Day: June 10, 2021

It’s Time to Build Credit for Your Business

Did You Know You Can Build Credit for Your Business?

Yes, you really can build credit for your business.

But let’s start with some definitions and background on business credit.

Business Credit

This is credit in a business’s name. It is not tied to the owner’s creditworthiness. Instead, business credit scores depend on how well a company can pay its bills. Hence consumer and business credit scores can vary dramatically.

Business Credit Benefits

There are no demands for a personal guarantee. You can quickly get business credit regardless of personal credit quality. And there is no personal credit reporting of business accounts. Business credit utilization won’t affect your consumer FICO score. Plus the business owner isn’t personally liable for the debt the business incurs. The same can be true for you as you build credit for your business.

Another advantage is that even startups can do this. Heading to a bank for a business loan can be a formula for disappointment. But building company credit, when done right, is a plan for success.

Consumer credit scores are dependent on payments but also additional components like credit use percentages.

But for business credit, the scores actually only depend on if a company pays its debts in a timely manner.

Business Credit Details

Being accepted for business credit is not automatic. Building business credit requires some work. Some of the steps are intuitive, and some of them are not.

Yet, it can be done easily and quickly, and it is much speedier than developing personal credit scores.

Merchants are a big component of this process.

Performing the steps out of sequence leads to repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with company credit. For example, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.

Fundability is the Start of How to Build Credit for Your Business

Fundability is the current ability of our business to get funding. Some factors are within your control. Others (like your time in business) aren’t. Your online presence and data are one area which is at or close to 100% with your control.

For example, a small business needs a professional-looking web site and e-mail address. And it needs to have site hosting from a supplier like GoDaddy.

Plus, business phone numbers should have a listing on 411. You can do that here: http://www.listyourself.net/ListYourself/.

Additionally, the business phone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or comparable).

A small business also needs a bank account dedicated only to it, and it needs to have all of the licenses necessary for operating.

Licenses

These licenses all have to be in the specific, correct name of the small business. And they need to have the same business address and phone numbers.

So keep in mind, that this means not just state licenses, but potentially also city licenses.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Build Credit for Your Business and Work With the IRS

Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and get an EIN for the business. They’re free. Select a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.

A company may start off as a sole proprietor. But they absolutely need to switch to a variety of corporation or an LLC.

This is to decrease risk. And it will maximize tax benefits.

A business entity matters when it involves taxes and liability in the event of a lawsuit. A sole proprietorship means the business owner is it when it comes to liability and tax obligations. Nobody else is responsible.

The best thing to do is to incorporate. You should only look at a DBA as an interim step on the way to incorporation.

Starting to Build Credit for Your Business

Begin at the D&B website and get a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a small business in their system, to produce a PAYDEX score. If there is no D-U-N-S number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.

Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s sites for the company. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.

By doing this, Experian and Equifax have something to report on.

Business Credit, Fundability, and Business Funding Applications

The better your business credit and fundability are, the more likely you will get approval for business financing. Consider your online presence.

Build Credit for Your Business with Your Professional Business Email and Website

There are some aspects of fundability where you should pay particular attention to what’s going on online. They include:

  • Business owners listed and listed ownership uniform
  • Business name and address uniform
  • Industry aligned
  • Company domain
  • Information uniform on all records

Build Credit for Your Business with Your Business Ownership Listings

Records consistency matters here, too. Your website should show who owns your business. And that information needs to be consistent. So if the owner is named Susan Johnson on your website’s About page, then she can’t be listed as Sue Johnson on your Contact page. If your business ownership changes, you need to show that here.

Business Name and Address Uniformity

Abbreviations can be your downfall here, as can punctuation like hyphens, commas, and colons. If your Contact page says your main office is on Main Street, then your About page can’t say it’s on Main St.

If your business moves, or you add subsidiaries and other locations, then you need to update that information everywhere. This even means whether you use your 5-digit ZIP code, or a ZIP plus 4 code (9 digits).

Industry Alignment

If your business is over the road trucking, then it needs to be listed that way. Pro tip: when your industry can be called several different names, like long distance trucking, mention those other phrases on your website.

Your Company Domain

When your company domain matches your business name, it helps with fundability. Pro tip: try to match what people will be searching for online, so if (for example) the word ‘brothers’ is in your company name, then determine if ‘brothers’ or ‘bros’ will be used by people searching for your company and its goods and services online.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Your Email Address

Given that so much more of lending decisions is going on online these days, then your email address is an opportunity for your business to puts its best foot forward. Don’t squander this easy and free opportunity! General email addresses like admin@yoursite.com tend to be best.

With a general email address, if someone leaves your employ, another employee can seamlessly take over that email address. A username like admin, webmaster, or even hello is far, far better than cutiepie or the like, even if you’re in a playful industry that caters to kids. After all, your bank and banker aren’t.

