Shopping Online - How Safe Is Online Shopping?

When you first make a purchase online there will be certain security questions you will need answers too. Is shopping online secure, is one question which gets asked over and over again by those considering making a purchase. In this article I hope to touch on a few of these security doubts, such as:

1. How Secure is Shopping Online?
2. Is your Online Retailer Reputable?
3. How can I tell if a web page is secure?
4. Determine the Returns Policy?
5. Product Authenticity when Shopping Online.

1. How Secure is shopping online?

This article will discuss some of these questions in an effort to help readers make informed decisions regarding online shopping. Online shopping is as safe as you make it. What I mean by that statement is that you must do some homework on who you purchase from. That doesn't mean you have to go through loads of good guy bad guy reports, it means that you have to tread carefully and be aware that there are some dodgy dealers online waiting to gain possession of your bank details, which will arm them with the information they need to rip you off. Be aware of dodgy dealers and unbelievable bargains. Most reputable online retailers will have security measures in place. You will find a couple of ways to check these measures further in this article.

2. Is your Online Retailer Reputable?

When new to online shopping, determining whether an online retailer is reputable should be your first consideration, before deciding whether to make a purchase. One easy method to check out the reputation of a retailer is to consult the Better Business Bureau or BBB for short. Here you can search a comprehensive database of BBB Reviews, using various methods of retailer id. Such as:

* Business or Charity Name
* Type of Business
* Type of Charity
* Website URL
* Phone Number
* Email Address

You can use a location to centre your search on a specific region by adding "City and State" or "Postal Code" when searching by type of business. You the shopper can find information regarding previous complaints against the online retailer; this information will help you to determine whether the retailer has a good or bad reputation and whether they deal fairly with customers.

Online retailers who have been in business for a few years and do not have many complaints against them can generally be trusted. This will usually be the larger online companies; you may pay a little more for your chosen item, but you will have the security of knowing your purchase will be delivered, and on time.

3. How can I tell if a web page is secure?

Identity theft can cause tremendous problems for online shoppers; the security of the server used to complete your purchase should be questioned. A very simple way in which an online shopper can determine whether or not the website is secure is to examine the web address in the top of screen address bar. Once you login to a website to actually make a purchase A secure website will have a prefix of https://, note the "s" at the end, an unsecured website will have a prefix of http.

You can test this by visiting a security site called (ssl.com. Prefix with www.). Note the URL in the address bar begins with the "http" meaning this page is not secure. Now click the link in the upper-right hand corner to "Log in". You will notice a change in the URL. It now begins with "https", meaning any sensitive information such as your user name and password, typed in, will be encrypted before being sent to the server.

Another standard among web browsers is to display a "lock" icon, somewhere in the window of the browser. For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer displays the lock icon in the lower-right of the browser window: If the website is not secure the online shopper should check out customer reviews on the chosen retailer website or consider making your purchase through the customer service department of the retailer.

4. Determine the Returns Policy?

By reviewing the returns policy of a retailer will also give the shopper a good indication of whether the seller is simpathetic to customer problems. Restrictive Return policies should be considered suspect by the shopper, this may indicate a need for the shopper to do some additional research before deciding whether to purchase from a particular internet retailer. Again check out previous customer reviews; where there are no reviews could be another indication for caution.

5. Product Authenticity when Shopping Online:

Authenticity of products purchased is another consideration for the online shopper. This is important because, it can help to prevent the shopper from purchasing replica items, or items that are very similar but with the same name and title of the item you are seeking. Verifying authenticity is not usually a problem when purchasing from a retailer who is licensed to sell the item. However, problems may arise when the shopper is buying an item through an auction website, an individual retailer, or the item is such an incredible bargain as not to be believed. This ability to spot authentic items usually comes from researching the items well and being aware of the key features, or by ensuring you use an extremely popular retailer.

Traditional Stores Offering Online Shopping:

Many of our every day traditional stores, can also have an online presence. This includes retailers of all types of products such as electronics and home appliances and general merchandise stores offering a wide range of consumer products. Another benefit of online stores is that they are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week; this gives the online shopper the flexibility to do their shopping from the convenience of their own home. This eliminates the necessity of travelling to the stores, parking close to the store, struggling with holiday shopping crowds and of course carrying your purchases around whilst looking for other items to buy. Another advantage of shopping in online stores over traditional stores is you can visit online retailers which do not have a traditional store located near your home.

