Renegade eBay Strategy - Feedback

Let's talk about feedback. We all know that feedback is an essential component of eBay, in fact it's probably a large part of why the company has been so successful. In marketing terms we might refer to feedback as social proof. I'll explain what I mean. We all make decisions based on what others do, yes we are influenced by others to an extraordinary degree.

If someone tells us that they enjoyed a great meal or watched a really good movie, chances are that we'll do the same, based on their recommendation. That's social proof.

The principle works on eBay too. When we read the feedback comments left by buyers and sellers we take note. If those comments are predominantly positive then we naturally trust the person behind that account.

So not only is feedback an essential aspect of eBay that virtually all buyers and sellers devote significant amount of time to reading, it is one that deserves more attention than you give it now.

For most sellers, leaving feedback is a few rushed words, fairly generic, and posted without much thought. The renegade seller on the other hand realizes that there is an opportunity to make more of this important aspect of eBay.

Firstly, don't leave feedback to chance. Rather than letting buyers write the first thing that comes into their heads, prompt them a little. How can you do that without seeming impolite or demanding?

Send out an e-mail around the time you expect them to have received their item, and politely ask them not to leave feedback until they are 100% satisfied. If there's something that needs to be fixed, tell them you want to do that. Let them know that you live for happy customers!

Next, guide them as to what to write. Suggest to them that your customers are delighted because of the fast shipping, friendly service, fair mailing costs, quality of items, and any other benefits you can think of. This is an NLP technique that plants the thought in their mind, so that when they come to leave you feedback, you've already told them what to mention! Is this deceiving customers? No, not if you genuinely do deliver these benefits. You are simply helping to remind them.

Another important renegade feedback strategy is to include a marketing message in the feedback YOU leave. For example, instead of the usual, "Great transaction, recommended eBayer etc etc" that most buyers and sellers default to, use the space to further promote your items.You might say, "Thanks from BobMillsPosters.com -- eBay's #1 Collectable Poster Store."

In the above example, notice that the feedback message points people back to a domain name, which would be either the eBay store or your own website. Also, notice that the first letter of each word is capitalized -- an effective marketing technique to make the wording stand out.

Remember, feedback comments stay on an account for a very long time, so use that precious 'real estate' wisely.

Grabbing Buyers From Reviews & Guides

One of the lessons that eBay has learned in recent years is that content is king. To be honest, until recently even eBay themselves admitted that the site lacked content. In other words, the site did not have much in the way of useful information; it was purely a place to buy products or services.

Some of the most recent developments to encourage user-provided content were: eBay Wiki, eBay Reviews and Guides and eBay Blogs. By eBay's own admission the aim of these sections is to build valuable content that will encourage users to come back to the site more frequently, as well as to influence the search engines in a positive way to increase the visibility of the site overall.

These features have been largely ignored by most eBay users, but they present a powerful opportunity for the switched on seller (that's you). How so? In return for providing content to these sections of the site, eBay promises a nice payback. It's a ‘you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' kind of arrangement.

The opportunity that exists in eBay Reviews and Guides is great because it's a flexible and open format.

According to eBay's own definition, Reviews and Guides (which are actually independent sections of the site in their own right) were provided as a way for users to research suitable products and benefit from the wisdom of eBay members that have experience in a particular product category, either as a seller or as a user. ‘Reviews' contains comments and ratings about all kinds of commonly sold items on eBay.

Note that eBay limits reviews to specific types of products that they list. ‘Guides' are short articles or reports that contain information and opinions about almost any topic you can think of.

There are two key ways to benefit from these sections of eBay:

1.Use the free information as a research resource for creating your own information products.

2.Write informative and useful information about the niche that you sell in, and then promote your own products.

The first point should be self-evident. Reviews and Guides is a rapidly growing information resource that's available for free, so it's a great tool for research when creating information based products.

The second area is a little more complex, but don't be put off, because it represents an outstanding way to generate interest in your eBay listings, for free. Here are some of the ways you can use Reviews and Guides:

1. Have a friend or relative post an objective review of your product. Make sure it's realistic and credible, and be sure to include details of what makes your product superior to the competition.

