Facebook has for a long time been recognized as the leading authority in social networking. This website was launched in 2004 and since then has enjoyed huge popularity among people of all age groups. Facebook soon became the social site of choice among online marketers. Webmasters and online marketers almost immediately noticed the power of Facebook and soon found new ways of using social networking to communicate directly with their target audience.I can be extremely difficult to improve that ranking of your web pages within Google and other search engines. Many webmasters and SEO specialist spend a great deal of time and money to improve these rankings. The popularity of Facebook can be well assessed from the Google page rank. Currently the Google PR Rank for Facebook is 10 out of 10 and it ranks among the top 5 most visited sites in almost every country in the world. (An estimated 40% of all global internet users visit Facebook on a regular basis). A back link from a PR 10 website can do well for your website. Facebook users are allowed a single do-follow link from their profile to a blog or website. By effectively using Facebook Social Bookmarking you can create significant buzz around your business / website / brand.Social Bookmarking can be defined as a way to save, organize and share valuable resource / info / websites that are available online. It is important to note that you cannot simply bookmark your own web pages repeatedly as this will look unnatural and often be flagged by the search engines. To gain real benefit from social bookmarking you’ll need various internet users to bookmark your pages. For your bookmarks to be authentic it should unique third-party visitors to your pages who decide to bookmark these pages. In your own social bookmarking it is important to not only bookmark your own pages, but also complimentary pages with similar information relating to your topic. Facebook bookmarking should be given the highest priority as there are many visitors who might like your webpage and can easily bookmark your page. I have noticed that some online advertisers try to create many different profiles for Facebook bookmarking purposes; this unfortunately does not have the same effect and attract negative attention from the search engines.A lot of marketers just use Facebook bookmarking to create links to their web pages, but there really is little benefit in just using it as a link building strategy. This could have a rather negative effect on your brand. A mistake that is often made is to only share your own websites. Remember that Facebook bookmarking always must look natural and really should include other related information and sites in your bookmarking lists, Always take special care to ensure these other website you are bookmarking at least relate to your website’s topic. If you do this, your bookmarks will be noticed by others. Always look at that the bigger picture, don’t just rush your social bookmarking as simply something that needs to get done. Another mistake made is automating the social bookmarking. As much as we all sometime try to find a shortcut, social bookmarking really does need to be done manually to ensure maximum impact and benefit, Note that it is not recommended to only bookmark your website’s homepage. If you’re linking only goes to your homepages you may find that not all you website’s pages are indexed by the search engines. It is recommended that you build links to the inside pages of your websites. Social Bookmarking with Facebook makes building these deep links very easy to do.Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites on the web today. Social Bookmarking is a simple way of getting your site seen by this very targeted audience. By defining specific goals and having a bookmarking strategy you can get maximum benefit from your Facebook campaigns. If you are just getting started in online business you may want to refer to strategies followed by more experienced marketers. You’ll benefit greatly from getting regular exposure on Facebook and getting actively involved in the discussions of related forums.Facebook bookmarking is a very old concept and millions of online marketers have been putting it to use for a long time, so you need to be up to date with latest strategies and ready to face the competition.
Business Loans In Canada: Financing Solutions Via Alternative Finance & Traditional Funding
Business loans and finance for a business just may have gotten good again? The pursuit of credit and funding of cash flow solutions for your business often seems like an eternal challenge, even in the best of times, let alone any industry or economic crisis. Let’s dig in.
Since the 2008 financial crisis there’s been a lot of change in finance options from lenders for corporate loans. Canadian business owners and financial managers have excess from everything from peer-to-peer company loans, varied alternative finance solutions, as well of course as the traditional financing offered by Canadian chartered banks.
Those online business loans referenced above are popular and arose out of the merchant cash advance programs in the United States. Loans are based on a percentage of your annual sales, typically in the 15-20% range. The loans are certainly expensive but are viewed as easy to obtain by many small businesses, including retailers who sell on a cash or credit card basis.
Depending on your firm’s circumstances and your ability to truly understand the different choices available to firms searching for SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE options. Those small to medium sized companies ( the definition of ‘ small business ‘ certainly varies as to what is small – often defined as businesses with less than 500 employees! )
How then do we create our road map for external financing techniques and solutions? A simpler way to look at it is to categorize these different financing options under:
Debt / Loans
Asset Based Financing
Alternative Hybrid type solutions
Many top experts maintain that the alternative financing solutions currently available to your firm, in fact are on par with Canadian chartered bank financing when it comes to a full spectrum of funding. The alternative lender is typically a private commercial finance company with a niche in one of the various asset finance areas
If there is one significant trend that’s ‘ sticking ‘it’s Asset Based Finance. The ability of firms to obtain funding via assets such as accounts receivable, inventory and fixed assets with no major emphasis on balance sheet structure and profits and cash flow ( those three elements drive bank financing approval in no small measure ) is the key to success in ABL ( Asset Based Lending ).
