NHL-worst Sharks win lottery, right to choose No. 1

The San Jose Sharks, in a period of transition and currently without a head coach, won the NHL draft lottery Tuesday night, following a regular season in which they posted just 19 wins and 47 points for last in the league.

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NHL-worst Sharks win lottery, right to choose No. 1

The San Jose Sharks, in a period of transition and currently without a head coach, won the NHL draft lottery Tuesday night, following a regular season in which they posted just 19 wins and 47 points for last in the league.

The post NHL-worst Sharks win lottery, right to choose No. 1 appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

The post NHL-worst Sharks win lottery, right to choose No. 1 appeared first on BUSINESS DEMO WEBSITES.

The post NHL-worst Sharks win lottery, right to choose No. 1 appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Big Labor Strikes Back in Michigan Against Right to Work

The post Big Labor Strikes Back in Michigan Against Right to Work appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

The post Big Labor Strikes Back in Michigan Against Right to Work appeared first on BUSINESS DEMO WEBSITES.

The post Big Labor Strikes Back in Michigan Against Right to Work appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Examples of E-commerce SEO Done Right (and Mistakes To Avoid)

We all know the foundation of e-commerce SEO is keyword research.

Over half of shoppers surveyed in a global retail study say they use Google to research purchases they plan to make online.

This is why SEO is your golden ticket to increasing organic visibility.

How?

Think about it: Before you create your site’s content, you need to know what terms your audience is using to search for products like yours.

How will you solve their problems without knowing the keywords behind their search intent?

You have to build your content with search engines and your users in mind.

The sooner you understand how SEO is changing and adapt your strategies, the sooner you’ll see ROI from e-commerce SEO.

Isn’t it impressive how far SEO has progressed?

Jump on the SEO train with me and I’ll show you why it’s important.

Why Is E-commerce SEO So Important?

You’re trying to get new customers to have all eyes on you.

You can’t win their attention if search engines can’t easily find you.

Your site is basically the secret menu at Starbucks if you don’t invest in keyword research.

That’s why it should be the critical first step in your e-commerce SEO campaign.

One of two things will happen if you don’t get SEO for e-commerce right:

  1. You won’t rank on page one—or near the top—because your target keywords are too difficult.
  2. The keywords you choose won’t drive in the traffic you’re aiming for or align with customers’ search intent.

However, getting your potential customers’ attention can be expensive.

For example, the average cost per click for the apparel industry is about 89 cents. The average cost per action is right below $10 when you break down WordStream’s results. Cost per action is a pricing model where payment is contingent on a qualified specific action, like a sale or submitted form.

While cost per click generates fast, profitable sales, you could spend thousands reeling in new customers.

By using SEO for e-commerce, you’re gaining free organic traffic by getting your site to show up in the SERPs.

But there are some missteps you should avoid if you want to see success.

Common E-commerce SEO Mistakes

What are the user’s needs?

If you keep this question top of mind, you should have a solid e-commerce SEO campaign.

Here is a list of at least three e-commerce SEO mistakes I don’t want you to make:

  1. Vague Product Descriptions: This is a place to fit in keywords that make sense for your product. Write a product description so your customer knows what to expect. Even when you’re naming the product, think about a user’s potential search queries. Optimizing your product pages gives them a great chance at a top ranking for items. Product descriptions provide clarity and answer important questions that encourage users to follow through with their cart.
  2. Display of Product Reviews: The beautiful thing about product reviews is they’re customer generated. It’s basically on-screen user-generated content. Reviews share customers’ unique experiences with your product. The page is like a living update, bringing more people to your site. Take advantage of the SEO benefits reviews bring to your e-commerce site. For added benefits, make sure you implement product review schema so your reviews will be even more prominent in Google SERPs.
  3. Non-Interactive Title Tags: Titles are not only a matter of SEO. They should line up with your users’ search intent. Focus on unique phrasing. The formula I like is this: Brand + Model + Item Type = Interactive Title Tag. If you want to see if the titles for your products are unique, use Ubersuggest to double-check.

