One of the main elements of running a profitable adult website is getting a web host company that works well for your site. Typically, you’ll start your search by browsing through the web. Unfortunately, this will prove futile as you will find a dizzying number of web hosting companies ready to offer you supposedly the best deal for your website. This is pretty much in the same category of importance as knowing what adult merchant account services firms are really offering you a good deal and which ones are just out to con you the first chance they get.

The clincher now lies in picking the right one, or at the very least knowing what their offers and services really mean, as some companies are not above embellishing the description of their offers. Here are some lookout points you should consider when getting a web hosting company to service your adult site.

Do they offer round-the-clock service?

Yes, they have sold you their services, and yes, they appear to be what they said they were, but is there someone there to answer any questions you might have about their service when they least expect it? No matter how mundane your concerns are, there should be someone from the web hosting company to answer them. You are, after all, a paying customer. Problems can and will arise when you least expect them, so having access to the web hosting company’s technical support group is something you definitely need. Ideally, your website does your work even when you’re asleep, your adult merchant provider accepts payments for you 24/7 and processes it promptly when it arrives, so why should your website do any less?

How do they handle their downtime?

Downtime is a dreaded phenomena that is as inescapable as the setting of the sun, so maybe you should think twice about signing up with a web hosting company that claims to have no downtime at all. A web host can only have no downtime if they perform no upgrades on their system, and that can’t be good for your website either. Rather than go for a web hosting company that promises no downtime, opt for one that guarantees its uptime. This will also mean that the web host company should offer a money-back guarantee, or at least a discount or rebate, in instances that their downtime causes you much stress. Understand this, which is why it is included in their description of benefits. Be sure to look for this when searching for an appropriate web hosting company.

How limited is Unlimited?

It seems just so enticing, that offer that says “unlimited bandwidth”, but we live in the real world, and in the real world, “unlimited” and “bandwidth” are words that just don’t go together, so do not be fooled into signing up with web hosts that claim such. It’s no secret that the web hosting companies pay for the bandwidth used by their clients themselves, so unless they are ridiculously rich, unlimited bandwidth is something not really feasible. Understand that at most, what they claim to be “unlimited bandwidth” is actually a few gigabytes in reality, with the notion you can’t use it all up at once, so you won’t know just how limited their “unlimited” is.

Do you own the domain name?

Make sure you check if web hosting company registers the domain name to you, in cases where the web host offers a package that includes domain name registration. If the domain name has been registered to anyone else other than you, this will result in problems when you want to change web hosts. What may seem like a simple misunderstanding will take a long, tedious and costly process to fix. Avoid all this by being certain that the domain name is registered under your name.

People are waking up to the fact that the Internet isn’t always as secure as it promises to be. Users are starting to realize that there are some sites out there with only one intention: to scam people out of their cash. Because of the veil of anonymity provided by the Internet, no one is really sure about the legitimacy of the site they are dealing with.

Thankfully, webmasters can take certain measures to earn to earn their customer’s trust, and keep that trust as well. Here are some examples:

Respect their privacy. Identity theft has long been a fear of many, especially in financial matters. There are those who are able to work their way into a hapless person’s bank account or finances just by knowing pertinent information about them. This is makes having a privacy statement on your website a good assurance that you are legit and that you’re not running a scam.

How do make a Privacy Statement? Although this may give you the impression that you will need the services of a lawyer or some other legal expert, all you need to do is surf the web and look for a privacy statement generator. These generators will walk you through the entire procedure and explain the various sections that are required.

Put your money where your mouth is. Guarantee. If you believe in your product or service, then you shouldn’t be afraid to guarantee the satisfaction of your clients or customers. Offering a guarantee of satisfaction tells your prospective customers that you have the utmost confidence in what you’re selling, and that you are not just trying to pass off something that you know very little of.

Moreover, product guarantee offer to customers on your website creates an impression of added value, not only to the product but also to the service that you will be giving to your customers. This is an excellent strategy on marketing for your website. Refunds on products are not that appalling or derogatory to both revenue and image of the business. This is contradictory to the idea of a company selling rejects or poor quality products as customers would want assurance on their purchase - that is, if ever there would be problems encountered on the purchased product their money will not be put into waste. This gives confidence to the customers on how you operate your business and deal with clients.

Be reachable. Just because the internet allows you a good measure of anonymity, don’t use that as an excuse to scam people with false promises and misleading advertisements. This is a great fear for many potential buyers on the internet, they really don’t know the legitimate webmasters from those who would not think twice about swindling people out of their hard-earned cash. A clear sign, however, of a suspicious website, would a lack of their contact details. They obviously do not want to be reached. Worse, some websites will just post bogus contact details to feign legitimacy.

Having a section of your website with your contact details assures people that you are willing to communicate with them even after the sale has been done, or in the event of some trouble regarding what they bought from you, you are willing to provide them with after-sales service. This indicates professionalism and business ethics.

Have trustworthy partners. Just like posting a great big banner that you guarantee a refund if customers are not satisfied with what they bought from you, partnering with a reliable online payment solutions provider and putting their brand or logo on your website also proves that you practice good business by partnering only with other institutions that practice good business.

This is particularly relevant because legitimate and professional credit card payment gateways have very stringent standards when it comes to who they do business with. These e-commerce merchant account providers will not do business with a website that may drag their good name down with them. Look for a secure payment gateway that has the ability to tailor their services to your needs, and an easy integration process, like eMerchantPay.com.

Earning customer trust, while not exactly a walk in the park, is really not that difficult either. There is one capital rule you must remember: give them what you promised in your sales pitch. If you really want to exceed expectations, follow through the sale with good customer service. These two simple points will go a long way in showing your customers that your company is reliable and worthy of their trust.

Businesses using the Internet as their medium for transaction or the business itself differ from those old-fashioned or conventional businesses. One of the main differences is that an online business cannot supply a consumer with a physical point-of sale (POS)terminal as compared to offline businesses or stores. However, payment gateway systems or online shopping carts do have means of accepting payment from credit cards. In order for an online business to process transactions, they must have a merchant account. There are several things you have to consider before you apply for one.

1. Tenure matters.
Most merchant account providers look at the timespan you’ve been in the business. This is a way for these service providers to know if you’re aware of the risks of the business. It says much about how adept you are to your operating business environment. They will be able to assess your ability to identify and properly handle the hazards that you will be facing.

2. You credit report is crucial.
For any financial institution, credit reports are like business bibles. These show how well you handle your accounts, if you’ve repaid past debt, if you have liens against your business, judgments or bankruptcies filed by and against you. The depth of your credit is an indication of how financially trustworthy you are. If there are hits against your credit that do not belong there, contact the reporting agency (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) and provide them with proper evidence. It also helps to enclose this documentation with your credit report when submitting your application.

3. They rely on your relationships.
How you maintained your last merchant accounts, in part, reflects how you will handle the merchant account that you are now applying for. Terminated mercantile accounts will show up on MATCH reports (Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants file) or the Terminated Merchant File kept by credit card associations.

4. Full disclosure is appreciated
While all merchant account providers have their own way of looking into your credit history and everything else they need to know about you and your company, full disclosure can help make their job easier. As they say, honesty is still the best policy.

5. The paperwork that tells them all.
It begins with an application form. Yes, everyone wants your signature and would like to know your name, but a merchant application form with just these are never easy for the person processing the paperwork. It is a tedious task to fill out everything, but try as hard as you can to resist the temptation of skipping the hard questions.

6. Additional business requirements to submit.
Bank Acquirers or Payment Processors have varying requirements depending on the nature or category of your business. Filing an application is just the start of it. They may require you to pass documents such as company profile, company’s articles of incorporation and other legal papers.

7. Know what you are.
Being a high-risk merchant has its ups and downs. Knowing where you stand from the onset will help you manage expectations. While high-risk accounts can rake in a ridiculous amount of money, it may also be quite difficult to find a merchant account for them. Again, credit card associations, such as Visa and MasterCard, can be unkind to the high-risk merchant. They are very unforgiving of merchants in the high risk category who often exceed the threshold for chargebacks.

8. The questions and the answers.
They’ve got questions and you’ve got the answers. Well, let’s be fair, you should also get your chance on the other side of the fence. It is perfectly all right to get your turn to ask all your questions. So, to prepare both parties, it is essential that you know what to ask and you know what questions to expect beforehand.

9. Be prepared for a compromise.
In an ideal setting, you would be able to get exactly what you want. Great fees. Great service. Reliable security features. But we don’t always get that. Again, it is important for us to highlight that if you are a high-risk merchant, it comes with its downsides. First among these are the fees you may be quoted. Normally, high risk industries such as gambling, adult, pharmaceutical, gaming and travel websites are charged higher fees than accounts that pose less risk for the merchant account provider.

10. Consider it as a test.
You have to be patient in looking for the right merchant account. Don’t get frustrated when your current or previous providers didn’t suffice the standards your business needs. Finding the payment processor that fits your business may take a while.

