The great majority of business conducted online is processed with a credit card. Also, credit card sales tend to be four times larger than a sale completed any other way. Knowing that most people decide to use a credit card and spend more when doing so, it only makes sense to be able to accept credit card payments.

The first step to being able to accept credit card payments is getting a merchant account. A merchant account is a special type of bank account that is able to receive payments from credit card purchases. Along with your account you will also need a hardware or software solution to actually process the payments, but this doesn't have to be supplied by the company providing your merchant account.

For online credit card processing there is one extra step, you also need a payment gateway. A payment gateway is a company that provides real time authorization of online transactions. When looking at gateways make sure that they are compatible with your site's software and your financial institution. You may wish to research your gateway and financial institution options before signing up for any services.

When researching your merchant account providers you may be surprised at the number of options available to you. While there are a lot of options, selecting the best provider for you is easy to do by knowing a little about what each company offers and how much they charge for their services.

The first step should always be to seek a mentor. Do you know someone who currently is conducting a similar business? If so ask them who provides their merchant account and what their thoughts are on that provider as well as others that they may have tried. After asking around search the Internet for people's opinions on merchant accounts. While opinions are not a good reason to base a decision, their accounting of the service they received and the ease of company to work with are valuable information to know.

After determining which companies will be the easiest to work with you can begin to narrow down your options by examining the services offered and history. A good merchant account provider should have extensive experience working with growing businesses. This experience will allow your merchant account provider to be able to set up your account faster, will ensure that they can expand their services as your company grows and requires more options and most importantly, has the experience required to actively combat fraud and charge backs.

Of course nothing is free, and your merchant account is no exception. The amount that you must pay will vary from company to company but the basics of your bill should be the same. If the company you are considering is charging more you may wish to seek another merchant account provider.

The biggest single cost is the set up costs. Your set up costs include your application fees, equipment costs and deposits. These fees tend to average about $275 but vary depending upon the options you have selected. For example, your start up costs will be much higher if you have decided to purchase your credit card processing equipment instead of leasing it. This may be an economically viable solution after adding up the amount of the deposit that will be required if you lease the equipment and the leasing fees for a year.

Another thing to keep in mind is the amount that your merchant account provider will be charging for each completed transaction. On average you will be charged 2.5% of the sale and there may be a few more annual fees. Be sure to very closely examine that amount you will be paying and what additional fees you may have to pay as each company will be different and the difference may save you a lot of money each year.

Starting and having a business grow is a very exciting time for any business owner. As you expand into new markets, such as online sales, you will find a plethora of new options and opportunities. After deciding to expand be sure to carefully consider your options in order to make your next step as smooth and cost effective as possible.

* What is their business vision?

* What are their 3-5 key goals over the next 3 years?

* Where do they want to take their businesses? Grow and expand? Sell? Merge? Consolidate?

AND

Why should you know and care?

Here are 3 reasons

Your current clients offer future opportunities

You’ve already done business with them. They know you and you know them. There might be potential for further business – if not now, then perhaps over the next 1-3 years. If you know their plans and know what challenges, opportunities and aspirations they have you can offer to help them develop those plans and achieve their future objectives.

This may be in the form of actual business or it could simply be by connecting them with other suppliers, mentors or consultants that can help them. If you put their needs first under the “pay it forward” principle you are more likely to be the one they call when then have a need that you can specifically help with within your speciality.

“If you know what they need, you can plant the seed”

Foresight is Fore planned

If, for example you are an HR consultant and you know that one of your key clients has plans to double their workforce as a result of increased production due to the opening of a new facility, you can help them by preplanning the whole recruitment, selection, induction and training process. The benefit to them is that they have the right people with the right skills and knowledge, correctly inducted and trained in place in good time for the launch.

“Consult in advance and be part of the dance”

Your pipeline will have a steady flow

One of the constant challenges you face as a consultant is that of a steady pipeline of “ideal” business. By working with your current clients to plan their next 1-3 years you can potentially increase the flow of work into your consultancy.

Imagine you are an IT implementation Consultant and you know that within the next 12 months your number one client will be implementing a new PC software rollout, changing the way they manage their online sales and are moving premises, you could potentially have 1, 2 or 3 pieces of work or 1 big integration project.

By working with your current ideal clients you can help them plan and manage their implementation and your pipeline too.

“A steady flow will help you grow”

Gaining new clients is always a key activity for consultants and optimising the relationship you have with your current clients is also important.

Keep in touch, meet with key people at various levels within the organisation, and research your clients market and trends. Do this when you have work with them and when you don’t. They will trust you more and hopefully share more when they know you have their longer term interests at heart and are not just out for the short term buck!

Many people have been opting to shop on the Internet because of the availability of choices, and of course, simply because the web saves us from further leg work.

Online sales are really booming fast as compared to offline business establishments. People surfing on sales-related websites have the potential to become buyers as opposed to just looking around. But most marketers neglect the fact that the population of these buyers do not only comprise of young people. Senior citizens too are getting the right vibe with online shopping.

In this article, it says:

“…seniors control over 70% of all disposable income and currently spend over $7 billion online each year. Taking into account future general growth rates in terms of population age groups, accompanied by an ever increasing uptake of the web by this demographic slice, this will indeed be a lucrative market.”

As clearly stated, looking at your older markets is really something. I guess that with competition among online business establishments, this is something you have to take into consideration in order to move a few steps forward from your competitors. Many online businesses are neglecting the fact that there is a high percentage of senior buyers. And because of this, they are completely focused on marketing to their younger markets.

With this in mind, you have to make a marketing plan that would somehow regard to your senior “potential” buyers. Actually, there is not much of a difference when it comes to the young and seniors’ buying interests, only that the latter is prone to stick with their own taste regardless of fashion.

But, when you would initially consider to market with seniors, make sure that you have not neglected them on all our web pages. Maybe a few pointers below would help you:

1. Be able to provide a special section/offer to seniors as this would mean that they are specially treated.

2. When it comes to information, make sure to be very detailed as possible and be ready to entertain any further questions because most seniors happen to ask a lot of questions before purchasing.

3. If you would really want to capture senior buyers, then your site should look and imply at least a little of maturity on the side. For example, when choosing photo for your ad, make sure that the photo would target not only the young but also senior buyers.

4. If you would want seniors to trust your site, make sure you are a credible site by polishing your site’s overall look----that is from content to pictures, and even to security purposes.

5. It is also important to make use of print in marketing for seniors also prefer to look into print ads.

The importance of extending your marketing to senior audience is not only met at their growing number online, but more so because seniors may also become loyal clients. If they happen to like your service or product, you win their loyalty. And loyalty is something that is truly rewarding for you both gain constant sales and good reputation.