There are many more benefits to SEO for e-commerce—and mistakes to avoid. I’ve got some examples of e-commerce SEO in action to serve as inspiration for you.

E-commerce SEO Sites That Are Crushing It

Some people say SEO is dead.

Well, I say they’re wrong.

No matter which side of the fence you’re on, you can’t deny the benefits SEO has on e-commerce.

Especially now with social e-commerce, there is big money to be made. Researchers see a trend in e-sales that will go beyond $1.3 trillion by 2025.

SEO for e-commerce done right drives relevant traffic to your social channels and website without spending big on paid ads.

Once you see those qualified leads come in, make sure your strategy is in place to convert them.

We chose these three examples to focus on because:

I’d like to show and tell you who’s crushing e-commerce SEO right now. We chose these three examples because:

  • They are large name brand stores
  • They are implementing technically sound SEO
  • They are using creative copy on the product pages
  • They have schema mark-up on the pages which helps create a more enticing SERP result
  • They have built strong, natural looking backlink profiles

All of these factors are extremely important to help with boosting rankings. Our research shows that show when sites implement SEO strategy and optimized copy, they see a larger keyword universe and higher domain authority. Combine these together and you get high organic traffic numbers.

Let’s take a closer look.

Etsy: Strong E-Commerce SEO Strategy

Etsy is a global online marketplace where brands can buy, sell, trade, and collect one-of-a-kind products. It’s a marketplace where you’ll likely find your new favorite handcrafted items from independent artists and designers.

This is a great environment for a brand to win at e-commerce SEO.

Etsy is making strong strides in SEO marketing right now.

In May 2022, Etsy ranked for over 14 million keywords in position one through ten, including nearly 5.5 million of those in the top three positions.

Etsy’s main navigation is intuitive and easy to use. There’s a banner with season-specific, popular items for the summer as well as popular gifts people are purchasing.

Businesses gain brand visibility thanks to how content is laid out over the site. There’s a strong emphasis on discovery. Etsy leans a lot on “keywords by intent,” especially via blog mentions. Their most trafficked blog article features the best Etsy shops, which nets 1,061 visitors and $462 in revenue.

Overall, 61.1% of Etsy’s keywords are informational and 29.9% are transactional. A whopping 87.4% of keywords owned are non-branded. This shows us what users want to know about the brands within Etsy. How they’re educated as an audience matters during their buyer’s journey.

I’d also like to mention a lot of Etsy’s success comes from stellar Core Web Vitals. This is a huge ranking factor in this mobile-first index ranking world. The faster people see their shopping interests during their user experience, the better.

Etsy gets this right all while supporting the shops that rely on them for a degree of brand visibility.

A graphic of Etsy's core web page vitals.

Overstock: A Great Core Web Vitals Example

Overstock is an online retailer that sells home goods at low prices.

A screenshot of Overstock.com's homepage.

Like Etsy, Overstock has great Core Web Vitals, so user experience with their online database is sharp. They are a tech-driven company, so that’s to be expected.

Based on what users are looking for, they win a lot of traffic for non-branded keywords (83.2%) vs. branded keywords (16.8%). Overstock is capturing users searching for queries that are not associated with their brand. Meaning, they are catching a lot of users looking for a solution their site can solve.

It makes sense why much of the site’s keyword intent funnels in through informational search queries (47% in May 2022). The data shows customers want to be informed before they make their purchases.

Transactional searches are almost equally as high (42% in May 2022). Think of a popular search like “patio furniture.” The products Overstock offers are essentially what users are searching for.

SEO for e-commerce serves Overstock well by targeting keywords users are looking for, even if it’s not branded. They have mastered aligning keywords with users’ search intent, allowing them to see results with strong performing non-branded terms.

A graphic of Overstock.com's core web vitals.

Lulus: How SEO for Ecommerce Helps A Brand

Lulus is a fashion brand with an affordable luxury feel.

A screenshot of Lulu's webpage.

