| |
| |
|
Ecommerce Information |
|
|
|
The Clickbank Crash of 2003: Lessons Learned
I had a rude awakening recently. I checked the days worth of sales from one of my sites and there were none. This had never happened before and of course I was anxious to find out what was wrong. I quickly found out that the credit card processor Clickbank was under a hacker attack. Their service was effectively paralyzed by computers around the world flooding Clickbanks computers with bogus requests for information. They weren't the only web site being attacked. Similar attacks have happened against Yahoo and CNN in the past. This is the first one that effected me directly... right in the wallet. Time For Emergency Action Nobody knew how long Clickbank would be down. I wasn't going to wait around to find out! I had to take emergency measures to cope with it. I was not only losing sales that couldn't be placed, I was also losing money on online advertising. Pay per click accounts were sending people to my site which they couldn't order from. The first thing I did was pause my pay per click accounts until I got things under control. This saved me from wasting money on useless advertising. Alternate Payment Choice I needed another credit card processor to handle my sales and quick! I was lucky that I already had a Paypal account in place. I quickly created Paypal payment links so that customers could pay for my products. It was a matter of creating the links correctly and changing the webpages to handle the paypal transactions. I don't normally use Paypal because Clickbank's affiliate program is exceptional. In this case, I did not have much choice and it was easy for me to start accepting money again. Once Paypal was up and running, I reactivated my pay per click campaigns. I was happily rewarded within the hour with a sale... My first in a day. Thankfully Clickbank was back on its feet after about 3 days or so. I then switched things back to normal. Handling My Affiliates By using Paypal instead of Clickbank, I was denying my affiliates commissions on traffic they had sent me during this incident. I wanted to make it up to them as I didn't think it was fair to them. I did this by averaging out how much commission they had earned in the 30 days prior to the incident. I divided that total amount by 30 to come up with an average amount per day they had earned. I then gave them 3 days worth of this commission with an explaination of what happened. Ironically, I sent them their commissions through Paypal so they got them instantly. I received excellent feedback from appreciative affiliates. Some of them stated that my commissions were the only money they made during the time that Clickbank was down. How You Can Prepare Ahead Of Time There is no guarantee that Clickbank or any other payment processor won't be attacked by hackers again. It is extremely difficult to defend against. It would be smart getting a backup plan in place just in case. Here's a good back up plan:
I am sure a lot of lessons were learned during this time. I still love Clickbank, but now I have the experience of having a backup plan I can quickly put into place should anything like this happen again. You may want to prepare ahead of time also. About The Author Article by Tim Kerber from the Small Business Web Site. Learn proven secrets to make your web site a profitable success. Tips, tutorials, videos, interviews and more. Click here now -- http://www.SmallBusinessWebSite.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Web Hosting Offered to Non-Profits, with Ecommerce Software - WebSite Host Directory (press release)
Ecommerce - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Outsourcing Your Ecommerce Order Fulfillment When your eCommerce business grows to the point where you can no longer package and ship the orders yourself, it's time to begin outsourcing your order fulfillment. Although all order fulfillment centers offer the same basic services, their individual methods and costs will help you choose one over the other. Succeed With Your Own Home Based Business An internet business is by far the best way to support yourself if you just cannot stand working for others for less money than you need to survive. It's also the best way to get out of a good paying job that just takes up too much of your precious short life working for someone else. Your Readers are Publishers Too Too often we charge ahead and treat the web as if it were just like any other medium. We know it isn't, but somehow we just can't resist retaining complete control of the creation and publication of our website and newsletter content. Creating Legal Framework for E-commerce Taxation; non-tax statutes We have to make amendments in existing substantive and procedural laws to make it compactable with changing technological advancement of e-commerce?Amending Contract Act, 1872I recommend the amendments in section 3 and 4 of contract Act 1872 so as to make the compactable with section 13, 14 and 15, of the electronic transaction ordinance 2002 related with attribute of communication, acknowledgement of receipt and time and place of the communication between the parties. Either additional section should be added for acceptance device of 'electronic communication', or words be added in matter connected with electronic communication relevant section 13,14 and 15 be evoked while interpretation of section 3 and 4 of contract Act 1872. Web Store - Why Do You Need One? Internet has opened a new era of business opportunities. Each day, thousands of new consumers are joining the Internet. Say Something Worth Talking About I recently published a short e-book called 'One Thing I Know About Doing Business Online'. Seventeen people contributed - including Seth Godin, Jeffrey Zelman, Danny Sullivan, Jared Spool, Gerry McGovern and Ann Handley. E-Commerce Is Back On The Fast Track How much holiday shopping did you do on-line this year? If you are reading this, then chances are good that you made at least one purchase on-line. Over 54% of all Americans did it [1]. Projecting Your Image Whether you sell a product or merely sell time to your employer in your labor, your main product is you. You sell yourself with every move you make, every word you speak or write, every attitude you display. Intranet Portals - Collaboration through Team Rooms Knowledge Management for beginnersKnowledge Management (KM) can be defined simply as the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Knowledge assets are often grouped into two categories:(1) Explicit Knowledge Generally, everything and anything that can be documented, archived and codified. Web Users Crave Familiarity The sad truth is, general Web users would love it if all our sites looked like Amazon.com. Direct Marketing isn't all Brute Force There are so many metrics surrounding direct marketing. So many facts, figures, test results and other sundry measurements. Increasing E-commerce Website Sales With consumers purchasing billions of dollars of merchandise online each and every year, the Internet has become the key to financial security. The e-commerce business has consistently thrived well above all other online enterprises, and continues to flourish. Intranet Project Names - Some Ideas "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet."In this famous quote from Act II of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and the fact he is a Montague and she a Capulet (warring families) means nothing to their love. How To Start An Internet Business - Site Layout The fourth step of how to start an Internet business involves the layout of your site. When organizing it, two audiences must be considered. Cyber Banking The use of electronic cash as a means of transacting internet business may prove to be an acceptable alternative to credit card payments. It is reported that the withdrawal of major players from the attempt to develop e-cash is a significant setback. Merchant Accounts: What They Can Do For You Congratulations! You created an impulse in a customer to buy your product. One small catch? without some way to take their credit card number, your sale is as good as gone. Shop: Is Shopping Online Secure? Is shopping online becoming popular and safe enough for you and I to do the vast majority of our shopping on the Internet?As I contemplated, when I initially set up my website: www.shopshopshop. How to Receive Payments for Your Online Sales Once you decide which products you are planning to sell on the Internet, and what type of web store you are going to use in order to display your products, next vital decision that you have to take is to figure out how your customers are going to pay you. Whatever you plan to sell online, accepting credit card transaction is a must! A full 90 percent of all online sales occur through credit card payments. Expand Your Local Business Through the Internet To obtain more local customers for your business, consider expanding your local business through the Internet. Here are some ways of doing so. The Internet and Customer Care: Aid or Anarchy? It was reported in 'Marketing' magazine this month, that Britain is becoming a "disaffected nation", with each adult apparently making an average of 12 complaints to service providers each year, based on a "Service in Britain" survey by ASR (Andrew Smith Research). In response to the rise of the 'assertive consumer', brands are endeavouring to make sure 'good customer service' is a recognisable characteristic in the form of testimonials, efficient call centre responses and empowering staff throughout the company to resolve problems.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
