Everyone is familiar with E-Commerce websites on which you can buy products. Even though your company may not sell actual products online your company can also benefit from excepting credit card payments on your website.

Almost every business mails out invoices to clients and customers. By offering your customers the ability to pay outstanding invoices from your website with their credit card you will be giving them another level of service and payment options that your competitor may not offer. Having this extra level of service and the additional payment method available to your customers could mean the difference of a potential client dealing with you or one of your competitors. By offering more services and options on the your company website than your competitors do on their website you stand a better chance of gaining and retaining customers.

Collecting payments for outstanding invoices is only one of many ways that you can incorporate online credit card use into the your website. Below are some of the many additional ways to utilize online credit card payments.

1. Bars, restaurants, tourism and hospitality businesses often have Tee Shirts, Caps, etc. available at their businesses. Though these items are not the primary source of income for most businesses, those businesses often derive a fairly substantial amount of "extra" income by selling the items. Why not offer a few of those items on your website. A little extra income by selling those items online certainly wouldn't hurt your bottom line.

2. Accept online credit card payments for "deposits" from clients for lodging reservations, travel services and professional services.

3. Does your company offer "gift certificates"? If not, why not? Sell gift certificates redeemable at your place of business from you website.

4. If your business sells big ticket items that usually are the result of people visiting your place of business, why not offer small expendable accessories and supplies that people use on a continuing basis which are related to or required by the primary items that you sell in-store.

5. If you are a non-profit organization why don't you start accepting online credit card Contributions and Donations for your non-profit organization.

6. If your organization requires a "membership", allow your members to pay their dues and subscriptions online using their credit card.

The ways that a company can utilize online credit card payments is endless, no matter what type of business you are in.

Accepting credit card payments online used to be very costly to set up, however this is no longer the case. Now all that is needed is a Merchant Account or a PayPal Business Account to process the credit card information and a Shopping Cart which is tied to your website.

If you do not already have a Merchants Account to process credit cards you can obtain one by visiting your bank. Fees to set up a Merchant Account will vary, however they are usually not too costly. Instead of having a Merchants Account through your bank an additional option is to open a PayPal Business Account for your company and have PayPal process the credit card information. Opening a PayPal Business Account is free.

Shopping Carts which are needed for online payments used to be somewhat costly. Now however there are a number of reliable Shopping Carts that utilizes SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Servers at little to no cost to you. So, the SSL cost has all but been eliminated from the amount necessary to accept online credit card payments.

If you feel that you or your company can benefit from the ability to accept online credit card payments and would like more information about accepting credit cards on your website please don't hesitate to contact Tom Rumish Website Development. We would be glad to schedule a free consultation with you to answer any questions that you may have regarding accepting credit cards on your existing website.

If you and your company do not currently have a website or if your existing website is in need of remodeling and a facelift, affordable website designer Tom Rumish will be glad to provide you with a free, no-obligation consultation and estimate of the costs to establish an affordable custom designed small business website for your company.

Free, no-obligation consultation appointments are available on weekdays and Saturdays. Evening appointments are also available.

Visit our small business web site design and maintenance site at www.tomrum.com/ for more information about the many services offered by Tom Rumish Website Development.