They recently upped their Core Web Vitals, helping them rank higher and garner more organic on-page sessions. That’s just one of the ways they’ve upped their game.

Let’s look at how they’re crushing SEO for e-commerce to get these results.

One thing I noticed on this Lulus dresses page is the copy.

Well, what makes their copy stand out?

The high-priority keywords.

A screenshot of Lulu's high priority keywords to enhance their ecommerce seo.

I know it sounds simple, but if you’re searching for a cocktail dress for a company Christmas party, Lulus points you in the right direction on their site.

You’ve got the keywords and directions for your users. Now, they’re bound to trust you and follow through with their cart.

It goes the same way with backlinks. Lulus’ backlinks profile speaks for itself, with well over 19 million referring domains.

Follow links make up 80% of Lulus’ backlinks, signaling to search engines that the site is trustworthy.

Selling amazing products is one thing. Having outside sources vouch for your brand online makes you look even more credible. Think of the SERPs as one big popularity contest, and having other people vouch for you is a big help.

The traffic will come to you as potential leads to convert. They will make secure purchases knowing you have what they need, and they’ll come back to shop for other items they need in the future.

Whether they’re from fashion blogs or influencers, backlinks are e-commerce SEO gold.

This is how Lulus did it.

That’s what SEO for e-commerce does for a brand. It shows your customers you are their solution.

A graphic showcasing Lulus ecommerce SEO impact.

What We Can Learn From E-commerce SEO Done Right?

SEO for e-commerce is a game changer, so spend some time on it.

To play the game right means appearing high on the first page of search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo for terms your potential consumers use.

If you know how your audience makes decisions, you can create content that guides them through their purchasing journey.

Yes, having high-quality content and copy matters. It won’t convert to users if your keywords don’t have high-quality search intent, though.

Strategic internal linking—linking to other URLs on the same site—and optimizing product and category pages are some of the hardest parts of e-commerce SEO. However, they’re definitely on my list of e-commerce SEO best practices.

That’s why I’m here. To give you SEO tips that work for you.

Conclusion

Search engines like Google mostly focus on providing users with a valuable experience.

Your website needs to make usability its top priority.

That’s my golden rule for SEO.

If your user experience is convenient and intuitive, your customers will respect and trust you.

It’s like what’s good for your users is good for Google—so satisfying both go hand in hand.

If users spend more time on your site and don’t navigate back to previous search results, Google takes this as a badge of honor.

Links are what propel you to the top of the search results page, so people who like your website and what it offers are far more likely to link to it.

Put e-commerce SEO at the forefront of your marketing campaign and see how catering to your audience’s needs leads to increased traffic.

Have you found mistakes with your e-commerce SEO strategy? How could you tell you were underperforming? Let me know and I can help you fix it.

The post Examples of E-commerce SEO Done Right (and Mistakes To Avoid) appeared first on #1 SEO FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.

The post Examples of E-commerce SEO Done Right (and Mistakes To Avoid) appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Examples of E-commerce SEO Done Right (and Mistakes To Avoid)

We all know the foundation of e-commerce SEO is keyword research.

Over half of shoppers surveyed in a global retail study say they use Google to research purchases they plan to make online.

This is why SEO is your golden ticket to increasing organic visibility.

How?

Think about it: Before you create your site’s content, you need to know what terms your audience is using to search for products like yours.

How will you solve their problems without knowing the keywords behind their search intent?

You have to build your content with search engines and your users in mind.

The sooner you understand how SEO is changing and adapt your strategies, the sooner you’ll see ROI from e-commerce SEO.

Isn’t it impressive how far SEO has progressed?

Jump on the SEO train with me and I’ll show you why it’s important.

Why Is E-commerce SEO So Important?

You’re trying to get new customers to have all eyes on you.

You can’t win their attention if search engines can’t easily find you.

Your site is basically the secret menu at Starbucks if you don’t invest in keyword research.

That’s why it should be the critical first step in your e-commerce SEO campaign.

