According to Buffer, almost 75% of marketers believe that their social media marketing efforts have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business. Hubspot spoke about this back in 2013. They found that they …
The post How To Generate Leads From Social Media appeared first on Paper.li blog.
Keeping your audience engaged with your content is a full-time job in itself. You must constantly evaluate your current content’s engagement metrics while also anticipating the needs of your growing audience.
With this in mind, new and updated content is crucial to any successful digital marketer’s strategy. How can you generate new content without spending more time than you have available? With transcription services.
In this guide, I’ll explain what transcription services are and what they can do for digital marketers. This will include a look at one particular use case—repurposing content—to give you an idea of just how valuable these services can be.
Transcription services are business services that transcribe audio to text. The audio is most often pre-recorded and is then transferred to transcription professionals, who are trained in shorthand. They are able to quickly and accurately transcribe audio from many different sources.
You also have the option of AI-powered transcription tools, such as Otter and Rev. These services combine AI with trained professionals to deliver a top-notch experience.
From podcasts and videos to workshops and live speeches, a transcription service can help you to preserve your audio in text format. This can later be used for reference or, as I’ll outline below, as a way to repurpose your marketing content.
Transcription services are most often used by physicians, scientists, researchers, and other technical professionals. Their spoken notes are transcribed into written notes and reports that can be used for reference or recordkeeping.
When you think of transcription, you may also think of court proceedings and police investigations. These, too, are used for recordkeeping (often public record) and as a way to make the proceedings accessible to all.
However, transcription can offer great benefits to digital marketers, too. One of the most effective ways to use transcription is to repurpose content and create high-value content in multiple formats.
There are plenty of benefits transcription services can provide to digital marketers, and repurposing of content is just one. Here are five ways you can use transcription to expertly repurpose your content.
Whether a new or established digital marketer, I can safely assume you never feel as if you’re hitting your weekly or monthly blog post targets. By transcribing your videos into blog posts, you can get that much closer to reaching your goal.
How many posts should you publish a week? According to HubSpot, the sweet spot can be anywhere from one post to five posts per week.
However, this will depend on the size of your website and what you hope to achieve. For a small website with a goal of maximizing organic traffic, for example, three to four new posts per week is recommended.
Another benefit of turning videos into blog posts is accessibility. While many digital media platforms offer closed captioning, they aren’t always the ideal way to digest content. By turning videos into blog posts, you can ensure all of your traffic has access to your content in multiple ways.
Of course, you should aim to bulk up these blog posts in ways that benefit the readers. These include using visuals (e.g., images, infographics, charts) and adding more in-depth examples.
The transcription should serve as a starting point to creating engaging, valuable blog posts.
You don’t need to forfeit multimedia content entirely! You can “upgrade” your podcast to a video using transcription services. Just add some visuals and you can now share to digital media platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.
The greatest benefit here is the ability to reach a wider audience. While there is certainly crossover between podcast listeners and video watchers, there are some people who stick strictly to one format. By turning your podcast into a video (or vice versa), you open your content up to a whole new audience.
You have a few options here when it comes to adding visuals to your videos. The simplest is using one image (perhaps a solid background with your brand and website URL) throughout the entirety of the video. This isn’t appealing, but it will enable you to add your content to sites like YouTube.
For more appealing visuals, you can also try stock photos, digital imagery, or even b-roll.
How can you ensure the visuals you use are appropriate and appealing to your audience? Search YouTube for similar content keywords to see what types of videos your target audience is currently engaging with. This can ensure you are on the right track, while also giving you ideas on how to improve your content over the current offerings.
Or, you can turn your podcast into a blog post.
For example, Content Marketing Institute’s Joe Pulizzi hosts a podcast, then turns the transcript into a detailed blog post. This allows users who don’t have time to listen to still access their content.
Do you have a video or podcast episode that would make great list-building content? Then consider hiring a transcriptionist to turn that content into text.
