Author:  Kevin Purdy
Publisher: O’Reilly

When I picked up O’Reilly’s book in their missing manual series on Google+, I was interested in getting an overview of Google+, how it works, what it is useful for, and why I would want to add Google+ to my arsenal of social media tools. The book did not disappoint me in delivering on my expectations.

As a web designer, clients ask me for my opinions on the various social media tools out there. I don’t need to embrace each of them but I should know enough to formulate an opinion. This book helped me do so.

It goes through the basics of Google+. What it is. How it works. How to get started with it. So I used the steps to set up my own account.  If you have an email account with Gmail or use any of Google’s services that require you to log in, you can use that same account to set up your Google+ account. Otherwise you can go through the easy steps to set up an account.

I like the structure of Google+ and various features in it. For example, I think of my friends and associates as circles of people rather than Facebook’s various levels of friends. Google+ thinks that way too. With Google+ I can have a circle of people which are family, another one for business associates, another one for computer user group people, etc. Some of those circles have overlapping people which is just fine with Google+. It just seems that Google+ works in ways that I do, rather than trying to make me “like” everyone as friends (yes, I don’t necessarily “like” everyone I know and view them as close friends <gasp!>). But I do have circles of people. And the people in my business sphere don’t care to see my posting to family members and my niece in Florida probably doesn’t care about my upcoming business events in Connecticut.

Like most other social media, Google+ suggests that I give them access to my entire contact list so they can try to match me up with others. Nope, I don’t do that for G+, Facebook or any of the others. One of the things that impressed me about Facebook and LinkedIn when I first signed up, was their ability to take 3-4 of my “friends” and feed me a constant string of suggested others that I should befriend. But Google+ just suggested that unless I filled my circles with friends, I’d be mighty lonely. And they were correct. My circle still stands at a hand-full of people.

As you might notice, this is a review of the book as well as of Google+. So to summarize, the book is excellent. If you want to get up to speed on setting up Google+, this book will take you through the steps to do so. It is easy reading while being very thorough. My first impression of Google+ is not quite as enthusiastic though. If you want to use Google+, be sure to bring along your own circle of people who are also on Google+. Otherwise, be prepared to find yourself looking around like the first arrivals at the picnic wondering where everyone else is. I hope Google’s ability to turn their ideas into gold will work with Google+ because I like the structure of it. I just don’t like to be first at the picnic!

Dear Sir/Madam,

In our continuing effort to assure that precise information is being maintained on our systems, and to be able to grant you better quality of service; INTUIT INC. has taken part in the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] Name and TIN Matching Program.

  For some reason your name and/or Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number, that is indicated on your account does not correspond to the data on file with the Social Security Administration.

 In order to enable INTUIT INC. to update your account, please enter the secure section.

 Regards,

INTUIT INC.

Corporate Headquarters
2632 Marine Way
Mountain View, CA 94043

 The words, “enter the secure section” has a link (disabled on my example) that is obviously not related to Intuit so make sure your clients understand not to click that link.

Normally I just delete those but since so many of them slipped through my spam/phishing system, I figure others might have similar results. It is a good opportunity to have a discussion with your clients about not clicking on any links that seem to be trying to get confidential information. Now I need to add that to my filters.

It is not very difficult to master the use of a cascading style sheet (CSS) and once you understand styles, you won’t ever want to go back to the “old fashion” method.

If you still use FONT tags instead of using styles, you might question why you should change to CSS just because it is newer. There are other benefits other than just to modernize your work to moving up to style sheets.

For example, modifying the appearance of a website that uses FONT tags instead of styles can take a substantial amount of time. For instance, if your customer wants their font to be a brown color instead of black, by using cascading styles, you just change a couple of styles and it cascades throughout the entire website. On the other hand, if the website has FONT tags embedded throughout it, you will need to go through each FONT tag to adjust it. Of course when your customer then decides that the brown color should be a bit darker, you will need to go back through all those FONT tags again! (And trust me… your client will change their mind in ways like that <grin>).

Modifying styles in a website should be a quick task. Let your client know that you can easily make the adjustment, let them ponder the change, and then if desired, continue to tweak it until it is just what the client wants. As a web design business pro, you shouldn’t be wasting your valuable time tinkering with old FONT tags (unless it is to get rid of them!). Become proficient at cascading style sheets and you can compete in the market as a professional for top dollar against the slow guys still using the old FONT tags.

If your workstation in your home-based office is where the work stops, it is time to take another look at it. A home office should have some means of separation from your home activities. If your kids or neighbors or spouse are constantly interupting, it might be that your workstation is not clearly defined. You should be able to let others know that when you are at your office, nothing but an emergency should interupt you.

