The 2024 Clearwater Invitational will feature 10 teams that were ranked in the preseason top 25. Here’s how to watch, plus X factors for each team.
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The number one search result on Google receives more than 39 percent of all clicks. This means if someone searches for your targeted keyword phrase, four out of ten people will click the first result and ignore everything else.
Imagine what an impact it would have on your business if you could rank first for a few of your desired phrases.
The goal of this guide is to help you understand the most important Google ranking factors so you can implement them on your website and get more traffic.
Google ranking factors are the elements of your website that the Google search algorithm takes into consideration when deciding what webpages to show in the search results for a given search query.
When someone searches for a phrase relevant to your business or service, you want them to find you and not your competition, right?
To truly understand how to get your website ranked in Google search results, you need to understand Google ranking SEO. There are hundreds of ranking factors, some of which can have a significant impact, while others matter less.
In this guide, we’ll cover the factors that matter most, so you know which SEO strategies to spend the most time and money on.
While the ROI on SEO can be a bit fuzzy, a study by Intergrowth gives it a little more clarity.
The first five organic results amount to 67.60 percent of all clicks. After that, the percentage of clicks drops to 3.73.
Let’s say you rank number one for a keyword with 1,000 searches per month at a 30 percent click-through rate. That would drive 300 new visitors to your site each month. If you convert only one percent of those visitors, it would still mean three new customers every month for a year.
Simply ranking number one on Google for a single keyword can bring 36 new customers per year to your business.
Implementing some of the steps in this guide to rank for a handful of keywords can have a significant impact.
Let’s take a look at some of the most important Google ranking factors so you can learn how to increase your SEO ranking on Google.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, mobile traffic accounted for 54.4 percent of global traffic. The majority of people surfing the web on their smartphone expect your site to work perfectly on their device, and if it doesn’t, they’ll likely bounce from your site.
This is why mobile friendliness is one of the most important Google ranking factors. If your site doesn’t function properly on mobile, Google is knocking you down a peg.
If you don’t believe me, you can read about it directly from Google. As of summer 2019, they began mobile-first indexing, which means your functionality on mobile is what determines your ranking. Desktop performance is second in importance.
To rank in the Google search results, you need to make sure your site functions the same on phones, tablets, and computers. Make sure the theme or template you select is mobile responsive. Next, ensure all your images are displayed clearly, check whether any words fall off the screen, and limit giant walls of text, which might look fine on desktop but on mobile can cover the entire screen.
Make sure the site loads properly by reducing the number of changing video URLs and limiting the amount of “lazy-load” content on your site.
Google introduced Core Web Vitals as yet another important ranking factor in May 2020. These refer to the overall health of your website in terms of the experience it provides for users.
The vitals are broken down into three categories:
A 2021 study revealed only four percent of websites scored well in all three Core Web Vitals categories.
Let’s break each of these down so you can understand how they impact your rankings.
Largest Contentful Paint: Google expects your site to completely load its first page within 2.5 seconds. This reduces the number of people who will click away, and it impacts Google ranking SEO.
You can improve your overall page loading speed by reducing the number of complex elements on your site, shortening pages, limiting redirects, and fixing any broken external or video links.
First Input Delay: Google expects your site to react quickly to users when they interact with something. You have 100 milliseconds or less for a button or window on your website to respond to a user when they click it.
The best way to improve FID is to use Page Speed Insights. To give you an example, I ran a test on neilpatel.com.
Cumulative Layout Shift: Google expects your site to load predictably and not change once it’s loaded. Have you ever clicked a link on a site as it’s loading, and then it jumps halfway down the page taking you to a different link? This factor plays into overall page experience, which is important for Google ranking SEO.
This occurs when items on the page load at different speeds resulting in layout changes. The best way to prevent this is by ensuring all images are the same size, new content isn’t inserted above old content, and animations load at the same speed.
According to SEMRush, 55 percent of brands experienced better results due to the improvements they made to their content.
There is no room on the internet for poor-quality content. I consider this one of the single most important Google ranking factors simply because it doesn’t require anything tricky or fancy. Write great, thorough, and value-rich content, and Google will work in your favor.
What do I mean by value-rich?
I mean write content people want to read, content that helps, and content that provides more than the competition. A great place to start is researching questions your customers have and creating content that provides the answers. To find common questions, use keyword research tools like Ubersuggest, question forums like Quora, and monitor chatter among your target audience on social media.
If you can create high-quality content that also incorporates the more technical elements we discuss in this guide, you have a great chance of improving your SEO and eventually, your bottom line.
Unfortunately, domain age is one of those Google ranking SEO factors you can’t necessarily control unless you’re purchasing seasoned domains.
Domain age refers to the amount of time your domain has been registered, and authority is essentially your reputation with Google.
Even though the “King of Search” John Mueller himself said domain age does nothing, I still have to believe it plays a role in your overall site authority.
If you want to improve your authority you need to focus on something called E-A-T, which stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
A few ways to improve your E-A-T score are involving subject matter experts and giving them bylines in your blog posts, including interviews and reviews by industry experts, leveraging social proof across your website, and increasing your website’s security.
Keep in mind that E-A-T isn’t a direct ranking factor, but it does impact SEO indirectly. In fact, after Google’s 2018 medic update, monthly traffic to YMYL sites with a lack of E-A-T dropped from 2 million to around 4,000 by 2020.
