Building eCommerce

By Jane Dawson

If you sell online, you need a merchant account, i.e., a provider that processes credit card transactions, obtains money from the card holders credit card and deposits the money into your account, all at some agreed upon fee.

While this process may seem straightforward and mundane, subject only to some scrutiny of the fees being charged, merchant account management is really much more than that. Do a good job and you can save money; be inattentive and it can cost you money and lost profits. Start by finding the right vendor.

Find a CNP specialist

Unlike the bricks and mortar world where your employee can physically examine a card, in the world of ecommerce, you are dealing with card not present or CNP transactions. These transactions have a much higher risk of fraud and consequently chargebacks. Moreover, online transactions, authorizations, refunds and chargebacks are handled very differently than in a bricks-and-mortar sale.

Recurring payments can be an excellent way to expand revenue and are particularly suited to an ecommerce environment, but your credit card processor must have strong methods for dealing with expired cards, for example, which provide their own challenges in a CNP environment (and often time opportunities, as we will see below).

Do not rely on processors that focus on retail, point-of-sale transactions; CNP specialists will reduce fraud, mitigate chargeback costs, and in some instances, increase billings. Michael Shatz, owner of a US-Based ecommerce consulting group , recommends these payment processors that specialize in CNP transactions: Little & Co., Paymentech, Merchant e-Solutions, TransFirst, and CyberSource.

Look closely before selecting the lowest cost provider

There are so many service providers in this pace that it is not too difficult to find a very low cost provider. However, the trade off for low cost is often poor customer service. For example, be sure that your processor offers 24/7 service for you and your customers.

Since payment processors handle virtually all of your transactions, their performance often affects customer buying experience.

Select the payment mechanism that works best for your products price point. If you sell many high ticket items, you will end up spending a lot more money in a fixed percentage payment situation; you would be much better off in a fixed fee per transaction arrangement. For example, if your average sale is $300 and your percentage fee is 2%, you will pay $6 per transaction.

On the other hand, if you sell many small items, average price $10, you may be much better off with a percentage arrangement, such as 2% for an average fee of $.20.

Beware of extra standard fees, even if they are small, because they will quickly eat away at the profit in this small ticket scenario.

Select the right vendor to safeguard your cash and your customers’ experience.

About The Author

eSources.co.uk is the Internet’s largest wholesalers, dropshippers, distributors, importers and manufacturers directory. Browse wholesale by country: French wholesalers and Italian wholesalers.

By Cathy Goodwin

Online marketers have one major goal: increase your opt-in list. We measure success by list size. A big list *usually* means you are doing something right.

A big list won’t do much good unless it’s also a targeted list. That means you have a list of subscribers who will stay with you when you send solo mailings, inviting them to buy a product or attend a teleseminar. They won’t run away screaming when your headline has a typo or your link doesn’t work, unless it happens a lot.

All five solutions depend on having what I call an irresistible freebie: a giveaway to thank visitors for signing up. We also assume you display your privacy policy. “We respect your privacy” is the phrase of choice.

Technique #1: Create a Squeeze Page: When visitors go to your home page, they see a sales letter for your no-cost ezine. A squeeze page forces them to sign up or leave: they’re “squeezed” into a decision.

In some markets, the squeeze page works really well. In others, you will turn away your most promising leads. Typically, squeeze pages work best when you provide some content instead of just a sales pitch.

You also have to think about returning visitors. They’ve already subscribed. Do they have to re-subscribe? Or is there a button to click to enter the site?

Of course, you have to write good copy for your squeeze page. You need to demonstrate strong benefits and you need to understand the problems that motivate your visitors to seek solutions.

You can also try a hovering pop-up. I have them on both my sites and they work. But I would test against a page with no pop-up, just a subscription box.

Technique #2: Add a graphic to make your virtual ezine look like a magazine. These days people are visual. They like to see images. So if your opt-in page isn’t converting, make your ezine seem tangible.

This technique works for many markets, assuming your ezine has a strong name. But it can backfire in other markets. I tested my opt-in page with and without the “sleepy-cat” logo. The plain ugly page got a higher conversion rate.

Technique #3: Integrate your blog, articles and ezine. Send blog visitors to your ezine and vice versa. Some ezine authors post recent blog article titles in each issue. Of course your article resource box will link to your ezine, too.

Typically visitors judge your ezine by what they read on your blog. Or they like an article and want to learn more.

Article marketing offers a strong resource for opt-in lists because you’re most likely to get targeted traffic. They know something about you. In contrast, people who go to your pay per click (ppc) ad may be fishing. Nearly everyone who adds subscribers from ppc or exchange list reports feeling disappointed. You’ll get subscribers but they won’t be high quality.

Technique #4: Buy advertising in ezines that also reach your target market. This technique works if you identify high-quality ezines that target your market. You also need copywriting skills to create ads that motivate readers to click over to your site.

Good ezine ads may cost a few hundred dollars or more,. But they can be far more effective than a year of networking at rubber chicken lunches.

Technique #5: Develop joint ventures. This technique will skyrocket your numbers if you can make everything come together.

Here’s how it works. You offer a gift to someone else who plans a promotion. Your gift gets seen by everyone who buys the target product. Your gift description will be seen by everyone who visits the landing page of the venture.

This technique works only if your joint venture partners reach the same target market that you are trying to reach. If you’re a business coach, you won’t benefit from a joint venture with a weight loss coach (unless the coach works in companies). If you’re trying to reach a highly spiritual target market, you need to partner with others who share your specific vision.

About The Author

And now I invite you to find out more by visiting
http://www.copy-cat-copywriting.com . Download my free report,
7 secrets of websites that *really* attract clients.
Web Site Copywriting
From Cathy Goodwin, the Website Makeover Pro.