Actual for You - Internet and Businesses Online

Advertising Today - Strategies for the Short Attention Span
My years in radio taught me that the most effective means of ratings success is to speak to the audience you want instead of the audience you have. It can be a long process, and it takes patience to develop and grow your message before you see results. But repetition builds reputation, and it can work for any business model. Here are some things to keep in mind in building an effective campaign:Keep it simple, stupid. You can say more with less. Don't clutter your message with too many details. The more compelling the message is, the more pre-qualified your customers will be. A customer more motivated to find out more information, will be more motivated to purchase what you have to offer.Ask for what you want. Be downright honest with your potential customer. Don't promise something you can't deliver, or hide something you can't with cliches and meaningless tricks and gimmicks. If you want action from your customer, you have to be willing to tell them what you want them to do. I want you to read the rest of this article. When you are done, I want you to read some of the other articles I have written.Go against the grain. Take a risk on doing the opposite of what you've always done or what others are doing. Too many times, successful tactics get tired and worn out, but businesses are afraid to m

wellsfargosecure.com/IMA_Benefits.htm">Wells Fargo or Verisign who can provide you with an Internet Merchant Account.

What is the difference between PayPal and an Internet Merchant Account?

PayPal

Kill 'Em With Kindness - Managing With A Positive Attitude
We can all tell stories about the associate, customer, or vendor from hell. Those stories make for great cocktail conversations. Many years ago when I first began work as a manager of a retail store, I had an employee who was the definition of ditsy blonde. Every day she arrived late, breathless and filled with stories of her personal life, her car and every possible reason why she wasn’t on time….AGAIN.She would proceed to the bathroom, open her purse from which she’d pull a cosmetic treasure trove and spend the first 30 minutes of her shift putting on her makeup.Well, I have never been big into the makeup scene, probably because I never really felt like I knew what I was doing. The stereotypical female spending hours to get ready was never my modus operandi. I never could figure out what took so long. I remember even TRYING to spend a long time in the bath as I got ready for my boyfriend’s senior prom and the best I could manage was a half hour and that included the shower and drying my waist length hair. A little foundation, two stokes of blush, a smattering of mascara and I’m good to go and yet, here is my employee in the bathroom, on company time, wasting 1/16 of her shift.Be positive, I’d tell myself. If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.Okay. That’s sounds dandy, but I have a business to run. I only scheduled two of u

Introduction

Why should you implement E-Commerce into your website? Simply put, because the ability to market goods and services and accept online payments is a great example of a passive income model. Your online store is running, customers have found their way to your site and their purchase is completely automated – from payment processing and approval to product delivery. With prior and proper preparation, your involvement in the transaction process is limited, leaving you more time to focus on other areas of your business.

1. Accepting Credit Cards Boosts Profits

As an online merchant you should already have a good understanding of the importance of making your product easily accessible to potential customers. With so much competition on the Internet, a frustrated potential customer can exit your site without looking back if you do not offer a clear and easy method to order and deliver your products and services.

Let’s look at an example:

Assume two competitive merchants, A and B, both have websites which are geared to marketing jar candles. Merchant A offers detailed product information, appropriate product photos, great customer service and the ability to quickly and easily order his product through an online shopping cart and payment processing system with a price slightly higher than that of Merchant B.

Merchant B also offers detailed product information, appropriate product photos and excellent customer service but a lower price. You’ve decided to order from Merchant B because his price is lower. Upon trying to checkout, you then discover that Merchant B does not have a shopping cart, cannot process credit cards from his website and requires you to either email or call to place your order.

Which merchant do you believe would earn the final sale in this example?

If you said Merchant A, 99.9% of the time you’d be correct. Accepting credit cards can boost your profits immensely because it adds value and convenience to your customer’s online shopping experience. The merchant benefits because he is not consumed with taking orders via phone or email; he is diversifying his income streams by delivering goods and services online thereby freeing up time to focus on other aspects of his business. Processing payments online also reduces the total transaction time since the traditional method of waiting for checks to clear prior to shipping/delivering products and services is eliminated.

