Today I have released Version 1.0 of the WordPress Printable Gift Certificates plugin. I still have a long way to go before this plugin is exactly what I want it to be but I think that I have reached a point where it is a valid, usable, stable plugin for the masses. Hence the 1.0 designation.

New Options

Version 1.0 introduces some new plugin options that didn’t previously exist. While I can’t make everyone happy these options should provide for a broader use of the plugin.

Require Address option: This new option allows you to set whether or not you want to require your customers to provide their mailing address, setting the option to no will limit the order form to e-mail and phone number only

Currency: With version 1.0 you now have the option to select the currency you want to use for selling your certificates. The available currencies are: AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, NZD, and USD

Custom Return Page: Enter the URL for your custom return page here. This allows you to provide your own style or page template for the return page. If you leave the field blank it will still work the way it worked prior to Version 1.0

Disable Included CSS: This does exactly what it sounds like. If you set this to Yes all of the CSS I included will be dead and gone. This allows you to style the elements of the order buttons and forms using your own custom CSS.

Changes to Cert Button Table

Previously the certificate button table was displayed using an HTML table and styled using CSS. From a design standpoint tables are falling out of favor so I have ported the display over to a definition list. This means the display of your buttons is going to change when you upgrade. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something to be aware of.

In addition to changing from a table to a definition list you can now opt to display just the button (all the form fields and description are hidden or just not there). This allows you to style everything in whatever way you want and the just include the “Purchase Cert” button to initiate the order process. To do this just add the option button_only=”TRUE” to your shortcode. So instead of [wpgft id=1] you would use [wpgft id=1 button_only=”TRUE”]

Additional Changes

One new feature was added to the certificate review page for administrators. You can now export the listing of all sold certificates to a comma separated file.

The following bugfixes are also included in this release

1. Upgrades erase all stored options and buttons
2. Buttons displayed using shortcodes appear above post text, regardless of position.
3. CSS Failing to load when Shortcode is first item on a page
4. Certificate Amounts with Commas showing as INVALID
5. Recipient name Field was editable during Review
6. Order Processing Form was displayed multiple times when short codes were placed in a post on an index page.

The PayPal sandbox is an invaluable test bed for anyone developing or working with a plugin or site that interfaces with PayPal. The sandbox provides you a method for executing complete transactions as if you were making a live purchase without actually spending any money. The sandbox is available to anyone with a developer account.

Step 1: Register

The first thing you are going to need to do is register for a developer account with PayPal. This is free and easy to do at http://developer.paypal.com

Step 2: Setup Your Accounts

Once you are registered and have logged into you new developer account you are going to need a couple of test accounts. You can’t use your actual PayPal accounts so what you need is to setup at least one Seller account and at least one buyer account. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using the “preconfigured” account option.

To set them up simply select Test Accounts on the left side menu of your developer control panel. Then select New Account: Preconfigured. Choose whether you would like to make it a buyer or a seller (you need one of each), give it an e-mail address and set your password.

*A note on e-mail addresses: The email address you setup for your test accounts is 100% fakity Fake. It cannot receive external e-mail. That means if you use the “buyer” account to make a purchase and the application you are testing sends out something, like a gift certificate, via e-mail you are never going to get it. When I am testing I don’t “login” with a test account to make my purchases I just use the buyer accounts credit card information and then I can make sure they use a REAL e-mail address for the interface with my app.

Step 3: Configuring Your Plugin/App

Now that you have your test accounts setup you need to configure your plugin / app to make sure it is pointing at your development environment. The PayPal url for test transactions needs to be set to http://www.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr.

You also need to ensure you set the Business e-Mail to the SELLER account you setup in the developer control panel, not your actual PayPal ID or event he ID you use to login to developer.paypal.com. This is one of the mistakes I see people making, the Sandbox is potentially going to allow you to do the transaction but the results are not going to be what you want.

Step 4: Test, Test, and Re-test

Now that you have everything configured it is time to start your testing. You can now freely create transactions in your shopping cart or other PayPal enhanced plugin without having to actually do live transactions where money changes hands. A couple of things should still be kept in mind:

1. Any PayPal generated e-mail messages that would typically be sent to the buyer/seller are not going to be sent out, you can only find them by accessing the developer panel and going to the “Test Email” section.
2. Just because it worked in the SandBox doesn’t mean it will work in production (so test at least one transaction on the live system).
3. Make sure you test all of your possible scenarios, and be prepared for people who are having problems with your setup. It is just inevitable.

That is the quick and dirty of it, I will be adding a follow up post on using IPN and how to test effectively using the SandBox. Got questions? Drop me a comment and I will try my best to help you out.

