You probably know why you need tradelines on your business credit reports. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to get them there. Adding tradelines is important, but you should definitely avoid business tradelines for sale. Buying tradelines can hurt more than it helps.
Buying Business Tradelines for Sale Isn’t The Shortcut it May Seem
Honestly, there are no shortcuts in life or business. Think about it. Inevitably when you try to cut corners to make things go faster, you miss something important. More times than not, it ends up costing more time and money than it would have if you had just done it the right way to begin with. This is as true about building business credit as it is anything else.
Still, some people try shortcuts anyway. The top three “shortcuts” to building business credit are:
For many, buying tradelines seems like the easiest and least risky shortcut. However, these 6 organizations agree, it’s just not worth it.
#1 Federal Reserve
“The potential distortions in credit scores that piggybacking credit may introduce suggest that a reconsideration of existing regulations, industry practices, or both may be warranted to preserve the predictiveness of credit scoring models.”
“Opening a business credit account with any company is free. If you are paying for it, you are being ripped off. When the company who sold that tradeline to you gets taken down, all of their clients will get punished, too, with a mound of debt and a cursed credit file that will keep you from getting more credit to be able to pay it off.”
When commenting on a 2013 bust of a fraud ring, “A second kind of tradeline is the “authorized user” tradeline, where a credit card holder adds another, so-called “authorized user,” to a credit card account. This raises the credit score of the authorized user, who inherits some of the primary user’s credit history.
Some defendants created and sold fake lines of credit for false identities made up by other defendants. These fraudulent primary tradelines were then used to increase the credit limits on fraud cards, so that the defendants could reap even larger profits. Defendants used the authorized user tradelines to create new identities.”
#4 FICO
FICO’s opinion on piggybacking is obvious here: “A … shadier version of piggybacking has been promoted by some CROs who offer to “rent” to their credit-challenged customers the trade lines of established account holders, in an effort to boost their customers’ credit profiles and scores.”
#5 Equifax
Equifax: “… authorized user abuse occurs when low-risk primary card owners “rent” their tradelines with extensive credit histories, high credit limits and solid repayment profiles to others – most times, knowingly, to fraudsters.”
#6 Experian
Experian: “Buying tradelines may be viewed as deceptive by lenders and credit reporting agencies, and could even put you in danger of committing bank fraud.
Credit scores are designed to help lenders determine a borrower’s creditworthiness, and most use your credit scores and credit reports to determine whether to approve a credit application and what terms you qualify for.
If you pay money to improve your credit scores without doing any of the work or even getting a card to use, you could be falsely representing your creditworthiness to potential lenders.”
Buying Business Tradelines for Sale
So, what are business trade lines, and how does buying business tradelines for sale work? Legit business trade lines are lines of credit extended to businesses by vendors. A business gets goods or services and agrees to pay for them at a later date. Tradelines are often established between a business and a vendor, rather than a line of credit offered by a bank. They can help businesses build credit by rapidly building positive credit experiences.
There are many companies online which promise to sell ‘seasoned’ tradelines. If your company has poor or little credit, you can pay to have your business piggyback on the account of someone with well established, strong credit. This allows new business owners to seem more creditworthy than they really are. Sounds fishy right?
How Does Piggybacking a Tradeline Work?
A third party uses a creditworthy borrower’s accounts to improve their own credit. The borrower adds the third party as a user of his lines of credit. But, he or she does not actually provide the third party with credit cards or account numbers. The third party has no way to actually make charges against the account. As a result, that third party user never actually uses the credit.
The benefit to the third party is an improved credit rating. It appears they already have higher limit revolving accounts. In theory, showing you already have credit makes you more creditworthy for higher limit accounts. Some companies claim to be able to secure $100,000 – 250,000 credit lines once these accounts are reporting. Obviously, this buying of business tradelines for sale is dishonest.
A company offering the piggybacking service maintains a network of creditworthy ‘card holders’ or ‘vendors.’ They will add strangers to their accounts as users for a fee. A third party, looking to increase their credit score, contacts the company. Then, the company selects one of the business tradelines for sale to the client, and charges the client a fee per account.
It Works for Personal Credit, so What’s the Problem?
