WebSpawner.com Blog

In today’s post we take a look at domain names and how you can use your own domain name with your website.

If you’ve spent any time at all on the internet you’ve likely encountered many domain names, whether you were aware of it at the time or not.

When a computer connects to a web site it does so through use of an IP address (or “Internet Protocol address”) which is a unique string of numbers that identifies a particular server (the host of a web site). IP addresses consist of a string of four numbers between 0 and 255, separated by periods. For example, the IP address for the popular search engine Google is 216.239.37.99 - so if you enter 216.239.37.99 into your browser’s Address bar you will be connected to the Google site.

While using numerical IP addreses may be simple enough for a computer, few humans are going to remember all those numbers every time he or she would like to visit a particular web site. The solution to this dilemma is a domain name.

Domain names are a wise investment for businesses large and small or even individuals who wish to have a presence on the world wide web. Not only is it inexpensive to register a unique domain, but the domain can help promote a business name or brand. For instance, eBay.com, Apple.com, and Jeep.com are all domains which reinforce the company names of the respective businesses and are easy for people to recall, helping contribute to the success of both the web sites and the businesses themselves.

Perhaps the best thing about domain names is that they are available to anyone. Any individual or business may affordably register a chosen domain (as long as it has not been registered already by someone else). Domains must be registered through a domain name registrar, which is a company accredited to register internet domain names.

If you register a domain name of your choosing and have an Enhanced Web Site account with WebSpawner, you can have your domain connected (or forwarded) to your website at no additional cost in just a few easy steps.

First you will need to register your domain with a domain registrar, such as Misk, DomainsNext, or DNbuy . Simply go to a registrar’s site and follow the instructions provided to select your unique domain name and register it. Domain registrations cost just a few dollars per year.

After you have registered your domain name, you will need to change the Name Server Settings (aka DNS Settings or Domain Name Server Settings) for your domain. This is done through the login area provided to you by the domain registrar you selected. The Name Server settings will need to be changed to the following:

Primary DNS: ns.webspawner.com
Secondary DNS: ns2.webspawner.com

If you need assistance with changing the Name Server Settings for your domain, ask your domain registrar for help and provide them with the settings above.

When the Name Server Settings have been adjusted, login to your WebSpawner account using your Account Name and Password. Next, contact WebSpawner Customer Service through the orange “Customer Service” tab in the Members Menu. Advise Customer Service of your registered domain name and confirm that the Name Server Settings have been changed - WebSpawner will take care of setting up your domain from there. In just a few days, your domain will be functioning with your web site!

In Part 1 of this series, the steps required to open and activate a PayPal account were detailed. In Part 2, we discussed adding a PayPal “Buy Now” button to your web site to sell an item. Now in Part 3, we will cover the use of PayPal’s Shopping Cart feature.

Using a PayPal Shopping Cart presents a number of conveniences to your site’s buyers as they can take time to look through your entire site while adding items to a virtual “shopping cart” as they wish. When buyers are finished selecting items to buy they can view the contents of their shopping cart and then checkout securely through PayPal, making a single payment to you for all the items purchased.

To add a PayPal Shopping Cart to your site, log in to your PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com/ with your Email Address and Password. Next, click the blue ‘Merchant Services’ tab near the top of the page. After the page has refreshed, go down to the ‘PayPal Website Payments Standard’ section and click the “PayPal Shopping Cart” link under the ‘Key Features’ list.

The next form prompts you to enter details for an item you wish to sell. Enter the Item Name; for example, “Blue Widget.” Next, enter the Item ID Number, if you have one. Then enter the Price of the item; for example, “$4.99.” If you are selling in a currency other than U.S. Dollars or wish to sell to buyers from a specific country, you can make those choices in the drop-down menus; otherwise, leave the defaults of “U.S. Dollars” and “United States” selected.

Next, under the section titled ‘Select an Add to Cart button’ you can keep the default “Add to Cart” button shown by clicking the small round button next to it, or you can click the “Choose a different button” link to see several other button styles, then select the small round button next to your desired style and then click the ‘Continue’ button. PayPal provides an option for you to use your own custom button image if you prefer, but many styles are already provided to choose from which will likely suit your needs.

If you need to add Sales Tax or Shipping Costs for your item, you can click the ‘Add More Options’ button and follow the instructions provided on the form. Otherwise, just click the ‘Create Button Now’ button.

The PayPal site will then provide your ‘Add to Cart Button’ code and ‘View Cart Button’ code. Begin with the ‘Add to Cart Button’ code. Click inside the box with the code, and select all of the code within the box (use Control-A on Windows computers or Command-A on Macs), then copy that code (Control-C on Windows, or Command-C on Macs).

Open a new browser window (keep the PayPal window open as you will need it again momentarily) and log in to your WebSpawner webpage account at http://www.webspawner.com/login.html . Select your desired web page and click the ‘Modify’ button; or to place your button on a new webpage click the ‘Create’ button instead. Scroll down to the ‘Body Text’ step and click in the box, then paste the copied code (Control-V on Windows, or Command-V on Mac). Also add a description of the item you are selling to the Body Text box.

