Questions not under Kiva Logic domain

Common questions that don't necessarily fall under the Kiva Logic software domain, but we still help out with :)

Authorize.net bank deposit did not arrive at the usual time?

Depending on what time of day you ran billing, they may have pushed back the deposit date.

How's it look on authorize.net? You should be able to see the settled/unsettled transactions and that might give you a better idea of what's going on.

How to set your domain or sub-domain up for the Authorize.net Verified Merchant Seal

If you use Authorize.net for your payment gateway and would like to have a verified merchant seal show up in your footer or on the sign-up page, you must add your domain or sub-domain first.

To do so, log in to your authorize.net account, and look for 'Verified Merchant Seal' on the left hand side under 'Account'.

On this page, copy the javascript code to send to hello@kivalogic.com, then click on the 'edit' button.

On this page, enter in your domain (include the www) or FULL sub-domain, then click 'add'.

Once you are finished, click submit and you're done! When you send us the javascript code then we can add the Verified Merchant Seal for you (email hello@kivalogic.com).

What laptop or computer should I buy? Does Kiva Logic work best with any particular Operating System?

disclaimer These are just thoughts from Wayne and not endorsements

Nope. My main machine runs Linux, but I also use a windows laptop and a MacBook to make sure the website works as it should on all operating systems. OS doesn't matter. I'd recommend Linux though, since Windows tracks the hell out of you and has zero privacy. MacBook has only slightly better privacy & security.

I've been rocking an Asus Zenbook UX3303LA-DS51T 13.3-inch with Linux Mint installed since March 2015 and it's still going strong 3+ years later. At the time it was $849, not a bad deal. My only complaint is the touchpad is complete crap and I have to use an external mouse when traveling. Other than that though, this laptop has been a tank and still kicks butt for my work purposes.

I don't game much anymore these days (work...), but when I do it's not anything serious. Usually MineCraft, Prison Architect, Don't Starve, games that don't require too many resources, and the laptop does ok.

I have several Asus monitors too that I've never had issues with either.

The monitors + laptop are probably on for about 10-16 hours per day, every day, so they really get worked.

I don't follow hardware at all, but if this laptop died on me today, I would probably order another Zenbook (like this one https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Slim-13-3-inch-Fingerprint-Anti-Glare-UX330UA-AH55/dp/B075N1YHVK/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1524579159&sr=1-3&keywords=asus+zenbook&dpID=417XeSwtw%252BL&preST=_SX300QL70&dpSrc=srch), or if I wanted to spend a few more dollars I'd get a Librem 13 (https://puri.sm/shop/librem-13/) which I've read decent reviews about and is a very security & privacy focused piece of hardware.

Just make sure that whatever you get uses an SSD (solid state drive) hard drive. That's a huge factor in how fast your computer will boot up & perform.

I'd be interested to know what you pick. Good luck!

Gmail Flags

"The recipient mmmm@mmmmm.com does not belong to your organization and is not in your list of contacts. Be careful with sensitive information."

Beginning June 2017, the Google AI engine places a warning when replying to an email address that may have triggered one or more 'spammy' flags. Just use caution and of course, never send sensitive information like credit card information via email. DailMail.co.uk source

Image courtesy of DailMail.co.uk

Gmail Out of Office

Is there a way to set an auto-reply email when we are away on work days (out of office) on my google apps customer service account?

There sure is! Check this out for instructions on how to set an auto-reply email when you are away: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/25922?hl=en

Should I use an agency for Google Adwords?

We have seen mixed results, but one thing we would say is- if you do that make sure you have all the tracking set up.

You can have each ad you run set up to use different links (see: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en ) and have a funnel set up on analytics so that way you can know for sure how many signups you get because of the ads.

An agency can tell you whatever numbers and it'd be hard to tell otherwise... but if you have tracking set up THEN you can actually see whether the cost per customer acquisition is good or not! It makes it a lot easier to decide whether to keep spending money on ads if you know how much each customer costs.

...and if you see the acquisition cost is low, then you have just found an excellent source for customer sign-ups at will and you can increase your advertising budget while it continues to work.

We would recommend trying a google adwords agency for 1 month (no contract) as long as you have your tracking and funnel set up.

FORMAT THIS:

Help! Someone is starting a company with the same name as mine!

As far as SEO and google searches, don't be too concerned right now. They are brand new and since they are geographically far away it shouldn't ever impact local google searches.

Couple things you could do, this is all just theory though:

-register your domain as far into the future as possible.. in theory google appreciates domains that have a far away expiration date. It's like saying "we're here for the long haul, you can trust us". I have KivaLogic.com registered for the next decade.

-register yourcompany.net, yourcompany.org or any others that strike you, simply to keep them out of someone else's hands.

-register yourcompanyco.com ... lots of people still don't understand that ".co" is a valid TLD

-use http://namechk.com/ to see where you can register the username 'yourcompany' so that they can't take it.

-alternatively, use http://knowem.com

-yourcompany.com is for sale, though the price is ridiculous. You could put an offer on it of a few hundred and see what happens though.. don't do it from your email or anything related to yourcompany though. The less they know, the better your chances of getting it for cheaper: http://www.afternic.com/search?k=yourcompany&tld=com . There are a lot of articles out there about how to approach buying a domain from someone.

-trademark yourcompany: http://knowem.com/checktrademarkavailability.php?u=yourcompany, more about trademarks here: http://www.uspto.gov/trademark

Placing a pre-order, final order, and dealing with price changes

Question: So I just realized that if I enter the pricing information on Thursday

and put my menu out on Friday. By the time I place my order on Monday

the prices may change... isn't that correct ?

Hi PERSON,

Yes. The prices can change in that time, and products can also become unavailable, case counts can change, all sorts of things.

Here's what I've done to compensate:

1) Get your pricelist on Friday, and after you create orders you'll have a very good idea of what your inventory demands will be.

2) Contact your distributor and place a 'pre-order'. By telling them what produce and in what quantities you are looking to buy, they can help tell you if they think it could become out-of-stock or have a drastic price change by Monday. You'd be surprised how often you want to order something on the pricesheet only to have them tell you "Oh, actually I won't be getting pineapples..."

3) Once all orders have been locked in, you place your 'final' order with the distributor. They'll be able to tell you if anything changed or if something goes out of stock.

Typically prices do not fluctuate that much in such a short span of time, so it's not TOO big a deal.