PMI Online Business

There are lots of factors to consider when deciding on a credit card merchant account for your business. One issue that may surprise you – depending on how much experience you have with the business world – is the potential amount and variety of fees involved.

Merchant account fees come in three main types – initial fees, recurring fees, and transaction fees. Here is a non-exhaustive list of some fees you may encounter.

• Discount Rate The discount rate may be, in the long run, the highest cost associated with a merchant account. With every transaction processed, a percentage of the total cost makes up the discount rate. If taking orders online, this percentage will likely be a little higher due to the associated risk of Internet sales.
• Cancellation Penalties Because there is cost involved with setting up and maintaining a merchant account, if a business cancels their account there is almost always a fee involved. Be sure to select a merchant provider with a fixed cancelation fee – as opposed to a variable one – as this will provide you more security if you do end up cancelling. Also, if you’re canceling because of a problem or concern, discuss it with the merchant provider and they may waive all or part of the fee.
• Application and Setup Fees When first getting started, there will likely be a fee to process your application and activate your account, although this is becoming less common.
• Monthly Fee The merchant provider will charge a flat fee each month which may include sending you a monthly paper statement, customer support you may need, or other general service. This is usually between $10 and $15 per month.
• Chargeback or Retrieval Fees If a customer takes issue with a charge – questions the amount or doesn’t recognize the charge – they may dispute it. The merchant provider handles any disputes and will charge you about $25 if the charge ends up getting reversed.
• Annual Fee Not all providers charge an annual fee, but it is just a fee charged each year to maintain your account.

These are by no means all of the fees you may encounter when setting up a credit card merchant account; however, it should give you a good idea of the kind of budgeting you’ll need to consider when using a merchant provider. As always, shop around to several different providers to see which one will work best for you.

Recent survey results from the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer have shed new light on the importance of customer service. While 91% of Americans are more likely to do business with a company with great customer service, an astonishing 75% believe that companies don’t value their business and wouldn’t go the extra mile to keep it. The survey also revealed that consumers are willing to spend significantly more with companies they feel take care of them. This is particularly relevant in today’s economy, where over 60% of the consumers surveyed said that high quality customer service is more important to them than in the past. 

Online businesses aren’t immune to the importance of customer service. In fact, it’s even more important online, because there are so many online options that if you disappoint a customer, they only have to visit a different site and they are free of you forever. Here are five customer service tips from PMI to help you boost your customer service: 

1. Treat customers with respect. Great customer service starts here. Always treat your customers politely and with respect. Let them know how much you appreciate their business. Show trust in them by taking their word when there may be misunderstandings. Never argue with a customer.
2. Assist customers promptly. One of the greatest ways to gain your customers’ trust is by responding to emails, calls and complaints as quickly as possible. Don’t leave them hanging, or they will find someone who treats them better.
3. Deliver what you promise. Nothing kills customer relations faster than dishonesty or incompetence. Never make a promise you can’t back up. In the rare cases where circumstances prevent you from fulfilling a promise, always offer some sort of compensation.
4. Know your product. Establish your product details and company policies early and make sure that every employee understands them. Make your answers to customers comprehensive and articulate. Keep your FAQ updated and relevant.
5. Meet your customers’ needs. Make sure you know who your customers are and how to best serve them. Seek their input as often as you can. When they know you are striving to meet their needs, they’ll give you their loyalty.

So you just wrote a fantastic article, designed an eye-grabbing flyer, or sent out your weekly newsletter but for some reason, you’re not seeing any response. You don’t seem to be getting more visitors to your website or more subscribers to your e-mail list. The reason might be because you failed to tell your potential customers what to do with the information you just gave them.

Everything you send out should have a call to action. It can be something as simple as “Call Now” or “Visit [website] to Sign Up Today” to motivate the reader, or something specific like using the coupon code included on the flyer or in the e-mail. Regardless of the medium you’re using, here are some things to consider when writing a call to action:

• Use Good Verbs A good active word – like call, sign up, buy, subscribe, visit – can make a big difference. This makes it very clear what they need to do in order to follow through.
• Make It Prominent Whether in an e-mail, on a webpage, or in a flyer you should make the call to action stand out in some way. This may be through using bold text, a different color, making it bigger, or giving it a border. There shouldn’t be any question what the call to action is.
• Always, Always Use One You should have a call to action on every single page of your website, in every e-mail you send, and on all your marketing. Otherwise, people may just think you’re giving them some nice information they can simply store away for a later date.
• Tell Them How Even if you say “Call Today,” it doesn’t do any good if you don’t include a phone number. You don’t have to have the call to action right next to the website, e-mail address, or phone number, but they should both be easily found. When writing some think of your call to action (e.g. “Call Today”) and then ask “How?” (e.g. “by dialing 800-555-5555).