More than 90 percent of web pages receive no traffic, often because they don’t have any backlinks.
And yes, links are still important for Google ranking SEO. Inbound links, outbound links, and internal links are all important ranking factors because they increase the overall authority of your site and help your site prove itself as a valuable resource.
Inbound or “backlinks” are links that come from someone else’s site to your content. These increase authority by showing Google your content is so great that someone wants to link to it.
Outbound links show authority by providing additional relevant resources to visitors to your site. For example, you should be including outbound links to help readers learn more about something or back up any facts and stats you include in your content.
Internal links are links within your own website that tie ideas together. Having a web of internal links is crucial to Google ranking SEO because it shows Google you are a complete A to Z resource on a subject.
Bounce rate is one Google ranking factor that can significantly impact where Google ranks you in search results. One study found the average bounce rate is around 49 percent. Most believe a 50 to 60 percent bounce rate is acceptable. If your bounce rate drops much below that, it signals to Google that your page probably doesn’t give users what they’re looking for, meaning your page is less likely to appear in search results.
Click-through rate and dwell time are other important on-page experience Google ranking factors. They tell Google whether someone likes what they see when they click to your site from the search results for their search query.
You can improve your on-page experience metrics by ensuring your content aligns with your target keywords, metadata, and title tag. This ensures that when someone clicks through to your site, they get what they’re looking for.
Technical SEO is still an important Google ranking factor. Technical SEO includes things such as:
A study on technical SEO found the following:
Thankfully, technical SEO could be one of the easiest things to adjust on your website. Make sure you’re using relevant keywords in all headers and metadata. The key to doing this is having a quality keyword research tool that provides you with complex competitor data and keyword gaps. You can also run an SEO audit, and this guide explains how.
As for header tags, you want to ensure you’re using keywords in the headers of your articles whenever possible. When Google crawls your site, headers are a big indicator of what your article is about, and they’re important for overall Google ranking SEO.
Your meta description and title tag are what display in the SERPs when someone searches for a relevant keyword. You want to use keywords in both the meta and title tag—but make sure it’s natural and not forced.
While this study may be a bit dated, it still provides context to the importance of social media in SEO.
The graph and study performed by cognitiveSEO show how the number of social shares impact the overall ranking of a web page. As the shares go down, the ranking goes down. Of course, this factor alone won’t make a tremendous impact on your ranking, but in the heat of competition, this can set you apart.
Keep in mind that a social presence is also a significant trust factor. If visitors can find you on social media and see that you’re active and present, they may feel more inclined to purchase from you.
This Google ranking factor can be separated into three main categories:
These are three incredibly important factors going forward in Google ranking SEO. Google is paying much closer attention to the actual content that people are producing and putting a lot of weight on whether a website actually provides solutions to people or if they’re writing entirely for the search engine.
Surfer did an incredible case study and found that out of 37,000 keywords, about 12 percent of them changed intent, with many shopping-related keywords turning informational. This means that people who were once searching for something to buy are now searching for information to help them make a purchasing choice.
Think of content hubs as a destination where someone can come and find everything they need to know about a subject. If your site provides an exhaustive look into something, Google sees you as an authority. By creating these hubs on your website, you’re showing Google you can provide everything from A to Z.
This Google ranking factor is one I would consider somewhat new but falls into the category of trust signals. As more and more people turn to the internet for nearly everything, you need to translate the in-store experience to your website.
What does this mean? It means people are expecting to be able to pick up the phone and call you, they want to see where you’re based, and they expect you to be there to answer their questions in real-time.
Getting a Google Voice number, creating an “About Us” page with real pictures, and even adding an address to your website can help increase authority and show Google you’re a real business.
It’s been debated and tested time and time again, but it’s always proven that longer content performs better.
Longer content yields more social shares and more unique pageviews. Longer pieces of content also tend to hold their position longer.
Now, that doesn’t mean go and throw up a 15,000-word salad and expect it to rank. You still need to provide a ton of value, resources, and incredible information with those words. However, if you can put together a more comprehensive article that is longer than the competition, you have a better chance of ranking.
Where do we see Google ranking SEO going in the future? Based on experience and research, I see five main factors as most important in the coming years (Google also tells us these factors are important):
What do these five things tell us about what Google is looking for? Google wants you to provide users with a good experience when they land on your site.
This study performed by Content Science makes the importance of content relevancy clear as day. To sum it up, they state that while it’s great to have a lot of traffic on your site, and it looks good to Google, to actually generate goal completions, content relevance is key.
User experience and site functionality go hand-in-hand with content relevancy. No matter how great the content is on your site, you need to have a site that performs well and checks a lot of the technical boxes Google expects.
If you take a look at its mission statement page, it’s spelled out.
Our company mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. That’s why Search makes it easy to discover a broad range of information from a wide variety of sources.
I will always think that the key to Google ranking SEO is high-quality and valuable content.
While it’s not necessarily a list, it’s a solid explanation of what factors are most important. You can see the focus is primarily on user experience.
Improve your ranking by implementing all of the Google ranking factors in this guide.
There are likely hundreds if not thousands of factors ranging from small to large. Google has a rigorous process to determine what factors are most important.
