Welcome to Business Consultant Weekly

Vol. 2 Issue # 9 March 1, 1999

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In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: How to Sell MORE on the WEB Faster! by Christopher M Swift

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) MARKETING MINUTE: Ezine Advertising: Does it Really Work? by Jack Bartlett

"Tip of the Week"

Last week we started a series on tools you can use for breaking through the "ceiling" of your current online business success. If you missed the start of the series, go to <http://netcheckspayroll.com/newsletter.html> and click on Vol. 2 issue #8.

This week's feature article discusses the importance of a merchant account. Believe it or not there is a much greater cost to not accepting credit cards than there is to accepting them. Industry experts tell us that 55% to 60% of all internet, phone and mail orders sales are done by credit card.

Here are two companies I've discovered to have the best deals:

Clickbank is a company that essentially "rents" their merchant account to you to use. This is a perfect solution for someone just getting started and is not sure whether their sales volume will cover the costs of a merchant account. They charge 40 cents plus 10% of each sale and that's it. If you don't sell anything, there is no charge. <http://hop.clickbank.net/hopcgi?netchecks>

Once you are sure your sales volume is enough to cover costs, a more permanent solution will be getting your own merchant account. Webtranz is a company that allows you to accept all major credit cards (not just Visa/Mastercard) for a low monthly lease fee of $19. From the research I've done, that is about half of what their competitors are charging. <http://www.webtranz.com/cgi-bin/affiliate/banner.cgi?236">

FEATURE ARTICLE

How to Sell MORE on the WEB Faster! Copyright 1999 by Christopher M Swift

It always amazes me to see how much emphasis business owners spend promoting their websites and how little they spend on their payment solutions. Lets talk about how you can take payment from your customers. The one thing you have to understand about selling on the Internet is that people buy on emotion and impulse!

Think about all the effort and money you invested to get your customer to visit your site, read your classified ad, respond to your autoresponder or whatever other means you've used to get interest in your company. Suppose you're selling an informational product to teach people how to market on the Internet. They read your initial sales ad and say to themselves "This looks good!",  so they visit your website or request more information. After reading your follow-up information they're excited and ready to make the purchase you've strived for!

The lost sale

Your prospective customers look at your order form and see that you only accept check or money orders. Some may say I wish they took credit cards because I don't have enough money in my checking account so they simply don't order. Lets assume they're really interested in your offer and want to order from you. They print your order form or jot down your mailing address and continue surfing the web. An hour or so goes by, it's getting late, so they sign off from their computer, spend some time with their family perhaps have a late night snack and go to bed.

Wait a minute... What just happened? That prospect that was so interested has gone about their everyday life! Sure they jotted down your information but do you think it's as fresh in their head as it was last night? Of course not! If you think about it, you are asking a great deal from your client. You're asking them to hold on to the impulse and excitement even though you can't support it in the moment. You're asking them to get out their checkbook and write a check or go to the bank and get a money order, fill out an envelope, stamp it, and go to a mail box...and wait.

How many times have you ever talked to a client on the telephone or over an email who said, the check is in the mail? Do you remember how successful you felt about closing the sale and how many trips you took to the mail box looking for the order which never arrived? That's quite a disappointment especially if you are involved in a start-up business. You need to make ordering as simple and safe as possible to capitalize on the impulse shopper!

Check-by Fax payment solutions

You should definitely consider purchasing a check- by-fax software program. Check-by-fax software is a must for all E-commerce businesses and it is especially important for a new start-up business because the price is reasonable, usually under $200. Check-by-fax is a software program that will allow you to accept checks by phone, fax, or email. More people have checking accounts than credit cards, so why lose out on their business? You simply enter your client's check information into the software fields, put some check paper into your printer, print a duplicate of the check and present it to your bank for payment. No more disappointing trips to the mail box and you've taken the first step towards securing the impulse buy.

Do you take credit cards?

If you have a website and aren't allowing visitors to order your products online, then you may be losing sales everyday. This is why you should consider accepting credit cards directly at your site. How many times have you had your customers ask you the question, do you take credit cards? If you don't, what did you say? What did you tell them when they asked why not? If you don't accept credit cards, the question can be very uncomfortable. If you are serious about making money online the answer to the question, do you take credit cards? Must be YES! You're probably saying to yourself, you just said more people have checking accounts so why do I need to concern myself with credit cards? Besides, it probably costs a fortune to accept credit cards and banks won't approve me because I'm not a retail business. Not true! In fact with the new evolution of electronic commerce, obtaining a merchant account is easier than ever for home based/internet business. Accepting credit cards makes sense when you consider the average cash or check sale amount is $9 and the average credit card sale is $40, a 450% average sale increase!

