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I’ve written a lot on how businesses need to embrace a new online growth strategy without depending on any *single* tactic (like search traffic, for example). There’s a popular belief that search engine traffic is the most reliable (and steady) source of web traffic – that’s something I don’t agree with. I’ve founded startups that… Read more »
The post How to Build an Asset Creation and Promotion Strategy to Set up Steady Traffic Sources appeared first on Paper.li blog.
A new business in Kentucky is in your reach. So have you been wondering: just how do I start a business in Kentucky? And more importantly, can I do so no matter what the economic conditions are? Can I start a new business in Kentucky during a recession?
Kentucky comes out as the eighth worst state to start a new business in, per a 2016 article. And this is for the whole nation, according to Business Insider. This is despite thriving metropolitan areas such as Louisville.
One positive is that the state has a somewhat cheap cost of living. But its productivity score lags behind four fifths of the country. There also seems to be less market opportunity to start a business in Kentucky than in other states.
In 2018, Forbes lists Kentucky as its number 36. Also in 2018, Fit Small Business is in nearly perfect agreement, and clocks Kentucky in at number 35. Keep in mind, all three websites have differing criteria.
Forbes praises Kentucky for its better than average business costs and quality of life. The regulatory environment is slightly worse than the average. But the economic climate and growth prospects are somewhat worse than average. And labor supply is an abysmal 48th for the nation.
Fit Small Business says Kentucky has a better than average cost of living and startup activity. But everything else is worse than average. The cost of starting a business and the labor market are in the worst ten. Labor market is a measure of the desirability of an area and the number of people with bachelor’s degrees.
Conditions in Kentucky have certainly improved. Although you may have some trouble with hiring, if you choose to start a new business in Kentucky.
The “Kentucky Small Business Investment Credit” is meant to encourage job creation. This is by providing a nonrefundable state income tax credit to small businesses which hire one or more people. And/or they must invest at least $5,000 in qualifying equipment or technology. Most for-profit businesses with up to 50 full time employees are eligible.
The “Kentucky Reinvestment Act” program can help any company engaged in manufacturing and related functions within the commonwealth. Benefits are available for up to ten years. This includes tax credits equaling up to 100% of corporate income tax liability.
Under the “Kentucky Industrial Revitalization Act, companies can get tax credits, Kentucky Corporation License Fee credits, and job assessment fees for up to ten years. These incentives can equal up to 75% of the cost of the rehabilitation or construction of buildings, along with refurbishing or purchasing equipment.
Here is precisely how to start a new business in Kentucky.
Choose a business name and structure at the Kentucky One Stop Business Portal.
A business owner must have a unique corporate name for their business to incorporate in Kentucky. Before a business owner can file to incorporate, they should be sure that the name they want is not already in use by another corporation.
They should conduct a thorough search of online records and other databases. To check name availability in Kentucky, go to the official website of the Secretary of State.
It is not necessary for a business owner to reserve the corporate name they want, but if they would like to reserve a name until they can file to incorporate, they can submit an application to the Kentucky Secretary of State.
Download the application online at Reserve A Kentucky Corporate Name on the Kentucky Secretary of State website. It costs $15.00 to reserve a corporate name. The name will then be reserved for a period of 120 days.
The One Stop Business Portal is your best bet for finding occupational licenses or permits you need.
There is a list at the Kentucky State Board of Elections. There is also an Excel spreadsheet of county offices information. Also, the Kentucky League of Cities has a directory of city offices and websites.
Forms are available at the Kentucky Secretary of State website. But the Kentucky One Stop Business Portal tends to be the most efficient option.
The Kentucky Department of Revenue keeps a useful checklist for registering for taxes. You will eventually end up back at the One Stop Business Portal.
Alliance offers Kentucky virtual office space in the following cities: Florence, Lexington, Louisville, and Richmond.
For other areas of the state, be sure to check with Regus for Kentucky virtual business space. Or business owners might want to try local business owners. Or they can ask computer user groups for help in this area. Other options may be to seek virtual business office space in neighboring states. These are Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Business credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t connect to an entrepreneur’s individual credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the company.
Accordingly, an entrepreneur’s business and consumer credit scores can be very different.