List-building content, also known as lead magnets, are a great way to build your email subscription list. It is an offer of free content in exchange for an email address. However, it is not as easy to attract people to your list-building content as it was before everyone had a website. Your content must be truly compelling and high-quality.
There are plenty of lead magnet formats to choose from, including:
Using a unique angle, you can use the above formats to attract a targeted audience. With such an array of content types, it’s likely you have a video or podcast episode that can easily be transformed into one of the above.
There’s bound to be a Tweet-worthy quote or two from your latest podcast episode. Instead of replaying the episode and scrubbing through it, turn the episode into a transcript. This will make it incredibly easy to find social media content to share.
Without the need to scour your audio, you can now spend that time creating attractive visuals using platforms like Canva or Adobe Spark. These services allow you to create the ideal visuals for each social media platform, and they even include templates to get you started.
Do keep in mind the cost of transcription services may increase if your episode includes more than one person. This can take time and skill to navigate. On the other hand, the added benefit of transcribing multi-guest content is that multiple speakers can add refreshing insight to your social media pages, especially if the guest has their own social profile to engage with your audience.
If you want to create a substantive course, then consider combining multiple videos or podcast episodes on a similar topic. The resulting e-course can then be offered as a lead magnet or even a paid course.
With platforms like Kajabi and Thinkific, you can host your online course with ease. How can you ensure the course you create is profitable? The steps to creating a successful online course include:
As a paid course, the content should be of exceptional quality and it should go in-depth. Transcriptions of your previous content will be helpful to create an outline, but you should really dig deep and build out the content as best you can.
Before you employ a transcriptionist, take special care to pick your best audio and video episodes for transcription. These will form the basis of your course, but they’ll of course need to be bulked up with further examples, imagery, and more.
Transcription is invaluable to digital marketers, but perhaps you still have a few questions. Let’s go over them.
The cost to transcribe your content will vary. Consider that transcriptionists have various ways of charging for their work (e.g., per hour, by project) and rates will vary by experience level, location, and more.
Just as with cost, the length of time it takes to transcribe your audio will vary. The industry standard is two to three hours per one hour of audio. However, that assumes the audio quality is clear with little to no background noise.
Even professional transcriptionists rely on software to ensure efficiency and accuracy. With tools like Amberscript and Happy Scribe, you (or your editors) can collaborate with your transcriptionist in real-time. This ensures a seamless transcription experience.
As with most services, you get what you pay for. The same can be said for transcription software tools, as well. The more experienced your transcriptionist (or advanced the software you use), the more accurate the transcriptions are likely to be.
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Your audience craves new and updated content on a regular basis. While this can seem a daunting task, audio transcription services can offer a solution.
With transcription, you can turn your audio content into text. This text can then be repurposed into other forms of content, including blog posts, social media content, and online courses. Transcribed content can help you to satisfy the needs of your growing traffic numbers, while also providing accessible content so as to reach a wider audience.
Depending on the quality of the services you use, you may not even need to spend much time editing the transcription. This will save you immeasurable time while also expanding your reach as a digital marketer.
Which of the above content formats will you transform your audio content into?
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We’re on a mission to make high-quality healthcare available to a billion people across the globe…for free. You’d help rebuild one of the most important yet broken industries from first principles, while working alongside a team of people using their talents to drastically improve the lives of others.
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Healthcare is backwards: https://youtu.be/x_Nu-vg59SU
According to Buffer, almost 75% of marketers believe that their social media marketing efforts have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business. Hubspot spoke about this back in 2013. They found that they … The post How To Generate Leads From Social Media appeared first on Paper.li blog.
We always talk about building business credit, and how a strong business credit score can help you get funding for your business. It can help you fund your business without overloading your personal credit. Also, it can help you reduce your need for a personal guarantee when you need business financing. Yet, there is one huge benefit to strong business credit that is rarely mentioned. That is access to advanced business vendors.
There is a misconception among many business owners that are just starting to understand business credit. It is that a good business credit score can help you get a business loan without a personal guarantee. However, the truth is, pretty much every small business loan from a traditional lender will require a personal guarantee.