One of two things will happen if you don’t get SEO for e-commerce right:

  1. You won’t rank on page one—or near the top—because your target keywords are too difficult.
  2. The keywords you choose won’t drive in the traffic you’re aiming for or align with customers’ search intent.

However, getting your potential customers’ attention can be expensive.

For example, the average cost per click for the apparel industry is about 89 cents. The average cost per action is right below $10 when you break down WordStream’s results. Cost per action is a pricing model where payment is contingent on a qualified specific action, like a sale or submitted form.

While cost per click generates fast, profitable sales, you could spend thousands reeling in new customers.

By using SEO for e-commerce, you’re gaining free organic traffic by getting your site to show up in the SERPs.

But there are some missteps you should avoid if you want to see success.

Common E-commerce SEO Mistakes

What are the user’s needs?

If you keep this question top of mind, you should have a solid e-commerce SEO campaign.

Here is a list of at least three e-commerce SEO mistakes I don’t want you to make:

Screenshot of an ecommerce page with a vague product description.
  1. Vague Product Descriptions: This is a place to fit in keywords that make sense for your product. Write a product description so your customer knows what to expect. Even when you’re naming the product, think about a user’s potential search queries. Optimizing your product pages gives them a great chance at a top ranking for items. Product descriptions provide clarity and answer important questions that encourage users to follow through with their cart.
  2. Display of Product Reviews: The beautiful thing about product reviews is they’re customer generated. It’s basically on-screen user-generated content. Reviews share customers’ unique experiences with your product. The page is like a living update, bringing more people to your site. Take advantage of the SEO benefits reviews bring to your e-commerce site. For added benefits, make sure you implement product review schema so your reviews will be even more prominent in Google SERPs.
  3. Non-Interactive Title Tags: Titles are not only a matter of SEO. They should line up with your users’ search intent. Focus on unique phrasing. The formula I like is this: Brand + Model + Item Type = Interactive Title Tag. If you want to see if the titles for your products are unique, use Ubersuggest to double-check.

There are many more benefits to SEO for e-commerce—and mistakes to avoid. I’ve got some examples of e-commerce SEO in action to serve as inspiration for you.

E-commerce SEO Sites That Are Crushing It

Some people say SEO is dead.

Well, I say they’re wrong.

No matter which side of the fence you’re on, you can’t deny the benefits SEO has on e-commerce.

Especially now with social e-commerce, there is big money to be made. Researchers see a trend in e-sales that will go beyond $1.3 trillion by 2025.

SEO for e-commerce done right drives relevant traffic to your social channels and website without spending big on paid ads.

Once you see those qualified leads come in, make sure your strategy is in place to convert them.

We chose these three examples to focus on because:

I’d like to show and tell you who’s crushing e-commerce SEO right now. We chose these three examples because:

  • They are large name brand stores
  • They are implementing technically sound SEO
  • They are using creative copy on the product pages
  • They have schema mark-up on the pages which helps create a more enticing SERP result
  • They have built strong, natural looking backlink profiles

All of these factors are extremely important to help with boosting rankings. Our research shows that show when sites implement SEO strategy and optimized copy, they see a larger keyword universe and higher domain authority. Combine these together and you get high organic traffic numbers.

Let’s take a closer look.

Etsy: Strong E-Commerce SEO Strategy

Etsy is a global online marketplace where brands can buy, sell, trade, and collect one-of-a-kind products. It’s a marketplace where you’ll likely find your new favorite handcrafted items from independent artists and designers.

This is a great environment for a brand to win at e-commerce SEO.

A screenshot of Etsy's webpage.

Etsy is making strong strides in SEO marketing right now.

In May 2022, Etsy ranked for over 14 million keywords in position one through ten, including nearly 5.5 million of those in the top three positions.

Etsy’s main navigation is intuitive and easy to use. There’s a banner with season-specific, popular items for the summer as well as popular gifts people are purchasing.

Businesses gain brand visibility thanks to how content is laid out over the site. There’s a strong emphasis on discovery. Etsy leans a lot on “keywords by intent,” especially via blog mentions. Their most trafficked blog article features the best Etsy shops, which nets 1,061 visitors and $462 in revenue.