Ordering from your website

Accepting credit cards at your website is one of the best ways to capture the impulse shopper. You provide an order form at your website so your shopper can fill in their credit card and contact information; the order and amount is confirmed and then the submit button is clicked and the order appears within minutes in your e-mail box. You can even have an automated system that will confirm each order, sending the shopper an emailed confirmation receipt. When you offer online ordering you give shoppers the convenience of ordering 24 hours per day seven days a week, you can literally make money in your sleep!

When looking for a merchant account provider, I recommend you find one who can offer you secure online ordering. Secure ordering means that the shoppers personal and credit card information will be kept confidential through a special server side software that encrypts the message where the information is stored and prevents it from being stolen. Customers will know you have secure online ordering because their web browser will notify them of the security features. In addition a closed lock or key will appear in the bottom right hand corner assuring your customers information is secure.

Inside Information

Let me give you a little bit of inside information on the approval process, criteria, and pricing information involved with obtaining a merchant account. You will probably come across companies who will charge you an application fee. An application fee is nothing more than security for the merchant company that you are serious about using them for your services. Merchant companies incur upfront fees such as paying the bank an application fee, shipping parcel costs and site survey inspections so they try to recover these costs through an application fee. Do you need to pay an application fee? Absolutely not, in fact you should ask the provider to waive the fee! If they will not cooperate chances are they are a small provider and rely on application fees to make a profit.

You will need a credit card processing terminal or software which allows you to enter credit card data and obtain authorization for each charge. Terminals connect to a telephone line and calls the clearing house to approve the sale. With software you will need a computer and a modem to authorize your sales. If you are involved in a mail order business, software is recommended because of its Address Verification System (AVS) feature. When you run a sale through your software you will need to get your customers credit card number and expiration date in addition you would ask them for the billing information which appears on the statement of the credit card they want authorized. When you submit the sale AVS will check to make sure the person is a match for the card protecting you from non- face to face transactions. Expect to have your funds deposited into your business checking account within 3 business days.

Most companies package the cost of getting you merchant status with the cost of the equipment. Generally they will offer you a purchase or lease option. Purchasing can be expensive if you're an up-start business which can make leasing very attractive. The benefit to leasing is low start- up costs. First and last month lease payments will be required, generally $40 for the merchant account and equipment. Keep in mind the leasing company is funding the merchant account provider their purchase price and will be billing you. Most leases are a 12 to 48 month term, and you will be paying almost double the purchase price for the convenience of inexpensive startup costs. Also note you do not own the equipment at the end of the lease. Some companies will offer a lease buyout option.

Be sure to ask your provider if they have any payment plans available to you. Quality companies will have a payment plan program to help you afford your merchant account and equipment without entering into a long term lease. Always be sure you own the equipment when the payments are complete!

There is a discount rate associated with each credit card transaction. The rate is always higher for mail order businesses generally no more than 2.5% for Visa and Mastercard (3.5% for American Express and Discover) plus a transaction fee (generally 30 cents). For example, if you had a $100 sale with a discount rate of 2.29% plus a 30 cent transaction fee you would pay $2.59 to the credit card company.

Believe it or not, most providers will be able to get you approved regardless of your credit situation. Be honest and let them know of your situation. Most companies have programs designed for poor credit so don't let bad credit hold you back from applying for a merchant account.

Make paying for your services convenient for your customers!  You work hard promoting your company, don't waste your efforts with poor payment solutions.

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Christopher M. Swift is the Director of Marketing for Superior Bankcard Service United, a merchant services firm that specializes in electronic commerce solutions. He is also the publisher of WEBTRANZ a weekly E-commerce & Marketing Ezine which provides, strategies and solutions for selling more on the web. To get your free subscription mailto:webtranz@smartbot.net

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MARKETING MINUTE

EZINE ADVERTISING: DOES IT REALLY WORK? By Jack Bartlett

When it comes to advertising on the Internet, there are many choices, but which one is the best?

