Tag: Comprehensive

Facebook Marketing: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

With over 2.74 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform. From a marketing perspective, there are many opportunities to engage with new audiences and expand your company’s reach.  

How do you capitalize on these opportunities? By devising a Facebook marketing strategy. 

For beginners, this can all seem a little daunting but don’t worry. If you’re new to Facebook marketing, let me walk you through using the tools available to your advantage.   

What Is Facebook Marketing?

Facebook marketing is a catch-all term for the different ways you can market your business on Facebook. It includes: 

  • Facebook Ads
  • Business Pages
  • Facebook Marketplace
  • Facebook Groups 

There’s a marketing strategy for every budget, whether you’re looking for a free social media marketing solution or you want to set aside a regular sum for paid Facebook Ads. 

Why Should You Use Facebook Marketing?

Firstly, over 90 million businesses are already on Facebook. Around 1.88 billion users access Facebook at least once per day, and at least 17 percent of users join Facebook to connect with brands and products.

In other words, businesses are actively pursuing customers across this social media platform, so it makes sense to build your own presence there. 

What’s more, 45 percent of internet users across the globe turn to platforms like Facebook to find out more about products they want to buy. You can help them discover your brand by advertising effectively on Facebook.

Types of Facebook Ads

Facebook lets you choose from four main ad types. 

Image Ads

Static image ads are ideal for driving traffic to your website. 

They must be in JPG or PNG format, and the headline shouldn’t exceed 40 characters. Since you only have 125 characters for the main message, they’re best for clear and concise calls to action (CTAs).  

Video Ads

With video ads, you can showcase a product, promote customer testimonials, or boost your brand. Video posts, in general, have a 6.09 percent engagement rate on Facebook, which is impressive, but you’ll lose viewers if it’s a poor-quality video with an unclear message.  

Carousel Ads

With carousel ads, people can scroll through a host of images to see the same product from multiple angles. 

While this is great for e-commerce, carousel ads aren’t ideal for showcasing different products or listings e.g., properties in real estate marketing.  

Collection Ads

Image collections are great for showing products in your e-commerce store, but as with image ads, you’re limited to a short headline and a 125-character primary message, so they’re not suited for conveying much information. 

The ad type you choose depends largely on your campaign goal. For example, an image is great for driving home a visually compelling CTA, whereas videos are useful for engaging audiences. 

There’s no set cost for Facebook Ads, either. Since you bid on ad slots across the platform, how much the ad costs depends on how much you’re willing to pay to secure the slot you want.  

Steps to Start Facebook Marketing

To use Facebook Ads, it’s best if you set up a Facebook Page for your business if you don’t already have one. Set one up by heading here.

Access Ads Manager

First, you need to access Ads Manager. 

Ads Manager is the “hub” to create, manage, and track Facebook Ad campaigns. You can log in here.  

Choose Your Ad Objective

Next, determine what you want from your campaign by setting your ad objective. There are three categories to choose from:

1. Awareness Goals

  • brand awareness
  • reach

2. Consideration Goals

  • traffic
  • engagement
  • app installs
  • video views
  • lead generation
  • messages

3. Conversion Goals 

  • conversions
  • catalog sales
  • store traffic

Click the green “Create” button and choose your goal:

How to Start Facebook Marketing - Conversion goals

Name Your Campaign

A name helps you keep track of the campaign within Ads Manager. 

Once you’ve chosen a name, confirm if you want to test different versions of the same ad against each other using A/B testing. This is optional, and you can change your mind later. 

Move on to the next screen.

Set Your Budget and Schedule 

First, choose which Page to promote. This is probably your company’s Page.

Then, set either a monthly or daily budget for your Facebook Ad campaign, and determine when you want your campaign to start. You can set an end date, too.  

If you want, you can schedule your ad based on time zones to ensure your target audience is most likely to see it. For example, if you’re targeting a U.S. audience, you can run your ads during U.S. daytime hours, and so on:

How to Start Facebook Marketing - Set Your Budget and Schedule

Choose Your Audience

Build your target audience based on gender, age, location, and language. Once you’ve got a broad sense of your ad reach, you can customize your audience based on user behaviors and interests to improve your chances of reaching the right people. 

