Tag: Than

Lennar board more than triples dividend

Lennar Corp. said late Thursday that its board more than tripled the homebuilder’s dividend as part of its program to increase returns to shareholders. Lennar will pay a quarertly dividend of 12.5 cents a share on Feb. 7, up from its previous dividend of 4 cents a share, to shareholders as of Jan. 24. “Given our focus on operational excellence, land strategy and cash flow, we believe a diversified program of debt reduction, stock repurchase and now an increased dividend, is appropriate,” said Stuart Miller, Lennar chairman, in a statement. Shares of Lennar rose 0.9% after hours, following a 0.2% rise to close the regular session at $57.69.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

The post Lennar board more than triples dividend appeared first on WE TEACH MONEY LIFE SELF DEFENSE WITH FINANCIAL GOALS IN MIND.

The post Lennar board more than triples dividend appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

How to Get a New Small Business Loan  and Why It’s Better Than Crowdfunding   

Why It’s Better Than Crowdfunding

When you own a business there is only one thing for certain.  You are going to need funding.  Where you get that funding is another story.  There are a ton of options, and choosing the one that will work best for your needs is sometimes the most difficult part.  Two of the most common options are small business loans and crowdfunding. For most, a new small business loan is going to be the best bet.  We’re going to tell you how to get a new small business loan, and why it’s a better choice than some other funding options, specifically crowdfunding.

How to Get a New Small Business Loan: Business Funding Options

First, it can be helpful to know what your options are.  There are many, but all are not created equal. Complicating things even more, there are multiple subtypes within many of the different available types of funding. Here is a quick overview.

Loans

This is money that you borrow and pay back over time, plus interest.  The rate of interest, time you have to pay back the money, and the requirements to qualify for the loan vary widely between loan types and lenders. All of the variance is why many are so unsure of how to get a new small business loan.

Demolish your funding problems with our rock-solid guide about 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Lines of Credit

If you are trying to figure out how to get a new small business loan, there is no doubt you are going to start wondering about lines of credit also.  A line of credit is similar to a loan in many ways.  You apply for it the same way, generally through the same type of lender.  The difference is that this is revolving credit, similar to a credit card. You only pay back what you use, and you use only what you need.  The funds are there to draw from. But you do not have to pay back the full amount.   Typically, the interest rates and terms are better than that of a credit card.

Factoring

Invoice factoring, or receivables factoring, is sort of a cash advance on outstanding accounts.  If you need cash and have a ton of outstanding invoices or receivables, you can factor them and collect a portion of the cash.

The lender will pay you the value of the invoices, less a premium, and then collect cash on those accounts from the customers directly.  The older the account is, the higher the premium is because there is a greater risk they will not collect. Therefore, if most of your accounts are 60 days or less, you may want to increase collection efforts on your own first and see what you can get.

Credit Cards

Most everyone knows how credit cards function.  They are revolving credit, just like a line of credit.  The difference is generally a higher interest rate, and sometimes there is an annual fee.  One point that team credit card gets, though, is that some of them offer rewards such as cash back or airline miles.

how to get a new small business loan Credit Suite2

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a way to raise money for your business through investors.  These are not your standard investors though.  You choose a platform, like Kickstarter or Indiegogo, and create a campaign for your business.  Platform users can then choose campaigns they wish to contribute to.  Contributions range from $5 to $5,000 or even more. This is completely free money that you do not have to pay back, though you may need to offer an incentive or profit sharing of some sort to your investors.

Angel investors

These are investors, but they often function differently that regular investors as well.  There are angel investment firms, where you can present a pitch and see what happens, but also a friend or family member can be an angel investor.

Grants

Grants for small business are just like grants for school.  They are free money that you do not have to pay back.  Sometimes they come in the form of an award for some type of contest. Competition can be fierce when it comes to grant funds.  There is only so much money to go around and everyone wants it.

Grant funds are also often reserved for specific types of businesses based on who the owner is or the mission of the business.  For example, a grant may be specifically for businesses that are environmentally minded, or for those businesses run by veterans, minorities, or women.

Which Funding Option is Best?

If you were wondering how to get a new small business loan, you may not be wondering if crowdfunding is better.  Upon first glance it can appear that this is the case. Free money is always best. And if all you have to do is convince people to give, that’s even better, right? Crowdfunding offers seemingly unlimited free funds.  You can collect whatever the people will give.  In theory, this is true.  If you look just a little deeper however, below the surface, there are some details that may surprise you.

First, you need to know that all crowdfunding platforms are different. The rules for how long a campaign can run and when you can collect your money vary from platform to platform.  For example, Kickstarter will not allow you to collect your money until your reach your goal.  If you do not reach your goal, you do not get any money.  Indiegogo, on the other hand, allows you to choose if you collect as you go, or after you meet your goal.

The problem then becomes predictability.  If you have time to sit back and leisurely raise money, this may work.  Still, most people who need business funding need it like, yesterday.  Waiting around for a campaign to reach its goal, or even collecting small amounts here and there will probably not cut it.

Another issue is the incentive that is often required.  While incentives can range from a free product or some bauble like a keychain or even a thank you note, the most successful ones are substantial.  More than one business has found itself in trouble trying to make good on crowdfund campaign promises.

What You Need to Know

Loans are truly a better option for most, so you do need to know how to get a new small business loan when the time comes.  They are  predictable and, while you do have to repay with interest, you have some control over the terms and rates.

