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How to Block Bots From Coming to Your Website: Tools & Tips

If you have a website, you need to know what bots are and how they can find your site, as well as what they can do (either intentionally or indirectly) to cause frustration to your online marketing efforts. Blocking bots may be a necessity to protect your site’s speed, users, and security.

Let’s talk about what bots are and how you can put up some defenses to start protecting your website.

What Are Bots, and How Can They Be Bad?

Before we dive into the details of what they can do and how you can stop them, we need to take a step back and explore what a bot is.

A bot is a software script that performs a data task over and over again. It’s that repetition and data interaction that makes them a fellow member of the online world we interact with.

Some of the other names you hear bots associated with help explain what bots are and how they work. Think of terms like spiders, crawlers, or web bots.

Are They All Bad?

There are a couple of misconceptions we can set aside right away.

Even though the term is short for robots, bots are not robots in the form of metal, gears, and computers. They are bits of script, as we discussed, that run continuously over the data of websites or other online platforms.

Also, they are not necessarily maliciously driven by a hacker or person with ill intent. Sometimes they’re neutral or even useful, such as bots used by search engines to index websites.

How Do Bots Work?

As we mentioned above, bots are generally bits of software script that repeat a task over and over again. An outside person, either friend or foe, may deploy these to accomplish a specific task.

However, bots are getting “smarter,” so to speak, and some are created with artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning technology. Some examples of these are chatbots for e-commerce that brands can use to learn from human interaction and deliver a better customer

service experience for their audience.

Here’s an example of an e-commerce chatbot on the ModCloth website:

block bots - modcloth chatbot example

What Do Bots Do?

As we’ve said, bots can be useful, such as indexing for a search engine or improving customer experiences.

They can also be malicious and cause trouble for your website or other web presence. Some bots are intended to crawl websites and steal data like passwords, identifiable information, or personal data. They can also deploy malicious attacks on websites, computers, and other places. Some get sophisticated, unfurling a series of steps to cause chaos for another user or organization.

They can also be used to surge interactions online. This may come in the form of flooding a page or forum with comments, driving up purchases or popularity of something to stir up interest, bumping up social media interaction to improve views, or other ways to “game the system.”

These are often the ways you may start to see bot activity on your website.

How Can You Tell If Your Website Has Bot Traffic?

Do you need to block bots on your website? Here are some signs and how to check.

Red Flags You May Need to Block Bots

There are some signs that bots have been to your website, and those may be the first place to start. Here are a few to look for:

  • excess commenting in your blog or other pages
  • comments that don’t seem readable or human-generated
  • comments with excessive linking or obvious spam
  • excessively or suddenly high bounce rates on a particular page
  • a sudden surge of sign-ups for your newsletter or other forms
  • email sign-ups that don’t seem human-generated
  • log-in attempts from unknown sources
  • any other activity that appears fishy

Where Can You Check to Block Bots?

If you have a gut reaction that you need a bot blocker, you can do a deeper dive to determine whether bots are a problem for your website and whether it’s worth investing time to block bots.

Here are a few places to explore:

  • Google Analytics to investigate traffic on your site
  • A service like Copyscape to check if your content was plagiarized somewhere else
  • your web server logs to learn more about where people are coming from

10 Steps to Block Bots From Coming to Your Website

Trying to block bots from coming to your website can feel a little like trying to put up an invisible shield around your site to ward off invaders.

While it’s not quite so fanciful, taking steps to keep bots from invading and causing chaos on your website is about being proactive and putting processes into place ahead of any problems.

It starts with understanding the enemy, removing any current problems, and then preparing for future attacks. Here are some steps you can take:

1. Identify the Weight of the Problem

If you’re reading this far, you probably have some concerns about bots and want to know more about how to block website bots. Before jumping in, though, it’s always good to consider what’s happening on your website.

Are you having a significant problem with bots, or are you just noticing some increased activity?

Further, consider what the impact has been or could be on your online marketing efforts. As we mentioned above, some bots are good, and some are bad. Some are just neutral.

