FIFA 2010 World Cup was used as a bait

The volume of such SMS increased as the FIFA 2010 world cup football competition started.  I started receiving as much as three such unsolicited SMS messages per day. I guess the euphoria provided by the world cup created a conducive atmosphere for those behind this new scheme to con unsuspecting Nigerians into parting with their money.

Some of my friends played the SMS Short Code Lottery

Some of my friends actually sent SMS to those five digit numbers, expecting that they will win a million naira or some other fantastic gift. One of them confessed that he didn’t realize when he sent as much as N1,000 in piece meal to such short codes. Yet he won nothing. I am yet to meet one person that has won anything from such.  Never mind adverts on Television and Radio stations, those are just part of the gimmicks to con unsuspecting Nigerians into responding to such SMS.

GSM Short Code Fraud!

Naturally, I don’t like lottery. I believe it is morally wrong to collect money from several individuals and then give a small percentage of it to one individual while the rest of the contributors go away empty handed.  I consider such an illegitimate way of making money since the odd is always in the favor of the one who organizes such lottery.

It is personal greed that makes people not to bother about the fact that for every one person that wins a lottery, there are thousands that have lost money into the organizers pocket. So the organizer can best be describe as a legalized con artist. He collects from all with fake promise but only part with a fraction of what he collects! I know this sounds controversial, but that is my humble opinion. Back to the topic, GSM Short Code Service.

Is Anybody Regulating the GSM Short Code Service?

To the best of my understanding, the GSM Short Code Service in Nigeria is presently being used for lottery  (the government agency responsible for licensing such activity however is in slumber, so every Tom, Dick and Harry are carrying out the activity without obtaining lottery license).

BlackBerry Bold Offered For Thirty Naira (20cents)!

You feel that is outrageous. Well, that is the kind of offer I received. I’ve reproduced verbatim the SMS I received. It offered me a BlackBerry Bold worth N63,000 for a token 20cents if only I agree to be greedy enough to part with 20cents.

From 33114

Get a chance to win a blackberry Bold this week as the World Cup Quiz comes to an end. Simply text START to 33114 and you could be the Ultimate Winner! N30/SMS

What do you think? An outrageous offer? Sounds too good to be true? Well, let’s keep the emotions out of this and be factural. If you analyse the SMS message above, you will notice the following facts:

1. The subscriber is being asked to acquire a Blackberry Bold for N30 (ordinarily, one will need about N63,000 to purchase one here in Nigeria)

2. The message stated clearly that the subscriber could be the Ultimate Winner! (at least the sender was fair enough to indicate that this is nothing but a gamble. Since the subscriber is greedy enough to want a Blackberry Bold that is worth sixty-three thousands naira for just thirty naira)

3.The bet is placed once the subscriber responds to the SMS.

Since I love maths, I quickly did a little calculation and discovered that it only takes 2,100 gullible or greedy people to pay for the Blackberry, then the rest of the fund realized will simply be counted as profit by the person who set up the GSM short code.

Unfortunately, it is not all that even part with a gift. Someone was bold enough to confess that he simply pocket the money without parting with anything of value to the subscribers. The claim was made in a forum, so it wasn’t possible to identify the fellow. But it goes a long way to reveal that responding to such SMS is foolish as you will be making someone rich at your own expense.

Are the Nigerian Telecoms Operators Collaborators?

It bothers me that the GSM operators in Nigeria are willingly or unconsciously collaborating with the con artist in this rip-off. The GSM Short Code Service has suddenly become the new way some fraudulent Nigerians are robbing others of their hard earned cash. They have become so successful that they are now making boast of their nefarious activities. One of them even claim it is a new way of making money online!

If you’ve been enriching others by responding to such stupid SMS messages, I advice you stop as you may never win a dime. Even if you indeed win something, your conscience will prick you that you are enjoying what was deceitfully stolen from others.  I might be sounding religious, but that is the truth, you can deny it all you like.

I will like to hear others opinion on the legitimacy or otherwise of the GSM Short Code Service. If it is not fraud, then what is it?