2. Online Payment Systems

Now that you’ve decided to accept credit cards ? you’ll need to select a merchant processor to handle the transactions and to deliver your money to you. Names in the processing arena come to mind such as: PayPal, 2checkout.com, ProPay, or various other Merchant processors such as Wells Fargo or Verisign who can provide you with an Internet Merchant Account.

What is the difference between PayPal and an Internet Merchant Account?

PayPal

Hot to Start A Restaurant
So you love to cook. You want to sell your food to the world and put it on someone else’s table.But is the ability to cook enough to start up a successful restaurant business? Just being a great cook doesn't mean you'll be a great business person, so before you decide to take the plunge and be a restaurateur, ask yourself these questions:• Can I cook great and fast for more than ten people at a time? The big difference between your ordinary day at home and your ordinary day at the restaurant is the number of people you have to serve. The taste and texture of food will change when it’s cooked in larger batches – what graced your little dining table may be the curse of your big restaurant table.Make sure you’ve adjusted your recipes for your down home taste to keep it constant. Have at least ten friends over to try out the food. They can offer you tips not only on taste, but also on presentation.• What do I cook best? There’s no use having to learn how to cook more and more new things. Make a list of the food you cook best, and build your restaurant’s theme around it. If you’d like to have more food on your menu, say, more pastries because you specialize in main courses, or vice versa, then consult with friends who like to cook. Who knows, you might find business partners!• Who can help me make this dream a reality? Business isn't always about what y

rs. With so much competition on the Internet, a frustrated potential customer can exit your site without looking back if you do not offer a clear and easy method to order and deliver your products and services.

Let’s look at an example:

Which merchant do you believe would earn the final sale in this example?

2. Online Payment Systems

What is the difference between PayPal and an Internet Merchant Account?

PayPal

How a Business Coach Can Assist You With Business Development
A business coach will help you with the skills that you need to manage and lead a successful small or medium sized business. They will assist you in setting your business development goals and make sure you become more responsible for what is your most important work, Business Development Work.As managers and business owners we are thrust into our positions through what is commonly referred to as “Promotion into Incompetence”. We move through the ranks or begin our own businesses based on our highly developed technical skills. Little thought is given to the actual (non technical) skills and mindset needed to manage people and run a business well.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~If you are having difficulty with something in your life it can generally be solved by learning new skills.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Business Coaches provide you with feedback regarding what you need to do to get your business on track. A healthy business coaching relationship will provide an honest ongoing assessment of your Business Development Activities, assisting you to focus your efforts on the areas that will have the greatest long term positive impact on your business.Technology Innovations allow you to be involved with coaches from locations around the world. Do some research into the various Business Coaching opti

r price. You’ve decided to order from Merchant B because his price is lower. Upon trying to checkout, you then discover that Merchant B does not have a shopping cart, cannot process credit cards from his website and requires you to either email or call to place your order.

Which merchant do you believe would earn the final sale in this example?

2. Online Payment Systems

What is the difference between PayPal and an Internet Merchant Account?

PayPal

Radio and Television Ads: Clever Vs. Annoying
Ever heard or seen a radio or television commercial that you really liked and actually looked forward to hearing or seeing again only to be assaulted by another one so annoying it made you want to heave your radio or television out the window?What makes one commercial so enjoyable while others seem to be so abysmal? It’s all in the ability to make the listener or viewer remember the ad in a creative, clever way and I’m about to give you some advice on how to do just that so read on!One of the most successful ways of creating clever ads is to add humor. Unfortunately that’s not an easy thing to do as you have probably heard or seen many commercials try and fail. There is a fine line between writing a spot people will laugh and identify with and writing one that falls flat on its face and unfortunately most spots fall into the latter category. The best advice on using humor in ads that I can give you is this: hire a professional who specializes in writing humorous ads. I say this because the majority of advertisers that attempt to write their own funny ads fail miserably. The main reason is because it takes a trained writer to know how to create an ad that includes not only genuinely funny copy, but also perfect timing and the right amount of copy needed to pull it off. Having said this, if you still insist you’ve written a funny spot for your bus

focus on other aspects of his business. Processing payments online also reduces the total transaction time since the traditional method of waiting for checks to clear prior to shipping/delivering products and services is eliminated.

