Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

Vegas: Good For Business, Bad For Relationships

Here’s the situation:  Raj and I are going to be speaking at a conference in a few months.  It will be a great opportunity to talk about KikScore and learn from fellow entrepreneurs.  Sounds good, right?  Um, did I mention it is in Las Vegas?  Did I mention that my wife is not really into Vegas?  I guess she doesn’t mind Vegas in and of itself.  She minds me going to Vegas with Raj — unsupervised.  I’ll let it go that she thinks I need supervision and get to the main point. 

Sometimes what is great for business — e.g. new partnerships, conferences, new channel development — is not necessarily great for your personal life.  I’m not even talking about work/life balance (which i’m convinced is not every achievable).  Instead it’s a matter of value conflict.  Let’s say that KikScore could sign a lucrative deal with a deplorable company.  I would at least think about it.  My wife would be dead set against it — and I think she’d judge me a little for doing the proposed deal. 

So what’s the end result of my Vegas dilemma — I’m going to Vegas with Raj…and Raj and my wife.  Geez!

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

Organic or PPC — Which is Your Flavor?

The debate currently rages — where should you spend your time on marketing — cultivating organic traffic or spend the money on pay-per-click?  We here at KikScore are trying to find the right mix for our small business. 

If you research the topic, most of the arguments go as follows: organic is free, it is long-term and builds on itself; PPC is tailored, expensive and, in the short-term, effective in driving traffic.  A funny thing also occurs if you research this topic — you definitely see the battle-lines drawn by self-interest.  The SEO experts all push organic search while the sellers of PPC keywords all push…well PPC keywords.  Even funnier, the SEO folks often purchase PPC keywords on the topic “organic versus PPC”.  What?

I’m not taking sides (I think both approaches have their merits), but I do think the argument that organic search is “free” is a bit misleading (or woefully undervalues your time).  To take advantage of organic search, you’ll have to create content on a regular basis, spend time on social media networks, and monitor the your competitors’ activities.  This is not a “free” avenue to traffic. 

Oddly enough, I equate the debate to grocery shopping.  If you want to do the things that are good for you long term, shop exclusively at Vitamin Cottage or farmers markets.  On the other hand, if you want to eat now, go to Chipotle.  Fast food is not a viable substitute for having a well-stocked kitchen (though its probably cheaper to go to Chipotle every day).  Of course, if your business needs customers sooner rather than later, you probably can’t wait on the garden.  So the balanced approach is probably where I shake out — in other words, do both.

What’s your position on this?

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

KikScore Interviews Zadyball Creator Alayna Slinker

While recently shopping for a unique baby gift for a friend’s newest arrival, I stumbled upon Zadyball – a unique toy that combines the things babies love best: putting soft stuff in their mouth and having a snuggle buddy.  If only I’d found this when my daughter was that small!  Zadyball is a small company that is doing wonders for moms and babies around the globe!  We are very thankful that Alayna took the time to  share the exciting Zadyball journey with KikScore.

1. Tell us about Zadyball and who you focus on serving?

A Zadyball is a handcrafted toy designed with babies in mind. They are soft to hold and cuddle, and have lots of knotted fabric strings to grab and rub. Zadyball is easy for young babies to hold on to, and it quickly becomes a favorite!

I made the first Zadyball in 2004 when my son was about 6 months old. He had a stuffed animal with a knotted string for a tail. He loved playing with the string, and would rub it to help him fall asleep. Since the string was his favorite part of the toy, I decided to make a toy for him with lots of strings for him to play with.

He loved that ball SO much and took it with him everywhere we went, and refused to sleep without it.

We got comments on it all the time, usually to the effect of “what is that thing?” And, after I explained it, many people said “hey, my kid would like that too!” So, I decided to start making them for my friends and giving them as gifts at baby showers. Other shower guests started offering to buy them from me, and I eventually started selling them online and in small stores all over the world.

Our focus is to bring a little bit of happiness to the lives of babies and their families.

2. Where will Zadyball focus most of its energy in 2010?

This year, I’ve been focusing on giving the website a bit of a “facelift”. I’ve been working on improving the product images as well as optimizing the website for search engines.

