Tips
Avoiding Credit Card Fraud
January 7, 2013
Many small businesses that weren’t able to utilize traditional credit card processing services are delighted to find that there are now applications where they can accept credit card payments using a smart phone. However, before you jump on the bandwagon, it only makes sense to do your due diligence as to how to avoid credit card fraud. Just because you can process that card via your cell phone doesn’t necessarily mean you should. You don’t want to get caught holding the bag (and paying for) products after finding out you’ve been “had.”
As a matter-of-fact, not matter what services or devices you use to accept credit cards, as a small business owner you need to institute policies and practices to avoid credit card fraud. Here are some of the basics:
When accepting cards in-person at the point of service.
It is amazing at how just asking one simple question, “Can I see some valid ID?” can make all the difference. Always ask for a valid form of picture identification (such as a driver’s license) before accepting a credit card. If the customer isn’t able to provide ID, then DO NOT process their payment. This means asking for the card and identification BEFORE it is swiped. When you have both the card and identification in hand, check the back of the credit card for the customer’s signature and match that signature with the one on their valid ID. Again, if they haven’t signed their card, or the signatures don’t match, don’t process their payment.
Many small business owners may have an issue instituting the above policies with repeat customers if they have not used the policy previously. Now, this is going to be a decision each individual owner needs to make. You may indeed have long-term customers that deserve your trust, but they may not. At the very least, should you decide to accept their payment without a valid ID and/or their signature is missing on the back of their credit card, let that customer know that this is a “one time pass” and they must be able to provide both next time they make a purchase. You might be hesitant to do so, but letting the customer know that you are pursuing this policy to protect your customers. For example, costs associated with theft (including credit card fraud) must be covered by increases in pricing.
When accepting credit card payments over the phone or online.
The best way to avoid credit card fraud when taking payments over the phone or online is to get all the information you can to identify that the person making the order is, indeed, the owner of that credit card. This means reading off the name exactly as printed on the card. It means not only the full credit card number, but also the 3 digit verification number on the back of the card.
Often a purchaser will want the order shipped to another address. This is why you need to ask for both the billing address and shipping address. It is also why having an address verification feature is critical.
Many credit card processing companies monitor purchasing patterns at your place of business. For example, should there be a sudden increase in the number of credit transactions that can serve as a red flag and you will receive an alert. However, taking steps to avoid theft and fraud (not simply credit card fraud, but also shoplifting, employee fraud, etc.) should always be addressed proactively by small business owners themselves.
Guest Authored
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Is Google Your Only Web Strategy?
December 31, 2012Every business wants to be found in search. To most, being found means top placement in Google’s search results for keywords or phrases that are most likely to convert into a lead, sale, or customer. That begs the question… how does one get that top placement?
While many are now accusing Google of monopolizing or manipulating the search results to promote pages and products that earn them revenue, they are still unique in the sense that one simply cannot buy top placement in organic rankings. The Google search system was originally designed to rank pages based on both how many other pages linked to a page and how important those linking pages were. It was a relational system called PageRank that theoretically gave little guys a chance of being ranked alongside or even ahead of major corporations.
When it came to being talked about or linked to from other sites (these incoming links are called backlinks), mega corporations with large sums of money had a tremendous advantage. Media outlets seemed to always be linking to them naturally and they could buy linking ads on websites that didn’t. They could even buy backlinks on irrelevant pages just to up the ante. In 2011, Overstock.com was penalized by Google after one such linking scheme was discovered. Overstock was offering discounts to students and faculty that placed a link to their website on a school web page ending with .edu. It was believed that .edu top level domains (TLDs) carried far more weight than .com, .net, and .org. Overstock tried to capitalize on that.
Where a company ranks in the result listings can mean the difference between success and failure. For the mega corporations, millions of dollars in revenue can be gained by being listed 1st as opposed to 4th. The reality is that searchers tend to click on top results more often, ultimately leading to more sales for the companies that rank well.
According to a study conducted by Slingshot SEO, the top search result is clicked 18.2% of the time, whereas the last result (#10 on the page) is selected 1% of the time. These statistics make a few things clear. If you’re not on the first page, you might as well be in outer space. Additionally, a ranking on the first page must be for a search term or phrase that is frequently searched. Sure, we’re happy to be listed 4th for the search phrase “greatest merchant cash advance company in the world,” since it links to our free directory of verified MCA providers, but since no one is using that search phrase, it really doesn’t matter.
A hypothetical business does research and determines that 100 people per month are entering this phrase into the Google search bar: “I want a merchant cash advance this minute.” It looks promising because it shows that the end user is in buying mode. One could make the case that they are more likely to apply for business financing than a user searching for “the history of merchant cash advance.” 100 searches for the initial phrase might seem like an opportunity, but you have to make an effort to achieve a listing for that keyword, at least that’s what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) gurus will tell you.
