In the last few years, however, a number of companies have entered the market with a new concept: third party credit card processing services (for example, Paypal). This option offers small businesses a quick and easy way to accept cretit card payments. It by-passes the need to open a merchant account, plus, the sign-up process is much easier and faster: you can literally sign-up, be approved and start accepting payments online in minutes.

Traditional merchant accounts are expensive primarily because they charge fixed fees that you will have to pay even if you don’t sell anything.

For example, depending on the case, a merchant account will require that you pay:

Written by Mario Sanchez

Rule number one is to keep your content easy to read. When folks are reading things Online, they don’t like to scan through huge paragraphs of information. Instead, try to cut your paragraphs up into smaller sections. This makes it easier for the Web site visitor to read through all that you have to say.

The second thing to remember is to make every single word count on your Web page. Don’t fill your Web site with a lot of fluff and hardly any substance at all. The one reason why people visit a Web site is to get information. Where is your information? If somebody has to ask that about you, then you might worry more about adding more content and less about other things on the Web site.

The third thing to get down is that spell checker is your best friend. As a writer, you’d probably expect that I have a great mastery of the human language. Not so. The funny thing is that I love to write, but I am the world’s worst speller. That is when your friend and mine, the spell checker comes into play. Now I no longer have to sound like a total idiot when I am writing about something I feel strongly about. Well, okay I might still sound like an idiot from time to time. As least I spelled it right though.

Write with passion. It is fairly easy to tell when somebody is writing about something they have no clue about. Make sure you cover your topics and interests in the Web pages completely. If you are working on a rather dull Web site, then find a way of making it’s content less dull. After writing it, you should be able to sit back, relax and admire your work. If you feel more like that you are making a mistake than having a job well done, then do it again. Practice makes perfect.

Another topic is I want you to remember is that nobody likes to have to scroll across the page horizontally to read your Web site’s content. Horizonal scrolling on a Web page is a big problem. many folks get turned off by a Web site if they have to move their mouse left and right to get what you are trying to say. Make sure you test your Web site’s layout at a few different resolutions to make sure you are not forcing folks to scroll horizontally to get the information that you have posted.

Other than that, it is up to speculation. If you ever have a problem, there are lots of second hand stores out there that will sell you old school English books for you to do some studying on. Yes, those years and years of English in school will finally pay off. As you might guessed, I wasn’t a very good English student either. I have learned more though out of school than I ever learned in it though.

Last but not least, any good writer will tell you to read more if you want to write more. The more you read of other folks work, the better your own work will become. The reason is you start to develop your own style and content in your own way. You can pick and choose from different methods, and you will become a better writer.

So remember, that your Web site is only as good as the content that is in it.

Written by Mitch Keeler

Google’s new service, Google Sitemaps, provides webmasters with a method to inform Google exactly which pages they want crawled, how often these pages change, and the order that these pages should be crawled.

Whether your web site contains a single web page or millions of pages, Google Sitemaps are useful for any business with a web site. If you want Google to crawl more of your web pages or you want to be able to tell Google when your web pages change, then you should be using Google Sitemaps.

Google Sitemaps are particularly beneficial for parts of a web site that cannot be reached by Google’s crawler. For instance, dynamic elements behind a search form are particularly notorious hard for Google to index.

There are only two steps to participate in Google Sitemaps:

1. Create a Google Sitemap
2. Submit the Sitemap

 A Google Sitemap is an XML file that follows the Google Sitemap Protocol. The Google Sitemap contains a list of URLs and may also contain information about those URLs such as when they were modified, how often they are updated and how important they are compared to each other.

Here is how a basic Google Sitemap looks:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap/0.84">
<url>
<loc>http://www.yoursite.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2005-06-17</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>

Each tag in a Google Sitemap carries information about your web site. The <url> tag informs Google that the following tags will define a web page. The <loc> tag tells Google the exact URL to crawl. The <lastmod>, <changefreq>, <priority> tags all define extra information related to the web page.

For more information, contact Seastride Consulting to get started!

You simply work with what you have and make it better than your competitor’s.