Consumer trades such as this are legitimate. A person with poor credit can use this strategy without issue. So, if you know someone with great credit, it is perfectly fine to ask if you can become an authorized user on their card. You never need to use the card, and it can still help to raise your personal credit scores.
But, in the business credit realm, things are much different. Consider what the following agencies have to say.
Lenders Know All About Business Tradelines for Sale
Lenders and CRAs know all the unethical methods out there. They know what to look for, and they are looking. For example, when they see a change in company ownership, or a new authorized user on a card, they dig deeper. Furthermore, sooner or later D&B will figure out you are using business tradelines for sale. If a tradeline sales company inquires into your credit report, D & B finds out.
Any time you buy a tradeline, the seller checks your credit. Of course they do, because they want to be sure they get paid. When this happens, here is what happens next:
D&B shuts down tradeline(s)
They red flag your entire profile, including legit trades alongside the illegitimate ones
You lose whatever time you think you gained by using business tradelines for sale
Plus, you’re out the cost of the tradelines
In addition, when a company has a reputation of being a tradeline seller, that company will be flagged as such. Any new inquiries by that flagged tradeline seller harms buyers, including older tradeline sales. There is no Statute of Limitations on this. That means, if you bought tradelines 50 years ago, D&B may still find out and it can still harm you.
Buying Business Tradelines for Sale is Not Worth It
Buying tradelines involves buying tradelines that belong to others and putting them on your credit report. While not technically illegal, it is dishonest. If a lender figures out you are doing it, you could be black balled. It isn’t worth it.
Still, adding tradelines to your business credit report is vital. You just have to do it the right way. Our Business Finance Suite helps you do just that. It walks you through the process step-by-step, so you get your own tradelines that you can actually use. Find out more today by getting a free Business Finance Assessment with a Credit Suite specialist.
Location: Atlanta Ga, USA (planning on moving to another state though)
Remote: Required.
Willing to relocate: Not for work.
Technologies: Modern C++ (up to C++17), CMake, some python, familiar with HTML/CSS/JavaScript but rusty. Recently dabbled with OpenGL/Compute shaders, some Qt
Résumé/CV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n22o28lk8wc0lgq/Iris%20Chase%20Resume%20April%202022.pdf?dl=0
Email: iris (at)) ....... enesda puncutation com (good luck scraping that ;)
I spent several years developing a project called IVD (github.com/irischase/IVD) which is a GUI programming language and implementation. I really leveled up a ton in all aspects as an engineer from the project. But it’s unfinished and in hiatus because after spending 3+ years on it I realized how much time doing anything interesting takes (especially alone) and that I need to pick my battles more wisely. I’ve also exhausted my ramen money if you catch my drift.
In my spare time now I’m mostly trying to develop my skills as a 3D artist, sculpting, modelling, subdivision topology, rigging and experimenting with non-photorealistic rendering (NPR).
It’s hard for me to sum up what I would or would not be interested in. What sounds boring to some might sound interesting to me and vice versa. So, feel free to reach out if you feel I could be a fit for what you’ve got and we’ll go from there!
49ers general manager John Lynch was pelted with questions regarding Samuel, an electric dual-threat player who reportedly requested a trade from the team last week without explaining his reasons.
As a small business, ranking for keyword terms can be difficult. With larger, more resourced businesses targeting those same terms, it can seem impossible to nudge your way to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
How are small businesses expected to rank highly on SERPs? Fortunately, with the use of local SEO, there’s more than a good chance.
If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that local SEO has never been more important for small businesses than it is now. Just consider that “where to buy” + “near me” mobile queries have grown by over 200 percent from 2017 to 2019.
This guide will introduce local SEO for small businesses. We’ll then cover 12 local SEO tips and the tools you need to begin your journey.
What Is Local SEO for Small Business?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your website to increase the chances of it being seen when people search terms related to your business. Local SEO is a similar venture but with a particular focus on local keyword terms.
With more people relying on online information to make offline purchases, local SEO for small businesses has never been more important. In fact, one study found 78 percent of local searches on mobile result in an offline purchase. You can’t argue with those results!
Other reasons to optimize your website for local SEO include the opportunity to build your website up as an authority and educate your target audience on your products and services.
