A new driveway can be a major property upgrade that offers curb appeal, longevity, and improved resale value. With an experienced concrete contractor in Tulsa, concrete driveways can provide these benefits and more.

5 Reasons To Consider a Concrete Driveway From an Experienced Concrete Contractor in Tulsa

1. Longevity

Factors like maintenance, climate, and usage will all impact how long a driveway lasts. With that being said, many driveways made with a high-quality material like concrete last for decades. On average, you can expect a driveway to last 30 years when it’s made with concrete.

This is a major factor for homeowners who are deciding between concrete and asphalt as their primary options. Asphalt typically has a lower initial cost. However, concrete lasts longer, so costs less over time.

2. Resale Value

Homebuyers love to see something new, high-quality, and that they won’t have to replace for a long time. A driveway that won’t need to be replaced for thirty years is similar to hearing that a property has a new roof. These kinds of upgrades offer value when the property is put back on the market.

3. Curb Appeal

Standard, light gray concrete looks great with a lot of homes. An experienced contractor can also add touches like coloring to make it a little darker or stamped concrete for a unique texture. You can also create the same look in the backyard, around the pool deck, or to create walkways. These little touches can add a lot of style to the property.

4. High Load-Bearing Capacity

Concrete is a strong, non-flexible material. So, when heavy vehicles drive on it, it doesn’t bend and develop ruts in the road. A quality contractor typically pours the concrete for a home property at four inches thick. This makes it so the driveway has the capacity to regularly withstand 8,000 pounds of pressure: enough for normal vehicles.

See also Concrete Driveway Maintenance: Tips for a Long Life

Of course, one of the benefits of concrete for home projects is that it’s very customizable. A great Tulsa Concrete Contractor will be able to create driveways with varying load-bearing capacities or even decorative touches. If you have specific concerns, talk to your contractor. They can create a thicker driveway if you regularly have heavier equipment driving on your property.

5. Low Maintenance

Depending on the weather and usage, concrete will need to be sealed every three to five years. This will require a sealant and a roller brush. A professional can do this for you, but it’s possible to do on your own.

For comparison, an asphalt driveway needs to be resealed every one to three years. This varies largely based on the weather. If it’s a very hot and humid Tulsa summer, which it often is, the asphalt often requires more maintenance.

Like any home improvement project, your driveway requires some careful consideration when it comes to budget, quality, and style. How long you plan to live on the property and how much maintenance you’re willing to do may impact your decision. Concrete can be a great way to save yourself time and the headache of replacing the driveway for several decades.

David

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is the practice of optimizing a website to increase its visibility and ranking on search engine result pages. In today’s digital age, SEO is an essential aspect of any online marketing strategy and can be carried out by a digital marketing agency of your choice. In this article, we will explore the basics of SEO and how it can help your business succeed online.

Understanding Search Engines

Before we dive into the specifics of SEO, it’s important to understand how search engines work. When a user types a query into a search engine, such as Google, the search engine crawls through its index to find the most relevant pages to display in the search results. The search engine uses complex algorithms to determine which pages to display and in what order.

The goal of SEO is to optimize your website so that it appears at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant queries. This is achieved by making changes to your website’s content, structure, and other factors that search engines use to determine relevance.

Keyword Research

The first step in any SEO campaign is keyword research. Keywords are the terms or phrases that people use to search for information online. By researching and identifying the keywords that your target audience is using, you can optimize your website to appear in the search results for those queries.

There are several tools available for keyword research, including Google’s Keyword Planner and Moz’s Keyword Explorer. These tools allow you to see how many searches a particular keyword gets each month, how competitive the keyword is, and other useful data.

On-Page Optimization

On-page optimization refers to the changes you can make to your website’s content and structure to improve its relevance and visibility in search engines. This includes optimizing your page titles, meta descriptions, and header tags, as well as making sure your content is high-quality, relevant, and optimized for your target keywords.

Page titles and meta descriptions are the first things that users see in the search results, so it’s important to make sure they accurately describe the content of your page and include your target keywords. Header tags, such as H1 and H2 tags, help organize your content and make it easier for search engines to understand the structure of your page.

Content Optimization

Creating high-quality, relevant content is one of the most important aspects of SEO. Your content should be optimized for your target keywords and provide value to your users. This can include blog posts, product descriptions, landing pages, and other types of content.

When optimizing your content for SEO, it’s important to avoid “keyword stuffing,” or overusing your target keywords. This can result in penalties from search engines and harm your website’s visibility.