Shop Online Or Risk Getting Mauled At The Mall

Do your ears perk up when you hear that your favorite store is having a sale? Do you spend endless hours surfing the internet for discounts? Does it feel good to help others? I bet most of you answered yes to these questions. In fact I will surmise that you'd even make donations to your favorite charity if you could do so simply by shopping. Am I right? Then read on, my friend, I have something terrific to share with you.

I discovered that there's an online shopping mall with at least 1000 stores in it. Gap, Macy*s, Bow Flex, Jos.A.Bank, Kohls, Old Navy, Martha Stewart Flowers, Target, Nike, Home Depot, Perfumania, K B toys, K Mart, Ralph Lauren, Best Buy, PETsMART, and StarBucks, just to name a few. The shopping mall in which I'm referring is unique because it's FREE to register, prices are competitive, and you get discounts or earn rebate checks when you make purchases.

Ginny Dye, the Founder and CEO of "My Power Mall," created a way that you can help others just by shopping online. I am not kidding, it's true. Through Ginny's efforts, when you register and shop online at "My Power Mall," 6.5% of all corporate profits go into the One-Child-At-A-Time program. Not only does this program help needy children all over the country, but it also is an excellent FREE fund raiser for college tuition, non-profit organizations, clubs, businesses, & families. I think Ginny is brilliant and should be commended for taking the initiative to put together such an awesome program. Especially the part that benefits children. What an unselfish act of kindness and generosity. Don't you wish this would have been your idea? I do!

Today's society desires and appreciates convenience. Well what could be more convenient than shopping online in the comfort of your own home? If you want to do some holiday shopping, need a wedding gift or birthday present, but don't wish to face the elements, then "My Power Mall" is for you. Just stay home & shop at your own online mall. You don't have to waste your hard earned money on outrageous gas prices. There's no need to drive from mall to mall, fight the crowds, or wait in long lines to check out.

You might say that this sounds too good to be true. I agree. It does sound that way, but this is the real deal. When I first heard about this opportunity I was a little skeptical, so I checked it out. I was very impressed with how easy it is to shop at "My Power Mall." Plus, it feels good to know that I am benefiting children simply by shopping online. I have to admit it's fun too!

When shopping online, it's important to find out if a shipping fee will be incurred. If so, you must determine if the shipping charge is worth avoiding the hassle of getting mauled at a brick & mortar mall? Some of the online stores offer free shipping depending on the dollar amount of the total purchase, while others waive the shipping fee during the holiday season. Also, keep in mind that some brick & mortar stores may not honor sales prices offered from the online stores, nor accept returns. If an item needs to be returned you may be required to send it back to the store in which the purchase originated.

You owe it to yourself and those kids who benefit from the One-Child-At-A Time program to take a look at this opportunity. There's no obligation and no fee to register. If you're like me and you enjoy helping others I recommend that you register for your free online shopping mall today.

By the way, children are always looking for safe ways to make money around the neighborhood. Why not let them sign up for their own shopping mall & earn rebate checks? What a great way for them to acquire some extra cash, save for college tuition and become an entrepreneur at an early age by working at home.

Just think, you could get all of your holiday shopping done early this year, help others and earn money at the same time. Wouldn't it be great to receive rebate checks in the mail after the holiday season is over, rather than just credit card bills?

Together, we can make a better world!

Information Marketing - 5 Steps To Creating An Information Empire Using This Simple Formula

Ever heard of the phrase 'information empire' on your online travels? Maybe you were looking for ways to make money online and heard of it before. An information empire is basically an assembly of information products that you own and sell online, that bring you some serious profits!

At this point, you may be thinking, "I don't even have one ebook out there. How am I supposed to create an information empire?"

Well, it's really simple. All it boils down to is having a system and implementing it.

Here are 5 steps to creating an information empire using this simple step-by-step formula:

1. Find Your Market

You'd want to enter a market that has repeat buyers and that will remain profitable no matter the market circumstances. For example, the relationships market and the weight loss market are evergreen markets that will always be profitable.

2. Build A Mailing List

Go and build a mailing list of subscribers in your market. Create a simple squeeze page, offer a free product, and plug in your opt-in form from your autoresponder to generate leads.

3. Create Your First Product

Create your first product. This will be low-cost and it will act as your front end product. Create a buyers list from people who buy this product. A buyers list is worth far more than a subscribers list. This is a list of buyers!

4. Create A High-End Product

Create a high-end product. This can be a home study course or a video product. Sell this for $97 or more and promote this to your list!

