AlertPay in the News: taking the parking industry by storm!

Hi everyone,

One of AlertPay's side projects is finally coming to fruition. In a partnership with Calgary-based New Parking, AlertPay will be able to offer a payment option for people who want to search and pay for parking online or by mobile phone application.

Montreal's main English-language newspaper, The Gazette, published an article this morning about the revolutionary direction we will be taking in the Parking industry.

You can read it here!

(Photograph by: Phil Carpenter, Gazette file photo)

Some questions and answers about verification (US and International members only)

Hi US and International members!

Now that it's been a week since our new verification procedures have become available to you, we have a good idea of what is causing some frustration among our members. So, keep reading for Frequently Asked Questions!

How do I start the verification process?

To get started, just login to your account and click on the "Become Verified" link on your account overview. Or click on "Profile" and select "Verification" under the "Personal" category. Either way will bring you to the same page.

US members must complete TWO verification procedures; International members must complete ONE.

How long does it take?

In all, account verification should not take longer than 2-5 business days, depending on which procedure(s) you must complete:

- Phone validation: verified within moments
- Credit card validation: verified within 2-3 business days
- Bank account confirmation (US only): verified within 5 business days

What do I have to do to get verified?

What you have to do depends on where you are located. If you live in the US, you must complete TWO of the above measures; if you live anywhere outside of North America, you must complete ONE of the above verification measures, excluding bank account confirmation.

Here are some more common questions and answers on some perplexing verification issues that may arise:

Phone Validation

What if I don't receive a validation code?

If you do not receive a validation code by phone call or text, just try again. If it still does not work, you must call Customer Support from the phone number you are trying to validate between Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST at 1-514-748-5774.

Please make sure that you speak to a representative so he/she can manually validate your phone number. Merely calling and hanging up will not verify your account.

What if I'm in a different country?

If you are in a different country (from the one you were in when you registered for your AlertPay account) while trying to validate your phone number, you will receive an error message telling you that you cannot validate your phone number.

You can either wait until you return to the country in which you registered for an account or you can attempt to validate your credit card, which should work without issue if you're abroad. Just make sure that you can access your credit card statement.

How do I enter my phone number for phone validation?

Make sure to enter all the necessary numbers and codes, EXCEPT your country code, which we enter by default. If you experience any issues, please try again a little later. If you still have issues, contact Customer Support.

I live outside of North America and I don't have a mobile phone. Can I still do phone validation?

We apologize, but if you live outside of North America and do not have a mobile phone, then you must verify your AlertPay account by another means, such as credit card validation. We can only send validation codes by text messaging to our members who reside outside of North America.

Credit Card Validation

Where do I confirm my credit card validation code/charge?

First you must select "credit card validation" as one of your desired account verification procedures. After you request the code, you may wait 2-3 business days before the code or charge appears on your statement. Once you can see the code (for Visa/MasterCard) or charge (for American Express) on your statement, just follow these steps:

1. Login to your AlertPay account.
2. Click on "Profile".
3. Under "Financial", select "Credit Cards".
4. Select the credit card for which you must submit your validation code or charge.
5. Enter your code or charge in the field provided.

You say I get refunded for the charge made to my American Express card. Why can't I see the credit on my statement?

You will be refunded for the verification charge made to your American Express through your AlertPay account. For example: if we charged $1.26 to your AmEx card for the sake of account verification, you will receive that amount in your AlertPay account.

I live in a country where I could not previously use a credit card. Can I use one now?

This is very good news for our members who reside in countries in which credit card services through AlertPay were not supported on the past. Now, if you validate your credit card, you can use it through our service and enjoy a monthly transaction limit of $1000 USD (or equivalent) with that card.

We hope we have been able to answer some of your questions! If you have any more, leave them here or on our Facebook page.

Brand new account verification procedures to make your life easier!

Attention US and International members,

Have you been awaiting account verification? Or have you been thinking about getting your account verified? If so, please keep reading!

We are proud to announce that we are launching a new, improved and fully automated verification process. However, if you have been waiting to get verified, you will have to follow the new procedures as the documents you previously submitted will not be reviewed. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause but these procedures are way easier and way faster!

Members who have not submitted verification documents only need to follow the new procedures.

US members will have to complete two of the three following procedures:

• Bank account confirmation consists of adding your bank account details to your AlertPay account, receiving two micro deposits in your bank account (under $0.15 each) and confirming them. This will take no longer than 5 business days.

• For credit card validation, we will send $0.01 to your Visa or MasterCard. A six-digit code will appear on your credit card statement next to the micro payment. You will have to confirm this code in your AlertPay account. If you have an American Express card, a refundable amount between $1.00-2.00 will be charged to your card. You will have to confirm the exact amount in your AlertPay account.

• Phone validation is the simplest procedure. All you have to do is choose or enter a phone number (mobile and land lines only), wait a few moments to receive a code by phone call or text and enter the code in your AlertPay account. That’s all!

International members will have to complete either credit card validation (as seen above) or phone validation. The only difference is that for phone validation, you will receive a text message and not a phone call. You must have a mobile phone to complete this procedure.

If you have a Business account, you will also have to submit a proof of ownership:

• Article of Incorporation
• General Business Registration
• Certificate of Good Standing
• Doing Business As
• Tax Registration

After completing the necessary procedures, your account will be verified within 5 business days. You will enjoy better account security, faster deposits and withdrawals, higher transaction limits and uninterrupted transactions!

To get started, login to your account, click on “Profile” and select “Verification” under the “Personal” category.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact Customer Support or leave a comment on our Facebook fan page.

Thank your for your understanding.

The Developers Community is back up

Hi developers!

Just a little update: The AlertPay Developers' Community is up-and-running once again. You shouldn't have any problems accessing it now.

Thank you for your patience!

Attention Developers: Temporary maintenance of the Dev Community

Hi Developers!

We just wanted to let you know that due to temporary maintenance, www.dev.alertpay.com will be unavailable until further notice. It shouldn't be too long though.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Attention sellers: How to use the power of online communities to build your business

According to Rob Howard, CTO and founder of enterprise collaboration software company, Telligent, "everything is social — social commerce, social business and social CRM". But he prefers terms like "community" and "collaboration" over "social" since they tend to describe more accurately the complexity and depth that is the world of online communities.

In this day and age of progressive technologies and ideas, one of the best ways to build your business and your brand is to get involved in online social networking communities.

Different types of communities

There is a variety of social networks on the web, including the following:

Direct Community:

Howard refers to these communities as those which are owned and operated by a company running "proprietary community and enterprise collaboration software solutions." The organization runs and manages the communities which include B2B and internal employee communities. Dell's Support Community is an example.

Managed Community:

These are communities started and managed by the organization, but are run on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The main difference between this type of community and the prior is that organizations do not benefit from rich data and user profiles created in the community.

AlertPay manages and participates in communities on Facebook and on Twitter.

Participating Community:

These are communities started and managed by individuals and groups on social networking sites or sometimes with proprietary software. The organization whose products and services are up for discussion can participate but have no authority or access to the data created in the community.

Questions to ask

If you want to increase brand awareness, increase revenue and decrease expenses, start thinking about strategies in which you can leverage from these social networking communities. There are a few questions you should ask:

What is your objective?

Figure out your motives for getting involved with these communities. What do you get out of it? What do your customers or members get out of it? What are your end goals? Is involvement in these collaborative communities going to actually enhance your business and your relationship with your customers or members?

Who is your audience?

Depending on whether you're trying to engage a new or existing audience, the solutions may vary. A community in which your members interact may be a good strategy for an existing audience, such as a "managed community".

What are you measuring?

Community and collaboration technologies provide a cornucopia of data, such as valuable customer ideas and suggestions, and potential customers, users or members. So, you should be able to measure just about anything with the help of the customer data available, like customer loyalty and conversion.

Now you have a better idea on how to to further build your business and your brand and foster customer collaboration and loyalty through the management of and participation in online communities.

Thank you for reading!

Source: http://mashable.com/2010/04/09/online-communities-business/

Scheduled maintenance for www.dev.alertpay.com on Thursday

Attention Developers!

We will be performing some scheduled maintenance between 12:00-2:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, April 8, 2010, so the Developers' Community, www.dev.alertpay.com, may be unavailable during that time.

All other services should be 100% operational.

Thanks for your understanding!

Attention sellers: How to direct more traffic to your website

One of the things we're trying to do is generate more website traffic to get the word our about our features and services. But this is easier said than done.

We've been working on a website re-design for the last while and have been trying to implement some of the following, and you should too if you want to attract more visitors and potential customers to your website:

1. Put "killer content" on your site

According to Gerry McGovern, online content guru and author of Killer Content, content is king. More specifically, GOOD content is king. Find out what matters to your customers and write about it. Use the words they use - Gerry coins these as "care words" because people search for what they care about and it's your responsibility to know what they care about if you have any hopes of succeeding online.

And it's not enough to simply create content; you have to maintain it and keep it current and interesting!

2. Write and send regular newsletters

Remind your customers that you still exist. Tell them about any new developments in your company or industry and about new products, services and features. Your customers can easily forward an email to friends, family and colleagues if they think it's valuable, hence generating even more traffic and potential customers.

3. Post articles in related news groups

Groups like Yahoo Groups and Google Groups or even the "About.com" groups post many articles related to your company or industry. Get involved in the forum and don't just advertise: educate! And don't forget to include your URL in your articles so people know where to go after reading.

4. Post to related mailing lists

Just like news groups, you can also find related mailing lists and get involved with them. Try Email Universe or Topic A.

5. Contests! Contests! Contests!

Get people engaged and involved with a contest. If you have a good prize, people will be excited to try to win. Make sure to include official rules, as well as rules applicable in your state, province, region or country. For example, contests in Canada must have a skill-testing question.

6. Invite a guest speaker to your website

If you know of someone who is an authority in your field, ask them to write an article for your company blog or to chat with your customers in your forums or chat rooms, if you have any. Guest speakers will generate interest and boost your credibility as a leader in your field.

7. Don't just advertise online

There's still a whole world outside of the internet. Advertise on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. Even at the car wash. Why not? Be creative and expand beyond the online world to engage as many people as you can.

8. Give stuff away for FREE

People love getting stuff for free. Offer pens, hats, t-shirts emblazoned with your company name and logo to gain more customers and raise awareness of your brand.

9. Leverage from industry leaders

Take a look at successful websites to see what they're doing right. Don't copy everything though; originality is still highly valued. Just use these websites as inspiration.

10. Watch out for page views

Use site tracking software to see which pages get the most hits and which get the least. This will help you gauge which content is most effective.

Furthermore, you want to make your website as easy to use as possible. People will never bother to explore your website if they can't find what they're looking for in a few seconds. For more advice on usability, we highly recommend the book, Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug. Krug discusses the importance of doing all of the thinking for your customers so you make their job easy. If they don't have to think, they're more inclined to join or purchase.

We hope this article helps you achieve your goals for your company. Good luck and keep selling!