Not only that, but those payments can help you build credit.  That, in turn, will allow you to get better terms and rates, as well as potentially more money in the future. In addition, an institution where you already have a loan will be more likely to approve you for additional loans, assuming you consistently pay on time.  Running a second crowdfunding campaign may not be as fruitful, even if you have success with the first one.

How to Get a New Small Business Loan

The process of getting business loans can be overwhelming.  We break it down for you so you can get the funds you need to start or grow your business as soon as possible.

Shop Around

The first step when considering how to get a new small business loan is to shop around.  Find a lender that has the loan product that best fits your needs.  Find the loans with the best terms and interest rates, then check their eligibility requirements to see if you apply.  There are a few different types of lenders you can choose from.

  • Large banks
  • Smaller community banks
  • Credit Unions
  • Online Lenders

Which one you choose will depend on a number of factors.  Large banks do not typically work well with small businesses. But that does not mean you shouldn’t see what they have to offer.  In general, small banks and credit unions will have the best terms and rates, in that order, but the process can still be lengthy.

Demolish your funding problems with our rock-solid guide about 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

If credit or timing is an issue, online lenders may be the best bet. While their interest rates are not typically as low, they are often more flexible on minimum credit score than traditional lenders.  The option with most to do the entire application online means you can get your funds quicker as well.  In some cases you can get funds in as little as a few days with approval in as little as 24 hours.

The Small Business Administration

It is impossible to figure out how to get a new small business loan without a discussion about The Small Business Administration, or SBA.  This is a government agency that offers support and resources to small businesses.  Though they do not directly lend funds, they do work with local lenders to help small businesses get the money they need.

When you are looking at how to get a new business loan, you definitely need to consider researching lenders that work with the SBA.  While not all small businesses will benefit from an SBA program, many will.  Their programs are meant to make it easier for businesses that may not qualify for loans on their own to get the funds they need.

Pay Attention to SBA Loan Programs

You can’t figure out how to get a new small business loan without knowing what programs the SBA offers.  There are those meant specifically for working capital, as well as those designed more for equipment and real estate purchases. Following is a breakdown of a few of the most popular SBA loan options.

7(a) Loans

This is the Small Business Administration’s main loan program. It offers federally funded term loans up to $5 million. The funds can be used for a number of things including:  expansion, purchasing equipment, working capital and more. Banks, credit unions, and other specialized institutions in partnership with the SBA process these loans and disburse the funds.

There is a minimum credit score requirement of 680 to qualify.  In addition, they also require a down payment of at least 10% for the purchase of a business, commercial real estate, or equipment. A business must have been in operation for 2 years to qualify. In the case of startups, business experience equivalent to two years will work.

This is the most popular of the SBA loan programs. Funds are available for a broad spectrum of projects, from working capital to refinancing debt, and even buying a new business or real estate.

504 Loans

504 loans are available for up to $5 million.  Funds from these loans can buy machinery, facilities, or land. They are generally used for expansion, and private sector lenders or nonprofits process them. 504 loans work especially well for commercial real estate purchases.

Terms range from 10 to 20 years, and funding can take from 30 to 90 days. The minimum credit score is 680, and collateral is the asset the funds are financing. There is also a down payment requirement of 10%, which can increase to 15% for a new business.

This loan requires you to be in business for at least 2 years, the same as the 7(a) program, or management has to have equivalent experience if the business is a startup.

Microloans

Microloans are available in amounts up to $50,000. They are best for starting business purchases such as equipment, inventory, or just general working capital. Community based non-profits administer microloan programs as intermediaries, with financing coming directly from the Small Business Administration.

Interest rates on these loans are 7.75% to 8% over the lender’s cost to fund.  Terms go out to 6 years. They can take 90 days or more to fund. The minimum credit score is 640, and the collateral and down payment requirements vary by lender.

SBA disaster loans

Available in amounts up to $2 million, these loans are actually processed directly through the SBA. They are available to small-business owners that have been affected by natural disasters.  Terms go up to 30 years. The maximum interest rate is 4%. You can apply for disaster loans directly at SBA.gov.

Demolish your funding problems with our rock-solid guide about 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

The minimum credit score for disaster loans is 660. Collateral is necessary if the loan goes over a certain amount, usually $25,000.  If collateral is not available at the time, then it is can wait until it becomes available. For a military economic injury disaster, the amount at which collateral is necessary increases to $50,000. A down payment is not a requirement either way.

SBA Express loans

Express loans from the SBA max out at $350,000.  Interest rates are capped at 11.50%. Terms range from 5 to 25 years.  The SBA guarantee is less than with their other loan programs at 50%. You must have a credit score of at least 680 to qualify.  If your debt-to-service ratio is less than 1:1, you will not be eligible. Depending on the lender, there may be a collateral requirement for loans over $25,000.

They are not called express loans for nothing.  The turnaround time is substantially faster than others, with the SBA taking up to 36 hours to give a decision. There is less paperwork with the application process as well, making express loans a great option for working capital, among other things, if you qualify.

SBA CAPLine

There are 4 different CAPLine programs that vary mostly in the expenses they can fund. Each allows a maximum amount of $5 million and an interest rate that ranges from 7% to 10%. It can take 45 to 90 days to get funding.

The four different programs are:

  • Seasonal CAPLines – Financing for businesses preparing for a seasonal increase in sales.
  • Contract CAPLines – Financing for business that need funding to fill a contract.
  • Builder’s CAPLines – Financing for businesses taking on a real estate or construction project.
  • Working capital CAPLines – Financing for businesses that are struggling with a short-term slump in sales.

You must have at least a 680      credit score to apply. But there is no minimum time in business requirement unless you are getting a seasonal CAPLine, which carries a one year in business requirement.

