Working Capital Loans and Small Business Cash Advance Strategies
In this article we have identified the ten major problems which should be avoided when obtaining working capital and business cash advances based on credit card processing. As noted below, it is not necessary to accept any of these business finance difficulties.
Credit card processing and small business loan strategies are closely connected in many ways. Business owners should not overlook the substantial working capital benefits which will accrue to their business by effectively coordinating credit card factoring and processing. These benefits will increase measurably if a number of common business cash advance problems can be successfully avoided.
Even thriving small businesses frequently need more working capital than they can borrow from a bank. One of the most important commercial financing needs for any business is ensuring that short-term cash requirements are successfully met. This is frequently a difficult task.
The use of a viable business cash advance strategy has become an increasingly important business finance tool for many businesses faced with a potential short-term cash shortfall. However, as noted below there are a number of potential problems to be anticipated and avoided when businesses use credit card processing to seek working capital advances.
Most merchants have documented credit card processing activity and sales volume. This documentation of processing activity and sales volume is a financial asset, since up to $300,000 and more can typically be obtained via a business cash advance based on future sales volume.
Before employing this strategy for working capital business cash advances, businesses should realize that there are several recurring potential problems that they need to anticipate. Ten common credit card receivables problems that business owners should avoid when employing this strategy are highlighted below.
First, many lenders will attempt to charge closing costs. Business owners should realize that this is an unnecessary transaction cost for business cash advances when dealing with a truly reputable provider of working capital financing based on credit card factoring.
Second, many lenders for these services also charge up-front fees. This is also a transaction cost that can and should be avoided, and with the best programs there will not be any up-front fees.
Third, a number of business cash advance programs require collateral. This is an unnecessary requirement to be avoided by business owners seeking credit card financing.
Fourth, some lenders will require financial statements and tax returns for all business cash advances. Such additional documentation requirements should only be necessary for larger working capital advances.
Fifth, monthly fixed payments to repay merchant cash advances are imposed by some providers. The preferred approach is to avoid such fixed payment requirements.
Sixth, some providers impose a fixed term for repayment. This requirement to pay off the business cash advance over a fixed term should be avoided.
Seventh, many programs for working capital business cash advances require that a business have at least two years of operating history to qualify. While many business owners can meet such a requirement, a more practical standard for newer businesses is a minimum of one year in business.
Eighth, most business cash advance providers require credit scores of at least 680. In today’s difficult economic climate, this can be a challenging requirement. It is feasible to obtain this kind of working capital financing with scores around 500.
Ninth, for merchants needing larger business cash advances, it will be disappointing to learn that many programs are limited to a maximum of $25,000 to $50,000. Providers that are better capitalized for this business finance strategy will be able to accommodate an advance of $300,000 and higher.
Tenth, many providers will require 12 to 24 months of documented credit card sales of $12,000 to $25,000 or more. A more practical possibility for business owners will involve a transaction history with six months of $5,000 or more.
It is not likely that all ten of the obstacles described above will be pertinent for all business owners. Business borrowers are likely to experience several of these problems if they are considering a business cash advance that uses credit card factoring and credit card processing.
Can all ten credit card finance obstacles discussed above be avoided? There are indeed viable credit card receivables programs which avoid all of the problems described. For any business owner considering this approach to working capital financing, it is probably worth repeating that it is not necessary to accept any of these problems in order to obtain business cash advances based on future sales.
If you have employees looking for quick payday loans, have them check out Paydayville.com
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Learn how to avoid mistakes with commercial loans and find out about business cash management strategies – Steve Bush is a small business loans expert =>
AEX Commercial Financing Group [ http://aexcommercialfinancing.com ]
How to Increase Morale at Work
Emerson states, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”
A majority of the issues related to worker productivity stem from enthusiasm. Individuals simply go to work because they abhor their employer, the monotony, and the products. There is no passion or pride.
Much of this issue stems from issues embedded within organizational culture. We find that organizational Issues affecting morale and productivity include:
Causes of morale also correlate back to the organization, its culture, and its management. After 25 years of research in this area, we find five factors contributing to organizational morale. A study by the Corporate Leadership Council reveals managers have a tremendous impact on an employee’s level of commitment. It is imperative to note that individuals do not leave companies they leave poor managers. Organizational management contributes to the negative morale. As recent as 2006 the Gallup Organization estimates there are 32 million actively disengaged employees costing the American economy up to $350 billion per year in lost productivity. Such loss includes absenteeism, tardiness, and poor work.