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While there aren’t any foolproof ways to rank your content, adding these Google ranking factors can certainly increase your chances of ranking for your chosen keywords. Of course, hiring a qualified agency is another great way to rank higher.
If you’re going at it alone, you don’t have to do everything at once. Start with the most important factors and work your way down. It may take a while, but Google is a merciful and honest leader who rewards those who put in the work.
What factors do you think are most important for Google ranking SEO in the coming 5 to 10 years?
There’s one thing you’ll need to convert more website visitors: credibility.
Credibility shows customers you’re safe and trustworthy. It’s impossible to generate more leads, sell more products, or attract more visitors without it.
Almost every company struggles with website credibility. Website visitors are immediately skeptical.
If you’re an unknown, you’re unsafe.
This means website visitors will need to be persuaded before they feel comfortable enough to take a chance on your business.
Your website visitors are looking for a reason to leave.
In fact, most visitors leave web pages in 15 seconds or less. Web pages with an effective value proposition will hold visitors’ attention longer.
Scientists from Microsoft Research analyzed page-visit duration for 205,873 web pages (with more than 10,000 visits to each page).
They found visitor time-on-site follows a Weibull distribution.
Weibull is a reliability metric used to analyze and predict the time-to-failure in components.
Let’s say you replace a spare part in a random piece of equipment. A Weibull analysis predicts when you’ll have to replace that specific part again. Doesn’t sound all that helpful, does it?
Replace “component failure” with “visitors leaving web pages,” and it becomes very helpful.
Here’s what scientists learned after analyzing hundreds of thousands of web pages.
There are two kinds of Weibull distributions.
Scientists found that 99 percent of web pages have a negative aging effect. When website visitors hit your landing page, they’re skeptical. They’re quickly scanning the page, looking for a reason to abandon your site.
Get your website visitors past the 30-second mark, and they’ll spend a lot more time on your site.
Why? Because they feel your website is more valuable to them. What makes your website more valuable to your visitors?
Credibility.
Credibility is an essential part of an effective value proposition. Your visitors are looking for signals that show your organization is reliable, trustworthy, and knowledgeable.
The success of your website depends on your credibility.
What type of factors influence website credibility? According to BJ Fogg, a researcher at Stanford’s Persuasive Tech Lab, there are four kinds of credibility.
The goal with each of these credibility factors is to stack the deck in your favor.
Building your website’s credibility is a great way to attract more of the results you want. If you want to attract more visitors, you’ll need to choose the right credibility tools at the right time.
But which website credibility factors are most important?
Here’s a list of the factors that influence your website’s credibility and how you can use them.
As long as you’re consistent, a visitor’s trust in you will grow. By consistently doing all the things I’ve shared in this article, it creates a really good reputation with your customers.
When you force customers to register before they can post a comment, initiate a live chat, or purchase your product, it decreases trust.
Asking for your customer’s phone number when you only need their name and email address increases resistance and decreases trust.
Customers have questions and objections. An FAQ is a helpful way to give customers straight answers to some of their questions.
It’s common for organizations to treat their FAQs as a low-key sales page. It’s much better to be helpful, upfront, and honest with each and every one of your customers.
If you’re selling to a mainstream audience, jargon isn’t a good idea. Research shows people are more likely to believe a concrete statement over an abstract one. Use specialized jargon for specialized audiences.
Sometimes jargon is a helpful way to establish credibility in a niche community, but it’s still a good idea to only use it sparingly. The more you use jargon, the more your credibility suffers.
Consistently creating content shows visitors your website is active and maintained. It also conditions them to check back frequently, always looking for fresh content that can help them.
Your website visitors are always on the lookout for expert-level content that solves their problems, moves them closer to their goals, or simply entertains them. They want expert content that’s fresh, surprising, and detailed.
People hate ads. They don’t like them because they’re annoying and pushy interruptions and they’re everywhere.
It’s a good idea to minimize the advertising on your site, so it doesn’t hurt or interrupt your visitor’s experience.
Great service gives website visitors a positive experience with your site, improving earned credibility. Friendly, knowledgeable support reps show website visitors that your company is experienced and efficient. Consider adding a live chat option to make it simple for your audience.
Giving sources increases your trustworthiness. As customers trust you more and more, they’ll validate your sources less and less, but only if you have a track record of citing your sources and providing them with the evidence to support any claims you make.
Social proof in the form of testimonials gives visitors access to your customer’s mind. These testimonials show visitors what it’s like to be your customer, how you operate, and more.
The biggest downside to testimonials is that they’re one-sided, but they’re still a great way to build website credibility.
Customer reviews are similar to testimonials in the sense that customers can share their feedback. Reviews take that a step further, allowing customers, companies, and the community to have a conversation.
Reviews, when they’re positive, can boost credibility (and sales) dramatically. However, there is some value to negative reviews, so don’t let one bad review get you down.
These can come from influencers as large as Consumer Reports, TechCrunch, and BuzzFeed. They can also come from up-and-coming bloggers, individual reviewers with a YouTube channel, and your customers themselves.
Professional reviews are often seen as more credible due to the reputation and influence of the reviewer itself. A glowing review from a powerful influencer can lead to a large increase in sales.