It may seem that constructing an adult website for a business is quite an easy task. Perhaps it is. However, making money out of it is not. Given that the content resources for your adult website may seem easy to generate, getting an adult payment processor or acquiring an adult merchant account is quite the contrary.

To start you off on this new world, it is important that you understand that in business, particularly in e-commerce, the adult entertainment world is considered a high-risk account. For this very reason, acquiring a merchant account for your billing needs usually proves to be the biggest difficulty adult merchants encounter. As a high-risk account, payment processors usually charge an arm and a leg for even the most basic adult billing service. That is, if you get an approval at all. Major credit card associations like Visa and MasterCard have very strict standards against high risk merchants. Both card association keep lists that will alert merchant account service provides of high-risk merchants that have high chargeback ratios.

So back to the basic question: How do you begin billing for your adult service? What you need is a merchant account. So, do a search on the Internet. Simply typing in “merchant account” or “Internet billing” maybe a complete waste of time. It will yield hundreds, if not thousands, of search results. Try to refine your search to focus more on your field. “High Risk Merchant Account” or “Adult Merchant Account” are good search strings to start with. Next, make a list of the possible candidates out there that you might want to check on later.

Now, prepare the questions you’ll be asking your candidate merchant account service providers. Jot down the things that are important to you. Check out what the sites out there are offering in terms of rates and depth of service to get a general idea of the fee range that you are looking at. Will upfront fees be a problem for you? How much are you willing to pay every month? Will per transaction fees work better for the kind of service that you are offering?

When it comes to service, what are you expecting? Do you need a quick response time to queries and emails? Is uptime important to you? What kind of security do you require for your site?

Bank acquirers or payment processors are quite meticulous when it comes to adult-related businesses since it is classified under the high- risk category. So, you should be prepared to answer all their questions such as the type of services or products your offering and the amount you process in a month. Moreover, you should be able to supply the needed information or documents about the adult website that you are or you will be running.

Get in touch with the merchant account providers and get to know them better. Once you’ve found the one that can deliver the kind of service that you are looking for at the price point that you can afford, start thinking about the next step.

Submit all the necessary paperwork and obtain an approval. The paperwork may include the application form, your incorporation documents and proper identification for members of the board. Some adult billing service companies may even ask for the business credit report or statements from your current processor.

After all that is done and a decision has been laid down, you should now be ready to integrate the adult billing service provider’s payment gateway to your shopping cart system (if you have one). The billing processor should set up your merchant account on their payment gateway and provide you with the URL of your secure gateway as well as other technical details to complete the integration process. Once this step is finalized, you should be able to start server-to-server processing of live transactions. The payment gateway should be able to provide you with all the security you need to safely complete all transactions for your adult website.

The next step is of course the most important. Payout. With consistent and regular transaction processing you should be able to get consistent and regular payouts as well. Some merchant account providers have a threshold before they release your first check (for instance, some wait until you reach your first hundred dollars). Others process payments on a monthly basis with payouts set on a certain date of the month (usually the 15^th or the 30^th). Still, there are other adult billing service providers who offer an even more ideal weekly processing where you can get your money every week. It is often the standard for the merchant account provider to hold 10% of your gross volume of transactions for the rolling reserve fund. The purpose of this reserve fund is to provide security against potential credit risks. After a certain amount of time, when the credit risk has ceased, the amount is repaid to you.

It’s not really complicated if you have a basic understanding on the process of adult billing. It could be demanding or sometimes time-consuming, but knowing the whole process would make things much easier. The article presented should provide you an idea on how to set up billing for you adult website.

You want a payment processor because you have an adult website. Next, you’ll be looking for a one by going to the Internet and typing the keyword “payment processor”. You might think that acquiring a payment processor is just a simple process. Think again…

1. Assess you needs as an adult site operator. First things first. Answer this question: What exactly do I need from a payment processor? In assessing your needs as an adult website owner, try to look into other things such as the amount you process in a year and what percentage of that amount comprise of chargebacks. If its a high number, you might want to look into payment processing services that offer additional security and fraud scrubbing measures.

