Is Your Business Website Mobile? 

Most Popular Devices

Some interesting statistics on the most popular devices that people are now using to search the internet: 

Google Comes in to Play April 21

What does this mean for your business?

Having a stand-alone mobile website enables you to get in front of the huige mobile marketplace and display your important business information clearly and quickly to a mobile users.  This can lead to better sales conversions for your business. Plus, with Google's recent announcement, it may also mean that you website will rank better than it was without a mobile-friendly version.

About Novera Payment Solutions

As a business owner, you know it's essential in this day and age that you not only accept credit cards, but that you also accept debit cards, e-checks, and mobile payments. It's simply expected by your consumers.

Unfortunately, there is a wealth of bad and misleading information online today. Business owners can easily comparison shop for the best merchant account rates using Google, however there are so many nefarious companies pitching credit card processing solutions with bait and switch tactics, it's easy to be lured into a merchant processing contract that ends up costing you more than you ever expected and doesn't deliver all the service promised.

Novera Payment Solution Offers a Refreshing Approach to Credit Card Processing

Novera Solutions takes a completely different approach to merchant processing solutions. You won't get a bait and switch scheme here. Some of the things that make us different, heads and shoulders above the rest, in fact, include:

• We offer straight talk about why a merchant account including our “flat fee advantage” can be one of the best business decisions you’ll ever make.
• We offer complete payment integration with major accounting software applications (including QuickBooks credit card payment integration). Our API will allow you to support every type of transaction you could ask for.
• We take the mystery out of PCI compliance, and help ensure that you meet all requirements to keep your customer card holder data secure.
• We offer many levels of reporting for your convenience. If you are looking for drill down reporting on a specific merchant transaction or high level residual reporting for your agent or reseller business, we have got you covered.
• Our marketing department designs and delivers high quality marketing slicks so you can inform your customers about payment options.
• We provide complete support and guidance from merchant account conversion and boarding all the way through 24/7 365 WorldPay customer support.
• Novera can provide you with the ability to accept credit card payments online. Our Virtual terminal can allow you to set up recurring payments, one time charges... this even includes check or ACH.
• We have a programs that make sure your profits really are going to the bottom line. Including our Gift & Loyalty program that can be used to cross brand and promote additional locations. 

Learn Everything You Need to Know About In's & Out's of Credit Card Processing

Please join us in a FREE educational webinar  designed to help you understand the in's and out's of the credit card processing industry. We offer these webinars quarterly! This valuable free webinar will be 45 minutes or less and we guarantee you will learn practical information to help you make better choices when shopping around for processing services.

As an attendee of this webinar you will gain the following:

• Ability to understand Visa/MC/Disc. true underlying cost which in turn will help you negotiate better pricing
• Knowledge on how to make sure you are getting a truly fair deal for payment processing services
• Awareness of the latest in technology available in the market place today
• Tips for keeping processing costs down
• Best practices for keeping cardholder data secure and maintaining PCI compliance

Get the Date of Our Next FREE Webinar and Register Online

What You Need to Know

The most important thing to understand is that risk is the single largest factor that merchant account providers look at when determining whether to establish a credit card processing account account for a business. Risk is determined by the potential for fraud and the number of chargebacks a business may experience.

What is a Chargeback?

A chargeback happens when a consumer contacts their credit card company and requests a refund for a purchase they made on that credit card. It could be that the consumer didn't recognize the charge, was dissatisfied with the product or service, or never received the product or service. It's not uncommon for the consumer to bypass the merchant and directly reach out to their credit card company first. Right or wrong doesn't really matter ... when the consumer reaches out to their credit card company to demand a credit, a chargeback is initiated. This is not good for merchants because too many chargebacks can result in higher fees and even closure of their merchant account if too many occur.

Reserve Accounts

One way credit card processing companies protect themselves is to hold a "reserve". A reserve is basically funds processed by the business that the merchant account provider holds in a reserve account instead of transferring the funds to the business bank account. The amount of the reserve can vary greatly.  It can be a small fixed amount, a large fixed amount, or even a full month of funds equal to the amount of the businesses credit card sales. The amount is determined by perceived risk associated with the busineses.  Having a reserve protects the merchant account company from future risks, including fraud and chargebacks.

Higher Risk Business Sectors

In the credit card payments industry, some business sectors are considered higher risk than others, but the list really varies from provider to provider.  A partial list of business sectors that often fall into the higher risk category include:

• Adult Related Businesses (Book Stores & Entertainment)
• Check Cashing Businesses
• Credit Repair Services
• Gun Stores
• Jewelry Stores
• Multi-level Marketing Companies
• Telemarketing Firms
• Time Share Sales
• Vacation Packages

Businesses in these sectors are often subject to reserves, as well as higher credit card processing rates. This provides the merchant account company some protection from the higher levels of fraud and chargebacks often associated with these sectors.

Merchant Account Holds & Freezes

One of the most financially devastating things that can happen to a business is a merchant account hold, or freeze. When this happens to a business, they cannot access the account.  The funds from open authorizations are also held without deposit for an undisclosed period of time. This means that the business cannot accept new credit card transactions and the income from recently processed transactions is not be deposited for days, weeks or longer.

Despite the horror stories, merchant account freezes are usually a result of the business violating the terms of their merchant account agreement. Violations can include utilizing the merchant account for personal use, selling items that were not included or defined in the merchant account agreement when the account was setup, accepting credit card payments for other businesses under their merchant account, as well as other fraudulent activities.

As a business owner, you can protect yourself from this by first following the terms of your agreement with your credit card processing provider.  If something changes in your business that impacts your credit card sales, you should contact your merchant account processor right away. This might include anticipated changes in average ticket amounts or new product or service lines introduced into the business. If you are running an unusually large ticket as a one time occurance, contact your merchant account provider's risk department prior to processing the transaction and let know the details.

The Novera Advantange

• Novera’s consultative approach allows us to thoroughly educate our clients, equipping them to better understand this complicated industry.
• We educate our clients about chargebacks, reserves, and holds, so they are informed and can better prevent these things from happening.
  
• We take the mystery out of the credit card processing business.
• We work with all types of businesses across the country

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing.

As you are browsing the internet for resources on how to accept credit cards for your business, you may stumble upon an ad that looks something like this:

Regardless of how many times you have seen an ad like this on Google, these “Free” credit card merchant accounts don’t exist.  When processors advertise “free merchant accounts,” they are usually referring to equipment or application fees.  All businesses have to pay interchange fees to card-issuing banks, assessments to the card brands and a markup of some sort to the processor.  Therefore, it can’t be entirely free.  Don’t waste your time looking for a completely free merchant account; instead use Novera Payment Solutions which offers a unique transparent pricing model unparalleled in the merchant services industry.

Understanding Credit Card Fees

Most processors still prefer to use tiered or a form of cost plus pricing in order to preserve the highest profit margins on merchant accounts.  Understanding these pricing forms is key in determining if your paying more than you should be for your merchant account.  Twice a year, the credit card brands review and adjust their transactional costs and pass them along to the processors.  In turn, the processors use this as an opportunity to raise the entire expense for the merchant.  Ultimately, this is what causes the merchant fee to creep upwards over time.  It’s not simple, it’s not transparent and it’s not fair pricing.  

The Novera Approach

Novera Payment Solutions has developed a unique flat fee credit card pricing format that passes along all the direct transactional costs:

1. Interchange
2. The processor costs
3. A small “flat fixed fee” per month depending on the monthly merchant volume (usually between $19.95 and $99.95 per month).  This amount is essentially the gross margin on the account.

Since everyone knows we are in business to make a profit, we are not hesitant to let our merchant clients know what a reasonable profit margin will be.

Over time, the savings can actually increase because unlike the “tiered” and/or other forms of cost plus pricing structures, our program only raises the one line item that is affected rather than increasing each tier when the credit card brands change their rates.  This is the only true transparent way of offering merchant processing. 

In most cases, Novera Payment Solutions also offers the option of either “Next Day” or “Weekend Funding,” and always with “Gross Deposits.”  Unlike many processors who deduct their rates/fees daily from your deposits, fees for our services are not collected until the month after the month you have been processing.  This means you get your money faster and it’s easier to reconcile with your bank statements.

Do you want to improve sales?  Think mobile first. 