Logos or seals from independent and trustworthy authorities enable you to borrow their credibility as your own. Use trust seals like Web of Trust, GoDaddy Site Seal, Norton Secured, PayPal Verified, BBB Accredited Business, and HTTPS.
Big-name reviews carry a lot of power, prestige, and reach. A testimonial from a powerful influencer can boost your trust and credibility. I used this exact strategy on Quicksprout to boost my credibility dramatically.
Reviews from these influencers are easier to get when your other credibility factors are straightened out.
These are typically created in collaboration between the business and the customer. Customers share their problems and expectations going into the relationship, then their experience and the results that followed.
Case studies, like testimonials, tend to be one-sided. However, they boost credibility because customers are willing to share their stories.
This could be as complex as a large professional network and connections to large organizations, or as simple as associating with other well-known local or minor influencers.
Displaying your client lists, the number of clients you have, or the industries your clients are in. When customers see their competitors or other brands they trust use you, they are more likely to trust your brand.
As featured in, as seen on, used by these clients — this kind of validation borrows trust from bigger, more influential sites to build trust and credibility.
Media exposure is a powerful credibility booster. The more prestigious the news organization, the greater the increase in credibility.
These can raise your company’s profile and give you a nice prestige boost. The more impressive the award, the bigger the boost.
However, there’s a downside to using awards. The less credible the award, the more likely customers are to question your business, products, or services.
Being visible on an influencer’s site — whether that’s in the form of a testimonial, interview, guest post, or review — introduces website visitors to you, improving your credibility before they arrive on your site.
Writing for other well-known publications means you’re familiar. Visitors have heard of your site before hitting your landing page.
When it’s used well, advertising (via platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or YouTube Ads) creates presumed credibility in the form of branding and familiarity. If visitors have heard of you before, you’re more credible.
A solid brand gives you a specific place in a customer’s mind via psychological anchoring, which establishes credibility. Branding is what lasts in the long run.
Customers form a first impression of your website in 50 milliseconds. There’s no thinking with this first impression. It’s visual, focused on aesthetics, and almost entirely emotional.
Stanford’s Persuasion Technology Lab found that almost half (46 percent) of people say a website’s design is the number one criteria for determining website credibility.
How does this happen?
Leading companies in every industry train customers, showing them what to expect. Customers take those lessons to other sites, using these leaders as a measuring stick.
Research shows larger fonts improve reading speeds. Website visitors comprehend more when typography is legible and clear. This seems like a no-brainer, but it can be easy to forget.
Remember, clarity trumps persuasion.
According to Flint McGlaughlin, your website visitors land on your site with a few questions:
The easier it is for website visitors to understand what you’re saying to them, the easier it is to persuade them to do what you want.
Which one is easier to understand?
Or this?
Smart marketers work to improve cognitive fluency. That’s the feeling of ease a visitor has when your content and visuals are easy to read.
The easier your content is to understand, the more familiar it feels, thus the easier it is for visitors to decide to buy.
Yeap, spelling and grammar matters because it’s part of the first impression customers form about your brand. A typo here or there won’t ruin your credibility, but a consistent pattern of bad grammar hurts your credibility. Sites like Grammarly can help keep your grammar in check.
Most e-commerce visitors start the buyer’s journey in the search box. In fact, a visitor that uses site search is 1.8X more likely to convert.
Website visitors often have a hard time with search. The keywords they use don’t always lead them to what they’re looking for. So, it’s often a good idea to redirect searches to navigation whenever possible.
Your website navigation communicates trustworthiness to visitors. They expect your navigation to be organized and to use appropriate imagery and colors.
The easier it is for customers to find what they’re looking for, to solve their problems, the more trustworthy your website/business appears to be.
Usability experts trust PURE Scores to rate website ease-of-use, focusing specifically on tasks.
Website visitors are drawn to websites that are attractive and easy to use. Ease of use can also impact Google ranking.
32. No technical problems
Broken links, missing pages, slow web pages, development bugs — these technical glitches decrease visitor confidence in your business and their willingness to convert.
Posting your phone number, address, email, live chat links, social media profiles, and hours of operation show you’re a real business and not a fly-by-night operator. Visitors feel confident knowing they can contact you whenever they run into trouble.
More importantly, your visitors know how to contact you.
Customers want to see real people run your business. They want to hear your story, verify your background, and see who they’re giving their money to.
Sharing staff photos increase conversions. Hiding staff photos sends the message that you’re untrustworthy or hiding something.
Website visitors expect your images and visuals to add context and meaning. Most websites use images (e.g., stock photos) as decoration, which according to Jakob Nielsen, are completely ignored.
Poor quality images will actually hurt your credibility and conversion rate.
Whenever possible, use real people in your photos, photos that display product details, and give visitors large, hi-res photos when they ask for it.
Website visitors want to know what happens to their information. What’s your return, warranty, and privacy policy? Will you share their data with 3rd parties?
Customers look for this info when they’re close to conversion.
The anchor text in your links should describe the destination or outcome. It’s always a good idea to tell your visitors where you’re taking them.
38. Order/Product Information
How long will it take for customers to receive their order? How much does shipping cost? What comes with their order? Is the warranty included? How long does it last?
Website visitors want to see order, product, and fulfillment information upfront.
The more convenient and compelling it is for your website visitors to buy, the more likely they are to spend. Look for ways to reduce user friction.
