Website Payment Options and Affiliate Programs
If you are going to sell products through your website, you have to have a way to collect money. I recommend that you start out with http://www.Paypal. It is extremely simple to use and very quick to set up. It is free to set up and only costs if you set up a Business account. I highly recommend that you set up a Business account because then you can accept credit cards. If you are to get your own merchant account so that you can accept credit cards right off the bat, you have to pay quite a bit for it, fill out a lot of paperwork, and pay fees for it. A Paypal Business account is free to set up, they only charge a small percentage of each sale. I just factor that extra amount into the price of the item. I have used Paypal from the get-go and have been very pleased with them. I have used them to receive thousands of dollars worth of payments and it has served me very well.
To set up an account, visit: https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=VZU36CSBMYM58
You will eventually want to set up a merchant account, if your business gets large enough. This way, you can accept phone orders, in-person orders, and mail-in orders all with credit cards. For this merchant account, you can either use Paypal’s service (it costs $20 per month) or something like www.1ShoppingCart.com.
In addition to having the option of paying online, you also need to provide way for people to pay through check or money order. A simple way to do this is just to have an order form online. We have this on our website and it works well. You want to provide people with as many options as possible, that’s why I recommend you have the ability to accept credit cards, checks, and money orders.
Affiliate Programs
If you have a website, you also must have at least some affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing is a way to earn extra money off of your website. There hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs out there. I have some of my favorite programs listed here: http://biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/affiliatemarketing.htm
Basically, affiliate marketing is promoting other’s products and earning a commission by doing so. You find a product you like and have used, you sign up for their affiliate program, you add the link to your website or blog, and when someone clicks through on the link and buys the product, you are paid a percentage of the sale. I make around $150 per month just through affiliate programs which are on my website.