Your local SEO efforts don’t have to center around increasing sales. You can also use local SEO strategies to drive traffic to your website for the purpose of informing or educating.
12 Local SEO Tips for Small Businesses
Many local SEO tips can be implemented within minutes, while others take considerably more time. However, each of the tips below can greatly benefit your local business, both online and offline.
1. Optimize for Google My Business
Google My Business is a business directory owned and operated by Google. The goal of the platform is to provide the most accurate business information for local businesses to searchers.
With this in mind, most businesses will have a Google My Business listing within a year or so of starting their business. This is done automatically as Google learns of your business through its website crawl bots.
The problem with an automated listing, though, is that information may not be complete or accurate. Only when you claim your listing can you ensure you’re getting the most from the platform.
If you need even more reason to claim or create your own listing, then consider that businesses with 4 or more stars on Google My Business outrank those with less than 4 stars by about 11 percent. As a small business, you can’t afford to lose out on that edge.
Add photos and videos of your business and offerings to your profile.
Respond to ratings and reviews in a professional and timely manner.
It’s important that your business information is accurate and updated. You should ensure updates are made at least monthly, though weekly monitoring of your listing is important to success.
2. Claim All Business Directories
Speaking of business directories, you must be sure to stake your claim in all business directories. The most popular include Google My Business mentioned above and Yelp.
You may think that a Google Business Profile is sufficient to bring in traffic, both online and in-store. However, consider that a Yelp page is present in the top 5 results for 92 percent of search queries that contain a city and business category.
What difference does it make for your listing to be in the top 5 results on Google? The top 5 results on the SERPs account for 80 percent of click-throughs on the first page of Google.The first organic result alone accounts for almost 40 percent.
All of this to say, you can’t afford to not claim your business on all directories wherever possible.
While Google and Yelp are the big dogs, other business directories to consider are Facebook, Bing, Yahoo, and Yellow Pages.
3. Perform a Local SEO Audit
Now that you’re established on business directories, it’s time to understand the landscape. This enables you to see what your competitors are doing so you, too, can make the same improvements (and better) on your website.
Results on the first page of SERPs provide the most insight and inspiration. After all, the first three positions alone account for 66.5 percent of the click-throughs on the SERPs!
As you begin your audit, first consider free tools and analyzers like the SEO Analyzer. These tools give you a detailed overview of your website’s current status and what you can do to optimize.
Next, use your target keywords (which you’ll work out in the next section), and compare your website to the top five of each SERP. Consider types of content, website structure, page elements, and keyword density.
I would recommend keeping a spreadsheet of your findings to easily track and implement your changes.
4. Target Local Keywords
As a small business, keyword targeting can be daunting. You know you’ll be lost in the sea when you target high-volume keywords, but lower-volume keywords tend to yield little return.
As a local business, you actually have an edge when it comes to keyword targeting. “Near me” search term variations increased as little as 150 percent (e.g. “near me now”) to as much as 900 percent (e.g. “near me today/tonight”) in just a few years. This means that targeting a combination of high volume and local keywords can work in your favor.
What do I mean in practice?
Let’s say you own a local flower shop. Your website naturally contains many high-volume keywords, such as “florist,” “flower shop,” and “flowers for sale.” The fact is you’re unlikely to beat out national flower providers, like 1-800-Flowers and Sam’s Club, with those keywords.
The goal should be to optimize your website with local keywords.
For example, search your website for every instance of “flowers for sale.” You’ll want to be wary of keyword stuffing, but take care to change most of these instances to more specific, local terms, such as:
“flowers for sale in [city or zip code]”
“[city or zip code] flowers for sale”
“flowers for sale [city or zip code]”
You don’t have to target only your specific town and zip code, though. Consider areas within 10 or 15 miles of your business and target those local keywords, too. This is especially good practice if you live in a smaller town outside of a larger city or metro area.
5. Encourage (and Reward) Customer Reviews
When was the last time you visited a restaurant or purchased an item withoutresearching ratings and reviews? If you’re like 82 percent of consumers performing an online local search, then the answer is never.
Customer reviews are the lifeblood of your business. This is particularly true for new and small businesses.
How can you obtain online customer reviews?