Helping to dilute the productivity issue, research depicts that taking time to build relationships with employees through personal interactions is a key step managers can take to keep morale high. Employees need to feel trust and respect from managers. Employees desire feedback to build management relationships to understand their work matters.
Ending the morale issue is not easy but there are cures
1. Begin with talent acquisition – Start with the right people. No firm we work with ever hires on a proactive basis. Most firms conduct employment searches reactively. Seek employees that fit with the organizational culture and with the obligatory skills. Never wait!
2. Hire for skill – Talent is innate. Organizations hire for personality and behavior first and skill second. Skill is not interchangeable, behavior is. A great hire might have a wonderful temperament and lack the skill to plug a socket into an outlet. I recall a fire star hotel that sought advice to correct housekeeping flaws. After five minutes, it was easy enough to terminate staff and find those without flaws.
3. Look at best practices from best people – Management focuses on repairing those that cannot rather than improve those that can. Avatars exist in your organization. Discover what they do right and emulate it.
4. Passion – In the 1980’s Sylvester Stallone appeared again as Rocky this time with a theme, “Eye of the Tiger”. What a great metaphor for valuable talent. Seek to acquire talent that truly loves work. Passion too is innate. Employees must love what they do and how they do it. In addition, managers, the organization, and the employees must vehemently focus on the customer. When passion is high so too is morale. Remember Winnie the Pooh, try finding Eyeor amongst staff at Disney; Southwest Airlines and FedEx, all intensely focus on servicing the client.
Lastly, management must focus on vital areas for improving the success of morale and productivity. Managers must constantly strive to provide feedback to employees. Feedback is not an annual event- Performance Review. It is imperative that daily communication exists for good information and improvement. Coaching, counseling, and mentoring are components of organizational morale. In addition, many attend church and hear the words, “It is right to give thanks and praise”. Many watch professional sports and view coaches coddling athletes. We can learn something here; simple words of thanks and praise constantly improve morale and employee relationships. Finally, the first item terminated during economic volatility is training. Research finds that employees are assets and require that treatment. Never stop training; this improves productivity and morale at all times.
Issues of morale and productivity are onerous, volatile, and difficult to control. There is a need for management, the organization, and the individual to assist with success factors. Much is dependent on the desire to change; methods chosen and consistent follow through. However, if you do nothing you still have a morale issue. Take the time, seek remedies, and keep morale high. Doing so, lowers attrition, improves productivity, increases profitability and most importantly- reduces stress.
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Web Analytics – The Missing Piece
The ultimate goal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is to drive traffic to your site. Many people don’t know why, but they aren’t achieving this goal.
The key is staying current and evolving with the times.
Way back in the good old days, SEO was a lot easier and we saw results quickly. What do I mean “we saw results”? We ran a ranking report and we were able to see what words held what positions in the various engines. And admit it now, when you received your ranking reports, you promptly pulled up Google or Yahoo and did a search, waiting with baited breath to see your results right there in the top 20. Ahhh, the good old days.
Now, you get a ranking report and you don’t see all those wonderful rankings you have seen in the past. Competition is fierce and even though your site deserves to be on top, it may take a while to work its way up there. So, what do you do? You call your SEO Firm, you complain, you work on a strategy to get the results you want.
The missing piece here is called Website Analytics. A well optimized site will bring traffic from many engines, for various keywords that are related to your site. Those keywords may not be on your “approved keyword list” – however they are words people are looking for and they are driving traffic to your site. Many people don’t give credit to their SEO company for these words – however they are mistaken. The fact that your site was properly optimized and content was added is what made the site get noticed by the engines, so the optimization is directly responsible for these “bonus” keywords that are driving traffic to your website.
Because most people don’t understand this, and they don’t give credit to their SEO Firm, many SEO Firms don’t bother looking at or sharing Analytics information with their clients. They simply care about rankings for the keyword list.
At EcomBuffet we understand the value of Web Analytics information and as a result have added these “bonus” keywords to our ranking reports to show our clients how they are being found.
“Yeah, you point out how great you are and the “bonus” keywords – but how does that really help us – the client” is something we heard when we started sharing this information.
It’s true, it is a feather in our cap – it makes us feel good that we have created more exposure for our clients – but it’s more than that. The information we share tells them what words people are using to find them – it gives them insight into how their prospective clients think and search. That information can then be used to improve and really target your marketing efforts.
