Collections Insider

I’m Jan, a veteran collections professional and owner of Your Collection Solution, LLC and I’m excited to finally have this opportunity to share my business and personal experiences about the world of collections and topics that surround it. There are many educational and often humorous topics to speak of and this is my outlet to vent a little and help creditors and businesses along the way with their own collection issues.

I’m looking forward to share with you. 

Getting a money judgment against someone is only part of collecting what’s due to you. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the years many of my clients have asked if Final Notices are required prior to account placement with a collection agency. The answer is no – you are not required to send a Final Notice prior to placing your claim with a collection agency. However some of my clients have found that this step brings them positive results, as the threat of sending the claim to a collection agency can inspire the debtor/customer to finally contact them with payment arrangements. So are they effective? Sometimes. Some of my clients like sending Final Notices because this step makes them feel like they have done everything they could before placing the claim with a collection agency. The last attempt to get the debtor/customer’s attention also helps the client to feel better about having to pay a collection agency.

If you choose to send a final notice make sure to use concrete time frames and consequences. A final notice could say something like this, “This is your Final Notice. You have until July 10, 2007 to contact our office with payment arrangements. Otherwise your file will be referred to our collection agency.” Be sure to stick to your deadline and forward the claim to your collection agency immediately after the deadline, so that the debtor/customer knows that you mean business. Wishy washy behavior will send the message to the debtor/customer that there are no real consequences for their behavior. Think of the Final Notice as another collection tool and if you’re going to use it, use it well.

Recently I was going through my e-mails from ACA International, a trade association for credit and collection professionals. I came across a recommendation for a book written by Brian Tracy called “Goals!” I did what I normally do; I immediately went to Half.com to search for the book to see what it was going for. I’m not one to pay full price for books. I found the book at Half.com for $4.00 or $5.00 so I ordered it. I figured I had nothing to lose except for a few dollars. I had been looking for something to help me organize my work day and to help manage the growth of my collection agency more efficiently. I was not expecting the additional gifts I received by reading “Goals!” Not only did this book help me to organize my work day but it helped me organize my thoughts and my life. I immediately put Tracy’s suggestions to work and they helped me tremendously. Putting my day in order, setting up small goals throughout the day and asking myself if this task is taking me where I want to be in my career seems pretty basic but I think we get lost in the flow of the day. Things weren’t always getting done and now they are. I have also used his techniques in my personal life and find that my time is no longer wasted but utilized in a way that brings me joy. Don’t misunderstand, Tracy’s ideas aren’t innovative but his simple style and direct way of writing gets you back on track and sometimes that’s all you need. This book gave me a shot of confidence to try harder. Tracy reminded me that only I know what I want and what direction I want to take my business, career and life. I think this book is great for new entrepreneurs and for those of us who have been around the block but need a mild kick in the pants to help us refocus. Tracy also has a great web site http://www.briantracy.com/. He offers free newsletters and you can purchase his books there as well. Enjoy!!!

Many clients approach me about collection claims but they have no supporting documentation to prove their claim. Collection agencies need proof that the debt exists. Simply saying they owe you money is not enough. Debtors can request proof of the claim and collection agencies must provide this proof if asked. There is no way around this fact. My suggestion is to use contracts, applications, leases, rental agreements, rental applications etc. Get your debtors information upfront. Don’t do business with a handshake. This form of a “contract” makes it difficult for the collection agency when the debtor defaults. Be sure to use invoices when billing your customers. Invoices can also be used as proof of your claim. If a client approaches me about handling a claim without proof I normally recommend they take the matter to court. A judge will then make a decision based on the testimony of each party. If a judgment is issued to my client then we can pursue the debtor on the client’s behalf as the matter has been decided in a court of law and makes the debt valid.

I always recommend making a copy of each check that you process. The reason is should your customer default at any time you now have their bank account information. Once you take a customer/debtor to court and a judgment is awarded in your favor you have the right to levy on your debtor’s bank account, with the help of a Marshal or Sheriff. This makes collecting your debt quick and easy. There are of course exemptions and differences in the collection law based on the state your judgment is entered so talk with your collection agency or attorney about the process.

No one likes to add a step to their accounting procedures, it’s time consuming enough. However I can assure you this is a very important step should your accounts wind up in collections.

Working alone all day can be isolating and surviving the loneliness can be tough. Even the most independent introvert craves the company of others occasionally. Your whole day is spent focused on your work and even when you take a break there is no one around to make idol conversation with. There are many creative things that you can do to make your day less lonely. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Schedule lunch with a client or a friend once a month.
2. Post a favorite photo or inspirational quote at your desk.
3. Find out if there is something going on at lunch time that you can attend. Such as music in the park or lunch time networking hosted by your local Chamber of Commerce group or other business groups. This gives you an opportunity to network for your business and socialize with people.
4. Schedule a lunch time phone call once a week with a friend.
5. Join your local Chamber of Commerce. There are events scheduled throughout the month that will get you out of the office and again this works two fold, you can network and socialize. You can pick and choose how involved you would like to be.
6. Have an e-mail conversation with a friend or client.
7. Subscribe to a few e-newsletters.
8. Stop at your favorite coffee shop on your way to the office.
9. Volunteer for a local charity. There are so many ways you can donate your time. You feel good and other folks benefit from your generosity and concern.
10. Go for a walk at lunch or join the local gym.
11. If the environment allows play some music while you work or have some sort of background noise; a television playing low, if you’re not distracted or a fan.

Whatever activities you choose, make sure they bring you joy and help keep you centered.

Every small business with a website desires page #1 results in Google and other major search engines to bring in the business. However, if you are like many unfortunate small business owners, it is only just that, a desire. In this multi-part article series, I’ll break down the essentials in simple layman’s terms to educate even the non-computer savvy person on how to get better results from your website.

So what are better results? Obviously, having business generated via your website. But before you can make it right and find more traffic, you have to know what’s wrong first.

Harmony in website design is Golden Rule #1

Presentation to a search engine is meaningless, but certainly important to website users. Search engines only see text as content, not pictures or images with words in them. People see the opposite and often make decisions based on presentation. Harmony with both design and content optimization must exist for a website to be successful.

Whether you built your own website or spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have it done for you, don’t assume that a pretty, professional looking design should merit a page #1 placement in search engine results.

There are web designers and search engine optimization specialists. Usually, both don’t exist together in harmony due to differences in opinion. The professionals in the industry can do both and are often in high demand. Therefore their services are often expensive. Most web designers are only concerned about page design and customer interaction and usually lack search engine optimization knowledge. On the flip side, search engine optimizers usually lack designing skills and generally lose out to designers who build pretty pages. Business clients often fear having a website “being too cluttered with text” and feel that images, pictures and presentation build perception and trust. There is no doubt that good presentation builds perception, however it is completely useless if your website isn’t found in the first place. That’s where optimization comes into play.

Some of the ugliest but successful websites ever known place on page #1 for free in Google’s search results. Why? Generally speaking, they usually have good content and other relevant websites link to it. They also have frequent visits by search engine spiders (explained below) looking for updated content. These are but a few reasons as to why they do well, however they are some of the most important reasons.

Invite some friendly creepy-crawly spiders!

Search engines employ “spiders”, their own automated web search, that constantly searches or “crawls” the entire world-wide web over and over again to find websites and updated website content. If and when they find your website, they try to establish your theme based on titles and content, schedule a time to revisit more of your website content and follow your links to see what else it can find. The more a web spider “crawls” your website files, the more important your website appears to that search engine and the higher your website places in the search results for your keywords.

To gain a better perspective, here’s a link to a website containing free and wonderful website research tools. This link Search Engine Spider Simulator will show you results similar to what a search engine spider “sees” when it crawls your website. Can you read your content and does it make sense? If not, don’t worry too much as you are in the majority.

When was the last time your website was crawled? Try this: search for your website in Google by only typing your website address (example: yourwebsite.com) in the search window, not in the top address window. Your website should come up first in the free search results area. If not, then Google may not even know your website exists. No wonder you’re not getting web traffic! Simply put, if you are not listed in Google, your business website really doesn’t exist to your potential customers. Statistics prove that Google is by far the most respected and therefore the most used search engine in existence. You need to be in Google if you wish to compete online. As for other search engines, at the time of this authoring, MSN ranks second, then Yahoo!, then the rest.

