Getting Paid for Your Resume Services Online: Secure Online Payment Systems

Earlier this year, I closed the credit card merchant account I'd had for the first 14 years of my resume writing business. It was a tough decision, because I liked having the ability to process credit card payments offline. (I had clients fill out a Work Authorization form and fax, mail, or email me their credit card information and I'd charge the initial deposit to their card. When the project was finished, I'd bill the card for the balance.) The system worked pretty well, but the fees and compliance requirements were ultimately what led me to close the account.

It wasn't the transaction fees that were driving me crazy -- it was the monthly minimums and fees associated with processing the transactions. $.15 here, $1 there ... and if I didn't process a certain amount of transactions each month, I'd be billed for a $25 minimum anyway. Ugh. The last straw was when I spent an hour working my way through a labyrinth of questions with PCI compliance. I agree that card data security is important, but it shouldn't take an hour of my time and two calls to the support hotline to meet the compliance requirement.

The majority of all resume writers accept credit card payment for their services. If you haven't needed it yet, there is a very good chance that at some point in time you will need a mechanism to accept online payment from your customers. But for many resume writing businesses, the costs of setting up their own merchant credit card accounts, and satisfying all of the security and recordkeeping requirements that apply to such accounts, are too high.

Ultimately, after conducting research into the issue, I decided to process all client payments using PayPal's standard service online. It's not perfect (they're notoriously bad about advocating for the merchant in cardholder disputes, but I only had two disputes in 14 years in business, so I didn't worry too much about that), and I've had a few clients who didn't want to use PayPal to process their credit card. (I gave them the option to send a check, but told them it would delay their project starting and completion, as it takes time for the check to clear.) Also, if you don't link a social security number to the account, they will often impose monthly limits on how much money you can transfer out of the account into your bank account. (But a good way to avoid this is to link a PayPal debit card to the account and use that to make purchases.)

PayPal is the well-known heavyweight in online payment systems, and their credit card processing services are likely to be of most interest to businesses. PayPal's two primary business products are "Website Payments Standard" and "Website Payments Pro." Website Payments Standard is a great low-cost solution for businesses that want to accept credit card payments. There are no monthly fees associated with this service, so a business only pays a small flat fee plus a small percentage of the transaction value when someone buys something from them.

Website Payments Pro requires the business to pay a monthly fee, but in return the business gets to handle the entire payment transaction on their own site. With Website Payments Standard, the customer is sent to the PayPal.com website to actually enter credit card information and complete the transaction, before being sent back to the merchant's website. The fee for Website Payments Pro is currently $30 per month, and some businesses find that being able to keep their customers on their website for the entire transaction is worth the extra fee. (You also have to "apply" to be accepted into the Website Payments Pro system, but the majority of applicants are accepted.)

Other online payment systems have met with differing degrees of success. WebMoney is a secure service for online transfers, though it is less popular in the United States than it is in Russia and some Far East countries. Similarly, CashU is popular in the Middle East and North Africa, but has limited value in the United States.

The issue for these other services is something of a "chicken and egg" problem -- without many domestic merchants accepting the payment system, fewer people in the U.S. sign up for it. But with fewer U.S. residents having accounts on those systems, there is little reason for businesses to start accepting payment through that system.

In addition, some early adopters may have had bad experiences with other systems. E-gold was a popular a digital currency system in the early 2000s, but the legal problems of the company and its management led to accounts being blocked for a period of time. It therefore remains to be seen whether nascent online payment systems such as Bitcoin will continue gaining strength. I also considered Square, but didn't yet have my iPhone.

Because an increasing amount of online commerce is occurring on mobile devices such as smart phones, it is also worth highlighting a few secure mobile payment systems. Mobile payments are not quite as mature as the online payment space, but there are a few different services that are likely to become bigger players in the future. Google Wallet is currently a leader in the secure mobile payment space for android device users. Visa is also pushing its own product (called Visa Wallet) in the mobile space.

Regardless of what happens with services mentioned above, it's likely that the secure online payment mechanism will become increasingly popular in the future.

Opportunity to Earn MRW/CCM Is Back!

Following the demise of the Career Management Alliance, the future of the Master Resume Writer (MRW) and Credentialed Career Manager (CCM) credentials was briefly in question. However, Career Management Alliance arranged with Wendy S. Enelow (original founder of the Career Masters Institute, which became the Career Management Alliance) to take over the certifications.

You can now find a listing of all current MRWs and CCMs on the Career Thought Leaders website, including instructions on how to apply to become a Master Resume Writer and the application process for the Credentialed Career Manager designation.

The MRW and CCM are back with Wendy. All is right with the world.

Pros and Cons of Using a Template-Based Website

When you set up a website for your business, or decide that it's time to do a complete overhaul of your existing site, you'll be faced with a number of design decisions. Much of the focus will be on how your new site should look and how people will interact with it, and rightly so. As the internet "face" of your resume writing business, these are very significant issues.

But you also need to decide how your website is going to function behind the scenes, and choose the structure and framework on which your website will be built. If you are using a popular framework such as WordPress, Joomla, or perhaps using one of the pre-built websites that your hosting provider offers, you'll be using what is known as a "template." Using website templates provides a number of pros and cons that you should carefully consider before going forward.

