Social Networking Burnout?

Social Network Burnout.

After a quick trip around the Internet I was wondering if anyone else was having social network burnout?

Belonging to so many social networks that you just feel the need to get away from it all? You feel the need to enable privacy settings on all your networks so that you will not be tracked from one location to the next? Are you starting to feel like your privacy on the Internet is no more?

I think with all the social network websites out there it can be a blessing or a curse. They can be an amazing way to meet new people, share ideas, opinions and stay connected.

The problem comes when you stop having fun and are just working to keep up with your social networking websites. Then it can become more like working than networking.

I was on another persons blog the other day, and after visiting his various links I am wondering how many people out there are having social network burnout or fatigue?

The blog that I was on had a list of social networking websites that this person belonged to. It’s not the grandest list that I have come across, but it was still a list.

His list went something like this. Follow me on Twitter.

http://www.Twitter.com

If you are not familiar with Twitter, it’s an application that let’s you remotely type in your play by play activity.

Eg. John: I just drove into the McDonald’s. 5 minutes ago.
Kerry: I just picked the kids up from school. 8 minutes ago
George: I just left the grocery store. 10 minutes ago.

It’s your network and you keep your network updated, from any location. What some people do is make their twitter available for their blogging audience. This way you can be followed around via twitter.

You can then go to your twitter profile and see how many followers you have.

Then after twitter this blog had connect with me on Linkedin.

http://www.Linkedin

Linked in is a social networking website for professionals. Kind of like a Facebook but for professional connections.

You can create a profile, with your education, show off the connections that you have made, past career, and current, your industry, and any websites or blogs.

The site allows you to then connect with other professionals in the industry or industries of your choice. Since just about everything in the world works via social networking and connections, I begin to see why these websites have become so very popular in a short space of time.

The next link they had was their Facebook profile link. Find me at Facebook.

http://www.Facebook.com

Many people have heard of Facebook, but not everyone is familiar with Facebook. It’s a social networking website that allows you to search for people. You can search by name, company, or various other methods. Since many millions of people are on Facebook it’s a way for you to connect to people that you already know, meet people that you did not know before, and see if you have people in your networks that are linked or connected.

The concept was originally designed to allow college graduates to stay in touch, but it’s branched out over the last several years and now many people are located on Facebook. It’s one of, if not the largest social networking websites on the Internet.

The next tag this person had on their blog was find my photo’s on flicker.

http://www.Flickr.com

Flickr has become a very popular website for sharing photos. If you have some pictures that you want to upload to share with yourself or a whole Internet full of strangers Flickr is the place to do it.

You can either upload your own photos or if you feel very voyeuristic you can view the pictures that others have shared on their website.

If you have surfed the Internet then you have probably come across some extraordinary pictures from Flickr.

The next link on this persons blog was an invitation to view their videos at a site called vimeo?

http://www.Vimeo

I am not familiar with this website, but the description does say connecting people through video. The website says that you can upload your videos via high definition. It’s a very cute site, the few videos I did partake of had a really artsy feel to them. I really liked the video with the parrot and the cat. I don’t think that YouTube.com has met it’s match yet, but still a very cute photo sharing website.

The next link on this persons website was a link to their Digg page.

http://www.Digg.com

Now if you are not familiar with Digg, it’s a website that let’s you vote on the most popular stories, news articles and information. Users from other websites can submit stories to Digg to be rated. If a user likes the story they will Digg it, and if they don’t they will just bury it by clicking a button.

This website is great because users get to submit a story or something of interest and then people get to vote on the story, articles, etc and share their opinions as to why they liked it, did not like it, or some other relevant content.

The next link on this persons blog was to a site I was 100% unfamiliar with, but was glad to learn more about.

http://www.Ycombinator.com

Apparently the site is there to help people with their ideas. They describe themselves as a type of venture firm that helps start up companies or individuals with ideas. They help them get from the planning stage to the implementation stage. They care about how smart people are, not how old they are.

The site sounds good in theory, however does this type of model really work and can it really help an individual or company get off the ground?