That being the case, is it really necessary to build business credit? Wouldn’t it be better to work on personal credit so a lender will accept your personal guarantee? What is business credit good for if not to help you get a business loan?
What frustrates you the most about funding your business? Check out how our free guide can help.
First, it can help you get a business loan. If your personal credit isn’t great and you have good business credit, underwriters will see that as a positive. Also, good business credit can help reduce the reliance of lenders on a personal guarantee, even if it doesn’t go away completely.
But the real benefit of business credit is that it allows you to access advanced business vendors.
These are vendors that offer credit to businesses that have strong business credit, but they may not report your payments. That means they don’t help build your business credit score. Still, they are pivotal to running a thriving business.
Unlocking access to these vendors is a little realized benefit of a strong business credit score. If you have access to credit with advanced vendors you can grow your business in ways you may have never imagined
For example, you can bid on the big project even if you don’t have the cash flow to buy the supplies. You can offer the latest new product despite not having cash flow to keep up with demand. Basically, it opens up a whole new world as far as what you can and cannot do in your business.
It may be hard to wrap your mind around exactly what this looks like in real life. Especially when you are just thinking about credit cards and business loans. Some examples may help.
Suppose a contractor is hired to remodel a kitchen. The supplies are going to cost money, but the client isn’t going to pay until the job is done. However, if the contractor has business credit with advanced vendors to purchase the supplies, he or she can still take the job. They will pay suppliers when the customer pays.
A restaurant owner needs to keep up with customer demand. Dishwashers are not keeping up, and they need more utensils and serving dishes. A vendor account with a restaurant supplier makes this a non-issue. Just purchase what you need now, and pay the next month when meeting the increased demand pays off.
A music teacher has a studio to offer lessons to children. As beginners, many of them do not have an instrument at first, They likely do not even know what they want to play. Business credit accounts with instrument suppliers, as well as suppliers of those things needed to maintain instruments can help. They will allow the teacher to provide a number of various types of instruments for students to try.
Students may even purchase instruments from the school once they choose what they want to play. This may offer an incentive to choose lessons at that specific school, as parents will not be spending on an instrument that may or may not get played.
Each example shows how advanced business vendors can help a business grow in a way that would not be possible otherwise. Of course, business credit cards may work. However, with vendors you usually have net terms. That means you cannot carry a balance, which reduces the risk of racking up huge amounts of debt. Accounts like this are the reason you work to build strong business credit.
What frustrates you the most about funding your business? Check out how our free guide can help.
Not all suppliers will offer this type of credit. The ones that do don’t necessarily advertise it. You typically have to know to ask for it or develop a relationship with them first. This can take a lot of time.
Luckily, you can speed up the process by working with someone who knows who these vendors are. You need someone who already has a relationship with the vendors. They can help you find the ones that will work best with your business. Of course, whoever you are working with has to know and understand your business as well. Then, they will know which vendors you will qualify for advanced business credit with.
This is a little known benefit of the Credit Suite Business Credit Builder. You have access to the platform for 5 years! So, after you work through the business credit building process, you still have access to our huge database of advanced business vendors.
Furthermore, we tell you just what is required to get approved with each one. Of course, there are too many vendors to list in one presentation. Still, a little taste of what is available can help you see that advanced vendors are just what you need.
Then you can run your business the way you need to.
Access Hardware Supply is a leading wholesale distributor of products from the top names in door hardware and security technology.
Qualification requirements include:
There is no minimum time in business necessary, and terms are net 30, 60, or 90. You can apply online or on the phone.
Central Restaurant Products has beens selling pretty much anything needed for the food service industry since 1981.
Qualification requirements include:
Terms are Net 30.
Sherwin Williams is a widely known provider of paint and coatings for over 150 years.
Qualification requirements include:
If there is not enough business credit history, a personal guarantee (PG) is required. You have to apply for the account in the store, and terms are net 20.
Sherwin Williams is a great example of how business credit can help your business, and help you avoid a personal guarantee in some instances. If you give a personal guarantee, the account may show up on your personal credit report. However, without a personal guarantee, using your business information, that is likely not to be the case.
Remember, a personal guarantee isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it may be the only option you have to get the funding you need until you build strong business credit. At least, that is, if you have good personal credit and you want to avoid very high interest rates.
But not using a personal guarantee keeps your personal credit available for personal financial needs.
You may also notice that each of these vendors requires trade references. A trade reference is a report that details the payment history between a company and a vendor. It can come verbally, in a letter, or on a business credit report. Vendors that do not report to the business credit reporting agencies may be willing to provide a trade reference. As a result, they can still help you get funding.
What frustrates you the most about funding your business? Check out how our free guide can help.
Access to advanced business vendors is a huge benefit of strong business credit. They offer funding to help you build and grow your business, without paying unnecessary interest. They also help you avoid the temptation of carrying a large balance unnecessarily.
Of course, you have to manage the vendors in your credit portfolio carefully. Be sure you can repay and do so on time. Even if they do not report positive payment history, they are likely to report negative payment history. Plus, you want to keep a good relationship with them. Not to mention, if you do not pay responsibly, you will not be able to get good trade references from them.
Ready to get started business business credit and unlock the power of advanced business vendors? Try a free consultation with a business credit specialist.
The post How to Use Strong Business Credit to Unlock the Power of Advanced Business Vendors appeared first on Credit Suite.
Visual branding is the most effective way to create a powerful online presence. If you don’t believe me, check out this article on why visuals are important in marketing: When half of the human brain …
The post How to Create Your Personal Brand’s Visual Identity appeared first on Paper.li blog.
If you’re looking to build an SEO-friendly website, Squarespace is a solid choice. It offers easy-to-use templates and plenty of SEO tools to help your site rank better in Google search results.
Not sure where to get started? I’ll guide you through everything you need to know about Squarespace SEO, including what best practices to follow and the tools Squarespace offers.
Even the most elegant website won’t do you much good if no one sees it. SEO is the act of optimizing a website so your target audience can easily find it.
SEO for Squarespace is about ensuring your Squarespace website plays well with search engines.
If you’ve used other website builders such as WordPress, you might be familiar with SEO plugins like Yoast. Unfortunately, those won’t work with Squarespace.
Other site builders, like Wix, offer minimal SEO tools that make it challenging to improve your ranking.
The good news is Squarespace comes with a ton of advanced SEO tools built-in. Understanding how to use them to optimize your site is crucial to your online success.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the SEO advice out there. There’s on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and even SEO best practices for developers.
With Squarespace, you don’t have to worry about the most technical aspects of SEO. For example, all their sites are mobile responsive out of the box.
However, several steps will help your site rank well in Google, Bing, and other search engines. Here are ten best practices to improve your Squarespace SEO.
The core of SEO is keyword research. No matter what builder you use, it’s essential to take the time to find out what keywords your site should target. I’ve written several in-depth guides about keyword research, but I’ll explain the basics here.
Keywords are the words or phrases users type into search engines to find your website.
Sometimes they are pretty obvious; for example, a dentist in Chicago will probably target keywords like “chicago dentist.”
Other terms might be less obvious, such as “dentist near me” or “root canal.” That’s where a good keyword research tool, like my tool Ubersuggest (it’s free!), can be helpful.
Type in your main keyword and see what other terms come up:
These are terms you’ll want to use on your website in your domain name, URLs, and SEO page titles. (Don’t worry, we’ll cover how to do all that later.)
Consider researching what terms your competitors use as well. This can provide insight into what terms users are searching for.
While domain names aren’t a direct SEO factor, they can impact your overall SEO performance.
For example, if someone wants a dentist in Chicago, do you think they’ll click on a site like www.chicagodentist.com or www.marymandyddc.com?
Using keywords in your domain name is a simple way to clarify what your site is about and start building your brand.