2. Write a Top 10 products review for your industry (guess which is No.1?)

3.Write a ‘white paper' report about a product that you sell.

4. Write a guide that explains how to use your product.

5. Write a guide that explains unusual uses for your product.

6. Write a guide that explains the pitfalls to look out for in hiring a service you offer.

7. Write a guide that gives tips and advice within some aspect of the niche that you sell in.

8. Write a guide that explains how to replace or repair a product.

Be as creative as you like, and remember that you can include pictures, photos, illustrations, basic formatting, and eBay links to specific products or eBay searches. If you do use any kind of photo or drawing, make sure it closely relates to the content and that it enhances rather than detracts from the text (that's a common mistake).

Also, in preparing your writing, ask yourself what people would be most interested in reading about. After all, you want to attract as many readers as possible. As with any copywriting, the headline (and title) that you select are the most important aspects to consider in drawing readers in.

Obviously, don't stop after producing your first one, aim to produce a steady stream of reviews and guides to increase your presence and influence on eBay (and the search engines that love this type of solid content). Set a goal of producing at least one review and one guide each week. If you can do more, even better.

Both reviews and guides can be voted on by readers, so make sure you keep an eye on that, as you want to maintain a favorable impression.


Please read and re-read the following information so that you fully grasp it. The two most important aspects of writing an eBay Guide are the links and the tags. Links are clickable text that will redirect the user automatically to another page within eBay. There are two types of links available to you – links to specific product pages, and links to eBay searches. I recommend that you use the latter because product pages will change from time to time, whereas searches will always be valid.

When you create a guide, eBay will help you create a search link by prompting you to enter relevant words to search for. This is much easier to do than it sounds.

For example, if you are in a niche selling guitar accessories, you would include words like guitar pedal, guitar stand, guitar amp, guitar strings, and so on. In identifying the most suitable words and phrases (tags), ask yourself, “If I was to search for this type of article, what search words would I enter?”Now, this is the clever part. If you give this some thought, it's possible to create a search term that's so specific that it only brings up your items in the results page!

For example, going back to the example of selling guitar accessories, if your store name was ‘ABC Guitar Accessories' and your listings had the word ‘ABC' in them, your search terms would be ABC guitar pedal, ABC guitar stand, ABC guitar amp and so on. Again, the aim is to create search terms that are so specific that your listings are the only ones that match, so they are the ones that are displayed.

This is a very powerful tool because you are now able to influence readers of your guides to visit your listings, and yours alone. Since you've just provided them with useful information in your guide, it makes sense that you are starting to build a rapport with them, and they are far more likely to buy from you than another seller as a result. It's simple human nature at work.

Tags

The other element of an eBay Guide to give attention to are the tags.

The word ‘tags' is simply ‘eBay speak' for keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that eBay prompts you to enter when you create your guide, to help others locate the guide in the future. It's the search terms that will cause your guide to be found, so you can see how important they are.

As an example, if your guide was ‘Tips for Planning the Perfect Hawaii Vacation', your keywords would likely include:

Hawaiivacation
Maui
Ohau
Kaui

There's a balance to be had in how specific your keywords are because you are only allowed to submit a maximum of four. For example, if you used the keyword expression ‘Hawaii surfing vacation' you would lose out on a lot of other more general searches.

Finally, as you might imagine, it's easy to spend hours in these areas of the site, so be careful not to fall into that trap. Use these features as tools to increase your presence on eBay, but don't get bogged down with them.

En Ligne Non Stop: Quels Jeux Jouer

Pour un bref rappel, ces derniers peuvent être répartis en trois catégories. On y distingue les jeux flash, à télécharger ou en direct .
Les jeux de casinos sont les jeux de paris en ligne les plus populaires en raison des gains que l'on peut y remporter. Mais quels sont les plus rentables?