First, ensure there is a place for customers to leave reviews. If you’ve claimed your Google My Business profile and Yelp business listing, then you’re off to a great start.
Second, offer an incentive to customers who leave reviews. Whether by word of mouth or marked on in-store receipts, let customers know they will receive a discount or a complimentary item for their rating and review.
The work doesn’t stop there, though. You must respond to all reviews, negative and positive. This gives you an opportunity to engage with your customers, and it can also instill faith in your brand by those who have yet to purchase.
6. Create Local Content
Above we talked about targeting local keywords while avoiding keyword stuffing. The best way to do this is to create local content for your website or website’s blog.
Local content can be a blog post, a news release, or a static web page. You can use these various content types to highlight local events (past and upcoming), local offerings, local business roundups (e.g., local businesses that complement but don’t compete with yours), or even to educate the public on your product or service.
The more natural content you have on your website, the more easily you can target local keywords. It can also help to establish you as an expert in the field, which is crucial for small business owners competing against larger businesses.
Continuing with the example of a flower shop, here are a few content ideas that will naturally target both the audience and the keywords:
Blog post: #X [your state] Flowers for Year-Round Decorating
Static web page: Our Local [your state] Flower Offerings
Static web page: [your state] Garden Flower Offerings
Blog post: [your state] Flower Events for [season/year]
7. Implement a Local Backlink Strategy
A backlink is a link to your website from another site. Depending on the quality of the third-party websites and the number of links to your website, this can have a considerable impact on your website’s authority.
Authority is a critical piece in determining how high your website ranks on the SERPs. How do we know this? Consider that the #1 result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2 to #10.
How can a small business website begin to build its backlink profile? A few things to consider are:
writing guest posts for relevant, high-quality websites in your industry
The hard work isn’t getting traffic to your site, but instead keeping it there once it arrives. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, then local searchers will quickly leave your site and consider a competitor instead.
What is a mobile-friendly site? The four basic elements that every mobile-friendly site should contain include:
responsive page display
readable fonts
proper text formatting
optimized media display
Beyond a mobile-friendly website, you must also produce mobile-friendly content. The good news about mobile-friendly content is that it’s also viewable for desktop readers.
What does such content consist of?
short paragraphs
white space
subheadings
a summary
images
lists
styling (e.g., bold, italics)
If you’re not a web developer, the idea of creating a mobile-friendly website can be daunting. The good news is that most website platforms incorporate mobile-friendly elements into their themes and overlays. Keep an eye out for “responsive” as an indicator of such options.
9. Optimize Page Structure
Local SEO for business goes beyond business listings and content. An often-overlooked element is page structure.
Page structure includes title tags, headers, meta description, and URL. When used correctly, these can further enhance your content and improve your rankings on SERPs.
Perhaps you’re wondering just how much of an impact these elements can have on your rankings. Here’s the deal: To employ elements that your competitors may not be, you can get ahead.
Which page structure elements are most overlooked by small businesses? From greatest to least, here is what percentage of small business owners use the following key SEO features:
Title tag: 99 percent
Robots.txt: 88 percent
Sitemap.xml: 73 percent
Meta description: 72 percent
H1: 68 percent
Schema.org: 44 percent
You can address the title tag, meta description, and H1 most easily. However, robots.txt, sitemap.xml, and schema.org also have their place on a well-structured website.
10. Get Involved on Social Media
Social media isn’t just for big brands and influencers. A local business page can benefit from social media usage, too.
More specifically, a local business page can be a great place to keep customers up-to-date on the latest sales, events, and changes (e.g., hours of operation). That’s because even with a website, a social media profile is more like a “living” version of your business.
Perhaps Facebook users benefit most from local business pages. After all,⅔ of Facebook users across all countries surveyed say they visit the Page of a local business at least once a week. However, other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok can also offer your business an edge.
Make it easy for customers to purchase your products and services online.
Depending on your business and target audience, social media may or may not make up a large percentage of your sales and traffic. However, either way, a strong social media presence is a must for small businesses.
11. Participate in Local Business Events
Would you be surprised to learn you can do a lot offline to improve your website’s local SEO? 48 percent of marketers invest at least 20 percent of their marketing budget in live events.
