Internet business basics
Domains, design & hosting
The first thing you will need to conduct business on the Web is a domain name, and of course, a Web page. Join The Web, Inc. can help to provide professional, high-quality services for both, at some of the lowest prices in the industry.
For businesses or organizations only wanting to promote their products or services, a one or two page site should be sufficient. You could add an interactive or printable form for mailing inquiries, orders, payment, or donations. Companies or organizations with a large catalogue or a large amount of information will, of course, need more pages.
Once you have created your site and registered your domain name, you will need to host it on a server that connects to the Internet. At this point, you need to choose what type of hosting is right for you. Many organizations and advertising pages can use standard hosting, and their address would begin with "http://."
However, if you are asking for personal or private information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc., you will want to use what is called a secure site (SSL or secure socket layer encryption). Savvy Web shoppers will not use sites that are not secure, and look for addresses starting with an "https://" for financial transactions. Many banks and credit card companies require a secure site for all valid transactions, and only add their logos to approved, securely encrypted servers. (Join The Web, Inc. affiliates meet these standards.)
Payment methods
The simplest form of payment is a mailed check or money order. However, up to 40% of all purchases today are by credit card, and credit card purchases are generally for a greater amount than by check.
Paypal® is a good solution for those not wishing to purchase a merchant account right away. They accept four major credit cards and electronic bank drafts. Paypal® also offers a shopping cart service. Buyers do not need a special account, just an e-mail address. A percentage of each transaction goes to Paypal®.
Google Checkout® is another good option for just a few similar items, or with an existing shopping cart. They accept six major credit cards. They do require that purchasers set up a Google Checkout® account. Paypal® and Google Checkout® offer very limited e-mail technical support.
While both of these are convenient, a Paypal® or Google Checkout® logo does not inspire the same buyer confidence the Visa® or American Express® logo would on a secure site. However, both provide an outside link to their secure sites, which means you don't need your own SSL certificate or secure hosting at your site, making this a good way to start a small enterprise, or to accept donations if you are a nonprofit organization.
Another option is to purchase your own merchant account for credit card and banking transactions. Online merchant accounts are similar to those widely in use by businesses that accept credit cards. In order to obtain a merchant account or gateway, the company or organization must pass stringent standards. You select which payment forms you would like to accept. Merchant accounts inspire more customer confidence, and percentage fees are sometimes less than for Paypal® transactions. If your business already has a merchant account, consider adding online transactions to it, or purchase one of our partner gateway accounts to accept credit cards and electronic bank drafts. Merchant accounts require secure hosting.
Shopping carts
An online shopping cart makes Internet purchases fast and easy. Paypal® or Google Checkout® both offer an entry-level shopping cart program for a fee. For serious business needs and issues of security, we believe a monthly subscription option is often the best solution. Why? Though we, or any other professional design company, could build a cart for you, online shopping entails sensitive information. Information such as credit card account numbers needs secure coding, and Quick Shopping Cart® is a proven service that stays up to the minute on security issues like hacking, phishing, and encryption. Our affiliate puts the best designers at your service for a low monthly price.
Our affiliate program even includes hosting for your site! Not only that, you get seamless synchronization of data between your online store & QuickBooks®; full reconciliation of online sales (with a QuickBooks® Merchant Services account); multiple shipping options including real-time processing with UPS® and USPS®; order & inventory management; shipping & tax calculators; shopper registration & login; product promotion options; advanced product search; customer and merchant order notification email; comprehensive sales, order & tax reports; and 24/7 phone support.
You pay one monthly fee and are not charged additional percentages of transaction fees for the cart. Few other companies can offer this level of service, and would charge much, much more to build it for you!
You will need to purchase a merchant account and a secure server certificate to accept credit cards (you would want an SSL certificate, anyway, to protect your company's financial information!) Note that QuickBooks® accounting program works with the Deluxe and Premium plans only, and that Quick Shopping Cart® is compatible with QuickBooks 2005 Pro and Premium or later. You would still be able to use the inventory and sales report programs that come with your subscription without QuickBooks® accounting software.
At this time, Quick Shopping Cart® does not support shipping / billing to Canadian provinces or international countries: you would have to compute costs and receive payment yourself for transactions outside of the United States.
To sum it all up
Your choice of options for e-commerce depend on your organization's needs, and how much you wish to invest in them. Join The Web, Inc. will be happy to help you customize your e-business at whatever level you choose. No matter what you choose, we believe you will not find a better combination of services and pricing anywhere else!
Call us before you buy: we can often help you find reduced prices or free services from JoinTheWeb.info, or help you choose the right plan for your business from Paypal® or Google Checkout®!
Legal notice: Design services only are contracted with Join The Web, Inc. Any contracted agreement with affiliate programs (Paypal, Google, etc.) is strictly between yourself and that program or its parent company.