SBA Community Advantage Loans

This is a pilot program set to either expire or extend in 2020. It’s designed to promote economic growth in underserved markets. Credit decision makers overlook factors such as poor credit or low revenue if the business has the potential to stimulate the economy or create jobs in underserved areas.

Loan amounts range from $50,000 to $250,000 with a maximum interest rate of 11%, while terms range up to 25 years.

How to Get a New Small Business Loan with Other Programs

The SBA also offers these additional programs that may be helpful.

  • Veterans Advantage– General-use business loans with no guarantee fee for majority veteran-owned small businesses.
  • International Trade– General-use financing for businesses actively involved in international trade or hurt by competition from imports.
  • Export Working Capital Program– Short-term working capital for exporters backed by invoices or other business assets.

How to Get a New Small Business Loan: Be Prepared

After you choose which loan or loan program will work best for your business, it’s time to dig in.  Unless you are using an online lender where the entire application process takes place online, you are likely going to spend a significant amount of time on this process.

Regardless of the lender, preparation is key to time savings and success.  While all lenders are different, some information is pretty standard across the board. You almost always need to have ready information related to:

  • Past 3 years tax returns (business and personal)
  • Business financial statements for the past 3 years, or 3 years’ of projections for startups.
  • A professional business plan.
  • A budget for the loan funds.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, but having these things ready to go will save you significant time during the application process.

Keys to How to Get a New Small Business Loan: Shop Around

There is no doubt that, for many reasons, a business loan works better than crowdfunding in almost every case.  It is both more reliable and more predictable.  Very few crowdfunding campaigns work out, while there are lenders with loan products for almost every situation.

Rather than creating elaborate crowdfunding campaigns, spend your time researching lenders and loan programs that best fit your needs.  Once you find what you are looking for, gather the information you know they will need, and be prepared to provide anything else they may ask for.  This is a great place to start when trying to figure out how to get a new small business loan.

The post How to Get a New Small Business Loan  and Why It’s Better Than Crowdfunding    appeared first on Credit Suite.

Are There More Than 3 Business Credit Reporting Agencies?

There Are More than 3 Business Credit Reporting Agencies, but it All Comes Back to the Big Three

When most people think of business credit reporting agencies, they think if Dun & Bradstreet.  It’s true, the Dun & Bradstreet PAYDEX is one of the scores most commonly used by lenders.  In addition to D&B however, there is Experian and Equifax that are fairly commonly used.

Those aren’t the only three however.  The FICO SBSS score is gaining popularity in the business credit world as an option for business credit scoring.  There are actually a lot more business credit reporting agencies than that, but the one most commonly used outside of the big three of D & B, Experian, and Equifax, is the FICO SBSS.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Dun & Bradstreet is the Biggest of the Business Credit Reporting Agencies

There are six different Dun & Bradstreet reporting options, all measuring different areas of credit worthiness.   The most commonly used and simplest to understand is the PAYDEX.   Generally speaking, this is the most like the consumer FICO score.  It measures the speed of payment.  It ranges from 1 to 100.  A 70 or higher is “good.” For example, a score of 100 means that the company makes payments in advance, and a score of 1 indicates that they pay 120 days late, or more.

What Other Scores Does Dun & Bradstreet Offer?

In addition to the PAYDEX, these other reporting options are available                   .

●        Delinquency Predictor Score

The delinquency predictor score measures the likelihood the company will not pay, will be late paying, or will fall into bankruptcy.  The scale is 1 to 5, and a 2 is considered good.

●        Financial Stress Score

The financial stress score is a measurement of the pressure on a company’s balance sheet.  That is, it indicates the likelihood of a shutdown within a year.  It measures on a scale of 1 to 5,  with a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 1.  A business with a score of 2  is in good shape.

●        Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating

This rating ranks the odds of a company making it for the next 12 months.  The minimum score is 9 and the maximum is 1.  A company with a score of 5 is good is doing okay.

●        Credit Limit Recommendation

The credit limit recommendation shows a business’s borrowing capacity.  It is a dollar amount recommendation for how much debt a company can handle. Typically, it is used by creditors to determine how much credit to extend.

●        D&B Credit Rating

The credit rating is an estimation of overall business risk on a scale of 4 to 1.  A two is good.  It’s important to note, the rating is given in conjunction with letters.  The combination of the letters and numbers relay the company’s net worth.

Even if there isn’t enough information on a business to assign a regular rating, Dun and Bradstreet will assign what they call a Credit Appraisal Score.  Unlike a full credit score, this is based on number of employees. In addition, there is an alternative rating based on what data is actually available.

The letter portion of this rating cannot be assigned as good or bad since net worth is not necessarily an indicator of how stable a business is.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Experian Business Credit Score

Experian offers a number of different scores as well.  Lenders can choose to use any or all of them. Of course, each one tells them something different.  Consequently, it takes all the scores put together to get a complete credit picture from this business credit bureau.  Still, not all lenders look at all the scores that are available.

Intelliscore Plus

The Intelliscore Plus credit score shows credit risk based on statistics.  It is a highly predictive score.  As such, its main purpose is to assist users in making well informed credit decisions.

The Intelliscore scores range from 1 to 100.  The higher your score, the lower your risk class. The opposite is true as well, meaning the lower your score, the higher your risk class.

Score Range Risk Class

76 – 100 Low

51 – 752 Low – Medium

26 – 503 Medium

11 – 254 High – Medium

1 – 105 High

How Does Experian Business Credit Calculate the Intelliscore Plus Score?

