Free Offshore Merchant Accounts

A free offshore merchant account may seem like a dream but yes it does exist in reality. Such a merchant account provides high security business account processing without any hassles or exorbitant fees. It can give your business its new wings of flight, catapulting it to a new success dais.

Free offshore merchant accounts can give you advantages that you can’t imagine with a domestic merchant account. They can be the backbone to your e-commerce activities. A free offshore merchant account requires no application fees and has an approval rate of 99.9%. All business types are approved even if they involve high-risk activities such as casinos and other types of gambling, adult-themed businesses, MLMs etc. The banks offering offshore merchant account do not carry out credit history checks, so even if you have a bad credit history and do not qualify for a merchant account in US, you are sure to qualify for a free merchant account offshore. You do not have to pay any set-up fee or a deposit. Even the high-risk merchant need not pay a security deposit. A free payment gateway becomes functional within a few seconds of account activation.

A free offshore merchant account requires no statement fees. There are no monthly or annual charges tagged with this type of account. It has a fully automated payment process, which involves real time processing. So what if you’re a high-risk merchant? Even your company can get an offshore business checking account. A free offshore merchant account can cost you anywhere around 0.50% per transaction for regular merchants and up to 3% for high-risk merchants. You can maintain offshore privacy of your company with a prepaid Internet MasterCard for online shopping or avail the no-name MasterCard or Cirrus Cards. No, you do not need to be a programming pro to have a free offshore merchant account. It gives you an SSL 128-bit secured environment.

With your free offshore account you can also send or receive money from Western Union, E-Gold, NetPay, MoneyBookers, SWIFT Wire Transfer, MoneyGram, and more. It also allows you to receive checks (such as AMEX checks), international money orders, and other types of money exchange processes.

A free offshore merchant account is truly a boon for an e-business. It requires no initial deposit or account balance. All you need to do is just signup for an account

How to Develop Your Own $2,000 a Week Internet Strategy

In most of the articles on the web, probably 97% - 99%, you will read about the technical aspects of building a profitable business online. Most of the information I cover deals with that arena...but what most people forget to mention to you is that the technical aspects are ONLY half of the equation to your success on the internet.

When you really get down to the nitty-gritty of making money online, it all starts with your strategy. Even if you know exactly how to achieve top positions on the search engines or know exactly how a link campaign should be done, it still won't let you achieve the level of success you want if you don't know how to develop the strategy for your site.

To put it simply, tactics are your day to day actions in building your website. A strategy is your overall plan and goal for exactly what you would like to have your website and business accomplish for your customers.

The Random House College Dictionary defines strategy and tactics this way... "In military usage, a distinction is made between STRATEGY AND TACTICS. STRATEGY is the utilization of all of a nation's forces, through large-scale, long-range planning and development, to ensure security or victory. TACTICS deals with the use and deployment of troops in combat."

Have you ever stopped the day to day battle of trying to achieve top positions on search engines (And believe me...This is a battle) long enough to develop your long-term strategy? What is your overall vision for your site? In the Bible, Proverbs 29:18 states, "Where there is no vision, the people perish..."

I know some people who are brilliant strategists about online marketing who have achieved amazing success even though their actual tactical skills are only so-so. They hire out the web site design, the search engine registrations, the linking campaigns, and the copywriting. As a matter of fact, one of these brilliant minds once mentioned to me that "The Concept is Greater than The Copy."

In other words, the right marketing strategy can overcome slight problems in the copywriting or even the carrying out of the plans. Even the best copywriting on the planet won't make a success out of a poor business strategy or concept.

No contractor would ever consider starting work on a project without having a detailed blueprint already done and in their hands. It also doesn't matter how good they are at following the blueprints if the blueprints are all wrong. For many people, their internet businesses are in this exact state. They have many of the internet tactics ready, but they have yet to develop a powerful strategy to empower the whole process.

So exactly how do you choose the strategy for your Internet Marketing Empire? Below you will find a three step process in helping you develop your overall strategy. I don't want to over-complicate the process by any means, but I do want to help you create ideas through this. Your actual day to day internet marketing tactics will then flow out of your overall marketing strategy.

STEP ONE: Create Your Overall Theme to Your Online Business

You can't develop a business around a single product. Even if you are promoting a single product upfront, it is not the product that people want. They want the BENEFITS they receive out of the product. When designing your site, think about an "Ultimate Benefit" to build your site around.

I first heard the phrase "The Ultimate Benefit" through Dr. Jeffrey Lant and it has stuck with me ever since. It is that ever abiding "WANT" or "GOALS" that your prospects have with them continually. Ultimate Benefits are things such as: more money, weight loss, online success, being sexually attractive, self-defense, etc.