I haven’t heard from anyone in a while on additional issues or bugs with the current version of wp-gift-cert(0.9.4). If you are having problems or have identified issues or bugs in the current release please contact me direct via the contact form on this site or through the WordPress.org Forums. As it looks like things are pretty much stable my mind is turning towards the first stable release (v1.0). I am continuing to squash little bugs as I see them in the code but am also focusing on adding some requested features.

Here is the list so far, get your suggestions in soon as I am hoping to have this first stable release out in January.

WP Printable Gift Cert – Version 1.0

1. Make address optional for the order page (Complete)
2. Add International currency support (Testing)
   • Australian Dollar
   • Canadian Dollar
   • Euro
   • Great Britain Pound
   • New Zealand Dollar
3. Add ability to export sold certificate data to CSV (Complete)
4. Add additional CSS / Restructure Cert Button Displays (Complete)
5. Add option to disable included CSS (Complete)
6. Add option for Custom Return Page (Complete)
7. Add shortcode option to display cert button only, allows for custom display of cert information. button_only=”TRUE” (Complete)

Bugfixes –

1. Upgrades erase all stored options and buttons — FIXED –
2. Buttons displayed using shortcodes appear above post text, regardless of position. –FIXED –
3. CSS Failing to load when Shortcode is first item on a page –Fixed–
   
4. Certificate Amounts with Commas showing as INVALID –Fixed–
5. Recipient name Field was editable during Review –Fixed–
6. Order Processing Form was displayed multiple times when short codes were placed in a post on an index page. –Fixed–

For Future Development –

1. Create PDF attachment for Certificate instead of html table / email
2. Create Admin Integration so logged in users can immediately mark the certificate as redeemed when the code is scanned
3. Add Option to set user level that can manage certificates (currently it is editor or above).
4. Add options to customize the look of the certificate (pretty it up)
5. Add support for other payment solutions, i.e. Google Checkout, Authorize.net
6. Redirect IPN Default response back to main blog page instead of showing an error.
7. Add notification to admin panel showing e-mail was successfully, or not so successfully re-sent.
8. Add panel to allow admins to edit details of the sold gift certificates (e-mail only??)

It isn’t a very long list but I am certainly open to suggestions. Let me know what you think?

We published our first WordPress plugin, WP Gift Certs, yesterday. WP Gift certs provides a way for service based businesses to sell printable gift certificates directly from their blog or WordPress based website.

Each printed Gift certificate contains a unique QR Code which allows the business to validate the gift certificates using a smart phone while in the field. The validation scan will tell you whether the certificate contains a valid number as well as the appropriate amount for that certificate number.

The back end management piece allows you to create certificates of set denominations to sell or to sell a “custom” certificate using a user supplied amount. By simply copying and pasting a WordPress Shortcode into your post or page you can quickly start selling gift certificates today! Managing the sold certificates is just as easy as selling them. Just access your WordPress admin panel and you can easily change the status of sold certificates or resend a lost certificate.

For more information visit our dedicated WP Gift Cert page or download the plugin today.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10/11/2010

Suburban Media today unveiled ReviewKnoxville.com, an online business directory for Knoxville, TN restaurants, businesses, and services which allows users to rank the business and provide their own, unbiased, reviews.

KNOXVILLE, TN, October 11, 2010 – Suburban Media today unveiled ReviewKnoxville.com, a Knoxville, TN business directory of restaurants, businesses, and services which allows users to rank the business and provide their own, unbiased, reviews.

Patrons of Knoxville, TN restaurants, services, and businesses can now provide their own written review of the business and rank it based on pre-defined criteria. These user rankings are combined with editor provided reviews to give each business in a given category an overall ranking. Users visiting the site looking for a particular type of business can then find the highest rated businesses to contact for their services.

More and more people are turning to the internet to obtain opinions on the products and services they utilize regularly. These reviews are spread across the internet and jumbled with listings from cities across the state and around the country. ReviewKnoxville.com provides a local spin on the review and ranking experience.

The ReviewKnoxville.com business directory not only provides benefits to people seeking goods and services, but provides benefits to the businesses listed in the directory. By listing your business you help to build awareness of your brand and gain publicity for your website and your business. Basic listings with ReviewKnoxville.com are FREE and ensure the people who use your business can tell the world how great you are.

About Suburban Media

Suburban Media is a Knoxville, TN web design firm founded in 2010 to help small businesses gain a foothold in the online world. Suburban Media specializes in small business website development, blog creation, and e-commerce sites. Our goal is to expand the online presence of Knoxville’s small businesses.

###

Wow, time really seems to fly some times. I have been pretty busy here at Suburban Media, which is a good thing. Of course I wouldn’t mind being a little bit busier. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that I have committed one of the cardinal sins of blogging. I created this blog on my business website but haven’t done a darn thing to update it.