For instance, you might have a bump in activity on your website on a given day or a given page for no apparent reason. You can’t link them to a specific marketing campaign that promoted that page and caused a spike. The surge in activity may have come from a bot.

If the surge was short-lived and you haven’t seen any other issues, it may be worth looking into but may not warrant extreme or rushed reactions.

On the other hand, if you’ve found your e-commerce site was hacked, or if parts of your website have been infected and are no longer functioning properly, you probably want to act quickly to batten up the hatches and clean up your website. If that’s the case, you may want to jump to the later steps here and start taking immediate action.

2. Understand the Source

Once you realize that web bots have been bothering your website, you’ll need to go on a bit of an investigation to find out where they’re coming from.

I listed above some places that can help you explore whether bots are attacking your website. They can also help you figure out the origin of those bots.

For example, in Google Analytics, your web server access logs, or any log-in attempt emails, you may be able to see data related to those visiting your site. You can check for a pattern or a series of the same IP address repeatedly.

3. Make a Plan

Now it’s time to decide what to do.

If you’ve already suffered an attack, you’ll need to take steps to clean up the problem and patch any vulnerabilities in your site to avoid further problems.

If you’ve been seeing bot activity but haven’t been attacked, you should focus your plan on looking for vulnerabilities that could be exploited in the future and tighten them up now.

4. Stay Up to Date

Keep your website and all its integrations up to date with the latest releases. Whichever website CRM provider you use, ensure you’re staying current with that platform’s releases. For instance, if you use WordPress, you need to ensure that your theme and plugins have the latest updates.

Staying up to date has its advantages. First, bots may use older versions to gain access. Further, platforms are motivated to provide secure products to their customers. The latest updates may come with increased security features and bot blocker options.

5. Add CAPTCHA Tools

One way to block bots from interacting with parts of your websites (such as sign-ups, contact pages, and purchase options) is to ensure that only humans can perform those actions.

CAPTCHA forces the user to perform a challenge or other action to prove they’re not a bot. Unless a bot has the correct action written into their script, they won’t finish this task and move on.

Here is an example of a CAPTCHA you’ve probably seen before:

Block Bots From Coming to Your Website - Add CAPTCHA Tools

6. Check Your APIs and Other Connections

Especially if your website is a few years old, you may have installed many API integrations and other connections to other web platforms. If you’ve permitted that integration to connect with and share data with your website, APIs could be an area of vulnerability.

Conduct an audit of every API, plugin, connection, or other integration:

  • Do you use them all? Remove the obsolete ones.
  • Are you using the latest versions? If not, update them.
  • Are you using quality products? If they don’t have security measures in place, consider replacing them.

If you have questions, reach out to the platform owner and make sure they are secure.

7. Block Older Browser Versions

This is not foolproof, but another way to close up some ways bots can access your website is by blocking older versions of browsers from accessing your website. You might achieve this by requiring users to use new versions of browsers to view your website.

TechRepublic encourages using this method as most human users will be forced to update to a newer browser version.

This requires accessing and updating the .htaccess file of your website, so unless you are experienced with coding, we recommend engaging with a web developer for this.

8. Patch It

If you’re struggling to stay up to date with the bots coming to your website or feel like the problem may be bigger than you want to control, you can turn to a professional to start digging deeper into bots that may be heading to your website.

If you notice a specific bot that keeps arriving at your website and causing problems, such as offensive comments or attempts to gain unauthorized access, you can block that IP address from gaining access to your website in the future.

Many web hosts, such as GoDaddy, provide detailed information about how to accomplish this task. However, you should know that this is only a patch. It can stop a rather insidious attack in its tracks, but many hackers or malicious bot launchers have ways of coming in from other IP addresses, so the solution may not hold long-term.

Also, Hubspot reminds us that blocking an IP address means blocking all access from any person or bot from that IP address, so weigh the pros and cons before making a decision.

9. Keep Up With It

For a long-term solution, you may choose to pay for a bot blocker service. Although there are many different options, they all promise you a bit of peace of mind as their integrated solution stays on your website, comparing visitors with their information to watch for and alert you of any problems. A few options include:

  • DataDome
  • Cloudflare
  • Radware Bot Manager
  • ClickGUARD
  • Google ReCAPTCHA

10. Ongoing Monitoring

Bot blocking isn’t a one-and-done situation. You will need to continue to monitor your website for any problems.

You can watch for any of the problems discussed above and take steps to close up any holes. You may want to add this to your calendar to check in monthly or quarterly.

You can also keep an ear out for public data breaches. If you hear of any wide-scale attacks, take a look at your website and look for signs of any bot activity.

Conclusion

As AI in marketing continues to grow, our discussion of blocking bots, as well as adding them to our marketing stack, will likely increase as well. Bots can be helpful in our digital work and can support our digital marketing strategy.

They can also be malicious and attack your website at any time. The best way to block bots is to stay vigilant and keep your web presence up to date and cleaned up.

Don’t let vulnerabilities like outdated plugins or open access ports linger, inviting opportunistic bots. Monitor as you go and consider hiring an outside third party if the problem or the risks start getting bigger than you want to handle.

What’s the first step you’re going to take to block bots?

How to Recover From Any Google Penalty

SEO is a complex game full of surprises. Even with best intentions, it’s possible to invest in your SEO only to have your site penalized by a Google algorithm update or manual action.

If you notice your website traffic suddenly drop or your position in the SERP ranking falling, your site may have been a victim of a Google penalty.

Fixing these penalties should be a top priority, as a drop in your search engine ranking can result in lost customers and lost sales.

Luckily, appealing and rectifying these penalties is possible, but you need to understand the cause before you can fix the problem.

In this article, we’ll show you how to figure out if your site has been penalized and explain exactly what to do to fix your score.

What Is a Google Penalty?

A Google penalty is a punishment that Google delivers to sites that fail to follow their Webmaster Guidelines.

Penalties can be given automatically by Google’s algorithms or manually, by any of Google’s human auditors.

Some penalties are the result of Google algorithm updates, such as in the case of the Panda and Penguin updates.

Think of Google penalties like a red card in soccer. The referee (Google) says you did something wrong and you are forced to sit out the rest of the game.

When you receive a penalty, your website, much like the soccer player, is forced to sit out until a solution is found. This usually means you may no longer be listed in search results or your ranking for targeted keywords drops.

While Google penalties are designed to stop black-hat SEO tactics and other online rule-breakers, they can also happen to sites that made an honest mistake or did nothing wrong at all. Sometimes, it’s simply an error on Google’s end that will need to be fixed.

What Are Common Causes of Google Penalties?

The following triggers often cause Google penalties:

  • keyword stuffing
  • hidden links
  • duplicate content
  • irrelevant keywords
  • bad redirects
  • cloaking
  • spyware, adware, and viruses
  • data issues
  • bad links

There are many ways to get a Google penalty, but they are often triggered by black-hat techniques or tactics intended to fool search engine bots.

There are two main types of Google penalties:

  1. Algorithmic Penalties: Often caused by algorithm updates or changes.
  2. Manual Penalties: Created by human auditors working for Google to ensure quality standards. These are usually given if you violate Google’s Terms of Service.

You can check if you have received a manual penalty in the Google Search Console.

For manual actions, go to Security & Manual Actions, then Manual Actions. If you see a green checkmark that says “No issue detected” you’re in the clear.

google penalty - manual action screen

To determine if your site was hit with an algorithmic penalty, you’ll need to check your ranking, which we’ll cover in the next section.

Remember that not every decline in search traffic is the result of a Google penalty. For example, seasonal businesses often see a sharp decline in their off-seasons. As well, the increased online competition can force your business further down the SERP page.

Google has always maintained that high-quality, relevant content is prioritized above irrelevant content meant to boost SEO.

Essentially, Google wants businesses to create content that is best for the user, not just for search engines. When you try to trick the algorithm, you may get slapped with a penalty.