If your website does come up in the Google search, click on the blue “Cached” link under your description. On the page that opens, Google will tell you when it last crawled your website. Check this regularly. If it’s been longer than one month on average, you are not very important to Google and likely other search engines as well. Your website would rank much higher if it was visited more often. You can’t control the visit schedule, but you can make changes to your website to peak the spider’s interest to want to come back more often. I’ll focus more on this in a later article.

What to look for and what to do

So what can I do right now you ask? Start with a simple evaluation of your website then get with your webmaster and make some changes. Here’s a list of the top 10 simple but common mistakes I find. This should get you started for now:

1. Wrong title used in the title bar at the top-left of the browser window. Is your business name in here, or even better, does it say Home Page? It shouldn’t be either unless that is your keyword or key phrase people search for.
2. Your domain name is renewed every year with your registrar as opposed to expiring beyond five years or more. Year-by-year renewal doesn’t show a stable domain. Contact your domain registrar and extend your renewal date today!
3. Your business name, keywords or important logo text is placed inside an image. Search engines can’t read images. To test this, try to select, then copy and paste the text in question. If you can’t, it’s part of the image and not readable by a search engine.
4. Too many pictures or images, ads, and not enough content. Images and pictures should also have a little yellow box giving alternate text in case the images can’t be viewed.
5. Navigation links don’t contain keywords or are made of images.
6. Too many keywords making both the content read poorly and search engines marking it off as spam.
7. No theme established to explain the website content. Would you read a book if you didn’t know what the title meant?
8. No document title hierarchy and improper structure.
9. Geographical advertising area keywords not used correctly.
10. Poor keyword use, poor placement, or lack of key phrases in the content.
11. Wrong content used. In other words, doesn’t relate to the website theme at all.
12. Lack of inbound links from websites that relate to your content.

In the articles to follow, I’ll break down each of these areas and explain how to make the needed corrections. Of course, I’ll use plenty of examples to help any beginner make those needed changes. Keep in mind that these are not the only search engine optimization techniques used, just a short list of the most basic ones that can make a huge impact on small business websites not already utilizing them.

About the author: John Kelly is a free lance web designer and search engine optimization specialist. His niche is small business website optimization and consultation. He is also the webmaster and I.T. specialist for YourCollectionSolution.com.

In my first article, I introduced a minimum of twelve mistakes commonly found with small business websites resulting in poor search engine rankings. In part two, I’ll break down each of these areas in more detail and provide a few examples for clarification.

To be found online, your website’s content and a proper design around it is key. In other words, building a website with the mindset of being found in a search is the first priority. But don’t panic, your current website may not need to be entirely redesigned. It may only require some enhancements to its content and structure.

I know what some of you are thinking: “I don’t know how to make changes to my website”. If that’s the case, you hired a webmaster or you know someone to make changes to your site, correct? Okay! Problem solved, now let’s move on.

In order to begin to take account of your current website’s issues, there are questions you need to ask yourself first:

1. Where is my targeted ad area geographically? In other words, are you looking for business in just your city, state or region or are you national or world-wide?
2. What is the ultimate goal of your website? Is it to click on a shopping cart link that leads to a purchase, complete a Contact Us form, a simple phone call?
3. What are keywords and key phrases used in your business? For example: if you are an attorney in New Jersey and you want to target Personal Injury cases, then “Personal Injury Lawyer/Attorney New Jersey” is your main keyword phrase to build upon.
4. Once you know your keywords and key phrases, do you know your competition found ranking higher than you for the same search terms? Make a list of the top websites that rank on page #1 of the search results. In my next article, I’ll show you how to examine their site to see why they are there and how you can learn from them.

Mistake #1: Wrong title used in the title bar.
Open your website online. Look at the very top left of the screen. In the blue bar in white lettering above your web browser window you will see what is called your title bar. This is also the same text link your customers click on when they find you in their search results. Usually I’ll find “Home Page” or just a non-keyworded business name. If your business name does contain keywords or a key phrase, by all means use it. Would you like to see just how important the title tag is? Search the words used in your title bar now and watch what happens. You may be surprised at the results.

The title tag, as it’s known in HTML language, is probably the most important yet often misunderstood and often overlooked optimization trick known. The content you see here MUST contain your first two, three or four keywords and relate to the theme of your website. It shouldn’t be longer than roughly 60 characters, and avoid using special characters. It is okay to separate keywords with the pipe character “|” though. Don’t just change the title tag on your home page either. Change it on every page to reflect that page’s content. This gives you more landing pages to be found in a search.

