It is imperative that you choose to only work with established Web site design companies. We have heard too many horror stories from new clients about working with free lancers and being left high and dry with an unfinished Web project. Here are some tips:

-Choose a company with professional offices.

-Verify that the company has real employees. Free lancers are temporary by nature and will likely not be available when you need them most.

-Insist on a proven track record. Check references. Actually talk to customers to confirm the work was done by the company. Don’t just rely on a portfolio.

1) Merchant Account Click here for details about a Merchant Account.

2) Credit Card Payment Gateway Click here for details about a Payment Gateway

3) Secure Certificate (SSL ) - The secure certificate is a service that you need to secure the connection between your Web site payment page and your customer’s Web browser. Without the secure certificate your customer’s credit card number would be vulnerable to anyone that is able to intercept internet data traffic. Most Web surfers today are savvy enough to look for the lock symbol: . on their Web browser that indicates the page they are on is secured with a secure certificate. If this lock is not present on your checkout page most customers will not enter their credit card information - and you lose the sale. If you are unfamiliar with this lock symbol, you will not see it appear on your browser on this page. Since this page does not ask for any sensitive information from you there is not need for a secure certificate. But, if you were on a page that asked you for personal information such as a credit card number you should see a lock symbol appear on your Web browser. The lock symbol is usually found at the bottom right corner of your Web browser and looks something like this: . Click here to see an example of this on an actual secure Paypal page.

4) Credit Card Payment Checkout Page - The checkout page is the form that your customer fills out to provide you with their relevant billing information, including credit card number and expiration, shipping address, phone number, email address, etc. The payment gateway is integrated into the HTML code of the checkout page. When the customer submits their order by clicking a pay now button or link on the checkout page the payment gateway captures the credit card billing information and begins transmission of the credit card authorization request.

a) Recurring Billing System (Optional) - If you are selling a membership or subscription service you may want to bill your clients automatically on a scheduled basis. Recurring billing can also be useful for offering payment plans for pricier products. For example you could offer “4 easy payment of $50.00″ for a $200.00 product. The recurring billing system will automatically charge a credit card that you have on file on a date and for an amount that you specify. Recurring billing systems are sometimes an added shopping cart feature but more commonly provided by payment gateway service provider.

b) Virtual Credit Card Terminal (Optional) - A virtual terminal is a Web based form with data entry fields that are similar to the entry fields on your Web site’s payment page. The difference is that this for is for your internal use to process phone, fax, or mail in orders as well as issuing credit card payment credits for returns.

3) Shopping Cart (Optional) Click here for details about

4) Hosting - You will need to store your ecommerce Web site on a Web server. There are hosting companies that provide space on Web servers that you can rent. Aside from cost of this service there are a couple of things you want to confirm before selecting your ecommerce Web site hosting provider.

A) Is the server Operating System that your ecommerce Web site is going to be placed on compatible with your shopping cart software. (if you are using a shopping cart)

B) Do they provide good Web site statistical reporting that you can access anytime through an administration Web site. This is important for marketing purposes.

Example 1 “Pay Per Sale” : JohnsPetFood.com (Merchant / Advertiser) is an ecommerce Web site that sells pet food. CutePetTricks.com (Affiliate) is a site that teaches people how to get their pets to do tricks. CutePetTricks puts a JohnsPetFood advertising banner and link on their home page. When a CutePetTricks.com visitor clicks on that link, lands on the John’sPetFood.com and buys a package of pet food, JohnsPetFood.com pays CutePetTricks.com a 10% commission on the sale.

Example 2 “Pay Per Lead” : 2LowLoans.com provides low cost car loans. SweetStreetCars.com is a street racing car enthusiast site. SweetStreetCars.com puts a 2LowLoans.com advertising banner and link on one of its Web pages. If a SweetStreetCars.com visitor clicks on the link, lands on the 2LowLoans.com site, and fills out a request for a loan quote, 2LowLoans.com pays SweetStreetCars.com a $10.00 “lead fee”.
You can start to see that this is a great deal for both businesses. The ecommerce Merchant gets qualified traffic from other Web sites promoting the site and the Affiliate has a reliable and low maintenance revenue stream.

If you are selling a product or service online you will want to offer an affiliate program. Here is a list of affiliate networks you can join as an advertiser. If you want to promote other Web sites and earn commissions you will need to join affiliate programs as an affiliate.

How Does It Work?
An affiliate fills out an online appliation to join an affiliate program or network. Once approved the advertiser provides the new affiliate with a unique ID number called an Affiliate ID. This number is inserted into the code of a link that the affiliate places on their Web site. When a visitor clicks on this link the advertiser uses affiliate tracking software to track the visitor using the Affiliate ID. If the visitor makes a purchase, submits an email address, or completes a Web form, the affiliate tracking system will give the affiliate credit and keeps an ongoing tally of how much the affiliate is owed. At a certain point, usually once per month, the advertiser sends a commission check to their affiliates.