November 3, 2020

As more people get used to browsing from the comfort of their home, learn the benefits of taking online payments securely and efficiently. The popularity e-commerce has been growing steadily in recent years, but this has jumped to highs of around 30 per cent of consumers now shopping online due to the pandemic. We’ve seen many small businesses adapting during COVID-19 by increasing their online offering, starting deliveries or even jumping into the world of e-commerce for the first time and learning new skills. Whether you’re a digital guru or you’re ready to make your first online sale, discover how taking payments online can support your business to keep trading safely. How do online payments work? A payment gateway, such as Worldpay, links your website to a payment processing network to secure and authenticate a transaction. It typically comes with additional services such as Pay by Link for email, and virtual terminals allow you to take payments over the phone. What are the benefits of online payments? Speed Think about the last time you bought something online – was it easy to checkout? No one wants to sit through a slow or lengthy process if your competitor has a better experience. With many shoppers now taking a simple checkout process for granted, it’s a no brainer. Offering faster ways to pay is something that your customers will appreciate, and this can lead to more conversions as a result. Security Integrating a secure online payments method is essential for giving your customer peace of mind and limiting the impact of fraud on your business. When someone pays through your website, you’re not able to check the card yourself. However, a series of checks are carried on the card to help identify and decline fraudulent cards. You can choose whether to use card verification codes (CVC) and address verification services to confirm that someone’s details are legitimate. From 31 December 2020, new Strong Customer Authentication regulations will change how consumers in the EU pay online. The UK will also implement these regulations in September 2021. These regulations are designed to protect consumers from fraud. When they take effect, you will sometimes need to prove consumers’ identities when taking online payments. The most important change is to make sure if you are taking card payments you have enabled 3D Secure on all transactions. This will be used to prove consumers’ identities once the regulations take effect. The options are 3D Secure Version 1 or 3D Secure Version 2. 3D Secure Version 2 offers an improved authentication experience on mobile devices. It will also protect you against the implications of Visa’s fraud protection liability cover mandate taking effect from October 2021. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) Accepting card payments means staying compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). Worldpay offer a Safer Payments programme that will guide you step-by-step to achieve compliance. Flexibility Don’t have a website or online shop? You can take secure payments over the phone with a virtual terminal, or through email with Pay by Link. These integrate with your online dashboard, meaning you can see all information about payments and invoices at a glance. Your customers will have more choice and flexibility with how they shop, allowing them to pay in a way that suits them. Real time data Want to know how your new sale or product launch is going? With a live dashboard, you can quickly see when purchases are made on your website. When a customer pays online or through another secure method, you’re able to see details right away through Worldpay’s online dashboard. Easy access to your daily figures can help you with your cash flow management and tracking the success of your marketing efforts. If you need to refund a customer or get more information about an order, the information you need is only a click away. Wondering if you’re hitting your monthly targets? With online payments, you can export reports as and when you need them, giving you greater flexibility. Take me to the Pay Monthly Plans Take me to the FAQs Section Have you decided which website plan your business needs?LET’S TALK RIGHT NOW! GET YOUR SERIOUSLY PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE STARTED NOW