The title tag looks like this in your source code: <title>Your Website Title</title>. You can view your source code (but not edit it) by going to “View” on the top browser window menu, click “Source”. What you now see is your actual website code, same as what a search engine spider sees. You should find your title tag near the top somewhere. Your webmaster can easily edit this tag in seconds and put it online.

Example of a better title for Steve’s Carpet Cleaning Service: “Carpet Cleaning in California | Commercial Residential Cleaning CA”. Try to think of your title bar text as a headline that uses keywords you wish to be found for. You should see better results fast from this one trick alone. Important! Avoid repeating keywords. “Carpet Cleaning Carpet Cleaning Carpet Cleaning, California, California” will most likely get you penalized for spamming and possibly dropped from the search engine entirely. Search engines are smart. They know when you are trying to deceive them too and will drop you like a hot potato.

Check out what Google has to say about optimization at this link google.com/support/webmasters/.

Mistake #2: Your domain gets renewed every year
Your domain name is your website’s .com, .net, .org etc. web address name. Most people purchase and register a domain name for only one year then renew it every year when they receive a reminder to do so. What they don’t know is that Google and some other search engines regard your domain as a possible “fly-by-night” website due to a less than one year renewal period. Websites come and go everyday. Google values older websites and rewards them with greater page rank. Older is more than two years old. It can take a new domain’s website over a year just to get established. If your website is already old, that’s great. Just pay to renew your domain for more than five years to show you are in it for the long haul. It is well worth the investment. Again, ask your webmaster to do this if you do not own your domain.

Mistake #3: Too many images, not enough content
If your primary keywords are part of an image or in your logo, then search engines cannot read them. So if your website header image contains your business name and it is also your search term, you need to have your name in text too. Avoid images as text replacement. If your webmaster knows CSS, he or she can create background images behind the text and make it look as if it were all in one of the same. Think text, not images.

Mistake #4: Not using the Alternate text tag
If you do need images, use the “Alt” tag and/or “Title” tag where appropriate in your HTML code. This is that little yellow box that appears when you place your mouse pointer over an image or a link. This has two benefits: one is that it is extra metadata content readable by search engines and two, it allows for visually challenged users using text readers to hear a description of your image. Again, talk to your webmaster. Use alt text for images.

Mistake #5: Navigation content, not images
Navigation blocks are common artistic design elements on websites. But again, if the text in the navigation contains keywords, it is best not to imbed it inside an image. It is also smart to use alternate text and title text for links, similar to those used for images.

Mistake #6: Too many keywords used too often
Yes, you can overdue it with keywords in your content. You will be considered a spam website if you overdo it. Usually a good rule of thumb is to have keywords consisting of only 3% to 7% of the website’s content but this varies with your market. In Google, try a search for “keyword cloud” then find out what the percentage of keywords is on your website and check against you highest ranking competitor as a gauge. The keywords and key phrases you are optimizing for should have the highest percentages.

Mistake #7: No theme for the website
Search engines, like people, want to know what your website is about. Don’t disappoint either of them. Use the Title bar tag and meta description tag to your advantage. The description tag is usually just under the title bar tag in your source code. It should be short and highly descriptive as this is what most search engines use in the search results to describe your site. Google doesn’t rely on this tag. Instead it uses excerpts from content usually near the top of the page. Because of this, it is important that the first content placed on your website effectively describes what your website is all about with as many keywords and key phrases as possible to set up a proper theme.

Mistake #8: No document structure
A home page should set up like that of a book’s table of contents. If you use Microsoft Word, you may be familiar with heading styles such as “Heading 1”, “Heading 2”, etc. Google actually advises webmasters to use this hierarchy in their content so search spiders can establish the theme and content order of your website. In fact, when looking through your content in the “View Source”, somewhere in your code you should see code tags like <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc. For example: our carpet cleaning website example should contain:

<h1>Carpet Cleaning Specialists in California</h1>
near the top as the main title to support the theme, then possibly followed by:
<h2>Carpet Cleaning Services</h2>
then followed by the content that the carpet cleaning services title introduces

This change usually involves minor adjustments on your website so it shouldn’t be too hard for you webmaster to add these hierarchy tags.