Due to the fact that company credit is separate from individual, it helps to secure a small business owner’s personal assets, in the event of legal action or business bankruptcy.
Also, with two separate credit scores, an entrepreneur can get two different cards from the same merchant. This effectively doubles buying power.
Another advantage is that even startups can do this. Going to a bank for a business loan can be a formula for frustration. But building company credit, when done the right way, is a plan for success.
Personal credit scores depend upon payments but also other considerations like credit use percentages.
But for company credit, the scores truly only depend on if a small business pays its debts on a timely basis.
Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.
Growing small business credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A small business will need to actively work to establish small business credit.
Nevertheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much faster than establishing individual credit scores.
Merchants are a big component of this process.
Carrying out the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive denials. Nobody can start at the top with business credit. For instance, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a rejection 100% of the time.
A company has to be fundable to lenders and vendors.
Hence, a small business will need a professional-looking website and e-mail address. And it needs to have website hosting bought from a merchant like GoDaddy.
Also, business telephone and fax numbers need to have a listing on 411.com.
Likewise, the company phone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or the equivalent).
A business will also need a bank account dedicated purely to it, and it must have all of the licenses necessary for operation.
Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.
Visit the IRS web site and obtain an EIN for the small business. They’re free. Select a business entity such as corporation, LLC, etc.
A business can get started as a sole proprietor. But they will most likely want to change to a form of corporation or an LLC.
This is in order to limit risk. And it will make the most of tax benefits.
A business entity will matter when it comes to taxes and liability in the event of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the owner is it when it comes to liability and taxes. Nobody else is responsible.
If you run a small business as a sole proprietor, then at the very least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.
If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the small business name. Consequently, you can end up being personally responsible for all small business debts.
And also, per the Internal Revenue Service, using this structure there is a 1 in 7 chance of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 chance for corporations! Steer clear of confusion and considerably decrease the chances of an IRS audit at the same time.
Start at the D&B web site and obtain a cost-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 web sites for the small business. 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.
In this manner, Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.
First you should establish trade lines that report. This is also referred to as the vendor credit tier. 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 start to get credit in the retail and cash credit tiers.
These sorts of accounts have the tendency to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.
But first of all, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you initial credit when you have none now. Terms are frequently Net 30, rather than revolving.
Hence, if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you will need to pay that money back in a set term, such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account.
Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts must be paid fully within 60 days. In comparison with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you made use of.
To launch 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 make use of the credit.
Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.
Not every vendor can help like true starter credit can. These are merchants that will grant an approval with negligible effort. You also need them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.
You want 5 to 8 of these to move onto the next step, which is the retail credit tier. But you may need to apply more than one time to these vendors. So, this is to prove you are responsible and will pay timely.
Once there are 5 to 8 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then progress to the retail credit tier. These are businesses which include Office Depot and Staples.
Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the company’s EIN on these credit applications.
One example is Lowe’s. They report to D&B, Equifax and Business Experian. They need to see a D-U-N-S and a PAYDEX score of 78 or more.
Are there 8 to 10 accounts reporting? Then move onto the fleet credit tier. These are businesses like BP and Conoco. Use this credit to purchase fuel, and to fix, and maintain vehicles. Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make certain to apply using the small business’s EIN.
One such example is Shell. They report to D&B and Business Experian. They want to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or more and a 411 small business telephone listing.
Shell may claim they want a specific amount of time in business or profits. But if you already have enough vendor accounts, that won’t be necessary. And you can still get approval.
Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.
Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move onto the cash credit tier. These are companies like Visa and MasterCard. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.
One such example is the Fuelman MasterCard. They report to D&B and Equifax Business. They need to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or more. And they also want you to have 10 trade lines reporting on your D&B report.
Plus, they want to see a $10,000 high credit limit reporting on your D&B report (other account reporting).
Plus, they want you to have an established business.
These are service providers like Walmart and Dell, and also Home Depot, BP, and Racetrac. These are frequently MasterCard credit cards. If you have 14 trade accounts reporting, then these are doable.
Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and fix any inaccuracies ASAP. Get in the practice of taking a look at credit reports and digging into the specifics, and not just the scores.
