On March 19, 2012, Google started to de-index a large number of web sites that were a part of blog networks used by site owners and SEO companies for link building. A blog network is a large group of blogs … Continue reading
Business Ideas & Strategic Planning for New Businesses
Alpha-eBiz is a source for independent articles, information, product reviews, solutions and opinions regarding business technology issues, strategic business development, e-commerce, web site design, search engine optimization and creating a great user environment for your customers.
Our goal is to provide useful tips for anyone looking for answers to questions about how to succeed in online business.
Whether you are just starting out or are an experienced entrepreneur, we hope you will find tips and information to help you to build and improve your business and your web site.
Merchant Accounts vs. Payment Gateways
Both a merchant account and a payment gateway are necessary components for every credit card transaction. They each serve a different function and each will charge you both a monthly fee and transaction fees. A merchant account is simply the … Continue reading
Credit Card Fraud Country Hot List
If you sell products on the web and take credit cards from international customers, be aware that as a merchant you will very likely absorb the entire cost for any credit card fraud that occurs. It doesn’t matter if your … Continue reading
Know Your eBay Selling Costs
If you are selling products on eBay, be aware of what your total costs are for the items that you sell. Many eBay sellers do not take into account all of their selling costs and are surprised to find out … Continue reading
Using IP Addresses to Verify the Location of a Buyer
It is not unusual for fraudulent orders to originate in countries where the credit card fraud rate is unacceptably high or where you do not do business. Here is how to use IP addresses to check the geographic location of … Continue reading
What is SWOT / SLOT Analysis?
SWOT analysis is used to gauge a company’s strategic advantages and disadvantages as compared to the competition and the marketplace. It is method for exploring the future or the past so that you can be ready to deal the competition … Continue reading
What is a First Mover Advantage?
There are many ways to succeed in business, but very few formulas for success can have an impact as strong as the first mover advantage. Simply put, the first mover advantage is achieved when an entrepreneur who has an original … Continue reading
Web Page Validation and Code Testing
Validation assures that your HTML or XHTML code is compliant with industry standards. This in turn means that your Web pages should render (display) without errors in a browser. It also helps assure that the code can be easily read … Continue reading
Browser Testing
Browser testing can be an annoyance but is necessary due to inherent incompatibilities between Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla’s FireFox, further incompatibilities between different versions of the same browser (mostly IE issues), as well as numerous bugs that were … Continue reading
E-commerce Startup Realities
Ecommerce has grown enourmously over the past few years and so have the challenges related to setting up a successful web site. This article covers many of the issues that you need to be aware of before you dive into an ecommerce venture. Continue reading