Factoring, aka ‘ Receivable Finance ‘ is the other huge driver in trade finance in Canada. In some cases, it’s the only way for firms to be able to sell and finance clients in other geographies/countries.
The rise of ‘ online finance ‘ also can’t be diminished. Whether it’s accessing ‘ crowdfunding’ or sourcing working capital term loans, the technological pace continues at what seems a feverish pace. One only has to read a business daily such as the Globe & Mail or Financial Post to understand the challenge of small business accessing business capital.
Business owners/financial mgrs often find their company at a ‘ turning point ‘ in their history – that time when financing is needed or opportunities and risks can’t be taken. While putting or getting new equity in the business is often impossible, the reality is that the majority of businesses with SME commercial finance needs aren’t, shall we say, ‘ suited’ to this type of funding and capital raising. Business loan interest rates vary with non-traditional financing but offer more flexibility and ease of access to capital.
We’re also the first to remind clients that they should not forget govt solutions in business capital. Two of the best programs are the GovernmentSmall Business Loan Canada (maximum availability = $ 1,000,000.00) as well as the SR&ED program which allows business owners to recapture R&D capital costs. Sred credits can also be financed once they are filed.
Those latter two finance alternatives are often very well suited to business start up loans. We should not forget that asset finance, often called ‘ ABL ‘ by those Bay Street guys, can even be used as a loan to buy a business.
If you’re looking to get the right balance of liquidity and risk coupled with the flexibility to grow your business seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor with a track record of business finance success who can assist you with your funding needs.
Payday Loans – Are They a Ripoff?
If you have no access to credit and need a quick loan, you may consider a payday loan. The idea sounds attractive: the lender deposits up to $2,000 into your bank account and the loan is automatically repaid from your next paycheck. You don’t need collateral and there’s no credit check.But before you walk into the payday loan office, do your homework. Here are some crucial facts you need to know.1. What is a payday loan? According to the U.S. government, a payday loan is defined as “a closed-end credit transaction, unsecured by any interest in the consumer’s personal property and excluding any credit card transaction under an open end consumer credit plan, with a term of 91 or fewer days in which the amount financed does not exceed $2,000 with a finance charge exceeding an annual percentage rate of 36%.” In other words: short-term, high-interest.To ensure repayment, the lender will require that you present a personal check for the total amount borrowed plus fees, or that you sign over legal access to your bank account for the total amount due. Your check is post-dated to your next payday. On that day the lender will cash the check or debit your bank account. This gives the lender an automatic repayment mechanism and the legal right to collect.2. Are payday loans legal everywhere? No! They are regulated by individual states. In some states they are illegal.They are also illegal for members of the U.S. military. One of the provisions of the FY 2007 Military Authorization Act makes it against the law for lenders to make payday loans and/or car title loans to military personnel. Lenders are also prohibited from charging more than 36% interest to military borrowers. When calculating the interest rate, additional renewal charges, fees, service charges, or credit insurance premiums must be included.3. What are the interest rates for these types of loans? Very high! Why? Because the lender typically requires only that you have a job and a bank account for the past sixty days. Payday loans are most often made to people who have poor credit and no collateral. These high-risk borrowers pay interest rates that can be as high as 600% APR.What does that mean? Here’s a typical payday loan breakdown:Loan amount: $1,500
Your next payday: 14 days from today
Fee per $100 borrowed: $20
Your effective APR: 521.43%
Total fees you pay: $300
Total debited from your account 14 days from now: $1,800Fourteen days after advancing you the loan for $1,500, the lender will debit $1,800 from your bank account. If for some reason the full amount isn’t there, you must still pay the $300 fee for that 14-day period. You will pay $300 every two weeks until you repay the original $1,500. When you receive your next paycheck 14 days later, you will owe $1,800. That means that if you miss the first repayment deadline, you will end up paying a total of $2,100.4. Are payday loans controversial? Yes! In many states they are considered usurious and are illegal. But attempts to regulate payday loans are receiving mixed responses. Congress is now considering the Payday Loan Reform Act of 2009 (HR 1214 IH). This bill would ostensibly regulate payday loans, but consumer protection groups are opposed. In a recent letter to U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez, the bill’s sponsor, several groups including the National Consumer Law Center assert that H.R. 1214 gives Congressional authorization for single-payment loans of 780 percent APR for one week or 390 percent APR for two weeks. The mandated loan fee limit of fifteen cents per dollar loaned sounds reasonable, but it permits lenders to charge $75 for a typical $500 loan, which is due on the following payday. For the average customer who takes out nine loans per year, H.R. 1214 permits lenders to collect $675 in finance charges for a $500 loan taken out over an eighteen weeks.Imagine paying more in finance charges than the loan amount! Before you consider a payday loan, do the research and ask yourself if it’s really the best choice for you.