Let's look at three alternatives:

MASS EMAIL

Mass Email is the electronic form of Direct Mail, and is one of the most effective forms of advertising. Assuming you have a very large "in-house" mailing list, your ad waits in the recipients emailbox until it is read! It is cost-effective (no postage), fast (virtually instantaneous), and can provide tremendous results.

Email can target a large range of specific markets, such as Opportunity Seekers, General Business, Small Business Owners, Home Based Businesses, Networkers, Accountants, Sports/Outdoors, Fitness/Exercise, Health/Nutrition Millionaires, Lawyers/Legal, Single Parents, Fashion, Computers, Financial, Math/Sciences, Languages, Medical Field, Homeowners, Real Estate, Automotive, Education, Telecommunications, Hardware & Tools, Store Owners, Job Hunters, etc.

But if you don't have a very large "in-house" mailing list, you might want to consider the next alternative...

FREE MAILING LISTS

There are literally hundreds of these lists available for your use. All you have to do is subscribe to one of these lists as a member. As a member, you agree to receive email messages from other list members who generally send their posts to the list on a daily basis. You in turn, then, can send your message to the list which will be distributed via email to everyone on the list.

At first thought, you might say, "Hey, this is great! I can send my advertising messages everyday to hundreds of willing recipients. And, if I join more than one mailing list, I can reach more people with my ads."

But wait a minute. There are drawbacks to this system of advertising. Remember, you'll be receiving posts in your emailbox daily from hundreds of other members touting their latest marketing endeavor. And since most subscribers to these "Free Mailing Lists" join several of these lists, you will be getting inundated with the same ads from the same people every day!

Most of the very active list participants don't even read your ad. They just want the opportunity to collect your email address to send you their offers again and again and again.

Believe me, I've tried this avenue for promoting my products and services until it got to the point that my emailbox contained over 90% "reply" messages! After awhile, I just started deleting these posts without ever reading them. On top of all this, just imagine how long it takes to receive 200 - 500 emails each day!

So now you're probably thinking, "If I don't have a large "in-house" mailing list, and I don't want the aggravation of joining "Free Mailing Lists", what other alternative do I have?"

EZINE ADVERTISING

I like to think of Ezine Advertising as "The Ultimate Internet Marketing Weapon". Although there are numerous Ezines that focus on Internet Marketing, you can find many others in the categories listed above in this report. Some Ezines even offer Free Classified Ads as an inducement to subscribe. And, by all means, take advantage of these offers when presented, even though your ad may only receive 1 or 2 exposures.

There have been many studies regarding advertising effectiveness. Overall, these studies show that an average prospect needs to see your ad about 7 times before they act on it. And, that's for Direct Mail campaigns via the U.S. Postal Service. (Net Websters usually refer to this as "snail mail".)

With the voluminous amount of information available on the Web today, the number of repeated exposures may be even higher - perhaps 10-15. Therefore, you should consider advertising your products or services for at least a 13-week period.

Now the question is, "In which Ezines should I advertise, and how much is it going to cost me?"

Well, you could just start subscribing "willy-nilly" to every Ezine that you can find, but this would be a very tedious and time consuming task just to find out how many subscribers each Ezine has, and determine if their ad rates are justified by their subscriber base.

Is there another way? Yes!

EZINE ADVERTISING NETWORK

This is a Network of Publishers and Advertisers that promote cost-effective marketing campaigns that are of benefit to both entities.

The Publishers enjoy an ever increasing subscriber base, while the Advertisers get a substantial discount for running ads with the Member Publishers. And to further sweeten the deal, you can earn a very lucrative income by participating either as a Publisher or Advertiser!

Email Advertising, especially Ezine Advertising, is destined to be the chosen advertising format in the new millennium. It's affordability and effectiveness will effect small businesses with the same impact full page ads and TV advertising effect very large businesses.

The advertising budget will no longer be one's main consideration. Selecting the best online marketing campaign will!

To get all the details about this innovative program, just click on the following link:

mailto:adnetwork@SmartBotPRO.NET

*Article Copyright 1999 By Jack Bartlett, Globemark International Jack publishes 5 Internet Ezines, and is a Member of the Ezine Advertising Network. To contact Jack, mailto:webster@wizard.com. You can visit his Website at http://MyFreeOffice.com/globemark.

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