Probably best way to do this is setting up a merchant account through your local. DO NOT get affiliated with a clearing house or other company who agrees to service your credit cards (for a fee) and then requires you to do business with THEIR bank. If that company and bank are out-of-state or not easily accessible, it is too difficult to develp a business relationship. Problems may occur that need your immediate attention and that is hard to accomplish when you are 500 miles away.

You should be aware that your credit card servicing company or clearing house will more than likely have access to your bank account. This is important to know just in case of a chargeback. In event of a chargeback, funds are taken immediately from your bank account. A charge back can occur up to 120 days after sale.

A local bank allows you to deal with such matters in a timely fashion. There are many good servicing companies. However, there are also several that will actually cost you money in long-run.

Just remember, very little money should be invested to start your own home-based business. There is definitley money to be made on Internet. Knowing pros and cons before your start can save you a lot of time and money.

Best regards,

Sherry Starnes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Author: Sherry Starnes, author of "Making Money on Internet" is an experienced Internet Marketer who is dedicated to helping you become successful in your own home-based business. If you are looking for best opportunitiesthat will save you both time and money or if you want for more information about "Getting Started in Internet Marketing", sign up for a F-R-E-E newletter at http://www.awesomebuys.net or send an e-mail to awesomebuys@clgw.net and ask for more information.

Sherry Starnes, Internet Marketing Entrepreneur, can help you start your own home business and guide you through the steps to becoming successful in your Home Business. She has a BS in Business Administration and a MA in Business Education. Her 18 years of marketing experience is at your fingertips. Visit: http://www.awesomebuys2.com a sign up for a free Home Business Tips and Ideas Newsletter.

(2) Animations and Banners: Animations are nice, but can take time to load and be distracting. Use them to focus attention of a visitor. Place them at a single page location, at center or all at left side for instance. If you use more than one and they are scattered all over page, where can you expect your eyes to focus. Yep, you heard right - click, bye, bye.

Banners can also give you problems if there are two many and not well organized. Pay attention to color design to ensure that it matches your site. Remember, no eye sores here. Overall, banner are known not to have highest clickthrough rates.

(3) Flash Media: Flash media animations are steadily gaining popularity and many sites are tailoring their start-up page to include large flash animations. Beware. In online home businesses, your primary purpose is content. Only fit in flash where it is strictly meant to guide visual stimulus to a part of your site. I know, I know, it does look cool. But cool doesn't and never will build sales out of potential prospects.

A few further resources that are of particular interest here are

(1)http://www.internet-marketing-research.net , (2)http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html , (3)http://psychology.about.com/library/weekly/aa031501a.htm .

As a good rule of thumb, if it hurts your eyes, it probably hurts others as well. Keep it simple, professional, easy to look at with color used just in right place to highlight your content. Content is what will build your home based business. Elicit a visual response from your visitors to drive them to your content.