That said, it is possible to get a Google penalty even if you aren’t trying to trick the algorithm.

Errors in manual entry and algorithm changes may result in a penalty even for innocent marketers.

Because of this, it’s important to be aware of what can cause a Google penalty, and what to do if it happens.

Below, we’ll outline the steps needed to recover from a Google penalty.

How Soon Will My Site Recover From a Google Penalty?

Your site will recover from a Google penalty once all of the errors are corrected.

This can be anywhere from 10-30 days for manual penalties, depending on how quickly you fix the problem, submit a reconsideration request, and have your request accepted.

The recovery time can be significantly longer for algorithm penalties, with some companies reporting damage up to two years later. Most sites can expect a six-month recovery period.

How to Recover From Google Penalties

Google penalties can result in lost traffic and revenue for businesses, so it’s important to find and fix issues as soon as possible.

While most penalties result from bad SEO techniques, some penalties are the result of Google errors and may require communication with the Google team.

If your site is penalized because of content errors or mistakes, you can often clear the issue up by modifying your site content.

Here are a few simple steps you can follow to recover from a Google penalty.

  1. Check If You Have A Ranking Problem

    The first step in recovering from a Google penalty is to make sure a penalty is the cause of your issues.

    You can use the Website Penalty Indicator to see exactly where and how your site may be being affected.

    google penalty indicator
    You can also use tools such as Ubersuggest to get a full report on SEO errors that need attention. Issues such as unhealthy backlinks, duplicate content, indexing errors, or algorithm updates can all be found with these tools.

  2. Investigate Recent Algorithm Updates

    To find out if you are a victim of an algorithm penalty, log in to your Google Analytics dashboard, and compare drops in traffic to any known Google algorithm changes.

    If you see your traffic drop at the same time as a known algorithm update, it’s likely the culprit of your Google penalty.

    To investigate further, select your website on the Google Analytics dashboard, then click Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium.

    google penalty - using google analytics

    From there, choose Google/Organic. This will show you a report of the number of visits your site receives from Google search.

    Next, select the reporting period at the top right and go back a year or more. Compare any major traffic drop dates to Google algorithm update dates.

    Use this Google Algorithm cheat sheet to guide your process. Or, check the Moz guide that shows all of the Google algorithm updates in the last 16 years.

    Once you’ve identified which update is resulting in your penalty, research the update to understand how to fix the issue.

    For example, if the Penguin update is penalizing your site, you need to focus on improving your backlinks and anchor text distribution.

    If the Panda update is penalizing you, it may be a question of content quality.
    A page experience penalty may require UX/UI updates to improve user experiences on your site.

  3. Run an SEO Audit

    SEO audits should be part of your regular marketing strategy. It can also be useful to diagnose any drops in traffic.

    If you are worried your site is suffering from a Google penalty, a technical SEO audit can help uncover any SEO errors impacting your site.

    When performing a technical SEO audit, you should focus on these three things:

    -back-end hosting and indexing
    -front-end factors like content, metadata, and keywords
    -outside references and link quality

    SEO audits should use a link tool such as our Backlink Checker, to scan for any spam links.

    This SEO Audit Checklist can also help you perform a detailed SEO audit to recover from a Google penalty.

    Some common SEO errors include:
    -bad or spammy backlinks
    -keyword stuffing
    -sitemap errors
    -loading speed
    -pop-ups

    If you fix your SEO errors and still find your website is under-performing, your penalty may be the result of a content error or other issue.

  4. Run a Content Audit

    A content audit reviews all your current content performance and can help uncover the cause of your Google penalty if it’s related to content issues.

    Remember, your online content needs to be regularly updated and optimized to stay high-performing. Google looks for updated, detailed content; so content that was great two years ago won’t perform the same today without updates.

    Use Ubersuggest to see your overall site performance and find content update opportunities. Simply click Search > Site Audit.

    google penalty - content audit

    Content inventory tools such as Blaze or DynoMappe can also help you uncover content issues.