In addition to the value of the “bonus” keywords – the other thing we do is look at the other information in your web stats. We can figure out what pages people are spending time on, what pages people are leaving quickly, we can see what interest’s people and what drives people away.
Having someone prepare that information for you and deliver it to you in any easy to comprehend manner is invaluable.
That information becomes your blueprint for web site improvement which means increased conversions, which means more sales, which means more money, which means you are one happy camper!
Imagine, rather than guessing at what to tweak on your site to improve results you can take our analysis and suggested changes and use that as a guide to improving your traffic and conversions. Then you monitor the response to your tweaks to ensure your traffic and conversions are growing because the competition isn’t sitting idle and what worked yesterday doesn’t necessarily work tomorrow.
Web stats or Analytics isn’t new – it’s been around forever. However most people don’t know how to interpret their stats, they often don’t have time to gather the data and SEO Firms typically do not tie this information into a SEO campaign.
Our focus is on results. We can deliver the traffic and use Analytics; to get that traffic to take the action you want – whether it is more sales, more people opting in to your site, or calling you. Whatever “results” means to you – we can deliver them.
Case Study: One of our sites has:
* Top rankings for the phrases “phoenix homes” (generic phrase) and “historical homes in phoenix” (specific phrase) Analytics tells us:
* “phoenix homes” brings traffic but has only a 0.82% conversion rate.
* “historical homes in phoenix” brings less traffic but has a 6.67% conversion rate.
The Lesson Learned:
* Add up the traffic from all your “minor” specific phrases — all with high conversions and compare it to the major traffic and low conversions from your generic phrases – you can learn where to focus your attention — on the phrases that convert! (Note: We wouldn’t even know about the specific phrase without Analytics)
* We can add content for the phrase that converts higher, and drive more traffic from that phrase. We can also use that information to guide us in creating marketing material. Along with an affordable website.
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Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing and co-owner of http://www.EcomBuffet.com . Since 1998, her expertise in online marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has helped clients increase revenue and achieve their business goals. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on Search Engine Optimization and has been published in many SEO and marketing publications. Jennifer can be reached at Jennifer@ecombuffet.com
Ecommerce Sites: Beware of 3rd Party Cookies – Are Google Analytics Users In Privacy Breach?
To be successful, an ecommerce site requires information about site visitors.
What sites are the top referrers? Which search engine produces the most traffic? How long do visitors remain on-site, what is their pathway through the site, and what pages do they exit from?
One method of collecting this information is often referred to as using 3rd party cookies. If you use 3rd party cookies, are you aware of the privacy concerns, and will you be liable for a privacy policy breach?
What’s A “Cookie” Anyway?
A cookie is a message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file called cookie.txt. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.
Information gained with cookies helps the Web server track such things as user preferences and data that the user may submit while browsing the site. For example, a cookie may include information about the purchases that the user makes (if the Analytics program) to pass the cookie, that cookie is called a 3rd party cookie.
Privacy Concerns With 3rd Party Cookies
Privacy concerns arise from the fact that the data generated with 3rd party cookies resides on the servers of the 3rd party — not your server. The fact that you do not control these 3rd party sites and their use of this data has raised concerns among many users. For example, users have questioned whether these 3rd party sites aggregate the data among many sites and report ecommerce trends to the media, or whether the 3rd party sites use the data for purposes of cross-website profiling and ad targeting.
And what is your legal obligation to disclose the use of 3rd party cookies? In the European Union, it’s illegal to pass cookies without informing users that you do, what they’re used for, and how they can be avoided, and it’s generally believed that the failure to adequately disclose the details of the use of 3rd party cookies is a violation of EU law.
In the US, there is an evolving debate regarding the same issues, and the answers are less certain.
Conclusion
It’s recommended that if you use 3rd party cookies, you clearly disclose in your privacy policy the distinction between 3rd and 1st party cookies, and how they’re used and avoided.
Be careful, however, in amending your Privacy Policy because amendments may not be effective retroactively for data collected with 3rd party cookies prior to the amendment.
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Chip Cooper is a leading intellectual property, software, and Internet attorney who advises software and ecommerce businesses nationwide. Chip’s 25+ years of experience include 20 years as Adjunct Professor of Computer Law at Wake Forest University School of Law. Visit Chip’s http://www.digicontracts.com site and download his FREE newsletter, Website Law Alert, and also learn about his “Do-It-Myself” and “Do-It-For-Me” service options.
