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Article
Take Your Website to the Next Level with
Online Sales
By Stephanie Chandler
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If you are in the business of selling products and/or services and you’re not making them available through your website, there is a good chance you’re losing money. The internet allows us to reach potential customers around the globe. As a business owner, your website provides a tremendous opportunity to build a fan base and maximize sales.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be difficult to set up your website to accept orders. Online shopping cart technology and credit card processing is easier than ever to implement. Following is a look at some of your choices:
Paypal
If you have a limited number of products or you simply want to test the waters, Paypal provides a quick and easy way to add a shopping cart to your website. This wholly-owned subsidiary of eBay is primarily a payment processing service. Once you sign up for a free Paypal account, you can quickly create shopping cart buttons to insert on your website.
When a customer makes a purchase, Paypal takes the buyer through the payment process and delivers an email receipt when payment is complete. As the merchant, you receive notification via email that your product has sold, along with the buyer’s shipping information.
Like all merchant card processors, Paypal charges a fee per transaction. Their rates are based on the amount of transactions processed each month. For up to $3000 in sales, Paypal currently takes a $.30 transaction fee plus 2.9% of the transaction value. For $3000.01 - $10,000, the rate is $.30 plus 2.5%.
Paypal used to require shoppers to register with the payment service before it would process an order, but this is no longer the case. Today orders processed through Paypal are comparable to most other online shopping experiences.
1ShoppingCart.com
If you intend to sell a large volume of products, 1ShoppingCart provides a comprehensive shopping cart system. Depending on the level of service you choose, you can create shopping cart buttons, offer special discounts or sale prices on your products, create gift certificates, automate email delivery with auto-responders and deliver e-books securely.
The basic package starts at $29 per month and the complete package with all of the features is $79. You can also use 1ShoppingCart’s merchant account provider to process credit cards or integrate the shopping cart with a different merchant processor. Separate transaction and monthly fees apply so be sure to check the website for the latest fee schedule.
Payloadz.com
If you’re selling electronic downloads such as ebooks or mp3 files, Payloadz allows you to set up shopping cart buttons and automates the delivery of your electronic products. The service is integrated with Paypal so payment transactions are easily processed through your Paypal account.
Payloadz offers two types of fee schedules. You can choose between a standard 15% transaction fee with no additional monthly fee, or you can pay a flat monthly rate. The monthly rates are based on the amount of storage space required to host your electronic files and the total transactions processed in a thirty day period. Visit the Payloadz website for a complete chart of the fee structures.
Payloadz also hosts its own eBay store so you can list your electronic products for sale on eBay. You can also set up an affiliate program and offer commissions to others who sell your products.
Yahoo
If you would like to create a custom online store, Yahoo Merchant Solutions may be the answer. For under $40 per month, Yahoo’s starter program includes web hosting, up to 100 email accounts, and the tools to set up your shopping cart. They also charge a 1.5% transaction fee for each sale under this package. The standard package costs about $100 per month plus a 1% transaction fee and includes the ability to offer coupons, host sales and sell gift certificates.
Yahoo stores integrate with most merchant card processors or you can sign up for an account with their partner, Paymentech ( www.paymentech.net). Yahoo also offers incentives for signing up such as credits toward search engine marketing services and discounts on services from their partners. For more information, visit http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/merchant.
Affiliate Marketing
Once your website shopping cart service is in full swing, you can generate more sales by offering your own affiliate program. These programs allow other merchants to sell your products on a commission basis. For example, you could set up an affiliate program for a book you’ve written and offer other online merchants a 30% commission on each sale.
Most of the online shopping cart services allow you to set up affiliate links for your business partners. If you’re using Paypal or another service that doesn’t provide the ability to set up affiliate accounts, you can set one up through www.clickbank.com or www.paydotcom.com.
If you do offer an affiliate program for your products, make it as easy as possible for your sellers. Provide them with full product descriptions and high-quality graphic images. Don’t forget to offer enough commission to make their efforts worthwhile.
Expand Your Sales
With a shopping cart and an affiliate program in place, your income opportunities are endless. You may want to consider expanding your product line to include e-books, special reports, teleseminars and other types of information products. Customers who like your products are likely to return to purchase additional products. Soon you could be reaping the rewards of your online product sales. |
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About the
Author:
Stephanie Chandler is the author of several business and
marketing
books
including
FROM
ENTREPRENEUR
TO
INFOPRENEUR:
MAKE MONEY
WITH BOOKS,
E-BOOKS AND
INFORMATION
PRODUCTS.
She is the
founder of
http://BusinessInfoGuide.com,
a directory
of resources
for
entrepreneurs
and
http://TheBusinessGrowthConnection.com,
a marketing
company
specializing
in
electronic
newsletters.
*You are welcome to reprint this article provided the
author bio
is included.
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