The next two links were to this bloggers personal websites. It was a very impressive list of links and it introduced me to a couple of websites that I was hither to unfamiliar with.

In the end I think getting social networking burnout comes down to the one main factor. If you are the type of person that thrives on having a network of friends, staying in touch, having people know where you are 24/7 then these sites will more than likely just continue to invigorate you.

If on the other hand you are the personality type that likes your peace and quite and are primarily on these sites to network because you feel that you have to, then you are more than likely to encounter social networking burnout or fatigue. If you are somewhere in between then you most likely will not get the long term buzz that others do from these types of sites, but then you are also less likely to experience the burnout factor.

Promoting your website

Recently I started a new project which I hope to turn into a community website.

After designing the website I wanted to find some interesting ideas or ways to promote the website. There are many ways to market a product or service online. I choose some very simple solutions which I found to be suitable for what I had in mind.

Write an article

One thing you can do is write an article. It does not have to be a very long article, just enough to explain what your group, company, organisation, individual project is all about. Once you have the article written there are so many places online that you can distribute it. One of the best place that I have found for distributing artiles are articles directories. If you do a quick google search there are many free directories online that will let you submit and publish your articles.

You can even submit your articles to some websites and they will pay you for your content. It’s a great way to get some exposure, and maybe even get paid along the way.

http://iamhereonline.com/VirtualPath/2008/10/22/i-am-here-online/

Create a video

Create a video. This sounds harder than it actually is. To create a video can be something as simple and easy as taking out your camera-phone and telling the world about what you do, make it interesting of course and then posting it online to sites such as http://www.Youtube.com, http://www.google.com, http://www.veoh.com, or any of the other dozens of video and file sharing websites available.

You can also use windows movie maker to edit your video, or create a new one from scratch. The service is free with windows XP. If you want something more professional looking, there are many websites online that will help you design a video and submit it, many of these services are inexpensive and do a reasonable job of create quick Internet ready videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSR9-j8b9u0

Post on other forums

There are so many online forums out there it’s impossible to know where to begin. A good place to start is with some of the webmaster forums. Many of these forums have webmasters just like yourself who are trying to find ways to promote their websites, or initiatives. You can find out what’s working, what’s not working, tips and tricks. In many cases these forums will also have a designated section where you can post your website. It gives their community members a chance to pursue new sites and see if there are any they might be interested in joining.

http://iamhereonline.com/Living/forum/

Create a Widget

This has to be the best thing since sliced bread. The ability to turn your website or blog into a widget or a bliget. You can visit websites such as http://www.widgetbox.com and they have an automated application that you can use to turn parts of your website, or entire blog into a widget. A widget is a mini portable application that can be implemented on other websites, blogs or social networks. They are a great way to reach a new audience. Create a widget is very quick and it’s also lot’s of fun.

http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/forum-i-am-here-online

Create a survey

Use polls and surveys to find out what your visitors are thinking. It’s a great way to assess what their interests are, and their reasons for visiting your website. It can also be a good way to find out if there are any new products, promotions or features that they would like to have implemented at your website.

There are literally dozens of ways to promote a website online. Each website will have different methods that will work. Try one method to promote your website and if that does not work, try something else. The main point of promoting your website is to keep trying till your find what works best for you.

Affordable Hosting

Choosing an Affordable Website Hosting Plan Is Easy When Planned

Money is an issue. When you just start your site, you don’t want to spend any extra cash on the features you do not need at the moment. In this article we’ll try to help you and guide you on how to choose a website hosting plan which will yet fit all your needs.

Compare the features several website hosting providers offer and make sure you get as much as possible for every penny spent. Today there are many hosting providers available, so you are surely to find one to suit all your website may need.

First, analyze the traffic limits the providers under consideration offer. Sometimes an affordable website hosting plan offers more traffic than a more expensive one, but mostly often the situation is different.

Remember, that your site will grow someday and you certainly don’t want to go upgrade right after you have a considerable amount of visitors. Today there are enough opportunities to get good traffic allowances.