Casinos directement sur server:

Il s'agit de plusieurs sites surlesquels les joueurs et les utilisateurs peuvent jouer aux jeux de casinos tels le Bingo, Black Jack, Baccarat, Poker et bien d'autres encore, ne nécéssitant pas de téléchargement préalable d'un logiciel particulier, puisque ces derniers vous sont proposes sur  Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, ou Java, déjà intégrés sur votre browser. Ces derniers sont les plus populaires.

Casinos en Ligne A Télécharger :

 Même principe que le précédent. Toutefois, pour avoir accès aux différents jeux, l'utilisateur doit télécharger le logiciel du casino sur son ordinateur. Bien que la qualité soit généralement meilleure au niveau des graphismes, le téléchargement a pour inconvénient de prendre énormément de place sur le disque dur.
Le logiciel est directement relié au service du casino sans avoir besoin de recourir browser. Ainsi, l'image et le son fonctionnent beaucoup plus rapidement que sur le support relié au server de l'ordinateur. Toutefois, le temps de téléchargement initial peut être très long.

Les casinos "en Direct":

Représentent le top  de casinos en ligne. Ces derniers permettent aux joueurs d'être face à une interface mondiale et directement avec le casino, comme si vous y étiez! Le joueur peut intervenir à tout moment et se confronter n'importe quand à d'autres joueurs et ce sur plusieurs de poker, blackjack et autres  tables grâce à la présence de fenêtres windows.  C qui le différencie des autres? Le joueur a la possibilité de choisir les meilleurs tables, de varier ses plaisirs en cours de parties et de joueur sans se lasser toute la nuit.

On distingue donc les jeux populaires suivants:

Les jeux de cartes:
Asian stud, Baccarat , Blackjack, Casino war, Caribbean Stud Poker, Chinese poker, Faro, Four card poker, Let It Ride, Mambo stud, Pai gow poker, Red Dog, Spanish 21, Texas Hold'em Bonus Poker, Three card poker,  Two-up.
Ces jeux sont généralement considérés comme des jeux de Tables et se jouent sur un tapis feutré. Un croupier est toujours présents pour ces jeux puisque ce dernier est en charge de la distribution des cartes.

Dés:
Craps, Pai Gow,  Sic bo, Chuck-a-luck

Nombres Aléatoires:
Big Six wheel, Roulette,Bingo, Keno et bien d'autres encore.
Ces jeux sont basés sur le fruit du pur hasard.


Sans oublier les fameuses Machines A Sous, les Loteries et les Vidéo Poker. Ces dernières ne peuvent être jouées que par un joueur à la fois et ne demande aucune exigence particulière ni aucune stratégie. C'est pourquoi il est l'un des jeux les plus prisés aussi bien en ligne qu'en cercle virtuel.

Les jeux en ligne cependant offrent aux joueurs des avantages à long terme supérieurs à ceux offerts par des casinos réels et leur donnent la sensation de toujours garder le contrôle sur leurs jeux et d'être responsable de leurs choix.

Blackjack: Learn How to Become a Champion

Learn How to Play and Win Blackjack after practicing some basic steps that can be learn easily. Blackjack is one of the more easier card games that you will come across, and its basic concept is simple: get 21 as the sum of your cards or get as close to 21 but higher than the sum of your opponent's cards.

1) Do not try and reach 21.
Yes. Even though blackjack is also commonly called 21, trying to reach 21 with every hand is an amateurish move. You will, most certainly, lose the hand. Statistical research conducted has shown that the odds of reaching 21 is lesser than the odds of getting more than 21.

2) Try and Beat the Dealer.
Since blackjack is a one on one battle: you versus the dealer, focus on beating the dealer. Instead of trying to get 21, try to guess what hand the dealer will receive and accordingly play your hand. Remember that the dealer at a regular casino or even at an online casino has to stop taking more cards if the cards on the table add up to 17. But if their cards add up to 16 or any number less, they will have to take another card.

