I’ve told people over at Facebook about Square but I’ve got to post a blog about it because it’s just freaking awesome. Before you get into the bulk of the post please note that I am not being paid to post this. I’ve got to say it up front because I’ve read through what I wrote and some of it sounds like it was written by a paid spokesperson. I promise you that I genuinely LOVE this idea and their execution and that I am not in any way being compensated for writing this.

What is Square

If you have not heard about it Square is a credit card payment acceptance system. There are a few other systems out there – Intuit (the people who make Turbo Tax and Quicken) have a similar app and doggle for your smart phone but I’ve not tried it. Mostly I didn’t try it because at first it only worked with iPhones and I’m an Android user.

I keep seeing them advertise their version but I’m honestly not even interested in checking other options (beyond looking at the price points) because I really like Square so much. That’s not to say that I’m not a fan of Intuit. I use a lot of their products and like them a lot. I know there are a few more out there too and I’m sure PayPal will likely get into the game soon but as long as the price is right I’ll stick with Square and since they are already cheaper than PayPal I’m saying good bye to them.

Where did you hear about Square?

So I still have not seen any ads for Square but I heard a report about it on NPR which prompted me to look into it and I keep hearing about it via word-of-mouth. To me both of those are much better than an annoying TV ad any day. When I heard the report on NPR and then found out that it was cheaper than PayPal I signed up.

It was really easy, they do the micro-deposits to verify your checking account and they send you a free card reader that plugs into your headphone jack on the phone. That means that it works with any smart-phone that can have the app installed on it. You can accept cards without the reader too (it just costs a bit more) which is cool because when getting ready for a shoot I am usually focused on packing gear for the shoot, not on remembering a hardware plug-in for my phone.

Why is Square different?

I still get a lot of checks so accepting credit cards was something that I’ve always been a bit hesitant of (due to cost and volume). Most of the time companies charge you a monthly fee on top of taking a cut on each transaction. Square doesn’t do that. It was made with small businesses in mind – photographers, landscapers, and so on (per the report on NPR) so they don’t charge a monthly fee since the people it’s made for may only accept one credit card payment a month. I’m in that boat and since it still costs me money per transaction I’d prefer to keep taking checks as much as possible. That being said when a customer would rather pay by card I don’t need to send them to my website to use PayPal or to write down all of their info and then double shred it when I’m done.

Why wait until today to tell everyone?

I decided to say something today because I got this email from them that made me like them even more than I already do:

Hi WDO,

Starting today, Square has dropped the 15¢ fixed fee on payments you accept using your Square card reader. Now you’ll simply pay 2.75% per transaction, no matter what you sell.

Why are we simplifying our pricing? Learn more.

How freaking cool are these people! They’re making their service cheaper! That is just awesome.

Check them out and sign up to accept credit cards on your smart phone cheaper than any other service that I know of right: here.

If I or someone else has built a website for you on WordPress and you’ve logged in within the past few days you should see a notice under the header that looks like the image on the left. It’s letting you know that WordPress 3.0 is out. Does that mean you should update? Maybe.

Who should update

If somebody else built your site you should ask them if it’s alright to update your WordPress. If I’ve designed your site please sit tight as I’ll be updating you very soon. All of my sites should be updated but I’ll need to make sure your site will update without issue first. That means that I have to make sure your plug-ins and add-ons are working.

Why Update to WordPress 3.0

WordPress 3.0 has a ton of great new features, many of which existing customers may not use but there are a few that can help make your site more useful like the new menu module which allows for multiple menus. I don’t have any clients on WordPress with multiple menus (because before it wasn’t possible) but if you’re an existing customer who is interested in adding additional menus or are a new customer looking for a designer who can build you a site on a reliable platform such as WordPress that needs multiple menus shoot me an email and we can talk about your needs.

For more info on the changes made to WordPress in the 3.0 release please check the codex page here or watch this video: