If you haven’t heard about it yet, Google has run amock with its latest algorythm changes. For new webmasters, its like someone came and stole their babies food straight from their mouths. When you hear Matt Cutts talk about it, they are walking on water. So who do you believe?

Sometime in 2007-2008, I was running a sweet internet marketing project that was just raking in the money. At this time, something called pay per blog was giving returns higher than a DECI pyramid scheme. It was legal…..

All I was doing was setting up aged domain names, creating content and signing up for these programs and laughing all the way to the bank. Internet marketing and the idea of making money was easy to say the least.

But as usual Google in its wisdom decided to crash the party. Apparently, since this system was working so well, Matt Cutts came up with the idea that paid links were as evil as satans beautiful daughter.

So one day I woke up and I found my network had been de-indexed. Google had targeted websites they thought were participating in paid per blog networks.

The fact that you can see I’m not sending any link to any of these sites on this blog, should tell you how badly they came down on us the small blogger. So from one day earning some xxx dollars, I found myself amongst the hundreds of bloggers worldwide caught up in this nonsense.

I say nonsense because the reason they gave was lame. Paid linking is not a bad thing. It is a bad thing for Google. If everyone paid blogger directly, why would anyone use Google’s Adsense?

So I decided that never again would I have google anything on my important websites. You won’t find my important sites in Google webmaster, google analytics or any of those “free’” tools that they use to gather data about you. Heck I only have one gmail account since some guys don’t know that gmail does not mean email.

The company that was most affected by this was Pay Per Post. They actually had public spats about this with Google lovers……I’m tempted to add a link to this, but they will ban my blog…haha

The New Age Internet Marketer

So I joined a group of webmasters who believe that Google is evil. Of course for the new bloggers and internet entreprenuers, having adsense in their websites seems pretty cool. But we decided to go another route. Don’t use google and they can’t hurt you.

That is until sometime last year and more aggressively this year when they have decided to be evil again.

Pandas are lovely creatures until Google touches them. They started rolling out Panda updates like clockwork. Panda, Panda 2.0, Panda 2.2, Panda 3.0…I mean pandas were dying everywhere.

It was so bad, that some web masters never recovered from the panda..I remember having a few online meetups with other SEO’s and some even quit after having their networks decimated.

My clients weren’t complaining and neither was I. After all traffic to our main sites is completely unrelated to Google. We want to rank first all the time, but our business is to make money…With or without google. So our small cabal of webmasters was not affected in anyway and infact, we loved Panda.

Then Google Virtually Killed Penguins

That was until late last month, early this month when google went berserk.

When your neighbor’s kid beats up puppies, we say he’s a naughty boy. But when they start killing pandas, then we know they have gone bonkers and someone has to take them.

I don’t have time to go through the numerous silly results this Penguin update has brought up in search. There are better SEO companies out there have have dissected this penguin update. You can see seobook, searchengineland and even the mainstream media.

You know something is wrong when every SEO company feels it was hard done by an update.

Don’t Bet Your Business on Google

I’m not in the business of giving guys advice on Google. I hate them so much, my advice would be contrary to what you wish to hear. Anyway, why should I give the nosy google manual reviewer ammunition to harm others?

So I will go back to my initial story about the little company running pay per post.

Keep this quote in mind

Mr. Eisenwasser says he doesn’t believe he’s guilty of violating Google’s guidelines. But he suspects his site’s rankings suffered because low-quality sites point to his. “We’re being punished because other sites are linking to us, sites we’ve never talked to,” Mr. Eisenwasser says. He’s now trying to contact the sites to ask them to remove the unwanted links in hopes of restoring his site’s previous ranking on Google, he adds.

from wallstreet journal

That is all fine and dandy but if you run a business based on another company’s whims. And depending on Google is just that.

Try be like Facebook, Fiverr, Twitter, they avoided google like the plague. But that is just plain dreaming for most small businesses. We depend on Matt Cutts and his team of furry animal virtual killers.

Kenyans Should Boycott Google Swahili Upus

This should also be a warning to all those small kenyan businesses that are flocking towards KBO sites. You will only have yourself to blame when they come crashing into your site with adverts.

For the Kenyan webmaster out there. More so to the Kenyan business person who wants to start an online presence. Please keep away from this KBO thing. Go buy yourself a domain name and develop that instead.

Or at least insist that Google removes this google swahili nonsense they make us use by default. Google man coming to read my blog in the name of quality control, can you please stop assuming that every Kenyan speaks swahili. One more “gonga hapa” on my browser and I will go crazy.

Honestly, Google forcing Kenyans to use their google swahili is the ultimate abuse of Africans. I can imagine their discussions in their boardrooms…”give those africans swahili, that’s what they speak and they can’t understand english”. For that, I have permanently switched to Bing (its even painful saying that).

Mr. Google Man, I don’t read swahili. I speak sheng. Forcing me to read my search results in a language I don’t understand is racist to say the least.

Oh, the Penguin Update

I believe that people should stop worrying so much about what Google does and adopt a model for their online presense that doesn’t require google.

Use a lot of social media. Please ignore their Google Plus, nothing is worse than that thing.

That is all I will say about that topic.

After payperpost was decimated by that 2008 update, it has come back strong with social spark and sponsored tweets.

In other words, they survived google and are doing just fine.

So will you. At least my clients have….oooops there goes the goole manual reviewer…

I’m very ambitious but this Facebook thing is very dangerous for people like me who love drunk dialing.

Somehow I find myself really busy on facebook at the moments when I should be locked up somewhere. So I’ve quit facebook and will now only tweet.

After all, I can have a fake personality on Twitter, but people know me on Facebook. Hehe.