3) Look at the dealer's card facing up.
The only way to play is to look at the dealer's card facing up. If it is a low card like a two or anything up to a 6 or 7, try and get a high number combination. If it’s a 9 or 10, the odds are high that he has a 10 underneath or at least he will be forced to take another card. So, reach anything up to 20 or 21, but its better to even stop at a 18 or 19 and hope they will over-run the sum of 21.

How Blackjack is Played at a Casino:
1) Place your bet on the table.
Each blackjack table has a set beginning bet and this ranges from a dollar to ten or twenty for the high-rollers crowd. This is the amount of chips you will have to put down, and this signals to the dealer that you are taking part in the next round.

2) You will get a card.
The dealer then deals a card to you and all the other players who have also placed a bet down.

3) The dealer places a face-up card in front.
This is one of the cards of the dealer, and since its facing up, all the players have a chance to judge the outcome of his cards.

4) The dealer deals the second card.
The dealer, then, deals you and all the players an additional card. This is the time to have a look at them and at the dealer's card and decide whether you wish to get another card.

5) The dealer asks.
The dealer now turns to each player and asks them if they wish to receive another card. If you wish it, the dealer will give you a card. Then, the dealer will ask you again. Note that the dealer will be with you until you decide that you do not want to receive any more cards. Then, the dealer moves on to the next player, then, the next, and so on.

6) The dealer starts playing.
Only when all the players have said that they do not want any more cards, does the dealer start playing. He takes cards until he has reached 17 or above. Then, he has to stop.

7) The dealer opens the cards.
When he's done, the dealer first reveals all his cards. Then, he moves from one player to the other opening their cards. After revealing each player's hands, the dealer pays out the bet or takes the bet away according to who has won and who has lost.

Continuous Improvement of Business Audits

An effective audit process will mean that audit teams will be taking a systematic approach to gathering and interpreting data and information. In order to maximise the value of the outcomes of the audits the management should: Accept that the audit activity needs appropriate resourcing, including training of auditors, education of operational and management staff, and physical and financial funding. If any of these are inadequate, then the quality of outcomes will suffer. Accept that there will be limitations to the data gathered and the outcomes produced, not least because of the influence of the quality and quantity of resources allocated to the audit activity, but also because of the varying standards of judgement and interpretation that may be applied to the outcomes; Focus on trends, take appropriate corrective action on specific issues, but look for trends and patterns that indicate underlying, hidden, problems that need addressing; Ensure that the auditing activity is flexible and adaptable, in order to make it compatible with the culture and structure of the organisation, rather than adopt a rigid, unchanging process which is likely to be inappropriate and producing inaccurate results; Challenge the findings, the audit process will not be infallible, and should be challenged continuously to ensure that it is, itself, performing effectively; Apply the highest possible standards to the interpretation of results and judgement on what action to take, this requires training, experience, expertise, awareness of the internal and external environment, and an awareness of the impact of proposed changes on the motivation and morale levels of staff and managers, and an ability to forecast the impact on the operational and strategic objectives.

However, there are some dangers that must be avoided in order to maximise the effect of the audits. These include: Overload of data and information, the result either or too many audits being scheduled in general and-or the unnecessary auditing of areas of activity that are obviously performing well. This can be avoided by targeting the audits and schedules more thoughtfully; Overload of improvement recommendations, not in itself a danger, but the organisation can find it impossible to resource, in terms of budget, time, or human resources - all the improvements identified. The answer is to prioritise, focusing on those improvements that will bring greatest value to the achieving of the organisation’s objectives; Complacency, where results are apparently positive in most areas, there is a danger that management will become complacent. By adopting the kaizen continuous improvement approach to auditing, this should be avoided; Over-reliance on the auditing process, by leaving the identification and correction of poor performance to the audit process, rather than the audit process at least in part confirming that positive, continuous improvement activity is taking place; Managers ignoring the relevance of audit findings the most damaging response. If managers do not take the audit results and recommendations seriously and refuse to implement, or only half-heartedly implement the required changes, then the value of the audit process is wasted.