It can be an easy mistake to make; you might be surprised – if you take the time to look through your junk mail – how many ads don’t include phone numbers or websites, let alone a specific call to action. But there’s no reason you should ever make that mistake now. Make your websites, newsletters, e-mails, and advertising more effective by implementing these call-to-action tips!

One of the biggest parts of an online business is getting traffic to your site. Once you have a good product and an effective website, the higher volume of traffic you can get to your site, the better.

You may be on Twitter and Facebook, have PPC ads coming out your ears, have a popular YouTube channel, and come up on the first page of various search engines. But to bring in more traffic, more customers, and more revenue, you may want to consider starting a podcast.

A podcast is an audio file you record in advance and allow people to download. It can be long or short, and talk about whatever you want to talk about. By regularly updating your podcast with new episodes, you’re able to consistently provide your listeners with the latest on your business, the industry, or just your life.

Here are some tips to consider for your podcast:

• Make It A Revenue Source While there’s nothing wrong with just chatting up your listeners each week, there’s no reason not to make your podcast a source of revenue. Talk to other businesses to see if any would be interested in sponsoring an episode.
• Make It A Resource For Your Listeners Your podcast is a chance for you to talk to your customers about your product, what it can do, and how it can help their lives. A podcast isn’t a sales pitch; it should be more casual than that. But you want to be providing your listeners with valuable information.
• Make It Consistent Both in frequency (once a week is usually good) and in length (anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour).
• Make It Easy iTunes is probably the most popular way to submit your podcast, making it instantly available to your listeners whenever you update.
• Make It Unique Occasionally, have a promotional offer or give out a coupon code on your podcast and nowhere else. This will give others the incentive to tell others about your podcast and help it grow.

Podcasts can be a great way to expand your business and bring in more revenue. With a minimal up-front investment and almost no ongoing costs (other than your time), there’s no reason you shouldn’t start your podcast today.

The evolution of technology in recent years has meant more people are using their mobile phones to access the internet. Accordingly in 2005, the .mobi domain – a domain designed specifically for access by mobile devices – was approved. So what does this mean for your business? What exactly is a .mobi domain? And do you need one?

            The idea behind a .mobi domain is to create a website that can be easily accessed and viewed by a mobile device. If you already own a phone with internet access, you know that you can already view pretty much any website on your phone (.com, .net, .org, etc.) regardless of the domain. A properly-designed .mobi site simply makes the site easier to use and navigate; the site is intended to be viewed on a smaller screen with a mobile connection.

Once advantage to .mobi sites is that search engines know if you’re searching on a mobile phone, and will give preference to sites using the .mobi domain. This means the search results are more likely to include a .mobi site than a non-.mobi site.

So do you need a .mobi site? It depends on your current website and your business, and will take some research to figure out.

First, try visiting your current website from a mobile device. How is the experience? Is it difficult to navigate? Are you able to see things clearly enough? If it’s an awkward experience (and feel free to enlist friends to do the same thing) you have a few different options.

1. Maybe you don’t do anything. Look at your target demographic; are a significant portion of them using mobile devices to access your website? How much revenue do you think you’re losing by not having a mobile-friendly site? If you’re not alienating a key demographic, you probably shouldn’t worry about it.
2. Maybe you try to improve your current site. Like was mentioned, mobile devices can already access your .com site, but maybe it’s just a little cluttered. Try some design changes, or have contact information prevalent so they can call you (you know, use the “talky” part of their phone) if they have questions. But keep track of the data; if the changes don’t bring greater revenue, you may want to stick with what you had before.
3. Maybe you invest in a good .mobi site. If your customers need a better experience when visiting your site on their mobile devices, and your current site is hurting the bottom line, you should probably make the investment. Plus, this may give you an advantage on your competition when people search for your product on their phones.

Weigh the pros and cons, then make an educated decision about creating a .mobi site. If it’s not going to directly help build your business, there’s likely not a pressing need to create one.