Now return to the PayPal window (but keep your WebSpawner window open too) and get the ‘View Cart Button’ code. Click inside the box with the code, and select all of the code within the box, then copy that code.

Return to your WebSpawner window and paste the copied ‘View Cart Button’ code into the Body Text box, being careful to add it after the contents of the box without replacing the contents already there. Use the Image Upload step to add an image of your item if you wish. Be sure to complete the process by clicking ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the form, and then click ‘I Like It’ at the page preview to save and publish your changes. Your page will now contain two buttons: an ‘Add to Cart’ button to allow a visitor to select the described item for purchase, and a ‘View Cart’ button so the buyer can check the contents of the Shopping Cart.

Repeat the procedures above to create ‘Add to Cart’ buttons for each item you are selling and create a new web page in your WebSpawner account for each item. Add the ‘Add to Cart’ button code, item description, ‘View Cart’ button code and upload an image if you wish. The ‘View Cart’ button should be added to each page of your site to allow buyers to check the cart contents at any time.

Visitors of your site who click the ‘View Cart’ button will be taken to a secure PayPal page, where the Item Name, Number, and Price for all items added to the cart are displayed. The buyer will be able to ‘checkout’ and purchase your items securely online using his or her own PayPal account or major credit card. PayPal will send both you and the buyer an email message confirming the transferred payment, details of purchased items and the buyer’s shipping address, and you can safely ship the items to the buyer with the knowledge that PayPal has moved the funds for the purchased items into your account.

While these steps may seem a little lengthy, they are by no means difficult and will seem even easier with each time you go through the process. With just a little time and effort you can have a site with many pages offering all of your items for sale. Visitors to your site will appreciate the convenience of the Shopping Cart feature, and you may experience more sales as a result.

Keep in mind that PayPay provides a “Help” link at the top-right corner of the PayPal window, which you may use anytime to view frequently-asked questions and answers or to obtain personalized assistance from PayPal representatives if you have a specific question.

Best of luck with your online selling!

In Part 1 of this series, PayPal was discussed as a popular way to sell items online, and the steps required to open and activate a PayPal account were detailed. Here in Part 2, we will cover adding a PayPal “Buy Now” button to your web site to sell an item.

Log in to your PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com/ with your Email Address and Password. Next, click the blue ‘Merchant Services’ tab near the top of the page. After the page has refreshed, go down to the ‘PayPal Website Payments Standard’ section and click the “Buy Now Buttons” link under the ‘Key Features’ list. This handy tool allows you to easily create individual buttons for each item you would like to sell on your site.

Under the section titled ‘Enter the details of the item you wish to sell’ enter an Item Name; for this example we will enter the name “Widget.”

If you have an Item ID or Item Number, enter that next; for purposes of our example, we will enter Item Number “007″. If you do not have an Item ID or Number, leave the field blank.

Next, enter the Price of the Item you wish to sell; for our example Widget item we will enter a price of “$4.99″.

By default, the Currency is set to U.S. Dollars and the Buyer’s Country is set to the “United States.” Of course, you may change the Currency and Country if you wish… PayPal automatically handles any necessary currency conversion for you.

Next, under the section titled ‘Choose a button to copy to your website’ you can keep the default “Buy Now” button shown by clicking the small round button next to it, or you can click the “Choose a different button” link to see several other button styles, then select the small round button next to your desired style and then click the ‘Continue’ button. PayPal provides an option for you to use your own custom button image if you prefer, but many styles are already provided to choose from, which will likely suit your needs.

Under the ‘Security Settings’ section, you can choose whether or not to encrypt your payment button. We suggest you choose ‘Yes’ so that your item’s details cannot be altered by another party.

If you need to add Sales Tax or Shipping Costs for your item, you can click the ‘Add More Options’ button and follow the instructions provided on the form. Otherwise, just click the ‘Create Button Now’ button.

The PayPal site will then provide custom HTML code for your ‘Buy Now’ button. Click inside the box with the code, and select all of the code within the box (use Control-A on Windows computers or Command-A on Macs), then copy that code (Control-C on Windows, or Command-C on Macs).

Open a new browser window (keep the PayPal window open in case you need to go back to it and copy again) and log in to your WebSpawner webpage account at http://www.webspawner.com/login.html . Select your desired page and click the ‘Modify’ button; or to place your button on a new webpage click the ‘Create’ button instead. Scroll down to the ‘Body Text’ step and click in the box, then paste the copied code (Control-V on Windows, or Command-V on Mac). Also add a description of the item you are selling to the Body Text box, and use the Image Upload step to add an image of your item if you wish. Be sure to complete the process by clicking ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the form, and then click ‘I Like It’ at the page preview to save and publish your changes. Your site will then contain a “Buy Now” button.

Note that PayPay provides a “Help” link at the top-right corner of the screen, which you may use anytime to view frequently-asked questions and answers or to obtain assistance from PayPal representatives if you have a question.