If you’re happy with your ad reach, move on.  

Select Your Ad Placements

Decide where your ad should appear. For beginners, you might be best choosing “Automatic Placements” so Facebook can determine where you’re likely to get the best traction.

If you’re more knowledgeable, you can customize placement based on, for example, device type, social media platform (Facebook or Instagram), and operating system:

How to Start Facebook Marketing - Select Your Ad Placements

Determine Your Brand Safety Controls

You can specify content you don’t want your ad to appear alongside, such as violent, sensitive, or offensive content. 

From this screen, you can also customize your bidding strategy a little more. For beginners, though, it’s a good idea to stick with the default options at first and make changes later if required.

Create Your Facebook Ad

Finally, choose your ad format, type in the ad copy, and enter your images or videos. Once you’re happy with the ad, click the “Publish” button to go live.   

Congratulations, you’ve created your first Facebook Ad!

Tips for Creating Great Facebook Ads

To get the most from your Facebook Ads, here are some tips to bear in mind. 

  • First impressions matter, so use quality, high-resolution images for every ad. 
  • Highlight your value proposition clearly and avoid overly busy, cluttered graphics.  
  • Keep your CTA highly visible and compelling to grab a user’s attention.
  • Bring your products to life by showing people using them in your video ads.   
  • Include user-generated content where appropriate to build a sense of community.
  • Make your videos and images vertical, so they display properly on mobile devices. 
  • Monitor which version of an ad works best by deploying A/B testing.

Examples of Great Facebook Marketing Campaigns

Want to see how businesses just like yours are making Facebook advertising work? Here are two companies putting some of the tips I’ve just outlined into action.      

The Teaching Company

To advertise its one-month free trial, The Teaching Company, a college-level course provider, ran a variety of image ads to appeal to different demographics:

Examples of Great Facebook Marketing Campaigns - The Teaching Company

The value proposition is clear, the CTA is unmistakable, and the company makes it easy for customers to sign up for the trial. As a result, the campaign generated 15,540 new subscriptions, which was 10 times more than its average monthly subscription numbers. 

The takeaway? Keep your ad fresh by switching out the images regularly, and always include a clear CTA.  

GoPro

To build hype around its HERO9 camera, GoPro ran a contest called the “Million Dollar Challenge.” In exchange for sending in raw GoPro footage from a HERO9 camera, people entered a contest to win a share of the $1-million prize pot. 

Twenty-nine thousand people entered the contest, over 668,000 Facebook users viewed the video, and 56 winners took home nearly $18,000 each. 

The lesson? Use video ads to bring your audience closer to your brand and reach diverse new demographics. 

Other Ways to Use Facebook Marketing to Grow Your Brand

As I explained earlier, Facebook Ads are definitely not the only way to grow your brand through the platform. If you’re looking to make the most of your Facebook presence, here are some other strategies to try out. 

Start a Facebook Group

Give your customers a place to interact by setting up a Facebook Group for your business. 

You can use Groups to:

  • build hype around products.
  • promote brand events 
  • start conversations about your business 
  • engage with your followers

It’s free to start a Facebook Group. 

Join the Facebook Marketplace 

If you sell products online, check out the Facebook Marketplace. The Marketplace lets you quickly connect with potential customers who are already primed to buy, and you can also reach local buyers more effectively through highly targeted listings.

It’s free to list on the Marketplace, too. 

Use Your Business Page

Your Facebook Page is essentially a free marketing tool. 

At the most basic level, you can use it to share content and engage audiences. However, depending on your business type, you can also use it to:

  • set up appointments 
  • answer questions
  • share promotions
  • nurture people to download an app.    

What’s more, you can link to your Marketplace listings to help turn Page visitors into loyal paying customers. 

How to Track the Success of Your Facebook Marketing Campaign

When you run a Facebook marketing campaign, you want to track metrics such as:
– ad impressions
– ad frequency
– click-through rate (CTR)
– conversion rate
– cost per conversion

Facebook offers three main tools for tracking metrics like these: Ads Manager, Events Manager, and Facebook Business Suite. 