Build Credit for Your Business with Records Consistency

Keep your records consistent! This includes your online records. LexisNexis and the SBFE (Small Business Financial Exchange) are looking at everything, so it had better match.

Inconsistent records will lead to a denial due to fraud because that’s how lenders interpret inconsistencies. This is a cause of denials which is in the business owner’s hands. You have the ability to change and correct this.

This means your business name, address, phone number – everything! – must look the same in these places and more:

  • Every place your business has an online presence (your website, Yelp, SoTellUs, etc.)
  • IRS records
  • Your business’s records with Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax
  • All licenses needed to run your business
  • Incorporation documents

Copy/paste this information; don’t chance it with retyping.

Starter Vendor Credit

First you ought to build tradelines that report. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score.

And with an established business credit profile and score you can begin to get credit for numerous purposes, and from all sorts of places.

These types of accounts tend to be for things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.

But to start with, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are generally Net 30, rather than revolving.

Therefore, if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you must pay that money back in a set term, like within 30 days on a Net 30 account.

Details

Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts need to be paid completely within 60 days. Compared to revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.

To kick off your business credit profile properly, you need to get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. When that’s done, you can then use the credit.

Then pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.

Vendor Credit — It Helps

Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are merchants that grant approval with hardly any effort. You also need them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.

As you get starter credit, you can also start to get credit from retailers. Here are some stellar choices from us: https://www.creditsuite.com/blog/5-vendor-accounts-that-build-your-business-credit/

Fleet Credit

Fleet credit is from service providers where you can buy fuel, and fix and take care of vehicles. You must use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make sure to apply using the business’s EIN.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

More Universal Cash Credit

These are companies such as Visa and MasterCard. You must use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.

These are commonly MasterCard credit cards.

Monitor Your Business Credit

Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and fix any mistakes ASAP. Get in the practice of checking credit reports. Dig into the specifics, not just the scores.

We can help you monitor business credit at Experian, Equifax, and D&B for a lot less than it would cost you at the CRAs. See: www.creditsuite.com/monitoring.

Update Your Records

Update the relevant information if there are errors or the info is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://www.dnb.com/duns-number.html.  For Experian, go here: www.experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp. So, for Equifax, go here: www.equifax.com/business/small-business.

Fix Your Business Credit

So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any problems in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be corrected. But the CRAs typically want you to dispute in a particular way.

Get your small business’s PAYDEX report at: www.dnb.com/about-us/our-data.html. Get your company’s Experian report at: www.businesscreditfacts.com/pdp.aspx?pg=SearchForm. And get your Equifax business credit report at: www.equifax.com/business/credit-information.

Disputes

Disputing credit report inaccuracies usually means you mail a paper letter with copies of any proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the original copies. Always send copies and retain the original copies.

Fixing credit report inaccuracies also means you precisely itemize any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as clear as possible. Be specific about the issues with your report. Use certified mail to have proof that you sent in your dispute.

A Word about Business Credit Building

Always use credit sensibly! Never borrow beyond what you can pay back. Track balances and deadlines for repayments. Paying on time and completely does more to increase business credit scores than just about anything else.

Establishing small business credit pays off. Great business credit scores help a business get loans. Your credit issuer knows the company can pay its debts. They understand the small business is bona fide.

The company’s EIN connects to high scores and loan providers won’t feel the need to ask for a personal guarantee.

Build Credit for Your Business: Takeaways

Business credit is an asset which can help your business for many years to come. Learn more here and get started toward establishing company credit.

The post It’s Time to Build Credit for Your Business appeared first on Credit Suite.

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5 PPC Business Ethics Examples and Best Practices

It’s no secret that competition in online advertising has become super stiff. In a bid to beat the competition, it’s easy to cross the line and employ shady tactics; tactics that may be unethical.

However, unethical PPC practices will do more harm than good for your business. They can also get you in trouble with the law.

That’s why as a digital marketer, you must always prioritize business ethics in all you do, including in your PPC ads.

Business ethics play a huge role in the success of your business. That’s why today, I want to focus on the topic from a PPC ads perspective.

The Importance of Business Ethics in PPC Ads

Business ethics refers to the moral principles that serve as guidelines for the way you conduct business. This includes everything from how you attract customers (via advertising) to the way you transact with them and everything in-between.

Business ethics are based on values like honesty, fairness, transparency, and social responsibility. An ethical marketer builds their PPC campaigns based on both moral and business perspectives.

In short, your PPC campaigns must help your prospects, not trick them into making a purchase, and they should also benefit your business. For some, walking this fine line is the most challenging aspect of running effective PPC ads.

