Paypal – Paying through Paypal is eBay’s most popular method of payment. The vast majority of buyers online use it. But you can use Paypal on any website, not just eBay. And Paypal is typically less expensive in their fees than online merchant accounts. Paypal gives you specific instructions on how to add a payment button to your website, so follow the instructions and you’ll be fine.
Merchant Accounts – If you’d rather not use Paypal, you can apply for an online merchant account through your web hosting provider. Make sure you choose a hosting account that allows for merchant accounts.
Clickbank or Paydotcom – If you didn’t read these two in the Affiliate section, go there now (page 23). They are free and are a very reliable payment programs for affiliate marketers.
This is the backbone of all communication with your customers. An autoresponder is what puts your business on autopilot. You can go away on vacation and know that your customers are getting email responses automatically when they sign up for your offer.
An autoresponder is basically a program that immediately (or later if programmed) responds to anyone who buys your product or responds to a free offer.
There is no way you can keep up with replying to all the emails you receive. Of course, you can still offer replies to those who need to ask a question, but I’m referring to those who simply sign up for an ebook, video or newsletter to be emailed to them.
If you want a free Autoresponder, go to mailchimp.com for a simple autoresponder. It is limited to a certain number of emails, but it will work.I recommend Aweber.com as the best autoresponder on the market. Yes, it costs about $20 per month, but you need to think like a business owner and not as a cheapie. There’s a reason why Aweber.com is the most popular autoresponder on the web. They have the best features and you’ll make a lot more money in the long run. Cheap autoresponders will eventually cost you. Aweber.com has stood the test of time and is by far my highest choice.
Imagine hosting a conference in Los Angeles with most of the attendees coming from New York City and Dallas! What if you didn’t know this and you kept having a “successful” conference in L.A. every year? You would be missing a huge opportunity.
If so many people from NYC and Dallas are willing to travel to L.A. every year, then imagine what you could do if you hosted two conferences – one in Dallas and one in NYC? Your conference business would explode! The only way to know this is to track where everyone is coming from. And so it is with your internet business.
You need to know what links people are clicking through to find you. If there are links that don’t produce well, stop using them on your pages. And the ones that are working well? Update other promotional material to see if you will have the same results.
I’m sad to say that there are no easy answers with tracking. Your webhost provider may be able to offer analysis of the hits you receive. Google Analytics can give you a decent analysis. Also Clickbank and Paydotcom have tracking tools – use them!
But the best tracking software is free. It’s called Prosper202. It’s a little tricky and technical to install, so if you’re not comfortable with that, ask someone to help you. You Tube has several videos on how to install it and make it work. The great thing about Prosper202 is that it does so much more than other tracking programs – and it’s free!
You will only need the next two tools if you set up a website. The first is a “URL,” otherwise known as a domain name. When choosing a domain name, choose a name that reflects the name of your business or the general topic. The domain “doggrooming.com” is more specific than “ilovecanines.com.” Remember the more specific you are, the more attractive you’ll be as a business. Have fun trying different names until one feels right for you.
One of the most popular places on the internet to search for and register a domain name is GoDaddy.com. I have almost all my domains registered with them.
Obviously, a “.com” extension is preferred, or “.net” is another great extension. The extension “.org” is usually used by nonprofit organizations, but there are no legal restrictions in using it. You will be offered many extensions, but I recommend sticking with .com or .net. Try to not use hyphens in your domain since most people won’t remember them and may end up on another site.
GoDaddy.com is great, but I am now with a very well known hosting service (see below) that offers a free domain name when you sign up with them!A web host is simply a company that “houses” (hosts) your website on their server. You pay them a certain amount per month for this service. In the event their server crashes, they have backup servers that keep things running smoothly. My highest recommendation goes to BlueHost.com – a very popular web hosting company.
Bluehost.com allows you to use as many domain names as you want with just one account. So this looks like you have multiple websites (you actually do) with no extra accounts (until you exceed the limit of what one account can do). Not very many web hosts offer this great benefit. Wordpress blog software if built into the Bluehost utilities, too, if you’re interested in blogging.
And currently you get a free domain name when you sign up with Bluehost!