July 31st, 2008 admin
Did you know that one of the best ways to increase sales for any online or offline business is to offer your customers the convenience of paying by credit card? As a merchant, you have several options available when it comes to becoming part of the credit card acceptance and processing chain. Here’s a quick guide to get you thinking.
Merchant Accounts
If you want your online business to be capable of accepting credit card payments, you must have some type of merchant account. A merchant account allows you to take credit cards as forms of payment in a safe and secure manner.
You apply for a merchant account by filling out an application and signing a fee agreement. Unfortunately, navigating the merchant account maze can be difficult if you do not have financial experience. There are many different companies out there, and they all have a deal to offer. But before you sign up for anything, read the fine print.
The three main fees you need to look for are the set-up fees, the percentage you will pay for each transaction, and the monthly fees. All of these fees need to be taken into consideration. One company may advertise low set up fees, but they may take a higher percentage of the sale or the monthly fees may be considerably higher.
There are two types of merchant accounts, your own personal merchant account or a third party merchant account. A bank will open your own account and although they may have higher initial opening costs, these accounts generally have a lower transaction fee (what you pay them for each transaction).
Deciding which of these two types will work best for you is a personal decision, but if your business is established and thriving, the bank-based merchant account will probably work best.
Third Party Merchant Account Providers
There are a large number of providers out there, all offering what is sure to be the best deal ever. Let’s evaluate some of the top providers and see what it is they really offer.
ElectronicTransfer.com offers instant acceptance for new merchants and has a $49 setup fee, a FREE shopping cart system and an average transaction fee. The account offers a built-in shopping cart and accepts one-time or recurring payments. They accept both physical and digital goods merchants. Accept Credit Cards - Free Credit Card Processing Set Up
ClickBank offers a one-time setup fee along with a transaction fee of $1.00 plus 7.5% of the sale price. There is no monthly fee. They will also handle tracking and paying your affiliates automatically. They only accept merchants selling digital goods.
PayPal has no setup fee and a sliding transaction fee, all of them very low, based upon sales volume. They accept both physical and digital goods merchants and have various methods for you to tightly integrate their interface with your site. Subscriptions and one-time payments can be processed.
This is just a general overview of some of your payment options. Before you decide, do some in depth research and find the account that will work best with your company’s needs.
Posted in Making Money Online, Web Development | 6 Comments »
July 30th, 2008 admin
It worked, didn’t it? Here you are and why? Because my article title is absurd.
Welcome to the world of shock value marketing. How many businesses are you competing with? Tons. How boring is most of the ad copy you see? It’s really boring. It’s really unoriginal, and therefore, it is not nearly as effective as it could be.
So take advantage of this. Make the audience you are advertising to laugh or smile, and you can be assured they will click on your ad. It doesn’t mean that your website has to employ the same vulgarity. It is simply a powerful tool to get traffic to your site. Once they are there, you can use any means you want to keep their attention.
So what specific techniques to you use? Well, this is up to you. You can pretty much do anything. You can insult them, you can insult yourself, you can say something funny and outlandish. The bottom line is that you have to be creative, you have to think past all the boring ad copy and put yourself in the shoes of those people you are marketing to. How many times have you been subjected to boring ad copy and have simply moved your eyes right past it without giving it a chance? Well, there you go.
Posted in SEO, Web Development | 1 Comment »
July 28th, 2008 admin
What does it take to become a successful Affiliate Marketer? What are the ingredients of an affiliate marketing success story? Is there a shortcut to Affiliate Marketing glory? All these questions play around in the minds of affiliate marketers who want to make it big in this business. Although affiliate marketing is touted as one of the easiest and most effective ways to earn money online, it is not as easy as it sounds. The wise affiliate marketer plans every action and executes it the best way he can. He should also maximize the potential to earn by utilizing the right tools necessary for a successful Affiliate Marketing business. We have consulted some of the most successful affiliate marketers in the business and below are the top three necessary tools for a successful affiliate marketing business.
Important Tool #1: Your Own Website
The most important and indispensable tool in Affiliate Marketing is your own website. The first step in any successful affiliate marketing business is building a good, credible and professional looking website. Your website is the jump off point of all your marketing efforts. Thus, you must first build a user-friendly website, which will appeal to your prospects and encourage them to click on the links to the products and service you are promoting and make a purchase. Therefore, you must first concentrate your efforts in building a website that will cater to what your prospects need.
The most important thing you should consider is that almost all web users go online to look for information, not necessarily to go and buy something. Above all else, make your website full of original, relevant and useful content. People will love articles that are appealing and helpful. Keep in mind that, in the internet, content is still king and good quality content will not only build your credibility, it can also help you achieve a higher search engine ranking. By posting relevant and useful articles, you establish yourself as a credible expert in the field, making you a more trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote. Establishing a good reputation is a good step in building up a loyal consumer base.
Important Tool #2: Incentives
Competition is extremely tight in the internet world. You must always be one-step ahead of your rivals to ensure that you capture a significant share of your target market. Therefore, you must use every possible means to encourage people not only to visit your site but also to click and proceed to the websites of the products and services you are promoting. Building an opt-in email list is one of the best ways to gather prospects. Offer a newsletter or an e-zine. Better yet, offer incentives to your prospects to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletters. You can present free softwares, access to exclusive services and other freebies that will be helpful to your prospects.
Important Tool #3: Link Popularity
The importance of driving highly targeted traffic to your website cannot be emphasized enough. The all-important web traffic is at the top of the list of the most important entities in the internet world. Attracting people to your site should be the first step you should carry out. Do everything to achieve a high search engine ranking. Link Popularity is one of the factors that search engines use to determine search engine rankings. Therefore, to enhance your link popularity, you must launch an aggressive reciprocal link campaign.
One of the best ways to do this – at no cost at all – is by submitting articles, with your website’s link at the resource box, to e-zines and free article sites. You will not only gain exposure, you will also have the opportunity to advertise for free, just include a link back to your site. The more sites you submit your articles to, the better your link popularity is. Make your articles original, relevant and useful so that more websites will pick it up and post it.
These are but three of the many tools that an affiliate marketer can use to maximize earning potential. The possibilities are endless and are limited only by your imagination, creativity, resourcefulness and determination. You can always explore other ideas and adapt other strategies, which you think might help you become a high rolling affiliate marketer.
Posted in Making Money Online | 1 Comment »