Try to isolate your office  area so, when you are on a business phone call, there are no shreiking kids in the background or TV running. You want it to appear to be a professional office even if you are in your jammies in an easy chair with the cat in your lap. Which reminds me of one time I was in my home-office when the phone rang. I was talking with a potential big client and take notes while our cat was sitting in my lap — the ideal home office setting. However, this cat had an exceptionally loud purr and the more I tried to squelch that while on the business call, the louder the purring got. I hoped it would not be noticed. Finally the client stopped mid-sentence to ask what that loud background noise was. I gave a little fib and blamed it on a truck idling outside of the office. After that, I kept my office door closed so the cat wouldn’t disrupt my office environment.

A few unseen items that might keep the work from stopping in your home-based office:

• Lighting – Flickering lights in a basement office or dim lights will make it hard to stay focused for a long period of time. Make sure your lighting is adaquate.
• Furniture – An overstuffed easy chair is not productive office furniture. It can be a nice touch for taking a break for a few minutes but you really should have a real office chair and a desk that is large enough to spread out a project that you are tackling. A hard chair will not be conducive to your goal of working for a long stretch so make sure you invest in a comfortable office chair.
• Distractions – A TV is not considered office furniture. Move it elsewhere! A view of the back yard or the kids playing may be fun but you won’t be focused on your work. As you uncover distractions, move or hide them from your view.
• Hands-free phone – I use my cell phone all the time. It is hooked to a headset so I can take notes, look at web sites, and do other tasks while talking with clients. If you are in a noisy environment, there are headphones with noise cancelling features which help reduce the feeling that you are conducting business in your local tavern.

Bottom line is to make sure your home-based office is functional. I’ve confessed in another article that my home-based office is not a showpiece. But it is certainly functional. If you can’t get your work done at home, you probably don’t need to move into an expensive office away from home… you just need to adjust the environment.

My office is based out of my home. I somewhat kiddingly call it my world headquarters. All my mail and calls are routed through my home-based office. My historical bookkeeping records and client contracts are archived in my home-based office. But I meet most of my clients either on the phone, on-line, at their place of business, or in a meeting place convenient to them (thank goodness for Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts!). Plus when needed, I’ve got access to a temporary office in the large city (Hartford) closest to my home-based office as well so I can meet clients there.

So if you have a web design business (or any other virtual business), don’t worry that your home-based office isn’t the model ready to be put on display. Put your energy into making your web sites that you create act as your show pieces. And make your world headquarters functional first, and beautiful second (or third or fourth!). Your clients will appreciate it. And some day if your priorities change, you can gussy up your home-based office or move it into a prestigious downtown showpiece.

A gateway is the link between your client’s e-commerce store and their credit card processor. They don’t have to have a gateway to take credit cards on-line. Instead they can manually take credit card order info from their e-commerce store and input the information themselves. However, unless they have a very low volume store, they will find the hassle of re-inputting the info and the chances of making mistakes makes the extra fees of a gateway seem reasonable. If they aren’t sure, they can start without the gateway and add it later.

Clients ask me who I recommend for a gateway service. I like Authorize.Net. I have been using them for quite a while and know they are solid and reputable. I’ve used others with mixed results. For that reason, I became a partner with Authorize.net to make it easier to sign up clients. You can go to Authorize.Net’s Site for prices and more info. You don’t need to be a HomeBasedWeb or Blarneystone client to use get my pricing at Authorize.Net.

One added note when setting your client up — they will need to get a merchant account before getting the gateway since the gateway will be asking for merchant account number and other info from the credit card processor.

Use the comments section below for any questions or comments.

Definitions

A Merchant Account is what your client needs in order to accept credit cards from their customers.  A Merchant Account is needed to take credit cards for either an on-line store or a physical store location (known as a brick-and-mortar store). The alternative is for your client to take credit cards through a third-party supplier such as PayPal.

A Credit Card Processor is the company that sets up that merchant account for your client to take credit cards. They can also use the same credit card processor to take credit cards at their regular shop and through mail order and phone orders. The credit card processor typically also may let your client take electronic checks and other forms of credit processing. They can either manually input the information from their e-commerce store to the credit card processor or use a gateway to automate the process of accepting credit cards on-line.

Recommendations

For your client’s shopping cart, they could use PayPal, but I recommend they get a full Merchant Account of their own so they can take credit cards without the middleman. With minimal arm-twisting, my credit card processor has agreed to waive the application fees, set your client up without minimum monthly charges, and give them a great rate. If you are interested and think you will be adding more merchant accounts in the future, it may be worth your while to have me introduce you to him so you can talk about getting a reseller account set up. That way you can get a residual payment and you will be able to create a close link between your clients and their credit card processor. The better service you can offer, the more referred business you will get from your happy clients! Use my contact form to request more info on my credit card processor or if you have any questions.