We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for only $24/month. See: www.creditsuite.com/monitoring.
Update the relevant information if there are inaccuracies or the relevant information is incomplete.
So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any errors in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be corrected. But the CRAs normally want you to dispute in a particular way.
Disputing credit report errors usually means you send a paper letter with duplicates of any evidence of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the originals. Always mail copies and keep the original copies.
Fixing credit report errors also means you precisely itemize any charges you challenge. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the issues with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.
Always use credit sensibly! Never borrow more than what you can pay back. Track balances and deadlines for repayments. Paying off punctually and in full will do more to raise business credit scores than just about anything else.
Growing small business credit pays off. Excellent business credit scores help a business get loans. Your lender knows the small business can pay its financial obligations. They understand the small business is bona fide.
The small business’s EIN links to high scores and loan providers won’t feel the need to ask for a personal guarantee.
Business credit is an asset which can help your small business for many years to come.
Learn more here and get started toward opening a new business in Kentucky.
Want to start a new business someplace else in America? Then check out our handy guide to starting a business in any state in the country.
The post How to Set Up a New Business in Kentucky appeared first on Credit Suite.
Listen in on the jokes only Bill’s audience got to hear.
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If I write a blog post on any topic, what do you think happens?
It typically gets indexed by Google the same day I publish the content and within a week it tends to rank high on Google.
Then again, I have a domain score of 94 and I have 633,791 backlinks. Just look at the image above. (If you are curious what your link count or domain score is, put in your URL here.)
But if you have a lot fewer backlinks and a much lower domain score, what do you think would happen?
Chances are your content won’t get indexed fast and it won’t rank as high as you want.
But there has to be a way to change this, right? Especially without building more backlinks because we all know that’s time-consuming and hard.
To find the most ideal solution, I decided to run a little experiment.
Around five months ago, I sent out an email to a portion of my mailing list asking people if they wanted to partake in an SEO experiment.
As you could imagine, I had well over a thousand websites who were willing to participate. I had to narrow down the list because for this experiment to be effective, a website had to have a domain score of 30 or less and no more than 40 backlinks.
That way it’s at least a challenge to figure out how to rank new content higher.
In addition to that, the site couldn’t be a subdomain, such as domain.wordpress.com. It had to be a standalone site.
Once I removed all of the outliers, I was left with 983 people who agreed to participate in the experiment. Of those, 347 stopped replying or backed out of the experiment due to time commitments, which means I was left with 636.
For all of the sites, we had them write a piece of content. We didn’t make it a requirement that the content had to be about any specific topic or that it had to be written a certain way… we just had them write one piece of content that was between 1,800 and 2,000 words in length.
We enforced the minimum and maximum length limit because we needed the post to be long enough to naturally include keywords, but if it was too long… such as 10,000 words, it would have a higher chance to rank on Google.
Each site had 30 days to write the piece of content and publish it on their site. Within 30 days of the content being published, we looked up the URL in our Ubersuggest database to see how many keywords the post ranks for in the top 100, top 50, and top 10 spots.
We also repeated this search 60 days after the article was published to see if there were any major differences.
The Ubersuggest database currently contains information on 1,459,103,429 keywords from around the world in all languages (a lot of keywords have low search volume like 10 searches per month). But for this experiment, we focused on English speaking sites.
We then split the sites up into 9 groups. Roughly 70 sites per group. Each group only leveraged 1 tactic to see if it helped with rankings.
Here’s a breakdown of each group.
Before I dive into the data, keep in mind that if someone was in one of the groups, we did our best to make sure that they weren’t leveraging any other tactic. For example, for everyone who wasn’t in the sitemap group, we had them remove their existing sitemaps for Google Search Console (other than the everything group).
So how many keywords does an average website with a domain score of 30 or less rank for in Google within a month and even two months?
I was shocked at how many keywords a site could rank for when it barely has any links and a low domain score.
But what wasn’t as shocking is how a web page’s ranking can increase over time. The orange line shows the number of keywords that ranked within the first 30 days and the green line shows the number over the first 60 days.
You know how people say you need an XML sitemap, well it is even more important if you have a low domain score. At least, that is what the data shows.