Participating in local business events, especially those with a strong social media presence, can help grow your business in a few ways. They’re an opportunity to market your business but also are an easy way to get to know your audience and the community you serve. There’s likely to be a return on such events, too.
As a small business, you have the versatility to host your own event or sponsor and join with larger community events. An event you host yourself would likely yield a larger return, but a community event may be ideal for smaller budgets.
12. Invest in Google Ads With Local Keywords
Small business usually means small budget. It’s important that you invest wisely in the growth of your business online. Where should you hedge your bets? For most businesses, Google Ads is a good place to start.
Google Ads is a paid advertising platform that enables you to appear in prominent places on the SERPs.
You may think that you could never compete against big businesses. One way around this is to highlight your local status by targeting local keywords and local audiences. For example, instead of targeting “flowers for sale,” target “flowers for sale in [your city or zip code].”
How can we know this will be successful? According to Think with Google, 72 percent of computer or tablet users and 67 percent of smartphone users want ads that are customized to their city or zip code. Users want to find the options most local to them, so give them what they want.
It’s true that starting with Google Ads can be daunting, but fortunately, you have the option to invest in an advertising agency to help you set up and manage your account and keywords. If you want to go it alone, though, follow these essential steps:
Conduct keyword research: This will include keywords you want to target but also keywords you want to exclude from your campaigns (negative keywords).
Decide how your ad groups will be structured: Ad groups are ad campaigns grouped by a common element, like target audience, target keyword, or even location. Decide how your groups will break down so you can begin to create your campaigns.
Create your first campaign: A campaign is a step above ad groups in that it encompasses a larger target audience. For example, you can have a “Wedding Flowers” campaign that includes ad groups like “Wedding Flowers in Queens” and “Wedding Flowers in Brooklyn.” This is where you will set campaign-level goals and settings.
Create your first ad: Google Ads has multiple ad types. A text ad is a good place to begin, though your ad groups can contain multiple ad types, and it’s important to experiment with what works for your audience.
Continuous monitoring and tweaking of your campaigns are necessary for success.
Local SEO Tips for Small Businesses Frequently Asked Questions
As a small business, should I get an agency to help with my local SEO?
As a small business, budget can be a constraint. While you can make many changes yourself, a consulting agency can offer invaluable advice and resources.
How does local SEO help small businesses grow?
With local search intent being what it is, local SEO can be a boon to small businesses. It can put you on the map (or SERPs, as it happens) for keywords you may not have ever ranked for on a larger scale.
How much should a small business pay for local SEO?
The amount you invest will vary depending on what you find to be meaningful and valuable to your business. If you must invest, I recommend you do so in two places: 1) in an SEO consulting agency, and 2) in paid advertising.
What kind of small businesses need local SEO?
Local SEO can benefit small businesses of all kinds. If you provide products or services in a specific area (or multiple areas), then you can benefit from its use.
{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “FAQPage”,
“mainEntity”: [
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “As a small business, should I get an agency to help with my local SEO?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: ”
As a small business, budget can be a constraint. While you can make many changes yourself, a consulting agency can offer invaluable advice and resources.
”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How does local SEO help small businesses grow?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: ”
With local search intent being what it is, local SEO can be a boon to small businesses. It can put you on the map (or SERPs, as it happens) for keywords you may not have ever ranked for on a larger scale.
”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How much should a small business pay for local SEO?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: ”
The amount you invest will vary depending on what you find to be meaningful and valuable to your business. If you must invest, I recommend you do so in two places: 1) in an SEO consulting agency, and 2) in paid advertising.
”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What kind of small businesses need local SEO?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: ”
Local SEO can benefit small businesses of all kinds. If you provide products or services in a specific area (or multiple areas), then you can benefit from its use.
”
}
}
]
}
Conclusion: Local SEO for Small Business
As a small business owner, you know that hard work and dedication is needed to grow your sales. Much the same can be said for local SEO. While SEO can take time and patience, it can pay off in the long run.
With the 12 local SEO tips outlined above, even the smallest businesses can benefit. From keyword research to social media marketing to paid advertising, you can begin to make changes today to see benefits in the future.
Which of these local SEO tips for small businesses will you implement first?
GDPR Cookie Consent Agreement
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
