The year 1996 saw the birth of a technology company that would change the nature of our civilization. Google which is synonymous with Internet related services like search, email, online advertising, cloud computing, hardware and small business software has been at the crux that has transformed our society into a knowledge economy. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who incorporated it as a privately owned entity on the 4th of September 1998. 2004 saw an IPO or initial public offering that was hugely successful. Their new offices are situated in Mountain View, California and has been christened as the Googleplex. Since then Google has been voted as one of the best places to work by many surveys across the world.

Last year Google’s parent company Alphabet reported a profit of US$ 46 Billion on revenues of US$ 75 Billion. If you convert that to Rupees it means a profit of more than Rs 3,00,000 Crores! Now that’s a lot of money and entrepreneurs like you could easily earn a regular income from home by enrolling in any of  Google’s offerings. If you run a blog or have the technical skills to develop a mobile application, this is the time to exploit these new opportunities to make money online. We have already published several guides on how to work from home along with a list of new ways to earn money on the Internet.

The Mission Statement That Defines Google

To quote directly from Google’s website, its mission is to analyze and structure the world’s knowledge and make it universally accessible and insightful. Google has become an important source of income source for freelancers from across the globe. There are lakhs of bloggers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh who depend on Google for their livelihoods. It is fairly easy to earn large amounts from the system if you figure out how it works. Given below is an explanation of four important Google products you can start using immediately to earn in dollars.

dsense –  https://www.google.com/adsense/start/

Earnings from Adsense is easy and it is used by lakhs of Indian publishers. Before you sign up for Adsense, you will need to setup up a website by creating a new domain name or sign up for a free blog on websites like blogger.com or wordpress.com. After the blog has been setup write about interesting topics revolving around travel,business, software, marketing and any other personal experiences.

Once you start getting visitors to your blog you can then sign up for an Adsense account. Google then evaluates your website to determine if it meets the high quality standards it expects. This process could take anything from 48 hours to an entire week. After your account is approved you can start displaying advertisements. There are many Indian bloggers who earn more than 1 lakh every month by displaying Adsense widgets on their blogs.

Sign Up As A Search Engine Evaluator – https://www.leapforceathome.com/qrp/public/job/43

Google uses algorithms to evaluate the results that Search Engines throw up. The downside is that the results are not error free and need a human interference to refine the result. It is the human touch that determines the usefulness and quality of the results. This is a precursor to creating better and more complex algorithms that can search faster and with more relevance.

Mostly available on contractual basis, the pay out is quite acceptable at US$ 12-15 ( Rs 1000) per day. If you take into consideration that you can work from home, with no commute and other related expenses, it seems quite attractive. You can easily earn Rs 30,000 per month by signing up for this program. If however you do not like working from home you can still opt to become an entrepreneur and start a business with a minimum investment of Rs 2 Lakh.

Build A Mobile Application And Publish It On Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps

The Google App Engine is a dream come true for mobile application builders. You can build scalable mobile applications with back-ends easily on this platform. The App engine has built in services like the NoSQL, Memcache and a user authentication API. The App engine does not require you to provision or maintain expensive servers. It scales the App automatically in response to the traction it generates.

You only need to pay for the resources used to publish your application. It is a great way to earn revenue with minimum investment. Your earnings will depend on the number of installs and active users you manage to sign up. It is estimated that app developers can earn around US$ 2 (Rs 120) for every thousand active users in a day who use your application. Google also has a free course where anyone can learn to build a mobile app for the Android platform without knowing any programming. 

Google News – Submit Your Website For Inclusion

Google News gets more than 350 million visitors from around the globe every month. If you website is listed in Google news you can get a small share of this visitor traffic. Many news publishers have become millionaires only by using Google News. During the US Elections held last year, teenagers from the Macedonia were earning as much as US$ 7000 per month by publishing news about the presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

These are four avenues to get work from Google. Do you know of any other better alternatives ? Do lend your voice to the discussion in the comments section below.