One of the things Intelliscore is most known for is the identification of key factors that can indicate how likely a business is to pay their debt.  There are over 800 commercial and owner variables used to calculate an Intelliscore Plus credit score.  Here’s the breakdown:

●        Payment History

This is just your current payment status. It’s how many times accounts have become delinquent.  Additionally, It also shows how many accounts are currently delinquent, as well as your overall trade balance.

●        Frequency

This one shows how many times your accounts have been sent to collections.  It also notes the number of liens and judgments you may have.  Bankruptcies related to your business or personal accounts are included as well.

Frequency can also incorporate information regarding your payment patterns. Were you regularly slow or late with payment? Did you decrease the number of late payments over time? That affects your score.

●        Monetary

This specific factor focuses on how you make use of credit. For example, how much of your available credit are you using right now? Do you have a high ratio of late balances when compared with your credit limits?

Of course, if you are a new business owner, a lot of this information will not exist yet. Intelliscore Plus handles this by using a “blended model” to identify your score. That means that they take your personal consumer credit score into account when determining your business’s credit score.

The Experian Financial Stability Risk Score (FSR)

FSR predicts the potential of a business going bankrupt or not paying its debts.  The score identifies the highest risk businesses by making use of payment and public records. These records include all of the following and more.

  • high use of credit lines
  • severely late payments
  • tax liens
  • judgments
  • collection accounts
  • risk industries
  • length of time in business

business CRAs Credit Suite2

Experian’s Blended Score

This is a one-page report that provides a summary of the business and its owner.  A combined business-owner credit scoring model is more comprehensive than a business or consumer only model.  Blended scores have been found to outperform consumer or business alone by 10 – 20%.

Equifax is Another One of the Bigger Business Credit Reporting Agencies

Equifax shows three distinct business determinations on its business credit reports. These are the Equifax payment index, your business’s credit risk score, and its business failure score.

Similar to the PAYDEX score, Equifax’s payment index, which is a measurement on a scale of 100, shows how many of your small business’s payments were made on time. These include both data from creditors and vendors.

Equifax Credit Risk Score

Equifax’s credit risk score checks how likely it is that your company will become severely delinquent on payments. Scores range from 101 to 992, and they evaluate:

  • Available credit limit on revolving credit accounts, which includes credit cards
  • Your company’s size
  • Proof of any non-financial transactions (such as merchant invoices) which are late or were charged off for two or more billing cycles
  • Length of time since the opening of the earliest financial account

Equifax Business Failure Score

Lastly, Equifax’s business failure score takes a look at the risk of your business shutting down. It runs from 1,000 to 1,600. And it judges these factors:

  • Total balance to total current credit limit average utilization in the past three months
  • The amount of time since the opening of the oldest financial account
  • Your small business’s worst payment status on all trades in the last 24 months
  • Documentation of any non-financial transactions (such as merchant invoices) which are late or are on a charge off for two or more billing cycles

For the credit risk and the business failure scores, a rating of 0 means bankruptcy.

Equifax Scores

A good Equifax score for your business is as follows:

  • Payment Index 0 to 10
  • Credit Risk score 892 to 992
  • Business Failure score 1400 to 1600

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

FICO SBSS

The FICO SBSS, or FICO Liquid Credit Small Business Scoring Service, is the business version of your personal FICO credit score. It was becoming more and more common for lenders to use this score, rather than the Experian or even the D&B Paydex business credit score.

Unlike your personal FICO, the SBSS reports on a scale of 0 to 300. Of course, the higher the better.  However, most lenders require a score of at least 160.

There are few reasons lenders favor this score.  First, FICO uses business credit information from Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax in their business credit score calculation.  Second,they also take into account personal credit score.  Lastly, they consider the lenders preferences for which factors are most important.

Why Rely on Other Credit Reporting Agencies, and How Do Lender Preferences Affect Your Score?

This is a huge difference from other business credit scoring models. The SBSS uses your business credit score from other business credit reporting agencies.  They also use your personal credit score and other financial information such as business assets and revenue. The big change however, is they let the lender decide how much each factor actually affects the score. It is a total global financial picture rolled into one score, and the lender gets to choose which factors have the most impact.

This means you almost always go  into a lender totally blind as to what your FICO SBSS credit score may be. Here is how it works.

How Lenders Get Your FICO SBSS Business Credit Score

  1. You turn in your application and all necessary financial documentation to the lender.

 

  1. The lender processes this information and sends it to FICO with a request for your SBSS score.

 

2.5. This is where it gets interesting. The lender can weight certain factors that make up your SBSS score. Your score can vary depending on how a lender weights each factor. For example, a lender can put more weight on your personal credit score or your business credit. It is their choice. This means your FICO SBSS can change from lender to lender even if you haven’t done anything to change it.

 

  1. FICO then searches business credit information from business credit agencies including D&B, Experian, and Equifax. Since these business credit reporting agencies have already scored the business side of things, the FICO SBSS just used the data from them for that piece of their calculation. If they cannot pull enough scoring information from one, they move on to the next. If there is not enough information from any of them, then it uses personal credit and business financials only.

 

  1. Using the lender’s weighting preferences, personal credit, business credit, and business financial data the system calculates the FICO SBSS score.

 

  1. You get either approval or denial based on your score.

SBA Credit Scoring

In 2012 the SBA began using credit scoring in the loan approval process. Since 2014, they have used it on all loans up to $350,000, not including the SBA Express and Export Express.

They use the FICO SBSS out of all the business credit reporting agencies for their scoring needs.  This is likely because by doing so, they get information from the other major business credit reporting agencies plus some.

