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The Virtual Consulting Discussion List [VCDL]
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Saturday, April 23, 2005 Digest #22
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ...
---> [NEW] <---
#1 Yes, You Really Do Need A Marketing Plan
- Leslie Guria
#2 E-commerce The Bop Approach
- Arvind Kumar
#3 Keys To Internet Marketing: Visibility
- Bruce Woodward
#4 Article Writing For Fame And Fortune
- Randy Justason
#5 How To Get Targeted Search Engine Traffic
Quickly
- Matt Bacak
#6 Seo Tips For Google®
- Joe Balestrino
#7 How To Accept Credit Cards
- Matthew Coers
---> [CONTINUED] <---
---> [RESOURCES] <---
---> [NEWS] <---
---> [INTRO] <---
---> [HELP WANTED] <---
---> [ADMIN] <---
************* [NEW] ***************
#1 Yes, You Really Do Need A Marketing
Plan
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 00:29:49 -0500
From: Leslie Guria <distribution@isnare.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
So you've gotten your business going. You have
a customer or
two. The phone is ringing…a little. For any business
to grow
and prosper long-term, it needs a solid foundation
that
includes a marketing plan.
A marketing plan is a road map detailing the
"route" you'll
take to get your business noticed by potential
clients. By
following a properly crafted plan, you'll know
what to do and
why you're doing it, while avoiding some of the
mistakes that
can cost you money and future growth.
"If You Build It, They Won't Necessarily
Come"
The first part of any marketing plan is a basic
understanding
of your market, competition and whether or not
an opportunity
exists for your product or service.
My first business venture was to make very expensive
looking
floral wreathes. All my friends and neighbors
had them on
their front doors and I knew I paid $100 for mine,
so why not
make and sell them myself! What I didn't consider
is that I
have expensive taste and in order to make a profit,
my wreaths
were priced significantly higher than the local
craft store.
If I were in a more affluent area, it may have
worked, but not
here.
I started the business on a hunch and didn't
truly know my
market or competition. Had I done my research,
I may have
used lower cost materials, made less elaborate
products, sold
them in a different area or skipped the venture
all together.
What I learned is that my opinion combined with
my friend's
opinions is not a strong enough basis to launch
a business.
"No, I'm Not Going to Stop for Directions."
When starting a business you generally know where
you want to
end up and you might have a vague idea of how
to get there, but
what if you get lost? A marketing plan is like
a road map or
corner gas station used as a reference tool to
keep your
marketing on track. If you run into "construction
traffic", a
properly developed plan will offer options to
keep you
motivated, organized and headed in the right direction.
"I Want to Rule the World… Or Do I?"
Do you want a home based business with one or
maybe two
employees or a large firm with several hundred?
How do you
feel about travel, making cold calls, the Internet,
can you
type? How fast do you want to grow and do you
have the
resources to keep up with the growth? Your goals
as a business
entity will dictate how and to whom you market.
My second business venture was a used toy business.
I hit
every garage sale within 10 miles of my home and
bought all of
the solid plastic toys I could find. I also put
up signs at
day care centers offering to buy used toys directly
from
parents. My goal was to have my own garage sales
business and
earn a profit on the toys I had bought.
This time, I didn't consider my personal goals
before embarking
on my business. I didn't like going inside strangers
homes to
pick up their toys. I had nowhere to put the enormous
stockpile I had amassed and wasn't willing to
hire employees to
gather enough toys to generate the revenue to
cover a storage
unit or store front. I wanted a little "mom"
business, not a
full blown corporation.
Had I considered my true goals, I would have
marketed myself as
a service provider to day care centers - found
out what they
wanted and would be willing to pay, and then gone
out to find
it - no storage issues, no going into people's
homes, no
employees required.
"It's Report Card Day!"
Even the best marketing plan needs to be constantly
evaluated
and adjusted to keep business growth on track.
The results of
your efforts may not be bringing in attention
or revenue you
require. The economy, business environment, competition
or
technology may have changed necessitating a shift
in your plan.
Making adjustments to a marketing plan is healthy.
Even if you
paid a mint for a professionally developed plan,
you'll want to
review your status and results at least every
six months to
monitor effectiveness. When buying a plan, it's
important to
ask that follow up support to be part of the package.