    Check for duplicate content as well. Duplicate content can be a big issue in your search performance. Businesses that allow user-generated content, such as comments on blogs, should be especially aware of this.

    During your content audit, look for:
    -outdated content
    -content gaps
    -evergreen content that needs to be refreshed
    -metadata
    -image data
    -word counts

    Depending on the tool you use, you may receive content recommendations that will help you improve your site.

    On Ubersuggest, issues are rated from Low to High.

    Tackle high-impact issues first to minimize Google penalty issues, then make a plan to update content regularly to keep you in Google’s good graces.

  5. Clean Up Your Backlink Profile

    Healthy link-building campaigns are crucial to SEO, but bad backlinks can have the opposite effect.

    Bad backlinks can result in both manual and algorithmic Google penalties.

    Google’s Penguin algorithm is designed to uncover bad backlinks and penalize sites that were thought to be manipulating SERPs.

    While managing your links can be a daunting task, many tools available to simplify this process.

    –Majestic SEO is an intelligence tool that helps perform link audits to help you understand how and where your links are working.
    –Google’s Disavow Tool can help you remove spammy backlinks from your site. Note that you should only do this if direct communication has been unsuccessful at removing the bad backlinks.
    –WebMeUp backlink checker will break your backlink domains and IPs along with the percentage of dofollow links and showcase your data in easy-to-read pie charts.
    –Ahrefs backlink checker provides a link analysis tool with a regularly updated link database to guide your efforts.
    –Link Detox is a subscription-based tool that can automatically clean up your link profile. Be careful using automatic tools as they can sometimes disavow your best backlinks. Always manually check results to ensure no good links are lost.

    Once you find negative or under-performing backlinks, you can try to remove them.

    This can be done by emailing the webmaster of the underperforming sites to request removal.

    Look for the webmaster’s contact details on a Contact Us or About Us page. If this is unsuccessful, try entering their domain into Whois.com.

    Your request email should look something like this.How to Recover From Google Penalty - Clean Up Your Backlink Profile
    If the webmaster does not respond or refuses your request, you can then use Google Disavow to remove the links yourself.

    Keep in mind that a handful of bad backlinks isn’t going to tank your rankings. Google will ignore many of those weird links if you had nothing to do with them. However, if you used a shady SEO agency or engaged in black-hat link building, take the time to clean up those links.

FAQs About Google Penalties

How do I know if I have a Google penalty?

Use tools such as Website Penalty Indicator and Ubersuggest to uncover any manual or algorithm penalties affecting your website traffic.

How can I fix SEO errors?

Perform an SEO audit to find and fix any SEO errors that may result in a Google penalty.

What tools can I use to clean up my backlinks?

Online tools such as Majestic SEO and WebMeUp can uncover bad backlinks. From there, you need to contact the webmaster directly to delete them or disavow them yourself.

When will my site recover?

Your site should recover in around 30 thirty days for manual penalties and six months for algorithm penalties

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Conclusion

A Google penalty can be a big issue for sites that rely on web traffic for revenue.

Luckily, you can take steps to find out how, when, and why your site is being penalized.

Remember, there are many ways to improve your Google ranking without getting penalized. Be sure to adhere to Google’s best practices at all times to minimize penalty issues.

Although we hope you feel confident enough to identify and fix Google penalties yourself after reading this guide, our agency is here if you can’t or don’t want to. Our experienced team can guide you through the SEO audit/fixing/growing process with whatever level of involvement you want.

How have you fixed your Google penalties in the past? What steps did you take?

Advantages of Working from Home Running a Business

Everyone knows there are advantages of working from home.  In the post COVID-19 pandemic world, the disadvantages have become clear as well. However, working from home and running a business from home are two very different things.   Do the Advantages of Working from Home Apply When Running a Business? The short answer to this question … Continue reading Advantages of Working from Home Running a Business

How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start

Evergreen content engages and educates readers for longer without a huge amount of effort. Once you master the art of writing “timeless” content, you can ensure your articles, e-books, and tutorials stay relevant for years to come.  Below, I’m going to show you exactly why evergreen content should be part of every marketer’s content strategy, …

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start

Evergreen content engages and educates readers for longer without a huge amount of effort. Once you master the art of writing “timeless” content, you can ensure your articles, e-books, and tutorials stay relevant for years to come.  Below, I’m going to show you exactly why evergreen content should be part of every marketer’s content strategy, …

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start appeared first on Get Funding For Your Business And Ventures.

