Many new ebusiness owners find the big three, shopping carts, payment gateways and merchant accounts just baffling. It's confusing to hear the terms tossed around but once you understand what they are and how much they can inflate your profits when you have a seamless interface running with all three working hand in virtual hand, you'll understand the necessity.

To define a merchant account, we need to talk about the other two components of online shopping basics. First is the shopping cart. It is a simply an organized program that allows your customers to choose purchases and put them on a digital list so they only have to make one payment when they "check out" of your website, much like they were in a brick and mortar store. A payment gateway is the method that you use to accept payments for the items people have placed in their shopping carts and wish to purchase. Which brings us to the importance of a merchant account. When the payment gateway is ready to process the payment from your customer, someone has to get the revenue earned and that would be the you, the merchant.

Simply defined, a merchant account is simply a association between an online seller and a bank for the purpose of accepting credit card and echeck payments from your customers. In order to accept credit cards on your website, you will need a merchant account. Applying for a merchant account can seem daunting. It can involve a lot of paperwork and identification requirements. Fortunately, Merchandizer can cut through this process for you and do the legwork to find the best merchant account for your individual needs.

Now that you know the basics, enhance and expand your online business with a merchant account, you'll reap the benefits of more sales and a wider variety of ways for your customers to make purchases on your website.

In one word : very. You can have the greatest product, the best prices and if your site is slow loading due to unoptimized graphics or hard to navigate, it will cost you. Not only will it cost you website visitors, it will cost you even bigger in the bank account. You will lose potential sales.

Look at the most successful websites, and you will notice they all have a common denominator. They are easy to read in standard fonts, low key colors, no screaming hot pink text on a bright green backgrounds and these successful websites have easy to navigate buttons or text and in many cases both. Some web surfers still surf with graphics turned off and if you haven't designated your shopping cart button with a text tag as well - your potential sale will have a big fat "x" where the button should be. Another sale missed.

Your website design is even more important is you're talking about your ecommerce features such as a shopping cart. Your shopping cart needs to be fast loading, show your items and be easy for even the newest web surfer to navigate. Merchandizer has a number of solutions for your website design and your ecommerce concerns. They also have a large forum available to their customers full of questions and answers about web design so you can learn from the pros.

Step back and take an objective look at your website design, if your products are not selling as you thought they should, it may be due to a hard to navigate design which some simple changes could improve. If you are too busy you don't feel well versed enough in html to make the changes yourself, let Merchandizer's web design specialists give you the website you know you need to be a success in your ecommerce business. Another reason you may not be making sales is you may not be offering as many payment options as you could to your customers, again Merchandizer can add a shopping cart solution to your website and help your site become a success story.

Did you know you may not even own your website? There are a multitude of companies out there that offer free domain registration in exchange for purchasing your web hosting account through them at the same time.

What you don't know is that when you buy your domain name, it is registered in the web hosting company's name and not yours. Then down the road, if you are unhappy with your web hosting company or you otherwise decide to move your business, these companies eventually have to let you have your domain but most will make you pay a transfer of name fee.

Merchandizer has made it easy for you to register and own your domain name by joining forces with GoDaddy.com, a recognized leader in domain registrations. Best of all, you will own your own domain name from the start. If you're interested in registering a domain name, first you need to make sure the name that you wish to own is open for sale. You can check it conveniently at the Merchandizer site.

The extension .com normally refers to a commercial business site. The .net extension was created to designate online ISPs and other providers. Last, .org was started to refer to organizations. Eventually, these extensions may be enforced. So if you register your .com as a .org, you might be forced to change it down the road so be aware of that.

Best of all, your domain registration is only 8.95 per year and you can park your domain and start building your dream of owning an ecommerce business. Merchandizer has made it convenient and easy for you to build an ecommerce store. From web design to domain registration to shopping cart solutions and merchant accounts, Merchandizer has everything you need including a huge knowledge base of information to keep you informed and up to date on changes in the ecommerce world because your success is their success.

When you're doing business online the more ways you can accept payment, the more revenue your site will generate. Eventually, you will need to accept credit cards. If you've avoided setting up the merchant account because as a start-up you didn't want to pay the merchant account and set up fees that can be outrageously high, especially when you're just starting out in the world of ecommerce.

Merchandizer created several levels of shopping cart solutions that will fit seamlessly into your existing website and you can put a shopping cart on your website for as little as 19.95 per month. This is a fantastic solution for your ebusiness needs, especially if you haven't hit the break even point in your start up.

The simple point is, the more ways you give your customers to spend money on your site, the more they will buy. The number one mistake most start up sites make regarding accessibility is to make their sites hard to purchase from. Because they haven't set up a merchant account, after using a shopping cart to make their purchases, your customer comes to your ready to pay with credit card information in hand ready to type and click, and they find a notice that reads "Print this form and mail it in with your order and a check". Most people will click off that page. Worse, your customer will come to a webpage that reads "Print this page and call us at xyz number to place your order", well if it is 3 in the morning, who will your customer talk to? They will click the "Back" button, leave your page and in all likelihood won't be back.

You can avoid this scenario by getting a merchant account. Merchandizer knows the qualms you have as a business owner and they are pros are helping you find the best solution for your individual business needs. Now is the time, get a merchant account and jump in the game!

You've got a great product, you've done your research, you have gotten your website designed to show up in the search engine searches and it's easy to navigate, but the sales aren't happening. The problem most likely is you haven't made it easy for people to purchase on your website.

Studies have shown time and again that the number one reason that sales are lost online is due to the payment process on various websites. If you have your potential sales click through product pages and order forms only to be told to call in their order or worse print and mail it in, while this is a great option to give people who are wary of doing business on the net, you're going to lose sales if this is the only way to order from you.

You need a shopping cart program and a payment gateway that allows you to accept not only all major credit cards but e-checks as well. Armed with this knowledge it's very easy to have Merchandizer add these features to your website.

There is a shopping cart solution for every size ebusiness. If you're just getting your feet wet in the world of ecommerce, try the MerchandiZer v.5 Lite which will let you have up to 10 products wtih SKU's for internal tracking, 10 MB storage, 100 MB of bandwidth transfer. You also get unlimited POP3 e-mail accounts so you can have special designations for orders, questions, and create a more professional appearance to your customers.

The customizable button sets allow you to add this program to your website seamlessly and not only is your sales tax calculation automated, this is also compatible with most affilate programs. You also get search engine submission for a stronger web presence and let's face it, if you are not showing up in search engine searches, you are missing more sales. Full site stats are available for your items so you know what is selling and what is not to allow you to maximize your sales pages. Best of all, you get free Lifetime Support and that includes techinical, sales and more via email or telephone as long as you are a current Merchandizer customer. You get all of this for only $19.95 per month.

You need a payment solution for your website and at a rate this low, you can't go wrong.

If you are selling a product through your own website you can increase your sales by adding a shopping cart to your site. They allow customers to shop for several products, put some back and add more. Shopping carts also allow the customer to increase the quantity of a product and pay using a major credit card. By making shopping easier for the customer, you will in turn increase your sales revenue.

Merchandizer offers you a variety of shopping cart solutions that will make your life as a business owner so much simpler. All that is required of you is to enter information about your products and select a template. Before you know it, you will have an ecommerce shopping cart working for you.

Some features of the Merchandizer shopping carts include: the ability to organize your products quickly and easily by creating categories for different products as well as uploading pictures of your products. Another shopping cart option is the ability to send instant email confirmations to customers as well as tracking numbers. With a shopping cart you have the ability to keep an accurate account of sales through your website and easily create reports that track your sales. Using a shopping cart also helps you to sell more products because it allows use to use the cross-selling method to encourage customers to buy similar items to ones they have bought in the past.

It is important to look professional with your put a shopping cart on your website, with a shopping cart from Merchandizer, you can pick the best option for your website and products and look like a pro to your customers.

If you have an online business, sooner or later you are going to hear the term payment gateway. It is a necessity if you're going to have an online presence for your products. If you're wondering exactly what does a payment gateway do? Well in a nutshell, the payment gateway is what will allow you to accept major credit cards and other forms of payment via the internet. You've been exposed to payment gateways at your favorite stores without even thinking about it, the little machines that your credit card is swiped through when you make a purchase, is a payment gateway. Now, you can have a payment gateway that allows you to accept payments online without ever having to physically hold or swipe the credit card.

There are several features that are fairly standard of most payment gateways. Some of these features include the ability to accept a variety of payments including major credit cards, gift cards, electronic checks, and debit cards. The payment gateway will also try to protect you against fraud by identifying suspicious purchases. To protect the customer against identity theft most payment gateway companies will make every attempt at protecting a customer's personal information including encryption methods and other security procedures. You are also able to receive your funds quickly directly into your merchant bank account.

Having a payment gateway will also allow you to better manage your sales and download reports that will allow you to understand what is selling and what is not. If you have a product that isn't selling, redo your presentation of the product, many times it's the presentation and not the product. You can also view your account statements that will allow you to determine the health of your business. Having a payment gateway is necessary if you want to make your presence known in the world of ebusiness.

Once you've built your website, added your products, and made your website as search engine friendly as possible, but the sales aren't coming. You need an ecommerce system. If you are still attempting to handle orders from customers manually, you are missing out on sales and major revenue. Merchandizer can set you up with a payment gateway and ecommerce system that is designed for your business. The ecommerce system will take the orders for you, handle inventory, send email confirmations and more. It's like having a full service sales department that works for you.

Merchandizer provides ecommerce website design at a reasonable price. An ecommerce website is necessary for the success of your business online. As one person, you can only do so much at a time and in a given time frame. When you let an ecommerce solution handle your sales, you are allowing people to shop when and as they choose. They aren't limited to when you're free to handle their order.

Merchandizer design your ecommerce system for you website. They will set up a personal consultation for you to go over different designs and other accessories that will make your ecommerce site successful. If you do not wish to use one of Merchandizer's professional templates, they can create a custom one just for your business. Additionally, Merchandizer has a number of good resources and informational articles for your research and use to help make your ecommerce website as consumer friendly as possible. The easier your site is to navaigate, the more sales you can make. Merchandizer knows this and has a number of good templates for your use.

Producing a high quality ecommerce website is difficult to do if you don't have prior experience. Don't let those sales slip away, let the professionals design your ecommerce website and reap the rewards of a high functioning ecommerce site.

Adding an ecommerce shopping cart to your site will improve your sales allowing customers to easily add items to their order. Ecommerce Shopping carts allow customers to shop, put items back and add others later. Ecommerce shopping carts are usually compatible with most payment gateways which will allow the customer to pay using a major credit card or echeck. By including an ecommerce shopping cart to your business site will allow customers to easily purchase your product over the internet, this will result in a fast increase your sales revenue.

Merchandizer offers you a variety of ecommerce shopping cart solutions that will allow you to pick and choose several options, so you only end up paying for what you need now. They have options for very small business as well as large corporations. The only thing that you will be responsible for is to enter information about your products and select a template. By following the easy steps outlined by Merchandizer you will have an ecommerce shopping cart helping you to streamline your business.

Some features of the Merchandizer ecommerce shopping carts include: the ability to organize your products quickly and easily by creating categories for different products. Another ecommerce shopping cart feature is the ability to send instant email confirmations to those who placed an order from your site as well as tracking numbers. With an ecommerce shopping cart you will now be able to keep better track of your inventory and easily create sales reports that track what are your best selling and worst selling items. Using an ecommerce shopping cart for your website will help you to increase sales because it allows you to use the cross-selling method to advertise similar items to customers. By showing your customers items that are also used with and purchased by other customers, it will also increase your revenue. A recent study showed that nearly 48% of web based sales were spur of the moment decisions - offering more moments like that to your customers, will result in more sales.

Merchandizer has several ecommerce shopping cart options for any business size that allows you the ability to control your customer's shopping experience and grow the ebusiness you always knew you could.

Standing ready to suit any size business, Merchandizer Ecommerce can fit your website, shopping cart, payment gateway, and marketing needs.

Starting a business is no simple task. Starting an e-business is no easier. Merchandizer is able to provide your company with a quality website right off the bat. Many times this is the most difficult aspect of beginning an e-business. No matter what size your company is, Merchandizer has a website package for you. There are several different options to choose from. Perhaps one of the best features is their shopping cart element. This allows your customers to put items in a shopping cart and purchase multiple items at the same time. Difficult shopping carts are the number one reason many people don't purchase items on the net, you won't find that issue with Merchandizer's programs.

The Merchandizer website even gives you an option before buying to test drive the shopping cart system. This way you know exactly what your customer will see on your website.

Providing customers with a reliable payment gateway is perhaps one of the most important elements of any business. Merchandizer allows a safe and secure payment gateway with many payment options to choose from. Many people don't buy with paper money anymore. A lot of people only use credit cards. By offering various payment options by credit card, you are increasing sales for your website.

Merchandizer also provides top of the line marketing needs for your website, if you need help getting found on the web, Merchandizer can help you. Shopping cart and payment gateway needs are very important when starting an ebusiness. Merchandizer Ecommerce will not only provide your new business with state-of-the-art payment gateway and shopping cart needs and much more.

We all know what gift registries are, allowing someone to basically create a wish list of all items he or she wants and then allowing other people to purchase the items as gifts. Gift registries are typically used for weddings, baby showers, or other big events in someone's life. If you are able to create a gift registry system on your ecommerce site it will attract many more customers that will fill this niche. The more ways you offer your customers to shop on your website, the more ways they can find items to purchase gifts or personal use. A gift registry is a marvelous way to accomplish this.

It is very simple to have a customer set up a gift registry through your site. If you have a shopping cart, you will be able to allow customers to create a gift registry. You will need to create a link to a 'create a new gift registry' site. Then you will need to have the customer fill out personal information such as name, email address, as well as information about the event. Once all the information is added, all the customer has to do is go shopping. They will basically have a shopping cart that lists all the items they would like to receive as well as size, quantity, and color.

That is all there is to creating a gift registry. The wishlist is saved and anyone who has received an invitation to the party will now be able to view the gift registry and purchase an item or two from the list. A gift registry is a great way to get many items purchased at basically the same time. You can then advertise your future products to everyone who purchased something from the gift registry. The gift registry is a great way to increase your business on the web.