  1. Ads Manager

    The Ads Manager “reporting” feature lets you view, at a glance, how your ads are performing. From video ad views to website conversions attributed to a Facebook Ad, you can view all the relevant stats by creating a report. 

    To create a report, simply open Ads Manager, go to “Analyze and Report,” click “Ads Reporting,” then select the data you want to report on:
    facebook marketing guide ads manager

  2. Events Manager

    With the Events Manager tool, you can set up a pixel to analyze what actions people take on your website. 
    For example, whenever someone adds an item to their cart or completes a sale, the pixel records this as an action or “event.” You can view this data in a report and then target these users with customized ads in the future. 
    Access Events Manager here.  

  3. Facebook Business Suite

    The Facebook Business Suite lets you quickly view key data about your Facebook account, including:
    -audience demographics  
    -post and content engagement
    -paid ad performance

    What’s more, if you have an Instagram account, you can access key insights through the Facebook Business Suite, which helps you unify your social media metrics tracking. 

    You can also use alternative tools like Google Analytics to measure ad performance and conversions if you prefer.

More Facebook Marketing Resources

Need some extra help with your Facebook marketing? Here are some other resources to read. 

  • Facebook Business Help Center: The Help Center has a range of guides and troubleshooting articles to help you navigate the platform.
  • Facebook Blueprint: Facebook Blueprint offers online courses and training programs to help you build effective campaigns.   
  • Shopify Blog: Do you run an e-commerce store? This Shopify post can help you tweak your e-commerce ads most effectively.  

For even more help, check out my personalized consulting services. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Facebook Marketing

What Is Facebook Marketing?

Facebook marketing offers a variety of ways for businesses to reach customers and advertise their products across Facebook. From ads to Facebook groups, you can choose which tools you want to use based on your digital marketing objectives.

How Do I Start Using Facebook Marketing?

Open a Facebook Business Page then access Ads Manager. Choose your objective, name your campaign, set your schedule, pick your ad placement, and you’re good to go. 

Is Facebook Marketing Free?

It’s free to set up things like a Facebook Page or Group for your business. You need to pay to use Facebook Ads, though. The cost is generally calculated per click or impression, depending on the type of ad you select.

How Can I Create Great Facebook Ads?

Less is often more. Keep images and videos clear and uncluttered, and make sure you highlight your CTA and value proposition. Choose the right ad type for your objectives by figuring out your goals beforehand. 

Facebook Marketing Conclusion

If your audience is on Facebook, then you should really try out Facebook marketing for your business. Try a variety of Facebook Ads and measure your progress regularly to ensure you’re getting the most from your campaigns. 

Got a limited budget? You can still utilize Facebook Pages and Groups to draw traffic, nurture leads, and ultimately increase sales long term. 

Are you ready to give Facebook marketing a try?

A Comprehensive Guide to Pinterest SEO

Although Pinterest is often regarded as the go-to platform for pinning recipes and home décor ideas, it’s also a powerful digital marketing tool.

More than 416 million people visited Pinterest each month to explore and categorize ideas they love. While you may think of Pinterest as being in the social media family, it’s also a powerful search engine. 

Pinterest has become a leading source of social revenue for many companies, especially e-commerce. You’d be remiss to not take advantage of this platform to expand your web of influence and turn fans into customers.

Pinterest recently surveyed pinners to learn how they use the site for shopping. The results show that Pinterest influences what people buy, which brands they choose, and how much they spend. Noteworthy stats include:

  • 72% say Pinterest inspires them to shop when they aren’t looking for anything.
  • 70% discover new products on Pinterest.
  • 90% say Pinterest helps them decide what to buy.
  • 78% say it’s useful to see content from brands on Pinterest.
  • 66% buy something after seeing a brand’s pins.
  • 59% use Pinterest to find more information about their purchases.

With these stats in mind, let’s dive into how people search on Pinterest, how the Pinterest search algorithm works, and how to leverage Pinterest SEO.

How Does Pinterest’s Search Algorithm Work?