Second, find out everything about the disk space offer. Choose the plan that will fit your planned website, not the one you have right now. It is possible these days to find a hosting provider that gives you plenty of hard disk space even if you don’t pay very much.

Check the performance records of the providers. If outages are frequent and last for long periods of time, you better don’t buy from them, no matter how affordable their website hosting plans are. Nothing scares your customers and hurts your image more, than a message about your website being unavailable.

Consider a traffic statistics reporting feature. You’ll need one to track your traffic records, analyze them and then target your marketing campaign so that your site develops steadily. Most providers do have such a feature installed on every plan. If not, an email inquiry may help as some of them turn this function on when you demand it.

It would be smart to check for some special offers. Many providers offer additional bonuses to those who buy affordable website hosting plans from them. This can be a cheap domain registration and renewal opportunity, preinstalled scripts, additional hosting period and many more. Don’t fret to ask for a discount though almost every provider already runs some kind of a promotion. The rivalry in the segment is huge so the companies value each and every customer.

It goes without any doubt that there are still many aspects one should or could pay attention to when choosing an affordable website hosting plan for his website. But we have mentioned the most important ones. Make sure there’s enough space and traffic allowances for your site to grow. Setting up a good site today is not an easy task so you’ll want to be content about your hosting provider’s ability to handle the growth of your project.

About the Author
————
Kevin Dark runs various businesses online including Affordable Website Hosting. http://www.3fn.net/

Blog Profits

STOP!

If you think this article is about spamming other people’s blogs with affiliate links, it’s not.

Sure, Generating blog from other people’s blogs via direct links to affiliate programs is the easy way out.

* No developing your own blog * Little creative thinking * Money can be made

I’ve only one word to say to you if this is or will be your method of advertising.

STOP!

Not only will it get you banned from any good blogs within the given niche you are targeting, but also people have no interest in direct blatant advertising being shoved in their face.

You can however make serious money using blogs that belong to other people.

How?

Good question.

First decide on a given targeted niche. There is so much information on the web about targeting niches that I’m not going to cover that here. Bottom line? Do it or die a quick Internet marketing nightmarish death. Also, pick a niche target that either you know something about or are willing to study do massive studying within. Don’t pretend to be something your not, people see right through that and it stinks.

Second, find out what others are writing about within a given niche. I use HitTail.com to complete this process and recommend the same for everyone else who is serious about building an audience within a given target market. I also recommend SEO Elite, which will clearly identify who the experts are within a given niche. These experts are your friends!

Third, with your knowledge and their position begin placing relevant interesting clear concise comments on their blogs that are directly related to an article or articles they have posted. This sentence is so critical to your success that it bears repeating…

“With your knowledge and their position begin placing relevant interesting clear concise comments on their blogs that are directly related to an article or articles they have posted.”

DO NOT “BIRD WALK” THEIR BLOG!

If you don’t have anything to add to their specific topic, then don’t add anything.

Wait!

Read!

Wait some more.

Then when you have something really important to add to what is being said it is time to add your comments. Repeat that as often as possible within their blog and you will become an expert authority that people listen to when reading this blog.

Not only will this help your Google PR level (If they have a good Google PR) but you will also start building an audience to your own website from their blog. With most blogs there is absolutely no reason why you can’t include highly relevant links back to your website if they are EXACTLY that.

* Not advertising * Not spam * Not anything but highly relevant links to the exact topic at hand.

Perhaps these links will need to be subjugated to your signature line (keep it short) within the comment but the link will be their none-the-less.

On the page that people visit from their blog include two things.

* A sign up form for your automated newsletter. You do have an automated Email newsletter don’t you? Please tell me you do. Otherwise you’re throwing all your hard work right out the window.

* An affiliate link you would like people to visit, that is highly relevant to the exact topic at hand. There are any of a number of ways of doing this. Graphic, video & intext ads are three of my own personal favorites.

In closing, if you don’t see how generating blog profits from other people’s blogs is quite possible from the above information then I’d recommend you try something other than Internet marketing. May I suggest underwater basket weaving?

