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I always recommend ecommerce websites that need more than Google Checkout or Paypal to go with Authorize.net. Their fees are actually pretty competitive compared to most non peer-to-peer solutions like Paypal.

If you are unhappy with the fees I would say go with Paypal or Google Checkout as these are probably the easiest to implement non-merchant account based solutions available.

In order to remain in operation, you have to build up a certain level of trust with your customers while keeping your payment processing costs to a minimum. In this respect, both PayPal and Google Checkout should offer you what you need; the setup for both is relatively simple and the fees are competitive. Both carry a certain trust factor with the consumer, and Pay Pal offers the buyer added protections. In addition, the customer does not have to have a PayPal account to pay for their purchase by credit card, and you get your money instantly.

If your sales are less than say 3k a month …. then gateway fees, etc. can be high with a vendor like Authorize.net or PayQuake.com. Otherwise …. Authorize.net is a viable option.

What I suggest is a shopping cart with Paypal and 2Checkout.

Why two?

Writen by Tony Mase

Not long ago, I had a conversation with a gal about her small business.

She’d been in business for about eighteen months, every single one of which she’d lost money in…

Lots of money!

Yet…

She was absolutely convinced if she put more money into her small business (money she didn’t have) that somehow (she hadn’t a clue how) her business would eventually (she had no idea when) become profitable.

When I attempted to point out the fallacy of her thinking to her, she interrupted me in mid-sentence.

Out of the brief, pretty much one-sided conversation that followed came three “reasons” she had to justify why she needed to keep pouring money into her money losing business…

Each of her “reasons” represented an attitude, a firmly held belief, she had that, although she didn’t know it, was standing directly between her and the success of her small business.

Here they are:

Attitude #1 – It takes money to make money.

“Well Tony,” she began…

“You do know”…

“It takes money to make money!”

Actually, I don’t know that. :-)

Stop and think about it…

If that statement were true, if it really takes money to make money, no one would have any, would they?

In his book, “The Science of Getting Rich”, Wallace D. Wattles writes:

“No one is prevented from getting rich by lack of capital.

Writen by Lance Winslow

Manufactured and Mobile Home owners know that the weather this year will be quite harsh. It’s imperative these owners to clean out rain gutters and debris from on top of their homes. They realize that they must thoroughly wash off this summer’s dirt so they do not have drip marks on the sides of their cottages this winter. They must eliminate the mold buildup, and unsightly stains. Those mobile homes which have not been cleaned all Winter must have their rain gutters cleaned so when Hurricane remnants dump massive amounts of water in a region the roofs do not collapse. It is equally important to clean the bottom of the eaves and carport to prevent mold spots from forming.

When you show up with a pressure washer in a mobile home park this is your chance to help these folks have the cleanest, most well kept mobile home in their park. Since cleaning mobile homes is such a good business you need to advise customer to act now before the weather gets you past the point of no return. Before more Hurricane weather drives in torrential rains and again in October for the East Coast and December on the West Coast before winter hits.

Writen by Lance Winslow

If you’re thinking of small business for yourself you might want to consider a business which has a built-in repeat rate for the needs of the services. Have you ever driven around and seen all the graffiti in your city? Have you ever considered that someone has to clean the graffiti and yet the next day some punk kid puts more back up again?

Have you ever considered being in the business of cleaning all the graffiti and knowing that there would be a never-ending supply of graffiti to clean? Now, that my friends is a very good business, but can you make money cleaning graffiti? Who would pay you to clean it? Well you might be surprised to find out that many municipalities and agencies pay to have the graffiti removed because it is and eye-sore for the city or county.

Some of the recent contracts I have seen being awarded in cities outside of Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Atlanta are in the range of half a million per year and these are for cities that are suburb cities of the major cities.

Writen by John Rowes

What is knowledge based economy and how can we benefit from its coming?

It has been a long time since the coming of knowledge-based economy was announced. The major change that is said to turn a society upside down is upon us now. But what does knowledge-based economy really mean?

Definition

Knowledge based economy is a kind of economy based solely on the production, distribution and the use of knowledge. In short, it means that the most important thing in the coming economy model will be knowledge and skills, not the material products.

What’s the difference?

At first it may seem that there is only little difference between a normal economy model and a knowledge based one. In both we just create, buy and sell the products, and their nature seems to be exactly the same. But as we take a closer look, things change. There are a few reasons for that:

1. Knowledge is easily copied. If you’ve had a good idea, everyone will quickly adopt it unless you do something to prevent it.

2. Knowledge comes through the borders easier than material products.

Writen by Dr. Lynella Grant

Buyers want both online and local information about where to buy Most small businesses are local in nature, serving people who live nearby. Their customers found them through traditional methods like the Yellow Pages or newspaper ads. So far, the Internet hasn’t figured prominently in their marketing efforts. That’s about to change, as Local Search methods become more widespread. Even for buyers expecting to spend their money close to home, more and more of them go to the Internet to locate desired products and services. They rely on search engines to find suitable vendors in the fastest, easiest way. Local Search combines the search query word or phrase with specific geographic terms, like city or zip code. That way, search results only include enterprises in that local area. Instead of information about a small enterprise being lost among millions of pages of search results, it shows up in a small pool of local providers. That’s good for them, as well as the person looking for what they provide.

Small operations can easily be located by a whole new group of buyers Consumers don’t simply go to the Yellow Pages when ready to buy – as they once did.

Writen by Angel Brown

Starting a small business can be challenging, but it’s easy to do if you look at the process as an art.

The word art, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is a “skill acquired by experience, study, or observation…a branch of learning…the conscious use of skill and creative imagination esp. in the production of aesthetic objects.”

It is an act of creation–the physical production of a visualized work, or the process of achieving a desired outcome. Like composing a symphony, or painting a portrait, or baking a cake, starting and running your business requires the same combination of Action, Resources, and Timing, or ART.

Similar to the artist who sculpts a statue or writes a novel (action) using chisels or pen and paper (resources) in a specific sequence (timing), you apply certain techniques, using the tools of your own trade, in step-by-step processes, to start or grow your company. Every aspect of business essentially follows the same pattern, from start-up through expansion to retirement.

First things first. To realize any accomplishment in life, whether business or personal, you first have to define your goal. This may sound simplistic, but the reality is: You can’t get there from here if you don’t know where “there” is. You need to be specific.