3. If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about having an online business, what are those?

One thing that I’ve learned is that quality pictures are CRUCIAL to online sales. In a “real” store, people can use all five senses to view a product. They can pick it up, shake it, feel it, throw it, even smell and taste it if they really want to. But, the only sense that is available when buying online is SIGHT. So, what they are seeing had better look good!

The second thing I’ve learned is how important it is to be unique. When shopping online, buyers can view products from all over the world side-by-side. You have to be one of a kind in order to stand out.

4. If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?

Well, I think that to run my business, I’d like to be like Elasta-Girl from The Incredibles. I have to be flexible in order to make everything work. And I couldn’t do it without my family by my side – with all their super strengths!

5. If Zadyball could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?

A fabulously stylish mom who wants to have fantastic toys for her children.  Someone who people can relate to.

6. How do the folks at Zadyball let loose after a busy day working?

In addition to running my business, I am a full-time mother of three, so I don’t have a lot of down-time.  Most often, my work is done while they are sleeping. But, my best times are spent just hanging out with my favorite people – my little munchkins, and my wonderful husband.

7. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?

Never become complaisant. Always be on the lookout for ways to improve your business and your product. And listen to your customers – they are the best source for great ideas!

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

What Sells a Product: Marketing or Functionality?

In both my day job and with KikScore, there is a raging debate…what really drives consumers to buy your product or service?  If you talk with the product team, it’s the features and capabilities of your product.  Customers are stunned by the available features of your product and must have it.  The sheer elegance of this service makes your product a customer priority.

On the other hand, the sales team is convinced it can sell “ice to an Eskimo”…that regardless of the product, through persuasiveness, a salesperson can convince a shopper to become a customer.   Don’t even get me started on the branding team…they literally believe that the choice of font will dictate the annual revenues.  They may be right, but it’s only for really cool fonts.

Who’s right?  This is an important question, as it really dictates how resources are allocated.  For KikScore, we’ve been working hard on product features and new services.  Sounds like a good idea, but that means we are not applying time and money towards marketing and sales/creating new channel relationships. 

There really is no way to find out the right balance.  Successful products magically seem to have great features, slick marketing and a very solid sales team.  Is it a chicken and egg scenario?  Or do all of these need to exist before your product takes off?

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

How the NFL Draft Can Help You With Online Trust

This is one of my favorite times of the year for sports.  The time of hope, promise and turnaround.  That means it is time for the NFL Draft!  My team, the Cleveland Browns, always enters this part of the year and the draft with hopes of getting the amazing college football prospect that will revitalize the team, give us a winning season for once and hopefully (yeah right) a trip to the Super Bowl.  The issue is that you never know if a player your team picks in the draft is going to turn out like you hoped and will deliver on all of the expectations you have built up for them or turn out to be a bust.  Or worse yet, that player ends up breaking the law and not only is he a bust, but he then becomes a shame to the team and the city.  In many ways this is similar to the issue of figuring out who you can trust online for doing business and for online shopping.

In the NFL Draft process, the teams that do the best job are the ones that do the most diligence on the college football prospects.  These are just some of the things that NFL teams and scouts do in the diligence and research process before selecting a player in the draft:

1) Conduct extensive background checks;

2) Put players through multiple interviews and give them tests;

3) Review, analyze and dissect a player’s past performances in college games and;

4) Talk to their coaches, teachers and other experts.

That is all done before draft day and before a player is selected.  And its all done on hundreds of players.  The interesting thing is what NFL teams are looking for in college players is very  similar to what shoppers look for before buying online: 1) a track record of success; 2) good character; 3) reliability and trustworthiness; 4) the ability to deliver and meet expectations and 5) someone you can depend on and that can be your “go to” person.

All of these traits are exactly what people look for for in businesses that operate online as indications of whether you can trust that business.  The commonality between the NFL teams that put players through these tests and online shoppers is: Information!  Information is king.  It is not only having access to that information but it is also having the right information about trustworthiness and reliability to make an informed decision about buying from an online store or selecting a contractor or consultant online that you have come across online.

So next time you are out looking to buy online or select a contractor, be like an NFL scout and look for these types of information. That will help you stay safe when you are shopping online.  Also businesses that have a KikScore seal certainly help shoppers get much of this trust and reliability information.  But just make sure you end up selecting the next Tom Brady and not Ryan Leaf when you decide to do business online!