———-
Guy Siverson (SEOGuy) - How would you use your own blog to generate online profit? Find out @ http://www.viralmarketing4u.com/2008/10/…-blog.html - Partner of http://Search-Engine-Optimization-And-Beyond.com

Online Gaming

What do you do when your kids are hugely addicted to video games but the acquisition prices exceed your budget? What do you do when they get bored and are screaming in your ears for the next or latest video game? Each time you save money, buy them the newest video game on the market, you see the happiness and the excitement on their faces. It is great, but if only it would last longer. In a matter of days they are done with it and the video game begins to collect dust somewhere in their room.

A better option for your budget and for your child or teens ever-changing taste surrounding video games could be on line video game rentals.

Therefore, instead of buying video games that your kids will quickly tire of, save your money by utilizing online video game rental services. Many web sites provide this and renting is as simple as point, click and play.

For a monthly subscription that ranges from 10 to 35$ you can have unlimited access to a database of games, both old and new to rent from. You can choose games from the on line catalogue that you want to play and the company will mail it straight to your home. You can play the game for as long as you want and when finished, returning the game is as easy as sending it back in a pre-paid envelope that they provide.

When you subscribe for the online video game rental service, you will have the option to create a queue with the top of the games you are interested in renting and playing. If the game on the top of your list is not available, the rental company will ship you the following game on your queue. This way you are always getting the video games you want.

Online video game rentals are an excellent choice if you take into consideration some other aspects related to the services you want to subscribe for: if there are late fees, if the shipping is free each way or if the online video game rentals web site has ratings for their mature and age-related game titles.

If you consider all of the above aspects, you can quick and easily enjoy the advantages of diversity, entertainment and the low price of on line video game rentals with your friends and family, for as long as you want.

About the Author
—————–
Colin writes about various gaming topics ranging from On Line Video Game Rentals to board games. For more writings by him, visit: Game Entertainment. http://www.zoningout.com/

Online Learning

Why keep learning?

There’s no doubting that adult education is a huge industry nowadays. With the job market growing ever more competitive, and employees being expected to continually develop themselves professionally (whatever their profession), ‘lifelong learning’ has become a necessity, rather than just an added bonus. Failure to upskill can be the difference between getting the job of your dreams, and losing out to a slightly more qualified candidate - or simply being passed up yet again for a promotion.

Even for those outside of the workforce, education is the most reliable path to better relationships, a better financial situation, and better quality of life over all. Jim Rohn, America’s foremost business philosopher, has been known to say that ‘Formal education will make you a living - self education will make you a fortune!’

But what is it about internet education (or ‘webucation’) that makes it so popular? How do we know if online learning is right for us, or if we’re better off signing up for face-to-face classes somewhere local?

Advantages of Learning Online

The most obvious advantage of online education is its sheer flexibility in terms of time. It allows you to study totally on your own timetable, around the many other commitments you already have in your life. You can study while working fulltime, while you’re doing shiftwork or while caring for children or relatives. Whether you’re at your best early in the morning or late in the evening, you can study at a time that suits you. You don’t have to worry about catching tutors during their office hours, and courses are available to you 24/7, so you don’t have to worry about fitting in with your lecturer’s schedule.

Equally helpful is the geographical flexibility it gives you. Suddenly, transport logistics become a non-issue. You can study courses based in other cities - indeed in other countries. Travel costs like petrol and parking or public transport are a thing of the past; and you don’t have to factor in travel time either (not to mention cutting out any rushing between classes if you’re studying more than one at a time!)

Almost more important than logistics for many students, however, is the fact that online learning allows you to personalise your study. If you already know some of the material in the course syllabus, you don’t need to wait for your fellow students to cover it before you move on to what *you* want to learn. If you’re having difficulty understanding a particular concept, you can spend as much time on it as you want without feeling you’re slowing your classmates down. You can find courses that are delivered in the medium *you* learn best in - whether that be audio, video, or the written word.

Online courses can be far more affordable than face-to-face classes as well. Fees are often lower; even before you factor in the lack of transport costs, parking, childcare fees, and any need to eat out. Most online courses will allow you to study totally at your own pace, so you can end up completing your course in far less time than it would take if you’d been attending weekly classes.

