Do you want to collect money on your website? If so, a great starting point is to use PayPal. There’s little overhead other than the PayPal fees and the initial labor of setting up the links.
To get started, login into or create your new business PayPal account. If you have an existing account, choose Tools and Business Setup. The top left button says On Your Website and when you mouse over it, it says Add a Payment Button. Click on that.
On the next screen, choose Option 1. Then follow the instructions to create your “Buy Now” button. You can even charge sales tax and shipping.
The only advanced feature I’ve used in Step 3 is the landing page. You can enter a web page URL that you create that can act as a thank you page. It can also contain further instructions. For example, if your client just signed up for a class, you can include the directions and address to the class on the thank you page. Look for the “Take customers to this URL when they finish checkout” option, check the box and enter the URL of the thank you page you set up.
When you’ve entered everything you want the button to do, click Create Button at the bottom of the page. You’ll get a page that shows the code you need to put on your website to build the PayPal link.
Copy this code and paste this to your WordPress page where you want the button to go. Be sure you’re in HTML view and not text view when you paste it to your WordPress page. View your page and see your button!
You can create as many buttons as you want in PayPal. Each one will have their special code for you to put on your website.
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When a client clicks on the button to make their payment, they do not have to have a PayPal account. They can pay either by credit card or they can use their PayPal account to pay. You’ll get an email from PayPal when someone has used the payment button.
PayPal is a great way to get started taking online payments without the added overhead of a shopping cart and merchant account.