The information they receive from FICO SBSS helps them to expedite credit decisions. In fact, overall statistics on the $60 billion-plus portfolio at the Small Business Administration show that those businesses with scores at or above the 140 cut-off have had very good payment history.

While the minimum required credit score is 140, the SBA usually will not approve applications until the borrower’s score is 160 or higher.  Some lenders would rather see even higher scores.  An ideal minimum is 180.

There Are More Than Three Business Credit Reporting Agencies

The truth is, there are definitely more than three business credit reporting agencies. The FICO SBSS is just one that many do not know about.  However, like many of the other business credit reporting agencies, they use information from the big three, D&B, Experian, and Equifax, in their calculations.   What does this mean for your business?  Pretty much regardless of which of the business credit reporting agencies your lender uses, the big three are likely still going to impact your score in some way. Also, it means you cannot ignore your personal credit score.  It can make a difference on your ability to get funding even when using your business credit.

 

The post Are There More Than 3 Business Credit Reporting Agencies? appeared first on Credit Suite.

Mark Hulbert: What the S&P 500’s dividend yield being higher than the 30-year Treasury yield really means

Bearish sign for bonds is showing up for the first time in decades, writes Mark Hulbert.

The post Mark Hulbert: What the S&P 500’s dividend yield being higher than the 30-year Treasury yield really means appeared first on WE TEACH MONEY LIFE SELF DEFENSE WITH FINANCIAL GOALS IN MIND.

The post Mark Hulbert: What the S&P 500’s dividend yield being higher than the 30-year Treasury yield really means appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Advanced Hack: How to Improve Your SEO in Less Than 30 Minutes

I’ve been testing a new SEO hack and it works no matter how old or how new your site is.

Heck, you can have barely any links, and I’ve found it to work as well.

Best of all, unlike most SEO changes, it doesn’t take months or years to see results from this… you can literally see results in less than 30 minutes.

And here’s what’s crazy: I had my team crawl 10,000 sites to see how many people are leveraging this SEO technique and it was only 17.

In other words, your competition doesn’t know about this yet!

So what is this hack that I speak of?

Google’s ever-changing search results

Not only is Google changing its algorithm on a regular basis, but they also test out new design elements.

For example, if you search for “food near me”, you’ll not only see a list of restaurants but you also see their ratings.

food near me

And if you look up a person, Google may show you a picture of that person and a quick overview.

elon musk

Over the years, Google has adapted its search results to give you the best experience. For example, if you search “2+2” Google will show you the answer of “4” so you don’t have to click through and head over to a webpage.

2 plus 2

But you already know this.

Now, what’s new that no one is really using are FAQ-rich results and Answer Cards.

Here’s what I mean… if you search “digital marketing” you’ll see that I rank on Google. But my listing doesn’t look like most people’s…

digital marketing

As you can see from the image above, Google has pulled FAQ rich results from my site.

And best of all, I was able to pull it off in less than 30 minutes. That’s how quickly Google picked it up and adjusted their SERP listing.

Literally all within 30 minutes.

And you can do the same thing through Answer Cards anytime you have pages related to question and answers.

qa example

So how can you do this?

Picking the right markup

Before we get this going with your site, you have to pick the right schema markup.

FAQpage schema is used when you offer a Frequently Asked Question page or have a product page that contains frequently asked questions about the product itself. This will let you be eligible for a collapsible menu under your SERP with the question, that when clicked on, reveals the answer.

faq rich result

It can also let you be eligible for FAQ Action that is shown on Google Assistant. This can potentially help get you noticed by people using voice search to find out an answer!

faq action

Q&A schema is used when people are contributing different types of answers and can vote for which answer they think is the best. This will provide the rich result cads under your SERP and shows all the answers, with the top answer highlighted.

qa rich result

After making sure you understand what these are used for, Google also has additional guidelines on when you can and can’t use these schema’s for:

Google’s guidelines

Google has a list of FAQpage schema guidelines.

Only use FAQPage if your page has a list of questions with answers. If your page has a single question and users can submit alternative answers, use QAPage instead. Here are some examples:

Valid use cases:

  • An FAQ page was written by the site itself with no way for users to submit alternative answers
  • A product support page that lists FAQs with no way for users to submit alternative answers 

Invalid use cases:

  • A forum page where users can submit answers to a single question
  • A product support page where users can submit answers to a single question
  • A product page where users can submit multiple questions and answers on a single page
  • Don’t use FAQPagefor advertising purposes
  • Make sure each Question includes the entire text of the question and make sure each answer includes the entire text of the answer. The entire question text and answer text may be displayed.
  • Question and answer content may not be displayed as a rich result if it contains any of the following types of content: obscene, profane, sexually explicit, graphically violent, promotion of dangerous or illegal activities, or hateful or harassing language.
  • All FAQcontent must be visible to the user on the source page.

And here are the guidelines for Q&A schema:

Only use the QAPage markup if your page has information in a question and answer format, which is one question followed by its answers.

