Still Thinking If You Should Build A Web Store? Here Are Ten Reasons To Build A Web Store

Well with the talk of our economy moving into a recession it feels good to come across the idea off selling online. There are many different ways to sell online. It's pretty cool to play with the idea of your owning a online store. Actually this is pretty easy to do and with the flexibility of selling capacity it's available for everyone. Well if you are reading this then you probable do not have your own web store. Be aware of this though people are steadily becoming aware of the web markets potential. Here are ten reasons to build a web store:

1. Lower overhead cost for operating an online store compared to a classic walk in store. Online store hosting fees are much cheaper each month then what a traditional store has to pay each month. Plus saving on manpower an online store is fully automated taking credit card orders all by its self-24/7 as long as the site runs bug free.

2. Opportunity to sell national, globally or just one town over. Its really amazing that a online store that is ran by some one in some little town could be a global store. Of course if store did get this big I would out source all of the work so I could create another business.

3. Good long term investment. Wait here me out. The Internet is here to stay. Two reasons: internet is being incorporated more into our daily life's, people are buying more and more online out of convenience.

4. Be your own boss and work when you want to. Well maybe this is not a good enough reason for you; it was enough for me.

5. You don't even have to touch any merchandise. There are many third party catalogs of products available for wholesale price with a resellers permit. Its easy to use a third party catalog to stock your online store virtually. When someone places an order with your store the third party company can even drop ship it for you.

6. There is plenty room for growth. Also it's big enough for me and you and everyone else; besides critical marketing information that is learned and earned through hard work we can help out each other. The Internet will continue to grow as long as business is transferred to it. As long as integration continues to take place e-commerce will continue to grow.

7. When an online business is up and running it can sustain its self with minor maintenance. Once a shop is running and producing sales it is only a matter of fine tuning your matrix such as ROI, profit, click through, conversion etc. This is the ultimate goal- automation and this is impossible with out knowing the metrics.

8. Opportunity to dominate a unique niche. A narrow niche could be dominated. This is why it's important to thoroughly research the market before jumping into it.

9. Chance to work from home. Also this would make an excellent family business. More reasons that alone is good enough for me.

10. Seems to be heading this way might as well get on board. With the overall market sales falling and the dollar losing its value could signal regular commerce to loose momentum plateau or drop. What does it all mean? Good, bad who it's too early to tell. Anyways there still is some great market place space available online.

Just some of the reasons why I think building a web store are a good idea. These are not the end all facts starting an online business requires time and focus. Get informed about creating a web store before spending any cash. With the instability in our economy this is a smart way to diversify business. Try to stay ahead of the game.

Dustin B. works with clients who aspire to create their business online. Working with a variety of marketing methods to create a sustainable low maintenance business for life.

For more information on setting-up a web business hosting go to http://www.squidoo.com/create-an-online-store

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Research on Merchant Services Company Will Pay Off

There is a temptation for any business person who reaches a certain level of success to not want to change anything. What they did allowed them a certain level of achievement and, understandably, they feel like the formula for ongoing success will be to not change a thing.

However, this can be a recipe for disaster, especially if that business person is operating in the world of online business. The internet has been a positive force of change, but also is a technology that has changed and grown faster than most Web merchants are used to dealing with.

They read that accepting payments online will help their business grow and decide they'll add merchant services - then they assume their work is done. But with a little persistence, they can maximize the benefits of the decision to add credit card processing.

A good place for them to start is by looking at their own business. Is it a high-volume concern that might have multiple, simultaneous transactions being processed at any given time? If that's the case they're going to need to make sure their provider has payment gateway software that can handle that.

And is their business going to need to be charging certain customers on an ongoing monthly basis? If so, that takes a specific application.

However, let's get back to the question of how many monthly transactions an e-business might process. If it will be a high number, it will be wise to find a merchant account services that has a reasonable per-transaction fee.

Often when you are comparing rates between providers you'll see a difference of only a percentage point. Perhaps even less than a full point.

