Customized PayPal Payment Pages

Friday, December 18, 2009

If you’re using Paypal to take payements, you've probably heard of Custom Payment Pages.

PayPal allows you to add a header or logo to the PayPal checkout process, in addition to background colors and font colors.

You've probably purchased items using someone's PayPal page before and seen a company logo above the PayPal form, instead of the generic company name. You've also probably had a little more trust in that company because of it.

First of All, here's how you set up a custom Payment page in PayPal:

  • Login to your Paypal account and click the profile tab.
  • Then click “Custom Payment Pages”

Then you see this field on the page:

Header Image URL – Please specify an image that is a maximum size of 750 pixels wide by 90 pixels high. Larger images will be cut to this size. The image you choose will appear at the top left of the payment page. We recommend providing an image only if it is stored on a secure (https) server.

Sounds easy enough, right? Well, there is one glitch in the mix. The image needs to be on a secure (https) server, or your visitors will get the dreaded "unsecure message".

I know this stops many of you from completing the page, since they don’t wish to pay for an SSL account (which may be one of the reasons they're using PayPal to begin with!).

Now, there's a solution! It's free, it's easy and it's secure! It's ffrom the file download site e-junkie.com.

You can create and store a secure image in seconds with SSLpic.com

Upload your image and SSLpic sends you an email with the secure link. That's it! Takes a couple of seconds.

Once you've gotten your link, go back to your Custom Payment Page and use it for your new header logo. Choose your header background color to match your new header logo, and you're good to go! For a seamless look, make your whole page background the same look. I recommend creating a nice header that's about 750 pixels wide for a full-page look.

Simple, huh? Not only do you have a nicer looking checkout page, but it will probably translate into slightly higher conversions, now that you've given your customers a little more confidence in you.