Also, there are plenty of other credit card processors available if your client would rather shop around. Their banker will have a card processor they work with but be aware of the price differences. If they do shop prices, make sure they understand what they are comparing against so they don’t get tricked by some unscrupulous credit card processor. Here’s a couple of differences in processor rates:

• Make sure your client knows what the rate (or the surcharge) would be for rewards cards. Some merchants are paying as much as 1.75% on these cards. There are a growing number of them in the market and this needs to be watched. If your client is comparing rates, make sure they ask how rewards cards are handled.
• Also make sure they know what their rate (or the surcharge) would be for taking Business / Corporate / Purchasing cards. Some merchants discover that they are paying as much as 4%-5% on these cards when their base rate was reasonably good. This is a fee that is many times disguised so make sure they ask. Many times it is referred to as the Non Qualified Rate. There is a lot they can do to ensure that Business / Corporate / Purchasing cards come in at a better rate (than the Non Qualified rate). My credit card guy has been very willing to help in comparing rates and explaining all of these nuances.

Now you know more than you probably ever wanted to know about credit card processors   . Leave any comments below or let me know if you have any questions.

• They will need a “Merchant Account” to process* credit cards.
• They will need a “Gateway” to interface your shopping cart with their merchant account.

* Just to make it a tad confusing, a “Credit Card Processor” and “Merchant Account” are almost the same thing. Technically the “Merchant Account” is the account you set up with your “Credit Card Processor” but often, people use those terms interchangably.

In broad terms, there are really four pieces you should consider in order to help your clients to start taking credit cards:

1. Your client needs a shopping cart or on-line store which hopefully you’ll be providing.
2. They need a bank who handles the deposited sales (usually their own).
3. Their credit card processor who deals with the credit card companies (they may already have one for their store)
4. And optionally, their gateway seamlessly integrates their shopping cart to their credit card processor.

With those bases covered, your client should be able to take credit cards for their e-commerce store. You can explain it to them this way (but only if you feel they really want that much detail):

1. Their customer buys something from their e-commerce site.
2. The customer opts to pay with their credit card.
3. The e-commerce site contacts their gateway to see if the card is valid.
4. The gateway contacts the credit card processor to make sure the customers card is valid and that there are funds available.
5. If the gateway perceives the card as valid and with adequate funds, the gateway has the processor put a lock on the customers’ account for that amount.
6. At the end of the day (typically), the gateway batches up all of the sales for the day and submits them to the credit card processor.
7. The credit card processor takes those funds and deposits them in your clients’ bank account.

And that is a simplified version of how it works. Naturally there are plenty of variations on this. With PayPal, they wrap the processor and the gateway together. With a Yahoo store, they wrap the store, the processor, and the gateway all together as a package. But for the most part, if you understand the basics of how it works, the variations will become clearer to you as well.

If you wish, I also have created an article on credit card processors and on gateways with some more details. Leave me comments or questions below.

Authors: William Steinmetz, Brian Ward
Publisher: No Starch Press

Different people have different learning styles. I can’t learn by sitting in classrooms listening to lectures. But give me a real live problem to solve, and I’ll ponder and stew over it until I finally get it. For that reason, I really like this book on PHP. And for a non-programmer, it turned out to be very useful for me.

Wicked Cool PHP

As a web designer, I started learning how to work with PHP when I set up Zencart shopping carts for clients. They would want certain modules and I found that with enough perseverance (and a good forum to ask questions), I could figure out how to add to the basic package. So when I saw the reviews for “Wicked Cool PHP” promoting “Real-World Scripts That Solve Difficult Problems” I grabbed it.

The book starts out with the very basics needed to work with PHP. It gives some good examples and as you progress, you learn by building upon things that were taught earlier. Naturally, I skipped some sections or rushed through parts that didn’t seem to be of interest to me. Later in the book when they referred to those skipped lessons (oops!), they were kind enough to direct me right back to the spot that I needed to review.

So if you need to pick up some skills in PHP, and don’t mind some head-scratching challenges rather than classroom tutorials, grab this book and give some of the sections a whirl. It is well written and an easy and fun read.

Are you still chasing down every potential customer you can find? Do you wish that you could be a bit more selective in which customers you want to work with? If so, it is time to stop chasing every lead and position yourself as a knowledgable specialist rather than “just another web guy”. If you are ready to take several steps forward, you will want to get Kenn’s “Web Design Clients Galore” e-book!

Kenn has a very comfortable writing style. He will give you the tools you need and the confidence to use those tools to maximize your business while meeting your life goals as well.

Kenn goes through the ways to build a niche market and lays out some compelling reasons why you should focus on that niche rather than being a generalist. He gives ideas on how to become known as the “Go-to Guru” for those considering your services.

You will more than make up the reasonable price of the book when you learn how to price your services properly so you are not thought of as the bottom-feeder, scooping up the business that everyone else has rejected. You will learn how to go for the top 20% of the business rather than chasing the scattering of others.

If you can use some help in the sales and marketing end of your business (and who can’t!), this is a must have book! Make the investment and you can start packaging your services so customers seek you out as the expert that they want to hire! Check Kenn’s website (and then buy his book if you wish), then let me know what you thought of it.