As far as a credibility factor goes, this one is tricky. If you’re selling to enterprise customers and you display your prices, it could be a turn-off. B2C and B2B (small to medium) businesses want to see the price.
As a general rule, people want to know how much your product or service costs.
For most customers, the value of what they’re getting and their perception of your price is just as, if not more, important than the price itself.
These create clear standards you’ll have to follow. Customers get peace of mind knowing you’re willing to stand behind your products and services.
You get more business because customers feel more confident about doing business with you.
If these credibility factors are important to your target visitors (and they are), they should be important to you. f
Credibility factors don’t apply equally in every industry. Some industries may prefer specific ones over others.
What’s important is that you use the credibility factors that matter to your customers.
There’s a simple solution if you’re not sure: just test it. Then keep testing until you find the solution that works best for you.
If you’re still unsure, ask your visitors. Many of them are willing to tell you what they think if you’ll take the time to ask them.
What types of strategies do you use to improve your website credibility?
These are three ways you can devastate a new business credit score. Do not let anything like this happen to you! These are easily preventable. Save your business credit scores!
Uh, oh. You tried to build a commercial credit score without truly thinking it through and taking into consideration what affects small business credit rating. Let’s take a look at 3 factors that can devastate your business credit scores. And how to fix them.
And you do have to fix them, because this is what affects a business credit rating.
In particular, this is an issue during economic downturns.
As the novel coronavirus continues to transform our economy, it becomes more imperative than ever to keep your business credit scores high. It’s no time to make preventable errors – like these three.
Credit can be intoxicating. Take a look at all that free cash! Look at all the important things your company needs!
Wait; wait, whoa, time out!
It is not free cash. It’s a loan, really. All credit is whether it’s commercial or consumer. If you have gone on a wild credit spree, your credit rating is going to be affected. How? Delinquency.
When you are that much in hock, it may be tricky to stay on top of the payments. Late payments will directly and adversely impact your business credit score. So be responsible with credit. This isn’t gambling; it’s your livelihood and the livelihood of anyone who works for you.
While credit reports aren’t exactly page turners, you should still be staying on top of them.
Don’t have time to read through credit reports? Then use a monitoring service. Experian offers Business Credit Advantage. PAYDEX has Credit Reporter. And Equifax has Business Credit Monitor. If you prefer a free version for credit alerts, you can try CreditSignal.
The point of all of that monitoring is to spot errors and fix them. If any one of your credit reports has mistakes, then you must get on top of that, without delay. Disputing credit report errors 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 send the originals. Always send copies and retain the originals. Precisely detail any charges you dispute. Make your dispute letter as crystal clear as possible. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you sent in your dispute.
Contesting an error quickly means your credit reports will be corrected more quickly.
Find out why so many companies are using our proven methods to improve their business credit scores, even during a recession.
The longer and more intimately your personal and business finances are entangled, the more likely it is that credit reporting agencies will take your consumer credit into account when looking at your company.
This doesn’t give your company a chance to make its own credit ‘name’, as it were. When you examine your company credit score vs personal credit score, they should be different.
Paying off your business’s charges with personal charge cards or checks; not getting a separate IRS EIN number for your company; and not putting your business’s bills in the company’s name can all aggravate this problem.
And the Internal Revenue Service will probably have something to say about your business not having its own identification number.
So to repair this, your mission is as follows:
Factors that can devastate your business credit scores include not building business credit in the proper manner. So here’s how to do that. Corporate credit is credit in a small business’s name.
It isn’t attached to an owner’s individual credit, not even when the owner is a sole proprietor and the solitary employee of the business. Therefore, an entrepreneur’s business and individual credit scores can be very different.
Because business credit is detached from consumer, it helps to safeguard an entrepreneur’s personal assets, in the event of a lawsuit or a business bankruptcy. Also, with two distinct credit scores, an entrepreneur can get two separate cards from the same merchant.
This effectively doubles buying power.
Another advantage is that even startup businesses can do this. Heading to a bank for a business loan can be a recipe for disappointment. But don’t worry. Building small business credit, when done correctly, is a plan for success.
Personal credit scores rely on payments but also various other considerations like credit usage percentages. But for business credit, the scores actually just depend on whether a small business pays its bills in a timely manner.
Building Small Business Credit is a process, and it does not occur automatically. A business must proactively work to build corporate credit. Nonetheless, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much quicker than establishing personal credit scores. Merchants are a big part of this process.
Undertaking the steps out of order will cause repeated rejections. Nobody can start at the top with corporate credit. For instance, you can’t start with store or cash credit from your bank. If you do you’ll be turned down 100% of the time.
A business needs to be legitimate to lenders and vendors. As a result, a corporation will need a professional-looking web site and e-mail address, with site hosting purchased from a supplier such as GoDaddy. Plus company telephone and fax numbers ought to be listed on 411. com. Also the company telephone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or comparable).
A corporation will also need a bank account dedicated purely to it, and it needs to have all of the licenses required for operating. These licenses all have to be in the precise, appropriate name of the corporation, with the same company address and telephone numbers.
Note that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.
Find out why so many companies are using our proven methods to improve their business credit scores, even during a recession.
Visit the Internal Revenue Service web site and get an EIN for the small business– they’re free. Choose a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.