Here’s to Freddie

Very nice. If only Ole Itumvi had forgotten his Uhuru Kenyatta band at home. That was very funny. One guy believes in what he says. The other one wants publicity. hehe.

but we’ve been told that Kenyan bloggers are political. Yes, I am. And they are broke, ok I am.but that’s a joke. Come on, kenyan bloggers ain’t broke. Only Ole Itumbi can pretend. Ok he’ll sue me for publicity too.

But for the old guys like me. Yes, we can blog, and we can sing. And I have my playlist. Only the top 10 in my life. No Justin Bieber or Nameless.

No. 10 The Hague Doesn’t Mean Me

We have our politicians in Kenya so we have to ask the a few questions. How can we sleep……Remember Midnight Oil

I  believe all that God wants from you is being honest. Like this

There are still Kenyan |DP’s but the two are still walking. lol. Lets pay. How can you sleep while the beds are burning? Gema my fooooooot!

I’m sorry Mr. Uhuru, Mr. Ruto, going to court for you doesn’t mean I follow you.

No. 9 :: or PS Bitange Ndemo

I know you want 3 kids for every family. But please keep away from my emails. My privacy is prime. You just can’t say that I’m guilty and you have to read my email.

I’ve got a right to be wrong, so just leave me alone

Sorry Mr. AG. I disagree with you all the way so far. I have a right to disagree with you. ALL THE TIME.

I’m a Kenyan citizen and so far, I disagree with you. And its not funny.

No. 8 :Kenyan Heath We are Dying

Prof. Anyang Nyong. Great to hear that you survived cancer. You had money and so did Beth Mugo. But I pay your taxes.

But we dying. Kenyans are dying. Yet, you are ok. Why do we have you two there?

These are the streets of Koinange, we are dying of HIV

Mr. Kibaki, Mr.Raila, we are dying. In the streets of Nairobi.

Help us!

’

There is no’ No. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3, 1

We are dying. Kenyans are dying.

HIV, Cancer, pnemonia, colds. Even when KPLC goes away, people die in the hospital. Why shouldn’t the Mombasa Republican Council not sound romantic to them.

Sometime back I said, the guys with HIV are promiscuous. That is until I spent a night in Karumaindo. Afro, was closed when I went to the states.

But Kenyans are dying. And we are wondering, Mudavadi, ODM or another.

You have HIV, doesn’t mean you are promiscous. Probably, your husband gave it to you. Your husband got it from his best friend before he met met you. The best friend was a virgin and she slept with her best friend.

Please. People are dying. We are dying. You are dying!

My name is Alex Maina. I got tested. And I know now, I have no reason to be where I am. After all I have seen it all. Afro, Karumando, campus,, work, job, girlfriend.

We are KILLING each other daily.

Hiv Tents in Kenya

Mr. Red Cross. I’ve had 3 friends die in the past 3 montths. They were not gay or bila Jesuss. They died.

In the past 2 months I have met them. Kenyans are dying.

That’s ok. After all, everyone dies.

But we have to die in our own terms.

FUCK the guy who tells you, you are dying because you sinned. FUCK them hard coz, they are also sinners.

FUCK your family coz they will hate you. Yet they accepted your boyfriend, or girlfirend.

FUCK every Kenyan.

Tell them: I am Alex Maina. I hate you. But there is God. and he loves you.

We Have To Learn As Kenyans

Our people are dying. and we are just watching. We are under, PRESSURE.

We shall kill our best.

Coz we are Africans. Coz we are patient. Coz we are private. A whole generation of Kenyans is going coz we have not taken care of our health system. You pay for NHIF, and medical insurance yet these doctors are running to Botswana.

We are killing us dumb mf’s.

And F…K  Mudavadi, Raila, Uhuru. They will never help us. They will organize us to kill each other so that they don’t have to go to the Hague.

And Dennis Itumbi is their poster child.

Oh boy.

For the Kenyan in the diaspora who wants to come back home. Think.

Then think again and again.

Sometime in 2009, I had had enough in the USA. I had everything. A few cars…Actually I could go to a dealer and get a new car.”Credit good? Here’s your car!|

Then shit happened.

My girlfriend left me like a Kiambu woman sweeping your house. ( True story) I got another, she found my house empty and decided I was broke.  I met my heart’s desire, she dumped me on the phone. I was calling from Kenya,,,,, it was not funny.

Money ain’t everything…

I had had enough in the US of A. Kumbe this dream was not real.

I came to Kenya armed with the best ideas I got from all those years doing IM. The first gal I got, I trusted. Kumbe I was a kubafu. It happened again. This time I was thrown in the streets.

The Kenyan businessman has come home. To floss.!

Mimi ndiyo njinga. Kubafu!

This is a true story, so hold on.

Somewhere in Kinoo, a guy with an afro was told to “take a stepping!”.

But I thought you loved me?

“kama hauna chapaaa, tembea na yesu’” (walk with Jesus)

“Welcome to Kenya!”

The Land of the Business Hustler and Konza City

The Nigerian Movie

Yes, I am. Alex Maina the Nigerian movie. All I need in this script is the juju man.

So I was dumped somewhere in the corners of Kinoo by the “love of my life”. All I had was my computer. My family? That’s a story for another day. To them I was a drug dealer, a fool, na mjinga.

So I went back home with my computer and started working. Then came the second phase as a Kenyan business man.

Who is this Fool?

If your name is not Moi, Kenyatta, Odinga, etc in Kenya, you are fucked in Kenya.

Repeat that in your mind.

Here’s a fool coming with this internet marketing thing. What is the internet? Then I meet the dot savvy’s and the three mice. Established but don’t know shit!

Then I became Kenyan again. we are in trouble. BIG DUDU.