Related posts:

1. Google Adsense and Nigerian Online Entrepreneurs
2. Bulk SMS Resellers in Nigeria

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bulk SMS, Fraud, GSM, GSM Short Code Service, Nigerian, SMS

What makes an investment a pyramid scheme? Why should you not join a pyramid scheme even though it seems to be running successfully and people are aggressively promoting it? Let’s start from the first question.

Definition of a Pyramid Scheme

Wikipedia defines pyramid scheme as follows “A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes are a form of fraud” Pyramid schemes are fraudulent investment. Several entrepreneurs all over the world have lost fortunes to such schemes thinking that they were getting into a lucrative investment program. A lot of Nigerian Entrepreneurs are being lured into such schemes because people are being deceived that they are legitimate investment plans. Ignorance is quite expensive.

Since you don’t want to lose your hard-earned income to any con-artist posing as an entrepreneur, you need to understand what a pyramid scheme is and why it is a no go area for any entrepreneurs that seeks to be successful.

Going by the definition given above, one can see that even though pyramid schemes appear as simple business opportunities, they are actual fraud in disguise. Pyramid schemes are presented to potential investors as a business opportunity with high rate of return with little or no effort after the initial contribution. This post seeks to explain what pyramid schemes are and how to distinguish them from genuine business opportunities.

Why is it called Pyramid Scheme?

This kind of investment fraud derives its name from the structure it has. Just like the name, pyramid schemes are usually structured like a pyramid. It starts with the originator who is on top, at the apex of the pyramid. This person recruits one or more people and ask them to pay some amount of money to join the scheme.

The amount requested can be as little as $5. The total money paid by the first set of recruits  goes to the  originator of the scheme. The recruits are then instructed to recruit other people under them. The new set of recruits will now pay the same $5. These payment will in turn go to the first set of recruits who paid the originator.   In some cases, the entire amount will be paid to the recruiter while in some, only a percentage pre-determined by the originator will be paid to the recruiter while the rest is paid to the originator. In order words, the recruiter will only get his initial investment back and get some profit by recruiting people into the scheme.

Lets use a very simple example to illustrate the point I’m trying to make (in real life it is never this simple, it is usually complex). Let’s assume the originator recruited 1 person, Mr A, who paid him $5. That person he recruited will be asked to recruit another person under him who will pay $5 also. That means the originator recruits A who paid $5 to join the scheme. Then A recruits B who also pay $5 to join the scheme. The payment from B goes to A, meaning that A has recouped his initial investment in the scheme. If A continues recruiting more people, he will be making more and more money without selling any product or service. He simply tells them his own “success story” and show them prove of payments he has received from the scheme! (In Nigeria, a copy of the cheque showing payment from the scheme is enough to convince many gullible entrepreneurs.  But is payment received from an investment really sufficient prove that an investment plan is legitimate?) Well, let’s not digress. This is not just about Nigeria. Let’s continue with the illustration.

Each new recruit is in turn required to enlist additional people. Each new recruit is obligated to pay the person who recruited them. This sounds so exciting bearing in mind that each member only pay once to the person who recruited them but can continue to make more money by recruiting new people into the scheme!

The scheme will continue until the base of the pyramid is no longer strong enough to support the upper structure. That means, it will be successful until there are no more recruit. At that point, you will be having several recruits who are unable to recoup their money because nobody wants to join the scheme anymore! Why will people stop joining when there is so much success stories from those that have been rewarded by the system?

The World Population is Finite!

The reason why a pyramid scheme cannot be successful forever is because irrespective of how long it may take a day will eventually arrive when there will be no more new recruits! Let’s assume for instance that the entire population of the Nigeria decides to join a pyramid scheme. How long do you think it will take before everyone becomes a member and there is no more people to recruit! Since the population has a fixed figure we are about 150million for now, (new births not withstanding) it simply means that eventually there will be no more recruit, so the last set of recruits will be stuck as there will be nobody to pay them. That is how people become victims in pyramid schemes.

Then it will dawn on them that even though they were deceived to believe that they will make money by joining the scheme, the fact that there was no product or service being sold means there is no wealth being created, so it is a matter of time before the entire system collapse . Why, simply because it is not sustainable! I get angry whenever I come across articles canvassing for Nigerians to join a pyramid scheme that is packaged to look like a lucrative investment opportunity.