A small business can start off as a sole proprietor but will probably want to switch to a kind of corporation or partnership to reduce risk and take full advantage of tax benefits.
And a business entity will matter when it comes to tax obligations and liability in case of a lawsuit. A sole proprietorship means the owner is it when it comes to liability and taxes. No one else is responsible.
If you operate a small business as a sole proprietor at least file for DBA (‘ doing business as’) status. If you do not, then your personal name is the same as the corporate name. Consequently, you can end up being personally liable for all company debts.
Also, per the IRS, by having this arrangement there is a 1 in 7 possibility of an IRS audit. There is a 1 in 50 probability for incorporated businesses! Avoid confusion and considerably lower the chances of an Internal Revenue Service audit at the same time.
And see a DBA as a stepping stone to incorporating. It shouldn’t be your final destination for your choice of business entity.
Begin at the D&B web site and obtain a free DUNS number. A DUNS number is how D&B gets a small business in their system, to generate a PAYDEX score. If there is no DUNS number, then there is no record and no PAYDEX score.
Once in D&B’s system, search Equifax and Experian’s sites for the company. You can do this at https://www.creditsuite.com/reports/. If there is a record with them, check it for accuracy and completeness. If there are no records with them, go to the next step in the process.
By doing so Experian and Equifax will have activity to report on.
First you need to build trade lines that report. This is also known as vendor credit. Then you’ll have an established credit profile, and you’ll get a business credit score. And with an established business credit profile and score you can begin obtaining revolving store and cash credit.
These sorts of accounts tend to be for the things bought all the time, like shipping boxes, outdoor work wear, ink and toner, and office furniture.
But first of all, what is Trade Credit? These trade lines are creditors who will give you preliminary credit when you have none now. Terms are normally Net 30, as opposed to revolving.
Hence if you get approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use all of it, you must pay that money back in a set term, such as within 30 days on a Net 30 account.
Net 30 accounts need to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts have to be paid fully within 60 days. Unlike with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.
To kick off your business credit profile the proper way, you should get approval for vendor accounts that report to the business credit reporting bureaus.
As soon as that’s done, you can then make use of the credit, repay what you used, and the account is reported to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.
Not every vendor can help in the same way true starter credit can. These are merchants 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 3 of these to move onto the next step, which is revolving store credit.
Uline Shipping Supplies is a true starter vendor. Find them online at uline.com. They sell shipping, packing, and industrial supplies, and they report to D&B.
You must have a DUNS number. They will request 2 references and a bank reference. The initial few orders may need to be prepaid to initially get approval for Net 30 terms.
Quill Office Supplies is an additional true starter vendor. Find them online at quill.com. They sell office, packaging, and cleaning supplies, and they report to D&B and Experian.
Place an initial order first unless the D&B score is developed. Normally they’ll put you on a 90 day prepayment schedule.
If you order items each month for 3 months, they will commonly approve you for a Net 30 Account.
Grainger Industrial Supply is also a true starter vendor. Find them online at grainger.com.
They sell safety equipment, plumbing supplies, and more, and they report to D&B. You will need to have a business license, EIN, and a DUNS number. For less than $1000 credit limit they will approve virtually any person with a business license.
Find out why so many companies are using our proven methods to improve their business credit scores, even during a recession.
Non-Reporting Trade Accounts can also be helpful. While you do want trade accounts to report to at the very least one of the CRAs, a trade account which does not report can nevertheless be of some worth.
You can always ask non-reporting accounts for trade references. And also credit accounts of any sort will help you to better even out business expenses, thereby making financial planning less complicated. These are providers like PayPal Credit, T-Mobile, and Best Buy.
Once there are 3 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, move onto revolving store credit. These are companies like Office Depot and Staples. These companies are more likely to have items you need.
Use the corporation’s EIN on these credit applications.
Are there more accounts reporting? Then move onto fleet credit. These are businesses such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy, repair, and maintain vehicles. Make sure to apply using the small business’s EIN.
If you already have adequate trade lines, you can get an approval.
Have you been sensibly managing the credit you’ve up to this point? Then move to more universal cash credit. These are businesses such as Visa and MasterCard. Keep your SSN off these applications; use your EIN instead.
These are commonly MasterCard credit cards. If you have more trade accounts reporting, then these are attainable.
Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it is being reported and take care of any mistakes as soon as possible. Get in the practice of checking 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 90% off.
At Equifax, you can monitor your account at: equifax.com/business/business-credit-monitor-small-business.
Update the info if there are inaccuracies or the information is incomplete. At D&B, you can do this at: https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm.
For Experian, go here: experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp.
Equifax: equifax.com/business/small-business.
What’s all this monitoring for? It’s to contest any mistakes in your records. Errors in your credit report( s) can be taken care of. But the CRAs often want you to dispute in a particular way.
Get your small business’s PAYDEX report at: dnb.com/about-us/our-data.html.
You can get your company’s Experian report at: businesscreditfacts.com/pdp.aspx?pg=SearchForm.
And get your Equifax business credit report at: equifax.com/business/credit-information.
Disputing credit report mistakes normally means you mail a paper letter with copies of any evidence of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the original copies. Always mail copies and keep the originals.