If you wish to sell multiple different items with different Names and Prices, you can repeat this process to create additional PayPal “Buy Now” buttons for each of your items.

Visitors of your site who click a “Buy Now” button will be automatically taken to a secure PayPal page, where your Item Name, Number, and Price are displayed, and the buyer will be able to purchase your item securely online using his or her own PayPal account or major credit card. PayPal will send both you and the buyer an email message confirming the transferred payment, purchased item details and the buyer’s shipping address, and you can safely ship the item to the buyer with the knowledge that PayPal has moved the funds for the purchase into your account.

Next, in Part 3 of the series, we will discuss using PayPal’s Shopping Cart feature to allow buyers to select multiple items from your site and pay for them all with a single PayPal checkout.

Make it easy for your web site’s visitors to buy the products you sell… add PayPal payment options to your site today and increase your sales!

PayPal is a convenient and trusted method of transferring funds online, allowing buyers to purchase items using Visa, Mastercard and other major credit cards from online sellers. PayPal use has skyrocketed in part due to the popularity of the online auction site eBay and now serves over 100 million accounts.

PayPal is secure as neither the buyer nor the seller has access to the credit card details of the other party; PayPal acts as a middle-man, moving the funds from the buyer’s account to the seller’s account. PayPal handles your customer’s sensitive payment details so that you do not have to. Best of all, a customer does not have to set up a PayPal account to buy online from you; they can simply enter their credit card details into PayPal’s secure online form to complete their purchase of your item.

PayPal provides a short demonstration of how PayPal online payments work, which you can view at PayPal’s Standard Demo .

This article is the first of a three-part series in which we will explain how you can begin accepting PayPal payments through your website. The remainder of this article focuses on creating your PayPal account, while parts 2 and 3 will detail, respectively, how to place a “Buy Now” button on your site to sell a single item and how to use PayPal’s Shopping Cart tool to sell multiple items with a single check-out.

The first step to accepting PayPal payments through your site is to create a PayPal account. Signing up for a PayPal account is easy and free. To begin, go to http://www.paypal.com/ and click the ‘Sign Up Now’ button.

You will be prompted to select an Account Type from the following options:

1. Personal Account - best suited for individuals looking to shop online, not for selling online.
2. Premier Account - best suited for both buying and selling online, allowing you to securely accept credit, debit, and bank account payments.
3. Business Account - similar to the Premier account; suited for online businesses which will have more than one individual accessing the PayPal account.

For online selling a Premier account should meet your needs, unless you have more than one individual at your business who will need to be able to access your company’s PayPal account; if this is the case, select a Business Account instead. Note that PayPal charges the seller a small fee based upon the amount of each transaction… full fee explanations are provided through the ‘low fees’ link under each Account Type and range from 1.9% to 2.9% of the transaction amount, plus $0.30 (in US Dollars).

Select your desired Account Type, provide the country where you live in the drop-down menu and then click the ‘Continue’ button.

The next secure form will prompt you for your Name, Address, Telephone, a valid Email Address (which will be used for logging into your account), and Password. The information you enter is only for PayPal’s use and will not be shared with other parties. Select a secure password which will be easy to remember yet difficult for others to guess…the most secure passwords are not common words but rather are a combination of letters and numbers. Paypal requires a password with at least 8 characters; longer passwords are generally more secure than shorter ones. The password you enter will be case-sensitive, in that upper- and lower-case letters must be entered in exactly the same way each time you log in, so be sure to enter your password exactly as desired.

Next, select two ‘Security Questions’ and provide your own answers to those questions. These questions and answers are used in the event that your password is misplaced and you need to regain access to your account, so be sure to enter your responses carefully and remember them.

Then read PayPal’s User Agreement and Privacy Policy on the form, and click to check the boxes indicating that you agree to these policies as a user of PayPal’s services. Finally, enter the security code as shown in the small yellow box at the bottom of the form, and then click the ‘Sign Up’ button.

PayPal will then send an email message to the address you provided. Retrieve the email message and click on the link provided in the email… this confirms both that your email address is valid and that you have access to it. A browser window will open to a PayPal secure login screen, where you must enter your password in order to activate your account. Congratulations… you now have your very own PayPal account!

In order to sell using your new PayPal account, you must provide PayPal with a credit card or bank account. On the left side of the PayPal window (under ‘Activate Account’) click either the ‘Add Credit Card’ or ‘Add Bank Account’ link. If you choose to add a Credit Card, you will be prompted to provide your Name, Card Type, Card Account Number, Expiration Date, and Card Verification Number as well as Billing Address; click the ‘Add Card’ button when finished to save the card details. If you choose to add a bank account instead, you will be prompted to provide your Bank Name, Type of Account (Checking or Savings), and your Routing and Account Numbers, both of which can be found on your checks (a sample is shown in the online form); click the ‘Continue’ button when finished to save your account details.

If you don’t yet have a web site and are looking to start selling items online, we invite you to create a free web site using WebSpawner.com. Tomorrow, in Part 2 of this series, we’ll look at adding a PayPal “Buy Now” button to your web site so you can begin selling.