Is Online Education For Everyone?

The truth is that internet education won’t suit everyone. For a start, you need to have a basic understanding of how to use a computer and connect to the internet, and not everyone does. However, the fact that you’re reading this article online suggests you already have that understanding. You need to have regular Internet access - and it will be easier for you to study to your own timetable if you can connect to the ‘Net at home, rather than at a friend’s or a public library.

Just as for face-to-face classes (perhaps a little more so), you need to be organised and fairly self-motivated. You need to know exactly why you want to complete the course you enrol in, and really understand what difference passing it will make in your life. You need to be able to plan out when you’re going to dedicate time to studying, and have the commitment to honour your plans.

If you know what you want to get out of online education, however, and you’re willing to follow the study plans you set for yourself, ‘webucation’ can provide you with huge opportunities! It can reduce the logistical hassles of studying important courses, while providing you with a far more enjoyable, convenient and personalised learning experience. All this, and often at a price far less than face-to-face classes would cost you - it’s no wonder Forbes magazine described internet education as “one of the biggest emerging trends of the decade”.

About the author

———–
Tanja Gardner (optimumlife.co.nz ) is a stress management and fitness coach who’s worked in education for two years.

Start Making Money Online

Here are some tips on how to start making money online.

It takes time and work to build a business anywhere. If you want to build a business, you will have to be willing to research and be patient. Nothing happens instantly and no one is going to hand you the silver platter with all the answers to make money online.

There is a lot of writing that goes into an online business. Write a business plan and revise that plan periodically. Your business plan should be thought of as a living document. As with any business, you will initially find out what works and what does not work and will have to change your plan accordingly.

Always own your own Website, so that you can change and adapt to your market.

Be very careful about buying web space and pre-packaged website templates for your business. You’ll find that down the road it will be difficult to change the site plus get source code to it. You need to be reasonable with yourself, and learn patience. It’s better outsourcing the web design with a freelancer and purchasing your own domain and installing the site yourself in some cases to make money online. If you need there are several free sources on the Internet that you can learn.

Run your online business like a business. You will need to discipline yourself with working hours to take care of all offsite matters because you will have them. A lot of people make the mistake of treating their internet business merely as a website, which can be very detrimental because running an online business requires an approach that you would have with an offline business.

Once you have your site built and online, your next job will be to let the world know you are there. This is the biggest job there is to make money online. It is a never ending task. No one will even know your site exists if you don’t work on promoting it. Your marketing plan needs to include search engine optimization (SEO). This is important because you want your site to rank in the top 10 of search engine query results. You would be wise to study SEO techniques or hire the services of a SEO consultant.

Some other marketing ideas to make money online include posting your web address on the back windshield of your vehicle or coordinating with other websites to include a back link to your site. Word of mouth is always one of the best tools for advertising your site. With the advent of Google Adwords, Overture and other similar advertising, it is possible to drive targeted traffic to your site by finding keywords that have very low bids. You will be able to measure your conversion ratio of such traffic with sales in real-time.

These are the basic things that are needed to make money online. If any of these things are missing there could be lost information or inefficiency in how the online business works.

You will find that in the course of your new online business that the money is first-rate for the amount of time you invest into it. The great thing about your online income is that it helps pay the monthly bills. Since the Internet doesn’t discriminate against age, race or sex everyone can make money online. Best of luck.
———–

Start Making Money Online-How tos, is written by Glenn McDonald
Glenn McDonald lives in the United States and,
this authors website is Auto Profit Cash

What is a blog?

Blogs originated as personal soap opera boxes where individuals can put across their views, feelings and aspirations. Due to this, blogging was highly associated to setbacks and procrastinations. Now, blogs are utilized as a medium of expression of every niche over the World Wide Web.

A lot of experts are now making use of blogs to convey vital information to the reading public. Major internet bigwigs are now making use of blogs to make themselves known. Almost everyone these days own a blog.