Disputing credit report mistakes also means you precisely detail any charges you contest. Make your dispute letter as crystal clear as possible. Be specific about the concerns with your report. Use certified mail so that you will have proof that you mailed in your dispute.
Also, dispute your or your corporation’s Equifax report by following the instructions here: equifax.com/small-business-faqs/#Dispute-FAQs.
Dispute inaccuracies on your or your small business’s Experian report by following the directions here: experian.com/small-business/business-credit-information.jsp.
So, D&B’s PAYDEX Customer Service contact number is here: dandb.com/glossary/paydex.
Also, always use credit responsibly! Don’t borrow more than what you can pay off. Track balances and deadlines for payments. Paying punctually and fully will do more to increase business credit scores than virtually anything else.
Building corporate credit pays. Good business credit scores help a corporation get loans. Your lending institution knows the corporation can pay its financial obligations. They know the company is for real.
The corporation’s EIN links to high scores, and creditors won’t feel the need to ask for a personal guarantee.
Save your business credit scores! Learn more here and get started toward getting rid of these factors that can devastate a new business credit score.
The post 3 Recession Factors that Can Devastate a New Business Credit Score appeared first on Credit Suite.
Small business loan risk factors abound. But you can fix a lot of them with assuring fundability. The easiest way to do this is via building business credit. but first, let’s look at what a bank is going to want to know. they want to assess what sorts of small business loan risk factors you bring to the table.
Fundability – or, not just the ability to become funded but how desirable a company is for funding – means different things to banks, venture capitalists, angel investors, and informal investors. That being said, they all agree on a few fundamental principles.
Lenders aren’t in the business of giving you gifts. Instead, they would like to see a profit on their investment. For that reason, if you are bleeding funds, they are not going to want to pay for a piece of what, to their minds, is an unsatisfactory financial commitment.
How do you turn it around? Do some economic triage. Perhaps your firm will not need to have an alternative site. Perhaps you don’t need to have a full-time assistant when part-time will do. Maybe you should be leaning harder on your customers with pending invoices. This is one of the biggest small business loan risk factors.
Start-ups will get a different question – see # 2.
For startup companies, the concern is more like: do you have a fantastic product or service? A concept in itself is not going to be sufficient, so you also will want to have a comprehensive business system in place. Investors are going to want to see what you can do with your amazing idea, and how it can be successfully monetized.
For a brand-new company this is the biggest of the small business loan risk factors. Otherwise, why bother making a company at all?
If your reply is an unclear, “general fund”, investors are not going to be showing an interest. First of all, they want you to demonstrate you will be responsible with their money. In addition, they also want to know that your business is organized. You can be the most innovative and the very least business-oriented man or woman out there, so long as anyone in your organization is dealing with the financial heavy lifting. Somebody must make sure that the taxes are paid and the invoices go out to your clients.
Investors don’t actually want to see you using the funds for daily operations. If your business is functioning profitably (see # 1), then investors will expect that you can manage those expenses. Rather, they want to see if you are going to employ their funding for something new and different. In general, this implies you must be using their funds for improvement – a new piece of essential machinery; a new shop; a second facility; a new product line – these are just a few plans which would fit the bill for progress.
See # 4 for the similar question for startups. This is another one of the bigger small business loan risk factors. Lenders want to know their money isn’t being thrown away. After all, they make a lot more money if you pay your loan off and pay interest. Getting their money back through collections is a lot less profitable for them.
For startups, a similar question is: just how much funding will you need to get to positive cash flow and profitability? In this case, your use for the money is still a distinct one – it’s to bring your new business to profitability.
This question is the same whether you are presently in business or you are aiming to get a startup business funded. This will separate the lifestyle businesses (designed to make their owners glad but not develop into bigger players) from the scalable businesses. A lifestyle business normally won’t get this sort of funding. Instead, it will be funded by virtue of secured debt or bootstrapping or secured debt.
A scalable business can still be modest and not expect explosive growth, but still be fundable. Your new widget warehouse might begin small. Investors would expect it to have more moderate funding needs.
Introducing new markets (or going for new customers or trying to market new products) will be viewed as riskier, unless you have an established history of financial success via pioneering. See # 7 for the semi-comparable question for startup ventures.
If you do not know your market, then you will not know how to target to those customers. If your clients are middle-aged women, they will most likely respond to different techniques than if your customers are teen boys. Merely making a product and flinging it out to the ether, praying someone will buy it, is not going to sit well with investors. Instead, they want you to have scouted out your prospective clientele prior to you coming knocking and asking for funding.
The rest of the questions are only for startups.
Oftentimes these are your most important investors, or they might be your only investors. Treat them well.
Investors would like to know this amount because it indicates a commitment to the startup. If you want to keep your life savings, you’ll be a lot more careful with funds than if you’re just playing around with other people’s money.
Your team does not have to be employees of your business. It can also be consultants and mentors. Contact your school. There might be an educator interested in your new business, even if you never took a class with that person. Not a college alum? Try your nearby community college just the same. A professor might even want to use your company experience and story in a lecture.
Learn more here and get started with building business credit with your company’s EIN and not your SSN.
Small business credit is credit in a business’s name. It doesn’t connect to an entrepreneur’s consumer credit, not even if the owner is a sole proprietor and the only employee of the business.
Because of this, a business owner’s business and personal credit scores can be very different.