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

4 Reasons to Start Using KikScore Right Now to Demonstrate Trust & Increase Sales

So many times we have friends, family and now potential customers and small businesses that ask us why should I use KikScore.  So I am going to give you 4 quick reasons (there are more than 4 but 4 seemed like a good quick number) for why small businesses should start using KikScore. The unique thing about this post is I am actually going to use some of our old blog posts to explain why and to give you the reasons:

1) In at least 7 different ways, Kikscore helps small businesses and online merchants demonstrate trust to shoppers and visitors to your website. KikScore actually helps a small business with each of these 7 Steps to Increased Trust for More Online Sales.

2. You can Solicit and Listen to Customer Feedback. The KikScore seal and KikReport gives your small business a dynamic feedback platform to interact with your customers.  By using KikScore, you can listen, manage and respond to comments and also display customer feedback as testimonials for your business.  Tell your customers to skip Yelp and those other review sites and have those comments posted on your site instead of third party sites!

3. Your small business can use KikScore to introduce itself to the world through a video introduction.  Small Business are increasing Using Videos to Help Your Small Business and if you use the KikScore service you will be able to use our video platform on the KikReport to not only introduce yourself, but also as a product, educational and thought leadership video.

4.  It works!  Small businesses that have signed up for KikScore and placed the seal and KikReport on their sites, have seen an increase in their sales because they are giving their customers more information about their business.  These small businesses are also being more transparent to shoppers.  The success actually goes back to our very first customers that signed up late last year when we launched.  Here is just one of the testimonials that we have received about KikScore heping demonstrate trust for a small business and increasing the small businesses’ sales.

So please try KikScore out!  Or if you have questions about our service, please either call 1-877-KikScore or email us at support@kikscore.com.

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

Online Shopping & Security Tips from CrunchGear's John Biggs

This is an excellent four minute video that KikScore recommends for both the small business community and online shoppers on tips to stay safe online.  The video features the author of Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age, John Biggs.  In the video, John covers steps for staying safe when sharing data and information about yourself online, interacting on social networking sites, buying online and accessing the internet outside of your home. He has a lot of good guidance in the video including his rule to live by that you should not say or share information online that you would not be comfortable sharing in a crowded room.

Take a look, it is a good video.

Please tell us what you think about the tips John Biggs provided in the video in the comments section below.

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

The New Health Care Plan: Does Anyone Know How This Really Impacts Small Business?

Whether you’re for it or against it, the new health care law that was just passed is a big deal.  What was a patch-work of state and federal laws focused on certain groups has been replaced with an entirely new system (unless you’re from Massachusetts, and then it’s pretty much the same as what you’ve been experiencing for the past several years). 

As any American does, regardless of my ideology, I started to wonder how does this new bill impact me (and KikScore).  Now KikScore is unique in that each team member is an owner (meaning we don’t have any actual employees), and most of us have day jobs that cover our health insurance.  But as we grow (in terms of hiring employees or having team members work full time on the company), that’s when this new law will be relevant.  In trying to understand the actual impact of the laws, I’m really left with two choices: (a) read the actual bill (which is unbelievably long); or (b) rely on a summary from a group or groups that have a vested interest in pushing me one way or an another in how to view the bill.  In other words, I haven’t a clue how this will actually impact small businesses.  According the White House, it will allow small businesses a $3500 tax credit for each employee.  According to those opposed to the law, it will act as a large drain and penalizes small business owners (who can’t afford to cover the employee insurance cost). 

I found a good articleon the new law in the USA Today…you’ll note that it’s a question/answer type of article and the small business owner starts off with “I think the new health care law stinks”.  Ok, so he’s definitely taken a position.  I won’t summarize the whole article, but it does point out: (a) health care for small businesses will become more affordable (as the new system creates bigger buyer pools for the insurance; and (b) the penalty for not buying insurance doesn’t affect those businesses with less than 50 employees. 

I’m still fuzzy on what this new law means to Small Business owners, but if you have any better understanding (or just plain feelings on the topic), please feel free to share.

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

KikScore Interviews Name.com – Local Denver Domain Registration Company

I stumbled upon Name.com about a month ago while researching local small businesses.  They are a close knit team that is very active in the Denver community and show a strong passion for small business and teamwork.  Lesley Yarbrough, the Community Manager of Name.com shares with us their exciting story.