Now, what’s the importance of business ethics in PPC ads?

Business Ethics Help You Build Strong Relationships With Customers

One of the most important reasons to practice business ethics in your PPC ads is to help you build strong relationships with your customers. People trust ethical brands as they’re authentic and transparent. They know they’ll get exactly what the brand promises in its ads.

As a marketer, put people before clicks (and profits). It will help you build strong relationships with your customers, leading you to enjoy higher retention rates.

Business Ethics Help You Develop a Good Reputation

Your reputation is one of your most important assets as a business. Two good reasons you must prioritize having a good reputation include:

  • Create brand ambassadors: When a person clicks on your ad and gets a positive experience, they’re highly likely to recommend your brand to their family and friends.
  • Improve your ad performance: Your brand’s reputation has an impact on the performance of your ads. Many users perform their own brand research before deciding to make a purchase. In today’s highly connected age, a poor reputation easily shows in the form of negative reviews.

Every business needs a good reputation to thrive, especially in a competitive environment. And good reputation management starts with employing good business ethics in all your activities, PPC ads included.

Ignoring business ethics in your PPC ads can only lead to wasted ad spend and a ruined business. With that out of the way, let’s quickly dive into the top five ethics you should follow as you create and run your PPC ads.

5 Examples of Business Ethics Principles You Should Follow in Your PPC Ads

To ensure your PPC ads follow business ethics principles, here are five best practices to keep in mind:

1. Don’t Advertise Misleading Products

One of the most unethical practices you must avoid as you steer your business towards ethical practices is giving your customers misleading information. Sadly, this is a common practice in the advertising industry, and some brands still utilize misinformation in a desperate bid to drive clicks. The internet abounds with examples of misleading ads; yours shouldn’t be one of them.

business ethics - don't advertise misleading products

One of the most common examples of misinformation in PPC is advertising misleading products. This could be anything that includes:

  • advertising products you can’t supply
  • using a high-traffic keyword that’s not relevant
  • using hype to infer your product does what, in reality, it doesn’t

There are many more ways unethical advertisers use misleading information to drive clicks. However, no matter how desperate you are to get people to click on your ads, don’t mislead your customers.

While you may get the clicks you want, the long-term effects of such unethical business practices are not worth it. For one, you’ll lose your customers’ trust. Even if they click on your ads, they’ll be so disappointed they won’t purchase what you’re selling.

No matter what products or services you’re advertising, be honest about the features and benefits. There are always people looking for what you have to offer.

Exaggerating the benefits of your product or service is tantamount to making a false claim. Promising your prospects a level of quality you can’t deliver will only ruin your reputation.

2. Only Include Honest Links in Ads

Business ethics, especially in PPC, demands that the message in your ads and the link destination must match.

Anything else is dishonesty.

Unfortunately, many unscrupulous businesses send people who click on a link in their PPC ads to a different destination. They advertise one thing and send visitors to a different landing page. Pulling a bait and switch like this goes against good business ethics. More than that, it leads to you losing your integrity as a business.

Besides the loss of integrity, dishonest links can lead to you being penalized for unethical practices. When your link takes customers to a page unrelated to what you’re advertising, your ad is considered a fake ad, and Google will take it down.

Dishonest links are prevalent among marketers who get paid using the cost-per-impression (CPM/CPI) model. They try to rack up impressions on their ads by creating their ads around popular keywords that attract a lot of traffic. When users click on the link, they’re directed to a different product or business.

As an ethical marketer, such tactics should never even be mentioned in your strategy and planning sessions. No matter how competitive your space may be, stick to ethical business practices.

3. Sell Your Products at Fair Prices

While some business ethics are clear-cut, others are not. Ethical pricing is one of those that isn’t so obvious.

If you’re wondering, ethical pricing means charging an amount that’s fair for your products.

It’s pricing your products in a way that allows you to make a profit without defrauding your customers. Doing so is not always easy as there are many factors that you have to consider to price your products fairly. The most significant are:

  • market factors
  • your competitors’ pricing
  • availability

Besides fair pricing, you must also ensure to practice ethics in your PPC ad campaigns as a marketer. Make sure you’re fully transparent about all the costs your customers will incur when purchasing your product or services. There’s nothing as frustrating as thinking you’ve found the best deal on a product, only to click on the ad and discover the advertised price wasn’t genuine.

From shipping to discounts and everything in between, your ads must be clear about the final price your customers will pay for your product. Doing so is essential to building trust with your customers. It’s also critical to reducing cart abandonment as undisclosed shipping costs are one of the leading causes of cart abandonment.

business ethics - Sell your products at fair prices

The bottom line is, sell your products at a fair price and make sure you’re transparent about pricing in your PPC ads and landing pages.