2. Set realistic expectations. Adult sites are considered “high risk” – this translates into bigger fees and usually slower approval times. Meaning be prepared to dish out the cash for service in this specialized field. Make a criteria for your payment processor selection. Are you looking for a payment processor that charges low fees versus one that can provide you with a more personalized service? How often do you expect to get your payouts? There are a million questions you could ask, but you are the only one who could really determine what you need.
3. Try to find a payment processor for your specific industry. While it is generally not a bad idea to look for a wide range of general e-commerce payment processors, you will eventually find out that this route is very very time consuming. Always remember that adult sites are a red flag to payment processors – meaning, even if you get a million search results for payment processor, not all of them will be willing to serve adult site operators. When starting your search, try to look for payment processors using keywords like “adult payment processor” or “adult site merchant account” This narrows down the results to payment processors more suitable to the adult industry sites.
4. Go shopping. When you think you’ve found that one payment processor that seems perfect for your adult site, don’t stop. Even if it takes days…or weeks..more, continue searching for more payment processors. It’s hard. It’s tiring. But it will be worth it in the end.
5. Narrow down your list to the top ten adult site payment processors. The criteria that you made when you were still setting your expectations (Step 2) is a valuable tool at this point. Cross check your candidate payment processors against that list and try to cut it down to ten finalists.
6. Create a table for comparison. Generate a table after narrowing your list to your top-ten-choice of payment processors. Make a thorough comparison of the selected processors – from fees, to the services offered as well as add-on or value added benefits that you could get. You have to weigh the advantages and drawbacks of one payment processor against another.
7. Get to know the company. This is where a bit of the dirty work comes in. While a search for adult site payment processor will yield thousands of results, shaving down the list to the truly reliable ones can be quite difficult. A good first step to this elimination process is reading up on the company. Find out how the company started out and how long it’s been around. Knowing the proprietor’s background can also be a big help. For instance, try to find out if anyone in the company has previous experience in banking and finance or with online merchant accounts or even in the adult industry itself. This is a good way to know if the company really understands the nature of the business and how to deal with its clients.
8. Test their promise. A lot of adult payment processors will promise you the sun and the stars, but how do you know who’s telling the truth and who is just pulling your leg? The second test for a suitable adult site payment processor is their turn around time for email queries. Try sending in an inquiry with even the simplest question. Find out if the company knows its stuff and if it can answer you in a short amount of time.
9. Contact your chosen payment processor. After an exhaustive evaluation, you should now be ready to choose which payment processor is right for your adult site. Call, email or send in an inquiry to the payment processor to signify your intent of utilizing their services. Be prepared to provide all the necessary information which may include your company’s incorporation details, contact information, monthly sales volume, average number of sales transactions per month, monthly chargeback volume ratio or any other information the payment processor may require.
10. Read your contract thoroughly. Its time to set your mark, but one final piece of advice before you do: Read EVERYTHING thoroughly. Know exactly how much you are paying and what you are paying for. If you have any questions about anything at all, go ahead and ask them.

The outlined steps will help you in finding the right adult payment processor for your business. Indeed, the industry of payment processing for adult businesses is quite extensive and unpredictable but with a good understanding and assessment, the one you will be looking for could be the business partner that you could have a good long-term relationship with.

Hello there high risk merchant. Yes, that’s you. You’ve just reached a place that truly understands your needs. I’ve been writing for some time now. Both online and offline. When HighRiskMerchantBiz invited me to write for them, I didn’t know if I was ready for such a big responsibility.

I knew from the start that the work was going to be tough. I needed to do extensive research. I needed to understand my audience, their language and what they go through everyday. So I had my work cut out for me.

Now you might go and ask how a senior copywriter at an ad agency can really help you out. Don’t worry, I’ve had my fair share of business experience. I’ve run my own company, though it may not be in the same league as the high risk business, I do have my background on what it really takes to start up a business, get a merchant account running and just to basically keep it alive. In the process, I’ve dealt with several types of business people in different industries (believe it or not, some of them in the top-ranking high risk industries like gambling, pharmacies and MOTO accounts). We’ve shared a lot of stories over gallons of coffee and pints of beer. I learned so much from them in the course of our friendship.

But enough about me. I guess at this point it is sufficient that I tell you that high risk businesses are more than just an interest to me. Some of those business associates have become loyal clients of mine. So I know how their businesses work. At the end of a meeting, it always strikes me as odd that most of them have similar problems, yet they don’t have the right channel for sharing these.

When the opportunity to write for this site came along — despite the hardships that I was about to face — I knew I was doing something good for the community. So here I am.

I do hope you learn a lot from my posts and feel free to comment any time. I may not be able to answer all comments, but that doesn’t mean I don’t read them. I value your opinion, whether they agree or contradict with my own. Thank you for dropping by and I sincerely hope you come back for more.