The reason blogs have become so popular is because there free and easy to setup. So unlike a traditional websites users don’t have to pay for hosting or know anything about HTML or fancy website creation. They can just sign-up for a blog and get started. This has enabled everybody to have there own internet outlet to express their views and promote products.

Just recently people have begun using blogs to increase there website traffic and search engine ranking. Because search engines “love” new content, if you install a blog on your website every time you update your blog, search engines will come and index your website and this will help to increase your search engine ranking. And the higher up you are in search engines the more organic traffic you get.

Blogs also allow you to draw traffic from social networking sites. And because there free you can start as many as you want and use them to promote your products and services anyway that you like. You can even have several similar blogs and use them all to drive traffic to your website.

To learn more about what is a blog, visit us.

—————-

Colin Klinkert is the owner of blog: colinklinkert.com and part-owner of viralurl.com

Using those resources

There are literally thousands, if not millions, of free online resources for webmasters available on the internet. I would like to share some of the most useful of these with you today. All of these resources are available at no cost, although some may require registration.

The first, and possibly most useful resource, is Site Meter available through sitemeter.com. Site Meter is essentially an extremely advanced website counter and statistics tracker which allows you as a webmaster to not only see how many visitors you are receiving, but in depth details about each visitor. For example, you can see:

* Where the visitor came from and what page the your link was on that they clicked
* The visitor’s country and region
* The visitor’s browser version and operating system
* The page on your website they entered at, as well as the page they exited on when they left
* How long they stayed on your website and which web pages they viewed
* IP address as well as their ISP
* And much more!

Simply add the Sitemeter code to your page and you are ready to go!

The second resource is My Contact Form, available through MyContactForm.com. If adding forms to your site confuses you, or even if you just want a much more advanced form system, this is a great service to use. Every webmaster should at least try this one! My Contact Form allows you to easily create online forms, polls, surveys, contact forms, feedback forms, questionnaires, and more using their online form creation wizard that does the work for you. Just answer the questions it prompts you for and then paste the html it gives you onto your site. Completely customizable and fun to use!

Next we have an almost must-have resource for any webmaster, which is a terrific newsletter and ezine program, Constant Contact, from ConstantContact.com. Free for up to 50 subscribers, this easy to use program allows you to easily create and manage mailing lists, with customizable pre-made templates, tons of features, and great support.

Many webmasters have wondered how to get a Favicon, those little icons next to a website address in their address bar or bookmarks list. Favicons help you to brand your website and encourage visitors to remember your site in the future. You can find a wonderful favicon maker at html-kit.com/favicon. Simply create the favicon from the creator there and upload it to your website directory.

Another wonderful resource for webmasters, which allows you to give visitors a reason to keep coming back to your website is a plug board. Plug boards are a small script that you place on your website which allows visitors to add their button or banner to a page on your site. There are a certain amount of spaces to place these buttons and when the spaces are all full, the next person to post a “plug” bumps the oldest plug off the board. This allows your website visitors to advertise easily on your website, as well as creating a reason for them to visit again to re-plug their site when it has been bumped off the plug board. You can get a free plug-board at plug-board.com.

One thing which is extremely important to any website, are meta tags. Meta tags are “read” by search engines, and can help your search engine listings and positions if done correctly. You can find one of the most advanced meta tag generators at submitcorner.com/Tools/Meta.

Many webmasters are fond of domain names, but sometimes you can’t seem to find the right domain name for you because more and more domain names are being taken by others. Use Name Boy at nameboy.com to find the absolutely perfect domain name for your website using a combination of one or two words. Just enter two keywords into the search form and Name Boy will find all domains with those words in them, as well as showing which are available.

Finally, find hundreds of free places to get traffic for your website at hostingwahms.com/Free-Website-Traffic-For-Your-Site%21.php. With many different programs, exchanges, and other tools to submit your websites to, you will get an exponential increase in traffic using the resources available on that page.

I hope that these tools are useful to you as a webmaster and that they increase the overall performance and usability of your website. Remember that there are literally thousands of resources available for you as a webmaster on the internet, and use these as much as possible to you - and your website’s - advantage!