2. Online Payment Systems

What is the difference between PayPal and an Internet Merchant Account?

PayPal

Double Down on Marketing
If you want to compete in the world of high growth startups, you better know how to play the marketing game. Marketing has become a big stakes game where companies are betting fortunes on the success of their products. Nowadays if you can’t play the big marketing game you may not even get the attention of the customers you need to grow your business.So how do you compete if you don’t have the cash to run with the big dogs? The answer lies in growing your marketing budget by doubling up on your marketing investments quickly. Chances are the capital you need to compete in this game is right under your nose, you just need to know where to look for it.Make marketing an investmentThe first step to growing your marketing budget is thinking about it differently. People used to think of their marketing budget as a line item expense that they wrote checks for throughout the year. It was almost like rent – a normal cost of doing business. The mistake these startups made was that they treated marketing like an expense. It’s time to start thinking of your marketing as an investment that you expect to yield a return.Like any investment you would make in the stock market, your marketing investment should generate a specific monetary return in an expected period of time. For our purposes, we’re looking for short term investments that will produce enough working capital

wellsfargosecure.com/IMA_Benefits.htm">Wells Fargo or Verisign who can provide you with an Internet Merchant Account.

What is the difference between PayPal and an Internet Merchant Account?

PayPal

PayPal is referred to as a 3rd party payment processor. Simply, this means that PayPal holds the Internet Merchant Account, and will process your credit card transactions using their account for a nominal fee of 2.9% + $.30 per transaction. One of the advantages to PayPal is that there are no signup fees, no setup fees, no credit checks, no monthly minimums, no monthly service fees, no contract, no gateway fees, no statement fees and their shopping cart is free. For a small business venture who is just staring out, this is an attractive cost-effective method of conducting online business. Currently there are other processors such as ProPay and 2checkout.com which are based along this same concept; however some competitors charge setup or monthly fees in addition to per transaction fees that can run as much as 5%.

There are some things to be aware of if you are going to use PayPal. In exchange for the freedoms from contract periods and monthly fees, you are consenting to process your business’ transactions through a Merchant Account that does not belong to you. Why is this important to me you ask? This becomes important when you are dealing with issues of charge backs or fraudulent transactions. Despite our best intentions as merchants to conduct business fairly and securely, at some point a fraudulent purchase may be made from your website. PayPal’s Terms of Service agreement gives them unrestricted rights to freeze and remove all funds from your PayPal and checking accounts in the event of a dispute or fraudulent transaction. Your best bet is to read the entire agreement cover to cover and be prepared to ask questions if you are uncomfortable with anything listed.

Internet Merchant Account

An Internet Merchant Account is a relationship between a retailing company and a Merchant Bank, which allows the retailer to accept credit card payments from customers via the Internet.

As a merchant, you have a direct relationship with the processing bank, the account is in your name (belongs to you), you have control over how transactions are conducted, and what steps you can take to reduce risk to your cardholders and to your business. Most processors offer fraud detection suites and companies like PreCharge can screen and identify online credit card-based transactions for your business in an effort to prevent charge backs and fraud. PreCharge will also reimburse you 100% of your charge back fees should a transaction later turn out to be fraudulent. This reduces risk for the merchant processor and gives peace of mind to you in your business dealings.

The obvious downside to an Internet Merchant Account can be the initial start-up costs and increased monthly costs as compared to 3rd party processors such as PayPal. This is in addition to a credit check and the wait for the account to be setup. That being said, more and more merchant processors are offering specials which include no setup fees, no application fees, reduced monthly fees and per transaction processing rates which are lower than PayPal, making them easier to obtain and an attractive alternate.

3. Merchant Account Reviews

An excellent source of information on merchant processors is available online at the Merchant Account Forum Here you can access information and feedback on some of the most well known merchant processors.

4. Do’s and Don’ts of

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Actual for You - Understanding Your E-Commerce Options

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