Let’s get back to the basics. As a Pinterest user, you can save or “pin” any image you find online. By creating different boards and categorizing your collections, you can compile and streamline the topics you care about. Most images, when pinned, are linked to the original websites they’re from.

Say you’re looking for a new pizza recipe. You can easily search for that phrase on Pinterest and sort through many pizza recipe images and options. Once you select the one you want, you can save it to your own board, making it visible to your followers.

pinterest pizza

How does Pinterest know what content to serve up when you search for something? There are four main factors that influence search results:

  1. domain quality
  2. pin quality
  3. pinner quality
  4. topic relevance

What does each of these mean? Domain quality refers to what Pinterest deems to be your website’s quality. Pinterest knows how many items were pinned from your site. Be sure to pin consistently, enable rich pins on your account, and create high-quality content that garners engagement.

Pinterest determines pin quality by its freshness, popularity, and the amount of engagement it receives. Pinterest tracks all instances of your pin. For example, if a pin is on your board and someone else shares it to theirs, Pinterest will measure the engagement from every instance of the pin. Improve pin quality by creating enticing graphics and stimulating content people will want to share.

Pinterest assesses how active you are and whether your content is well received to assess your overall quality as a content creator and pinner. Enhance your pinner quality by being active, sharing popular content, increasing saves, and engaging with followers.

Topic relevance refers to keywords. Similar to the way Google functions, keywords affect what appears in Pinterest search.

Pinterest as a Search Engine

You are using the Pinterest search engine to drive traffic to your own website. Pinterest debuted The Taste Graph in 2017 to enhance targeting. They said:

By understanding people’s evolving tastes, preferences, and interests, the Pinterest Taste Graph connects the millions of people on Pinterest to hundreds of billions of fresh ideas that are just right for them. It’s how we surface the perfect ideas for each Pinner, helping them find fresh ideas to love as they move through the various stages of planning their lives.

Pinterest spent years refining their understanding of user behavior and turning it into an actionable resource for businesses.

Several businesses have been able to leverage Pinterest for website traffic. Ben Silbermann, Pinterest’s co-founder and CEO, had this to say about how the search engine functions:

We often talk about Pinterest as like a human indexing machine. Google built these crawlers that would go out, and these amazing algorithms. We give people tools that let them organize in a way that makes sense to them, and in doing that they organize in a way that makes sense to other people.

You must show Pinterest that your pins are relevant to the terms users search for. Relevance refers to how closely your pin fits your audience’s interests, recent search history, and distinct searches.

Pinterest’s engineering team shared an overview of how they extract and assign keywords to pin images. Pinterest assigns pins keywords called annotations that are between one and six words long. They then assess your pin’s relevance to these keywords with a confidence score based on the quality of the information extracted (text-based keywords are more highly rated) and how many times that keyword appears.

image4 6

In this graphic, the two Maseratis are more like one another than they are to the Honda. This is reflected in the cosine similarity scores.

How to Optimize Your Pinterest Boards

Create Pinterest boards strategically, and pin and repin relevant content to build a strong presence.

How does Pinterest know which cars to compare? By keywords. You should include keywords in your board names, board descriptions, and in the descriptions of each photo you pin. This tells Pinterest how to categorize your pins and content. To optimize your content, start by doing keyword research. Search Pinterest for terms that correlate to your audience and industry.

As you type, Pinterest auto-suggests a variety of terms to help you narrow down your search. Make note of these terms.

Add them to your pin descriptions, board titles, image text, and profiles. You should also integrate relevant hashtags with corresponding phrases.

For example, CaféPress has Pinterest boards for various product segments. Clicking on their pin highlighting masks for kids showed a thorough description comprising a variety of relevant keywords.

image3 6

Note that they integrated “Kids Face Masks” into both the title and description. They included a variety of adjectives people may use when searching for masks: reusable, washable, and comfort.

The image is appealing for kids too. By using effective pin images and optimizing pin designs with a consistent look and feel across all the pins on their board, CaféPress tailored their content to how people search on Pinterest.

Pinterest for E-commerce

Pinterest simplifies the online shopping experience by making it easy to search for products. If your goal is to sell on Pinterest, set up a Pinterest Business Account, which comes with an array of personalized support, creative strategies, and campaign guidance.