If you already have an established website that is ranking well, there’s no need to change it (though you could redirect your site to a more SEO-friendly domain if you wanted).
If you are just getting started, make sure to include keywords in your domain name and make it easy to remember.
Remember those keywords we looked at in step one? Make sure to include them in your URLs.
You’ll also want to make sure your URLs are clean and easy to understand, especially for service or product pages.
For example (sticking with the dentist example from above), the pediatric dentist service page should be www.chicagodentist.com/pediatric, not www.chicagodentist.com/he12909vhsw#.
Clean URLs perform better in search, and they look more trustworthy to users.
Here’s how to change your URL in Squarespace:
Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you monitor and maintain your Google presence. Integrating it with Squarespace allows the two sites to share data and makes it easier to see where your SEO efforts are paying off and where they’re falling flat.
The console makes it easy to verify your site and lets you see all that awesome Google data right in your Squarespace Analytics dashboard—no need to visit two sites.
To integrate, follow this guide on the Squarespace support page.
SEO page titles and descriptions (also called meta titles and descriptions) are short blurbs displayed in the search results that tell users what they’ll find on your page.
Get these right, and your traffic can skyrocket. Ignore them, and Google will create them for you—and they might not be as effective.
Here’s how to update your SEO page titles and descriptions on Squarespace:
You can (and should) add SEO titles to all your pages, including blog posts and product pages. This guide to meta titles and descriptions will walk you through how to create SEO-friendly titles.
In general, meta titles and descriptions should:
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, this is a step you can’t ignore. Google My Business is a free tool that lets you manage how your business appears in Google Maps and the search results.
For example, you might have seen the “Google three-pack” when you search for a local business:
Google pulls the information about reviews, pricing, and hours from the Google My Business account.
GMB is valuable, but for many smaller businesses managing another platform is a hassle. Squarespace makes it easy by interacting directly with Google My Business to manage your listing.
Here’s how to integrate your Squarespace site with GMB:
If you don’t already have a GMB account, you can set it up in Squarespace by following the prompts. Once you’ve integrated, you can push and pull data from your website to Google automatically.
A 404 page is the page users see when they click on a link that doesn’t exist or has been moved but not redirected. Here’s mine:
When used correctly, 404 pages can boost your SEO and improve user experience.
I use it to direct users to my SEO tool, but you can also direct users to blog posts, product pages, or other important site pages. This keeps users on your site and helps them find the information they need.
A custom 404 page increases time on page, which can improve SEO.
Here’s how to create a custom 404 page in Squarespace.
SSL certificates (secure sockets layer) encrypt the data that passes between your website and your server. It improves website security, making it crucial for all websites but especially e-commerce sites.
In addition to just being a good idea, it’s also a Google ranking factor, which means enabling SSL on Squarespace is beneficial for SEO.
Luckily, Squarespace makes this process pretty easy. In fact, all their sites are automatically protected with an SSL certificate. However, you can adjust several settings based on your needs.
Here’s how to check your SSL certificate settings in Squarespace:
High-quality content is a cornerstone of good SEO. It provides fresh content (which Google likes) and offers useful information your users want and need.
Squarespace makes it easy to add a blog to your website, though many themes come with them already in place.
Once you’ve created your blog page, it’s time to get writing. You can write yourself or outsource it to a freelancer. I recommend writing yourself at first to get an idea of what type of content your target audience wants.
Start by coming up with topic ideas. What questions do you answer most often? What pain points do your customers share? Aim to solve those problems.
Here are a few other tips for creating useful, high-quality content:
Internal links are links on your website to other pages on your site. They improve user experience by helping users find pages, but they’re also great for SEO.
Internal links help Google understand which pages on your site are most important. Search engines also use internal links to pages on your site.
However, don’t go overboard with internal links. I aim for 5 to 10 internal links per 2,000 word article, which seems to be a happy medium. If you only have 10 pages on your site, you’d include fewer links.