Mobile technology creates new opportunities for businesses to build their brands, increase sales and improve customer engagement, experience and loyalty. Sixty-two percent of Americans now own a smartphone and 88 percent of 18 to 29 year olds own a smartphone. Smartphones are now fueling spending and retailers must adapt.

Check out these other statistics on smartphone usage in America from Mobile Payments Today.

Smartphone Shopping

• 94% of smartphone users look for local information on their phone
• 84% take action as a result, such as making a purchase or contacting the business
• 79% of smartphone owners are “smartphone shoppers”
• 17% use a smartphone to assist with shopping at least once a week
• 62% use a smartphone to assist with shopping at least once a mont
• 83% rely on their mobile device for dining decisions while traveling
• 46% of consumers have tried a new restaurant or menu item as a result of seeing a mobile ad
• Retailers’ total 2013 smartphone revenue grew 113% over 2012 and tablet revenue grew 86% over the same period

   

Smartphones for Directions and Dining

• 70% of 18 to 34 year olds have looked up locations or directions on a smartphone in the past month
• 35% of 18 to 34 year olds have placed food orders via smartphone or tablet
• 4 in 10, 18 to 34 year olds say they’d like to pay for their quick-service restaurant orders by mobile or wireless device if they could
• 98% of those who have ever paid a restaurant bill on a mobile phone say they’d be likely to do so again
• 55% of consumers want mobile payments
• On average, mobile payment users spend TWICE AS MUCH through digital channels

Technology Trends Having the Biggest Impact on Business

• 71% of Retailers say Social Media
• 52% of Retailers say Mobile / Online Shopping
• 51% of Retailers say Mobile / Online Promotions & Coupons
• 32% of Retailers say Use of In-Store Mobile Technology by Store Associates

Mobile Innovation

• 53% of retailers say mobile efforts are a top priority in 2014
• 49% of retailers say they can’t keep up with the new ways consumers are using technologies
• Almost 50% of limited-service restaurants plant to spend more resources on customer-facing technology such as WiFi, iPads, tablets and smartphone apps
• 16% of restaurants have a mobile app
• Of those, just 35% of those restaurants provide an app with order-placing capabilities
• 30% of restaurants say electronic ordering has increased volume of their orders
• 23% of kitchens reported being overloaded with orders from this increase
• 95% of independent restaurants don’t have mobile sites

Mobile Payments are a Necessity

Many businesses struggle to keep up with the pace of mobile innovation.  Will you accept the challenge?  Novera Payment Solutions is here to help you get setup to accept mobile credit card payments. We even offer a QuickBooks Plugin so can seamlessly accept credit card buttons directly through your existing QuickBooks software.  We are a leader in the credit card payments industry and we are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model. 

Contact Novera today to learn more about how we can help you!

LinkedIn is a great social network for meeting other business professionals.  It is also a great place for people to learn about your business.  With the ability to create company pages, you can now put your business in front of all the LinkedIn users.  Setting up a profile is pretty simple and with these steps, your page will be up and running in no time.

Step 1: Navigate Your Way to Companies

From your home screen, hover over “Interests” in the navigation and select “Companies” in the dropdown.  To the right of your screen you should see “Add a Company.”  Click that and you are ready to begin inputting your information.    

Step 2: Enter Name and Email

On the first screen, you will be prompted to enter your company name.  Type this name as you want it to appear on your LinkedIn Company page; this is how others will find your business.  You will also need to enter your email address at the company to prove that you are a current employee of the company. 

Step 3: Basic Information

On the next screen, you will be asked for some basic information about your business.  You can provide a link to your website, choose your industry, add a location and contact information and more.  This step is pretty self-explanatory. 

Step 4: Description

In this section, be sure to be detailed about your business without going overboard.  You want to use keywords that people will be looking for to find your business.  This is also the section where you can build creditability for your business.  You don’t need to talk about every individual product or service you offer in this section; there will be a place to add that later.  This should be a general summary of who you are as a business and what you do.

Step5: Pictures

You are also able to upload your logo which will appear similar to the way a profile picture would on Facebook.  You can also upload a cover photo to be displayed on your company profile page.  Once you have everything filled out and your pictures uploaded, click publish.  You can always come back and edit anything that you need to.     