A business account also gives you access to analytics and ads. As you add more content to your account, you’ll be able to collect data on views and engagement.

It’s critical to optimize your website for Pinterest users. Consider people who may want to pin items from your site to their boards.

Start by adding the Pinterest tag to your website to track conversions.

Also, add share buttons to your product pages. This encourages visitors to follow you on Pinterest and share your products with their networks.

Sellbrite points out that Forever 21, a women’s clothing brand, does a great job of this.

pinterest share button example

Clicking the share button takes visitors to Pinterest. There, they can pin the products they like.

This can encourage interactivity on your website, and keep your customers engaged with your brand across the digital landscape. Plus, when you have the Pinterest tag in place, you can leverage the data to create targeted advertising campaigns.

The Ultimate Pinterest Marketing Guide provides more explanation and case studies. It dives into a variety of tools, settings, categories, and other elements that can make or break your approach to Pinterest SEO.

Which Pinterest Ad Formats Should You Explore?

Pinterest offers a variety of ad format options for every goal. Here are some worth exploring:

  • Standard: Vertical or square image
  • Video
  • Shopping: Buyable pins allow users to buy instantly
  • Carousel: Users can swipe through multiple images in one pin
  • Collections: Mix lifestyle photos with product images in this ad format

Select the ad type that makes the most sense for your brand. For example, if you have a more visual-oriented product, a video or carousel ad may be the best fit. If your company offers a service or experience, collections would likely be best suited.

Pinterest user Jess Bahr compiled a Pinterest board of Pinterest ad examples. The board features numerous businesses and ad types.

One Pinterest success story is BlendJet, which saw 2x better sales. The company turned to Pinterest for a highly visual campaign highlighting the blender’s portability, versatility, and design, and saw its sales double as a result.

Video ads acted like product demos, showing how the blender works. Meanwhile, standard ads depicted scenarios for using the BlendJet One, from in the car to on the trail. The company’s campaigns have now offered an 8x return on investment (ROI).

Conclusion 

While Pinterest SEO may seem intimidating at first, it’s simple to navigate once you get the hang of it. If you’re looking for a proven method of driving brand awareness as well as website traffic, Pinterest is worth exploring.

Remember, over 400 million people visit Pinterest each month, and 90% of those users make buying decisions on the platform.

Have you had success with Pinterest SEO?

The post A Comprehensive Guide to Pinterest SEO appeared first on Neil Patel.

Business Experian: A Comprehensive List of Everything You Need to Know

Many business owners do not understand their business credit score. What is it? How is it generated? What can I do to make it higher? Individual consumers normally find that much of their lending life rests on the FICO score, but what about businesses? Which scores do business owners need to worry about?   There are … Continue reading Business Experian: A Comprehensive List of Everything You Need to Know

Business Experian: A Comprehensive List of Everything You Need to Know

Many business owners do not understand their business credit score. What is it? How is it generated? What can I do to make it higher? Individual consumers normally find that much of their lending life rests on the FICO score, but what about businesses? Which scores do business owners need to worry about?  

There are many options for business credit reports.  Why worry about Experian? Business Experian is one of the main three busing credit reporting agencies.  The other two are Dun & Bradstreet and Equifax. 

Everything You Need to Know About Business Experian: From Profile to Improving Your Score

You need to know what your business Experian reports say.  Honestly, knowing what information lenders are getting from this report is necessary to help you determine your business fundability.  To understand completely, you need to know where the information on the report comes from, of course. But that’s not all. You also need to know how they calculate the business credit score.   

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring. 

Business Experian: How Do They Get Your Information?

Experian keeps business credit profiles on 99.9% of all United States businesses. According to them, they hold the credit industry’s most inclusive database on small businesses. As a result, if your business is already operating, it probably already has a business Experian file.

Their information comes from third party sourcing. Consequently, you cannot add anything to your business credit profile yourself. You can, however, still review your profile.  Then, you can tell them about any mistakes and have those mistakes corrected.