If they can give contracts to websites that can be hacked, then we are in dudu. This gov’t internet thing is not real. Quote me.

“They are starting Konza” we have to follow them….ok that’s a story for another day. Let’s deal with me starting a business in Kenya.

Starting a Business in Kenya

It is tough. Trust me.

By the time you get your internet business incorporated, the Nairobi City Council fees, the MSK, you would have been dead.

pls note i didn’t say get a loan for an internet business/

OK, I’m exaggerating, I’m not dead yet. I still have NSSF, NHIF, etc coming along.

Exactly how does my country Kenya help the small internet business man?

Absolutely no way.

In case you’re wondering, my American company took me all of 24 hours to start and it’s still going strong.

Give me what I need Mr. Ndemo.

Mr. PS . Bitange Ndemo, I don’t need a CITY.

• I need internet now.
• I need financing for my business
• I need mentors
• I need gov’t support
• I need education
• I need good laws
• I need good gov’t managers
• I need you! The ministry of information to get me out of the streets of Kinoo,.
• I don’t need dreams. I need it now!
• i don’t need a city

Forget Konza. I need a street name! Virtual City, idd salim, kachwanya, seven seas. Give me a street now!

Konza is not the answer, get me internet. Now! Not in 2030

Kenya Ict will succeed with or withoug Konza. We just need you Mr. Ndemo to support us NOW!

“John Holmes was to the adult film industry what Elvis Presley was to rock ‘n’ roll. He simply was The King.”

—Cinematographer Bob Vosse in the documentary Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes.

Now we have new kings in Kenya. Dennis Ole Utumit, Robert Alai ,Oliver Mathenge, Idd Salim, and the list goes on.

Lets look at Dirk Diggler’s history. Got the biggest “…..” in the porn world. Believed what he had was important. To the point where before he died, he was not worried about his money. But his “biggest asset”. That is where the kenyan porn ends on my blog.

So what has that do to with Kenyan bloggers?

Sometime back, some young guy thought he had the biggest “….’ in the world. When the world came calling, he died alone. Dumped by those he thought cared.

Just like the Kenyan bloggers being paid to cause mayhem in Kenya. No different from Koinange street.

Dennis Ole Itumbi

I don’t know the guy. In fact, I believe in freedom of expressing yourself.  I don’t even think I will ever meet the fellow.

The fellow was arrested this week by 40 cops. In Kenya if 40 cops come for you, there is something you are doing right or something you are doing very wrong.

You can see what happened to the fellow on this video.

What is sad is the reaction of the commentators online. The journalists want to make a story. The viewers see it as another affront to their politics. But is that the case?

Journalists and even bloggers have every right to protecting their sources. But not when a so called journalist confesses to being biased and probably confessing to getting their material illegally.

Listen to him as he attempts to purify his outing of a witness in the ICC case against Kenya.

http://soundcloud.com/ramah-nyang/is-there-any-merit-to-outing

I n my opinion, after passing through Nyayo milk, Kenyans should be allowed to express THEIR opinion. That is if your are not paid!!!!

Mr. Ole Itumbi is an example of blogging going array. You may have information but you just can’t spread it for the sake of scoring political points.

This is the same guy who told Kenyans of the deaths of certain politicians on twitter…….Before they had died.

This kind of blogging should be discouraged at all costs. It is no different from shouting fire in a movie hall.

That’s my opinion.

But that does mean that the CCK in Kenya looks at my emails when they feel like.

Absolutely NO!!!!!!

So let’s look at where we are in internet privacy in Kenya and the right to speak your mind.

Internet Privacy in Kenya

The CCK in Kenya has been in the news recently for suggesting that they have the right to go to Kenyans emails.

But let’s look at their own privacy policy

http://www.cck.go.ke/misc/privacy.html

The first statement says this

Communications Commission of Kenya is committed to protecting your privacy and developing technology that gives you the most powerful and safe online experience.

So why do they want to read my emails?

According to business daily. I can be hacked by some fellows on the CCK payroll when they feel like it

http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/-/688322/1371966/-/4yck5v/-/

Plans to install the spyware kicked off on Monday after the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) sent letters to telecoms service providers demanding their co-operation in the installation of the Internet traffic monitoring equipment known as the Network Early Warning System (NEWS).

But under the constitution in Kenya, isn’t the CCK overstepping its mandate?

Look at the opinion of this Kenyan blogger http://michaelmurungi.blogspot.com/2011/01/kenyas-new-constitution-sets-new.html

Under Article 31 of the new Constitution, every person has the right to privacy, which includes the right not to have their person, home or property searched; their possessions seized; information relating to their family or private affairs unnecessarily required or revealed; or the privacy of their communications infringed.

But the CCK wants the right to read my emails without showing that I’m a criminal. Emails are my “property”. So why does the CCK want to read them without my consent?

Having gone through the Nyayo government where even in a bar, you could not get high enough and say Nyayo is bad, my opinion is that the CJ with earrings should quash such laws.

How does that happen in the free world?

If you look at their board of directors you start to understand that they don’t understand that my email is like my bedroom. Don’t just enter it with no permission.

What this silly law, it means is that my email’s privacy is dependant on who is the executive at the time. Here is a perfect example on how Gov’t’s in the world are trying to bring in SOPA to the fools in the world.

This law should be fought and every right thinking Kenyan should ask this of their MP’s. I personally think that old men should not be let near ICT. If they still keep Maina Kageni in the airwaves, why do they want to read my emails?

Worse….Which company is being given that contract since there is no way the Kenyan gov’t can deal with it. Is it another Google cloud project? Why are we selling Kenyan information to multinationals?

We have already given Google access to gov’t information. So why are we giving any company access to your private information.