Mistake #9: Geographic keywords not being used
Are you national, world-wide or just regional? The countries, cities, towns, counties, states, etc. all contain search terms that people use everyday. Think about it. Wouldn’t you narrow your search for something by location first? Make sure your areas are keywords and part of your content.

Mistake #10: Poor placement of keywords and key phrases
Many websites use navigation links across the top of the page in the form of tabs or on the sides in columns. This is okay as long as these navigation links contain keywords you are trying to optimize for and are not unreadable images. This is not good if your navigation just says “Home”, About Us”, “Contact Us”, etc. Instead, try “Carpet Cleaning Home”, “About Steve’s Cleaning Services”, etc.

It is important to understand that search engine spiders read in this order: from left to right, top to bottom. The most important keywords of any website must appear closer to the top of the page’s content. If your navigation is the first content it finds, you should either move it elsewhere, preferably to the right column, or create keyword rich navigation title links. Search engines also place importance on keywords in bold and italics so have your best ones in your top content somewhere. Example: “Steve’s Carpet Cleaning services the greater Los Angeles region. We specialize in carpet stain removal”, etc. You get the idea.

Mistake#11: Wrong content being used
If the content on your web page doesn’t relate to the theme of your website, then why is it there? This could be considered as spam if you’re not careful.

Mistake #12: Lack of quality inbound links
I can write an entire series of articles on links alone. It is important to know that the links coming to your website should be from preferably high-ranking, quality websites with content that relates to your content. The hard part though is getting these links. To put a positive spin on this, your website can lack quality links and still rank rather well if everything else is done correctly or you have little to no competition for your keywords. In reality though, your website will never rank as well as an identical site with lots of quality links.

A good way to start getting links is to reciprocate with your business partners. You get a link and so do they. Everyone’s happy. Another way is to create articles in a blog with a link back to your website.

The best links are those that happen naturally without a return link. If you get links coming to your site from a higher page ranking website than yours, you will get visited more often by search spiders and also get a higher page rank. Sounds simple, but getting those links are tough. Avoid buying links or placing too many at one time. Google likes to see links to your website build naturally over time and therefore places more emphasis on them as a result. By all means avoid link farms, or websites that link to everything. This can seriously deteriorate your web rankings.

Most of the mistakes covered here can easily be corrected, however some may involve some serious redesigning. It is best to consult with your webmaster and be sure they understand how and why to do these changes first. After changes are made, it may take months to start getting results to have patience. The reason being is that search engines that haven’t visited your website for some time may not crawl through your entire website next time around unless it sees something of interest, usually a title or description change, to schedule a more recent and thorough crawl of your website. That, my friends, is ultimately what we’re shooting for.

About the author: John Kelly is a free lance web designer and search engine optimization specialist. His niche is small business website optimization and consultation. He is also the webmaster and I.T. specialist for YourCollectionSolution.com.

Author: Michelle Dunn

I have tried both using a blog www.BizCreditPolicy.com and My Space to promote myself and my books. I had heard of My Space but thought it was a place for teens or kids, the description on their website is “a place for friends”. One afternoon I was reading an issue of Entrepreneur and they had a story about a woman who said she had used My Space as a marketing tool for her business. My first thought was “there are business people on My Space?” So I checked it out. I found there were very few business people that were active members, and a lot of teens, younger kids, musicians and people looking to party and meet other people with similar interests. I also saw that they have groups and some do pertain to business while some seem as if they are business related but are “Get Rich Quick” groups. There are groups for anything you can imagine someone might have an interest in. Many for authors grouped by genre. I thought I would try it, since I like to try everything to market myself and my books and it was free! I created my profile page, uploaded my pictures and began browsing the site for other business owners.

I have met a few people that I network with but I did not have a huge response or increased traffic to my website or orders of my books because of my myspace page. It is a fun way to meet a few other business people but you also have to weed through the emails from people just “hanging out” there and sending you emails about dating or partying. I found it was not worth the time and effort to continuously maintain a My Space profile for my business, but am hoping that will change. It was taking me too much time to weed through all the “friend requests” and “emails” from people who had no interest in my books or business. I have left my page up and do check it occasionally as well as post to my blog. My Space page also comes up when someone does a search on Google or Yahoo for me, so that is a bonus as well. If they find me on My Space and then visit my website, I have accomplished what I started out to do.