Marketing Activities You Need to Schedule
Scheduling your marketing activities is key to ensuring you are consistently and successfully getting the word out about you and your company and all the great services and products you have to share with people.
There are several formats that people use to schedule things – to-do lists, activity lists, calendar items, list of projects, sticky notes all over their desk, and so on. It doesn’t really matter how you do it as long as it works for you.
There are going to be three general types of marketing activities that you’ll want to put into your schedule:
1) ongoing everyday activities
2) specific one-time projects
3) idea generation
Ongoing everyday marketing activities include those that you do regularly. Some examples are:
* writing your ezine
* adding new auto-responders to your email series
* writing blog posts
* contributing to online forums and blogs
* networking events
* monitoring your PPC advertising
* writing content for your monthly teleseminar
* adding content to your website
* writing articles for submission
* checking your website analytics
* communicating with your affiliates
* sending out press releases
* networking on social media sites such as Facebook and Linked In
Specific one-time projects would be marketing tactics that occur as a special or one-time opportunity. For example:
* a workshop you’re putting on
* creating a new product
* setting up a referral program
* a joint venture with another company
* flushing out the specifics of a new service you’re going to offer
* a speaker series you’ve been invited to share at
* setting up your affiliate program
* running a special promotion
* writing a book
* a new website
* setting up a blog
Time set aside for idea generation is important. You need to schedule this in just like any other marketing activity. Things you’ll “think” about during this time can include:
* researching possible joint venture partners
* thinking about ideas for a new product, service or book
* taking a look at some colleagues websites and blogs to see what they are up to
* daydreaming about the direction you’d like your company to go
* brainstorming about your professional and personal goals
Write down a list of all the different marketing activities you currently do and start scheduling them into your calendar and to-do lists. Make sure you look at your schedule first thing in the morning and different times throughout the day to make sure that you’re staying on course.
Commit to your marketing by having a schedule and you’ll see your business grow and attract new and old clients on a consistent basis.
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Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, teaches simple, innovative and powerful marketing strategies to help business owners find and keep their most profitable clients. To learn more about how she can help you take your business to the next level, and to sign up for her FREE special report, ezine and articles, visit her site at http://www.JodyGabourieMarketingCoach.com
Web Analytics To Measure Your Success!
If you operate a commercial website, knowing where your visitors are coming from and how they are using your website is more than just nice-to-have information. It is essential and can make the difference between making it and losing it in today’s Internet business world.
Your webserver log has tons of useful information, but that logfile in its raw format is impractical for frequent analysis and statistics. Good web analytics solutions provide you with the tools to generate useful and understandable reports from the huge amount of raw data collected by your webserver.
Learn who your visitors are, where they are coming from, how they use your site, and where they go when they leave. Find problem areas in the conversion funnel, and check whether changes you implement have the desired effects. To determine hotspots and weak areas of your site, and to check whether your search, marketing and landing pages convert or require improvement, you need a good web analytics solution.
Web Analytics Solutions
A good web analytics program or solution literally shows marketers why visitors do what they do. It’s perfect for those interested in PPC marketing, SEO, web design, and usability. It is also extremely helpful for those with eCommerce storefronts, including direct support for Yahoo! Stores and Miva Merchant. A good solution provides visual interface and insightful reports.
Website analytics solution are available as either a hosted solution or logfile processing software. There is a right solution for everyone – choose the one that best fits your needs and business size .
Note there are some solutions available for no cost. However, “free” does not always mean free. With most paid solutions, your highly sensitive and valuable data is accessible only to you. How much is your data worth to you? You have the choice and I have already made mine.
With a paid solution, you also get something that you won’t get from any free service – online seminars (often at no additional charge) to learn how to make the most of the web analytics solution from the comfort of your own desk. This is especially valuable for people who have little experience with web analytics software, but even veterans will likely learn a trick or two.
Conclusion
There are a large number of web analytics solutions available, for little to no cost, expensive enterprise solutions and everything in between. There is no “perfect” web analytics solution for everybody, but chances are very good that there is one that is right and perfect for your needs and your budget.
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Carsten Cumbrowski is an internet marketer and entrepreneur who owns and operates the internet marketing resources portal at Cumbrowski.com. Find the web analytics solution that is right for you, further resources to web analytics in general, including best practice guides, books to web metrics, blogs and more at Cumbrowski.com.
http://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/internetmarketing_webanalytics.asp