The natural reaction is that tiny bit of difference shouldn't be factor - however, if you have one of those businesses that have a large volume of transactions flowing through your site on a daily basis, that single percentage-point difference can grow in a hurry, and cut into your profits! And this is one great motivator to know your business inside and out before you sign on with any company.

If you're having trouble thinking through these issues here's a suggestion that will also help you weed out the fly-by-night operators from the leading merchant service companies - ask a lot of questions. See which company really takes the time to explain online credit card processing, and what specific services you need for your business.

The good companies will have people that can analyze your business, where it's going and what it will need from them to accomplish those goals. Any company worth doing business with will be as patient as they need to be to earn your business.

And keep asking and probing and looking until you are satisfied. The bottom line is that the better you feel about the quality of your research, the better you will feel with the selection you make on a merchant account services provider.

And when those are taken care of to your satisfaction, then you will feel you're getting the maximum benefits of credit card processing.

Jim Osterman is a Web content developer for Charge.com. Charge is one of the leading providers of merchant services to businesses that want to offer credit card processing

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Accept Credit Cards With Paypal For Your Online Business

If you have a small online business, expand it by processing credit cards. Many small merchants online could sell much more if they would allow their customers to accept credit cards.

For years very small online merchants could only take money orders or checks to pay for goods and services. Most credit card processing companies would charge hefty fees just start an account with their bank and then charge exorbitant fees for each purchase. These business practices pushed most small businesses out of the market for credit card processing.

Today, things have changed, not only is it easier and much less expensive to offer credit card processing, there are other alternatives as well that take credit cards and other forms of payments.

Paypal has definitely changed the landscape on how online payments are exchanged between merchants and buyers. Paypal can easily exchange payment between a buyer and seller through the use of email. Paypal keeps all payment information such as credit card numbers and bank information on their private servers. They act as a middle man between two people that want to enter a transaction.

Paypal is free for buyers to start using and costs about 3% for the entire transaction, which is paid by the seller. This makes it very appealing to small merchants who do not have to pay large start up fees and monthly fees. Paypal also accepts credit cards so you do not have to worry about slow types of payments. So if you are looking for a great way to perform an online transaction, look into Paypal.

Pete Marciulonis

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How To Start And Operate Your Online Business For Free Part 3 of 3

Over 90% of all new online businesses will fail in the first year. One of the ways to improve your odds of success is by using free services to start your online business. By keeping your expenses low, you increase your odds of success dramatically.

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this article, I discussed how to find free hosting, free products, and a free marketing method. In this section, I will show you additional free marketing techniques that can maximize your chances of online success.

Posting in forums is another free technique to generate traffic as well as income. To be successful using this method you most post often. Do a search for free forums and you will find hundreds of them. Look for forums that are related to your website and the products that you recommend. Ideally, try to register with five to ten forums that are related to your niche.

After registering, develop a signature file that contains two or three links to your website or products that you are recommending. A good signature file will look like a small classified ad. Include one or two benefits of using your site or product.

Once you have a signature file, look for threads that are related to your product line and add your own comments. Always include your signature file with every comment that you post. To be successful using this method, enter five postings daily (along with your signature file) on each site where you registered.

Another marketing method you should consider is free classified ads. There are thousands of them available on the Internet. Develop several different ads for each of your products so that you can determine which ones perform the best. Then, each month, delete your worst performing ad and replace it with your best performer. Continually test new ads so that you can improve your results.

Many ad writers discuss the features that their product has. This approach almost always fails. When creating your ads, stress the benefits of using your website or product. Tell people how they will benefit, how they will feel, how it can improve their life. This is the key to a good performing ad.

By using free techniques to start your online business, you can dramatically improve the odds that your business will survive and be successful. As you begin to make money online, you can upgrade to some paid services, buy a domain name, get an autoresponder, change over to paid hosting, etc. But the point is, don't enter into contracts with these paid services until you are making enough income to pay for them. Using these techniques, you not only improve your chances for success, you could be the next online millionaire. But please, if that is your goal, get in line after me.

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