What this means is that if you have a ndogo ndogo somewhere, the Kenyan gov’t will know. if you have a business, the Kenyan gov’t will know. Do you want that in your life?

Government should keep off my life. The only thing they need from me is my taxes. This law should be fought by all Kenyans.

Kenyan Government Data in Foreign Hands

A lot of Kenyans like blaming the “west” for their misfortunes. If KQ crashed, you want to blame the plane but not the pilots and the system of identifying the pilots.

So when Bitange Ndemo announces the Kenyan cloud, we all stand up and clap.

Why are we giving Google access to Kenyan gov’t data? You can call it Kenyan Open Data or whatever, but is this PS selling out Kenyans to multinationals who are known to use unethical business practices?

Why the rush to give Google my personal information?

Worse, who told Google that I know Swahili so that they can give me searches in Swahili.?

Why this rush to set up Konzas when we have not dealt with the problems that face Kenyans daily? Why start a Konza when Naivasha sells more flowers to the world?

Just in case I’m misunderstood. I want to make it very clear to the ICT board and the PS. The information age is about information. You can’t give multinationals like Google access to information about Kenyans and expect to compete with just Konza.

The information age is about information and selling my information to Google is not what I want my gov’t to do.

Sometime in 2007 PEV and Internet Privacy in Kenya

Let’s forget about the gov’t of Kenya and lets deal with the people. This is where guys like Ole Itumbi come in.

In 2007 I was unfortunate enough to see sites like rcbowen and mashada. Unfortunate because I saw bigots posting horrible post online. Guys like RV Pundit on RCbowen. It was so bad that I got a few of my friends online to write to get Mashada stop using Google Adsense.

Yes David Kobia, I’m one of the guys who got your site shut down. In the meantime you were doing the Ushahidi thing to get more NGO money.

Now in 2011/2012 some politicians have decided that the internet is a great tool to use. Of course they don’t know what social media means. Martha Karua has even confessed to giving her account to someone online.

So when you read on twitter that some fellows are hating on the ICC, why the hell do you believe them? Are they paid by these political campaigns?

PEV 2007 might be a joke compared to the fools on twitter who believe twitter is real.

You have Dennis Ole Itumbi being “arrested” for hacking. If you believe that you are a fool. What not which can a journalist hack? My view is that he got info from someone and since things are hot, he’s being sacrificed.

Why do Kenyans repeat the sins of our fathers.

If someone is lying, please call him out. That is why you are online.

The story with Kenyan journalists is that someone hacked the ICC website. That is bullshit. Hack my website first.

Social Media might be the death of reason and the rise of stupidity in Kenya. A journalist or so called journalist says that he’s outed a witness in a criminal investigation because he “knows’” that he has the right to.

It’s like my maid telling my wife that I was touching her butt, while all along I was removing a misquote.

That is not journalism. That is a paid fool. It is not journalism or blogging to give out the names of witnesses;  it is a crime even in the Kingdom of Zamoonda.

Bloggers in Kenya need to Grow Up

This Ole Itumbi fellow might walk or will walk to be precise. He will be blogging on Monday morning. But bloggers including RV Pundit, Oloo of Jukwaa,, Kobia of Mashada, Kenyanlist, Wazua etc. How much are you worth?

The world can’t hide secrets. http://jukwaa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=6742

5k, 10k, 100k, 1million?

How much is the worth of a Luo killed, a kikuyu killed, a luhya killed because of nonsense you allow to be posted on your sites?

I believe internet privacy in Kenya should be protected, but your rights end where my rights begin.

Just in case you are wondering

It was bad enough in 2007, it should never be that bloggers in Kenya help murderers in 202-2013. That is not privacy.

Get to know more about blogger’s privacy not the political games online! 

What has Dick Diggler got to do with all these? He believed he had the biggest “…”. He died from AIDS all alone. He insisted that no one should touch is “wh….”. So Alaink Rama Nyang, Ole Igumbi, Kenyan blogger, who’s got the biggest …..”d….”

Personally I don’t believe there’s anyone worse than one who uses social media as an excuse to do illegal stuff. If what you are doing is illegal offline, it is illegal online. However big you dirk diggler is.

Now, outsourcing your social media is not always a bad idea. It’s much better than completely ignoring in and assuming there is nothing to gain in it. Again, a company may need to consult in order to come up with a good strategy that will work online. Don’t imagine that all you have to do is open a boring Facebook page and Twitter account. A solid plan is a must if you want to succeed.

However, getting a third party to just get your Tweets up and put together a Facebook page is a big mistake. That is not Social Media. Social Media is all about building good relationships with others. These can be all kinds of stake holders like current and possible clients, suppliers, financiers and the general public.

Companies assume that their Social Media is on track when they post their product and services online. Many do not even go beyond creating accounts and making a few friends. They remember these accounts only when they are launching a new product in the market and think that the world will listen and buy their stuff. Let’s not even go to accounts that never get updated and the information they have is so old, one would be forgiven if they thought the company died a long time ago.

If you are not using Social Media to build and enhance relationships, don’t even bother going there. Your efforts will only serve to harm you brand more.

Many companies that have used Social Media well have proved the fact that strong relationships are the best way to strengthen your brand and increase your market penetration. Now that is music to the ears of Marketing Managers.

Many of these companies have used Social Networks to create a community and interact with this community daily. They share information, give solutions, share jokes, thanks and reward their community the while gaining their trust and strengthening their brand.

Here are three things that you can do using Social Media

1. Publicize your products and service. Please do not confuse this with pushing sales. Create awareness on what you have to offer in terms of value. People want to know what they can gain from what you are offering.
2. Building relationships based on trust with your clients. Help them when they have problems and don’t charge for that. Be a trusted partner that they can turn to. Be dependable and be there all the time.
3. Listen to what the community is talking about. What is important to them? What makes the happy and what annoys them? Know what they value and provide services and products based on this knowledge.