When your site has very few links and a low domain score, you’ll find that Google may not crawl your site as often as you want. But by leveraging a sitemap, you can speed up the indexing process, which helps decrease the time it takes for your site to start ranking for keywords.
Links, links, and more links… it’s what every site needs to rank well. Ideally, those links would be from external sites, but that’s hard to do. So, we tested how internal links impact rankings.
When you add internal links from your old content to your newer articles, it helps them get indexed faster and it helps push them up in the rankings.
Especially when these internal links come from relevant pages that have some decent rankings on Google.
Articles that leveraged 3 internal links had more page 1 rankings than sites that just used an XML sitemap.
If you aren’t familiar with the URL inspection feature within Google Search Console, it’s a quick way to getting your content index.
Just log into Search Console and type in your article URL in the search bar at the top. You’ll see a screen that looks something like this:
All you have to do is click the “request indexing” link.
Leveraging this feature has a similar result to using the sitemap.
I’ve noticed a trend with my own website, in which if I create a piece of content that goes viral on the social web, my rankings for that new piece of content skyrocket to the top of Google… at least in the very short run.
And after a few weeks, I notice that my rankings drop.
Now, my site isn’t a large enough sample size and there are many reasons why my site ranks really well quickly.
Nonetheless, it was interesting to see how much social shares impact rankings.
Getting social shares substantially performed better than the control group, but similar to my experience with NeilPatel.com, the rankings did slip a bit in month 2 instead of continually rising to the top.
Social shares may not have a direct impact on rankings, but the more people who see your content the higher the chance you build backlinks, increase your brand queries, and build brand loyalty.
Do you know how people are saying that Google is using data from Google Analytics and Chrome to determine how high your site should rank?
Well, I wasn’t able to prove that from this experiment.
I had 40 random people directly type in the URL of each new article into Google Chrome. I spread it out over a week, making sure they clicked around on the site and stayed for at least 2 minutes.
The ranking results were very similar to the control group.
Now this group performed very similarly to the group that leveraged internal linking. And the month 2 results outperformed all other groups.
User metrics are a key part of Google’s algorithm. If you can create a compelling title tag and meta description, you’ll see a boost in your click-through rate and eventually, your rankings will climb.
If you want to boost your rankings through your meta tags, it’s not just about adding in the right keywords, you’ll also want to boost your click-through rate. Follow these steps to do just that.
The 8th group tested if URL length impacts how high a new piece of content ranks on Google.
Based on the graph above, you can see that it does. It didn’t have as much of an impact as internal linking or meta tags, but it did have an impact.
The key to creating SEO friendly URLs is to include a keyword or two and keep them short.
If your URL is too long and descriptive, such as:
neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-optimize-your-meta-tags-for-search-engines
The article will rank for very long tail phrases but will struggle to rank for more popular terms like “meta tags” compared to URLs like:
neilpatel.com/blog/meta-tags/
The beautiful part about the short URLs is that they rank well for head terms and long tail phrases.
The charts clearly show that little things like meta tags, URLs, internal linking, social shares, and even sitemaps help.
But the key to doing well, especially if you want your new content to rank well is to not just do one of those things, but instead do them all.
As you can see from the chart, doing everything gives you the best results. Now sure, some of the things are redundant like using an XML sitemap and using the URL inspection feature, but you get the point.
You’ll also notice that when you leverage everything together your results aren’t exponentially better… SEO is competitive and has turned into a game where every little thing adds up.
If you want to do well and have your new AND old content rank faster and higher, you need to do everything.
I know the tactics above aren’t anything revolutionary or new, but it’s interesting to look at the data and see how specific tactics affect rankings.
So, what do you think?
The post How to Rank New Content Faster appeared first on Neil Patel.
Why do you do keyword research?
It’s to find more lucrative keywords to rank for on Google, right?
But once you find these keywords, you still have to figure out how to rank for them.
For that reason, I decided to update Ubersuggest because I wanted to show you what kind of content to create and even how to promote it.
That way you can start ranking for these newly found keywords.
Here’s what’s new…
The way you rank for a keyword is by creating content around it. I know content isn’t king anymore and that’s because there are over 1 billion blogs on the web. That means Google can be really picky about what they decide to rank.
