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Graphic, photographic or multimedia design services: These could provide a market “edge” and offer site visitors compelling content that will encourage return business. Providing quizzes, games or educational content may also be appropriate

Writing and editorial services; writing for the Web or email newsletters requires skills that professionals may be best at providing Application Service Providers (see Design and Publish Your Site )

“Merchant services”, i.e. credit card facilities on your site. These may be offered by your bank or by a business that offers other online retail services too. For more on merchant accounts, see the Online Credit Card Facilities

Online retailers – particularly retailers of non-digital goods – may find that a critical element in their success is the order fulfillment and delivery of their goods. Several businesses provide services tailored to the needs of E-Commerce businesses that require order fulfillment and/or delivery to customers, delivery services may be appropriate, especially if quick delivery is one of your business’ selling points.

Some important considerations when selecting these service providers are: Costs — volume discounts and scalable service contracts can be negotiated The software and/or databases you may require running your site. This will depend on the authoring software on which your site is developed and the functions your site performs (eg payment gateways); it may also depend on the web server and other software your ISP / web hosting service uses Support options offered (eg call 24-hour centre / helpdesk, “email only” support, Service Level Agreements) Security in place to prevent intrusion and fraud The amount of traffic – basically visitors – to your site Specialist features available (eg order tracking, client preview of work in progress, etc.) Amount of web server space required; other considerations may include the “redundancy” of servers in a hosting business, server backup routines

Reputation / references for the business providing the services: As with selecting an ISP, don’t shop by price alone – if at all. For more tips on selecting service providers see Choosing Service Providers in the Tips for Beginners section of this site.