Accepting Credit Cards

If you sell goods or services online it is important to be able to accept any payment method that your customers want to pay with.  Imagine going to Amazon.com and not being able to pay with your Visa card.  Would you continue to go back to them if you always had to mail in your check or money order?  I don’t think so.  In today’s world convenience is king.  You have to make the shopping experience as easy and simplified as possible all the while providing the best security that you can to protect your customer’s information.

Thanks to the convenience of the Internet you can easily apply and get set up for a merchant account in no time at all.  For merchant accounts we recommend using Charge.com.  They offer great services, competitive rates and fantastic customer support.  There are so many reasons to accept credit cards!

• Shoppers in general spend more money when they use their credit cards.  Don’t you?  Shoppers also tend to shop more frequently when they have credit cards.  The ease of not having to worry about keeping track of a bank balance is very appealing.  Also, credit cards are what most people make their larger purchases with.
• Shoppers feel comfortable using their credit cards for a variety of reasons but online it is the #1 method of payment.  Not only is it easy to use credit cards but there is an element of safety.  Identity theft has been a huge issues in the past few years and still is now.  Consumers know that their purchases are handled securely when they use their credit cards and they don’t have to reveal their bank account information.  Also, most credit card issuing banks are great about fraudulent charges or unauthorized charges of any kind.  This gives shoppers an element of freedom that other payment methods aren’t conducive to.
• Online is becoming more and more the way everyone wants to shop.  Our time is valuable and so are our resources and that is why online shopping is wonderful.  If we are up at 1 a.m. and decide that we need something from a store we can go to the online stores and shop for whatever we need within minutes.  We don’t have to find the location of a store, get there, take time to browse and then spend time in a check out line.  It’s all at our fingertips.
• Competition is very real.  If other vendors that sell similar things to yours and they take credit cards who do you think customers are going to shop?  Don’t be at a disadvantage, be sure that you are one step ahead of your competition.
• Reward credit card programs are getting more and more popular giving customers a reason to use their credit cards.  Every type of card whether its Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express or others offer their own reward programs.  Some offer sky miles, while others offer things like reward points, cash back or other incentives.
• Credit cards save the customer time.  Think of how much time it takes to fill out a check by hand.  Now think about doing it online but the check isn’t even pre-printed so you have to fill out all of your information, the banks information and then you have to fill out the account information.  While an e-check is a step up from having to mail a check it still isn’t as fast as credit card processing.  Not only does this save the customer time but you don’t have to worry about whether or not a customer has the funding for their purchase.  You instantly know whether or not funds are available. This is a great time saver and keeps you from having accounts receivable.
• The versatility that you will enjoy with your merchant account will make you happy.  A lot of your accounting will become more simple when you have a merchant account.

Visit Charge.com today and get set up for a merchant account!!!

SuperGreen Hosting Review – Green Web Hosting

“Green” web hosting is all the rage right now!  Rightfully so, more and more people are concerned with the environment and improving our ecosystem.  SuperGreen Hosting is a great company that offers wind powered servers.  They also offer several things for customers to sign up for or purchase, such as a “Green Badge” for your site.  When you purchase such an item it helps SuperGreen because they use the money to plant trees to replenish the rain forest.

Go Green with SuperGreen Hosting Today!!!

SuperGreen guarantees their 99.9% uptime.  They have free instant set up and the low monthly pricing is as good as it gets.  With a host that offers such a “green” package you can’t go wrong here.  They have a package that is full of features and is meant to meet the needs of the average web user.  Here we will list a few of the features that are included in this plan.

• FREE domain for life
• 100% carbon neutral friendly
• Unlimited file transfer
• Unlimited web space
• Unlimited email
• FREE site builder with drag and drop
• FREE website templates to get the look you want
• $25 Google AdWords credit, $25 Yahoo credit, $50 Facebook and MySpace advertising credits
• WordPress, Joomla
• Money back guarantee – ANYTIME
• Host unlimited domains
• Unlimited MySQL
• Webmail
• 24/7 support
• Applications such as CGI, Perl, Python, and PHP to name just a few
• Monthly price of $3.95

Get SuperGreen today for $3.95 per month!

Making Money Online

Many people are looking for extra income and the Internet is a great tool to use in this respect.  There are many opportunities to make money online but you have to be willing to work for it and be patient.  There is not a get rich quick scheme that works.  Here we will discuss a few of the ways that you can start making money online.