Trust me; you cannot achieve this by hiring a third party to run your social media. You will pay for fake number (tweets, updates, followers, likes) but not real relationship and tangible results. You will never be able to build a real community and understand the market if you don’t get into the game yourself.

Sad but true. On Friday last week, I got notification that one of my oldest domain names was ready to be renewed. So I confidently went to namecheap to do what I’ve been doing easily for the past 12 years. Remove my credit card and pay for the domain name. Then continue making money online with it for the next one year.

It’s one of my favorite websites. All I do is…nothing. I just get paid for work that I did years ago.

So I put down my login and password. Then nothing happened. I assumed I had changed my password so went into password recovery. Again nothing happened. I was still fine as I have a habit of forgetting my logins. After all, one can’t possibly remember over 500 logins, can they? So I went to all the email addresses I know I use for accounts. Again nothing.

Now I was in panic mode!

Using Domain Tools to Find Ownership of your Website

I was now scared so I decided to do a whois search on domain tools. Then panic really got to me. My domain name was owned by some fellow called Strike Back from Croatia. I tried the other domain names and the fellow had changed all the details to the accounts to read his fake address.

For those who don’t know about domain names. The fellow who’s name is shown as the registrant is considered to be the owner of the domain name. To make things worse, I had no access to my domain hosting account at namecheap to make any changes or corrections. In other words, I had lost domain names that were consistently earning me an income over some 10 years!

The Slowest Domain Hacker in the World

The repercussions for losing your domain hosting access can be financially fatal. One of the things that the hacker would have done would have been to move all those domain names to another domain registrar and I would lose them forever. Most hackers do so. But it was Christmas time so the guy was either lazy, or one very silly hacker.

Other hackers are known to get in touch with you and demand cash in order to return your domains to you. Of course there is ICANN to sort most of these problems, but how many days can your business run without any income? So most domain owners just pay the ransom.

Since the guy had only changed the whois to a few domains, I quickly did what I could do before losing my mind.

Namecheap Fraud Team Gets to Work

I quickly sent an email to the namecheap fraud team explaining my situation. They got back to me in 4 minutes flat and requested to have records to prove that I had bought the domains. I hate yahoo mail, but not this time. I have a habit of not deleting emails and it saved my butt big time. I got as many transaction records from my email and shot them to the team.

Now 3 days later, I can walk the streets of Nairobi in relative peace. It took a whole weekend where I was not able to work in peace to regain my account again. I don’t think I have ever been so scared since Mr. Kesui busted me for jumping classes in high school.

But it was a warning to me and others like me. You just have to be careful online.

How to Protect Your Domain Name Accounts from Hackers

Always make sure that your password is one that you can never remember and change it regularly. Those who know me understand that I’m lazy like that. Not anymore. I have changed all my passwords to anything I do online just in case they had hacked into some other accounts too.

Never ever give your domain registrar passwords to anyone. Especially your lover and best friend. I cannot in the life of me believe that I was hacked by someone I did not know. I have a very bad habit of giving a few select people some of my passwords. These are the same people who will access your account just to spite you. I believe this happened especially since this was an amateur hack.

Never save your account passwords on you computer. I know many of us like using lastpass or roboform or simply use excel sheets. Unfortunately, when a trojan attacks your computer, these are the areas they target. So you could end up giving the farm to some guy somewhere in Croatia.

Always save all your domain transactions. Everyone has a habit of deleting emails and deleting files from their computers. But this is one area I am very happy I was lazy in. I had records of my domain name activities going back 12 years. So unless the hacker could prove that I had sold him the domains, the fraud department was more likely to see me as believable.

Lastly, take a trip to domaintools.com or whois and make sure that you are the registrant of the domains. You see, if the registrant of the domains is someone else, even I could not have got the domain names back. ICANN only cares about the domain registrant and a complaint to them would have gone nowhere if the registrant was anyone other than myself.

The moral of the story is that even the best of us can have their accounts hacked. The issue is how you react afterwards and the security measures in place before you were hacked. Stay safe and hack free peoples!

In this post by Stefan Medalinski the CEO of Mocality, what they are practicing is plain scraping and bait and switch.

Oh please say it aint’t so.

I moved to Africa from the UK 30 months ago to be CEO of Mocality. When I moved, Kenya’s reputation as a corrupt place to do business made me nervous. I’ve been very happily surprised- until this point, I’ve not done business with any company here that was not completely honestly conducted. It is important for global businesses to adapt to local cultural practice, but ethics are an invariant. As a admirer of Google’s usually bold ethical stance around the world, to find those principles are not applied in Kenya is simply… saddening.

Someone, somewhere, has some questions to answer.

These are my personal top 3:

• If Google wanted to work with our data, why didn’t they just ask?
  In discussions with various Google Kenya/Africa folks in the past, I’d raised the idea of working together more closely in Kenya. Getting Kenyan businesses online is precisely what we do.
• Who authorised this? Until we uncovered the ‘India by way of Mountain View’ angle, I could have believed that this was a local team that somehow forgot the corporate motto, but not now.
• Who knew, and who SHOULD have known, even if they didn’t know?

Stefan Magdalinski
Nairobi, Kenya

Mr. Stefan, if you knew Google, you would not be shocked. Ooops, there I go, they will probably ban my site from the searches…..

Mr. Mocality, didn’t you read what Google did with Yelp last year. Apparently they went ahead and bought Zegat and in turn Yelp suggested that Google wanted to remove them from the searches. Truly, I did not say that, read what the Yelp CEO had to say about it. Very few people were happy about this behavior such as this post on gigaom.