You’ll also want to optimize your anchor text (the words that users click to follow a link).
Finally, make sure the internal links you add are useful. This isn’t a place to spam users about your newest product; it’s about leading them to useful pages.
Here is how to add text links to your Squarespace site.
Most Squarespace templates are pretty SEO-friendly. However, Brine gets top marks for the ability to customize headers, content insets, and adjust mobile styles. You can also add advanced features like parallax scrolling.
Yes. Squarespace offers plenty of SEO tools and features to help you optimize your website. While there are some things you can’t access, it offers a number of SEO tools and features.
SEO features are included in their paid plans, so it is free in the sense that you don’t have to pay extra just for SEO. However, some features are only available to Business or Commerce customers. Make sure to consider your SEO needs when comparing plans.
One of the major downsides to Squarespace is the lack of control. Although many templates are easy to adjust, the customization is limited. You can overcome these issues by carefully considering your template options and choosing a format that will grow with your business.
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Understanding how to implement successful SEO practices on Squarespace is crucial to online success. While SEO for Squarespace is a little different than other website builders, they still offer a wide range of SEO tools.
If you haven’t built your site yet, I strongly recommend starting with keyword research. If you get stuck, my team is happy to help.
Do you use Squarespace? Have you had success with their SEO tools?
Article URL: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/creatoros-questbook/jobs/3DHDEnz-golang-backend-engineer
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28702032
Points: 1
# Comments: 0
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed Biden over his strategy in withdrawing troops from Afghanistan on ‘Hannity’.
One of the inevitable side effects of having a fleet of vehicles is they do nothing for you if they’re idle. In fact, you lose money on them, as you need to pay for parking. Plus, of course, they’re depreciating every single day. Turo is a company that can help you turn idle vehicles into cash cows – no magic wand necessary.
But first, you need to get the vehicles – and here’s how you do ALL that.
Your business doesn’t start off with good business credit already built. In much the same way, you probably didn’t start with any vehicles. Or, at least, not with business vehicles you wanted to keep. And even if you bought your business fully created, you can still build it to greater heights. For all three goals, it pays to work in an orderly fashion. Step by step, it all works together.
Building business credit means getting vendor accounts. Starting with vendor credit accounts is a proven way to start building business credit. But we don’t include vendors just because they report to the business CRAs. We include them because they have quality products you can use, and great customer service. They are more than a means to an end!
Let’s start with building business credit. You can’t start with high limits. First build starter trade lines that report (vendor credit). Then you’ll have an established credit profile. Then you’ll get a business credit score. With an established business credit profile and score you can start getting high credit limits.
Use your credit. Pay on time, like you should with personal credit. These vendors we’ll show you will report to the business CRAs. And you’ll build a good business credit score.
These trade lines are creditors who will give you initial credit when you have none now. These vendors often offer terms such as Net 30, instead of revolving. So if you get an approval for $1,000 in vendor credit and use it all, you must pay the money back in a set term. Such as, within 30 days on a Net 30 account. But there are some revolving accounts still considered to be starter vendors.
You must pay net 30 accounts in full within 30 days. And you must pay net 60 accounts in full within 60 days. Unlike with revolving accounts, you have a set time when you must pay back what you borrowed or the credit you used.
To start your business credit profile the RIGHT way, you need approval for vendor accounts that report to the business CRAs. Once that’s done, you can then use the credit, pay back what you used. Then the account is on report to Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, or Equifax, or some combination.
Once it reports, then you have trade lines, an established credit profile, and an established credit score. With an established business credit profile and score, you can then get approval for more credit under your EIN. For vendor credit, you can usually leave your SSN off the application. Because this credit isn’t offered through a bank. Then the credit issuer pulls your EIN credit, sees a solid profile and score, and as a result can approve you for more credit. Keep in mind, credit through a bank will demand your SSN. It’s an anti-money laundering requirement under federal law.
