Archive for January, 2011

Want faster broadband? Go mobile!

Well in the US anyway. According to this study, the US is third for m0bile broadband quality.  However, that’s only in mobile broadband. Confused by all the figures? This article gives you a good summary. The US is ranked 15th in the world in terms of better broadband access, along with France, Latvia, and Canada. The best place for broadband access….No, not Japan or Sweden….it’s South Korea!

I believe that the study measured it in download and upload speeds because that’s what the article said, plus one of the graphs was showing downloading and uploading speeds in the requirements. I do wish the second graph-like thing on pg 16 of the PowerPoint came with a key because it was a little confusing.  I believe what it means by “household penetration” is how many houses have broadband access. Looking at the graph, it seems like most of the countries who are leading in household penetration are not broadband leaders.  However there are still quite a few countries that don’t really seem to have proper broadband.

The PowerPoint also stated the countries that were ready for future applications. The US was not one of them. It was, however, in the list of numerous countries that enjoy current applications without (many) problems. There are quite a few countries that are barely or unable to support many of today’s applications.

On the other hand, the US has a negative difference between the broadband in its main cities and outside them. The study didn’t say how far outside the broadband quality remained the same, but it’s still good news. The country that has narrowed this gap the most is Poland. What I found interesting was that Japan was below the US.

The graph on page 8 of the PowerPoint shows that many of the developing countries are focusing more on developing broadband in their cities because they acknowledge that it is an important part of their economic development. On the next page is a list of cities that have the quality required to be “smart and connected.”  The PowerPoint does not explain what this is. It doesn’t look good for the US here, because the only city that fits that requirement is …..(take a few minutes and guess, I want to know what guesses you came up with)…….New York. (I’m pretty sure all of you guessed this. Just once I would like to see a place like Tulsa get into some technology list.) Ok! The next page……I’m not sure h0w to read this or what the bubbles are talking about. (I don’t know that much about broadband….yet) So, moving on!

I don’t really understand the chart and graphs on pages 13 and 14, but I do know that the Social Media slider should be all the way to the right. The second to last page talks about the relationship between broadband leadership and innovation economy.  I believe it means that there is a positive relationship. The thing that I took away from this is that the US, if it wants to be on the very edge, should probably improve broadband quality. Maybe that should be it’s resolution for this year?

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Archive for January, 2011

Returning an Unwanted Gift? It Might be a Little Easier This Year!

Now that we are 10 shopping days past Christmas I hope you have already returned all of the gifts that you didn’t want.  I was just reading this article in the Wall Street Journal about how most larger retailers are now starting to ease their return policies this holiday season. 

The article makes special note about how Best Buy has stopped charging their 15% restocking fee for certain items.  I think this is an interesting point because it shows how ridiculous some retailers return policies have been for the past few years.  The fact that Best Buy has actually been charging people so that they are happy with their shopping experience shows how far the pendulum has swung in the favor of the merchant in recent years when it comes to returns. Hopefully in a few years there will be no such thing as restocking fees and other return policies that retailers have in place will be eased considerably.

I actually have a recent first hand experience of trying to return a large ticket item that was purchased as a gift from Amazon which is one of the largest online retailers in the world.  Since the gift I was trying to return or even exchange (I was willing to do either) was purchased longer than 30 days previous to the day I was returning it within days after Christmas I was told that my only option was to return it, pay for return shipping, and only get reimbursed for 85% of the value of the item.  30 minutes on the phone with customer service later and Amazon was paying for the return shipping and I was getting a gift card for 100% of the value of the item but I had to put up a considerable fight and jump through a few hoops to make this happen!   Ridiculous!

Anyway, I think there are a lot of really non-consumer friendly return policies out there that are hopefully about to reversed over the course of the next few years.  Does anyone out there have another unbelievable return policy that they experienced first hand to share?

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Archive for January, 2011

KikScore Site Down for Routine Maintenance on 1/5/11 from 8:30PM to 10:30PM mountain time

Due to routine maintenance the KikScore website will be unavailable on 1/5/11 from 8:30PM to 10:30PM mountain time.  Our apologies for any inconveniences that this causes.

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Archive for January, 2011

Swami Speaks & You Should Listen – An Excellent Article For SmallBiz

We do not usually do this and we are probably breaking an unwritten rule for your own blog about sending readers to another site.  But we do not really care because the article that our dear friend, Shashi B (the Swami!), recently wrote is worth a read for every small business, startup and entreperneur.  The article is posted at one of our favorite sites, Small Business Trends that is run by the small business expert, Anita Campbell.

The reason why the article is so good is it deals with what is probably one of the most important marketing tools for a small business or startup: your website.  The post is titled Top Website and Website Design Trends for 2011.

Please tell us what you think about the Swami’s post.

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Archive for January, 2011

How to Boost Your Company’s Facebook Popularity

Most small business owners today are starting to recognize the power of managing their online presence. Having a Facebook page is an important part of managing that presence. But how can business owners gain popularity on Facebook?

Facebook users today have the option of selecting “likes”.  A user can publicly press a “like” button to indicate that they “like” a brand or a company that they support. So how can you increase the number of users pressing that button to support your business? Here are a few tips to help make your company more popular on Facebook:

-Make sure your audience and former customers know that your company has a Facebook page. Obvious, I know. A recent study by DDB Worldwide and Opinionway Research made this concept even more clear and found that three-quarters of Facebook users worldwide decided to “like” a brand/company only after the company extended an invitation or advertised. In other words, your audience is not necessarily seeking your business out on Facebook. So make the first move! Also, make sure your Facebook page is mentioned on your company website and on your Twitter page,  and on any other social media website you may have.

-Keep your audience entertained by posting interesting content regularly. If you post interesting articles or content, your Facebook fans will be more likely to share this information with their Facebook audience. This could ultimately bring more fans to your Facebook page and to your business.

-Encourage your audience not only by posting interesting content but by eliciting their feedback and then responding accordingly. Your fans will be more likely to submit feedback if they think you’re actually reading their feedback and responding to it.

-Reward your Facebook fans with special offers posted only through your Facebook page.

-Don’t overwhelm fans of your Facebook page with constant messages. After awhile, they may stop reading them or even remove your company as a “like”.

What are some other ways to boost your company’s Facebook popularity? What has worked for you? What hasn’t worked?

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