“However, when you look at how people search for local businesses, the first port of call is usually a search engine like Google and if local businesses don’t appear, they’re lacking that shop window and missing out on valuable customers.” The 2015 holiday shopping season was a good one for businesses online. Thanks to strong sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, online retailers reported an increase in sales of 15 percent from the previous year with Cyber Monday proving to be the largest online sales day ever, netting $3.07 billion. However, in the US only 51 percent of small businesses have websites, despite the fact that 97 percent of consumers search for products and services online, according to figures released earlier from The SCORE Association (SCORE). The disconnect between small companies and the growing number of consumers who vet brick-and-mortar businesses based on their online presence could be keeping entrepreneurs from millions of customers – and dollars. SCORE Vice President of Marketing Bridget Weston Pollack said, “If a company or a small business doesn’t have an online presence, they are missing a huge percentage of the population that could be shopping at their store.” A website not only helps small businesses promote and sell their products and services, but it also allows them to distinguish themselves from their competitors, especially for customers who rely heavily on the Internet to learn everything about a company. This makes a website one of the most important business assets for sharing information, building credibility and standing out in crowded marketplaces. According to a recent Verisign report, 97 percent of U.S. small businesses with a website recommend other small businesses also establish a website. Here’s why: 1. FIND CUSTOMERS Verisign found that 88 percent of U.S. small businesses with a website agree that it’s made it easier for customers to find their business. Today, customers are constantly searching on computers, tablets and smart phones. A website enables them to find your company and learn about your business and what it offers at anytime and anyplace. In today’s competitive online search environment, content is key. Google has revamped its algorithms to better serve user searches today, including rewarding sites that provide visitors with helpful content and a good user experience. This means that if someone is looking for a product or service that your business offers, your website needs to show up in the search results or you will miss out on potential sales leads. 2. BUILD CREDIBILITY You can build a brand presence for your business on social media, but you’re restricted by the platform in terms of design, process and technology. A website can help small businesses increase flexibility, control, branding and credibility. Eighty-four percent of U.S. consumers believe a business with a website is more credible than one that only has a social media page. To be credible and attract new customers, a website can make a difference. 3. GET MORE CUSTOMERS Ongoing business success oftentimes rests on your company’s ability to bring in new clients. Reaching thousands of people using only traditional marketing methods like direct mail or print advertising can be very expensive and unreliable. Getting online enables you to reach more people locally or outside of your region while paying less for the exposure—and you can even measure the specific results. In fact, 77 percent of U.S. small businesses said a website is a great way to find new customers. And, it’s not just about gaining new customers; you can use a website to better serve existing customers too. The ability to update business information 24/7 on the Internet improves customer communication while freeing up time to focus on other business priorities. And with a branded email, you can begin email marketing, driving traffic back to your on- and offline sites and boosting customer loyalty with your brand. 4. GROW YOUR BUSINESS Many small businesses aim to expand in the market and reach out to new customers. While face-to-face interactions can be important and business often comes from word-of-mouth, a website gives you a chance to “pass your card out” to thousands online. With an e-commerce store, you can sell items online and ship the product to customers almost anywhere in the world. You might discover that customers in a neighboring city or state are interested in your services, leading to a larger service area, and maybe even an expansion to regional offices. In fact, 81 percent of U.S. small businesses say that a website has helped to grow their business. With a website, you can reach a greater number of potential customers and opportunities. 5. GAIN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE The recently published Verisign report shows that 93 percent of U.S. consumers use the Internet for research before making a purchase. Consumers want to be informed about their purchasing decisions— what they buy and from whom they buy. Without a website, you risk losing customers to businesses already taking advantage of the online marketplace. If you’re in direct competition with another business that has a website, your competitor has a clear advantage—especially if they are effectively marketing their website. A website can help level the playing field. Eighty-four percent of U.S. small businesses surveyed by Verisign said their website is important or critical to their business. More than half of U.S.-based small businesses don’t have a website, so there is no time like the present to establish your business website and get ahead of the competition. Take me to the Pay Monthly Plans Take me to the FAQs Section Have you decided which website plan your business needs?LET’S TALK RIGHT NOW! GET YOUR SERIOUSLY PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE STARTED NOW

Small businesses missing out on custom from lack of website Small businesses are foregoing having an online presence altogether as new research reveals that three quarters in the UK lack a website. A new survey has revealed that 75% of Britain’s small businesses don’t have a website According to figures from the Office of National Statistics, the percentage of retail sales made online has steadily increased since 2006. This figure is likely to rise, with millennial consumers making 60% of their purchases online. Internet sales currently account for 18% of total retail sales, rising from 2.8% over the thirteen-year period. “For most one or two-person companies, a website is understandably not at the top of the list of priorities. However, when you look at how people search for local businesses, the first port of call is usually a search engine like Google and if local businesses don’t appear, they’re lacking that shop window and missing out on valuable customers.The ability to quickly compare prices and check online reviews were two of the most frequently-cited reasons for choosing to shop on the web rather than in-store, and UENI also found that 86% of customers chose to consult a search engine before making a purchase. The study from London-based tech company UENI surveyed more than 5,000 businesses from across the UK and US. Of the 1,929 small businesses in the UK, 14% didn’t know what a domain name was. Having a domain is the starting point to gaining online visibility, but one in seven of the small business owners when asked didn’t know what the term ‘domain name’ meant. For British small businesses to compete, owners only need a basic level of online literacy and understanding of the internet. Having said that, what many small businesses don’t realise is that technology is making it far easier to have an online presence. These days, businesses can even achieve visibility in Google in a matter of minutes, given the right tools. Take me to the Pay Monthly Plans Take me to the FAQs Section Have you decided which website plan your business needs?LET’S TALK RIGHT NOW! GET YOUR SERIOUSLY PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE STARTED NOW

5 general things that every business website needs to have to be successful and profitable 1. Attractive overall appearance Research proves your website visitors form an opinion about whether they like your website in 50 milliseconds… or less. That’s a split-second decision. Good visual design grabs and directs attention—rather than repelling it—making your visitor willing to give your website a chance. 2. Interesting and engaging headlines and images Once you’ve created a great first impression to get your visitor willing to stick around, the next step is to immediately engage them and capture their interest. What solutions do you sell that solves their problems? 3. Valuable content Now that you’ve piqued their interest, it’s time to deliver on the goods. Blow your visitor away with the information you provide (and the way you provide it), and you’ll have a very satisfied visitor who will want to share your content and bring you more visitors and potential customers. 4. Calls to action You’ve put all this effort into attracting your visitor, getting them engaged and interested, and communicating your message to them… After all that, don’t make the mistake of letting them wander off without taking their next step. 5. Response mechanisms It’s not enough to just tell your visitor to take some action; you also need to make it possible for them to actually do it—and as effortlessly as possible. A response mechanism is anything your visitor can interact with to respond to your call to action—such as signing up for your mailing list, requesting a quote, or requesting a call back. Take me to the Pay Monthly Plans Take me to the FAQs Section Have you decided which website plan your business needs?LET’S TALK RIGHT NOW! GET YOUR SERIOUSLY PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE STARTED NOW