Pyramid Schemes are Unsustainable!

The fact that a pyramid scheme cannot sustain itself as people are made to believe is a proof that it is a fraud in disguise! It is just a matter of time, somewhere down the line a group of people are bound to lose their money when the pyramid is no longer able to sustain itself. The victims are usually those at the bottom of the Pyramid. This kind of fraud is illegal in many developed nations, but in the third world countries, government rarely pay attention until it is too late and people have become victims.

Why Do People Join Pyramid Schemes?

It is all about getting rich quick. Too many people are attracted to the idea of making a quick buck with very little effort; many different forms of disguised pyramid schemes have succeeded in fooling people. Ignorance plays a major role. Often time, sincere people who are men and women of integrity actually promote such scheme thinking it is sustainable.

These armies of aggressive marketers are the one that go out to convince their relations, friends and colleague to embrace the scheme because they have proves in form of payments they have received from such scheme! The question a wise entrepreneur needs to ask is, can this scheme sustain itself forever, or there is a possibility of the whole system collapsing in the nearest future?

There are too many ways that con-artist can disguise pyramid scheme and present them as legitimate business opportunity. The onus lies on an entrepreneur to study and make research before committing into any investment opportunity. What is the business all about? What is the fund being invested in? What is the rate of returns? Answers must be provided to those questions before you commit yourself!

What about Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)?

Legitimate Multi-Level Marketing is not the same thing as pyramid schemes. Even though they have a form of resemblance, MLM involves being recruited in order to sell a product or service that actually has some inherent value. As a recruit, you can make a profit from the sales of the product or service, so you don’t necessarily have to recruit more salespeople below you before you can recoup your investment and make profit.

If it is impossible to recoup your investment in a Multi-Level Marketing program by just selling the product or service, unless you recruit new intakes, then it is not a legal MLM but a pyramid scheme in disguise. The simple difference between MLM and pyramid scheme is that MLM is about creating wealth by selling a product or service while pyramid schemes is about collecting money from recruits.

Pyramid Scheme MLM

A pyramid scheme MLM usually provide a product for sale. But such product will have no inherent or independent value of its own. Its value will be tied to the scheme and sales will only be possible to new recruits. For example, a report on activities of the scheme being sold to new recruit does not legalize a pyramid scheme. In this kind of pyramid scheme, you would be required to recruit new members into the MLM in order to make a profit from the product and keep the MLM alive. If joining the MLM is the only reason anyone would buy the products being sold, then it is not a legitimate MLM but a pyramid scheme being disguised as a legal MLM.

Chain Letters Pyramid Scheme

Chain letters pyramid scheme are letters sent via snail post or electronically soliciting that people contribute a small amount of money to the people on the list. The amount can be less than $1. The recipient is then asked to delete the first name on the list and then add his or her name before forwarding the letter to more people. The recipients are expected to repeat the process. If you ever do such, note that you are involving yourself in a pyramid scheme because you are asking people to give money with the promise of making money. Knowing too well that there will eventually be a time when some recipient of such letter will not be able to recoup their investment, it is a fraud!

Why You Shouldn’t Participate In Pyramid Schemes

Having seen how a pyramid scheme works, you will agree with me that irrespective of the way it is packaged and how successful it seems to be operating, it is a system built on lies and deception. People are made to believe that they can create wealth, get rich quickly, simply by joining an association that produces nothing! Wealth can only be created when you give out something that has value. The act of promising people money for recruiting others who are being giving the same promise is deceptive and illegal. It is obvious to one with a discerning mind that such promise cannot be kept. Some people along the line must become victims of the system.

As an entrepreneur, you should always ask question before parting with fund. Any business proposal must be researched and thoroughly examined. Not all that glitter is gold. It is not only the originator of a pyramid scheme that is engage in an illegal activity, all those that participate are equally liable and guilty of committing fraud. Are you participating in a pyramid scheme? If you’ve ever lost money in a pyramid scheme, kindly share your story in the comments section. Cheers.

No related posts.

