Accepting Credit Card Payments Online
by J. Walker of GNC Web Creations
The largest number of questions we receive, always concern accepting
credit card payments online. Small business owners want help choosing
their shopping cart, merchant accounts, and payment gateways.
These questions are also the most difficult to answer because
frequently people do not fully understand the differences between
the topics, and what impact their decisions can have on the success
of their business.
To make matters worse, many companies trying to market their
services will use terms such as "store" and "shopping cart" interchangeably,
further adding to your confusion.
A shopping cart is a program that keeps track of items your visitor
wants to purchase, until they proceed to the checkout. This makes
it possible for them to purchase multiple products on your site
with a single transaction. It has virtually no impact on the search
engine optimization of your site, as it does not come into play
unless someone wants to make a purchase. It really only becomes
a part of the overall picture once someone clicks on a buy now,
or add to cart button.
A store is a program that generally involves every aspect of your
website. Usually the pages are generated dynamically. You will have
very limited control to make the needed HTML coding adjustments
to use the various SEO techniques that can make a huge difference
to the success of your online business.
Unless a company sells thousands of products, I do not generally
recommend the use of a store that uses dynamically generated pages.
If the size of your store requires the use of dynamic pages, choose
a program that allows you complete control of the techniques used
on your website. This may require making changes in the code as
necessary, or paying someone to do so for you.
My strongest recommendation is that you take the time to learn the
basics of HTML and search engine optimization. This will help allow
you to make educated decisions on which programs have the best features
to meet the needs of your business.
Eventually you also need to understand the differences between
a
merchant account and a
payment gateway to help you with your decisions.
For many small business owners, this can all be very overwhelming
and may lead to making quick decisions that they often later regret
as they gain more knowledge.
For most small business owners just getting started, I recommend
starting very simply.
Frequently people ask us for suggestions on a simple way for
a business to be able to first begin accepting credit card payments
online. We are very pleased with
PayPal for Business and recommend them as an easy way to
get started accepting payments.
When you sign up for
PayPal, you can begin accepting credit card payments online
instantly. As the world's number one online payment service, PayPal
is the fastest way to open your doors to accepting credit cards.
It is completely free to sign up and your customers can pay you
instantly, even without a PayPal account.
A simple shopping cart can be used directly from PayPal or if you
need more flexibility, you can choose a shopping cart program such
as Mals. Microsoft FrontPage users will also be pleased to know
that there are free FP add-ins to help with the PayPal process.
As your business grows, you may want to upgrade to
PayPal Website Payments Pro, which allows you even a wider
range of flexibility when accepting credit cards on your website,
or even over the phone. This also prevents the need for a separate
merchant account and payment gateway.
With the PayPal Website Payments Pro, you can make the process even
easier by choosing a shopping cart specifically designed to integrate
the program for you. PayPal maintains a list of current integrated
shopping cart providers.
As your business continues to grow, you may find that your needs
begin to change. There may even come a time when you prefer a third
party merchant and gateway account, along with
choosing a shopping cart program more suited to your needs.
I do not recommend specific merchant accounts or payment gateways.
When it comes to these types of decisions, as it depends entirely
on your specific needs. If you start out slow, you will reach the
point of understanding exactly WHAT those needs are.
Again, my recommendation is to take the time to learn the basics
of all facets of your business. This is your best prevention for
costly mistakes and will allow you to make educated decisions on
what is best for you.
I WILL SEE YOU AT THE TOP!
Texas Web Designer and SEO Training Specialist
Owner GNC Web Creations and Mississippi Photo Gallery
Link to: Accepting Credit Card Payments Online
by J. Walker of GNC Web Creations
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Accepting Credit Card Payments Online
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