My recommendation with My Space is that if you have the time to create a page and do a little searching for business groups and people, it is something that does not hurt you to have it out there, but I wouldn’t count on it to help you make more sales or increase your websites traffic.

Depending on what you are marketing, a blog at My Space may be the tool for you. Tish Hill, from “Off the Hanger” which sells, buys and trades quality high-end used clothing and accessories tells me that she had no experience in blogging, websites or anything to market her business online. “My Space is a great option for me because my target audience is young people who want high quality fashion without the big price tags.” states Tish. “My Space is user friendly, anyone can create a page without any technical knowledge” says Tish. “You can screen the friends you accept, so you have quality contacts, and send out bulletins of special events or sales and keep a blog with fashion tips and ideas from what we have in the store.” I think this is a great option for young people who visit My Space; to have other profiles to view that are positive if they are going to be “hanging out” on My Space.

Depending on your business and who your target audience is, My Space can work to help market your business. Check it out and you can decide if it is a good fit.

I have a blog www.BizCreditPolicy.com through Know More Media, which is an online publisher of business information and news. The authors provide a broad spectrum of business knowledge, publishing their expertise on a continual basis. This is a great marketing tool. When you blog, it is like a diary. You can post every day, a few times a day or whenever you have something you want to share with your readers. In my case, my blog is about Credit Policy for businesses and how to extend credit and manage credit risk. The difference here and why this is so much more successful with marketing yourself than My Space, is that this is a blog for business! My Space does not provide me with my target audience, but Know More Media does, so this is a perfect fit if you have something of interest to entrepreneurs, business owners or business professionals.

When you use a blog to market yourself and your books, remember it is not a bulletin board for advertisements. You can list accomplishments, such as a book release or press event, but don’t blatantly advertise your books. If you do, you will not have many readers. Give your readers valuable information, and update it often to keep them coming back and to keep the search engines coming back to index your blog. You want to post quality information, for example, I write books about collecting money and starting a collection agency. In my blog posts I try to give people tips on how to collect more money, or what is going on in the news in regards to my subject matter. You can incorporate other authors from your genre and do little interviews with them, link to their websites, and have them linked to your blog.

Easton Ellsworth who writes for “Business Blog Wire www.BusinessBlogWire.com and is also an associate editor for the Know More Media network of blogs about business has some great tips for authors who want to utilize a blog to help promote their books. “A blog can promote your books in many ways. You could use a blog to tell existing and potential customers about new books, products or services” states Easton. “No matter what you do with a blog, make sure you have a clear plan before you start blogging about anything and everything.” Says Easton.

Easton was kind enough to share with me a simple process anyone can use to launch a blog right:

1. Choose a specific purpose and target audience.
2. Pick a smart URL and title.
3. Establish guidelines for the person(s) who will write for the blog.
4. Read other blogs and talk to bloggers in your industry.
5. Prepare a modest collection of ready-to-publish posts and quietly put several of them online.

When you’re ready, tell the world about your blog!
Michelle Dunn, author of 2 award winning books has spent the last 18 years stepping into dangerous debt collection potholes. She shares her hard-won expertise on debt collection with the release of a Second Edition title in her “Collecting Money Series.” She is the founder and president of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC, is a writer, teacher, and consultant. Michelle started and ran M.A.D. Collection Agency for 8 years. She created Credit & Collections a nine year old Association for credit and business professionals with over 978 members.

Michelle has been featured in Forbes.com, The Nilson Report, The Wall Street Journal, Ladies Home Journal, PC World, Home Business Magazine, Home Business Journal, Entrepreneur, Professional Collector, Credit & Collections Risk, NH Business Review and in many books including Home Based Business for Dummies. Michelle has been a featured guest on (NPR) National Public Radio and has been in many newspapers and magazines nationwide as well as on the CBS Early Show. She has many published articles and 7 published books to add to her list of accomplishments. Entrepreneur Press released “The Ultimate Credit & Collections Handbook, the check IS in the mail” penned by Dunn in 2006.

Visit www.michelledunn.com and www.credit-and-collections.com for more information about Michelle Dunn and her books. To learn more about “Off the Hanger” visit www.myspace.com/offthehanger or www.offthehanger.biz.