1. Tell us about Name.com and who you focus on serving?

Name.com was founded in 2003 by Bill Mushkin, who previously founded Mushkin Enhanced. Our office is located in gorgeous Denver, CO in an old building that was part of Lowry Air Force Base.   Name.comis comprised of an awesome  and diverse group of people working hard to create innovative tools and provide our customers with the best service possible.

Really we focus on serving three different groups:

• Retail customers
• Small to medium sized business and startups
• Domain investors or “domainers”

2. There are a lot of domain sites out there.  How does Name.com differentiate from the competition?

We try to provide the best search tools we can to help our customers find the right name for their needs. For instance, our Domain Suggestion tool  is very unique in that it not only provides our keyword suggestions, but also Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) translations and Google Keyword suggestions. We also offer over 50 extensions for registration and awesome, personal support for all of our customers.

3. Where will Name.com focus most of its energy in 2010?

A lot of our energy in 2010 is going to be focused on reaching out to our community and establishing more of a local/regional presence here in Colorado. We’ve recently hired a Community Manager to help us with this effort. We also want to focus on improving our search capabilities and providing more value-added products to our customers.

4. If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about having an online business, what are those?

Try new ideas and act on them quickly, because if you don’t someone will beat you to the punch. Also we’re working to create more strategic partnerships and “acting quickly” can be applied to that as well.

5. As 2010 begins, what do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?

IDNs are pretty popular in the investor community and we see those becoming more mainstream this year. We think we’ll also start to see a higher adoption rate of alternative extensions (.TV, .MOBI, .IM, .TEL, etc.) as fewer .COM and .NET domains are available.

6. If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?

Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was The Big Lebowski .  We’re genuine, laid back, and we can get the job done. The Dude abides.

7. If Name.com could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?

Why Gary Vaynerchuk of course! We’re huge fans of Gary in our office, we love his passion, his hard work, and his honesty.  We take what he has to say to heart and try to crush it every day. He actually did a personalized video for us recently when we ordered a bunch of his books for a promotion.

8. How do the folks at Name.com let loose after a busy day working?

We’re a diverse bunch, so we let loose a few different ways. Being located in Colorado we have access to great biking, hiking, skiing, and all that fun stuff. We have a ping pong table in our office and sometimes we’ll have tournaments, so there’s a bit of friendly competition going on. We also do a weekly web show called Beer Fridays.

9. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?

Work hard, show your customers you care, and keep on rockin’!

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Posts Tagged ‘Online Trust’

Running a Business is Tough, But It Could be Worse, We Could be Olympic Curlers

As the t.v. ratings indicate, U.S. audiences are caught up in Olympic fever.  I’m not exactly sure why this Olympics is so different than the Torino games in 2006.  It may be due to the fact that these Olympics are in North America and we can, generally, watch the events as they happen (not on tape delay).  I really think it’s because the U.S. is actually winning.  If we had a guy who could ski and shoot well, I guarantee that the biathlon would be a national craze.  I’m not saying this because I’m any different…I’ve never cared so much about hockey until the U.S. was playing for gold (hockey to me really is soccer on ice, and soccer is boring on grass). 

But unlike hockey players (who are professionals and merely taking a two-week Olympic vacation), and Shaun White (who is a millionaire and video game inspiration), most of the Olympic athletes work a patch-work lower paying jobs that provide them flexibility so they can train during the 3 years and 50 weeks they aren’t competing for medals. Take a member of the U.S. Curling team as an example.  According to a recent CNN article, it costs $150,000/year just to train for qualifying events.  They must use all their vacation time (and additional non-paid time) to travel to events…and oh yes, they have to train 5 hours a day.  The only upside in being an Olympic Curler is that it appears to be an in-demand activity for Wall Street traders(so they may have a future career in providing outrageously expensive lessons to overpaid quants).

All of this comes down to a point…I swear.  For entrepreneurs and small business owners, the passion is creating and growing a business.  Overtime, the business grows or at the very least the owner gains valuable business experience for the next venture.  But an Olympic Curler, after 4 years and thousands of dollars is left with little media coverage, no endorsements, and, if it’s the US team, no real shot at a medal.  That’s commitment.

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