All Hail the King
Since Google is the omnipotent dictator that determines where every website falls, there is nothing that can 100% guarantee a website will be visible for the terms and phrases a webmaster wants. There is no shortage of tips, methods, and tricks to boost the odds but all of those things require time, money, or both. Neither will get the webmaster far unless the Search Engine Optimizer (SEOer) knows how to modify a website, analyze search phrases, and implement a strategy to increase rankings. If the SEOer isn’t tech savvy, stay away.
The SEOer’s strategy will likely fall into one of two categories, white hat or black hat, but it’s important to note that wearing any kind of hat is technically a violation of Google’s Terms of Use. It’s easy to label an SEOer that places thousands of irrelevant comments with a backlink on blogs all over the Internet as a black hatter. But contrast that technique with a white hatter that does nothing more than write interesting articles and get them published on other websites with a backlink.
The latter may seem innocuous, but both attempt to manipulate Google’s algorithm and can lead to serious ranking devaluation penalties. A penalty can be crippling for a business that depends on acquiring leads or customers online. Worse yet, the webmaster is not tried before a jury of his/her peers before being sentenced to page infinity for all search terms. This is the downside of the playing field Google creates. John Doe business owner can be listed alongside multi-million dollar corporations and can enjoy that visibility to grow into a million dollar business themselves. But if it is Google that brought him into this world, it is Google that can take him out.
In late April, 2012 Google announced they were cracking down on “blog networks.” This algorithm update became known as Google Penguin and hit the web like a hammer. 3.1% of all english search queries were affected. Penalized webmasters that paid to have self-written articles published on other websites to get the link juice were left wondering how the practice could be a violation. Analogies were used to explain that paying to promote oneself is standard business practice. They likened article marketing to the basic trade of journalism. They argued it was their constitutional right to promote articles without fearing the total loss of business or retribution from Google.
Google’s position though is that it is perfectly okay to link to a friend’s website or to pay to have articles placed elsewhere. They respect that those decisions are not theirs to judge in respect to the global Internet. However, if the intent (or perceived intent!) of these practices is to achieve higher ranking in Google’s search results, then they reserve the right to protect the integrity of their ranking system accordingly. Essentially, anyone can do what they want, but it might affect how things are scored within their private system. So if you don’t care about your valuation in Google, you can use all the linking schemes in the world if you so choose. The problem is that most people do care about their score in Google and many people view Google as the global Internet. Google can argue that they are simply policing their own private system but to millions of web users around the world, they are viewed as policing the Internet.
The Revolution
It’s not their fault. Google’s system was so good and their interface so simple, that millions of people started using it and never went back. They became the Internet. Search engines existed previously but had many flaws. Back then, millions of websites that provided answers to questions or sold solutions for problems went undiscovered to the vast majority of humanity. Google found them, ranked them, and then went on to check them frequently to make sure users were still likely to find what they wanted.
They made the world a better place until the laws of their kingdom began to contradict common sense. For example, it would seem practical for a video game company to buy a banner ad on a video game enthusiast web forum. They could benefit from the targeted traffic and hopefully sell some video games. But at the same time, Google might view this banner link as an attempt to manipulate their algorithm.
To resolve this dilemma, Google created a tagging system to allow their search crawlers to identify which links were paid for and then direct their algorithm to make sure the buyers did not benefit in search from them. This directive was controversial because it forced webmasters that cared about their rankings to worry about the nature of their outbound links. Could a website selling banner ads hurt both the buyer and the seller at the same time? They sure could. If buying and selling backlinks is forbidden, then both parties have something to worry about. Today, it is important to include the rel=”nofollow” attribute in html coded links that are paid for.
Since the majority of web users use Google in some way, the challenge and effort to achieve better placement has become a billion dollar industry. Prestigious advertising firms claim they can improve search placement using white hat guidelines Google itself created. The fact remains that there is no way to be safe, no matter how prestigious, knowledgeable, expensive, or innocuous the SEOer is. Having a page on a website that discusses a topic that another page on the same website already talks about can be grounds for a penalty. Interlinking your pages too much can be grounds for a penalty, discussing too many broad topics can be grounds for a penalty. Writing with imperfect english can be grounds for a penalty. Mentioning your product or service too many times in an article or throughout your website can be grounds for a penalty. Not using enough visual aids such as images or videos can be grounds for a penalty. Adding new content to the website too frequently can be grounds for a penalty.
Everybody’s Doing it
Smart webmasters approach the web like their health. Do everything in moderation. It seems like every year there is a study that proves a correlation between a daily household food item with a certain untimely death. We’ve all heard something like this before: “The study determined that people that eat less than 2 carrots a day are more likely to die before the age of 70 than people that eat 2 or more carrots per day.” It’s the kind of fear mongering that causes someone to worry obsessively about meeting the 2 carrot daily minimum only to get hit by a bus as they cross the street three decades before they turn 70. Webmasters can spend their days worried about how Google will view them and ultimately never be found by their potential customers or they can do what everyone else does and work on getting backlinks and add content to their websites.
Is a compliant website that is never found by customers better than a website that has a good run, makes a lot of money, but takes the risk of getting penalized in the end? Some believe it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Afterall, an online business that has no web visitors is not really a business is it?
White hatters, the SEOers that wrongly believe they are immune from repercussions argue that their strategies take far longer to create results because they are in it for the long haul. Coincidentally, these long-haul strategies tend to have a high monthly price, do not guarantee results, and cannot predict what changes Google will make in the future. For example, if an SEOer says their slow and steady method will take 6-12 months, the webmaster should understand that the ranking algorithm could change in 5 months. All the work performed could be rendered obsolete in the blink of an eye or worse, devalue the ranking further from where it was originally.
In the quest for a quick fix or even as part of a long-term strategy, SEOers can’t help but notice that websites maintained by news media seem immune to all the rules. They republish countless amounts of duplicate news reports and they buy and sell exposure like its going out of style. In a way, they are a multiplied version of everything Google says not to do. But while they might get tons of traffic from search engines, they are not entirely dependent on them. Big news media has incredible brand name recognition. An individual seeking information about the Fiscal Cliff may simply type “CNN.com” in the browser address bar and bypass Google altogether.
Companies like Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Fox, and CNN, etc. are highly authoritative and could be categorized as the holy grail of backlinks. If one of the major ranking factors is the importance of the website the link is on, then there is nothing more important than being mentioned by national mainstream news media. The media outlets know the perceived value of their links and are hungry to find new streams of revenue. Thus, an opportunity presented itself to them just as printed newspapers began going the way of the dinosaur. And so they began to peddle link juice.
The age of buying links is not dead and it is now much more difficult for Google to punish the parties involved. Webmasters can pay public relations firms to get a “company press release” published on big news media sites and get the backlink of course. This tactic has been around for years but it has become one of the last great bastions for white hat SEO. Others would argue that social media is the next frontier but for SEOers grinding it out in the trenches, traditional backlinks seem to work better above all else.
Many public relations firms have been warned by Google not to promote the backlinking aspect of their service, but all of them offer some kind of SEO package to target webmasters that are interested in using their service for the purpose of link juice. Searchengineland.com ran a great article that exposed what the press release as SEO tactic revolution has done to the news. (http://searchengineland.com/how-prweb-helps-distribute-crap-into-google-news-sites-140597)
There is now a surge in boring, irrelevant, and oftentimes non-sensical company announcements on big media sites across the Internet. It is a popular SEO method in many fields, making it difficult to find actual industry news amongst the clutter of backlink driven stories.
But if it works, then why stop? That of course implies that it works in the first place. Several days ago, Matt Cutts, the director of Webspam at Google informed inquisitive webmasters that links in these press release articles DON’T COUNT. Helpful SEOers explained to the original poster that most links in press releases have the no-follow attribute added to the links to make sure that they don’t pass juice. Upon our own examination however, we couldn’t find any news media or public relations firm that implements no-follow. It would probably hurt their bottom line if the junk releases they were peddling suddenly didn’t count for anything.
The debate rages on about whether or not the director of Webspam is to be trusted. Is the ranking algorithm as powerful as Google claims it is? Or are they spreading fear and misinformation to make up for their shortcomings? There is a lot of interesting feedback to consider in the comments section of seroundtable’s short article regarding press releases.
In the past, many webmasters have used obvious black hat techniques for favorable placement and gotten burned in the end. Many innocent websites have been caught in the crossfire. Success on the Internet is believed by many to be achieved only by being visible on Google.
The War
Individuals that have never managed a business website in their life have little idea how Google works. They know it will provide them with the answers they’re looking for and rank them in order from best to worst. To everyday users it is nothing short of magic. To an SEOer, being #1 for a search term may mean weeks, months, or years of trial, error, and patience. It requires time, money, or both. It is a tireless quest to become #1 or to die trying. It is the difference between getting 18.2% of visitors for a keyword searched 5,000,000 times a month or 1% of visitors for a keyword searched 100 times a month. It is a battle against not only Google, but against competitors in the same field that are using the same tricks to move up. It is a system that gives little guys a chance to be ranked alongside major corporations. It is way to be found in the sea of a trillion websites. But it is also a dictatorship. Google can sneak into your house in the middle of the night and banish you to page 50 with the accusation that you were buying backlinks. Google can lock the front door of your virtual store to prevent shoppers from getting in. Google can label non-native English speakers as spammmers and silence those that won’t stop writing about the same thing over and over again. This is the challenge with a single company being tasked with policing the entire Internet.