Almost all web sites are stores or offices that have been placed online. If you have a store or office, it needs to be “translated” into a virtual environment. Unfortunately, this is where many companies or private owners make their biggest mistake. It’s the actual process of transferring this location on to the Internet, to your web pages. Those who have offices may not necessarily have an advantage as they might already have a head start or something to start with. As stated earlier, the Internet is virtual meaning your limits are basically your imagination.

This is where web design comes into place. Have you ever noticed how some places you walk into, all the staff are nicely dressed with jacket and tie, greeted with a smile and all their products are displayed very nicely. This is not done by coincidence. There is of course a reason for this. This is where the office has to, again, translate this service and quality to their website. The great part about this is that your web pages have limitless possibilities.

You may be renting space for your office or store, but you of course have not built your own building or office space. That is left up to the engineers and building contractors. On the Internet it is much the same way. You rent space from a web host provider and decide on a look or web design template which will basically make up the interior of your store or office.

Templates can range in price from nothing to no more than $80 or so. Any designs ranging in the hundreds or thousands of dollars are web designs done by individuals and who sell a design to only one customer. There is no need for any personal and complicated web designer consultations or “cost-per-hour” fees which can very easily mount to over a few hundred dollars per design when purchasing templates. You do not have to worry about unpredictable or unsatisfactory end results with other private designers as you are able to preview the design before purchasing a template. If you would prefer to be the only website to have a certain design and be willing to pay $300 minimum, then go for it. There are, however over 3 billion web pages on the Internet, so the chances of someone else having the same design you do is probably at least a few million pages away!

What some people discover, is that if you have purchased a web page editor, like FrontPage, you do not necessarily know how to design a web page yourself. There are many What You See Is What You Get editors (WYSIWYG) available to make editing pages much easier, but designing a professional website can still prove to be a difficult task. Templates can easily make this process much easier and lend a helping hand. A highly recommended web page editing program is Selida, (do a search for “Selida” on Google to download this program) which is also free. Please be warned that not all free editors are capable of editing templates. Ask the company that is selling the web templates if your software can edit the templates.

The following are a few pointers to think about when choosing a web design template:

Consider the entrance to your virtual store, (your index.html page).

Is it large enough, noticeable, professional looking, too gloomy, too serious? etc. What is the first impression you get? Is it better than your current store or office? (if you have one of course, or copy one you admire) Do you have the opportunity to make it better than your current store? Does it reflect the image you want to reveal?

How is the virtual office or store inside? (your sub-pages.html and products.html) Does it look fully staffed?

How can you make it fully staffed? Add pictures of people or your staff. Add a “This page last updated on…” on some of your pages so visitors know that there is activity on your site. Your visitors or customers do not want to be the only one’s purchasing your products. Add a forum. Let your visitors email your support. Do you have an “about us” page so your visitors really know who you are? If you are a “one-man-show” use “us” and “we” instead of I. Please keep in mind that not all visitors or customers wish for a big company but would rather talk on a one-to-one basis. “We” or “us” is not necessarily better than “I”.

How is the product placement? Have you ever not been able to find a product in a store? Why? What was the reason? Have you avoided the problem on your web pages?

The ordering of the service or product is just as important. When people purchase products in a store, they feel safe about where their money is going; to the cashier. Again, on the Internet, everything is virtual. Your customers do not hand out the money to you, they type in a few numbers on a web page and assume it is processed securely and safely. The professionalism and quality of your web design will help prove that somewhat. A cheap looking website will easily become a hindrance to your visitors, regardless if the service or product you sell is what they want.

How is your ordering process? Is it just like in the stores in town? Is there a smile there to greet them? Is it too serious or too unprofessional looking? Does it look secure and safe? Do your visitors understand how their orders are processed, how secure their orders are and how they obtain your service or product?

A useful tool is to also compare your site to your competition. You can always learn a few things about how they have designed their site. Try and find out what are some of the positive characteristics of their site design and what are some of the negative characteristics. How can you make yours better? There is a saying that if your competitor opens up shop, you place yours right next to theirs but make it better. There is more publicity for you and more visitors visiting the better of the two, whichever one that is, is up to you.