Vendor credit cards will kick off business credit building for your business. Once you’ve added payment experiences from three vendors, and they have sent reports to business CRAs like Dun & Bradstreet, you can start qualifying for fleet credit. Make sure business credit cards don’t report on your personal credit.
Every step and every credit provider is designed to help your business. It’s meant to help you qualify for business credit cards you will actually use. This isn’t building for the sake of building, and it isn’t just to increase a number. These credit providers are going to have what your business needs to succeed.
Keep in mind, business credit is independent of personal. Applying for it often won’t harm your personal credit scores, although it can if you offer a PG and then fail to pay. An inquiry will also impact personal credit. Too many inquires can hurt your ability to get an approval. Building this asset can only help your business. You can help your future business right now.
You need 3 or more vendor accounts reporting to move onto more credit with higher limits and better terms. More reporting accounts are even better. It will take 30-90 days for those accounts to report – 60 days on average. Do NOT apply for tier 2 credit without having 3 or more accounts first.
There is no Social Security requirement for starter vendor credit. This is unlike bank loans and bank cards. So leave the field blank. Don’t fill in any other number. It’s a violation of two Federal laws.
A blank field will force them to pull your business credit under your EIN. But note: some creditors will still want an SSN for verification purposes. You should present your SSN in this situation. But make sure you aren’t agreeing a PG or personal credit check.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
You won’t get a Visa or a MasterCard (bank credit cards) right away. You need to have credit to get more credit. Start building trade lines to get the big payoff. Getting initial credit is the hardest part. The vast majority of trade vendors who issue credit don’t report it to the business CRAs. So, you MUST find sources which actually report.
Check out three of our favorite starter vendors:
All three come from Wex.
They report to Experian and D&B. They offer universal fleet cards, heavy truck cards, and universally accepted business fleet cards. Their cards have features supporting a small business. This includes a rewards program. Before applying for several accounts with WEX Fleet cards, leave enough time between applying so they don’t red flag your account for fraud.
If you don’t get an approval based on business credit history, or been in business for at least a year, then a $500 deposit is necessary or a PG. Apply online or over the phone. Terms: Net 15 (Wex Fleet Card), Net 22, or revolving (Wex FlexCard).
To qualify, you need:
Marathon Petroleum Company provides transportation fuels, asphalt, and specialty products throughout the US. Their product line supports commercial, industrial, and retail operations. This card reports to Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. Remember: before applying for several accounts with WEX Fleet cards, leave enough time between applying so they don’t red-flag your account for fraud.
To qualify, you need:
Your SSN is necessary for informational purposes. If concerned they will pull your personal credit talk to their credit department before applying. You can provide a $500 deposit instead of using a PG if you’ve been in business less than a year. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15.
Phillips 66 Company owns 76. It has more than 1,800 retail fuel sites in the United States. This card reports to: D&B and Experian. Keep in mind: before applying for several accounts with WEX Fleet cards. make sure to leave enough time between applying so they don’t red flag your account for fraud.
To qualify, you need the following:
Your SSN is necessary for informational purposes. If concerned they will pull your personal credit talk to their credit department before applying. You can give a $500 deposit instead of using a personal guarantee. if you’ve been in business less than a year. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 15. You can used this card at any P66, 76, or Conoco fueling location. Let’s move onto fleet credit.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
Fleet credit comes after starter vendors. It comes from places like Gulf and Exxon. You use it to:
Even businesses which don’t have big fleets can still benefit. These are usually gas credit cards.
You may need to have a minimal time in business. If your business doesn’t have enough time in business, you may be able to instead offer a personal guarantee or give a deposit to secure the credit. Now that you’ve got a bunch of cards to support your fleet, it’s time to look at vehicle financing to buy the fleet!
Chances are you didn’t buy personal vehicles outright. In the same way, financing is a great way to get a vehicle now, without having to wait until you can pay cash and drive it off the lot. With a fleet car, your choices are usually buying or leasing. Providers include banks like Bank of America or the financing arm of the manufacturer, like Chrysler Capital.