Yelp: Google Told Us Our Way or the Highway

So when Google set up this KBO thing with Kenic, I knew the game plan. Take over the internet in Kenya. Of course, Kenic is full of people who don’t seem to understand the implications of setting up such a network with Google. It’s the database of businesses in Kenya who are actually lazy and think “free things are good for them. So google entices Kenic, who have run short of ideas on selling this damn .co.ke domain name, and Equity (surely what does a bank know about the internet?). And walla, they have access to a huge small business base in Kenya.

Google, Kenic and Equity KBO Project

There was one problem though.

Kenic doesn’t know how to sell domains, now you give them a website to sell? So enter the Indians. They will call every business in Kenya and get them on this KBO behemoth. Indians are Indians on the net and trust me, they use blackhat. So I guess they thought that the Kenya yellow pages isn’t real. So they went to Mocality. They apparently scrapped every little detail they could on their site and then they went to do what Kencall has failed to do. They called every Kenyan they could get from that list.

I am one of the guys they called. Last week and they offered to give me a……drum rolls please……. A FREE Website, which will cost ksh. 2,000. And yes, they are from Google. At least that’s what they said.

Google Using Scraping Techniques

Oh boy, Google, say it ain’t so.

You are using classic blackhat scraping techniques coupled with bait and switch techniques on poor miserable Africans who don’t know that KBO is a glorified or unglorified blogspot. Yep, I said it first. Kenic, Equity and Google are busy telling Kenyan SME’s that setting up a blogspot account is good for their business.

Oh, say it ain’t so! So you get a bunch of Kenyan businesses who don’t know anything about the internet to set up accounts on this KBO thing. You then call them and offer this “free” thing for ksh.2,000. You do not bother to tell them that the domain names does not belong to them. In fact, you neglect to tell them that if you don’t like them, you will throw them out the window just as others have been thrown out the window on blogspots.

Totally unethical behavior all through and through.

If what Mocality has stated has any semblance of truth, google has assumed that Africans, and in particular Kenyans are very gullible fools. That is not double speak.

I’m really hating this post, especially since I believe that Mocality is just a company that spends too much. But this is going too far.

Please Google Apologise if this story is even close to true.

It is a shame that a company such as Google can even contemplate using such techniques. Just because they can. But I will hold my breath. They will probably ban every site talking about this topic as they banned John Chow a few years ago. Then call a few more Kenyans on that database and call the damn Kenyan media to tell them how Google is God.

I know some of these blogs are as boring as Rama Nyang, but hey, they have influence and punch. By the way, I have not used those fake Alexa rankings that Kenyan bloggers love spreading around. Just the history and the influence they have on their readers.

Of course the readers here are me, myself and I.

11. Media Madness

He has proven that Kenyans are vain and buy tabloids. Honestly, this blog makes you wonder if TV stations have the right formula in programming. The blogs are hard hitting. Ask one Larry Madowo who’s even threatened to out them. For what, I don’t know. Personally I would let them be.

Together with techmtaa they have proven that you can actually shake corporates to the core and make money doing it. My view though is that the stories have become too obvious and it is bound to go south ones good bloggers such as savvy kenyan and banking in Kenya start being noticed. In the meantime, they are King and proud of it.

I love the Karucy character on the comments.

My only worry with this blog is that now that they have gone to bed with “some” characters, the mortals around us will start looking for a more hard hitting blog.

10.  Pastor Jmo

If there is anyone I think is changing the face of ICT in Kenya, it is the little known Pastor James Okumu. In a very short period of less than 7 months, he has transformed his blog from one of those non-starters to one of the most visited blogs in Kenya. Maybe its because of his audience at Hope FM, or his morning Activate show on Tuesdays. From a blog with only about 100 visitors a month, he now commands over 1000 visitors every day. I mean loyal dedicated readers who comment like crazy on the site.

He’s just proven that you do not have to talk dirty to make an impact online. In fact, his blog is all about Christian fellowship.

Yet, he’s not on twirra, or shouting at anyone. Just plain Pastor Jamo, as he likes calling himself, who loves Volkswagens and Jesus. You can’t afford to miss his daily devotions that wake you up and are so refreshing considering that on the other side is one Maina Kageni. Ouch!

9. Kenyan Jurist

This Lady has done everything I consider wrong if you are blogging for money including having the site on blogspot. But if there is any blogger in Kenya who has influenced us, no one comes close.

Commitment and passion since 2006. Boy, where was she blogging from in Kenya at that time. There was no “internets”. Her prose is wonderful, her understanding of the law, superb. Her articles, groundbreaking. Yes, I’m sucking up, she’s just made it to the Bench. The real bench that is. I too understand that ass kissing is good for your career.

But, along with Thinker’s room, these are the bloggers that other Kenyan bloggers should emulate. Blogging because you have a passion for something. It was a pleasure through the years reading your blog your Highness.

8. Moses Kemibaro

It’s my blog so I will be rather blunt here. I think this is the most overated blogger in Kenyan history. Seriously!

But heck, he’s on TV, he has dealfish or had it, he is an accomplished business man. But honestly, he shouldn’t be blogging.  But this is not a terrible blogger’s list,it’s the most influential kenyan bloggers list and he’s up there. Really up there. From his days at Three Mice (I’m puking), then Dotsavvy and now Deal Fish, he has earned his place as probably one of the worst examples of why people should be blogging. But heck, I can’t shake the hand of the ICT Board CEO, can I?

7. Idd Salim

Idd Salim vs Robert Alai is sumptous lunch on Twirra! For whatever reason, they hate each other. I’m not a psychologist so shauri yao.

