Merchant Accounts

eCommerce stores need great advertising campaigns more than many other types of businesses because by nature, eCommerce is an extremely competitive industry.  To get your customers to click through your ad and make a purchase, you need to keep them engaged and use an appropriate voice that addresses their needs.

Here are a few tips for designing a PPC campaign for your eCommerce store.

1. Know Your Target Visitor. This is a good tip for any pay-per-click campaign, but it's especially important for eCommerce because you're generally targeting people who are ready to make a purchase.  To get clicks from the right people, you need to understand your audience.

For example, if you sell clothing, you cannot use vague language or provide an unspecific lead line like "Shirts 50 percent off."  You will need to choose keywords related to specific brands and make a specific offer that grabs your user's attention from the dozens of other links on their computer screens.  Use prices, free shipping and other offers to get that initial click.

2. Drive the Ad's Points Home. Hopefully, you know about landing pages--specific pages on your website that individually address your PPC ads, giving you the best possible conversion rate.  Your landing pages need to reiterate offers in your advertisements with clear, concise language.

When people shop online, they move from page to page quickly.  Give them an easy way to start ordering your products from the landing page.  If they have to click dozens of times to make a purchase, they'll go somewhere else.

Your landing page copy should speak directly to your visitors.  Use a tone designed for your target audience and keep your language concise.  You should also show your visitors that your website is secure by putting certification logos right up front on your order page.

3. Check Your Campaigns Regularly. Many eCommerce-related keywords are fairly expensive, so you'll have to keep experimenting to find a good return on investment.  Use several PPC services, not just Google Adwords, and experiment with keywords from time to time to see what affects your incoming business.

Finally, ship quickly and follow up with your customers.  If you develop incoming links and good word of mouth, you might not need as many PPC campaigns to bring business to your site.  eCommerce is a tough industry, but quality stores tend to rise to the top quickly.

Written by Mike Thompson, an online marketer with tips on PPC Management.

When it comes to unique content, it seems many eCommerce stores have not gotten the memo about how beneficial it is for their site. And it’s not their fault, they’re usually running their business and are not up-to-date on the SEO world. But 90% of the time when I look at an eCommerce store, this is what I find: manufacturer copied product descriptions and no blog.

This means their entire store besides from the home page, about page, and contact page is duplicate content. But the cool thing about this is that since most of your competitors are pulling these same duplicate descriptions and not spending time blogging, there is a simple solution to ranking higher than them and ending up on top.


Write Unique Product Descriptions

Writing unique product descriptions may be time consuming, but boy will it help you out. Recent Google updates make it so that if your site contains a large amount of duplicate content, not only will those certain pages be ranked lower, but your whole site will also be penalized.

When you write your own descriptions you reverse this effect. Google sees a business who spent time creating original content and rewards you for it in higher rankings. Also, writing unique content increases your conversions by allowing you to tweak descriptions to fit your business's personality and target your customers.

Read more: How to Rank Your eCommerce Store Higher With Unique Content

Merchant services used to be a somewhat closed and arcane world. Thanks to rapid increases in credit and debit card use coupled with an equally large increase in businesses accepting credit and debit cards, a vibrant and competitive economy now exists for merchant services providers. The challenge for most businesses is finding a good one to serve their needs.

If you are like many businesspeople, your first instinct may be to go to the bank that handles your business's cash management accounts, capital reserve accounts and credit line. However, many business banks do not offer competitive credit card processing options. Most businesses do best by working with a company like Choice Merchant Services that shops a number of merchant providers to find you the best possible option. For most businesses, the best merchant service provider is one that offers fair rates, good quality equipment, and terms that meet their specific needs.

Fair Rates

Believe it or not, some businesses still pay merchant rates as high as six percent. In today's market, many businesses can qualify for rates very close to one percent. Merchant rates depend on a number of different factors including the type of business, the way that they process cards, the quantity of business that is done and the credit profile of the business. Even though every business is different, there are still some processors that charge better rates than others, all things being equal. Shopping around, or hiring someone to shop around for you, is the best way to get the best rate available.

Equipment that Fits Your Business

Different businesses require different types of credit card terminals. While the traditional small keypad unit with an integrated printer works extremely well in traditional retail settings, it is not the one size all option that it may seem to be. Retailers where people are in a rush, like convenience stores, benefit from having a customer-swipe terminal that supports new tap-and-go payment cards. Traveling merchants benefit from a wireless terminal that can use WiFi or cellular networks, and e-commerce businesses do not need any type of terminal, but do need a software-based gateway.

Not every service provider offers you a choice of every type of device. Finding one with a good selection will make it easier to find the perfect terminal or gateway for your business. Finding a company like Choice Merchant Services that will give you a terminal for free is even better.

Read more: The Three Things That Make a Merchant Services Provider Right for YOU

Now that you have your e-commerce site up and running, you will need to decide on which payments you will accept and set up your site to allow for them. The task can seem daunting and overwhelming at first, but once you break it down to smaller steps, it will pose no problem for you.

Determine Payment Methods

The first thing you need to do is to determine which forms of payments you want to accept on your site. There are many options such as credit or debit cards, payment by check or PayPal. The more options you offer, the more customers you will be able to service. Not every internet shopper feels secure enough to use a credit card online, even on an encrypted site, offering alternative payment methods can provide customers a way to feel secure enough to purchase from your e-commerce store. Three popular alternative payment methods are Google Checkout, Bill Me Later and PayPal.

Shopping Cart

You will also need shopping cart software in order for you to be able to charge tax where applicable, calculate shipping costs, take orders, send out notifications and sell items. A good online shopping cart should provide you with flexibility and security. Be sure to understand exactly what is included with your shopping cart program and which tools are featured with each one, so that you can choose the one that will best meet your needs. Popular shopping cart software programs include ShopSite Inc., 1ShoppingCart.com and GoECart.com.

Obtain an Online Merchant Account

In order to accept and process credit or debit cards, you will need to set up an internet merchant services account. You can get a merchant account for online credit card processing through a bank or one of the many merchant account providers found online. It is crucial to read any small print involved with online credit card processing to avoid hidden charges and additional fees. There is no single standard rate with merchant accounts as most options also include assessment fees and interchange fees as well. Other fees that you should be aware of are account termination fees, annual fees, account minimums, statement fees and per transaction fees. Some merchant accounts may charge a monthly payment while other may charge a lower monthly payment but also charge you each time a card is swiped. Leading merchant account providers include Merchant Account Express, moneybookers.com and United Bank Card. Add a comment

Read more: How to Accept Payments for Your E-Commerce Business