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2010. | Permalink | 26 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business Model, Business Opportunity, Business Proposal, Con Artist, Earned Income, Entrepreneur, Genuine Business Opportunities, Initial Contribution, Investment Fraud, Investment Plans, Investment Program, Lucrative Investment, MLM, multi-level marketing, Pyramid Schemes, Rate Of Return, Sustainable Business

You may be wondering why I can’t just save myself the whole stress and pay something like $50 to get a premium wordpress theme installed. Well, I’ve always tried to use free resources for this website (except in a situation whereby it is not possilbe to do so). Since the blog is an attempt to prove to would be Nigerian online entreprenuers that they can replicate the success of this blog, it then means that I need to go about things using a shoe string budget as much as feasible.

For those of you that have been a fan of this blog for some years now, you will notice that it’s been over a year since I changed the theme of Nigerian Entrepreneur. After several months of procastinating because I consider the task of tweaking a free premium wordpress theme and getting the layout right a task I will rather not do. (I actually prefer blogging to having to tweak codes, html, css, etc.Like I said earlier, if I were to have my way, I would simply have outsourced the design of the blog).

Well, I finally gave in yesterday and introduced a new look using the premium theme Thrilling Theme from www.thrillingheroics.com The theme has a beautiful design and simple layout. Guess what, I actually got a copy of the theme in 2009, but I was afraid of the tweaks I will need to make to get the layout right. So, I kept prostponing switching from my former wordpress theme, Revolution Code Blue to Thrilling Theme.

I felt is was time to change the look of Nigerian Entrepreneur since over a month ago. However, I was not confident enough to switch to te new theme then because when I previewed it, there were several things that were broken. I simply told myself that when I’m less busy, I will do the change so that I will be ready to correct anything that gets broekn. Well, I never get the break until yesterday I when I simply told myself, that a better time may never come. It is better to switch and then start fixing whatever is broken one step at a time until it is all fixed.Just like there will never be a better time for you to start that small scale business you’ve been dreaming of. You just have to take the first step instead of allowing your fear to cage you and keep you incapacitated.

Well, I finally got over my fear and activated the theme yesterday. Since then, I’ve been under the hood tweaking codes and getting rid of some widgets in other to get the layout that I desire. After 24hours, I’m yet to get a perfect layout like I desire. But I fell better now that I have taking the first step of changing the theme. Nigerian Entrepreneur now have a new look. Apologies to my fans that visited when all the layout were heavily in disarray. Things are begining to take shape now.

I will love to hear your views about the new look and how easy it is to get at the information you need. Your suggestion will assist me in making corrections where I need to. Much more I wish to use this opportunity to thank you all for your comments. That is my greatest motivation. You are the reason why I still blog even when I don’t feel like. I guess that is enough rambling about the change I just made.

If you love the new theme, please say so in the comments. If you have an objection, feel free to express your thought. Like I mentioned earlier, the theme is a free premium wordpress theme. It has options that you can easily tweak from the admin dashboard. Also, you can do whatever you wish with the theme because it is  open source! For your copy, visit www.thrillingheroics.com. Cheers.

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1. Free WordPress Premium Theme For Your Blog
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4. Have You Updated To WordPress 2.7?
5. How I Upgraded To WordPress 2.5.1 Manually!

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2010. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blog Design, Blog Layout, Blogging, Open source, Wordpress, Wordpress Theme

How To Use Articles as Online Marketing Tools

Wondering how to promote your website or product with a shoe string budget, then you need to read this article on  using articles as affordable internet marketing tools to the end. It is an established fact that content is King. However, where the content is residing is an important factor that determines whether it will be featured in SERP  (search engine report pages) or not. If your website is new or unknown to the search engine spiders, whatever you write and post on the website may not be discovered by online surfers. So, it is actually content that is of good quality and has been discovered by online users that get crowned king.

If you’ve observed, search engines tends to give preference to articles hosted by popular article directories such as Ezinearticles.com and GoArticles.com.  Often, if any of the highly rated article directories has an article for the searched item, it will most likely be displayed on the first page of the search engine report page. Guess what, you can use that to your advantage.

