Safety Training Network :: Blog

Booking fees through an iFrame is now only 2% plus 50p

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (davehawes) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:01:39 +0100

We have revised the fee structure for bookings that come through our iFrame.

Why the change?

We are always eager to get feedback from training providers using our services. A consistent message was our 10% commission was acceptable for new business but not for existing business coming from the training providers own websites.
Our revised pricing structure has been welcomed by training providers using our iFrame and we hope it encourages more training providers to use it.

An example of a training provider using the iFrame can be seen here: iFrame use example

The lower fee also applies to people booking courses using the courses webpage link we give providers in the Course Advertising control panel. See image below:

This link can be used in the providers own marketing campaigns to make it easy for people to book places on a course.

PayPal invites us to showcase on their stand at LeWeb 09 and lots of new features in the new website release

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (davehawes) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:37:11 +0100

It has been a very very busy couple of weeks and rather than try and cram it all into an email shot I have decided to write a longer article to help get into the detail of what has been going on.

PayPal and LeWeb ‘09

The BIG news is PayPal were so impressed with the work we have done with their new Adaptive Payments system (which lets customers pay the providers directly) last Friday they asked us to go with them to LeWeb in Paris on the 9th & 10th December to showcase the booking system on their stand. This is one of the biggest I.T. events in Europe and will give great exposure to the websites and all the training providers that are signed up to them.

PayPal did require us to make some small changes to the website, details of which can be found below.

New Features

Bug Fixes - A number of bugs in the website have been fixed, thank you for those of you who have contacted us to tell us something is not working. It really helps us.
Attach your own document to a Course Type - This allows you complete freedom in setting out what is involved in your course. This document can be downloaded by any visitors to the website looking to book a course.
‘What’s New’ – The booking sites now have a ‘What’s New’ section which displays Training Providers that have signed up and also new courses that have been published. It is a very basic system which just rotates through a list, any courses that you add and publish will be be put in the list and displayed at some point.
Invoices – On your organisation details tab there is a link directly to our accounting package so you can see the balance of your account with Skillbook.
Updated Terms & Conditions - During the review of the booking system, PayPal requested use to make a number of changes to improve the clarity of everyone’s role in the process. This has lead to us requiring providers to agree to a new Terms & Conditions before they are able to use the Course Management features.
‘Remember Me’ at login, you can now check a box so that the website remembers your login.
Course Templates, rather than having to re-type the same details when creating a course you can do it once and make that course a template. Next time you want to create a course with those details you can select it from the ‘Template’ dropdown box.
Unpublish a course, it is now possible to ‘Unpublish’ a course so that dates and venues can be changed. This can only happen if a course has no bookings on it.

Looking to 2010

We have invested heavily in the development of the websites in the last year and massive progress has been made with them although we do recognise there is always room for more improvement. There are still a number of features that we are going to add but our focus is going to switch to creating and executing an effective marketing campaign to get purchasers using the website. We will send out more information over the next few weeks about this.

Thank you to all the providers who are using the website and we look forward to brining you more business as our websites become more well know.

Training Providers to receive their money directly

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (davehawes) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:02:57 +0100

As of the 1st January 2010 we will require training providers to have a PayPal Business account to enable our booking websites to accept online payment for your bookings.

If you do not have a PayPal Business account please Signup for free using this link

Once you have an account you need to enter your PayPal email address in your organisation's profile in the Safety Training Network website.

Why the change?

It will allow the customer to pay the training provider directly which better for everyone involved.
1) You get your money immediately
2) It is clear to the Customer that they are training provider’s client
3) It shows that our service is only facilitating the booking

Why PayPal?

We looked at a wide range of payment services before deciding to use PayPal. Some of the reasons we decided on are as follows:
1) They are one of the leading online payment services
2) They have very competitive charges
3) They have excellent fraud detection systems
4) They offer advanced website integration services, enabling us to create a better customer experience.

Launching the new iFrame feature

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (davehawes) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:58:08 +0100

iFrame setup tutorial

See the iFrame in action

What does the iFrame do?

The iFrame allows training organisations to have a little piece of code to put on their website, which acts as a portal between your site and our booking sites. The iFrame will list all the courses you have currently published to the booking sites, allowing the general public to easily book onto one of your listed courses. There is no maintenance involved, once you have it up and running it will automatically show courses you have published via Safety Training Network.

What are the benefits of the iFrame?