Written by Lars J.

One could argue that having a website for your business is always important, recession or not, and they’d be right. When it comes to marketing, there’s no better way to interact with the community than via the World Wide Web. Having a website is extremely cheap when compared with other options like paper newsletters, ad campaigns, sponsorship, advertising, sales promotions, door-to-door selling, cold calling, TV, radio, magazine, newspaper and billboard advertisements. Plus, it has many different dimensions in terms of reaching both current clientele and potential customers. When money is tight, especially as it might be at your small business now, sticking up posters/billboards/adverts at local shops isn’t going to keep you alive in this dog-eat-dog environment for financial survival.

Having a website hosted on the Internet gives us a 24-hour a day portal to promote ourselves in the world. This is not like a hit-or miss-letterbox drop, or magazine ad that you have no idea how many people will read or be interested in. A website gives direct access to people who are already interested in the product or service you provide, plus with our sites we have access to interact with people who may have similar interests, but who otherwise don’t know we exist.

One powerful aspect of owning a website online is the ability to network. For a couple hours a day, you can search the Internet for forums or other websites and blogs that relate to what you do. For example, if you have a website selling cameras, you can go and have a chat with photography enthusiasts in a forum, even sharing some of your expertise. Subtly, you leave a link to your site for people to check out. Constantly updating your site means visitors can always see exactly what’s in stock, what’s new, and what’s coming out, without having to waste any money on paper advertising.

The time when we donned our suit, got in the car, and went door-to-door is coming to an end. It’s all very time and money consuming. In this era of technology, even relatively low socio-economic classes have access to computers and the Internet. That’s one reason this time we have such better chances of surviving than in the Great Depression. We have tools in hand that are cheap to operate and connect us with everyone we need to know. Having a website can cost as little as $20-$30 to connect, and $100 a year to get hosted online. How much does it cost to create and distribute a traditional newsletter? You need money for stamps, paper, labour, and printing. There’s no assurance that people will even receive them; old customers move house, and if given to the general public, only a small percentage may actually be interested in what you have to provide.

Speaking to Ms Chun Yin, Southern Marketing Co-ordinator of Universal Labour Services, and recent graduate of the Master’s Degree course in Business Marketing at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia says, ‘Being online is the ultimate way to increase brand awareness and loyalty; it’s more efficient and targeted marketing. Shop owners can target and speak to clients directly, decreasing use of middlemen and re-sellers, saving resources, and supplying clients with what they desire. In a shopfront you pay rent, have to get a loan, pay interest on that loan, hire people to sell your product, do renovations etc. A website has a do-it-yourself mentality inherently attached. With it you save time, labour, and money.’

Ms. Yin was especially emphatic about the importance of information transferral. ‘Current customers always get new product information instantly, sent via emails or online newsletters. You can publish articles related to your industry in online magazines, putting links straight back to your own website. Plus, you can network with others who have affiliated products, linking back and forth to each other’s services.’

The other side of the coin is the possibility to gain valuable marketing information simply by being online, and having access to one’s website statistics. Ms Yin intimates, ‘Time spent browsing, how many times people clicked on your page, where they were directed from, and what products people are most interested in can all be measured to help focus future marketing strategies. Dedicated customers and site members can then be sent personally related product information right when it comes out.’

In an economic crisis, people are scared; many are searching for cheap deals. ‘Venders need a cheap way to get access to customers,’ Ms. Yin says, ‘Online bargain-hunters can be targeted by getting them to register as members on your site to receive a discount. Some people give cheaper prices to website visitors. These are different means of gaining client information; if someone becomes a member on your site, you can give them a questionnaire. If they’re happy to supply data, they can receive a gift…but you do have to be careful as always not to impinge upon moral issues. This is instant data collection, so different from the days of waiting for people to drop their surveys into a box, and with payment services like Paypal, security online is no longer an issue.’

Customers are already using the Internet as a multi-dimensional tool. What better way is there to tell the consumer community, who, what and where we are? This cheap way to share information is perfect for a community who is using the Internet as a platform to find cheap deals. ‘We can now save resources, target people directly, and supply them with what they desire. Clients can get cheaper goods, as money is saved via this less expensive approach to sales.’ says Ms. Yin.