The post How to Create Evergreen Content Right From the Start appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Advantages of Working from Home Running a Business

Everyone knows there are advantages of working from home.  In the post COVID-19 pandemic world, the disadvantages have become clear as well. However, working from home and running a business from home are two very different things.  

Do the Advantages of Working from Home Apply When Running a Business?

The short answer to this question is yes. The advantages of working from home are still there when running a home based business.  In fact, the same disadvantages are present as well.  What many do not realize is that there are some unique disadvantages to working from home while running a business.  However, they are not impossible to overcome.

Clear Advantages of Working from Home

It’s not hard to find information on the advantages of working from home.  The internet is full of articles and blogs on why working at home is great and how to make it even better. All you have to do is search “work at home tips” and a plethora of information will be at your fingertips. You save money on overhead.  You save money and time not commuting.  Clothing costs are significantly cut.  Eating out is not as huge as a temptation so you can save money and your waistline. 

Of course each of these advantages of working from home can be a disadvantage as well. For every meal you don’t have to eat out you can make as many trips to your fridge as you want and get whatever you want.  That can add to your waistline and your grocery bill.  Some are not as productive when they are wearing pajamas.  Despite the savings, a lot of people would rather have the  commute time to wind down after a long day. It all depends on the individual.

Unique Disadvantages of Working from Home Running a Business

Sometimes it can be hard to determine if the advantages of working from home overcome the disadvantages.  Loneliness and isolation, lack of physical activity, distraction caused by everyday activity in the home,  and lack of accountability are all well documented disadvantages of working from home. However, running a home-based business out of your house comes with a unique set of disadvantages. 

Harder to Manage Employees

First, if you have employees, you no longer have to worry only about your own productivity.  You have to ensure they are being productive as well.  That’s a challenge, but technology has come a long way in that area.  There are a number of options for daily contact and project management that can reduce the issues caused by this. 

Learn more here and get started with building business credit with your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

Fundability is More Difficult to Achieve

The truth of the matter is, you achieve fundability the same way regardless of whether you run your business out of your home or from a separate location.  The difference is, running a business from home may tempt you not to bother with some things that actually have a huge impact on fundability.  

For example, for a business to appear fundable to a lender, it needs to be totally separate from the owner.  This means having separate contact information, an EIN, being incorporated, and having a separate business bank account amount other things.  These are all things that a lot of home-based business owners do not worry about in the beginning. 

I mean, running your business from your home is an easy way to start. You can just use your own phone number and address, use your SSN and not worry about an EIN, and use your own bank account because it’s your money anyway.  

This is perfectly legal and definitely the easiest way to do things. But the easiest ways are not always the best ways.  If you set your business up to be a separate, fundable entity from the start, you are much more likely to be able to get the funding you need. 

How to Overcome the Work from Home Challenges of Running a Home Based Business

This potential lack of fundability can make it much harder to get approval for home based business loans and other types of business funding.  There is a way to overcome this issue, but you need help.  There are over 100 factors that affect fundability.  It is virtually impossible for a business owner to keep tabs on all of them on their own. 

advantages of working from home Credit Suite

 

 

 

 

In fact, the secret sauce required by each lender is typically known only to that lender.  That is, unless you can find a business credit expert to help you navigate. This is someone who not only understands all the ins and outs of fundability, but knows how to access it for your business. They have the knowledge and relationships necessary to know where to look and who to talk to to get the information you need to establish and build strong fundability.

They can also help you find financing that you qualify for right now, while you work on building the fundability of your business. Here are some examples.

Best Home Based Business Loans

Despite the fact that one of the biggest advantages of working from home is cost savings, getting funding is an issue.  When running a home based business, you have a few options. If your business is set up to be fundable, you have a lot more.  The key is to find the funding you can get now, and work on fundability in the meantime. 

Resist the urge to get a personal loan if you can find another possibility. Funding your business with personal credit should be a last ditch effort. It can have a serious negative impact on your personal credit score and financing in general.  Here are a couple of things to try first. 

Credit Line Hybrid

A credit line hybrid lets you fund your business without putting up collateral, and you only pay back what you use.   You need a personal credit score of at least 680.  In addition, you can’t have any liens, judgments, bankruptcies or late payments.  Furthermore, in the past 6 months you should have less than 4 credit inquiries, and you should have less than a 45% balance on all business and personal credit cards.  It’s also preferred that you have established business credit as well as personal credit.

If you do not meet all of the requirements, it’s okay. You can take on a credit partner whomeets each of these requirements.  Many business owners work with a friend or relative to fund their business.  If a relative or a friend meets all of these requirements, they can partner with you to allow you to tap into their credit to access funding. 

Learn more here and get started with building business credit with your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

What are the Benefits of a Credit Line Hybrid? 

There are many benefits to using a credit line hybrid.  First, it is unsecured, meaning you do not have to have any collateral to put up.  Next, the funding is “no-doc.”  This means you do not have to provide any bank statements or financials.

Not only that, but typically approval is up to 5x that of the highest credit limit on the personal credit report. Additionally, often you can get interest rates as low as 0% for the first few months, allowing you to put that savings back into your business.

The process is pretty fast, especially with a qualified expert to walk you through it.  Also, the approval of multiple credit cards creates competition.  This makes it easier, and likely even if you handle the credit responsibly, that you can get interest rates lowered and limits raised every few months. 

The best part is, these accounts report to the business credit reporting agencies, which helps you build your business credit score.  A strong business credit score strengthens fundability.

401K Plan Financing

401(k) plan financing is not a loan. You will not have to pay an early withdrawal fee, and you will not have to pay a tax penalty.

Our 401(k) plan financing offers a powerful and flexible way for new or existing businesses and franchises to leverage assets that are currently in a 401(k) plan or IRA. In as little as 3 weeks you can invest a portion of your retirement funds into your business. This gives you more control over the performance of your retirement plan assets. And it gives you the working capital you need for business growth.

What About the IRS?

This is a 401(k) Rollover for Working Capital program.  The IRS calls it a Rollover for Business Startups (ROBS).  According to them, a ROBS qualified plan is a separate entity with its own set of requirements. The plan, through its company stock investments, rather than the individual, owns the trade or business. Therefore, some filing exceptions for individuals may not apply to such a plan. As always, it is going to be best to check with an expert.

401K Financing Details

This type of financing is not a loan against your 401(k), so there is no interest to pay. It does not use the 401(k) or stocks as collateral. Also, it’s quite easy to qualify for. You will not need financials or good credit to get approval. All the lender will require is a copy of your two most recent 401(k) statements.

If your plan has a value of more than $35,000, you can get approval even if your personal credit score is bad. You can receive whichever percent of your 401(k) is “rollable” as financing.  In many cases, you can secure a low-interest credit line or loan for 100% of your current 401(k) value.

The 401(k) you use cannot be from a business where you are currently working. Also, you cannot be currently contributing to it.

Learn more here and get started with building business credit with your company’s EIN and not your SSN.

Enjoy All the Work from Home Benefits While Running Your Own Business

It is harder for a home-based business to get funding.  This stems from the fact that it is harder to separate the business from the owner for fundability purposes. That does not mean that you cannot enjoy all the advantages of working from home while running a business however.  It can be done.  You can build business fundability while running your business from home.  You just have to be intentional. A business credit expert to walk  you through the process is a must. Do not fall into the trap of thinking you can do this on your own. 

This is someone who can not only help you assess and build fundability, but they can also help you find the financing you can get right now easier and faster.  Find out more today.

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