RELATED ITEMS:EARN MONEY FROM GOOGLE ADSENSE, SEARCH ENGINE EVALUATOR JOBS INDIA

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ONLINE PAYMENTS & MONEY TRANSFER

Best Money Transfer Service To India

The Prime Minister of India announced his demonetization scheme which involves banning existing notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes on November 8^th 2016. This move is expected to help catch Black Money Hoarders, Hawala Dealers, Corrupt Officials and Politicians. The decision was announced soon after ICD (Income Declaration Scheme for Undisclosed Income) 2016 scheme announced by Income Tax department came to an end.

While this move has been applauded by people across the different classes and even the masses, there is another side to the Demonetization story . Even if the purpose of this move was noble and applause worthy, the lack of a proper framework to implement this decision has left the common man exasperated. Given that India was the largest recipient for remittances in the year 2015 (US$ 69 billion as per World Bank Report – Migration and Development Brief), the domestic, as well as foreign remittances to India have been affected by Demonetization towards the end of 2016.

According to some informed sources working in the foreign exchange departments of a nationalized bank, expatriates are not able to transfer money to their families in India due to the ban on notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000. This is because the notes which were banned constituted almost 80-85% of cash circulating in the economy. With that now gone, remittance companies are unable to disburse transfers made from abroad. This has affected the families of expatriate workers who are dependent on this income to manage their households. While some companies like Western Union have started issuing cheques, it is difficult to withdraw money from bank accounts because of weekly limits.

There are still a few ways to beat the side effects of demonetization. There are multiple money transfer services, which are well positioned to transfer dollars to India. These services have adopted several unique ways to let the receiver withdraw or receive money sent by an overseas remitter. Some offer to convert it into a bank deposit while others deliver it to your doorstep. This article will further review some of the best money transfer services to India.

Xoom – https://www.xoom.com/

Xoom is company owned by PayPal. It was acquired in 2015 for close to Rs 5000 Crore and now offers the fastest and most secure way to transfer money, recharge and pay bills globally. Xoom was started in 2001 and is widely used by NRI’s living in the United States to send money back home. Xoom has a large scale operations in emerging economics of India, Mexico and Phillippines on which it has been focused since inception.

USP

1. Quickest and reasonable money transfer rates. It boasts of money transfer within 4 hours if such a transfer is made within the working hours of Indian banks. (Usually between 9:00 am to 4:00 pm IST)
2. No transfer fees for transfer of funds for amounts higher than US$ 1000.
3. Has a dedicated mobile app for instant and convenient transfer through mobile devices.

Requisites

1. Xoom money transfer service transfers funds from a US bank account, debit card or credit card to the receiver’s bank account. Hence, the receiver must have a bank account in India to receive it.

Remitguru – http://www.remitguru.com/

RemitGuru is supported by one of the biggest E-commerce Payment Gateway Companies in India, Avenues India Pvt. Ltd. This company also provides a popular payments gateway known as “CCAvenue”. Avenues India Pvt Ltd is the first company in South Asia to comply with rigorous global standards on security because of which it has gained popularity and trust among Indian expatriates.

USP

1. Remittance of funds from any location, any bank, anytime.
2. Best exchange rates offered.
3. Lowest or no transaction fees for large sums transferred through RemitGuru.
4. Status tracker for checking status of remittance.
5. Direct deposit or demand draft facility available for the receiver.

Requisites

1. Recipient and Remitter need to have bank account

Remit2India – https://www.remit2india.com/

This money transfer service comes from house of Bennett Coleman & Co who are the publishers of Times Of India and owners of  TimesofMoney. The company has been successfully carrying out secure and convenient transfers of funds to India for more than 15 years. This service has operations in 24 countries and deals in 10 different currencies.

USP

1. Has more than 1 Million customers worldwide.
2. Allows referral rewards.
3. Online transfer and wire transfer mode of funds has no upper cap for fund transfer.
4. Smart check transfer (can transfer checks without even going to bank).
5. Discount offers which may lead to lesser fees on transaction.