"I'll Just Put It On My Credit Card."
Before developing a marketing plan, you'll want
to have a ball
park budget in mind. Once your plan is complete,
set a budget
and stick to it!
It's easy to spend more than your annual revenue
on marketing
activities and supplies when you first start out.
Make sure
your budget is realistic before committing. Every
dollar spent
should have a trackable outcome - even if it takes
several
months or years to realize.
"Plan Your Day and Work Your Plan'
By following a properly developed marketing plan,
you'll
minimize the growing pains that often accompany
a business
start up. Revenue growth will be reasonably predictable
and
you'll be laying a foundation for long term stability.
Your
business will run more efficiently because next
marketing steps
will have been laid out in advance.
About The Author: Leslie Guria, Marketing Consultant
with Foot
in the Door Marketing, (http://www.footinthedoormarketing.com)
and author of "Opening's" a monthly
newsletter geared toward
small business owners. As a consultant, Leslie
supports the
marketing needs of small business owners nationwide.
She has
an MBA and over 16 years of successful sales,
marketing and
project management experience.
-----------------------------------------------------------
#2 E-commerce The Bop Approach
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 00:08:19 -0500
From: Arvind Kumar <distribution@isnare.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
For centuries and most of the decades in the
20th century (i.e
when computer was invented) access and communication
was the
tool of rich and ultra rich people, prohibitively
expansive to
'not so rich' and 'not at all rich' people. All
marketing
research and development was focused on the 20%
of the market
based on the management principle 80:20, ignoring
the vast 4
billion people who are at the bottom of the pyramid(
read
Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid by C.K. Prahalad,
Wharton
Publishing).
In 1990s, Internet came along and change the
paradigm of whole
global market. Because here we have a great tool
"Internet" a
very efficient, very potent to penetrate the earlier
thought
impregnable market sec. For most if the time it
is the exposure
to the outer world and information is necessary
to make any
decision and growth of any section of society
or part of world.
Internet is playing that role very efficiently.
Internet is a Mass product. Here power lies in
the hand of
individuals, rich or not so rich(This terminology
is taken from
Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid by C.K. Prahalad,
Wharton
Publishing).
General theory of market states
(i) Top end market is value driven.
(ii) Bottom end market is volume driven.
Through these two anomaly, we can clearly recognize
that
Internet companies are focusing on the second
approach and that
is what CK Prahalad call Bottom of Pyramid(BOP)
approach in his
path breaking book Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid.
I can give a big list of such companies, but
for instance take
some shining stars of today Internet economy.
(i) ebay.com
(ii) aol.com
(iii) clickbank.com
(iv) Google.com
We will study the Mother of all search engine
Google and its
approach to BOP.
Lets compare the Google strategy and its behemoth
competitors(
well not today, but in formative days of Google
when it matter
most.) Google is a search engine based on Pay
per click(PPC)
approach to the internet economy. In formative
days, Google
done exactly what others thought and well recognized
by the
Gurus that the model is not viable and Google
will be doomed to
graveyard.
Most of Dot Coms or brick and mortar companies
on internet were
making money for advertising. They charge for
the advertising
space they provide to the advertiser and charge
them for a
fixed duration and also all these prepaid only.
This approach
was already imminently followed in TV advertising
and to some
extent very successful. Advertisers did not had
any options.
For them it was dark space to jump into. They
did not had any
control even after paying handsome sum for space
on Net.
See the other side of the coin. The consumer(
technically
visitor) were not part of revolution. Even if
they were, they
were used to be only exploited for generating
huge profit for
firms operating on the Net.
Google came to foray with a refreshing style
and a very
uncommon approach to the market.
1. No Images on its main page. ( there is option
available in
other pages but not very popular.)
2. Tool and services for the common people.
3. Free for all( even sometime for advertisers
also)
See where is the money? I guess 90% would not
see any or many.
Google spread its wings on net through word-of-mouth
marketing
and keeping a intense focus on the common people
using
internet. In the process Google developed it owns
marketing and
revenue generation model with empowering the common
people, who
worship Google( I can be counted one of them).Google
invented
many new model which was never thought before.
(i) Google adsense
(ii) Google Adwords
(iii) Froogle ( similar to ebay.com but free for
all.)
