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Credit Card Payments Lead To Online Sales Success
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By Matt Bacak
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Maximize your online sales by learning how to process creditcard payments through your web site
The ability to take credit card payments through your web siteis essential to the success of your business. Nearly all onlinepurchases are made by credit card payment, and offering yourcustomers a fast and simple means by which to buy your productwill result in more sales and better word-of-mouth advertising.However, many people mistakenly believe that all they need toaccept online credit card payments is a "shopping cart" optionon their site. The truth is, a shopping cart is only one smallpiece of the puzzle.
"A shopping cart is important in that it creates an order formand keeps track of your sale, but it doesn't actually put themoney into your bank account," explains Matt Bacak, publisher ofthe Powerful Promoter Newsletter and an online marketer whotrains speakers and authors. "The first step to successfullyaccepting online payments is to understand the way money getsfrom the Internet to your account."
You've probably purchased a number of items on the Web and arefamiliar with the way an online shopping cart appears to acustomer. But do you know how your credit card payment, made viathe shopping cart, eventually finds its way into the pocket ofthe product's seller? Even if you've been selling productsonline for years and experienced a degree of success doing it,you may not be aware of how credit card payments are processed.You're also probably unaware of the enormous benefit credit cardpayments can have to your bottom line.
"Surveys have shown that as 68% of shopping carts that areinitiated on the Web are abandoned before completion. Thishappens because the customer becomes confused about the paymentprocess or about what he or she is actually buying," says ArminMorin, an online marketer who has made millions promoting andselling products on the Web. "Even if you've been successfulaccepting PayPal payments, the ability to process credit cardpayments will benefit you. PayPal requires a customer to take afew extra steps, increasing the odds that they'll just decideit's not worth the effort. If they can just type in their creditcard number and be done with it, they're yours." So how exactlydo online payments work? Well for starters, you will need thatshopping cart option on your site. A number of software programsincluding the popular Kickstart Cart are available to help youachieve that. Next you'll need a bank account. And finally,you'll need the two key "go betweens" in the journey betweencart to bank - an Internet gateway and a merchant account.
Your Internet gateway takes the information collected by yourshopping cart and keeps a running tally of what's been ordered.It also collects the information related to payment method, and"runs" the credit card. That information is sent on to yourmerchant account, which receives the payment and in turn paysyou. The money is direct deposited into your bank account.
"A merchant account is really the best way to process creditcard payments through your web site," says Morin. "I would stillhave a PayPal account and still offer that to your customers asa means of payment. Some people do prefer that. But don't besurprised if only about 10% of your total sales come throughPayPal.
By accepting credit card payments online, your sales willincrease even if your web site traffic doesn't. Customers willappreciate the ease with which they can purchase items from yoursite, and will recommend your product to family and friends. Thekey to sales success is and always will be customer service. Byquickly and effortlessly accepting credit card payments, yourweb site will automatically be offering a level of customerservice that has come to be expected.
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