Step 6: Products and Services

Here is where you can get into detail about the products and services your company offers.  Once you have saved your company profile, you should be on your company’s home screen.  In the navigation at the top, click on the Services link.  From that page you will be prompted to add a service or product.  If you do not see that option, go up to the edit button in the top right corner and in the dropdown you should see add product or service.  Now you can choose a category that your service or product fits into.  You have to name it, add a description and you can also upload a photo of it.  You can add features if you like and also add a link to a specific page on your website or a YouTube video about the product.     

Now your LinkedIn Company Profile is complete.  You can always add to it and update it as your business grows and changes.  Now it’s time to start promoting your page.  Be sure to let all your connections on your page know that you have a new company page and to go follow you.  Then be sure to post relevant content on a regular basis not only to your personal page, but also on your business page.  This will not only help you to be seen within LinkedIn, but having an active social media presence can help your business jump up in the search result rankings.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry. We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card  merchant accounts through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses  to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing! Contact Novera to request a free quote on your merchant account. We are confident that our flat fee merchant account will provide significant savings over what you are currently paying for your credit card processing fees.

QuickBooks® pitches itself as "a better way to run your business", allowing you to do more in less time, work anywhere, anytime, including all the essentials from bookkeeping and billing to payments and payroll.

No matter what type of business you have, keeping track of all your financial information is very important.  Having a reliable accounting system that is easy to use is essential.  QuickBooks® was created for use by small business and provides many features to cover your accounting and payroll needs. 

6 Possible Advantages of Using QuickBooks® for your Business

1.  It's User Friendly.

QuickBooks® is probably one of the easiest accoutning programs out there to use.  Sample companies are available for you to practice using the program with, allowing you to navigate through all of the features without messing up any of your company's real data.  And of course, there are tips and help features to get you through any challenge that may come your way. 

2.  It's extrememly customizable.

A nice feature in QuickBooks® is the ability to customize it to fit your business.  You can upload your logo to use on letterhead, invoices and reports.  You can setup your own layout for documents to make them work the way you want them to.  You can remove unecessary fields and edit the Greeting, Salutation, and more.  There are also several different versions of QuickBooks for you to choose from depending on the type of business you have.

3. It's compatible with other popular software for business.

Since QuickBooks® is a widely used product, it is compatible with many other programs you may already use for your business.  QuickBooks® was designed to be compatible with Microsoft Excel and Acrobat Reader.  This allows you to import and export data for use in reports, presentations and more.  If you are currently using Excel for your accounting, you can easily switch to QuickBooks without losing any of your work or having to re-enter everything; simply format your Excel document and upload your current data into the QuickBooks® system from Excel to get started. 

4. It's inexpensive.

The price of QuickBooks® is very affordable compared to a lot of the other accounting programs on the market.  Prices start at about $250 for the basic boxed package and as low as $12.95 per month for the online version.  They even offer a 30-day free trial so you can try it out before purchasing. You don’t even have to go to the store for the box version because they offer the program as a download on their website. 

5. It keeps your data organized.        

QuickBooks® can store a lot of information.  It tracks all of your checks, bills and invoices and can even keep track of your inventory and send you an alert when it’s time to re-order.  This feature will not only save you time, but will also increase accuracy and reduce errors.  You will always know where your business stands financially and you can even project forecasts. 

6. If you accept credit cards, you can integrate your merchant account.

Using Novera Payment Solutions' QBPlugin, you can easily integrate your merchant account with QuickBooks. This eliminates duplicate data entry, streamlines your process, and saves you money on credit card processing fees.

From billing and payroll to statements and reports, QuickBooks® has you covered.  Whether you are a small business or a larger enterprise, QuickBooks has designed a program just for you.  If you are looking to get rid of that old ledger or are just looking for a change in your accounting software, QuickBooks could be your solution.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry. We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses  to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing and our QBPlugin for QuickBooks!

Novera Payment Solutions recently teamed with Visiting Angels to provide franchise owners with a cost effective solution for their credit card processing needs. This strategic partnership enables Visiting Angels franchise owners to take advantage of the most current credit card payment processing technologies while utilizing Noveras innovative pricing structures for payment processing services.