About the Author
———————-
Stephanie Davies is a 28 year old work at home mom to a 9 year old boy in Mid-Missouri. Her hosting company, Hosting WAHMs at hostingwahms.com offers premium webhosting from $2 per month and up, with an easy to use sitebuilder! She also offers writing services at writtenmagic.com.

Most small business owners think they understand the importance of having a quality web site. Unfortunately, many home-based entrepreneurs think of their web site as nothing more than an online brochure. While informing the public about the products and services you provide is important, using the internet to make those products and services more easily available is the real name of the game. If you are not taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the ecommerce revolution, then you are missing out on millions in potential sales.

Establishing Credibility for Your Ecommerce Web Site
Years ago, credibility was a major barrier for entrepreneurs wishing to conduct business on the internet. Luckily, times have changed and people have become more comfortable with ecommerce. However, you still need to make sure that your business has a professional web presence. Whether consciously or subconsciously, people feel a “contact us” page lends credibility to a web-based business. A toll-free number is even better. Testimonials from previous customers can allay fears, especially if your references are willing to post their email addresses for verification.

An overall, professional look for your web site is important, as well. Make sure you have consistent navigability and a crisp, concise design. Avoid cheesy flash gimmicks and other fancy ploys. Take a look at the most popular ecommerce sites on the web - they all have professional yet simple layouts and designs. Don’t be afraid to model your look after Amazon, eBay, or other ecommerce leaders.

The Essential Tools of Ecommerce
In order to accept credit cards online, you need shopping cart software, a payment gateway, and a merchant account. There are some all-in-one ecommerce solutions, but they tend to be less customizable and are intended for businesses with smaller sales volumes. It’s okay to start with PayPal or Google Checkout, but you should also be aware of what professional ecommerce solutions have to offer, because if you’re successful, you will need to upgrade.

There are hundreds of shopping cart software packages available - just do an internet search and comparison shop for the solution that best meets your needs. Payment gateways typically come with merchant accounts (for an additional fee of $30 or so per month), so long as you use a third-party provider. The other option is to use a bank for your merchant account, which normally costs less in terms of fees. However, banks are often reticent to grant merchant accounts to online businesses.

Applying for a Merchant Account
You have to fill out an application in order to get a merchant account. Merchant account providers evaluate your suitability in terms of risk. Their fear is that you will either fraudulently misuse your merchant account, or people will be unhappy with your products or services and file what is called a “chargeback” against you - refusing to pay their credit card bills. Since most merchant accounts deposit funds into your bank account within 48 hours of a charge, the merchant account provider is worried that your chargebacks will exceed your ability (or willingness) to pay for them. Thus, not only your personal credit, but also your business model, will be considered during the evaluation process.

The good news is that even if you’re initially denied, there are hundreds of options out there for accepting online payments. Nontraditional merchant account providers may charge higher fees, but when the alternative is to not have ecommerce access at all, the fees are negligible. The typical fee for a $40 transaction is around $0.99; whereas a high-risk accountholder may be charged $2.10. Sure, that’s more than double, but if your pre-transaction fee profit margin is $12, the extra $1.11 in transaction fees is more than worth it.

Some Final Tips
Kevin Costner’s character in Field of Dreams was haunted by the saying, “If you build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the case with ecommerce web sites. A better mantra would be, “If you market it, they will come.” The good news is that it’s never been easier to market yourself on the web. Consider buying some pay-per-click (PPC) ads through the popular search engines, or advertising directly on a couple of blogs that are related to your business. Better yet, you can use internet auction sites, not only for direct sales, but also as a marketing tool to bring people to your web site. Finally, the age of social networking makes it easier than ever to find customers - enlist the help of your online friends to spread the word.

When your business is ecommerce-enabled, you have a full-time sales agent working around the clock, often for less than $1 per day. If you’re not taking advantage of ecommerce, there’s no telling how much money you’re throwing away.
About the Author
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Anthony Samuel is a successful entrepreneur with 10 years experience in the home based business industry. He reviews home business opportunities and shares his industry views at find-a-home-based-business-opportunity.com