Increase Profits With Secure Online Shopping Carts

In the few weeks prior to Christmas, 2006, 350 million people made 250 billion dollars in purchases â€" online. This is a 24% increase from a decade ago, and double the figures for theChristmas season, 2005. Shopping online has become one of the most profitable ways to get a product to the consumer.

The introduction of SSL certificates, PayPal, and the support of Credit Card companies and banks have turned online shopping into the fastest growing market in the world.

At one time, the only option for shoppers included brick-and-mortar retail stores and catalogue ordering. This turned the Christmas season into an exercise in patience and stamina as shoppers waited in long lines, travelled from store to store looking for the right item, and sometimes ordering items months in advance.

Very few people enjoyed the luxury of comparing prices, shopping at liquidation centers, and buying products at wholesale. The Internet changed all that. Now, not only can people shop online, but many businesses can offer 'secondary sale' items at 1/2 retail. Just purchase a lot from a liquidation center, and sell it from your site using Paypal.

The Internet made shopping at home a breeze. However, any work at home business needs to understand the 'dark side' of online shopping if they want to succeed.

Phishing

Many people are afraid to make a purchase from a small website because many 'fake' websites are phishing websites. These sites collect banking information from victims and then use it for fraudulent purchases â€" even loan applications.

Credit Card Fraud and Identity theft are an ever increasing problem both on the 'net' and in the 'real world.'

That is why most online vendors use Paypal instead of their own shopping cart. Yes, it may 'look' basic, but programmers can make the Paypal site mimic any web site. This streamlines the process. Many consumers will appreciate the attention to security.

1) Tell purchasers 'not' to save their passwords or banking information on their PC. Most know this, but posting a warning makes the shopping cart appear 'secure.' Image is everything.

2) Remind clients that Paypal has a buyer protection plan. This will increase sales. After three years on the net, I've only been 'ripped off' twice.

3) NEVER ask for additional information. Many purchasers will see this as a 'red flag' that might indicate a phishing site. Many marketers love to collect information. It may seem simple to ask people where they came from, what brought them to the site, why thy made a purchase, or where they live â€" but it will cost sales.

4) Show purchasers your security with statements like "Only purchase online through secure order pages which are indicated by a small, yellow, "Padlock" image located near the bottom of the internet browsers window.

Posting an image of the padlock used by IE and Firefox will increase sales by showing that your site uses the padlock.

5) Tell clients that no information from the purchase is used for mailing lists by this business, or partner businesses. Include a disclaimer that this business never sells, shares, or trades contact information with third parties.

6) One of the first things shoppers do is look for a business address. If the address is not located in the USA, and they cannot find a business number in the national phone book, then they won't make a purchase.

It is sad that many phishing sites are run from Russia or Asia where there are not regulations, and no way to legally confront these companies. Until there is an international legal blanket, the only way to increase sales on a website is to reassure shoppers that you are concerned with their security.

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About Mark Walters

Mark Walters is a third generation entrepreneur and author. He offers free training and investing videos designed to speed you towards financial independence at http://www.cashflowinstitute1.com/Articles.html


And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Use Factoring to Grow Your Business, Don't Wait Until You are Struggling

Have you ever refused a job or an order because your business didn't have enough capital to purchase the supplies or hire the extra staff? You build a good reputation, have good workers and then when you finally get a nice big contract, you have to turn it down because all your money is tied up in accounts receivables. You know the bills will be paid, but they aren't due quite yet so you are the one who suffers because of cash flow problems.

If you have customers who are established, are good credit risks and almost always pay on time, you can sell those invoices to an investor (a factor). The factor will give you an advance of 70% to 90% when the invoice is issued and will wait for the bill to be paid. Then you will get the rest of the money minus a small fee of 1% to 5%. The advance and fee depend on monthly volume, size of invoice, credit, time it takes to be paid and other things.

Some business people who call me are under the impression that the advance of 70% to 90% is all they get. They are thrilled when they discover they get the rest when the bill is paid except for the small fee. So they actually get 95% to 99% of their invoice.

Factoring isn't a loan, it isn't a credit line, you don't have debts to pay back, you don't tie up any assets other than the invoices, it only takes a few days to get approved and you keep complete control of your company.

Almost any business can use factoring, so long as they have invoices that are issued to another business. Even a business in Chapter 11 can have their receivables factored. Different factors have different requirements, minimums, maximums, fees, rates and applications to fill out. Some have a small application fee, many do not.

There are factors who work with any industry except construction and medical. There are others who specialize in construction contractors and others in medical receivables. These two have specific rules and regulations and risks and you definitely want a factor who specializes in them.

A good broker will be working with several factors and should be able to find the best factoring company for you. The broker will work for you, will get your questions answered and will be able to go to a second factor if the first one doesn't fit your needs. The broker gets paid directly by the factor and your rates and fees are not affected.

Quite often business people think of using a factor as a last resort when their business is struggling and they are trying to survive. In reality, businesses should consider a factor when they are starting out, so they can keep their business growing. They should definitely use a factor when they are feeling confident about their business and are ready for growth.

The businesses you do the work for simply have a different address to send the payment to; they still do the work for you, get the invoice from you and have the same payment terms as they always do.

Just think how your business could grow if you were paid most of each invoice when you issue it: you could get discounts when you buy your supplies if you pay cash, you could do more marketing, hire more staff, buy more equipment, increase your own credit rating. Instead of focusing on collecting the payments you could concentrate on going after more contracts.

Then next time a customer calls you with a big contract, you just have to get the papers signed and get on with the work. Sounds good, doesn't it?

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About Donna Poisl

Donna Poisl is President of Creative Funding Solutions. CFS works closely with several of the best factors in the country, each with different rates, fees and requirements and is able to find the best one for each client. Contact Donna at http://www.solvecashflowproblems-factoring.com or by email at dpauthor@earthlink.net.