Link Building

Link building is the practice of acquiring links from other websites to your own. This is important because search engines use links as a signal of authority and relevance. The more high-quality links you have pointing to your website, the more likely it is that you will rank higher in the search results. There are several strategies for link building, including creating high-quality content that others will want to link to, guest blogging on other websites, and reaching out to other websites to request links.

SEO is an essential aspect of any online marketing strategy. By understanding the basics of SEO, you can optimize your website to appear at the top of the search engine results pages for relevant queries. This includes conducting keyword research, optimizing your on-page content and structure, creating high-quality content, and building high-quality links to your website.

While SEO can be complex and time-consuming, it’s worth the effort to improve your website’s visibility and attract more traffic to your site. By working with an experienced SEO professional or agency, you can achieve even greater success and take your online business to the next level.

David

Lately, we have received inquiries such as, “Who is responsible for underwriting: the gateway, the payment processor, or the acquirer?” or “Why do some gateways inquire about existing acquiring partner or merchant bank relationships others do not?” To address these questions, we must clearly understand the different entities in the payment processing industry, how they vary, and the types of relationships they have with each other.

As a result, we have opted to write an article that will distinctly delineate the role of each entity and elucidate how acquiring banks, payment processors, and payment gateway providers are interconnected.

Acquirer and payment processor

There are instances where the connection between acquirers and processors is “one-to-one,” as is evident in the case of Vantiv. While Vantiv’s acquirer is Fifth Third Bank, many regard Vantiv as both the processor and the acquirer. However, this perception will likely shift with Vantiv’s procurement by WorldPay. Conversely, some processors, such as First Data and TSYS, have collaborated with numerous acquiring banks.

The processor is the technical branch of the acquirer, providing the necessary technology to authorize transactions and obtain information on transaction settlements. Essentially, processors manage the technological aspect of merchant services, including the transfer of funds. However, they do not bear financial liability for this process. Instead, this liability and associated risks rest with acquiring banks, just like we have said many times before, based on why it is crucial to have a bank partnership. 

The risk departments in the acquiring banks will determine whether or not to issue merchant accounts or underwrite merchant applications. In addition, acquirers handle the physical transfer of funds to merchants through bank accounts associated with these merchants. As a result, acquiring banks serves as the gateway into the banking system for processors, which is why they bear financial responsibility.

If the merchant decides to authorize transactions using a processor, the funds must be returned to the merchant. The processor must be integrated into a banking system to transfer the corresponding amount to the merchant’s bank account. The acquirer is technically part of the banking system, and, as a result, there is always an acquiring bank supporting a processor.

Payment gateway, payment facilitator, and acquiring bank

Payment gateways enable merchants and payment facilitators to access multiple processors through a simplified technical interface. However, it is a common misconception that gateways carry out underwriting and assume liability and risk, such as with popular gateways like PayPal or Stripe.

Certain companies find it advantageous to conceal the providers of acquiring and processing services beneath their brands. With modern onboarding methods and processing technologies, it can appear as though payment gateway providers perform underwriting and onboarding tasks and assume associated risks. Although a significant payment gateway firm can become an all-in-one acquirer and processor by integrating directly with Visa and/or MC, a third-party entity typically provides the acquiring services for the gateway.

Usually, the terms of the partnership between the gateway and the acquirer are determined by a specific business arrangement between the two parties. Acquirers cannot uncommonly offer services at more competitive rates to payment facilitators and gateway providers in exchange for them taking on a more significant risk on behalf of the merchants they service.

When a gateway is permitted to offer merchant accounts at a low price to applicants and receive an increased share of residual revenue, for example, it may be required to assume 100% responsibility for credit card chargebacks received by a merchant if the gateway is permitted to offer merchant accounts at such a low price.

The acquiring bank usually assumes a merchant’s risks related to chargebacks, another reason the acquirer’s risk department decides to underwrite a merchant. However, we are witnessing the emergence of several payment facilitators in the modern market, which is an exciting development. Besides payment facilitation, they can even provide gateway services. As a result of the particular arrangement between PayFac and an acquirer, in some cases, the risk of underwriting can be assumed by PayFac due to that arrangement. It is possible to find a lot of information about the role of payment facilitators in merchant services in the article devoted to this topic.

Findings

Each processor has established a partnership with an acquiring company. The acquiring bank assumes risks and liabilities associated with underwriting. Typically, acquirers perform the following functions.

The acquirer’s risk department underwrites prospective merchants.

An acquirer from their portfolio funds a merchant’s (and a payment facilitator’s) bank account.

Sometimes, gateway providers and PayFacs are willing to assume certain risks in return for a better-acquiring agreement (a higher residual revenue share).

Our team is always available to provide you with assistance and support. Contact us today to learn more about our products/services or to schedule a consultation. We look forward to hearing from you!

David