The Perks
There are alternatives out there like Bing and Yahoo, but the problem is that when people go to those sites, they tend to type Bing or Yahoo into Google just to get there. Such is the habit these days for getting anywhere on the web. In 2008, blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote about this phenomenon. He argued that mainstream users of the Internet do not even know how to navigate it. While tons of responders to the article seem to agree, there are plenty of folks that make a compelling case as to why using a search engine is superior to a browser’s address bar.
It isn’t easy typing https://debanked.com perfectly if you’re a fast typer, which might explain why a significant portion of our visitors type this url into Google instead. They want to get to the right place the first time even if they type it in wrong. They might not even be exactly sure what our website is called or how to spell it. It’s not uncommon to see incorrect urls somehow end up in our traffic reports anyway.
- Merchant Processing Esource
- Merchant Processing Source
- Merchant Processing Resources
- Merchant Proccesing Resource (2 Cs or 1s)
- Merchant Processor Resource
The list of mistakes continues, but Google points them in the right direction anyway. If this didn’t happen, we might seriously consider rebranding the site with a much shorter domain name. Unfortunately, in mid-2010 when Merchant Processing Resource started, we didn’t give much thought to the difficulty in remembering a 7-syllable name, nor the likelihood of miskeying a single character in a 34 character address (www.merchantprocessingresource.com). This shove in the right direction is a benefit that an address bar can’t offer.
Not Evil?
The user oriented focus of Google arguably ended once and for all on May 19, 2010, the day they went public. While #6 on the list of Google’s official philosophy is that “You can make money without doing evil,” shareholders may have qualms with #1. It states, “Focus on the the user and all else will follow.” This motto doesn’t scream maximum profit. Besides, being public doesn’t allow Google to focus on the user, but instead tasks them with increasing the value of their stock. Of course they can’t earn a profit if they disregard the users altogether and so they are faced with the challenge of maximizing profit without alienating their users.
Adhering to their own philosophy is tricky, not to mention that many state and national governments believe that Google is manipulating the results to promote their own products. Products? one might ask; What possible products does Google have? Oh you mean you haven’t heard of Maps/Earth, Youtube, Zagat, Google Reviews, Google Plus, Gmail, Blogger, Picasa, Google Wallet, Translate, the Droid OS, driverless cars, the Chrome web browser, or the many other products they control?
Google isn’t content with just controlling search. They want to control the entire Internet experience. Companies like Facebook threaten that monopoly and as such Google has made social networking a top priority to counter them. Not evil?
The Google universe is exhausting. Webmasters must do more than just design great websites to continue enjoying the luxury of being found. Paid links must be marked as no-follow, backlinks on bad websites must be disavowed, private pages must be marked as no-index, similar or duplicate content must be avoided, URLs must be descriptive, title tags should be relevant, HTML should be used over Flash, and moved pages should be redirected if for no other reason than to retain the page value of the original URL.
Is There Life After Dea.err…Google?
As we draw near our conclusion, we argue that Google continues to play a large role in Internet Marketing, but advise that Google is not the Internet, no matter how much you’ve come to believe otherwise. There is LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, web forums, blogs, email newsletters, and a zillion other places to promote oneself and be found. Too many people fail to utilize the infinite other opportunities to market themselves online simply because they believe ranking in Google is the only way or because they’ve received a penalty and give up. “Getting ranked” has become an all consuming challenge that blinds webmasters from their true goal of attracting customers. People bought products and services online before Google came around. They might make things easier for the average user that believes search results are a product of magic, but in reality they are just one of many systems to find things. They are an imperfect ecosystem that has become tainted by their motivation for profit. And let’s not forget the millions of white hatters and black hatters that are driving the algorithm wild as they seek better placement for themselves or their clients.
Do we care about Google? Certainly, but only about half of our visitors originate from the search engine. People actually see us mentioned on LinkedIn, Facebook, and actual trade publications. And guess what? Those people visit us, bookmark us, and return. There may come a day when Google decides too many incoming links from Facebook is grounds for a penalty, causing outrage among webmasters, a move that might force many to give the social network up, and even disavow it officially. White hatters could end up having to eat their white hats down the road. The whole system of the Internet will no longer seem to make any sense. Maybe a reality check is okay. Perhaps too many hours and megabytes are wasted on trying to gain favor with Google. So much junk exists out there these days that isn’t even meant to be read or followed, but rather exists for the sole purpose of gaining link juice. If a poorly designed website in China links to a good website in the U.S., should the webmaster have to spend time tracking it down, identifying it, and disavowing it just to appease the king? Does this make any sense?