About Visiting Angels

Visiting Angels is a national, private duty network of home care agencies. They are the nation’s leading provider of non-medical senior home care services.Visiting Angels provide in-home care, elder care, respite care, senior personal care, elderly care and companion care services. With their senior home care services, elderly adults can continue to live independently in their own homes. The directors and franchisees of Visiting Angels hold the philosophy that they are in business to provide the best care possible to seniors as well as others who need in home care while giving total respect to the care giving staff. That's why Visiting Angels is "America's Choice In Homecare". For more information about Visiting Angels, visit their website at http://www.visitingangels.com.

Visiting Angels Franchise Owners Can Now Accept Credit Cards with an Easy to Understand Flat Fixed Fee

Novera Payment Solutions provides an easy to understand flat fixed monthly fee structure. Many merchants don’t fully understand their card processing rates. In truth, the underlying cost to accept credit cards and debit cards is the same for all merchants, large and small and is comprised of Interchange fees and processor costs. Interchange makes up the majority of the cost of a monthly bill, and is never negotiable. Variable inflated rates and additional transaction fees make up for most of the difference and are where most processors make substantial profits. Under the new relationship arrangement ,Visitng Angels franchises can now receive a transparent, flat fixed monthly fee pricing model that remains in effect for the life of the account.

Add Efficiency to Your Home Health Care Business

Additionally, Novera will provide Visiting Angels franchise owners the opportunity to access innovative tools designed to help businesses run more efficiently and cut costs i.e. virtual terminals, mobile payments devices, website payments portal, and a “QBplugin” to work with QuickBooks software that ensures a seamless interface and postng tool. It’s all part of Novera’s suite of services and unique commitment to price transparency unparalleled in the payment processing industry.

John Wisniewski, Novera’s Director of Business Development, said, "By utilizing a flat fee pricing structure, Visiting Angels franchise owners can rest assured that they will never pay more than they should for processing services. We’re excited about our partnership with Visitng Angels in their efforts to provide their franchise owners with solutions that help them grow and succeed."

Google Introduced Hummingbird to the World on its 15th Anniversary

Yes, Google has done it again.  On the 15^th anniversary date of the company, the world’s most used search engine announced a new ranking algorithm called “Hummingbird.”  It is designed to give users faster query results and it is focused on user actually wants versus individual search terms. 

According to Google, this is the most dramatic algorithm change since 2001 and is a complete replacement of the old algorithm.

So what does that mean for your business? 
It means that if you are not creating original, deep, subject-relevant content often for your website and your social media channels, you may be falling behind.  The Hummingbird algorithm no longer uses the old approach of looking at each individual keyword in a Google search. Instead it looks at the query as a whole to process the meaning behind it.

According to Google, Hummingbird considers over 200 signals when determining a rank for a website. Traditional SEO practices are not necessarily dead … they are just not as relevant with this algorithm.  Building a trustworthy social media sphere that has hundreds (if not thousands) of fans and followers who interact with your content allows Google’s Hummingbird algorithm to better see your site, trust it as a recognized authority, and rank it appropriately for terms related to your business.

Here is An Example
With the old Google algorithm, if you searched for a long tail term like “who is the best provider of internet merchant accounts”, Google would look at each individual word in the string and factor in its relevancy with content, links, and meta-tags on websites to the return the results.  As its being described, with Hummingbird, Google attempts to find the most relevant results to the entire question by looking at content on websites along with associated social channels and social signals to indicate which sites reflect the best answer to this question. 

The Hummingbird algorithm is also geared toward displaying more relevant results to mobile users. 63% of all adult cell phone owners use their phone regularly to go online (according to socialmediatoday.com).  If you don’t already have mobile website, it may be time to consider one!

This algorithm change may not affect some businesses.  If your company website was already ranking poorly, you probably will not see a change.  If your business website was ranking well and you do see a drop in your traffic as a result of the algorithm change, talk with your webmaster.  It may be time for your business to develop a better social media and content strategy for your online presence.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is well known as a leader in the credit card payments industry and is committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model.

Novera Payment Solutions Advantange

• Novera Payment Solutions's consultative approach allows us to thoroughly educate our clients, equipping them to better understand this complicated industry.

• We take the mystery out of the credit card processing business.

• We work with all types of businesses across the country.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses  to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing.