Don't get me wrong, some of these graphics are truly amazing - I love to see them! But, that's problem! I only love to look at them, when I'm done looking at them, I LEAVE! Lately, there's been a disturbing trend of everyone spending huge amounts of money on web graphics. The problem? There is NO proof that this really helps your sales!

As a matter of fact, one of my biggest money makers is a consulting service...

www.SingalMarketing.com/consultingte.html

...I put that page up in 5 minutes (after writing my copy). Believe it or not, but even being such a high priced service - that page converts about 2.5% - of course I get very targeted traffic...

LOOK AT HOW UGLY IT IS!!!

BUT, it has content! It has great copy, it's got my face, my voice and a great service - ACTUAL key ingredients to making a website that sells...Now, problem is that most people are very logical - you would THINK that a good looking site should sell more - it makes sense right?

If you were to Google for billing card companies, you'd find out that there are thousands of places out there. Most of these companies have set up a merchant account for their own companies, but added right to accept payments for other companies. So any person with a merchant account, who pays extra fees to accept other company's payments, can sell their services online.

As with anything else, online or offline, be sure you know who you are doing business with. Be advised that I have only dealt with CCNow and PayPal. The other companies I talk about I have not used myself, but they are popular on Internet. Still check them out well to be sure they offer services you need.

Of course, you could always set up your own merchant account, but unless you are doing a lot of sales, I wouldn't suggest going this route. When you set up a merchant account you have to pay a set-up fee, annual fee and a fee per transaction. They will also charge a fee if you want a credit card machine. You have to sell a lot of items that are making you a lot of money, to make this profitable. A company may also require you to sign up with Verisign to ensure your site's security. If you live in an area with a Sam's Club, I would suggest checking them out. They have lowest fees of any merchant account company that I have been able to find. Costco also has good prices.

When you are looking for a billing company, you need to check out several things. ·Do they take credit cards? ·Which credit cards do they take? ·Do they take checks? ·Will they accept payments from people in other countries? ·Do they charge a set-up fee? ·What do they charge per transaction? ·Do they charge a monthly or annual fee? ·Do they require that you sell a minimum amount each month? ·If you don't sell minimum amount they require, what fee will they charge you?

Once you know what a billing company needs to do for you, check out these companies. ·CCBill http://www.ccbill.com - Among other things, they offer E-tickets. This lets members subscribe to your pay site by issuing usernames and passwords after subscribers pay their fee. ·CCNow.com http://www.ccnow.com - Easy to use, they do charge a fee of 9% on transaction, but you can only sell products, not services. They also have a shopping cart you can use. ·DebitPayment.com http://www.debitpayments.com/pub/home.html - This company specializes in helping you with international purchases. ·Ibill.com http://www.ibill.com - They have some limitations on what you can charge a client. ·Itransact, Inc. http://www.itransact.com/ - They offer check processing for your site. If you have a merchant account, you can use it through them too. ·Instabill http://www.instabill.com - To use their service you have to pay a set-up fee and pay an annual fee. ·Merchant workz.com http://www.merchantworkz.com/ - They offer merchant accounts and credit card processing. ·PayPal.com http://www.PayPal.com - Very inexpensive and easy to use. ·StormPay https://www.stormpay.com/stormpay/index.php - They let people make payments via e-mail.