Requisites

1. Both the remitter and receiver need to have bank accounts

Drawback

1. It only transfers funds to India, hence the remitter may need to set up an account on other platforms if he needs to remit money to other countries.

BookMyForex – https://www.bookmyforex.com/

This money remittance service is a new startup in the competitive field of money transfer services. It offers various Forex services like traveler’s cheques, prepaid cards, demand drafts etc. It requires the remitter to book orders as per his or her Forex requirements. BookMyForex will choose an appropriate bank or Forex company close to your location. The chosen bank or Forex Company will then schedule door delivery or the order can be picked up from their office.

USP

1. Forex can be booked at live rates.
2. Exchange rates can be locked in for 3 days.
3. It has network of verified RBI authorized banks and Forex companies.
4. It boasts of savings of almost around 2.5%-6% over other banks or Forex Companies.
5. Has a mobile app with friendly user interface.

RELATED ITEMS:NRI FUNDS TRANSFER TO INDIA, WHICH SERVICE OFFERS BEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

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ONLINE PAYMENTS & MONEY TRANSFER

Top Payment Gateways In India – 2017 List

A payment gateway is an online service provided by software companies in collaboration with financial service providers like Visa and Master Card that enables a website to accept electronic payments. In India payment gateways are offered by private banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Yes Bank, along with international players like Paypal. A payment gateway comprises of a secured encrypted connection created between your web portal and the commercial bank. It enables a business to get money into it’s chosen bank account through different channels like credit card, debit card, internet banking, prepaid cards and mobile wallets.

To put it in simple terms, a payment gateway is a secure page where you have to fill in the details of your financial instrument and complete the transaction.

How a Payment Gateway looks like on a website.

You will be need to setup a payment gateway if you want to accept payments online. If you are a popular blogger  you do not need a payment gateway unless you intend to sell digital goods and services on your blog.

With growing cyber crime, it is important to choose the right solution provider so that you do not suffer any financial loss because of fraudulent transactions. If you are an individual looking to just accept payments in your own name you should instead just opt for a digital wallet like Paypal.

Payment gateways in India are witnessing high growth in recent weeks because of the demonetization of high-value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000. With only Rs.100 and lesser denominations being in circulation, many entrepreneurs have signed up to accept digital payments. Some services like Instamojo are even offering a free sign up bonus of Rs 500 to every new user.

To encourage adoption of digital payments in India, the Reserve Bank Of India has announced discounts on services charges along with the temporary waiving of service tax. The government through RBI has also reduced the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for transactions up to Rs 2000 until 31st March 2016. So this is the best time to launch your website as you will save a ton of money on transaction charges. Once your website is setup you can easily learn about how to acquire new customers by completing these free online courses on Digital Marketing. Then you are ready to start building your online empire.

The Heart Of Every Online Business

Payment gateways are the heart of any online business without which no digital transaction can take place. India is in the middle of an Internet boom that has seen internet users grow to about 350 million currently and this user base is expected to touch 600 million by 2020. It is thus important to choose your solution provider after conducting a thorough research with a long term view.

A online payments service provider could be evaluated on the following parameters :

1. Payments Accepted : Whether the gateway accepts credit cards, debit cards, internet banking and other new options like Bitcoin. The more options you have, the higher are the chances of the sale being completed.
2. Failure Rate : All payments go through multiple hiccups like downtime, OTP delays and failure to authenticate. So ask your developer to evaluate gateways on failure rates.
3. Charges : A payment gateway and bank account will usually cost you anything between Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 in set-up costs, along with incremental payments averaging 2% on every transaction. You will typically be charged additional fees for any of the charge-backs. There are two fees that you will charged for every checkout software –  bank fees and payments gateway fees. However there are many free options also available on the market where setup fees are waived.
4. Plugin Compatibility : Some of the popular payment service providers offer easy to integrate plugins which are easy to maintain and update.
5. Payment Cycle : The payment can take anywhere from 2-10 days to be credited to you bank account once processed. So inquire about their payment schedule.
6. International and Domestic Cards : Most payment service providers have different products for the domestic merchants and international merchants. If you want to accept foreign currencies the charges will usually be higher.
7. Customer Service – Without doubt you can expect to encounter fraudulent activities on your website at some point of time. Stolen card details and passwords are used by cyber criminals to purchase legitimate goods. So you will then need to contact their customer support to resolve these issues. It thus helps to inquire and determine if their customer support is efficient and timely.

