If your business provides services and goods that can be purchased online, then ask yourself this question: am I doing everything I can to enable my visitors to buy my products?

Are you offering them a complete range of payment options? Or are you, like some many online businesses, making the mistake of assuming everyone has a valid credit or debit card? They don't.

In reality more than 11% of the population of the United States doesn't have a credit or debit card and, of course, millions more are maxed out at any one time. Do you really want to ignore 30 million plus potential customers? No? I didn't think so.

The solution is to offer a check payment option to your potential customers. With the increased availability of online check solutions for all sizes of business, problems normally associated with accepting checks - such as delays in receiving payment, bad checks and the additional banking time - are largely a thing of the past.

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE CHECK PROCESSING

A complete online check processing service will include check verification, so you can determine whether an account is overdrawn or closed before dispatching goods; the ability to accept checks by fax and phone as well as online; fast, automated transfer of funds from the customers account to yours and even electronic check recovery.

As well as increasing the number of potential customers, there are other advantages of such a solution for any online business. These include :

• Eliminates "the check is in the mail" syndrome.
• Allows faster access to funds than waiting for check payment by mail.
• Reduces labor costs associated with physical check processing.
• Cheaper than accepting credit cards and lower risk of credit card charge backs.
• Saves on expensive invoicing and mailing costs.

CHOOSING AN ONLINE CHECK PROCESSOR

There are now quite a few companies offering third party online check processing services. Many of these also provide integration with your current shopping cart. The smaller online business would be well advised to choose a service that takes a small percentage of the value of each check with no monthly minimum number of transactions.

Conversely, companies dealing with larger check values will find that a transaction processor offering a flat fee per check is a better option.

Whichever option you choose, online check processing can both increase your customer base and streamline your current billing processes. It maybe time you asked your customers to get their checks out at checkout.

Jason Schwartz is CEO of Creative Cash Flow Solutions. Established 1998, Creative Cash Flow offers check verification, online check processing and ACH payment services. You can learn more about their online check processing solutions here: http://www.ilovechecks.com/internet/