(iv) Google Search
Seeing deep into Google strategy and approach
to net economy we
can define two things.
(1) Focus on common people in big volume in terms
of purchasing
power
(2) In the process give more control in their
hands, empower
them to generate more purchasing power and habit
to help
yourself as well as the industry.
See two very bottom level examples.
(1) Jon Gales, the owner of the www.mobiletracker.net
makes
close to $5000 per month just by using Google
adsense. Take
notice, he is merely a happy go lucky child of
19 years.
(2) For small time people who want more sales
to be generated
for their small time business uses Google adwords
and Froogle.
Even if they do not any business product, they
can sale someone
else product and have a handsome money in exchange
for working
for someone else at their own home.
Does it make a company commercially viable? Do
not ask me.
Watch it.
Seth Gobin a well known online advertising consultant
and
former Yahoo employee, used to be dubious about
Google's
prospect. Not anymore " They have created
the first new and
effective Ad medium in last 50 years. It's brilliant"
He says.
Napolean hill, author of Law of success state
in his book," No
man can rise to fame and fortune without carrying
others along
with him. It is simply can not be done."
It takes continuous hard work with great series
of innovation
in product designe, process innovation and marketing
and a long
period to reach ( in mature economy or market)
where Google is
today.
Google 6 year $321mn
EBay 9 year $322mn
Yahoo 10 year $260mn
Amazon 9 year $114mn
In his book " The fortune at the Bottom
of Pyramid" C.K.
Prahalad state,"…..what is needed is a better
approach to help
poor, an approach that involves partnering with
them to
innovate and achieve sustainable win-win scenarios
where the
poor are actively engaged and at the same time,
the companies
providing product and services to them are profitable."
I accept common people on net are not poor. But
see into deep
meaning of C.K. Prahalad statement,"- ……where
the poor are
actively engaged and at the same time………..".
That's what
e-commerce model I am talking all about. They
are not poor but
they are active ready to change their buying behavior.
Buying
behavior change is the most awesome milestone
still to reach in
the e-commerce to really blast off the internet
economy.
According to Napolean Hill, you need to help the
common
internet folk to see what internet can do for
them.
Gil Penchina, vice-president, eBay International
state," It's
all about getting more people on the system(eBay).
People on
net follow very simple system. They get online
almost always
because they want email, then they start reading
news, then
they shop. Once they value in shopping, they shop
repeatedly.
That's when they realize they can sell too."
By actively involving common folk they will get
more trust into
e-commerce. To achieve this amazing rate of growth,
e-commerce
community has to accept the "inclusive Capitalism"
approach.
Common Internet people need to be given a big
opportunity to
tap into the awesome big time opportunity on internet.
According to CK Prahalad, to tap into BOP segment
" Trust is
prerequisite". Big corporate or small one
need to build this
bridge of trust to tap into this big volume market
segment.
In case of Google, it is famous for it unconventional
approach
and infamously trusted for unorthodox management
approach of
its founders Lary Page and Sergey Brin. Google
just do not
comprise on integrity for profit in its search
results. Its
user can always trust Google for its integrity
to receive full
support from Google for their small or big business.
Am I seem too madly in love with Google? Believe
m, I am not
alone.
This research work for this report is done by
Mr. Arvind
Kumar, founder, www.Nuttymarketer.com
You may reach him at
arvind@nuttymarketer.com.
You can access the same article at Nuttymarketer.com
website at:
http://www.nuttymarketer.com/green/gorilla_marketing_ecommerce1.htm
About The Author: Arvind Kumar is an Electrical
Engineer from a
premier Institute , Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi,
India. He has 3 years experince in marketing business
consulting services and marketing services. He
is founder and
CEO of nuttymarketer.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
#3 Keys To Internet Marketing: Visibility
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 23:03:31 -0500
From: Bruce Woodward <distribution@isnare.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
The keys to being profitable on the internet
is simply
visibility. Do you think that Wal-Mart became
the business that
they are by remaining unseen? What about Microsoft?
Dell? I
think that you get my point.
Visibility takes time, and perseverance, but
it can be
achieved. Once you "get the hang of it"
it is also relatively
painless. However, if you are going to get into
an internet
based business, be prepared because you are going
to be
spending 90% (of your actual working time) marketing.