Business Owner Profile

For smaller companies, Experian will add a business owner profile.  This is to show the relationships between you and your business. Experian’s Business Owner Link automatically links the credit history of more than 5 million business owners to their business credit history. This makes things easier for creditors to find a Business Owner Profile on small business accounts. It also makes it easier for them to determine overall creditworthiness.

business Experian Credit Suite

What’s on Your Business Experian Report?  

Experian sells different products and reports that keep track of a business’s credit.

Business Credit Advantage Plan

This is presently $149 monthly and incorporates mobile-friendly alerts and score improvement pointers.

Profile Plus Report

This report is currently priced at $49.95 and it includes financial payment details and predictive information on payment behavior.

Credit Score Report

The least costly of the available reports, it is currently $39.95. This fundamental report features detailed company and credit information.  It also shows summary financial payment information.

Valuation Report

At $99, this report is a middle of the road option in terms of cost.  It shows the value of your business and features Key Performance Indicators. It also shows the fair market value of the business.

Premium Corporate Profiles

For an additional charge, Experian also offers premium corporate profiles. They enhance these profiles by adding extra information.  Additional data includes sales figures, size, contact details, products and operations, credit summary, any Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings, fictitious business names, plus payment and collections history. In addition, these premium profiles have information on credit inquiries made in the last nine months.  UCC specifics and financial details from Standard & Poor’s round out the information on this report.

What Does Your Business Experian Report Tell Lenders? 

A business Experian report is set up in several different sections.  We break it down below. 

Identifying Information

This report is split within itself. First, you get the standard identifying data and details of ownership. This area also lists major personnel, company type, and length of time in business.  Number of employees and annual sales are on this report as well.

Payment Information at a Glance

After that, there is a section noting delinquent payments.  It also shows those payments they expect to go delinquent. Additionally, you can see the lowest and highest balances for the past six months and the current balance. By showing the highest credit limits, there is an idea of the highest credit utilization rate.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring. 

In addition, this segment contains the number of tradelines a business holds.  Also, it has the number of credit inquiries in the past. Uniform Commercial Code filings are on this list too.

Next, there is a relative percentage showing the percent of businesses doing worse than the one in the report.  Lastly, you can see the number of bankruptcies, liens, and judgments.

Credit Summary

After that is the credit summary. This shows the company’s Experian credit score.  It also has links to information about what enters into the score and tips on exactly how to improve it.

Payment Summary

The next area is the payment summary. It shows line graphs for monthly and quarterly payment trends.  It also shows where those numbers originated from. The monthly payment trend is even graphed against the industry average.

Just below this pair of graphs are three bar charts showing continuous payment trends. The first includes tradelines that have been reported for over 6 months.  The next includes tradelines that have been reporting for 6 months. At the end, there is a chart that shows these payment trends in combination. 

Trade Payment Information

How has the business done with making payments?  This section will tell you. It breaks payments into credit card and leasing accounts.  Then, it further breaks them down by supplier category. Lastly, payment trends are at the bottom. 

Inquiries

This part is pretty self-explanatory.  This is where the inquiries into the company’s credit are listed.

Collection Filings

If a business has any collection filings, they’ll be in this section in date order.  It will also list collection agency name, status, amounts contested and collected, and the closed date.  

Commercial Banking, Insurance, Leasing

This portion shows what Experian knows about your company in relation to banking, insurance, and leasing.  For example, what was credit extended for? How much credit was extended? When did the loan start? Is there any remaining balance? If so, how much? 

Judgment Filings

Next the report shows basic legal information.  For example, the court where a judgment was filed, the day, and what amount it was for.

Tax Lien Filings

Tax lien filing data is similar to judgment filings, except that there is a listing for a filing location, rather than a court.

UCC Filings

This only displays the date, filing number, jurisdiction, name of the secured party, and activity on the filing.

Business Experian Credit Monitoring

Obviously, you can register for business credit alerts. Experian’s Business Credit Advantage program operates as a self-monitoring service. You get unrestricted access to your company’s business credit report and score. You can use this resource for proactively managing your company credit. Alerts are sent for:

  • Company address changes
  • Changes in your business credit score
  • Credit inquiries on your business profile
  • Newly-opened credit tradelines
  • Any kind of USS filings
  • Collection filings and
  • Any public record filings, such as liens, bankruptcies, and judgments

However, we can help you monitor your credit with business Experian for a fraction of the cost.  Go here to find out more. 