Users must be able to submit answers to the question. Don’t use QAPage markup for content that has only one answer for a given question with no way for users to add alternative answers; instead, use FAQPage. Here are some examples:

Valid use cases:

  • A forum page where users can submit answers to a single question
  • A product support page where users can submit answers to a single question 

Invalid use cases:

  • An FAQ page was written by the site itself with no way for users to submit alternative answers
  • A product page where users can submit multiple questions and answers on a single page
  • A how-to guide that answers a question
  • A blog post that answers a question
  • An essay that answers a question
  • Don’t apply QAPagemarkup to all pages on a site or forum if not all the content is eligible. For example, a forum may have lots of questions posted, which are individually eligible for the markup. However, if the forum also has pages that are not questions, those pages are not eligible.
  • Don’t use QAPagemarkup for FAQ pages or pages where there are multiple questions per page. QAPagemarkup is for pages where the focus of the page is a single question and its answers.
  • Don’t use QAPagemarkup for advertising purposes.
  • Make sure each Questionincludes the entire text of the question and make sure each Answer includes the entire text of the answer.
  • Answermarkup is for answers to the question, not for comments on the question or comments on other answers. Don’t mark up non-answer comments as an answer.
  • Question and answer content may not be displayed as a rich result if it contains any of the following types of content: obscene, profane, sexually explicit, graphically violent, promotion of dangerous or illegal activities, or hateful or harassing language.

If your content meets these guidelines, the next step is to figure out how to implement the schema onto your website and which type to use.

How do I implement Schema and which to use? 

There are two ways to implement it… either through JSON-LD or Microdata.

I recommend choosing one style and sticking to it throughout your webpage, and I also recommend not using both types on the same page.

JSON-LD is what Google recommends wherever possible and Google has been in the process of adding support for markup-powered features. JSON-LD can be implemented into the header of your content and can take very little time to implement.

The other option is Microdata, which involves coding elements into your website. This can be a challenging process for some odd reason, I prefer it. Below are examples of how each work.

FAQpage Schema JSON-LD:

<html>

<head>

<title>Digital Marketing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) – Neil Patel</title>

</head>

<body>

<script type=”application/ld+json”>

{

“@context”: “https://schema.org”,

“@type”: “FAQPage”,

“mainEntity”: [

{

“@type”: “Question”,

“name”: “What is digital marketing?”,

“acceptedAnswer”: {

“@type”: “Answer”,

“text”:”Digital marketing is any form of marketing products or services that involves electronic device”}

}]

}

</script>

</body>

</html>

FAQpage Schema Microdata:

<html itemscope itemtype=”https://schema.org/FAQPage”>

<head>

<title>Digital Marketing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) – Neil Patel</title>

</head>

<body>

<div itemscope itemprop=”mainEntity” itemtype=”https://schema.org/Question”>

<h3 itemprop=”name”>What is digital marketing?</h3>

<div itemscope itemprop=”acceptedAnswer” itemtype=”https://schema.org/Answer”>

<div itemprop=”text”>

<p>Digital marketing is any form of marketing products or services that involves electronic device.</p>

</div>

</div>

</div>

</body>

</html>

Q&A Schema JSON-LD:

{

“@context”: “https://schema.org”,

“@type”: “QAPage”,

“mainEntity”: {

“@type”: “Question”,

“name”: “Can I tie my shoe with one hand?”,

“text”: “I currently have taken a hobby to do many actions with one hand and I’m currently stuck on how to tie a shoe with one hand. Is it possible to tie my shoe with one hand?”,

“answerCount”: 2,

“upvoteCount”: 20,

“dateCreated”: “2019-07-23T21:11Z”,

“author”: {

“@type”: “Person”,

“name”: “Expert at Shoes”

},

“acceptedAnswer”: {

“@type”: “Answer”,

“text”: “It is possible to tie your shoe with one hand by using your teeth to hold the other lace”,

“dateCreated”: “2019-11-02T21:11Z”,

“upvoteCount”: 9000,

“url”: “https://example.com/question1#acceptedAnswer”,

“author”: {

“@type”: “Person”,

“name”: “AnotherShoeMan”

}

},

“suggestedAnswer”: [

{

“@type”: “Answer”,

“text”: “It is not possible to tie your shoe with one hand”,

“dateCreated”: “2019-11-02T21:11Z”,

“upvoteCount”: 2,

“url”: “https://example.com/question1#suggestedAnswer1”,

“author”: {

“@type”: “Person”,

“name”: “Best Shoe Man”

}

}

]

}

}

Q&A Schema Microdata:

<div itemprop=”mainEntity” itemscope itemtype=”https://schema.org/Question”>

<h2 itemprop=”name”>Can I tie my shoe with one hand?</h2>

<div itemprop=”upvoteCount”>20</div>

<div itemprop=”text”>I currently have taken a hobby to do many actions with one hand and I’m currently stuck on how to tie a shoe with one hand. Is it possible to tie my shoe with one hand?</div>

<div>asked <time itemprop=”dateCreated” datetime=”2019-07-23T21:11Z”>July 23’19 at 21:11</time></div>

<div itemprop=”author” itemscope itemtype=”https://schema.org/Person”><span

itemprop=”name”>Expert at Shoes</span></div>

<div>

<div><span itemprop=”answerCount”>2</span> answers</div>

<div><span itemprop=”upvoteCount”>20</span> votes</div>

<div itemprop=”acceptedAnswer” itemscope itemtype=”https://schema.org/Answer”>

<div itemprop=”upvoteCount”>9000</div>

<div itemprop=”text”>

It is possible to tie your shoe with one hand by using your teeth to hold the other lace.