This is not necessarily a bad thing … after all,
if you are
able to cut the time you spend on your business
to two hours
per day then that is an hour and forty-eight minutes
a day you
spend marketing. That still beats eight hours
in an office.
Marketing can be fun to some of those that participate
in it.
After all, you get to sell yourself. You challenge
yourself to
come up with selling techniques, something that
will make that
person buy your product over the gazillion others
that are out
there.
There are other benefits as well. For instance,
with
experience, you can sell your expertise to companies
(large and
small, online and offline) to increase profitability.
You can
hold seminars and teach other entrepreneurs how
to prosper
online. Basically you can sell your skills.
Or you can simply use the information to profit.
At any rate,
visibility is the key to success, in any business.
Word-of-mouth is a great advertiser, so tell your
friends,
family, co-workers, whomever you can about your
products. Just
get out there. Free services are also good, and
email marketing
is still close to number one. Use all the resources
that you can
find. And never give up, it takes time.
About The Author: Bruce has worked with such companies
as The
Walt Disney World Company in marketing campaigns.
He has years
of experience in Internet Marketing. You can find
out more
secrets to success by logging on to
http://www.bruceworksltd.com/ebooks/TheKeysToSuccess.html
and
downloading his e-book. And keep your eye out
for my upcoming
course due out soon, where he detailed all of
the aspects of
visibility, and how to get seen, and how to sell
yourself!
Check it all out at Lightning Marketing,
http://www.bruceworksltd.com/LightningMarketing/index.html.
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-----------------------------------------------------------
#4 Article Writing For Fame And Fortune
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 00:28:32 -0500
From: Randy Justason <distribution@isnare.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
How would you like to have your name and web
address spread all
over the internet?
How would you like to have your web site move
up to the first
few pages on the major search engines?
Actually, it's not as difficult as you may think.
It requires
some time and effort on your part, however, the
rewards can far
outweigh the effort that you put in.
Not only can you receive thousands of dollars
worth of free
advertising and promotion, but you can also develop
a
reputation as a smart person, one who many people
would like to
be affiliated with.
So, just what is this all-powerful genie of self
promotion?
Believe it or not, it's Article Writing.
That's right, the absolute best method that I
have found to get
free advertising is to write articles and submit
them to ezine
publishers and article directories. Website owners
and ezine
publishers are always looking for content for
their sites and
newsletters. Why not let them publish yours.
Let me give you an example of the power of writing.
I had
written just 1 home business article and submitted
it to about
a dozen online article submission sites. Prior
to this, when I
checked Google to see how many links I had coming
in to my site,
MLM Wonders, it showed only 37 links. About 2
weeks after
submitting my article I checked again and had
well over 300
links incoming.
If you're not sure what that means, let me explain.
By submitting my article to those few sites,
I was giving
anyone the permission to download it and use it
as content on
their sites. By checking just one of the sites
I submitted to
I found that my article was downloaded over 150
times. So, if
150 people put my article on their web site, just
think of the
exposure (and links) I am getting.
If you consider the fact that those 150 web sites
may get
thousands of views each month, my little article
could be seen
by hundreds of thousands of people. All at no
cost to me!
You may also be thinking that people do not want
to read
articles that are just advertisements with a lot
of links in
them so how does that let you promote your site.
You're right about that, and also remember that
most article
submission sites will not let you submit articles
that are just
advertisements for your site or products. In fact
I don't put
any links into the body of my articles.
So how are all those links coming to my site?
Simple. With each article you write, you have
the opportunity
to put a resource box at the end. This short 'Signature
File'
is usually around 5 lines and is where you introduce
yourself
and tell the readers about what you are selling
and how they
can get more information. It can contain a link
to your web
site and an email address. This is your advertisement,
and
it's free.
What's the matter, don't think you can write
about anything
interesting?
I didn't think I could either. Then I got to
thinking about
what I have been doing online for the past few
years. I
thought about some of the problems I had and how
I fixed them
and how I used the internet to make money (i.e.
this article).
I also decided that other people may want to know
about these
things and presto, a writer was born!
Thousands of people are joining the internet
every day and are
looking for information on particular topics.