Although the auditing should be scheduled to examine all processes and activity on a regular basis, there is a need for additional emphasis to be given to auditing poor performers. These are activities, processes, functions, systems, where problems are visible of suspected, but the causes are not certain and need further investigation. In these cases management should arrange for ad hoc audits, and-or for these areas to be given priority in current or imminent auditing activity. It is not acceptable to rely on a generic auditing approach. Not dealing with visible or suspected poor performers immediately will allow poor performance to cause immediate and possibly long term damage. Inevitably, the longer the problems remain unaddressed, the more difficult it will be to take corrective action.

There is a danger that management will see only the audit results and concentrate on the decision making as to what improvements to make, and how to implement these. However, management must remember that the audit results are drawn from the activities of people. This means employees, operational staff, managers, specialists, suppliers, customers, stakeholders. Feedback, shaped and delivered in an appropriate manner, depending on the target group, must be seen as an essential element of effective auditing and successful implementation of changes. Not informing people of the rationale, the purpose, the results, and the positive contribution made by auditing, will lead to low morale and motivation, dissatisfaction, and possibly conflict.

It is essential that the improvements generated by the audits strengthen the organisation’s capability to compete. In order to ensure this happens, management will need to be aware that: It will often be necessary for improvement action to be prioritised. Where this is the case, then those improvements that will contribute the most value to the organisation’s competitiveness should be given higher priority. This is a responsibility of management, who will need to be appropriately skilled in this task; The business sector and general external environment is changing rapidly, and even relatively recent outcomes and improvement recommendations may no longer be appropriate due to significant external changes. This requires management to be alert to such changes and to have the ability to interpret how their organisation should best respond; After improvement changes have been implemented these will have, by default, altered the nature of activities and processes, and will need monitoring, auditing, to ensure that the effect is positive. It is highly likely that most changes made will need adjustment, especially in the early stages after implementation. This must be an integral, high profile, element of the change process.

Business Performance Audits are critical to the success of the organisation. The specific functional, process, and activity improvements generated by the Performance Audits are important and must be visible supported by the management. However, strategic and operational priorities will be constantly changing. Senior management must also ensure that the audit activity contributes positively and supports the strategic direction that the organisation is taking. It is the responsibility of senior management to continuously monitor the effectiveness of the auditing activity in the light of this requirement, and make appropriate changes if necessary.

To obtain the maximum benefit from Business Performance Audits the management must view them as a critically important element of the business. Appropriate resources must be allocated to the activity itself, to the interpretation of results, and to the implementation of improvements generated. Auditing must be integrated into the continuous improvement approach of the organisation. In addition, the objectives of the auditing process must be to generate improvements that contribute positively to operational and strategic objectives. If this approach is taken by management, then the organisation will benefit greatly from the continuous improvements that an effective auditing process can deliver, enabling it to continue to perform to the best of its ability.

Event Catering; The Most Primitive Form Of Comfort

Nancy did not consider herself to be fussy. She was just trying to eat a healthy diet which included herbal teas. The trouble was; when she attended seminars and workshops, a frequent part of her job, she was always offered coffee in the breaks and rarely, if ever, her chosen beverage. Even when she brought along her own herbal tea bags, the venue could never seem to be trusted to supply boiling hot drinkable water to complete the infusion.

The dietary requirements of your delegates can be very complex. You may have to deal with vegans, vegetarians, fruitarians, those on a raw food diet, those with nut allergies, wheat intolerance, dairy intolerance and, who knows, maybe the occasional carnivore. Of course, it is unlikely that you will be producing the food yourselves; however it is important that you have a method of keeping an accurate record of this information to pass on to your caterers.

If your chosen venue does not provide catering directly, they will most probably be able to recommend a few companies with a good reputation.

Selecting a catering company to assist you can be a pleasant job as those who are proud of their track record will insist that you sample the product before you make your order.

For longer workshops and events, you may need to provide at least one meal. Although the food should be nutritious and interesting, try to make sure that it is not too heavy on the calories otherwise you may lose half of your audience to siesta time. Take advice from your caterer, they should be able to suggest a range of menus that will be appropriate. When you pass on the information regarding special dietary needs, make sure that those dishes are carefully labeled as they tend to be tasty and interesting unlike traditional buffet food and might disappear into the wrong stomachs.