Business Experian: Intelliscore Plus

You need to understand this score and how it works.  You may not be able to change it much, but by understanding the score, what it tells lenders, and how it is calculated, you can work to mitigate any negative issues with positivity.

What is the Intelliscore Plus Credit Score?

The Intelliscore Plus credit score is credit-risk analysis. The primary function of Intelliscore Plus is to help businesses, investors, and prospective lenders make well educated judgments about who they should or should not do business with.

Intelliscore Plus Credit Score Range

The Intelliscore scores range from 1 to 100.  The higher the score, the lower the risk class. In contrast, the lower the score, the higher the risk class. It breaks down like this: 

Score Range Risk Class

  • 76 – 100 Low
  • 51 – 75 Low – Medium
  • 26 – 50 Medium
  • 11 – 25 High – Medium
  • 1 – 10 High

How Does Business Experian Calculate Intelliscore Plus?

In the credit world, Intelliscore Plus is regarded as one of the most reliable tools for determining credit risk. Here’s why.  They use over 800 variables to calculate the score. That’s a lot, but they all fit into these three general categories. 

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring. 

Payment History

This features the number of times accounts have become delinquent, the percent of accounts that are currently delinquent, and your overall trade balance. 

Frequency

Frequency is related to payment history.  It takes into account how many times your accounts have been sent to collections, liens and judgements, and any bankruptcies on both business and personal accounts.  

This also relates to payment patterns.  Were you regularly slow or late with payment? Did you begin by paying bills late but now you are doing better? This is all taken into account.

Monetary

This detail focuses on how you make use of credit. For example, how much of your available credit is currently being used? Do you have a high ratio of delinquent balances in relation to your credit limits?

If you’re about to start a small business or are relatively new to this game, the list above may seem a bit overwhelming. Furthermore, how will you rate if you have a short time in business? 

This is where the blended model comes into play. This means that they take your personal credit score into consideration when calculating your business’s credit score.

Can You Do Anything to Improve Your Business Experian Score?

While you may not be able to do anything to make a big score increase happen all at once, you can definitely do some things that will make a positive difference over time. 

Pay on Time

This is number one.  Over time, paying your bills punctually will help establish your company as one that satisfies their debts. This will definitely help push your score up and show other firms that you are a low credit risk.

Make Wise Credit Choices

The more debt you have on your plate, the more monthly bills you have.  Consequently, the less disposable income you have. If your overall debt is close to or even over your income, your business with appear to be a high credit risk.

Keep your debts in check and consistently pay them down or off. So this is to keep a healthy balance between what you make and what you owe.

Use the Credit You Have

Keeping your debts low remains solid advice. But you have to make use of the business credit accounts you have.  You have to be making payments on accounts for your score to grow. Having a ton of credit and not using it at all doesn’t really help.  This, again, is where balance comes into play.

There is no need to buy things you do not need however.  Even if you can pay cash, use credit for the things you would be buying regularly for your business anyway.  Then, use the cash to pay the credit account. 

Watch Your Personal Credit

By now, you’re aware that personal credit is fair game when it comes to your Intelliscore Plus score. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your personal credit doesn’t matter.  If it is bad, there are options for working around it. However, it is much better to just keep it healthy. Making certain you stay on top of your monthly bills is the number one way to keep your personal score strong. Avoid unneeded credit inquiries, and refrain from compromising your personal credit for business demands.

Make Use of Monitoring Options

No matter what your credit score is, it is crucial that you continue to be diligent. Sod review your personal and business credit reports. This can help you spot possible errors and stay educated on your own credit profile.   

Business Experian Credit Scores Make a Difference When it Comes to Funding

It’s important to understand your business Experian score.  It can affect your ability to get funding. So you need to know what it is, what it tells lenders, and what affects it.  Once you know these things, you can work from your end to keep it as high as possible. In turn, this will greatly improve your ability to fund your business. 

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