But Idd has established himself as NOT soft spoken. It always amazes me why I read his blog. Its all about tech stuff which I can’t get but the fellow has a way with words. You just have to listen. His blogs are pure poetry with a high dose of arrogance. Who can avoid reading his stuff. I just hope that he can stop blogging this techie stuff as the rest of us mortals don’t get it.

The blog is a labour of love and it shows every time he get’s on Safaricom’s nerves. I’m only sorry that recently he seems to have gone soft on Corporates. Actually very soft on Bob Collimore.

6. Savvykenyan

I didn’t know she was still in college until she posted about her graduation ceremony. She’s in the new crop of internet savvy Kenyans who are taking Twirra and blogging by storm.

In case you don’t know her, then you are the one at a loss. After all Paul Kagame actually accepted her invitation to a party! Yes, you heard it right. She proved to the whole world that President Kagame is both slim and internet savvy. I really hate the fact that she loves AFC Leopards as I believe every human being loves Milan instead. But I’ll forgive her. In less than an year in blogging, she has achieved heights that many young Kenyans aspire to.

I believe that once she gets her own vision of what she wants to influence, this is probably going to be one of Kenya’s best bloggers.

5. Bankelele

Who has never read this blog?

There was a time I thought the fellow was a genious. All the information that I needed to invest in the banking industry in Kenya was in this blog. He has helped a lot of diasporan Kenyan invest in the country and honestly deserves one of those Moran things that people get on Jamhuri day.

For a long time, his blog was a non miss affair. That is until he found a career in writing some of the most boring articles I have ever read. The last one about some country in West Africa was particularly not bank like. I can only say that after such a long time as the King of finance and banking in East Africa, he has lost it to Banking in Kenya. But he’s the man!

4. Mental Acrobatics

If you are a Kenya, you blog and don’t know Daudi Were, you should go back to school.

The founder of the Kenyan Web Ring has probably done more for Kenyan bloggers than the Kenya ICT board and Kenic will ever do in their lifetime. Unless they elect Robert Alai to the board of course.  This is the premier Kenyan blogger and the rest of us just have to bow down and kowtow when we see him.

I don’t understand most of what he blogs about but his influence can be seen in all those 1000 dead Kenyan blogs on Kenya Unlimited. At least he tried. Especially at a time when Telkom Kenya was the bitter option. Blogging in 2004 was surely harder than listening to Caroline Mutoko talking about her Mercedes.

Kudos Bwana Were, and yes the world noticed.

3. You Missed This – Kumekucha

I still don’t know who writes this blog but there was no way to ignore it in the run up to the 2007 elections. It was all ODM this and ODM that. Who can forget the Nation Newspapers sex scandals that were highlighted in this blog. Better yet, Jeff Koinange’s alleged transgressions.

Does anyone remember how the author was totally against the Safaricom IPO? I have my own reasons for noting the article on Safaricom IPO. Years later, it sounds like a prophesy. That’s what political hack blogs end up sounding. Like prophesies!

After the elections, this blog has greatly deteriorated, and I still don’t have an idea who’s behind it. The ads are just annoying as they are everywhere. Now he has kumekucha2. Claims that he’s being targeted but sounds like hot air to me. Political blogs always end up as garbage once the politics change. But 2012 is coming up, expect some noise from this Kenyan blogger.

Truth be said, for any blogger to continue from 2005, he should be in the Kenyan bloggers hall of fame.

2. Techmtaaa

I don’t have to say this. Robert Alai and his walalahoi bandwagon is probably the most annoying blogger in the African hemisphere. I believe that he will love reading that. If you are looking for controversy, then go no further than Mr. Alai. He has been in wars with nearly all Kenyan bloggers. I’m just lucky……so far.

From the Muliro Gardens, all the way to Farida Karoney, Alai has proven to the world that human beings have the capacity of sinking lower than they ever imagined. All in the name of straight talk.

The truth of the matter though is that his Techmtaa blog is superb! Actually, it is just great. It is full of great information including info such as Access Kenya’s problems and hard hitting synopsis of the Kenyan IT scene. Even Paul Kokubo gets a richly deserved barb from him.

Love him or hate him, Robert is the SI unit of Kenyan bloggers wapende wasipende. I only hope one day as he roams around the hood, he finds Jesus.

1.Kenyan Entreprenuer

He came, he saw he conquered. Never in the history of this world has one blog got as many comments for as many years as his blog on Kencall.

Four years and 777 comments after he posted this blog, this article still elicits some serious emotional and heart felt comments. Both good and bad. Mostly bad about the company. If there was ever an case study on how blogging can affect your brand, then there is no better example. I was not even in Kenya when I first read it and it still amazes me. His blog has passed time and generations and branded a multi million shilling company as one of the worst employers in the history of mankind.

I can’t say more about it, you just have to head there and see it for yourself.

I believe that it will take a very long time to have Kenyan bloggers this influential

I have stopped being annoyed and instead just feel sad for them.

My dad was a very cool dude! He was the epitome of the Kikuyu cowboy of the 70’s. Remember them? The guys who had corduroy pants a godfather hat and the mandatory Ford Escort? That was him. Of course my uncles were not left behind.

They had a Datsun 160J and Citreons. “Kenya is my country and Datsun is my car” was the marketing gimmick.

They were hot cars. Until the kafuraita (carburetor) died! That was the age where everyone drunk petrol at least twice a week. You had to take a Jerri can, a pipe and a sand paper everywhere with you.

But we don’t need a karuaita in 2011, cars are now electronic.

If you are a marketing manager in Kenya, please stop laughing.

If in the year 2011 you are doing any sort of marketing and do not know what a blog can do, then you are just like my father with his kafuraita.

What is a Blog

Please stop asking this question and use something called googu and get your answer. It is not a sign of expertise when someone with a marketing or management degree in Kenya asks that question. Actually its downright shameful.