So now, not only do you need to write amazing content, but you also have to promote it if you want to do well.
To help you with this I created a Content Ideas report in Ubersuggest. So whenever you do keyword research, you’ll see an overview that looks like this:
Just like before, you’ll see a graph at the top with the search volume over time, some keyword recommendations and, at the very bottom, a list of blog posts that performed exceptionally well for that keyword.
When you click on “content ideas” in the navigational menu or you click on “view all content ideas,” you’ll then be taken to a page that looks something like this:
This page shows you all of the popular blog posts that have been written related to the keyword or phrase you searched.
The list is ordered by social shares, so the posts with the highest social shares are at the top. At the bottom, you can keep clicking to see more results. Even if your screen only shows 1 or 2 pages, just keep clicking next and you’ll start to see results for pages 3, 4, 5, etc.
We only show you 20 results per page, but each key phrase will typically have hundreds, if not thousands, of results as our database has over 500,000,000 blog posts from around the world.
And because there are so many results, we’ve also created an easy to use filtering system so you can fine-tune your search by including certain keywords or excluding other ones and even putting minimum and maximum thresholds on social shares.
I know you can do similar things with Buzzsumo and other tools, but this is why I created the Content Ideas report.
As I mentioned earlier, content isn’t king. You not only have to write amazing content (that’s why I sort the content by social shares as more shares typically mean people love it), but you also have to promote it.
You’ll notice that there are two other columns in this report that make the tool unique… one is “Estimated Visits” and the other is “Backlinks”.
Estimated visits will show you how many visits the blog post generated from Google each month. Just click on “Keywords” and it will even show you the keywords that drive those visits and the position the article ranks for each of those terms.
Backlinks, on the other hand, are all of the referring domains that point to each article. So if 12 unique domains link to that blog post, then you’ll see the number “12” in that column. All you have to do is click on “links” and you’ll see the full list of backlinks.
Not only do I provide a thorough list of backlinks, but I also show you the overall page score, domain score, anchor text, and even the type of link.
The reasons I made the Content Ideas report like this are:
In addition to the Content Ideas report, you’ll now find that Ubersuggest provides you with more data and less fluff when you perform a keyword query.
For example, if you search for the term “dog food,” it will tell you that the average result that ranks in the top 10 has 72 backlinks and a domain score of 82.
This way, if you want to rank for that term or any other term, you’ll have a rough idea of what you need from an authority and backlink standpoint to achieve a spot on page one.
If you are going to create content or write a blog post, you should check out the Content Ideas report each time before you write.
The last thing you want to do is create content that people don’t care about reading. And this report will give you good feedback so that way you aren’t wasting your time creating content that doesn’t generate social shares, backlinks, or rankings.
You’ll also notice that some posts do extremely well from a social sharing standpoint but terrible from a backlink and a search traffic perspective.
Social shares will bring you more short-term traffic and search engines bring you less traffic upfront, but more consistent traffic over time.
This report will help you find a balance so that you can get both short-term traffic and consistent traffic over the long-haul.
So, head on over and try the new Content Ideas report.
What do you think about the content ideas report?
The post Ubersuggest 4.0: The Ultimate Content Marketing Tool appeared first on Neil Patel.
A new business in Wyoming is not out of reach. So have you been wondering: how do I start a new business in Wyoming? And more importantly, can I do so no matter what the economic conditions are? Can I start a new business in Wyoming during a recession?
Business Insider named Wyoming as the top state to start a new business in, per an article published in 2016. And this is for the whole nation. Why? The sales tax rate is low. Also, they do not even have any corporate income tax, individual income tax, or gross receipts tax. There is also a thriving startup scene. Wyoming is fourth in the nation for startup companies.
But in 2019, Fit Small Business named Wyoming its number three best state to start a new business in. Keep in mind, of course, that the methods used by Fit Small Business and Business Insider are not the same.
The biggest industries in Wyoming are energy and mining. Both of them have traditionally been strong there. However, the state’s growth and corresponding investment and economic development efforts by its government are increasing economic diversification.
Hence there are more opportunities for Wyoming business owners in all manner of different industries.