Including a business blog on your small business website is a great way to drive traffic to your website as well as to show your customers your expertise in the field in which you are working.  Including a blog can help you to:

• keep  your website content fresh
• attract new customers
• provide expert advice
• build relationships with your customers, and
• establish your brand

The basic idea behind business blogging is to provide announcements as well as information that would be valuable to the customers you are trying to reach. For instance if you were a car detail company you may want to start a blog where you provide general tips for maintenance of vehicle exteriors. In addition to these kind of “expert” tips you can announce sales and upcoming events. By creating these types of tips and making them relevant to your client base you are providing additional value to your existing customers and valuable information that could help bring in new customers.

Obviously this blog hasn’t been providing much value recently but I hope to turn that around so stay tuned, subscribe to our feed, or follow us on twitter to keep up to date with the latest information.

Whenever you talk to successful business people you tend to hear the phrase… “It isn’t about what you know son, it is about who you know.” The people you know and network with have a significant impact on your success or failure. This holds true for anything you do in life, from working your 9-5 all the way to launching and promoting your own business. The question I ask is again, How Social are you.

Social media on the internet is blowing up big time. What was once deemed as being downright silly is now driving sales, traffic, and public perception to levels never before seen. At no other time in history could the praise or complaint of a single customer reach millions in a matter of seconds. Are you prepared to respond appropriately in the face a of a twitter uprising? Unfortunately most small to medium sized businesses still haven’t realized the power of social media, and most don’t even understand what options they have or how to capitalize on it. Let’s take a brief look at the two biggest players in social media today.

Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows individuals, or companies, to post 140 character updates to their timeline which their followers can then see and respond to. Initially adopted only by tech geeks looking for the next best thing Twitter has grown into one of the most widely used services on the internet. The power of using Twitter to drive traffic to your website and drive sales is unbelievable. By building a follower base of interested individuals you can take people who are already interested in your topic and drive them to your website. Take for instance my blog SuburbanDollar.com, every time a blog post goes up a notification is posted to my Twitter account @SuburbanDollar. Through that account my notification reaches over 1000 people, INSTANTLY, and for free. No print media is going to provide you those kind of results at that cost.

Facebook

Facebook started off as a college social hang out, since then it has grown to astronomical proportions. Odds are good that out of 5 people you know 4 of them are on Facebook, don’t be that one left standing on the outskirts. Setting up a personal Facebook account may not be huge on your agenda, no worries there but setting up a fan page for your business should be on the top of your list of things to do. I launched this business on Monday of last week, I already have 34 fans on Facebook. That is 34 people who are aware of my business and can, if given the chance, recommend my services. The more awareness you can bring to your brand/business the greater the likelihood of your success. Facebook fan pages is just another avenue for you to get your brand out there and noticed.

Bringing It All together

No matter what form of social media you choose to pursue you have to execute it appropriately. No one is interested in constant self promotion, whether it is on your blog, your Twitter account, or sitting at the dinner table. When you are at a dinner party you will drop mention of your business to the people who it may interest the most but in general you are having regular discussions which provide value or humor to the group. You wouldn’t shamelessly self promote yourself all night long because you would end up looking like a tool. The same principles go for social media. You need to contribute to the community and interact with your followers without spending all day on shameless self promotion. The more genuine you are with your interactions the more likely people are to follow you. Keep it real and interest in and awareness of your brand will grow. With that will come business and sales, and you can take that to the bank.

This is a short first post, but hey I am just getting this thing rolling and off the ground. If you are here that means I did something right. The idea behind this blog is really to discuss aspects of small business, blogging, social media, and how to market your business on the internet. Posts probably won’t be coming at you every day but I hope to be able to get some killer content for you on a pretty regular basis.

For anyone who doesn’t know me, my name is Kyle Cox and  I  run this web development company, Suburban Media, as well as operate a personal finance blog, Suburban Dollar. I have an associates degree in Web Design and Development as well as a Bachelors Degree in Network Security and Forensics. Working with computers since I was a little kid I have always held a special place in my hear for the internet, well once it was regularly accessible anyway. Starting out on the old BBS systems of my childhood I was fascinated with ways to get messages out to people. As I have matured so has the internet and today the potential it holds is almost limitless.

The problem I have noticed is how many people and businesses still haven’t figured out being able to be found on the web is now more important than being in the phone book. Times are changing and many small businesses are failing to keep up. If you are one of these businesses this blog is going to be for you. I hope to provide you with the tools to inspire you to get out their and do it, or if you want I can help you out and get things rolling for you. This is a business after all.