How to Sell Merchant Accounts
Merchant accounts are special accounts that allow business owners to accept credit card payments. In the traditional business world of brick-and-mortar locations and stores, these accounts are usually handled through local banks. However, with the increasing level of Internet purchases, it has become much easier to sell merchant accounts to online stores and business owners around the world. Most of the major merchant account services, also known as payment gateways on the Internet, offer affiliate programs where you earn commissions for each merchant account you sell.
Instructions
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Join all of the merchant services websites that offer affiliate programs. Each merchant service requires you to be a member to be eligible to sell their programs because they deposit your commissions into your member account. Offering a wide range of options to your customers also increases your chances of a sale because some merchant services have different geographical restrictions and different fees for transactions. Follow the onscreen instructions to sign up for an account.
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Log in to your account and click on the account tab to display your account details. Click on the link to the affiliate program and sign up if necessary. Most merchant services include a link to their affiliate programs under the account tab. Some services require users to create a special affiliate account within their regular account to be eligible to sell merchant accounts. Refer to the help center of your particular service and search for "affiliate program" to see the steps for affiliate program access.
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Create a website that offers free merchant accounts. Visit a web hosting website and register for one of their hosting packages. Choose a web hosting company that offers one button installation of content management systems such as Wordpress. Register a domain name that includes some variation of keywords associated with merchant accounts that receive a high monthly search volume. Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to generate keyword ideas based on the search term "merchant account."
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Install a Wordpress blog on your website. Log in to the control panel of your chosen web host and look for a link to "Fantastico" or "Install Wordpress." Follow the onscreen instructions to automatically install Wordpress and choose your log-in options for the blog's control dashboard. Write a blog title and description that incorporates your chosen keyword and save the settings.
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Log in to your blog dashboard and write an 800 to 1200 word blog post that uses the keyword you chose for your domain at least 1 or 2 times per paragraph and advertises the different merchant accounts you offer. Log in to the blog dashboard by adding "/wp-admin" to the end of your domain URL and entering the chosen user name and password. Click on "Add New" in the "Posts" section of the dashboard to write the blog post.
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Log in to your affiliate accounts for the merchant services you chose and copy the affiliate links to a "Notepad" file. These special links are unique to your account and track the visitors that come to your website. You are credited for the sales made to those visitors. Most merchant services affiliate programs offer special links to both professionally designed banners and hyper-linked text.
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Paste the banner links into your blog post to create a visual link for your visitors. Highlight the names of the merchant services and click the link button to paste the text link information and hyper-link the text to your affiliate id. Click the "Publish" button to make the site live.
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Promote your site on forums related to small business owners, online businesses and similar topics. Create an account at each forum and make a signature that includes links to your website. This signature is automatically included on every post you make in that forum. Make at least one helpful or insightful post on each forum every day to maximize the number of links to your site and to establish yourself as an authority on the topic of merchant accounts.
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Write at least 2 articles per week and post them to your blog with your affiliate links strategically placed throughout. Rewrite the articles in multiple versions and submit them to article directories around the Internet. Use 1 link to your website and 1 affiliate link for the articles you submit to the directories.
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