Ultimate benefits are what your prospects are really seeking after. So, don't base your business just on products. Base your business on this Ultimate Benefit. This will be the theme that binds everything else you do at your site together. It is what you want your site to become known for. It is why people will return to your site over and over again forever.

What is it that your prospects ultimately want?

More Money
Better Health
Weight Loss
etc.

Once you have defined your "Ultimate Benefit," that's where the products can come in. You will want to provide multiple products that all fall under the same Ultimate Benefit. This will help you to create "Multiple Streams of Income" all generated from one web site.

What mail order or internet company do you know of that only has one product? There aren't any really successful ones. Even the sites which seem only to have one main product still have dozens of different profitstreams which all come out of the backend of that product. Your mission online is to help people reach their ultimate goals, and that cannot be done with just one product. It takes a variety of products to accomplish this goal.

One warning I do want to mention here though is that your site will be more successful if you have one LEAD product. By testing both multiple product sites and sites which focus on one lead product, I have found that the lead product sites will outsell the multiple product sites by a long shot in most cases.

So, the absolute best set-up is to focus on a main product, and then have many different backends or supporting products which will help your customers to further their goals. This type of system is often referred to as a marketing funnel. You may be selling a book about Ad Copy on your site, but you will also have consultations, seminars, audio tapes, and ad writing services which all support your theme.

If you are selling web sites as a primary lead product, you could also sell books on internet marketing, web design services, CGI programming, etc. If your theme is weight loss, your primary product may be a nutritional product. You could also sell weight loss and exercise books. A newsletter could be started. You could also do personal one-on-one consultations for specific individuals.

You also don't need to come up with all of these products yourself. Many of them can be found through Joint Venturing with other companies which have products you know your customers want.

STEP TWO: Develop A Unique Aspect to Your Business...Your USP

Your business cannot just be a me-too business online. You need to develop some type of uniqueness to it...something that sets you apart from all of the rest of your competition online. You need to create a "Unique Selling Position" which makes you stand out from the crowd online...

For example, everyone is selling books online. How did Amazon.com becomes the most well known bookstore on the Internet. They developed a USP which basically states "The World's Largest Bookstore" which is exactly what they are. They have stated in one phrase exactly what makes them unique from the rest of the bookstores in the world.

How can you develop your own USP? You probably aren't going to own the largest selection of anything in your business since most of us have started out bootstrapping at home or in our small business. Let me give you a simple little formula you can use which will help you immensely in the creation of a USP for your business.

To find your USP, pull out a blank sheet of paper. At the top of the paper, write "You know how most __________..." Then, halfway down the page, write "Well, What I do is..."

I want you to write how most of the businesses in your market are in the first section. Then, I want you to write what sets you apart from them. Avoid using words such as quality or better service, because those types of things don't really mean anything UNLESS you are more specific in your description. This may take you a while to do.

You probably will have to study your competition online for a while. Give yourself a few days to think it over. Then, write it down.

Next, I want you to boil down that entire sheet of paper to a single phrase or sentence. This takes some work. Write it out in a sentence or phrase as many times as you need to until you get just the right words. Again, if this takes you a few days, let it. Think about it when you are driving, eating, etc. Mull it over. Then, once you have just the right wording, that is your NEW USP which you will use to separate you from all of the competition.

Use it on your signature file online...Use it on your website...Use it in your ad copy. Let it become a guiding force to your online business that sets you apart and defines you as the person to deal with in this area.

STEP THREE: Concentrate on Building Relationships with Your Prospects

To fully develop an online business, you need to maximize your relationships with people. Although your goal in your Internet business may be to set it up on auto-pilot, you have to remember at all times that you are dealing with real people. Credibility online is a major issue because there are many fly-by-night get-rich-quick operators on the internet.

To help you develop this credibility with your prospects, your overall strategy has to include such tools as ezines, message boards, chats, conference calls, dealer programs, etc. Many people keep asking exactly why does it seem ezines are popping up everywhere...It is simply because they work. They help you to develop the relationships you need with your prospects. You are able to contact your prospects over and over again providing them with good useful information.

The same thing is true of the message boards. Once you have worked them up to a certain level of traffic, the same people will keep coming back day after day learning from you and the other experts you may have brought to your board.

Use your imagination and develop other free services such as these to help you develop your website and relationships online. How about doing JVs with other businesses? How about running a monthly conference call on your subject? Your business online is only limited by your imagination!

Get Started Today In Developing Your Online Strategy...