Some may be
looking for ways to make money, others may be
looking for
recipes, or articles on pets, or just about anything.
The
possibilities are endless. If you have a favorite
hobby, share
it with others by writing articles about it.
If you're not sure about a topic, do a little
research on the
internet. Read other articles, check websites
and then
condense what you learn into an article.
You don't need to be an experienced writer, just
write like you
would talk to someone about your topic. Try to
be grammatically
correct and check your spelling, or have someone
check it for
you.
Don't try to write it all at once either. If
you're not sure
what you are going to say, simply jot down whatever
comes to
mind then go back and fill in the paragraphs.
Stop for awhile
and then come back to it. You'll be surprised
at how much you
can remember about your topic when you are just
walking around,
then you can come back and type it out.
Try to keep your articles between 500 and 1000
words. Keep
your paragraphs short as this makes for easier
reading. If you
don't like writing paragraphs, you could make
it a 'Tips'
article, for instance, "7 Tips For ***",
or "10 Good Reasons To
***".
Writing articles can give you free promotion
and at the same
time develop a favourable reputation for you on
the Internet.
So what are you waiting for?
About The Author: Randy Justason is the Owner/Webmaster
of MLM
Wonders - http://www.mlmwonders.com
- A website dedicated to
opportunities, ideas and resources for starting
a home based
business on the internet. You can subscribe to
the MLM Wonders
free monthly Newsletter at: mailto:subscribe@mlmwonders.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
#5 How To Get Targeted Search Engine Traffic Quickly
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 00:19:44 -0500
From: Matt Bacak <distribution@isnare.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com'
Here's the "How-To-Do-It Guide" for
driving search engine
traffic right to your website.
I only speak about methods I have used and that
worked well for
my business. There are a lot of people out there
who will steer
you in the wrong direction because they are just
regurgitating
old information that might have worked years ago.
I'll help
you discover what's happening right here, right
now. Let's get
started with the plan.
Your first step is to define your target market.
The better you
are able to define your niche, the better your
future clients
will be able to find you and your products or
services.
Next, you want to get very specific about what
you're going to
market on your webpage and make sure that it's
congruent with
our next step. When a person finds you on a search
engine, you
have a window of only 3 to 5 seconds to convince
them that you
are exactly what they were looking for. Make it
crystal clear
what you offer. If your meaning is unclear, the
prospect will
jump to the next site and you'll lose that business.
The following step is to brainstorm your keywords
- keeping in
mind your target audience. How would they search
for me? What
would they look for? Don't focus on how you identify
yourself.
The closer you are to your target audience, the
more hits you
will get, which equates to more customer traffic.
The more
specifically you target, the better off you are.
You're not
going to have success if you list yourself too
generically,
there is too much competition and you'll be lost
in the crowd.
Once you have established your target market,
define what
specific categories you should be linking to and
add them as
part of your navigation page. A linking strategy
is very
important for building your link reputation. Links
to your
page will count towards link reputation and link
popularity.
There are a lot of different search engines -
six in particular
that give you about 90% of all web-traffic. Of
those Google has
the most web traffic so we'll focus on it. Google
has a link
page rank feature which rates the importance of
your page.
You'll want to download their toolbar
http://toolbar.google.com.
This will allow you to view the
ranking of every site you visit and how important
it is in the
almighty eye of Google. This is a key ingredient
in
determining linking strategy. Google ranks itself
as a 10 on
their scale of 0 to 10 (the higher the ranking,
the more
important a page). This is determined essentially
by who is
endorsing and linking to you.
You must map out how you're going to get Google
give to you a
high page rank. For Google, the most important
attribute is the
title tag. You want to make sure you use your
most targeted key
word in the beginning of your title tag. Google
will typically
list the first 83 characters so the title is where
you put your
most valued key word(s) so it can be easily accessed.
The next maneuver is to focus on your link relevancy.
Link
relevancy is how well the text on your pages relates
to your
title tag, also taking in consideration the content
of
neighboring web pages. The analysis of all of
this data
enables Google to return results that are relevant
to user
queries. You want to be sure you are listed in
user queries so
make your content match your title, match your
links, and match
your products and or services. Remaining consistent
and
obvious is your key to directing traffic to your
site.