</div>

<a itemprop=”url” href=”https://example.com/question1#acceptedAnswer”>Answer Link</a>

<div>answered <time itemprop=”dateCreated” datetime=”2019-11-02T22:01Z”>Nov 2 ’19 at 22:01</time></div>

<div itemprop=”author” itemscope itemtype=”https://schema.org/Person”><span itemprop=”name”>AnotherShoeMan</span></div>

</div>

<div itemprop=”suggestedAnswer” itemscope itemtype=”https://schema.org/Answer”>

<div itemprop=”upvoteCount”>2</div>

<div itemprop=”text”>

It is not possible to tie your shoe with one hand

</div>

<a itemprop=”url” href=”https://example.com/question1#suggestedAnswer1″>Answer Link</a>

<div>answered <time itemprop=”dateCreated”datetime=”2019-11-02T21:11Z”>Nov 2 ’19 at 21:11</time></div>

<div itemprop=”author” itemscope itemtype=”https://schema.org/Person”><span

itemprop=”name”>Best Shoe Man</span></div>

</div>

</div>

</div>

When you are implementing it on your website, feel free and just use the templates above and modify them with your content.

If you are unsure if your code is correctly implemented or not, use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool and you can add your code snippet or the page that you implemented the schema on and it will tell you if you did it right or wrong.

Plus it will give you feedback on if there are any errors or issues with your code.

google structure data testing

You can also try Google’s Rich Result Tester. This will give you a brief look at how your structured data will look like in the results!

google rich snippet

Getting results in under 30 minutes

Once you make the changes to any page that you think is a good fit, you’ll want to log into Google Search Console and enter the URL of the page you modified in the top search bar.

add url

You’ll then want to have Google crawl that page so they can index the results. All you have to do is click “request indexing”.

request indexing

And typically within 10 minutes, you’ll notice it kick in and when you perform a Google search you’ll see your updated listing.

Now the key to making this work is to do this with pages and terms that already rank on page 1. That’s where I’ve seen the biggest improvement.

Will Schema get me to rank for People Also Ask and Featured Snippets?

Will this help with People Also Ask and Featured Snippets? So far, there has been no correlation between schema markup and People Also Ask or Featured Snippets and you do not need them to be featured in them.

Optimizing your content for this will not hurt you though and can potentially improve your chances to be on here.

Google has been testing out how they can show these types of Q&A, FAQ, and How-To results and looking at structured data to help understand them.

It’s better to be early to the game and help Google understand your pages, as well as possibly participating in any of Google’s experiments.

snippet

Will this get me on voice search?

With more and more people using mobile devices to find answers to questions, this is a very relevant question!

Especially considering that over half of the searches on Google will be from voice search in the near future.

Answers from voice search get most of their answers from featured snippets.

And adding structured data on your website increases the chances of getting you into featured snippets, which increases the chance of you getting featured on voice search.

Conclusion

This simple hack can potentially increase the visibility of your brand and help improve the authority of your website. It’s a simple solution that can take a single day to implement across your main question, product, or FAQ page.

I’ve been using it heavily for the last week or so and as long as I pick keywords that I already rank on page 1 for, I am seeing great results.

And as I mentioned above, when my team analyzed 10,000 sites we only found 17 to be using FAQ and QA schema. In other words, less than 1% of the sites are using this, which means you if you take advantage now, you’ll have the leg up on your competition.

So what do you think about this tactic? Are you going to use it?

The post Advanced Hack: How to Improve Your SEO in Less Than 30 Minutes appeared first on Neil Patel.

Why Insight and also Flexibility is More Important than Perseverance in Marketing

Why Insight and also Flexibility is More Important than Perseverance in Marketing Advertising efficiently calls for not just understanding right into just how a product and services can be effectively marketed however additionally adaptability right into the advertising of a service or product. This is just one of the advertising and marketing concepts that does … Continue reading Why Insight and also Flexibility is More Important than Perseverance in Marketing

Is Running Your Business Harder Than It Has to Be?

Editor’s note: MFA is pleased to share this article from guest author, Lisa Sasevich.

People often ask me how I manage to have it all.

How do I have time for my “passion projects,” such as: putting together a collaborative book to support my clients in gaining best-seller status; taking groups to Africa and Cambodia on service trips to commune with people and organizations we’ve been financially supporting; and vacationing in Spain with my honey, followed by a week in Florida, playing with my kids.

How have I had time for family, service, fun, and adventure all while running a business that’s done $30 million in sales?

The answer is structure.

In fact I have found that avoiding structure creates difficulties in your business.

Think about it. It’s already challenging enough to go out on your own and run your own business versus just earning a paycheck.

But then most entrepreneurs compound that difficulty with the choices they make, or don’t make, about how to structure their business activities.

Have you cracked the “secret code” A-Player marketers use to increase webinar attendance and conversions?

We will show you how to SKYROCKET attendance to any live or evergreen webinar.

Click here to get it!

To find out if running your business is more difficult than it has to be, ask yourself these five questions:

1. When you have the opportunity to share your expertise on the stage or virtually in a teleseminar or webinar, do you create a new presentation every time?

2. Are you constantly developing new products and programs so you feel as though you have something new and important to offer?

3. Do you try to hold on to the few clients you have by creating upsells for them that are not in your zone of genius? (While at the same time, depriving yourself of lucrative joint venture opportunities?)

4. Are you trying to manage more than three key lead-generation strategies to attract new clients?

5. When you have the opportunity to speak with a potential client one-on-one, maybe someone who inquired about your work or was referred, are you winging it, and, far too often, ending up in a free coaching session that leads nowhere?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you may, indeed, be making running your business harder than it has to be.

Fortunately, it’s not difficult to turn the tide.

As I said, the secret to taking the complexity out of your business and stop reinventing the wheel is to have one simple thing…

STRUCTURE.

For example:

One Signature Talk that you tweak when necessary.

One core Irresistible Offer™ that leads to…

One signature program or product that you’re known for.