Don't let this report just sit there in your email box. Print it out. Start today in putting these strategy building tips to work for you. It is a proven fact that if you put this off for more than 24 hours, you will probably never come back to it.

Developing Your Internet Strategy can be the most important key to creating the internet business you dream of. Take action today and at least start thinking and working on it.

Ecommerce Web Hosting Packages

E-commerce websites have different requirements than a personal website or standard product or business information site. On e-commerce sites you need the capability to display your products for online sales, as well as a few customized features. That is why companies offer separate e-commerce web hosting packages.

Let’s say you have a selection of products you would like to sell over the Internet. Your website will need to display the product and a description. Users will need to be able to select the product to add to their shopping cart. Your site will need a way to store customer information and accept credit cards. Specialized e-commerce web hosting packages will make all these tasks simpler and easier to manage.

Prices between the different e-commerce hosting companies can vary, as can their services and features. Take a while to shop around and research the different options. Try to locate current customers who are willing to answer your questions. You can probably find them on business forums or web development forums. Most people are generally willing to help out and answer some questions.

You may also need to find an e-commerce web hosting package that will also include the design. Getting the two tasks finished at once can save you a lot of time and money. You may also want a company to manage your new web site. That is where research is essential. It may be more cost effective to have one web hosting company perform all these tasks, but you may not be paying for the best quality.

So, in order to get the most out of your online presence, you may need to consider different e-commerce web hosting packages to find one that best fits your needs and budget. Prices, fees and services vary from one company to the other but the research will be well worth it.

Ecommerce Merchant Accounts

Ecommerce or electronic commerce at first meant the facilitation of commercial transactions like sending purchase orders, sales invoices and other documents electronically. Through time, it began to include other activities such as the selling and buying of goods and services through the Internet, and it became known as “web commerce.”

If you are a businessman wanting to develop your enterprise into a higher level, you may be thinking of selling through the web. Ecommerce enables you to put up a site where you can display what you’ll be selling, with all the marketing strategies, and compete with huge companies nation and worldwide. Selling on the Internet makes your store accessible 24 hours a day, not to ignore the customers’ speed and convenience of shopping at home.

Your customers will pay you through your merchant account, your online payment processor that can also be opened in banks. The primary requirements in opening a merchant account are a business checking account, a physical street address and a corporation name statement from a local county courthouse.

A merchant account will process the payment from your customers to your own bank account. It will also enable you to accept credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, and other forms of electronic payment. In the processing, the transactions are entered into electronic networks that facilitate the transfer of funds from the customers’ to your account. You will be charged a discount rate that varies and depends on the amount and method of transaction and business type. There is also an additional charge called a transaction fee. After three to twelve months of processing with less than one percent in charge back issues, the merchant may apply for an increase to his monthly maximum limit of $10,000.

Having a merchant account that enables you to receive any kind of payment is vital to any online business. In this regard, you need to carefully choose where to open and entrust your money. Bear in mind that it should be fast, easy, secure and affordable, has the lowest rates, no hidden fees, accepts payments in any currency and has best customer service and support.

The Importance of the "Human Touch" in the Virtual Marketplace

"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.” –Emo Philips

For those of us who have moved our businesses into the virtual world, it’s sometimes easy to forget that our customers are real, live breathing human beings. Some of us may even have moved into this area to avoid all the human interactions. However, it is imperative that we don’t forget the importance of the human component of sales, even online.

It’s easy for us to just see our clients as a number or an e-mail address because we don’t actually see them on a daily basis or in some cases, ever. But, it is important to realize that the majority of people are still not one hundred percent comfortable doing business with a faceless entity over a DSL line. It can be very hard for a client to put their trust and more importantly their money into someone or something they can’t see.

This is where communication comes into play. We all know that in business communication is key. However, in the virtual world, it is all-powerful. No matter what your product or service, if you expect to make a living in an online venture, you must be accessible to your existing clients and potential customers.

It is crucial that you offer as many avenues of reaching you as possible. You must give them e-mail addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers and as many different instant messenger options as you have. They must feel that just because you’re not in their office or around the corner, you’re just as available to them.

Now this may sound obvious, but just having all of those communication tools isn’t enough. You must make it priority number one to be accessible. None of those handy devices are any good if they don’t help get you on the line for that customer. You must always put answering messages, replying to e-mails and simply checking in from time to time at the top of your priority list!

Making the decision to hire online companies can be a major step to business owners who have never ventured into this new world, and it is your job to make sure they have a positive experience.

There is no question that computers have made all of lives easier and are growing the global economy at an astonishing rate, but let us never forget the importance of the “human touch!”