Consumer credit scores depend upon payments but also other elements like credit usage percentages.
But for small business credit, the scores truly only hinge on whether a business pays its debts promptly.
The ProcessBuilding company credit is a process. It does not occur automatically. A company has to proactively work to develop small business credit.
Having said that, it can be done readily and quickly, and it is much quicker than building personal credit scores.
Vendors are a big component of this process.
Doing the steps out of order leads to repetitive denials. Nobody 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 business needs to be fundable to credit issuers and vendors. This is the best way to address any small business loan risk factors.
Hence, a business needs a professional-looking website and e-mail address. And it needs to have site hosting bought from a vendor like GoDaddy.
Additionally, company telephone and fax numbers need to have a listing on 411. You can do that here: http://www.listyourself.net.
In addition, the business phone number should be toll-free (800 exchange or similar).
A business also needs a bank account dedicated solely to it, and it has to have all of the licenses essential for running.
These licenses all must be in the perfect, accurate name of the company. And they need to have the same small business address and phone numbers.
So note, that this means not just state licenses, but possibly also city licenses.
Learn more here and get started with building business credit with your company’s EIN and not your SSN.
Visit the IRS web site and get an EIN for the business. They’re totally free. Choose a business entity like corporation, LLC, etc.
A company can start off as a sole proprietor. But they more than likely want to change to a variety of corporation or an LLC.
This is to decrease risk. And it will make best use of tax benefits.
A business entity matters when it pertains to taxes and liability in case of litigation. A sole proprietorship means the entrepreneur is it when it comes to liability and taxes. Nobody else is responsible.
Incorporating is a great way to address small business loan risk factors.
Begin at the D&B website and get a free D-U-N-S number. A D-U-N-S number is how D&B gets a 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 sites for the 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 have something to report on.
First you ought to build trade lines that report. This is also called 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 begin to get credit in the retail and cash credit tiers.
These kinds of accounts have the tendency to be for the things bought all the time, like marketing materials, shipping boxes, outdoor workwear, ink and toner, and office furniture.
But to start with, what is trade credit? These trade lines are credit issuers who give you starter credit when you have none now. Terms are commonly Net 30, rather than revolving.
Therefore, if you get 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 have to be paid in full within 30 days. 60 accounts need to be paid completely within 60 days. Compared to 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 start your business credit profile the right way, 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 pay back what you used, and the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax.
You want 5 to 8 of these to move onto the next step, which is the retail credit tier. But you may have to apply more than one time to these vendors. So, this is to validate you are responsible and pay punctually. Here are some stellar choices from us: https://www.creditsuite.com/blog/5-vendor-accounts-that-build-your-business-credit/
Once there are 5 to 8 or more vendor trade accounts reporting to at least one of the CRAs, then move onto the retail credit tier. These are companies which include Office Depot and Staples.
Just use your SSN 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 need to see a D-U-N-S and a PAYDEX score of 78 or higher.
Are there 8 to 10 accounts reporting? Then move onto the fleet credit tier. These are businesses such as BP and Conoco. Use this credit to buy fuel, and to repair, and take care of vehicles. Only use your SSN and date of birth on these applications for verification purposes. For credit checks and guarantees, make sure to apply using the business’s EIN.
One such example is Shell. They report to D&B and Business Experian. They need to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or higher and a 411 company telephone listing.
Shell might claim they want a certain amount of time in business or revenue. But if you already have adequate vendor accounts, that won’t be necessary. And you can still get approval.
Learn more here and get started with building business credit with 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 service providers like 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 want to see a PAYDEX Score of 78 or higher. 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).
Also, they want you to have an established business.
These are commonly MasterCard credit cards. If you have 14 trade accounts reporting, then these are attainable.
Know what is happening with your credit. Make certain it is being reported and address any mistakes as soon as possible. Get in the practice of checking 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. See: www.creditsuite.com/monitoring.
At Equifax, you can monitor your account at: www.equifax.com/business/business-credit-monitor-small-business. That will cost about $19.99.
Update the details if there are inaccuracies or the details is incomplete.
So, what’s all this monitoring for? It’s to contest any inaccuracies in your records. Mistakes in your credit report(s) can be fixed. But the CRAs often want you to dispute in a particular way.
Disputing credit report inaccuracies typically means you send a paper letter with copies of any proof of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Never mail the originals. Always mail copies and retain the original copies.
Fixing credit report inaccuracies also means you specifically spell out any charges you dispute. Make your dispute letter as understandable as possible. Be specific about the issues with your report. Use certified mail to have proof that you sent in your dispute.
Taking the initiative and handling any errors as fast as possible will also help address any small business loan risk factors.
Always use credit sensibly! Don’t borrow beyond what you can pay back. Track balances and deadlines for payments. Paying off promptly and completely does more to boost business credit scores than just about anything else. And beyond that, responsible account management will counter any small business loan risk factors.
Establishing company credit pays. Great business credit scores help a small business get loans. Your loan provider knows the business can pay its debts. They know the business is for real.
The company’s EIN links to high scores and lending institutions won’t feel the need to call for a personal guarantee.
Business credit is an asset which can help your business in years to come. Learn more here and get started toward establishing company credit.
The post Fundability and How it Helps With Small Business Loan Risk Factors appeared first on Credit Suite.