The next time you spend $300-$500 on a press release with carefully crafted link text, think about whether or not Google is really going to reward you with placement for a search term. Their director of Webspam says you’re not going to score any points, yet you may believe otherwise. Consider how else that money could be spent online outside the context of Google SEO. Are you looking to attract customers or simply gain favor with a king that MIGHT lead to customers? Imagine for a minute that Google, Bing, and Yahoo have banished you from being found forever. Would you close up shop or start to think outside the box?
White hatters that read this may be mumbling to themselves that they need not think this way because they have a surefire strategy that works, something along the lines of “Content is King.” This “Content” revolution involves publishing tons of articles to ones website to give the impression to Google that a website is constantly being updated with helpful information. An SEOer will tell you that Google “wants” this. In reality though, this has created a new phenomenon, the practice of webmasters spamming their own websites. The content may be informative, well written, and on-topic but if it’s being done to please Google instead of making sales or helping visitors, then it’s really nothing more than the black hat trick of the day. “Content is King,” that is until it’s not because 100 million websites are doing the same thing, leading to a vast pile of junk in cyberspace.
People forget that the word ‘marketing’ exists in Internet Marketing. They focus their time and effort on Internet Manipulation. They either have systems to make a quick buck or they slowly march onwards towards a promise that can’t be kept. As we approach 2013, it remains true that Google can’t be ignored, but the rest of the global Internet shouldn’t be either. There are billions of people out there that are looking for what you offer and you need to learn how to reach them. Coincidentally, there are 100 million articles on the web that claim they can teach this very trade. 99 million of them exist for the purpose of getting a backlink. That means the information is questionable at best. Take a marketing course, read a marketing book, or hire a marketing consultant. Go back to the basics if you must. Plan for the day where you won’t exist in search even though your business exists in real life. If the moment comes where Google replaces the search results with only paid advertisements or you get penalized because you told all of your friends to link to your website, you can shrug it off. If you want to be in Internet Marketing for the long haul, stop thinking about search. Google can’t be your only web strategy forever.
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Find tons of great Matt Cutts memes here
A Great Thread That Discusses Business Survival Without Google
Is Print Media Dead? Why Small Business Owners Should Take a Second Look
November 11, 2012
Many small business owners may have thrown out the newspaper with the bath water when it comes to using print media as a marketing and promotion channel for their small business. Number one, most of us are pretty much convinced that print media is dead. Major newspapers that have been around for eons are dead or dying. Print magazines are failing or subscriptions are woefully down. On top of that there are literally hundreds of thousands of online social media specialists and bloggers out there tooting the digital horn not as “the way of the future” – but telling us that the future is now. Any small business owner out there not engaging in social media marketing isn’t only missing the boat, they’re on a sinking ship.
However, small business owners might want to take a second, and much closer, look at whether or not investing in print media still represents an opportunity to achieve a high rate of return for their particular business.
Print Media Can Hit Your Target
The most obvious example is a small local business owner. A business owner who serves a local community with distinct boundaries is targeting consumers and clients within that local jurisdiction. That local community may be at the neighborhood, small town, or even large municipal area. What is common to all local businesses is that oftentimes print media exists that provides a relatively low cost vehicle to promote their small business.
For example, small business owners in small towns are likely to get a pretty big bang for their buck promoting their business in their local small town newspaper. Many of these small town papers provide what could be classified as “hard journalism” reporting on local political and other town issues such as city budget and the like. However, a major focus in small town newspapers tends to be human interest articles that attract local readers. In turn, those articles attract specific types of readers.
For instance, often there will be a column dedicated to subjects such as gardening, cooking, local events, the environmental, the arts, books, and so on. Because the paper is so small, many local newspapers provide a greater opportunity to locate your ad near copy that relates to your small business, or that is read by people you’ve targeted as your most optimal customers or clients. If you’re a local hardware store, an ad located near the gardening article can be very effective. If you’re a local podiatrist or retail store selling running shoes, an ad near an article about a local 10K is a great opportunity. Most neighborhood and municipal newspapers offer this type or similar opportunities for ad placement.
Loyalty and Numbers Matter
Regarding reach of your small businesses’ ad, local print media can be a better option than promoting your local small business online. For one, many of these publications already have a very loyal readership. Any small business owner with even a modicum of experience creating an online presence can appreciate just how much effort, time, and (yes) money goes into creating a strong, loyal, and large following online. While social media is low cost, it isn’t “no cost.” Even if you’re not outsourcing social media activities (i.e. content creation, posting, replying, etc.) – you are paying a huge premium in time.
Equally important is that print advertising in many ways isn’t as limited as social media. You can get a whole lot more information in an ad in your local newspaper than an online banner ad. Additionally, advertising in your printed local publication can actually create more credibility for your small business. Consumers understand that print advertising comes at a cost and tend to assign credibility to businesses using print advertising. Consumers are savvy and know online banner ads can come pretty cheap – a print ad can effectively communicate your small business is both established and reliable.
Ironically, we’re going to provide you with the best argument for taking a second look at promoting and marketing your small business using print media with an online example. On their “About” page here is how one community paper describes themselves:
The College Park Community Paper has been in circulation since 1989. We are a monthly, full color, family friendly newspaper delivering the good news happening in College Park each month. The paper is delivered free of charge by mail to over 7,000 homes and businesses in the 32804 zip code which includes College Park and the Country Club of Orlando. Additional distribution is provided throughout the community and commercial district through the use of newspaper stands and counter top display. Additional exposure is garnered through our website which includes additional material not shown in the print edition.
You’ll also want to take a look at their ad rates here, but we use them as an example for quite another reason: they provide an excellent example of a small business integrating both on and offline channels to promote their small business, which can be not only a balanced approach, but an approach that provides the biggest bang for your buck.
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Forward?
November 8, 2012The election is over and now it seems we will be “Moving forward, not back.” The republicans that have already come to accept Romney’s defeat are sounding a lot like Sookie Stackhouse:
Onwards we go to help the little guy, a process many feel can’t happen until we end trickle-down economics. It’s the trickle part that doesn’t sound good. Money should flow freely gosh darn it, not trickle! We couldn’t agree more. Here’s a broad diagram of the economy at work:
It’s popular to hate Wall Street, but Wall Street provides small businesses with financing to expand, who in turn employ more people in the process. Wall Street is not just banks and Merchant Cash Advance companies. It is any party that has enough money to invest in others while being able to absorb potential losses. A private investor is Wall Street. Wealthy friends or family members are Wall Street.
Tax these parties more and there is less money to invest in small businesses which means fewer businesses will receive capital to expand and hire. Wall Street will make less money as a result of less money being invested and therefore tax revenue will decrease. With fewer businesses hiring, less people will be employed and therefore less people will be paying taxes. Taxing Wall Street more does not necessarily mean more net tax dollars.
This Darn Trickle
One can dislike the economic chain since the flow of money between parties may not happen perfectly or because it allows Wall Street to get richer. There is nothing wrong with the rich getting richer, so long as the middle class and poor get richer too. If small businesses use the money invested by Wall Street wisely, they too will eventually become Wall Street. The amount of new jobs created as a result of a small business’s success means more wage earners will have a shot at becoming small businesses. In economics, a wide divide between rich and poor can be positive, for it creates a ladder that anyone can climb with no cap.
Empower the Little Guy
There is a competing theory and that is to believe that the economic chain starts with middle class wage earners. One could argue to significantly lower taxes on the middle class and the poor and impose much higher taxes on the rich. By doing so, consumers would have more money to spend at small businesses, prompting those small businesses to draw up plans to expand. That expansion capital still needs to come from somewhere and less of it will be there if Wall Street has been further taxed. Perhaps a small business could save money for a few years and use their savings to self-finance their own expansion. Under this theory, everyone becomes part of a very broad middle class. The extremes disappear.
Whoops
When the extremes disappear, there will be few investors with the capability to make large investments or investments that are particularly risky. A small business owner could save up for several years and open a 2nd location without an investment, but could he open 200 nationwide? Not without Wall Street. How many jobs will be created by the opening of 1 store? How many would be created by the opening of 200?
Now calculate how much new tax revenue is generated in each scenario, as well as the number of people that move up from being poor and unemployed to middle class and employed.
When the rich aren’t getting richer, the other classes can’t really move up either. Everyone stays in a broad middle class and innovation and advancements decline. The consumer or small business owner with a potential $100 million innovative idea won’t be able to raise the capital to see it through. How can they when the rich have been prevented from becoming really rich? What if they had a $10 billion idea?
One could argue as a single class society, that a $100 million idea or $10 billion idea could be financed by the government. This is true. It is also textbook state socialism. A one class society is also the premise of Marxism, where everyone is getting their needs met through cooperative work.
Marxism ignores the realities of a global economy. Ultimately, Americans need to obtain resources from other nations, and stay ahead technologically so as not to be conquered by outside forces. A classless society is a stale society, with no economic movement, social movement, or technological advancements.
How will the Merchant Cash Advance Market be Affected?
Merchant Cash Advance companies typically invest in businesses with less than 50 employees. Under Obamacare, any business with less than 50 employees does NOT HAVE to provide health insurance. This program may not affect the business as a whole, but the law mandates that all individuals purchase health insurance for themselves if they don’t have coverage already. Small business owners in the MCA market may be incrementally stressed by having to purchase health insurance. Their employees will be further stressed by having to buy it as well. As a result, wages may need to go up to help workers pay for their own insurance and less money will be available to grow and hire.
The total public debt outstanding has exceeded $16 trillion. That debt has to be paid for somehow and it is more likely than ever that Wall Street is going to have to pay up. This will not stimulate growth and as such, the economy is not likely to pick up any time soon.
Traditional lenders are going to remain quiet while the alternative lenders are going to power through it. A business could save up for three years and open a 2nd location or it could open it today with a Merchant Cash Advance. In three years, the location they want may no longer be available and that individual looking for a job will have run out of unemployment benefits long ago.
A Merchant Cash Advance helps small businesses expand today, hire today, generate more tax revenue for the government today, and helps everyone move up the economic ladder. Baby steps are better than none at all. What starts with a 2nd location may lead to a dream of owning 200 locations nationwide. They’ll need a bigger fish than MCA to get there. Let’s make sure we don’t tax those fish to death.
What do you think Michael?
Forward!
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Best Tip EVER to Start Your Business
November 5, 2012Our website offers lots of advice on operating a business, merchant cash advance, and merchant processing, but nothing matches the wisdom we gained when we encountered this sign. Starting your business? Here is a great tip to ensure its a success!
Can a Broken Window Be a Good Thing?
November 2, 2012
There’s a ton of controversy right now as to whether or not the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy will, or will not, serve to stimulate the economy.
Obviously there are two camps: one says Sandy is stimulating and the other days it isn’t. It would appear that the only thing we can be sure Sandy is stimulating is controversy over whether or not it will serve as a boon to what many see as our nation’s less-than stellar economic recovery (at least in the areas devastated by the storm.)
But this debate isn’t limited to people duking it out on Facebook using terms such as “jerk” and “idiot” to prove their point (otherwise known as an ad hominem, or “against the man” argument that confuses name calling with intelligent debate.) We’ve got some serious academic economic theory out on the table.
On one hand you’ve got your Keynesians (20th century economist John Maynard Keynes gave us the theory.) Keynesians were/are considered “revolutionary” in that they deny the ability of a free economy to “fix” or stabilize itself and instead feel that, in order for an economy to consistently support full employment and stable prices government must implement policies that stabilize prices and create full employment scenarios.
On the other hand you’ve got economists who support a “laissez-faire” economy. (18th century economist Adam Smith provided us with this theory.) Adams and his adherents felt that since human beings are guided by self-interest as long as you leave the economy alone (i.e. no government intervention) the result will be a balanced, self-regulating economy because that is the state of economy that best serves self interest.
And then we’ve got Frédéric Bastiat. Ironically he happens to be a great defender of laissez-faire economics. We say ironic as it is his “Parable of the Broken Window” that tells us that, in fact, destruction, whether it be caused by natural forces (such as Hurricane Sandy) or man (such as wars) do not stimulate the economy by creating more business (and therefore more jobs.) Bastiat included the story in an essay entitled “The Seen and the Unseen.” Here’s the short version of the parable:
The Seen: A boy breaks a store window. The owner now pays for a new window, which creates income for the glazier.
The Unseen: Because the store owner has to fix his (or her) window, he (or she) now doesn’t have money to invest in the growth of their business – or for anything else they might have spent it on.
In other words, Bastiat’s theory is that destruction doesn’t create more income, it simply reallocates income. Obviously, if this is true, disasters that cause mass destruction don’t stimulate the economy.
As far as the battle between laissez-faire and Keynesian economists are concerned, for our purposes let’s just say the jury is still out, especially after suffering through this last (or current depending on who you listen to) economic debacle. On the one hand, Keynesians can gloat over seemingly infinite corporate greed that resulted in lost homes as well as lost jobs – on the other hand, those who live on the laissez-faire side of the street can gleefully cite how President Obama’s stimulus package perhaps did nothing more than (as Bastiat might say) help us see that the economy was “worse than we realized.”
Back to Bastiat
Whether or not laissez-faire or Keynesian policy should be pursued in the effort to cure the economy really isn’t the point as related to the impact of Hurricane Sandy – at least for the purpose of this article. What is at hand is whether or not Bastiat was right. However, perhaps we’ve left out an important economic theory. And that would be Darwinian, or “evolutionary economics.”
There is no getting around the fact that evolutionary economics is pretty darn complex. Evolutionary economists like to use a lot of math – especially something called game theory which uses math to explain/describe what might appear to be “irrational” economic choices or events.
However, one thing we can all understand is that evolutionary economics uses methods and ideas similar to those used to study biological evolution. And most of us are very familiar with the evolutionary concept of “survival of the fittest.”
Just for a minute let’s suppose that two store owners find that someone broke their window (destruction.)
The Seen: Both hire a glazier to fix their window (and we see the glazier benefit.)
The Unseen Store Owner #1: Poor guy (or gal) is forced to use money previously identified to be used to pay for an ad in the local newspaper to promote an upcoming sale. Now that the cash is gone, the store owner responds by throwing up their hands in despair.
The Unseen Store Owner #2: Decides to take President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt’s advice and “Do the best I can, with what I’ve got, where I’m at.” Knowing the ad is now out of the question, and without any funds left to promote the upcoming sale, she (or he) decides to use the new window to showcase the sale.
The store owner pulls out every old decoration from every holiday or special event sale from the back room and decorates the new, clear as a bell storefront window. She (or he) then gets on Facebook and Twitter and announces a contest to come up with a name for a sale that encompasses every holiday and special event known to man. The contest winner will receive $200 to donate to their favorite community charity. She (or he) contacts every existing customer via email to inform them of the upcoming sale and contest and asks them to spread the word.
The local community newspaper (ironically the one that the paid ad would have run in) picks up the story. The sale is a huge success. Too many people assume that “fittest” always means strongest. Wrong. “Fit” means the organism that is best able to adapt when the environment changes.
Obviously Store Owner #2 fits that bill. The moral is that, no matter what the “disaster”, be it hurricane or recession, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best or hoping the government will save you are not your only two choices. One choice will always be yours to make, and that is choosing to do the best you can, with what you’ve got, where you’re at.
Guest Author
– Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
It’s a Mad, Mad World
October 18, 2012
You aren’t going to find too many people who would disagree that things have gotten a bit crazy lately. We’ve got a crazy economy going, so why not employ a bit of crazy when it comes to promoting your small business in a crazy economy?
Think that be a bit of a naïve approach to attracting business? Maybe not.
Recently Old Navy added a little bit of crazy to the tried and true idea of a coupon when it created a “human coupon” to celebrate reaching 5 million fans on Facebook. Liberty Tax Service, while a big company, knew it couldn’t compete with H&R Block’s intensive television ad campaign, so they added their own little bit of crazy and instead dressed people up like the Statue of Liberty to direct traffic going by to their storefront. And let’s not forget all the hoopla Macy has been able to tweek out of their Thanksgiving parade for the last 80 years?
Still not convinced? How about a little case study on Sir Richard Branson? The man built a business empire using “crazy stunts” to bring attention to the “Virgin” brand. These stunts were perhaps a bit “larger” than most small business owners are capable of pulling off (you most likely can’t fund crossing the Atlantic ocean in a hot air balloon, or build an “aquaticar” and make history traveling from London to Paris in literally record time.) But you can’t deny that Brandon’s billions make a credible case for crazy.
OK, so maybe you’re not ready to dress like a chicken (or hire someone to dress like a chicken. Here are few approaches to crazy you might want to consider for your small business:
Organize a protest. Most everyone has either driven by or watched a “protest” on the evening news. How about staging a protest at your small business? What might you protest? How about carrying signs protesting “This business puts the customer first!” Or, “They actually helped me find something.” Or, “I called and a human being answered!”
Sponsor a crazy contest. This is a cool one because it can be conducted online as well as offline. For example, if you’re an office supply company or a professional organizer how about a “Messiest Desk” contest? The winner receives organizational products or a half hour consultation.
Crazy Customer of the Month. No, the customer doesn’t win if they’re crazy – in this case it is the award that’s crazy. For instance, a “Crazy Happy Customer of the Month.” Or, “Techie Customer of the Month.” Or, “Best Dressed Customer of the Month.” Take pictures and hang plaques.
Crazy Building Decorations. If you own the building, or it is OK in your lease, how about using your building to help your business stand out? A company in South Africa hung multi-colored sandals on a tree outside their building making it “bloom.” If you’re a financial planner it might be pretty effective to do the same to the tree in front of your office with fake 100 dollar bills.
Some businesses might find the above doesn’t mirror their brand. But you can still get a little crazy. Even the stodgiest consultancy can promote themselves by asking people to post pics of “crazy ties” on their Facebook page. Or hand out coffee cups that say something along the lines of “I got this for staying awake the longest at our last staff meeting.”
Sometimes crazy makes crazy good business sense.
– Guest Author
Merchant Processing Resource
https://debanked.com
Legal Questions about Merchant Financing?
October 9, 2012
“Many merchant advance agreements state that the sales agent can only send merchant advance contracts to the one merchant advance company. It is important to identify such exclusivity terms and make sure they are deleted from the agreement. Just to make sure, you would also want to add a provision that states unequivocally that the relationship is non-exclusive. Otherwise, if you send merchant advance contracts to a competitor, the merchant advance company that thinks you are exclusive could use that act as a reason to termination your compensation under the agreement.”
– Paul A. Rianda
Whether you’re an agent, ISO, or funder, you will at some point need sound legal advice. There is very little information on the Internet and hiring an attorney is expensive (though we highly recommend it!). If you feel like you just need a little guidance, we recommend you check out the publications by Paul A. Rianda, an attorney that has worked extensively in the bankcard and merchant financing industry. Below are a few articles that everybody should read:
