[MCNetwork]

Here are just 6 keywords and the number of monthly searches for each one:


Working capital: 27,000 monthly searches
Business loan: 6,600
Business loans: 18,100
Small business loan: 5,400
Small business loans: 45,000
Merchant cash advance: 3,600

Those are just a small fraction of search terms, and there are thousands of other keywords (as well as long tail search terms). And that only represents Google searches and not other engines.

Absolutely correct. Now tell me the cost per click of those terms for a PPC campaign and how much your average ISO would have to spend in order to rank a site properly (first 2 pages of Google). Then tell me how much it would cost and length of time to rank a website for all the industry long tail keywords to even get a miniscule slice of that volume. And then tell me what percentage of those searches are from people who even remotely qualify for a business loan (Hint: most of those clicks are from startups, no matter how well your ads are worded to discourage them from clicking). It's not pretty. That's why unless you have incredibly deep pockets and are willing to suffer through a negative ROI for a few years until your SEO campaigns are dialed in and renewals kick in, cold calling will always remain the most consistent way for a small shop to make it in the MCA industry. If they try to launch a PPC campaign they will be bankrupt after buying a few hundred clicks. The MCA/business loan keywords are among the most expensive search terms in Google...

[WestCoastFunding]

Absolutely correct. Now tell me the cost per click of those terms and how much your average ISO would have to spend in order to rank properly (first 2 pages of Google). Then tell me how much it would cost and length of time to rank a website for all the industry long tail keywords to even get a meaningful slice of that volume. And then tell me what percentage of those searches are from people who even remotely qualify for a business loan (Hint: most of those clicks are from startups, no matter how well your ads are worded to discourage them from clicking). It's not pretty. That's why unless you have incredibly deep pockets and are willing to suffer through a negative ROI for a few years until your SEO campaigns are dialed in and renewals kick in, cold calling will always remain the most consistent way for a small shop to make it in the MCA industry.

Who said anything about cost per click? High quality white hat SEO costs..... nothing.

Say it again: NOTHING.

If you are capable of putting together effective long tail SEO you will rank within months. And all it takes is high-quality content and elbow grease.

Like I said, it's 2017. If you're considering buying a car, do you wait around for a cold-caller, or do you use the internet to search? And where are things trending more and more everyday?

Do as you wish. Just understand when people say "the only way to market is the way we've been doing it for 10 years" are people that miss the boat when disruption happens.

[MCNetwork]

White hat SEO in the hyper competitive MCA/business loan industry will take 12 to 18 months to rank properly. Hell, it takes 6 months for a new site just to get out of Google's sandbox. Even then, once you rank most of your clicks will still be from start ups. Just don't give up your full time job if you'll be relying on leads from white hat SEO.

[WestCoastFunding]

White hat SEO in the hyper competitive MCA/business loan industry will take 12 to 18 months to rank properly. Even then, most of your clicks will still be from start ups. Just don't give up your full time job if you'll be relying on leads from white hat SEO.

Maybe it took 18 months for you. And maybe your SEO led to people seeking startup financing. But that just means you weren't/aren't doing it right.

As for white hat SEO being competitive, sure. Which is why long tail SEO is so important: it represent the majority of searches and isn't nearly as competitive.

But how competitive in cold calling? And it's competition for an extremely small slice of the business loan market.

[MCNetwork]

But how competitive in cold calling? And it's competition for an extremely small slice of the business loan market.

Cold calling is extremely competitive. This is sales after all. What did you expect? If you don't have a competitive bone in your body, sales is not for you. Stick to your white hat SEO. There are many six figure MCA cold callers out there who would show you what is possible in this industry if you just roll up your sleeves and work hard.

[WestCoastFunding]

Cold calling is extremely competitive. This is sales after all. What did you expect? If you don't have a competitive bone in your body, sales is not for you. Stick to your white hat SEO. There are many six figure MCA cold callers out there who would show you what is possible in this industry if you just roll up your sleeves and work hard.

No one disagrees. This was about Karen stating that cold calling, and only cold calling, works. And nothing else. I disagreed with her. Feel free to continue dialing away.

But it's nice to see that you've moved-on to providing lectures about the grit needed for competition, immediately after a diatribe in which you complained about SEO being too "hyper-competitive". Incredible consistency.

[MCNetwork]

But it's nice to see that you've moved-on to providing lectures about the grit needed for competition, immediately after a diatribe in which you complained about SEO being too "hyper-competitive". Incredible consistency.

I was just debunking your claim that white hat SEO is your solution for success. I know that it's nonsense because I've actually been working on it for years with various ISO's and I've seen how it became less effective over the years. I've always been a strong believer of cold calling and that's why I jumped to Karen37's defense.

[WestCoastFunding]

I was just debunking your claim that white hat SEO is your solution for success. I know that it's nonsense because I've actually been working on it for years with various ISO's and I've seen how it became less effective over the years. I've always been a strong believer of cold calling and that's why I jumped to Karen37's defense.

As I said previously: that just means you/they weren't doing it right.

[MCNetwork]

duplicate post

[Karen37a]

No one disagrees. This was about Karen stating that cold calling, and only cold calling, works. And nothing else. I disagreed with her. Feel free to continue dialing away.

But it's nice to see that you've moved-on to providing lectures about the grit needed for competition, immediately after a diatribe in which you complained about SEO being too "hyper-competitive". Incredible consistency.

# 1 West
I never said that cold calling and only cold calling is the only thing that works. You lie again . YOU said that cold calling doesn't work.Even a blind squirrel can find a nut in any method.

You can walk into a bar to have a drink and some drunk crying in his beer says he needs money for his business for inventory BUT THAT IS NOT THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO GET CLIENTS.

Most importantly you cant have a huge team teaching them to walk into bars to find clients.Or doing costly lead generation programs that take months to cultivate.( and for low % returns )

If Seo was the end all be all of everything THEY WOULDNT NEED ISO's, they would have their it team get leads , or tv commercials..poof done

Stop being stupid already, you are showing that you are a 1 man shop or feed leads at 1% to your underlings

** the best way for new people or most people to do business is to pick up the phone, whether you like it or not

unless you are the one selling the seo system or book on seos and avoiding cold calls


# 2 I agree with MCNetwork and he is great in sales

[MCNetwork]

Lots of things work in this industry. Cold calling, mailers, SEO, PPC, co-marketing and joint ventures, referral relationships, outsourced telemarketing, television, radio, print, ISO recruitment, network marketing, feet on the street and billboards just to name a few. You just have to pick the channels that give you the most bang for your buck and optimize the hell out of them. For Karen37 and many others, cold calling yields the best results. No one can question that it is the least expensive channel by far. To each his own.

[WestCoastFunding]

Lots of things work in this industry. Cold calling, mailers, SEO, PPC, co-marketing and joint ventures, referral relationships, outsourced telemarketing, television, radio, print, feet on the street and billboards just to name a few. You just have to pick the channels that give you the most bang for your buck and optimize the hell out of them. For Karen37 and many others, cold calling yields the best results. To each his own.

I absolutely agree 100%. I've seen a lady that does nothing but go door-to-door, make a fortune by simply landing a ton of restaurants in which the owners had limited English skills.

[MCNetwork]

Lol ok

[WestCoastFunding]

I don't know, you seem to have some sort of tic where you admit that many things work, right before retreating to the same insistence that things don't work.

[MCNetwork]

I don't know, you seem to have some sort of tic where you admit that many things work, right before retreating to the same insistence that things don't work.

Because while those things "work" (in terms of getting new clients) to some degree, very few of them are actually worth pursuing by smaller ISOs. Half of those campaigns will give you a negative ROI (you know how much a billboard in a major city costs??) and the others will provide too few leads on their own for an ISO to survive comfortably. Cold calling still provides the highest ROI because you're really just paying for sweat equity. White hat SEO is important but it's a longer term play and not something to rely on for consistently good lead flow. Rather it's usually just one smaller component of an ISOs overall marketing strategy.

[MCNetwork]

I agree that calling UCCs is a rough business and I would certainly never advocate cold calling from the Yellow Pages. That's why I do neither. My company has a different value proposition to offer merchants compared to the other ISOs here so my pitch is very different. Cash advances and business loans only comprise 20% of my company's revenue. The rest comes from assorted business services (website development, SEO, brand management). I've found a niche that works well for me and that gives me a leg up on your average cold calling MCA broker.

[jotucker1983]

I agree that calling UCCs is a rough business and I would certainly never advocate cold calling from the Yellow Pages. That's why I do neither. My company has a different value proposition to offer merchants compared to the other ISOs here so my pitch is very different. Cash advances and business loans only comprise 20% of my company's revenue. The rest comes from assorted business services (website development, SEO, brand management). I've found a niche that works well for me and that gives me a leg up on your average cold calling MCA broker.

Archie, well buddy we are technically saying the same thing for the most part lol.

You are using completely different marketing strategies (from leading in with different products to using different channels/mediums) than the bulk of reps out here calling out of the Yellow Pages or calling UCC data pushing "working capital". This is the same recommendation I'm making.

[WestCoastFunding]

"unless you are the one selling the seo system or book on seos and avoiding cold calls[/I]"

Lmao.
WTF is an "SEO system"? Do you believe SEO something you plug-in? Does it connect to the "intertubes"?

As I've said previously, Karen, you're a dinosaur from the past.

[WestCoastFunding]

"And I was a partner in a small stock brokerage firm in the 90's I do not need anyone to tell me what I already know lol. Then another Finance company after that for 10 years.

Yet, here you are 25 years later cold calling storefronts.

[Karen37a]

Yet, here you are 25 years later cold calling storefronts.

There he goes again. hating this business,merchant cash brokers and sales people.. Learn what "lead from the front" in sales means

tisk tisk, putting down all the brokers on this site that call merchants, yet YOU are the one to give advice

[Karen37a]

I have a computer science degree from the 80's from an actual college. Not taking a seo course like you then spouting the benefits of it all over the net to newbies. Again go try your degrading tactics. on your wife , gf or gay lover

"Seo system" was a joke about you thinking you have the answers to things.

Anyway...go make a sale

[WestCoastFunding]

There he goes again. hating this business,merchant cash brokers and sales people.. Learn what "lead from the front" in sales means

tisk tisk, putting down all the brokers on this site that call merchants, yet YOU are the one to give advice

More phony outrage. Didn't put down MCA brokers. Just you.

[WestCoastFunding]

I have a computer science degree from the 80's from an actual college.

If you had an ounce of self-awareness, you'd understand how hysterically funny that is.

[jotucker1983]

Guys these constant back-and-forth bickering matches do absolutely nothing in terms of productivity.

Can we get back to the actual discussion of strategic marketing and planning? That's a productive discussion that benefits everybody watching.

[Karen37a]

I agree John

Now I will move on...Sales to close,brokers on my team are dialing and closing as well.

Big Month coming up $$$$$$$

March is a great month for closing sales...

Make this the best months of your lives !