Overall, 61.1% of Etsy’s keywords are informational and 29.9% are transactional. A whopping 87.4% of keywords owned are non-branded. This shows us what users want to know about the brands within Etsy. How they’re educated as an audience matters during their buyer’s journey.

I’d also like to mention a lot of Etsy’s success comes from stellar Core Web Vitals. This is a huge ranking factor in this mobile-first index ranking world. The faster people see their shopping interests during their user experience, the better.

Etsy gets this right all while supporting the shops that rely on them for a degree of brand visibility.

A graphic of Etsy's core web page vitals.

Overstock: A Great Core Web Vitals Example

Overstock is an online retailer that sells home goods at low prices.

A screenshot of Overstock.com's homepage.

Like Etsy, Overstock has great Core Web Vitals, so user experience with their online database is sharp. They are a tech-driven company, so that’s to be expected.

Based on what users are looking for, they win a lot of traffic for non-branded keywords (83.2%) vs. branded keywords (16.8%). Overstock is capturing users searching for queries that are not associated with their brand. Meaning, they are catching a lot of users looking for a solution their site can solve.

It makes sense why much of the site’s keyword intent funnels in through informational search queries (47% in May 2022). The data shows customers want to be informed before they make their purchases.

Transactional searches are almost equally as high (42% in May 2022). Think of a popular search like “patio furniture.” The products Overstock offers are essentially what users are searching for.

SEO for e-commerce serves Overstock well by targeting keywords users are looking for, even if it’s not branded. They have mastered aligning keywords with users’ search intent, allowing them to see results with strong performing non-branded terms.

A graphic of Overstock.com's core web vitals.

Lulus: How SEO for Ecommerce Helps A Brand

Lulus is a fashion brand with an affordable luxury feel.

A screenshot of Lulu's webpage.

They recently upped their Core Web Vitals, helping them rank higher and garner more organic on-page sessions. That’s just one of the ways they’ve upped their game.

Let’s look at how they’re crushing SEO for e-commerce to get these results.

One thing I noticed on this Lulus dresses page is the copy.

Well, what makes their copy stand out?

The high-priority keywords.

A screenshot of Lulu's high priority keywords to enhance their ecommerce seo.

I know it sounds simple, but if you’re searching for a cocktail dress for a company Christmas party, Lulus points you in the right direction on their site.

You’ve got the keywords and directions for your users. Now, they’re bound to trust you and follow through with their cart.

It goes the same way with backlinks. Lulus’ backlinks profile speaks for itself, with well over 19 million referring domains.

Follow links make up 80% of Lulus’ backlinks, signaling to search engines that the site is trustworthy.

Selling amazing products is one thing. Having outside sources vouch for your brand online makes you look even more credible. Think of the SERPs as one big popularity contest, and having other people vouch for you is a big help.

The traffic will come to you as potential leads to convert. They will make secure purchases knowing you have what they need, and they’ll come back to shop for other items they need in the future.

Whether they’re from fashion blogs or influencers, backlinks are e-commerce SEO gold.

This is how Lulus did it.

That’s what SEO for e-commerce does for a brand. It shows your customers you are their solution.

A graphic showcasing Lulus ecommerce SEO impact.

What We Can Learn From E-commerce SEO Done Right?

SEO for e-commerce is a game changer, so spend some time on it.

To play the game right means appearing high on the first page of search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo for terms your potential consumers use.

If you know how your audience makes decisions, you can create content that guides them through their purchasing journey.

Yes, having high-quality content and copy matters. It won’t convert to users if your keywords don’t have high-quality search intent, though.

Strategic internal linking—linking to other URLs on the same site—and optimizing product and category pages are some of the hardest parts of e-commerce SEO. However, they’re definitely on my list of e-commerce SEO best practices.

That’s why I’m here. To give you SEO tips that work for you.

Conclusion

Search engines like Google mostly focus on providing users with a valuable experience.

Your website needs to make usability its top priority.