Now that you know what a payment gateway is and how to choose one, take a look at some of the companies listed below :

Zaakpay – https://www.zaakpay.com

Zaakpay is new startup that currently powers more than 500 merchants and claims to have conducted over 1 billion transactions internationally. The company has the stated goal of streamlining payments transactions in India. Founded in year 2011, Zaakpay has two major products to offer merchants – Webpay and Bankpay. It is also has different offerings for mobile (Mpay) and web (Webpay) platforms. You can accept payments in multiple currencies like Euro, Dollar and Rupee. Customers have given high ratings to their services and lauded it’s fast merchant approval rates.

Another interesting feature of their services is the T+1 Payment cycle. In such a settlement cycle you receive digital payments into your bank account on the second day after the payment is made on your website. Other companies are know to take 3-5 days to process your payments

Features Of Zaakpay :

• 100% online registration and approval process. No need of physical documents.
• Accept payments through Net-banking, Debit and Credit cards.
• Supports all Indian and International Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express Cards.
• More than 52 Indian Banks are supported through Net-banking.
• Customized payment streams for your customers and high transaction success rates.
• Easy to integrate with instinctive dashboards. API’s enabled which can be easily scaled up.
• Provides payment settlement cycles of T+1 and T+2.
• Has multi-currency support along with the ability to save card details.
• Facilitates auto-retry payment and customized reporting.
• Integration Plugins available for all almost all PHP and Javascript based Content Management systems. This includes WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. Works well with Java and .Net based platforms.
• Has 24×7 email support through contact form, chat and email.

Maximum Transaction Discount Rate(TDR) for transactions range around 3%. Lowest TDR for credit card and debit card is 2.25%. They have setup fees that ranges between Rs.10,000 to Rs 30,000.

CitrusPay – http://www.citruspay.com/merchants/

CitrusPay facilitates digital payments and online checkout processes for more than 800 million strong electronically linked user base. CitrusPay was founded in 2011. It has over the years emerged as the preffered choice of million and has an admirable list of clients. It also counts legendary silicon valley billionaire, Peter Thiel as one of it’s investors.

It provides a single management panel in which a layout of user friendly check-boxes aid you in enabling or disabling payment options and refunding trades. It provides excellent customer support and has been winning rave reviews from varied clients across multiple geographies. CitrusPay also allows users the liberty to opt for EMI’s while making payments.

CitrusPay has one of the lowest service charges in the industry; they levy a flat 1.99% + Rs. 3 for each transaction done through them. CitrusPay also levies Rs. 1,200 as a yearly maintenance fee. Their superior infrastructure translates into a very high conversion rate for merchants. For big merchants the company has a steady payment service with a setup fee charged. For all transactions, the merchant needs to pay 2.9 percent of the sale proceeds as fee. Though, it levies no setup fees to small merchants.

Emvantage – https://www.emvantage.com

Founded in year 2012 Emvantage claim to have a very high transaction success rate. It provides users extensive options and also allows them to use prepaid cards and newly launched Rupay Debit Cards. High level security and user friendly interfaces enhances its appeal to Geeks.

• Provides ready to integrate features for 3D Secure.
• Supports QR code based processing options.
• It provides ready options for integration with IMPS and UPI Interface.

Transaction charge on debit card and IMPS is 1.5%, and on Rupay / Master / Visa /net banking it is 2.75%. International transaction will set you back by 3.25 %. Transaction charges on EMI is 1.5%. There is no setup charge with this payment gateway. Amazon acquired Emvantage for an undisclosed amount in early 2016 and plans to use it to grow its user base among Indian e-commerce websites.