1.  If you already own a business where you sell products but you don’t have it on the Internet yet you should look into ecommerce web hosting.  You will love having your store open online 24/7 and having the flexibility and easy to use management tools that come from find a great ecommerce web host with great features.  If you are just starting your ecommerce site you will want to make sure that you have a few things in order.  Many times your web host will offer solutions for these but you want to make sure you get the best so shop around.  You will need a secure site, this means a secure server.  You will also need a shopping cart system, payment gateway and merchant account just to begin with.

2.  If you like the idea of affiliate marketing this is a great choice for making money online.  The possibilities here are endless.  We suggest that you choose an affiliate program that you are passionate about and that you can stick with long term.  You don’t want to put hours and hours into something that you don’t care about.  Make sure that you build a great website that will be convenient for your visitors and get them to click through on affiliate links, ads units and banners.  You also want to choose a domain name that is short and to the point but that is memorable and reflects what your site is about.  This is a great marketing element so choose wisely.

3.  Domain parking is a passive way of making money.  You can do this with one domain or many depending on what you want to have happen.  This is where you register a domain name and then you pay to park it with a company for a very nominal fee (some will do this for free).  You can then have ad units placed on this page that visitors see and they click through and you make money!  The pay per click is not very high but if you have enough traffic it will add up.

4.  Any site that you decide to build is a great idea.  Pick a subject that you know a lot about, use great resources and produce excellent content.  This will help you get better placement on the search engines.  You also want quality sites that link back to you but obviously if your site isn’t quality then a quality site won’t want to send their visitors your way.  Once you have a site that is content rich you should run Google Adsense ads on it.  They have ads that you have editorial control over, you can even make them blend into your color scheme and then you get paid on a pay per click basis.  It takes a while for this to build up but it can be a lot of fun and very lucrative when you get going.  Just allow it about a year to pick up full steam.  Before a year you will see some revenue but don’t quit your day job.

MyDomain.com Review

MyDomain.com is a full service company.  They offer a wide variety of services and have been doing business as a domain registrar since 1998.  Not only can you register your domain, you can set up your email, sign up for web hosting and even manage your ecommerce website.  They offer an array of free domain services including DNS management, URL forwarding, and email forwarding.  The offer a great hosting infrastructure that provides you with stable, reliable and fast speed.

MyDomain.com is a great company for those who are brand new at the web hosting experience and also those that are experienced.  They offer many tools for all levels of web developers and the support is superior.

Some of the features you will find in MyDomain.com web hosting are (on the Linux Deluxe Plan):

• 100GB web space
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Unlimited subdomains
• Host up to 50 domains
• 25 FTP logins
• 25 MySQL databases
• Unlimited SiteBuilder pages
• DNS management
• URL forwarding (standard)
• Web analytics
• PHP5
• Perl/Python
• Google AdWords credit of $25
• SSL support
• Custom error pages
• Remote access for the database
• 500 email accounts
• 2GB of mailbox space
• Web mail
• Spam filter, anti-virus, email forwarding, auto-responder
• Applications include: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, b2evolution, PHPBB, ZenCart, CubeCart, Gallery, OSTicket
• No commitment required

Visit MyDomain.com Today!

Ecommerce Hosting – Best Ecommerce Web Host

Ecommerce is defined as the buying and selling of good or services on the Internet. When you have an online business of any kind you need to make sure that you have the appropriate web hosting service. Many companies will tell you that they have the right hosting packages for you. You need to be very discerning when shopping around for your ecommerce hosting. There can be hidden fees and while they may tell you that certain things are included they may not be what is really going to fit your needs so you need to ask smart questions.

This post is to help you know what to look for and to help you avoid problems down the road with your hosting. Hopefully you will think of other things to ask questions about as they pertain to your business.