Of course if you are running a smaller event, none of this need bother you. Wrong! There is just as much potential for drama with coffee and biscuits. Those with allergies and intolerances will still have hunger pangs, so fruit, nut-free, wheat free snacks and a good range of beverages should be available. Clean, boiling hot water for those who bring their own special brews, coffee, decaf, black tea, herbal teas and fruit teas are the minimum requirements if you want to impress. Fortunately most well equipped venues will have a beverage dispenser serving just about every requirement.

You may get no extra stars for getting the catering right, but get it wrong and your event will be a scar on people's memories.

Ask Nancy and she will regale you with countless tales of poor catering experiences, of tepid, dirty water served in a coffee stained pot, of serving staff who fail to understand her requirements and, worst of all, of being totally ignored because she will not accept the standard cup of coffee. Ask her about the seminars and she is, at best, vague.

5 Rules for Negotiating Like a Pro

Copyright 2006 Mary Greenwood

No matter whether you are negotiating a raise with your boss, negotiating a vacation schedule with you ex-spouse or negotiating with a seller or buyer on an on-line auction, there are certain rules or principles that will help you settle your disputes.

Rule 1. Focus on the goal. Don’t be distracted by your emotions. It is important to check your emotions at the door before trying to negotiate anything. Emotions such as anger can make one lose control. We have all seen someone who gets red in the face and starts shaking his finger and generally looks as though he could easily have a heart attack. Sometimes that person is so mad that he is incoherent. You need to get past that stage if you are going to succeed. If you are the one who is angry and upset, you need to focus on what you hope to accomplish and tell yourself that nothing is going to stand in the way of that goal.  It really does not matter whether you like the other side or not. Some parties are rude, obnoxious and insulting. Try to get past these insults so you can focus on resolving the dispute. The other side may be baiting you so don’t give them the satisfaction of knowing they have gotten to you. If you focus on the goals of the negotiation, it won’t matter whether you like or respect the other party.

Rule 2. Look forward, not back. The past is called the past for a reason. If one party gets too involved in what has happened in the past, it can be counter-productive. One party in a divorce case, may be so intent on documenting everything the husband has done wrong, that the wife is not even thinking about the goals of the negotiation beyond blaming the husband. You have to figure out a way to get to the present and deal with current issues of custody or visitation. Ask the other party what they want now to resolve the dispute.

Rule 3. You don’t have to be right to settle.  What are the three words we want to hear the most, even more than “I Love you”? We love to hear those magic words, “You are right”. For some people, this is even harder to say than “I love you”. And if you say, “You are absolutely right”, that is even better. When someone says, “It is the principle that counts” or “It is not the money, it’s the principle!” I know that the negotiation is in trouble. That is because the party is making a judgment call that it is more important to be a martyr than settle the case. When someone is obsessed with the principle of a situation, he/she is still emotionally vested in his/her feelings. Unless you can get beyond those emotions, the dispute is not likely to be resolved. Feeling that you are right can be a heady emotion, but it has no place in the negotiation. If the other side is only interested in being right, chances are the situation won’t be resolved.

Rule 4. Know what you want and what the other side wants. Knowing what you want may seem obvious, but many parties don’t know what they want. They are so angry that they have not even asked themselves how the issue can be resolved. If they don’t know what they want, how can they go about getting it? They may want to hash and rehash the circumstances that got them into this negotiation. Depending on the complexity of the situation, you should have a detailed plan of what you want.  In addition to knowing what you want, you also need to know what you are willing to give up to get what you want. Generally you can get what you want if you are willing to pay the price for it.  Don’t ever begin a negotiation without knowing what you want.