Per Wyoming Department of Labor Force Trends, the biggest industries in Wyoming are natural resources and also mining. More top Wyoming industries are construction, educational services, and manufacturing. Yet more Wyoming top industries are public administration and tourism (leisure and hospitality). Technology-related industries are also tops in Wyoming.
Smart business owners can find new opportunities. Work with the bigger industries in the state. Offer goods or services such as trucking for any industry. Another idea is the development and also distribution of safety equipment. More ideas are food service, and also computer support in areas such as programming and data.
Here is how to start a new business in Wyoming.
Search for a business name on the Wyoming Secretary of State’s website.
Wyoming corporation names must be unique. The name cannot be in use by another corporation registered in the state of Wyoming. Before filing to incorporate, search online records as well as other registers and catalogs to determine if a name is available. Search a database of registered Wyoming corporations here: Wyoming Secretary of State website.
Corporate name reservations are not required to incorporate a business in Wyoming. There is no form to reserve a corporate name available on the official website of the Wyoming Secretary of State.
For questions about reserving a name for a corporation before they file to incorporate, contact the office of the Wyoming Secretary of State.
A Wyoming corporation owner must choose a registered agent who will act as an agent for service of process for the corporation. A registered agent will receive all tax forms and also legal documents for the corporation.
The business owner can choose an adult resident of Wyoming. Or they can opt for a corporation in Wyoming, or a corporate services company as a registered agent. There is a list of corporate services companies that provide registered agent services at Register a Wyoming Corporation on the Wyoming Secretary of State website.
The State of Wyoming Economic Development Agency keeps a rather handy PDF guide. It even includes contact information and license types.
Check with your local municipality, city or county office or website. See if there may be any local licensing or permit requirements.
For example, in Cheyenne you will need to go to the Licensing and Permitting page on the city of Cheyenne website.
The Wyoming Secretary of State has a New Business Entry Wizard. It lets you file everything electronically.
The Wyoming Department of Revenue keeps a list of all the taxes for which you should register.
Alliance offers Wyoming virtual business office space in Casper only. For Cheyenne and Laramie, and other parts of the state, try Regus. Another idea is to ask local business owners. Also try computer user groups for help in this area. Other options may be virtual business office space in nearby states. These are Montana to the north and Idaho and Utah to the west. Utah is also to the south. Another state south of Wyoming is Colorado. Also, Nebraska and South Dakota are to the east.
Company credit is credit in a small business’s name. It doesn’t tie to an entrepreneur’s individual credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the sole employee of the company.
Accordingly, a business owner’s business and personal credit scores can be very different.
Since company credit is separate from consumer, it helps to safeguard an entrepreneur’s personal assets, in case of legal action or business bankruptcy.
Also, with two distinct credit scores, a business owner can get two separate cards from the same merchant. This effectively doubles purchasing power.
Another advantage is that even start-ups can do this. Visiting a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for disappointment. But building business credit, when done correctly, is a plan for success.
Personal credit scores are dependent on payments but also additional factors like credit utilization percentages.
But for business credit, the scores actually merely depend on if a business pays its debts on a timely basis.
Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.
Establishing small business credit is a process, and it does not occur without effort. A company must actively work to build company credit.
Nonetheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much faster than establishing individual credit scores.
Vendors are a big part of this process.
Undertaking the steps out of sequence will cause repetitive rejections. No one can start at the top with small business credit. For instance, you can’t start with retail or cash credit from your bank. If you do, you’ll get a denial 100% of the time.
A small business has to be fundable to credit issuers and merchants.
For this reason, a business will need a professional-looking website and email address. And it needs to have website hosting bought from a company like GoDaddy.
And also, business phone and fax numbers ought to have a listing on 411.com.
Additionally, the business telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or comparable).
A business will also need a bank account dedicated strictly to it, and it needs to have every one of the licenses necessary for running.
Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.
Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and get an EIN for the small business. They’re totally free. Choose a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.
A company can get started as a sole proprietor. But they will probably want to change to a type of corporation or an LLC.
This is in order to lessen risk. And it will make best use of tax benefits.