Web Hosting Ecommerce Merchant Accounts

Ecommerce is doing business online, the buying and selling of services and products over the web. It allows you to promote your goods or services, advertise promos, and tap into your sales targets in an easier way. Your clients will make their orders by browsing on your web site and send their payments through your merchant account, which in turn, transfers these payments to your bank account.

Thus, a permanent connection of your web site to the Internet is a basic requirement. This is what web hosting merchant accounts offer. They provide this complete and continuous link by allowing your site to occupy a space on their own web server, where all the information about your site is stored. Being connected to this server will enable you to acquire the all-time web accessibility, for it stays on for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

These web hosting merchant accounts will save you the cost of owning and maintaining the needed server. You just have to pay for their service. In looking for a web host, you need to consider their reliability and reputation history, the disk or storage space of their web server, and its capability of accommodating simultaneous access to your web site. Make sure there is a database server and scripting software, operating and web content management systems, and web interface.

And most significantly, make sure your web host offers payment processing capabilities such as SSL or Secure Sockets Layer, a communications protocol that provides security. This is very important since there are sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, that need to be encrypted to ensure that the information passes securely between you and your client, so as to prevent opportunity for fraud.

A web hosting ecommerce merchant account offers you the ability to accept all modes of payment in a faster, safer and more accessible means. It ensures you that all your payment transactions can be continuously processed anytime, may it be day or night, and that no piece of information in the communication and payment transaction process will be missed since your web site is online all the time

Offshore Credit Card Processing

Doing business online is like treading a razor sharp road. There is very little difference between a good and bad business situation. However, a secured, cost-effective and reliable method of payment collection through offshore credit card processing can make all the difference to the way you do business online. It can help you hold all information privacy, avail zero taxation and have protection from currency fluctuations

Offshore credit card processing enables you to effectively accept payments for the goods and services you sell online. You can accept payments in multiple currencies. Offshore credit card processing service can process various types of credit cards, be they Visa, MasterCard, Amex, JCB, Diners or Discover.

The order and payments processing procedure gets streamlined with an offshore credit card processing account. Your customers can make easy and quick purchases online through a secured server. Your card processing system is directly linked to your offshore merchant account. Therefore, you get excellent tax-reduction benefits.

Your business remains up 24/7. The transactions are authorized within a few seconds. Automated receipts are sent to you (the merchant) and the customers, instantly. The credit reserve is as low as 10%. Most of the offshore credit card processing services involve no hidden costs.

An offshore credit card processing service can reduce your charge back with active customer fraud screening and address verification systems (AVS). The transaction processing rates are 5% and upwards depending on the type and volume of your business. Add to it a small 0.75% transaction fee and 10% rolling reserve. However, with most of the offshore credit card processing accounts you do not have to pay gateway fees. There are no card processing dollar limits.

Offshore credit card processing provides comprehensive online credit card processing, rapid order processing, online merchant center, fraud and risk management and 24 hour dedicated support. Offshore credit card processing gives a turnkey payment processing solution. Such an account provides instantaneous online credit card processing. This helps in maximizing sales opportunities and customer satisfaction

Offshore Merchant Accounts

Does your business have anything to do with adult gaming, telemarketing, travel, online pharmacy, subscription/membership services, tickets, multilevel marketing or telecom? Then it may lie in the high-risk classification of the banks. Moreover, if your business involves online credit card payments then it is almost vital to have a merchant account. A merchant account will allow you to carry out credit card transactions. However, if for any reason you do not want to conduct your banking or credit card processing or want to get some taxation benefits, then an offshore merchant account can be the best option for you. It also proves beneficial if you are starting with a new business.

An offshore merchant account can prove to be a financial lifesaver if the US banks and processors find you unsuitable. An offshore merchant account works in a similar fashion as a merchant account would in the US. It has the same method of processing credit card transactions as done by your domestic bank. The only difference is of certain internal bank policies.

Offshore accounts normally have higher processing costs or longer hold back periods but this is in lieu of a deposit requirement. This higher than normal processing charge is a by-product of the fact that the offshore bank assumes higher risk with your offshore merchant account.

Under the usual circumstances you would not have problems getting an offshore merchant account unless you deviate from having ethical sales or business practices. The offshore banks do not really care about your type of business or products. This is unlike the US banks that may at times go much farther than simple due diligence or looking at potential client banks.

Having an offshore merchant account can prove quite beneficial if you have a small business and the cash flow is low, since the account would not require a large up front security deposit. However, you must take into account the fact that the bank may hold back some of the proceeds as a reserve against possible charge backs.