About The Author: Matt Bacak became "#1 Best
Selling Author" in
just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine's
e-Biz
radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers,
and Experts into
Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets
To Unleash The
Powerful Promoter In You! Sign up for Matt Bacak's
Promoting
Tips Ezine ($100 value) just visit his website
at
http://www.powerfulpromoter.com
[Fellow Virtual Consultants,
Please find additional information regarding
these and other Search Engine resources, including
resources regarding Keywords / Search Terms, Pay-Per-Click
Search Engines and Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) in the appropriate sections of The Virtual
Consultants' Resource Center at:
http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#SEARCH
Hope this also helps,
- Your Virtual Moderator ]
-----------------------------------------------------------
#6 Seo Tips For Google®
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 06:10:43 -0500
From: Joe Balestrino <distribution@isnare.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com'
Getting a high ranking on Google is a big achievement.
There
are many factors that go into pulling a high page
rank. I have
put together a small list of things that should
not be
overlooked when optimizing your site. Let's start
from the top:
META Tags- Sorry, but Google doesn't read META
tags. That
includes the KEYWORD tag. Some search engines,
however, still
use them.
URL- Having a keyword or words in URL will help
you somewhat.
Having a key word in your URL is not by any means
a guarantee,
but it never hurts.
TITLE Tag- This is an important step, use this
tag wisely.
Place your top keywords here. Remember, your page
is indexed
starting from the top of the page. Make this one
count.
Site content- The first paragraph of your site
is a crucial
part of your optimization. This will also be used
as your
site's description. Be careful not to overdo it
on the
keywords. Make sure your content makes sense.
Your keywords
should make up a total of 6% to 8% of your page
content. An
average of three hundred words is a good rule
of thumb.
Header Tags- Header tag should be considered
important. Make
headers uniform on your site. I like using them
on the top of
my page just before the first paragraph.
ALT Tags- These tags are great for adding keywords
to images,
so take advantage of them. I also use mouse over
text with
linked text.
Links- Any links you have on your site should
have key terms
in them. Never use "Click Here" or other
unrelated words when
creating links.
Bonus tip: When exchanging text links, use key
phrases as the
actual links. This will certainly help you out.
For Example:
Affordable Search Engine Optimization & Web
Site Marketing
Mr. SEO is the leader in SEO. We handle targeted
traffic,
marketing and more. We also offer Web Site Marketing
Articles
to help you get more traffic to your site.
Links exchange- This will help boost your overall
ranking.
It's actually better to be linked from another
site (one way)
than reciprocal (both sites linking to each other).
Being
linked one way is a huge bonus. However, the following
should
be kept in mind.
A: The site you are linking to needs to be related
to your
site.
B: Google's page rank of the site should be higher
than yours;
the higher the better.
C: Avoid linking to sites that have too many
links. A site that
has forty or more links will only hurt you.
Bonus Tip: See where you rank on Google by using
this free
tool. http://www.googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php
This Google ranking tool will show you under
what keywords you
are found on. Use this to help adjust the keywords
you want to
be found under. Be sure to check your ranking
before you start
any optimization. Then do it again 3 - 4 weeks
after you have
made your adjustments. See if your ranking has
gone up.
About The Author: Joe Balestrino is a published
author and owns
http://www.mr-seo.com
and http://www.jnb-design.com
. For more
info on SEO or his services, visit his websites
or email him at
joe@jnb-design.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
#7 How To Accept Credit Cards
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 23:25:32 -0500
From: Matthew Coers <distribution@isnare.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com'
If you plan to do business online, then your
website will need
to accept credit cards. For many, the idea of
applying for a
merchant account sounds like a daunting task,
but the truth is
that building an online store is incredibly easy
these days.
The major credit card processing companies have
improved and
streamlined the process of setting up accounts,
and software
companies have had several years to improve their
software to
the point that it is easy for non-technical business
owners to
create and operate an online store effectively.
3rd Party Processors - The inexpensive way to
start
For the beginning web entrepreneur, the most important
issue in
credit card processing is how much product you
think you can
realistically sell in a month. If you are selling
less than
$1000 per month, then you will want to go with
a "third-party
processor". PayPal is the most widely known
and reputable third
party processor, and you can easily set up an
account with them.