I have made presentations in various universities in Kenya and honestly, I am about to join the “naomba serekali” bandwagon. “Naomba serekali irudishie vijana wa university pesa zao!” (I’m asking the government to refund university students their fees!)

How can a student in a Kenyan university use Facebook 4 hours a day but cannot tell the difference between email, gmail, yahoo mail, facebook, twitter and a blog?????? What are they studying in these marketing colleges in Kenya?

Honorable marketing manager please stop laughing, it ain’t funny!

Why Blog for Business

I don’t know why most Fortune 500 companies blog, hire bloggers, management blogs or have a marketing plan involving blog. I would imagine that if they are making more money than Kenyan companies in the NSE, they know something we don’t know.

“ I can’t brog, brogging is for shidren”

Stop laughing if you are a marketing manager in Kenya without a blog.

There must be something that the marketing managers of Zappos, AMD,  General Motors, Google, Goodyear, Tyson ……

From banks to shoes shine stands, all marketing departments in the top companies in the world are blogging.

But oh No! Not the Kenyan marketing guy, he’s too busy getting a masters degree, an MBA , a certificate and all those great things that marketing managers get to blog.

After all, blogging is for the small people.

Remember the kafuraita?

The internet landed in Kenya and someone had better wake up in these marketing firms.

What to Blog About

Two salesmen come to your office.

Mutua talks about the great company he’s working for. They made 1billion in revenue and employ all the Kenyans in Mogotio. He does not forget to tell you that they have bought the best 4wd cars in Kenya to give to their salespeople,ehem like Mutua. You see, they are so successful that you should buy their insurance policy for 1k per month.

Okoth tells you why insurance is important. He gives you the different scenarios why it is needed. He advices you based on your situation. He gives you options available to you and is extremely grateful for the time he took to educate you.

Be honest, who would you buy from?

So who told you that your egotistical blog about your achievements, mission vision and last years tax returns is important?

Marketing is all about educating your prospect. At least that is what I hope is taught in business schools in Kenya. So blog about my needs, my solutions, my desires, me me me, the consumer. I will probably call you because I like you and think you are just a fantastic guy. Kind like the Kenyan Architect, just read his blog. You may decide to get him for your next house.

As for Mutua, does he remind you of a billboard?

When to Start Your Business Blog

I know that all business schools in the world advice that you have a business plan, create a marketing plan, and even get an IPO listing. By the time anyone starts doing business online in Kenya, the bus moved from Facebook to Google+.

There is no time like the present for someone who has something of importance to offer the society.

This idea that you have to wait for the perfect day to start died with the dinosaurs. I am 100% sure that dinosaurs were waiting for the weather to change just before they became extinct. This unfortunately is not a marketing department issue but a business owner issue.

Time is important on the internet. A website that has been online for 1 year is likely to bring more business than one that is fresh of the press. Those are just facts. So, as the board of directors is busy going through the tenders, their competitor has set up a website and is already gaining authority. My record still stands at 2 minutes 38 seconds to implement a website.

Just like Taher, start Now! He’s still a student at CPL and he started is simple blog on his passions. If he had waited for the time he clears school, and gets some money, then he could not separate himself from his peers. I am sure that some IT firm will find his CV better than his classmates if he simply keeps at blogging at least 3 times a week about his passions.

Time did not wait for the perfect Facebook or the perfect political situation. If you are business person in Kenya and do not start now, then please add in your marketing budget next year, buying ads in blogs owned by men and women who work from home in Kenya.

That’s a fact but you can always wait to see if Alex Maina is a prophet on top of being a Reputation Manager.

The Effects of Inaction for Kenyan Companies

I will keep this very simple for you to understand.

Borders closed shop last month. Amazon is alive and well.

Netflix increasing its prices was a national calamity, Blockbuster…what is blockbuster?

Marketing managers in Kenya may as well start polishing their resumes now if they have yet to implement an internet marketing strategy.

I know its very sexy to say things like social media, attending trade shows and conferences on social media and all this nonsense about social media in Kenya. Please don’t waste your company funds attending another conference if you have no intention of implementing anything.

Being on twitter is not sexy or politically correct, it imperative! Having a website is a total waste of resources if the IT department manages it.

Let me repeat that.

The IT department should have nothing to do with a website other than building it and maintaining it. Especially after meeting these so called ‘IT’ guys. They have idea how to market, have no idea who the customer is and have absolutely no interest in marketing your brand.

Please train your customer care reps to use Twitter for your business and not the IT guy. Please stop blocking Facebook from your sales people, they need it. Please please, don’t hire a web design company if you do not have a long term marketing strategy with your marketing team.

Mr. Bossman, I know you are an important person when you choose your web designer. Can you stop the ego trip for a second and ask the opinion of your marketing team. Nothing is worse for a budget than buying a product that produces no sales, no leads, no revenue, nothing! Just like your website!

Just like the kafuraita that you have to sand paper to make work. Otieno the mechanic should be honest and tell you that you wasted money.

The Kafuraita Died With Change in Techonology

It is 2011 and fibre has been in Kenya for ages now. If I hear one more speech from CEO’s about the future of marketing being on the internet, I will die from sadness.

There is internet in Kenya, Now! There are buyers from Kenya on the internet, Right Now! Your brand is being destroyed on Twitter, This Instant! It is not in the future, it is happening RIGHT NOW!

If you are not online, start taking your Datsun 160J to concours d’elagance.

If you are a marketing manager in Kenya, a sales person, a business owner who is still asking what I am talking about, please write an email to me. I will be more than happy to start blogging about your business and getting clients from you, TODAY!

Change the Kafuraita!