Lisa Sasevich 2016-04

Then all of your outreach efforts can be focused toward making that one offer in as many places, and to as many people, as you can, via your focused lead-generation activities.

This is illustrated in the above graphic, where your one Irresistible Offer is the heart of your business, and all of your speaking, online promos, and one-on-one high-ticket conversations lead to that offer.

This focused simplicity is the key to really being able to gain momentum and get known for your expertise, while you leverage your time, make great money and help a lot more people.

I’m not saying, don’t innovate or develop your work. You definitely want to do that. But rather than scattering your attention and focus, first create a signature product that you’re known for and build a solid tribe around that.

And then as you grow in your work, and your business and offers expand, so will the loyal group who follows you wherever you go.

Honored with the Distinguished Mentor Award from the Business Expert Forum at the Harvard Faculty Club, recipient of the coveted eWomen Network Foundation Champion award for her generous fundraising, and ranked on the prestigious Inc. 500/5000 list of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies for two years in a row, Lisa Sasevich “The Queen of Sales Conversion” teaches experts who are making a difference how to get their message out and enjoy massive results, without being salesy.

To receive her monthly Sales Nuggets and FREE Sales Training sign up today at www.FreeSalesTrainingFromLisa.com.

The post Is Running Your Business Harder Than It Has to Be? appeared first on Marketing Funnel Automation.

How to Perform a Thorough SEO Audit in Less Than 3 Minutes

They say there are over 200 ranking factors in Google’s algorithm.

But are you going to take the time to optimize your site for each and every single one of them?

Well, you should… but you probably won’t.

See, SEO has changed… it used to be that you could do a handful of things and rank well. Sadly, those days are gone.

Now you have to do every little thing and do it well to dominate Google.

So, I decided to make your job easier and release yet another new feature in Ubersuggest that audits your website for you in less than 3 minutes.

It’s called SEO Analyzer.

Introducing SEO Analyzer

If you want to find out what’s wrong with your website, you won’t have to do it manually anymore.

All you have to do is head over to the SEO Analyzer and put in your URL.

seo analyzer

How SEO Analyzer works

Once you put in your URL, you’ll be taken to a report that looks something like this:

seo analyzer

Once the report loads (it typically takes 3 minutes or less), you’ll see an overview like the image above.

The overview is broken down into 3 main sections.

Overview

overview

The first section shows you your on-page SEO score (the higher the better), your estimated search traffic, the number of keywords the domain ranks for, and how many backlinks the site has.

You’ll also see a message from me that breaks down how many pages were crawled and any SEO errors that were found.

When you click on any of those 4 boxes, it will take you to a more in-depth report.

Clicking on the on-page score takes you to a page that lists out your SEO errors. It looks something like this:

seo issues

Clicking on the organic traffic takes you to a report that shows you how well your site is performing.

traffic analyzer

Clicking on the keywords box shows you all of the keywords your website ranks for organically.

keywords

And clicking on the backlinks box shows you all of the sites linking to that domain.

backlinks

Site health

This is my favorite section of the site audit report. This is where you can really dig around and boost your rankings

site health

You can click on any of the four site health boxes and drill down into more reports.

This is important because you’ll want to first focus on clearing up any critical errors. From there, you’ll want to fix any warnings and then, finally, consider doing any of the given recommendations.

The health check box gives you an overview of the healthy pages and the ones that have issues or are broken or blocked or even redirected. By clicking on this box you’ll get taken to a report that lists all your SEO issues in detail.

seo issues

From there you can click on any of those issues and you’ll be taken to the exact pages that contain any SEO errors and what they are exactly. An example of this is pages with too long of a title tag.

long titles

If you aren’t sure on how to fix any of the issues, just click on “what is this and how do I fix it?” and a box like this will appear:

how to fix

And if you click on the critical errors, warnings or recommendations boxes, you’ll see reports just like the ones above. They will be broken down by how important they are.

hard easy

That way you’ll know which fixes have the greatest SEO impact and how hard they are to implement.

You should first focus on the ones that have the highest SEO impact and are the easiest to implement. And I took the liberty to prioritize the table for you, so all you have to do is start at the top and work your way down to the bottom.

Site speed

Speed is important. Not only do faster load times help boost conversion rates, but they also help boost your search rankings.

site speed

There are two sections to the site speed. The section on the left breaks down your desktop load time and the section on the right breaks down your mobile load time.

Site speed varies drastically by a person’s connection and computer, but the charts give you a rough range of how fast or slow your site loads.

Your goal should be to have your site load in 3 seconds or less for both mobile and desktop.

The report even breaks down which areas are slowing down your site speed.

For example, you could have an issue with “First CPU Idle”… and if you aren’t sure what that means, just hover over the question mark and the tool will tell you.

tool tip

Top SEO Issues

I know I said the report has 3 main sections, but the 4th section is just repeating the site health section.

top seo issues

You’ll see the 3 most important fixes that you should make to your site if you want higher rankings.

If you don’t have the time to fix everything, start off by fixing the 3 issues listed here. Those will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

Conclusion

So, what do you think about the SEO Analyzer report? Do you think it was a good addition to Ubersuggest?

I know I haven’t talked about the SEO Analyzer report much, but we’ve been working on it for 4 months now.

For now, the tool crawls the first 100 pages on your website, and eventually, our goal is to increase the limit to 500 or even 1,000. Technically we can do that fairly easily, but for the launch, I’ve capped it at 100 due to the sheer number of users I have and server load.

Give the SEO Analyzer a try and let me know what you think.

The post How to Perform a Thorough SEO Audit in Less Than 3 Minutes appeared first on Neil Patel.