You can even finance a vehicle purchase or lease through our Business Credit Builder. These offers are in Tier 4. So they have certain requirements that business credit neophytes won’t be able to meet. Lenders will want to see you have the income to support the purchase. Consider Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing.
Ford offers several commercial vehicle financing options. These include loans, lines, and leases to actual business entities. This is not for sole proprietorships. You can get a loan or a lease.
Ford may ask for a personal guarantee if you do not get an approval on the merit of your application. Apply at the dealership. Ford will report to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.
To qualify, you need:
Ally provides personal financing. But they will also report to business credit bureaus. If your business qualifies for financing without the owner’s guarantee, you can get financing in the business name only. Ally will report to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.
To qualify, you need:
If you use a PG, Ally will not report to the personal credit bureaus unless the account defaults.
Get a lease or a loan. To qualify, you need the same things as you need for an Ally Commercial Line of Credit. This is except for a bank reference and fleet financing references. There is no time in business requirement. Apply in person only. The dealer will say if you get approval or must provide a PG. Now that you’ve got the cars and the cards, let’s explore Turo.
Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.
Turo is a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace. You can book any car you want, wherever you want it, from a community of trusted hosts across the US, Canada, and the UK. Guests choose from a unique selection of nearby cars. Hosts earn extra cash to offset the costs of car ownership.
There are going to be times when some of the vehicles your fleet aren’t in use. This could happen if there’s a personnel change, or if an employee with an older vehicle gets an upgrade to a newer one. This could be a perk accompanying a promotion. Or an employee with a vehicle could be out for parental leave. But no matter how or why any vehicles are idle. you can be making money from them.
Turo says you can make an average of $620 per month per vehicle. This comes from 2019 stats for hosts with twelve or more trips and “at least average quality metrics”. You can set your own price and availability dates. Make 70% of the price, or 80% if you can prove you have your own insurance and waive Turo’s coverage. Turo offers an array of coverage options with different percentages and deductibles. So you can choose what appeals most to you. Liability insurance comes from a policy issued to Turo by Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation. They’re a member of the Liberty Mutual Group.
There are ways to make more money and get your vehicle out there to more riders, more often. Turo offers tips on taking better photographs of your car and listing your car’s options. as riders may be searching for things like all-wheel drive or air conditioning, etc.
Turo will provide guidance on how to write better descriptions, and otherwise make a vehicle more appealing to riders. There is even a section on writing a business plan. Also – earnings go through Turo so you will get a 1099. And even making a few hundred per month per vehicle is a VAST improvement over letting a vehicle idle while you pay for parking and it depreciates! To end, let’s touch on personal guarantees for financing.
With commercial vehicle financing, business owners may need to personally guarantee vehicle loans. If you are a co-borrower the loan will most likely report to your personal credit report. Starting off by giving a personal guarantee means you can get money, and start building your commercial fleet now instead of later.
According to Investopedia, a personal guarantee is:
“an individual’s legal promise to repay credit issued to a business for which they serve as an executive or partner. Providing a personal guarantee means that if the business becomes unable to repay the debt, the individual assumes personal responsibility for the balance. Personal guarantees provide an extra level of protection to credit issuers who want to make sure they will be repaid.”
When you provide a PG, you are adding your Social Security number to the application. You should expect a hard inquiry. You’re also adding the details of your personal income to the application.
With no PG financing, you can get higher limits and better terms. Continue to build exceptional business credit and pay your bills on time. In general, the following you won’t need to provide a personal guarantee for this type of financing if you have:
Much like with any other kind of business borrowing, the more assurances you can give the lender, the better.
Use business credit to buy everything you need to run a fleet, from fuel to service. And use auto financing to buy the vehicles. Plus, you can make money with the idle vehicles in your fleet! Turn your fleet into a regular, reliable moneymaker – without having to pull any rabbits out of your hat. Let’s get together and talk about getting started.
The post Presto! Turn Your Commercial Fleet into a Turo Fleet appeared first on Credit Suite.