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Of course that sort of information doesn’t appear in a dictionary, even in ‘Internet Marketing – The Big Dictionary’, but let me give you the quick-start, pragmatic guide to merchant accounts and credit card processing.

So here goes.

If you are affiliate marketing, in other words promoting a merchant’s product, you don’t need to accept credit cards online with a merchant account. Relax, it’s not your problem.

Nonetheless, some people pay commission to your PayPal account, so it’s a good start to sign up for a free account. This will also allow you to collect money for products you sell yourself.

Next step up the ladder, is to have a look at PayDotCom. PayDotCom allows you to sell physical products as well as digital, downloadable products. PayDotCom pays instantly into your, guess what, PayPal account. Again this requires no money upfront.

If you are only selling your own digital or info product, e.g. a downloadable ebook, then I suggest you consider ClickBank. ClickBank needs $49.95 to start selling your own product, but this is a one time fee. The reason ClickBank is so important, is the number of affiliates waiting to sell your product for you. Have a look at the section headed ‘Sell Products’ for the full details.

But what if you need to accept credit cards also from people standing in front of you with a credit card in their hand? What if you are selling so much that you are concerned with the transaction costs? In this case I would look at Charge. Admirably you get up and running for no cost. The tradeoff for reduced transactions is a small monthly fee, so this is a good solution if you are turning over sufficient value.

The last provider of merchant services to make it into this list is Yahoo!. Although this is a service I haven’t used yet, Yahoo! caught my attention because the checkout at Ben and Jerry’s is powered by Yahoo! and also because they have a good offer in place at the minute.

All payment solutions seem to go through highs and lows at times and I have presently omitted two, which would have been on this list a couple of years ago.

That’s a very brief, quick-start and there are often more issues to consider, such as the country you live in and the offer from your own bank.

Q. Why is it called a ‘Big Dictionary’?
A. The title doesn’t refer to the number of pages or more than 14000 words, it refers to it being bigger on the inside than on the outside. Unlike the Tardis, this is achieved with hyperlinks to pages outside the dictionary, which provide information in greater depth than a dictionary can.

Q. What does ‘Tardis’ stand for?
A. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Can we keep these questions on topic, please?

Q. How do I pay for this Internet Marketing dictionary?
A. With used cowrie shells. No, it’s free for the time being. To put that in simple terms, it means you do not pay for it.

Q. Do I need permission to make a copy and give it to my girlfriend / colleague / son / pet?
A. No, you may give it away freely. In fact, anybody discovered not to have given away a copy, will be receiving a disturbing visit. You may not want to give your boss a copy, or they will discover why you suddenly appear so knowledgeable. Otherwise give a CD, email it, or simply send your friend the web address – www.BigDictionary.info.

Happy dictionary browsing

I was never going to be able to work at home. My visions of a homebased business were evaporating like the dew in the morning sun. So I sat down, drew a deep breath and researched it all the hard way. I can tell you it’s hard work climbing mountains, but do you know what? It is just fantastic when you’ve got there.

So there I was 10 months later with folders full of notes and bookshelves full of books. I felt I understood something at last.

I was remembering this the other day and I thought, “Why not share all this stuff about web marketing with other people in the same situation?” So for all the people dreaming of earning money online from the Internet, I turned it all into one big dictionary.

Then I decided to give it away. Free. As of today it’s available from http://www.BigDictionary.info.

Time for a holiday now