Most resume writers equate the word "template" with "bad" -- i.e., a Microsoft Word resume template. Templates are really much more than that, however. They're simply structure. If you customize the template, it can simply be a good foundation upon which to build. In my book, "Write Great Resumes Faster," I talk about using a template that simply has placeholders for the information you want to include in the resume (often, advanced formatting tricks -- like section dividers.) In the same way, a website template can offer advanced customization features as well.

By the way, "Write Great Resumes Faster" is the October special report offered in the BeAResumeWriter.com website. Join the Bronze level for just $10 a month, and you'll get access to the $14 "Write Great Resumes Faster" book as just one of your membership benefits for the month.

"Pros" of Using a Web Template
One advantage of using a web template is that you can get your website up and running much more quickly than if you were starting from scratch. A web template is usually ready to go right out of the box, or very close to it -- you still need to customize the template for your business name, contact information, and the like, but you're starting from framework.

Because they save you time, templates are also likely to save you money. There's a good chance you can find a free or open source template to fit your needs, or that is already included in the cost of your web hosting package. But even if you decide to purchase a template, it is likely to be significantly less expensive than either hiring a website programmer to build your site from scratch, or trying to learn to do so yourself.

Templates that are in wide usage by other websites are also likely to be stable and less likely to break down. Any bugs or defects in the code are likely to be discovered and possibly remedied by other users. Some popular templates even have discussion board communities on which you can find tips on maximizing the effectiveness of the template.

I've managed (but not built from scratch) Joomla and Wordpress-based sites, and although there is a learning curve, I found it fairly easy to edit existing content (especially changing out existing text) and even adding new pages.

Cons of Using a Website Template
On the other hand, popular templates suffer from a significant disadvantage because when a template is popular, it means that there are likely a number of other websites that look quite similar to how yours would look. Many businesses know that their success is going to depend, at least in part, on their ability to stand out from their competitors. Sometimes trying to start with a template and then undertake significant modifications winds up breaking a template, so you're back to square one.

In addition, although there are many reputable and trustworthy sources for website templates, there are also some sources that could wind up significantly damaging your business. Hackers and computer criminals have been known to take templates and add short snippets of malicious computer code, then offer the template for free. The code is often very hard to see, and wouldn't be found by anyone unless they were digging deep trying to find it, and could compromise your website or let the hacker potentially take full control of it. WordPress and its templates (known as "themes") are common targets, due to the popularity of the WordPress framework. Avoid downloading any WordPress themes or other templates that you see offered for free but which are offered for a fee from the official source.

I had a resume writer contact me just yesterday and mention his site had been targeted by a hacker. (Just like Windows folks are more susceptible to viruses than Mac users, just by virtue of the large user base, the same is true for Wordpress sites. I'd especially recommend changing the default passwords, as this is the easiest way to prevent being hacked!)

Consider all the factors outlined above before deciding whether to use a template for your website.

Using Your Blog to Get Better Search Engine Ranking

Many resume writers have a blog (Julie Walraven, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, Barbara Safani, to name a few) -- but not all resume writers understand how to optimize their blogs to get better rankings in search engines like Google and Bing.

Blogging is a free marketing tool that many don't take advantage of. Using it can help you to achieve higher search engine rankings for your website.

Think of it as the difference between formal and informal meetings with clients. On your website, you are providing essential information about your resume writing services -- what you can do for those who need your services. You give them what they need in a well-written format. They can find your "store" with links to purchase a resume package, for example, and opt-in pages for newsletters and mailing lists.

With a blog, you can let your hair down, so to speak. A blog allows you to post information for your readers and customers. Then, they can provide feedback to you in the form of comments on your posts. You can discover vital suggestions from customers that can enhance your business. (I get comments from resume writers seeking specific resources to support their business development on this blog, and on my job seeker's blog, I get questions from prospective clients.) Blogs have appeal to many and they are also followed by people who like what you have to say but who have not even visited your website -- yet.

So, use your blog to its fullest potential. Here are some ways to achieve better rankings for your resume business website.

* Write optimized posts -- More than likely, you are changing your content on your blog more often than you are on your website. While you are refreshing the website content, you don't need to do so as often to keep interest. However, readers of blogs are more voracious and need fresh news more regularly. By sprinkling the keywords you are trying to promote throughout your entries, spiders can crawl and rank your entries high on search result pages.

* Include links to your website -- Each post is ranked and given its own URL. This is a new opportunity to mention a link (outright or with anchor text) that leads back to your website. For those who only follow your blog, they can now find you in another capacity on your website. This increases your traffic. (Plus, it provides a link to your website, which gives it "authority" in the eyes of the search engines. Bonus!!)

* Use an RSS feed -- People can follow your blog easier and still use links in posts to find your website. Increasing the number of blog subscribers also increases website traffic.

* Submit your RSS feed to a directory -- This can also help to increase your search engine rankings of your blog, which is good news for your website. One example is FeedBurner, but there are many others you can also use. (I use Feedburner for this blog.)

Blogs are free and quick to set up. You can start with a site that has its own templates (I use Blogger!) and then further customize them for your needs. Without spending a cent, you have created another channel to divert traffic to your website though one-way links. Increase your search engine rankings faster with a blog.