5. Create A Coaching Course

Now create a coaching course or weekly mentoring session. This will be your most costly product as it is personal coaching via email, phone. You may even include a membership site and a private forum for this.

If You Shop Online, the Perfect Home Business Awaits You

There are a lot of programs out there and the perfect home business awaits you! The majority of Home Businesses on the Internet revolve around Network Marketing. In its essence, Network Marketing is one of the most powerful revenue generating business plans available. It not only creates revenue but it creates residual revenue.

There are many articles on the topic of Network Marketing. The main thing you must know is that a product or service must be sold in order for anyone to make money with this type of business plan. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) ensures this holds true and that the business plan does not revolve around people make money only by recruiting.

Now, let's get back to Online Shopping. Shopping online is hitting all time records. There is nothing hidden in the reports. The media has covered this extensively and you see the evidence everywhere. The traditional "brick and mortar" stores are taking a hit and online sales are soaring.

Why are consumers shopping on line? It saves time. You can comparison shop several retailers within minutes. Online specials run daily. Shipping is quick and cheap. Transactions are secure.

All of these answers help the consumer save time and money.

The perfect home business is waiting. It is a combination of E-Commerce and Network Marketing. It is an online business that is partnering with almost all of the biggest names in retail in one portal.

There are many home businesses and programs on the Internet today. Finding the right home business is very important. If you are reading this article, more than likely you shop online. If you shop online, more than likely you shop with one of our partner retailers.

Are you tired of not getting the results you want in your home business?

Work at Home Internet Marketing Business

Many people with successful traditional businesses have started to transition into starting a work at home internet marketing business. There are many benefits to this type of business, as it allows a flexible schedule and time freedom.

This transition can be tricky, especially if you are new to the world of internet marketing. The following are a few tools that you can use to market yourself online and make the transition more comfortable.

Start Blogging

Blogging is a great way to introduce yourself to a new online market. By posting on a regular basis, you will be able to update your market on things within your business as they happen. Your readers will get a feel for your personality and will come to feel as though they know you.

As you know, people want to do business with people they like. By using your blog as a relationship-building tool, you will be creating a steady market of loyal customers.

Create a Newsletter

Creating a newsletter list is an important activity. There are many autoresponder programs that you can choose from to help you with this. From your autoresponder program, you can create a form that you can place on your blog. When one of your readers chooses to subscribe, they will be automatically indexed into the autoresponder.

Not only is this a great way to keep in touch with your readers, you can also use these messages to market new services and products to your subscribers. Since this is done through an autoresponder, you simply load the messages into it once. Each new subscriber will receive each message in the order you set; you don't have to worry about someone missing an important message.

Create Information Products

Creating information products to market online is a fundamental part of having a successful work at home internet marketing business. One of the main reasons people come to the internet is to receive information.

If you can provide information that people are looking for in a clear and easy to receive manner, people will pay for it. The average person would much rather pay $30 or $100 to receive all the information at once, rather than spend an entire afternoon researching 25 different websites for the same information.

Article Marketing

Once you create your information product, you can post about it on your blog and send a message to your mailing list through your autoresponder. Another thing you can do to promote yourself is called "article marketing." This is when you write an article and submit it to article reprint directories. Owners of websites and blogs frequently visit article reprint directories in order to find articles to place on their websites.

When you submit an article, you are allowing others to place it on their sites for free. In exchange, they will include your author biography. You can use this area to point people back to your own website, blog, or the sales page of your information product.

One of the best things about an internet marketing business is that you can outsource many of the tasks to other work at home individuals. There are many talented writers, virtual assistants, and other professionals that would be more than happy to take on these tasks for you.

Many of them have excellent internet marketing skills, as they have built their entire businesses online. You can find these people through services such as guru.com or Elance.com.

This was just a small sampling of the tools available to you. As you can see, they all work together to help you build a successful internet marketing business and transition into a work at home career. As you do your research, you'll find many more tools that will help you along your way.

What to Expect From Merchant Account Providers As an Information Marketer

The ability to accept payment via credit card is important if you're looking to build an information marketing business. You can certainly get started with only PayPal but long term you will limit your growth somewhat by not taking the major credit cards for payment.

Visa and Mastercard are, of course, the two biggies in this game, but you should probably supplement them with American Express and, in most cases, Discover. If you were going to rank the four in order of importance to accept most would probably rank them this way:

1. Visa
2. Mastercard
3. American Express
4. Discover

When you are initially setting up your merchant accounts there are three primary questions the merchant account provider will want. First, what types of good will you be selling. Second, what is the size (in dollars) of the average transaction you'll be processing with them? Third, what is the total dollar volume you anticipate running per month?