•    The iFrame is an easy way of enabling online bookings for visitors to your website.
•    Any places booked via our booking sites will automatically update the number of available places showing in STN, so there is no need to update this yourself.
•    Having up-to-date course information and a link to book places on the course shown on your website will increase the usefulness to your visitors, increase the level of traffic visiting your website, which in turn should convert into more bookings.

User Guides for Safety Training Network

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (davehawes) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:07:15 +0100

Signup Guide:

Download (6.9Mb)

Online Bookings Guide:

Download(1.7Mb)

Networking & Portfolio management:

Download(4.8Mb)

Storyboard Cartoon:

Download(2.0Mb)

iFrame Guide:

Download(1.4Mb)

Business Pro Guide:

Download(5.4Mb)

What is an STN Id?

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (davehawes) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:36:34 +0100

When you registered on the Safety Training Network website you are assigned a unique Id.

This looks something like this: STNCWCVL88

You can find out what your STN Id is by looking at your Personal Profile page and if you have registered an organisation you can look at your Organisation Details page.

This Id is then used by various services on the website. For example your own personal page is identified by this id:

http://www.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk/organisation/STNCWCVL88

If you purchase a Business Pro subscription for your organisation you can customise this Id so it can better reflect your brand

http://www.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk/organisation/Medicot

How do I leave feedback?

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (rebeccareading) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:03:02 +0100

Feedback works in two ways, you can leave feedback on STN, about the site, an organisation or Individual. Feedback can also be written about you, which can be viewed within your account.

If you are an individual the feedback you receive is private and only you can see it. If it is good feedback you can change its visibility so it becomes part of your public profile.

If you are an organisation all feedback is public. We are introducing a ‘Right to Reply’ feature if you feel you want to quantify any negative feedback you may receive.

How do I leave feedback?

Via the website

Log in
Go to the directory, click on Professionals
Now fill in the search criteria; Whether the individual is a trainer or assessor, date available (optional), work categories and postcode searching. The green buttons are action buttons are pressing either Get Person or Search.
Next you will be shown all the individuals under the search criteria you have entered. Click View Profile
Click on Actions
You are given two options, click on Leave feedback.
Now write your message
Tick the box at the bottom of the poop-up if you want your details withheld
Click Save

It is exactly the same process if you are wanting to leave feedback for an organisation. Follow the same steps, as above. However, after you have clicked view profile, only one option will be presented to you. Click on Give feedback. Again you will be asked to fill out your comments, click if you want you details withheld and then click save.

Via Text message (for organisations only)

People can send you feedback by mobile phone. They just need to send a message starting with the words ‘your orgs id feedback' to 07797801280.

(standard text messages rates apply – so those with free text messages on their phone means its free!)

Memberships

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (rebeccareading) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:33:40 +0100

Memberships has been added to the STN site to allow both, organisations and professionals to add any professional memberships they may have to particular organisations.

To Add a New Membership

Once you are logged in go to the left-hand navigation. In my detail box click on Memberships.
You will be presented with a empty panel to begin with. In the left-hand side of the panel click on New Membership
You will be asked to enter your Membership Number. Now select the Organisation you belong to from the drop down.
Click Update

*We will be continually updating our list of organisations, so if you are a member of one we have not listed, please let us know and we will add it on.

Send Invitation

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (rebeccareading) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:09:59 +0100

Send Invitation has been developed so that organisations can add trainers, assessors or registered interests to their network.

How do I send an invitation?

Once you are logged in click on your organisations tab
On the left hand side in the first navigation box labelled Organisation click on Network
On the drop down box click on the selection you would like. Click Send. A pop-up will appear
Enter the persons name and/or email address and enter you personal message.
Click Send Invitation

Register Interest

david.hawes.nospam@nospam.safetytrainingnetwork.co.uk (rebeccareading) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:50:26 +0100

Register interest is a feature which has been developed for organisations wishing to register interest in an individual. It is anonymous and allows the provider to message a particular individual, before taking the step to Invite them to their network. This is ideal if you see a potential candidate but need them to reach certain criteria before adding them, being anonymous, means that you will then not get pestered by that individual, making the whole process extremely effective.

How do I register interest?

Log in
Go to the directory, click on Professionals.
Now fill in the search criteria; Whether the individual is a trainer or assessor, date available (optional), work categories and postcode searching. The green buttons are action buttons are pressing either Get Person or Search.
Next you will be shown all the individuals under the search criteria you have entered. Click View Profile
Click on Actions for Organisation
You are given three options; Invite to be trainer, invite to be assessor or register interest. Click on one of these three options.
Now write your message, (there is already a message written for you, you can either start again or add to this).
Click Send