• SSL (Secure Socket Layer) – this is a form of encryption that will enable you to process payments and send information securely.  People worldwide are nervous about giving out their private information these days and rightfully so.  Identity theft is a huge problem and still on the rise.  It is important to do all that you can to protect yourself, your business and your customers.
• Shopping carts – not all shopping carts are equal.  You may think a web hosting company is great just because it has this feature but you need to look closely.  Depending on the number of products that you sell you need to see if the shopping cart supports enough items for your business.  Some only handle up to 20 products or so and for a lot of ecommerce businesses this is simply not enough.
• Product catalog – this is where the customer will browse through your items.  You need to be sure it is easy to manage and to upload new items to.  You will want it to support photos as well as good descriptions of the product.  Browsing the catalog should be easy and it should integrate well with the shopping cart program that you are using.
• Advertising – a business can never underestimate the power of advertising.  Every business wants new customers.  Many ecommerce web hosts will offer you credit to advertising sites such as Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, or Yahoo! Marketing.  Make sure you take full advantage of these and if possible go with the plan and company that gives you the best credits.  The best thing about these forms of advertising is that on any given day you can decide how much you want to spend on advertising.  You have total control.
• Support – every good web hosting company will offer very good customer support.  This is a competitive industry and customer support is a key element.  Your host should provide great hours that they are available along with multiple ways of contacting them.  They should offer at least 99% uptime and their servers should be monitored 24/7 so that you don’t run into unnecessary downtime.  They should offer a good FAQ’s database and live chat options are always nice.

Our top picks for Best Ecommerce Web Host are:

FatCow

JustHost

GoDaddy

Dedicated Web Hosting – Dedicated Servers

What is dedicated server hosting?

For those that don’t know this is a type of hosting where you do not share any part of your server with anyone else.  This type of hosting is for those that need a lot of space and bandwidth with the reliability that can’t be had with shared hosting.  This hosting allows webmasters to have all of the control as to the website.  You don’t have to have total control but there are plans where this is the case for webmasters that do have the time and ability to control each aspect.  The great thing is that most hosting companies offer you options as to how much control you need.

Why choose dedicated server hosting?

Dedicated servers can often be faster than other servers.  This is because you do not have the level of traffic that a shared server does.  The demands on a shared server are great and can cause it to be bogged down.  This will rarely happen with a dedicated server.  Dedicated servers also give you the opportunity to choose your operating system and hardware that you will use.  Because of these things this is a great option for very large sites.  If you get a lot of traffic and don’t want down time this is a great choice.  When your site is very large and you want to better fine tune it for your visitors this is a great option because it is much more customizable.

So what are the drawbacks?

The major drawback in dedicated server hosting is the price.  It can be a pretty expensive option.  Basic shared hosting is very economical and you can even find some virtual private servers that are affordable but it is quite a leap to dedicated server.  However, with that said, when you have the need for dedicated server hosting it is WELL worth the money.  You do get what you pay for if you truly do need the control, the customizable nature and the traffic flow.

Where do you get dedicated server hosting?

We have three very good options for you to choose from that have all won awards and come highly recommended.  We think you will be happy with any one of them depending on your dedicated server needs.

ServerPronto – Starting at $32.95 for AMD 2000+, 512 MB DDR Ram, 40 GB Hard Drive, 1400 GB traffic, 100Mbps connection

LunarPages – Starting at $99, free setup, free domain, free dedicated IP, free backup space, host unlimited domains

GoDaddy – Bandwidth overage protection, SSL certificate, Google AdWords credit, Facebook ad credit

HostLane Review – HostLane Discount Offers

HostLane began serving customers in 2001.  They are a state of the art, publicly held company that focuses on offering you the most excellent services and features for the greatest value.  Not only do they have basic hosting but they have more solutions for those that need more.  These include:  dedicated virtual Plesk Linux, dedicated virtual cPanel Linux, and dedicated virtual Windows.

Visit HostLane today!

HostLane also offers domain services, web design and more.  For email services you can manage all your domains on one account, get free DNS management, forward your email, and create multiple subdomains.  Web design is another essential item that is offered and they have a great business package that includes your own designer who will get your website up and running live.  They will create your email accounts, train you and consult with you as well as submit your site to search engines.  They can also accommodate you with advanced features, there are no limits.

HostLane Windows hosting features for the Windows Deluxe plan (at only $9.45 per month) include the following and more:

• 100GB of web space
• 1500 GB of bandwidth
• Host up to 50 domains
• Unlimited subdomains
• 25 FTP logins
• 25 MSSQL databases
• DNS management
• Web analyzing tools
• PHP5
• $25 Google AdWords credit
• URL forwarding
• ActivePerl
• Custom error pages
• SSL support
• Access your database from anywhere
• 500 email accounts with 2GB of mailbox space (POP/SMTP)
• Email has spam filter, anti-virus protection, email forwarding and autoresponder
• Applications such as CubeCart, ZenCart, Drupal, Joomla, b2evolution, SiteBuilder, WordPress,Xoops, Advanced Poll and PHPSupportTickets
• No commitment required

Get HostLane today and save!!!