They will monitor your activity levels and, if something out of the ordinary suddenly appears, it will cause the proverbial "red flag" to be waved. For example, if you do a new product launch where you suddenly run 10 - 20 - 50 times the dollar volume through your account than you normally do you better believe that'll get their attention. And they can shut your account down instantly.

That's why it's so critical to communicate in advance with your merchant account provider and let them know when you're planning a special promotion, or if you're raising your average ticket price, or starting to sell a different type of product then you've sold previously.

Merchant account providers are on constant alert to make sure their potential liability is minimized as much as possible. Most don't take chances period, and if you have a lot of transactions that are outside the parameters set up when you started your account you run the risk of losing your ability to accept credit cards. And, if you're an information marketers, that could be catastrophic to your business.

How to Double Your Business in 90 Days With This Simple Information Marketing System

When you have a look at the different ends of the selling-buying process, you find many of your prospective customers don't like to be sold too, and many marketers like yourself often don't like to sell. Yet every business person knows they have to get clients somehow. Information marketing provides an easy way for you to get more clients without those irritating, slick, sales techniques. Often people think it is a matter of gritting their teeth and getting on with the dirty end of the job, when in reality it is a simple matter of giving people what they are looking for via your own information marketing products.

Let me put it this way. How many people do you know who ask a potential mate to marry them, on the first date? Sounds crazy, doesn't it? So, why would someone buy from you right away without first getting to know, like and trust you? That's why you want to build a relationship with a potential client over time. I've found that information marketing is one of the best and easiest ways to do that.

Information marketing is about giving value to your potential clients first, so they get to know, like and trust you. Information marketing also ensures that your prospect gets something of value without having to undergo a sales spiel. This alone will skyrocket your credibility in their eyes. If you are prepared to "let go" of the traditional approach to sales and marketing, you can simply have an ebook or special report or ecourse do the selling for you. Sell to people by giving them information.

How I Made $9,000 in 5 Minutes Using Information Marketing

A few months ago, I made $9000 in 5 minutes using just a 20-page Special Report. I gave a 5-minute talk at a networking event where I offered my Special Report in exchange for people's business cards. I ended up with cards from almost all 55 people in the room. After they got the Special Report, I offered a free phone consultation. Seven people took me up on the offer - and the result? Three people hired me.

Think of a Funnel When Setting Up Your Information Marketing System

Information marketing uses a four-stage process to move people from being a prospect, to a lead, to a client, to your champion. Think of the four stages as a funnel. Your goal as a marketer is to move a person down your funnel, because the further someone goes down the funnel the more money you make. You can use information products to move someone through each stage.

Stage 1 - The Prospect

In this phase, the person doesn't even know you. There's no relationship at all yet. Your job is somehow to get people to notice you. Some information products you can use in this phase of your information marketing are: ebooks, teleclasses, special reports, white papers, ecourses and articles.

Stage 2 - The Lead

This is the crucial phase I call the "Pivotal Point." On my website, I use a technique to capture visitors' names and emails by giving them a special report. Once people opt-in, they become a lead for me. I now have permission to do more information marketing with them.

Stage 3 - The Client

Once someone has given you permission to contact them, your job is then to convert them from a lead to a client. Once they have given you at least one dollar, they are a client. I offer an inexpensive one-on-one, 45-minute consultation with me where we strategize ideas for the client's business and marketing plans.

Think how you can move people down the marketing funnel. How can you capture leads? What incentive can you then give them to move from one phase to another and become a client?

Stage 4 - The Champion

This is the best part! At this point you've given the client such great service and value that they buy from you over and over AND they refer you to others. They become your marketing machine. This is where the lifetime value of a client becomes so profitable.

More Information Marketing Tips to Remember

Okay, now you see the process of "dating" a potential client, here are some more points to remember:

o Always provide great value first. People have to learn to know, like and trust you before they commit with their wallet.

o Moving through the phases of information marketing can happen fast. This doesn't have to be a long, drawn-out process. You can move someone from being a prospect to a client in a day or two.

o Always give clear guidance to the potential client on what to do next. Give them directions on how to move from being a prospect to a lead to a client to a cheerleader.

Ask yourself, what information relating to your topic are you asked about the most? Put together a special report that addresses the most common questions and challenges people face. Then find ways to leverage that report to get more leads. Information marketing is the most powerful way of "selling without selling" that I know.