Attention is currency, and having a business portal online gives us the means to attract it via a more personal approach, where suppliers interact directly with the community at large, relating and sharing information in a cheap and safe environment. If you’re concerned about a lack of funds to keep your business afloat, you better use at least a small portion of it to get yourself online, and in the game.

Written by M6.net

1.) Have a Detailed but Flexible Plan – Having a plan is essential when you want to put your idea into play. Your plan should be as detailed as possible and incorporate various elements that will be needed before your website takes off, when it takes off and after it has been fully launched and is in operation. This plan should be detailed but flexible allowing any necessary modification when the need arises.

2.) Tailor Your Idea to a Budget You Have Available and Which You Can Afford – When you’ve come up with a detailed plan, you’ll have a better chance of running through everything and figuring out how much your plan is going to cost you. If the final cost is more than what you are prepared to put up with, don’t shelve the idea and forget about it, instead take a look at the plan critically and see what can be removed and how you can reduce costs. Also make sure you have the funds available for the project.

3.) Keep it Simple, Avoid the Complex – A lot of people have ideas that tend to incorporate everything great they can think of. This is usually a recipe for disaster, handling a website that has different capabilities and features is a whole lot difficult than juggling a bunch of tennis balls. If you want to start a news website, focus on one or a few niches, keep your website design simple and make sure you have enough content to keep your website going. Avoid doing complex stuff right from the start like adding video features or twelve sub-categories of news items, doing too much too soon is one quick way down the road to having an abandoned website as you’ll quickly find out that you can’t keep up. Once you’ve figured out the basics and you know how to handle the complexities of managing your website you can make more complex upgrades gradually.

4.) Profit is Good but You Need to Work First – Not every website is started as a hobby, a large number of website ideas are started to make money and there’s really nothing wrong with wanting to operate a website idea that makes you money. However if you aren’t ready to take out the time to develop, maintain and market your website when it is launched and you want results quickly, you are pretty likely going to abandon your website pretty soon. Take pride in working on your website idea, adding content, getting incoming links and other things that should make your site popular over time. It’s also important to have tracking tools to ensure you are making the required progress, in time success will come.

5.) Avoid the Doomsday Crowd – If there’s one thing you get a lot of on the Internet, it’s free advice from people you don’t know. Free advice isn’t always what you need, you’ll find a lot of people telling you that your idea is a dumb one and if you listen to a lot of this kind of stuff, you are bound to get discouraged pretty easily and you’re bound to abandon your website and all your ideas. Think positively, avoid unnecessary negativity and work hard, find a means to constantly improve your ideas and you will be on the path to a having a successful site.

6.) Choose Something That Interests You – It isn’t exactly compulsory that you must set up a website that deals with stuff you are madly in love with, but you must be fairly interested in whatever your website or idea is about. If you find the subject matter boring the chances are that you won’t want to deal with the equally bothersome and boring task of constantly updating your site.

7.) Choose a Hosting Package That Meets Your Needs – People tend to pick out hosting plans as if they are in a bodybuilding contest, there’s a lot of interest in getting a large package with all the available features. If you can afford it and it’s really what you need, fine. However, don’t go looking for the biggest if it does not match your immediate needs. You might find it hard to keep up with payments later on and leave your site abandoned.

8.) Have a Website That is Easy to Update – The reason blogs are so popular is because they are easy to set up and easy to update. A website that is hard to update is never attractive to the owner and least of all its audience.

9.) Fresh Content is Constantly Required – Even if your website is a business website, find a way of getting content that is frequently updated and which is about something that has to do with what you have to offer. Fresh content is the key to repeat user traffic as well as new visitors. Always keep more content than you need ready for addition in case you fall into a situation where you are short on ideas and your site requires updating.

10.) Seek Out Similar Websites – No one is an Island unto themselves, if your website concerns a particular niche, make sure you take the time out to seek out other websites and people who operate in that niche, this way you catch up on information, learn new tricks and constantly have a chance to improve and update your website.

Written by M6.net