That’s my golden rule for SEO.

If your user experience is convenient and intuitive, your customers will respect and trust you.

It’s like what’s good for your users is good for Google—so satisfying both go hand in hand.

If users spend more time on your site and don’t navigate back to previous search results, Google takes this as a badge of honor.

Links are what propel you to the top of the search results page, so people who like your website and what it offers are far more likely to link to it.

Put e-commerce SEO at the forefront of your marketing campaign and see how catering to your audience’s needs leads to increased traffic.

Have you found mistakes with your e-commerce SEO strategy? How could you tell you were underperforming? Let me know and I can help you fix it.

Why pickleball is the hottest up-and-coming sport right now

When you think of pickleball, 27-year-old Catherine Parenteau is probably not the image that comes to mind. But the No. 2-ranked pro player is an agile speed demon on the court — and representative of the sport’s meteoric rise around the country.

The post Why pickleball is the hottest up-and-coming sport right now appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Secret Formula to Finding the Right Business Investor

Using a business investor is a legitimate way to get money for your business. However, there are more ways to do it than you may imagine.

Partnering with an Business Investor

This is one of many ways to get money for your business. Surprisingly, you have a number of options, including:

  • Venture capitalist
  • Angel investors
  • Equity crowdfunding

If you choose to pursue this option, you have your work cut out for you. First, you have to choose the option that will work best for you. Then, you have to find a potential investor and convince them. Still, it may be worth it considering Interest rates are rising and it’s becoming harder to find loans. These are non-issues when you work with venture capitalist funds.

Angel Investor

Angel investors typically invest in early-stage or startup companies for 20 – 25% return on their investment.  Basically, they invest less than venture capitalists, but also require less control.

Equity Crowdfunding

Equity crowdfunding is when potential investors visit a funding portal website and explore different investment opportunities posted on the site.  Potential investors are subject limits based on their income and net worth. Also, they must be 18 years old or older.

Venture Capitalists

Venture Capitalists are investors that give money to build startups. Generally, they are looking for investment opportunities that have both high-growth and high-risk potential. These are fast-growth companies with an exit strategy already in place.

Usually, they expect a recovery time of  3-5 years, often they want to own a large piece of the business, or even controlling stake.

To have a chance, you need to have a:

  • Strong management team
  • Large potential market
  • Unique product or service, and strong competitive advantage

A Winning Pitch Deck to Catch the Perfect Business Investor

Of course, the pitch deck won’t seal the deal immediately.  Yet, it is the first impression investors get of your business. Typically, it is in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

What is the Goal of a Pitch Deck?

The final goal is to get your business funded. However, the immediate goal is just to get to the next meeting. You want to create interest that entices investors to consider investing in your business.

What to Include in a Pitch Deck

While you do have some creative leeway, there is general information that should be included in every pitch deck.

Company Overview

This is a quick 4 or 5 bullet summary that includes what the company is. So, tell them what you do, how you do it, and why it needs to be done.

Mission Statement or Vision for the Business

Include a crisp, concise statement telling them what you want to become. Honestly, it is the backbone of the presentation.

Your People

This is where you will introduce yourself and the team, including names and pictures. Tell what each person contributes to the company.

The Problem Your Business Solves/ Need it Fills

Of course, every business should solve a problem or fill a need. Now, your job is to show potential investors how your business does that.

What is Your Product?

Obviously, this is where you introduce your product or service. Explain how it’s different from anything else in the market. Consequently, it’s best to have a prototype or at least pictures for this section if you can.

 Is There a Market for It?

First, define your market. For example, who will be using the product? Then, explain the dollar market size.  Do you already have customers?  If so, include them here. Use the logos of well-known customers the audience will recognize. For lesser known customers, include names and testimonials.

Technology

Does the business use any proprietary technology. Include diagrams, graphs, and photographs to show progress if it does. Furthermore, be sure you include proprietary rights like patents and copyrights.

How to Handle Competition

Don’t make the mistake of ignoring competition. In contrast, you will need to address the subject with potential investors. Inform them of who you believe your competitors are. Then, tell them how your business is different. Explain what it is that gives your business a competitive advantage.

