages of their company credit rating card. Constant Flyer Miles Credit Cards: As in individual credit report cards, traveling factors and also honors are really preferred benefits for organization credit rating cards. Issuing Business Credit Cards to Employees: Most company credit rating card providers will certainly enable expansion cards to be released to your workers. No Annual Credit Card Fees: Some company credit scores card companies will certainly forgo the costs for yearly credit report card charges. No Interest Balance Transfers: A service credit rating card provider might attract you to change your organization from an additional company credit scores card company to them with providing an absolutely no percent equilibrium transfer.
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