Unlike traditional merchant accounts, PayPal accounts
are free
to set up and cost nothing on a monthly basis.
You will pay
more per transaction with PayPal than you would
with a
traditional merchant account, but for low-volume
start-up
businesses making less than $1000 per month, you
will gladly
choose higher transaction costs over account set-up
fees,
monthly account fees, minimum charges, interchange
fees,
gateway fees, and perhaps worst of all, account
cancellation
fees (just to name a few).
Steps You Need To Take To Set Up A PayPal Account
Bank Account - you will need a bank account for
PayPal to
deposit your funds into.
Apply for a PayPal Account
Traditional Merchant Accounts
If your processing volume will be higher than
$1000 per month,
then you will probably want to go with a traditional
merchant
account. Credit card processing companies generally
charge a
minimum monthly fee that is approximately equal
to the amount
of money you would pay to process $1000 per month.
Generally
speaking you can expect to pay around $50 per
month in minimum
charges for a merchant account. As you process
more, your costs
will go up, but the percentage of your gross sales
that you pay
for processing should go down.
Steps You Need To Take To Set Up A Traditional
Merchant Account
It is not difficult to set up a traditional merchant
account,
but you will need to follow several steps in order
to pull it
off.
Get a business license
Get a business bank account at your bank
Make sure your web host supports your shopping
cart system (you
might even be able to get your shopping cart system
bundled in
with your credit card processing services for
free).
Try to determine the amount of business you will
generate. Your
credit card processing company will want to know
how large each
transaction will be, and how many transactions
you expect to
have per month.
Negotiate with merchant account providers and
establish your
merchant credit card account (see list of merchant
account
providers).
Following are several merchant account providers
you may be
interested in contacting:
www.paypal.com
PayPal allows you to accept payments instantly
without the need
to set up special accounts or sign long-term contracts.
You will
want to strongly consider using this one if you
are processing
less than $1000 per month.
www.totalmerchantservices.com
Total Merchant Services is one of the largest
resellers of
merchant accounts both on and offline, and are
trusted by
literally tens of thousands of businesses of all
sizes. They
use First Data as their back-end processor.
www.merchantexpress.com
This is a well-respected processor that services
both on and
offline businesses.
www.expandyourbusiness.com
CardService International provides a very helpful
eBook that
you can download for free
Some Issues You Want To Consider
Generally speaking you will be more concerned
with up-front and
recurring fees rather than the discount rate that
processing
companies will quote most prominently. The hidden
fees
generally eclipse the discount rates - especially
for low
volume start-up businesses.
Try to accurately estimate your business volume
when you fill
out your applications. The risk department at
your processing
company can put a freeze on your account if your
volumes move
significantly outside the estimates you have provided
them.
If you do experience a sudden spike in orders,
you should
contact the risk department of your processing
company to make
them aware of the spike BEFORE it hits their system.
They may
want to have you send them details about the orders
and provide
proof that the orders are legitimate. As inconvenient
as this
is, it is far better than getting your account
frozen.
Make sure you understand what fees you will be
responsible for
if you need to cancel your account before the
end of your
contract. You may find that you need to shut down
your account
for a variety of reasons, and you don't want to
find out about
exit fees after you get the bill!
In conclusion, you should start off your search
for credit card
processing by making a realistic estimate of your
processing
needs. If you believe you will be processing less
than $1000
per month, then you will probably want to work
with a
third-party processor like PayPal. If you will
be processing
more than $1000 per month then you will want to
work with a
traditional credit card processing company (see
list of
processors above). You should be more concerned
with upfront
and recurring fees than with the discount rate.
Once you have
selected a processing company, you will want to
make sure you
have your business license and business bank account.
Finally,
you will need to make sure that your shopping
cart system
supports your processing company.
About The Author: Mr. Coers specializes in helping
entrepreneurs build effective web businesses.
His website,
http://www.profitchoice.com
contains useful articles and
"how-to" guides to help organizations
build their brands and
sell more effectively.
[Fellow Virtual Consultants,
Please find additional information regarding
these and other Merchant Accounts at:
http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#ACCT
Hope this also helps,
- Your Virtual Moderator ]
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