A business entity will matter when it pertains to tax obligations and liability in the event of a lawsuit. A sole proprietorship means the business owner is it when it comes to liability and taxes. No one else is responsible.
If you operate a business as a sole proprietor, then at the very least be sure to file for a DBA. This is ‘doing business as’ status.
If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the business name. Therefore, you can end up being personally responsible for all business financial obligations.
Also, per the IRS, using this arrangement there is a 1 in 7 possibility of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 probability for corporations! Prevent confusion and noticeably lower the odds of an Internal Revenue Service audit simultaneously.
Begin at the D&B website and get a totally free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a business into their system, to generate 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 web sites for the business. You can do this at www.creditsuite.com/reports. If there is a record with them, check it for correctness and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.
By doing this, Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.
First you ought to establish trade lines that report. This is also referred to as the vendor credit tier. 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 start to get credit in the retail and cash credit tiers.
These types of accounts tend to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.
But first off, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who will give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are oftentimes Net 30, instead of revolving.
Hence, 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.
Net 30 accounts must be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts have to be paid completely within 60 days. Unlike with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you have to pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.
To launch your business credit profile the right way, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting agencies. Once that’s done, you can then use the credit.
Then repay what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.
Not every vendor can help like true starter credit can. These are vendors that will grant an approval with nominal effort. You also want them to be reporting to one or more of the big three CRAs: Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, and Experian.
You want 5 to 8 of these to move onto the next step, which is the retail credit tier. But you may need to apply more than one time to these vendors. So, this is to confirm you are reliable and will pay punctually.
Once there are 5 to 8 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then progress to the retail credit tier. These are businesses such as Office Depot and Staples.
Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use the small business’s EIN on these credit applications.
One example is Lowe’s. They report to D&B, Equifax and Business Experian. They want to see a D-U-N-S and a PAYDEX score of 78 or more.
Are there 8 to 10 accounts reporting? Then move onto the fleet credit tier. These are companies such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to purchase fuel, and to fix, and maintain vehicles. Just use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make sure to apply using the company’s EIN.
One such example is Shell. They report to D&B and Business Experian. They want to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or better and a 411 business phone listing.
Shell might say they want a specific amount of time in business or profits. But if you already have sufficient vendor accounts, that won’t be necessary. And you can still get approval.
Learn more here and get started toward building business credit attached to your company’s EIN and not your SSN.
Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve gotten up to this point? Then move onto the cash credit tier. These are companies such as Visa and MasterCard. Only use your Social Security Number and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, use your EIN instead.
One such example is the Fuelman MasterCard. They report to D&B and Equifax Business. They need to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or more. And they also want you to have 10 trade lines reporting on your D&B report.
Plus, they want to see a $10,000 high credit limit reporting on your D&B report (other account reporting).
Additionally, they want you to have an established company.
These are companies such as Walmart and Dell, and also Home Depot, BP, and Racetrac. These are usually MasterCard credit cards. If you have 14 trade accounts reporting, then these are doable.
Know what is happening with your credit. Make sure it is being reported and attend to any errors as soon as possible. Get in the practice of taking a look at credit reports and digging into the particulars, and not just the scores.
We can help you monitor business credit at Experian and D&B for only $24/month. Update the information if there are errors or the relevant information is incomplete.
So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to challenge any inaccuracies in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be taken care of. But the CRAs typically want you to dispute in a particular way.
Disputing credit report mistakes generally means you send 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 keep the originals.
Disputing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically spell out any charges you dispute. Make your dispute letter as clear as possible. Be specific about the issues with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you sent in your dispute.
Always use credit responsibly! Never borrow beyond what you can pay off. Keep an eye on balances and deadlines for repayments. Paying on time and fully will do more to elevate business credit scores than nearly anything else.
Building small business credit pays. Good business credit scores help a business get loans. Your lender knows the business can pay its debts. They know the company is bona fide. The business’s EIN links to high scores, and creditors won’t feel the need to demand a personal guarantee.
Business credit is an asset which can help with opening a new business in Wyoming for years to come.
Learn more here and get started toward opening a new business in Wyoming.
Want to start a new business someplace else in America? Then check out our handy guide to starting a business in any state in the country.
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