Previous Success

This section includes any early sales figures along with:

  • Website traffic
  • App downloads
  • Growth metrics
  • Partnerships
  • Praise from the press
  • And testimonials

Business Model

Tell them how the business makes money, including how a customer retains value long-term. Also, you’ll need to explain what your pricing plan looks like.

Marketing Plans

This is where you talk about marketing platforms and channels.  Don’t forget,  it’s also important to note the cost to acquire a customer, as well as the estimated lifetime value of a customer.

Financials

Here, you’ll include 3- 5 year financial projections as well as complete current financials. In addition, be to include any key assumptions used for the projections.

The Ask

Now, it’s time to ask for exactly what you want. Tell them precisely what you’re looking for, remembering that it is okay to give a range. Discuss how long you think this funding will last, as well as how you plan to use the funds. Lastly, if you have any existing investors, include that information here as well.

6 Bonus Pitch Deck Tips

  1. Make the presentation professional, but visually interesting. If it’s boring, you’ll lose them before you get started.
  2. It also needs to be easy to access. If they have to click through a billion links, they may never see it.
  3. Do not include a date. Chances are you will use the presentation more than once, and that is just one less thing you have to remember to update.
  4. Keep it as short as possible while still including all the necessary information.
  5. Keep acronyms to a minimum. Too many are hard to follow.

Using a Business Investor is Just One Funding Option

Working with a business investor is a totally legitimate business funding option. However, it is not your only option. Find out what other types of funding you may qualify for with a free business finance assessment. What are you waiting for?

The post Secret Formula to Finding the Right Business Investor appeared first on Credit Suite.

Is Alternative Lending from Industrial Banks Right for Your Business?

What are industrial banks? What makes them different from commercial banks? More importantly, are they a better source of lending for small businesses? Let’s find out. 

Industrial Banks Are Not New 

These banks are also called Industrial Lending Companies (ILCs). They have roots way back in the early 1900s. That’s when large companies sometimes offered banking services to their employees. Some of these later ventured into the commercial banking realm. In fact, you’ll probably recognize a few. For example all of the following crossed over from industrial bank to commercial. 

  • Goldman Sachs
  • American Express
  • Merrill Lynch Bank USA
  • Morgan Stanley Bank
  • GE Capital Bank
  • And GMAC Bank

Industrial vs. Commercial Banks

The difference between industrial and commercial banks relates to services and structure.

Industrial  Commercial 
Longer repayment periods, often for 15 or 20 years  Financing and repayment periods are typically shorter periods of time 
Do not offer checking accounts. May focus on a single product line, such as auto loans or credit card payment processing Customers can open savings, checking, or money market accounts and certificates of deposit 
Offer limited services, usually installment loans for consumers and small businesses  Earn profits from interest-bearing loans they offer to customers, such as mortgages, personal loans, business loans, and more 
Most are located in Utah Located throughout the U.S. 
Many do not have traditional branches Traditionally offer a number of in-person branches
Limited to states that permit them Exist in all U.S. states 

Currently, only 7 states in the U.S. allow these institutions, and over 90% of these types of banks are in Utah. 

Why Use These Banks for a Business Loan?

It’s simple really. Traditional banks often deny small business loan applications. Due to less regulation, other types of lenders can be less strict. They may be able to offer approval where traditional lenders cannot. 

Are Industrial Banks Safe?

There is no oversight from the Federal Reserve. However, that does not mean these institutions are unregulated. In fact, deposits are FDIC insured. There is also oversight from the chartering state. Currently, only Utah, California, Colorado, Nevada, Hawaii, Indiana, and Minnesota charter these ILCs.  

A Legit Funding Option?

They aren’t a bad option for small business funding. In fact, it may be easier to get approval.  However, terms and rates may be higher. Still, to get the most out of all your business funding options, business credit is a must. Find out more about building business credit now. Schedule a free business finance assessment from one of our specialists. 

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