4. Don’t Plagiarize

As a marketer, you probably look for inspiration from ads that have performed well, but that’s as far as competitor research should go.

Never plagiarize other brands’ ad copy.

For your brand to do well online, you must follow Google’s search evaluator guidelines, the most significant being the EAT guidelines. Google’s EAT guidelines have a huge bearing on how you ethically create your PPC ad copy. Here’s what the acronym stands for and what it means to your ad copy creation:

Expertise

Your ad copy must reflect your expertise in your niche or industry. Show your customers why you’re the best. However, make sure not to stretch the truth as that would be dishonest and unethical.

Authoritativeness

People want to buy from brands that have built a reputation for themselves. A good reputation is born out of practicing good business ethics. Let your authority shine through every piece of content in your sales funnel—especially your ad and landing page copy.

Trustworthiness

Trust is one of the most significant factors that drive clicks to your ads. To build trust with your audience, you must be authentic. Avoid plagiarizing other brands’ ads or any other assets that have had a positive impact on their ads.

With so many brands vying for the same customers, authenticity and originality are essential to helping you stand out from the crowd. Following Google’s search evaluator guidelines will help you ensure your content does just that.

Your ad copy will have your unique personality and highlight your particular area of authority, thereby allowing you to attract your ideal buyer persona. More than that, it will help you rank well and drive clicks to your offer.

5. Don’t Use Click Fraud

One of PPC’s strengths has become a loophole that devious marketers now exploit. Yes, I’m talking about the cost-per-click (CPC) model and how some marketers commit click fraud.

What is click fraud?

Click fraud is when an individual exploits PPC ads by repeatedly clicking on them to generate fraudulent charges. As a result, the advertiser’s ad spend shoots through the roof while their conversion rates tank. Not to mention that crucial data said advertiser uses to create better iterations of their campaign gets skewed.

The main reason unscrupulous marketers leverage click fraud as part of their business strategy is to exhaust their competitor’s ad budget. Once their budget is spent, their ads will decrease, giving the unethical marketer a better shot at driving traffic to their ads.

Marketers also sometimes use click fraud on their own ads to “game” paid search advertising. By generating more clicks on their ads, they boost their quality score on Google Ads.

Your quality score depends on many factors, with the main two being ad relevance and the click-through rate (CTR) the ad generates. Both are factors that can be manipulated through click fraud.

Why would a publisher commit click fraud on their ads?

Simple. A good quality score is critical to marketers as it results in:

  • lower CPC
  • lower acquisition costs
  • better rankings for ads

While the advantages of having a good quality score are massive, you shouldn’t stoop to click fraud to get them. Improve your score as best you can, but make sure it’s within the confines of good business ethics.

Business Ethics in PPC FAQs

Can I Use Hype in My Headlines?

Using hype in your ad headlines is unethical. It’s the same as clickbait and should never be used to move people to click on your ads.Using hype in headlines goes against business ethics
Instead, use benefit-driven headlines as they’re more truthful. They also address your target audience’s pain points, resulting in better conversions.

Is It Wrong for a New Business to Gain Traction by Manipulating Ad Clicks?

The type of foundation you lay for your business determines its outcome. Once you start using unethical business practices, you’ll use them every time you need a “quick fix.” So, yes. It’s wrong to manipulate clicks at any stage of your business, even for the sake of just gaining traction.

Business Ethics Conclusion

Despite the economic atmosphere being cutthroat, you must ensure you conduct your business ethically.

That’s especially true for your advertising tactics.

People don’t like being scammed, and unethical PPC ads fall on the dark side of false, misleading, and spammy advertising. While you may initially get some traction using deceptive advertising, you won’t succeed in the long run.

To build a sustainable business, you can only do so based on implementing good business ethics. Be ethical on social media, in your content, your PPC ads, and everything else you do to boost your business. This way, you’ll be able to build a good reputation and grow your loyal repeat customers.

What other business ethics examples and best practices do you think PPC advertisers should follow?

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8th Wall | 8thwall.com | Full Time | Palo Alto, CA 8th Wall develops the world’s leading WebAR platform. We run on the cutting-edge of today’s modern web, leveraging WebAssembly, WebGL, and cloud edge-compute to enable augmented reality that runs in the mobile browser, no app needed. Company Info: 25+ people, tech-focused, growth stage
Stack: C++ / Javascript / React / Redux / WebAssembly / WebGL / AWS

Hiring for the following roles:

* Software Engineer [Generalist] (https://boards.greenhouse.io/8thwall/jobs/4054220002)

* Software Engineer [Web Frontend] (https://boards.greenhouse.io/8thwall/jobs/4047213002)

* Software Engineer [Computer Vision / Machine Learning] (https://boards.greenhouse.io/8thwall/jobs/4047214002)

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