Rule 5. Be prepared and do your research. Once you have an idea what you want, you must do your research and preparation. That could be as simple as listing your arguments on a sheet of paper or as complex as doing the research to cost out a request for wage increases. Either way, you need to be prepared. Otherwise, you might make a concession or agreement that you will later regret. You need to know the rationale behind your requests and a good estimate of the costs, including the future costs. Nothing is more embarrassing than making a presentation and having someone question the accuracy of your numbers and having the whole presentation fall apart because the data is confusing, or even worse incorrect. If you are not completely prepared, consider delaying the start of the negotiation. If you go in with little or no information, and try to wing it, you will regret it later. You cannot be over-prepared. Even if you don’t use everything you prepared, it does not matter. It is important to have as much information and research as possible just in case you need it.

3 Tips For Choosing A Payment Gateway: Collecting Money Online

As a consumer, when you check out of your local convenience store, you may swipe your credit card through a point-of-sale device and your gas, coffee, and donut are paid. But what if you are the retailer and your business is online? It’s not like you have a card-swiping device at every customer’s PC! There must be a way for you to process that information. Essentially, that is the job that a payment gateway does for online retailers. Roy Banks, president of http://Authorize.net, a leader in the payment gateway industry, describes his company’s function as “the digital version of a hardware point of sale terminal.”

What is a Payment Gateway?
Payment gateways allow online merchants such as eStore owners or auction sellers to accept credit card payments over the internet. They authorize the cardholder’s credit—that is, they check to ensure that the customer has enough money on their credit card to cover the charges. They then place a hold on that amount so the buyer can’t turn around and spend that same money elsewhere before it gets transferred to the retailer’s merchant account. Banks describes this as “the technology…necessary to consummate a payment transaction.”

A Payment Gateway is NOT a Merchant Account.
Many people confuse merchant accounts with payment gateways but they are not the same. Merchant account services act, for the most part, as a liaison between your business bank account and the payment gateway. When a customer orders a product from your online business their card is processed via the payment gateway. The money is then moved over to the merchant account service. The merchant account service then moves those newly captured funds to your business bank account.

3 Tips for choosing a Payment Gateway:

1. Is it PCI-compliant? That means that the company’s security has been audited by a third party and found to be up to industry standards. Since payment gateways store all your customers’ credit card information (sparing you the stress), it also means you can sleep better at night, knowing your customers’ valuable information is safe and sound.

2. Good customer support. ‘Nuf said.

3.Lastly, it is important that the payment gateway you choose be integrated to the third-party solutions you are planning to use. That means things like store front platforms and shopping carts—you want them to be compatible with your gateway.

Payment gateways will not only allow you to collect the monies from your sales, many also offer an array of security features, some of which will help you avoid becoming a victim of fraudulent orders! In the end, they will make your ecommerce business a less-stressful, more pleasant experience—for both you and your customers.

3 Easy Ways To Make More Money This Year

Successful business owners all have one thing in common, they are never satisfied with sales levels. Whether you are making $10,000 a year or $1 million a year, there is always a possibility for growth.

Growth only comes when you realize it can happen. You will not grow if you are content or can't see the future possibilities for growth.

Here are three easy ways that you can transform your business from the level it is at, into a profit making machine.

1. Always track statistics

This may seem obvious, but most people never do it. You should always track and gather as much information as possible. Track walk in customers, track purchases, evaulate marketing, monitor amount of purchases, frequent vistiors, non-buying prospects, etc.

With this knowledge you will be more informed as to how you marketing dollars are doing and where you can increase production.

2. Find people you can trust

For my websites I have one person that writes nearly full time for me. I can send her topics for articles or websites, and she does the research and writes well thought out articles. I can pay her in advance and know that she is going to be there when I need writing at the last minute.

You definitely need people you can trust as well. These people may be your managers, family members, or just friends who can help in a pinch.

3. Develop your passion

Sometimes I need to take a drive through the country to remember why I love what I am doing. It is easy to get caught up in the fray of customer service and deadlines, but for me the most productive time is always when I am out of my business element. Use this time away to revive your passion.

Next time you are thinking that it is not possible for your business to make money, remember and put these 3 easy tips into practice!