All you need to do is sit down and write a quality article that provides needed information about the product or need your website is focused on. After writing the article, take time to go through it and ensure that your keywords are evenly distributed within the content of the article while maintaining the natural communication tone. Note that some of the popular article directories moderate articles before publishing. If your article is considered as link bait because it has an overdose of particular keywords, it will be rejected and not published.

After writing the article, insert a link to your website in the resource box and give a little information about your website too. Some article directories will permit you to insert one or two links in the body of the article. In that case, I suggest you use your keyword phrase as anchor text to link back to a popular article on your website. This has several advantages which we will talk about later.

So, what is the catch? When keywords related to the articles you submitted are typed on search boxes of search engines, indexed websites containing articles with those keywords will be displayed. Since most of the popular article directories are already having a high pagerank with many of the search engines, you have a good chance of having your article turning up within the first and second page of the search engine report. (Note, this may not happen immediately, sometimes, it takes between three days or more before you start seeing the result.)

How to get your articles listed

Since you are not the only one submitting articles to the article directories, you need to understand that what turns up for a particular article directory will be the best the search engine feels that particular article directory has to offer. You can guess what happens, if there is a better article already submitted to the article directory on the same subject you wrote on, yours may not be presented.

Wondering how to tackle that? This is what I do. I simply search the article directory first before writing any article. When I’ve gotten the best article it has to offer on a particular topic, I take time to read the article and find out all the flaws I can get about the article. After all that I simply sit down and produce an article that is far superior in quality to the existing article on the directory.

After submission and the article is published, I go back and use social media like Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit etc to promote the article. That way, it gets more focus within the article directory and is ranked higher than the existing articles.

When eventually the article turns up in the SERP, it will start generating traffic to your website in two ways. First, some readers will click the link in the resource box to visit your website. Also, some webmaster who are too busy to write articles for their site will post those articles on their website thereby giving you free link-back to your site.

What are the benefits of Using Articles As Internet Marketing Tools?

1. Articles are free promotional tools for internet marketing. The only possible cost you may incur is your time. Well, I took for granted that you already paid your Internet Service Provider. That’s it. All you need is your thoughts, your computer, and your hands. If you have those, nothing will stop you from typing words that will produce a high quality article for your internet marketing. Well, if you’re too busy or too lazy to write an article, then you may need to spend some cash by outsourcing to ghost writers who can do the job for you for some few dollars.

2. Articles are a sure way of making people know that your website exist. If you submit several articles of yours to article directories that get the most web traffic, you can be rest assured that in less than no time your website will get noticed by search engine visitors and visitors from the article directories.

your ranking on the SERP will go up..

3. Articles offers a free way of obtaining one way back links automatically. When you submit your articles to directories, surely, other websites will make use of your articles. If you have inserted links to your website in the resource box or the body of the article, you can be rest assured that this will cause your website to get higher ranking in the SERP thereby increasing search engine traffic to your website.

4. With Articles You Can Make Yourself an Expert In Your Niche. You can easily improve your online reputation by writing quality articles that presents you as an authority in your chosen field. As an Internet marketer, if you plainly display your products on your website, you will not gain much conversion rate. Conversion is when your traffic converts to sales. You have to show that you are knowledgeable on your field. People like listening and buying from people they consider experts. Articles have a way of showing you off as an expert in a chosen field. If your articles meet the need of the readers, they simply assume you know what you’re talking about. They won’t get to discover that you were only using materials freely available online to meet their need until you accept an interview with Oprah or Larry King. As long as you keep your profile low offline, nobody will discover that you were only recycling information.

Update: Don’t submit an article you have already published on your website to any article directory. Such action is counter productive, as you may get Penalized by some of the search engine for duplicate content.

Start Your Internet Marketing Campaign Now

There is no better time to start using articles for your online marketing campaign. Get into action now, make your creative juices flow as you start producing articles for your internet marketing campaign. I perceive you are already having some ideas popping into your heart as you read this, jot down those ideas quickly to jumpstart your article writing momentum. With those benefits listed above, I believe I’ve been able to motivate you to start using articles as your affordable internet marketing tools. I’ll love to hear your views in the comment section. Cheers.

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2. Work Smart Get Search Engines Traffic
3. Search Engine Traffic Is Best For Business Websites
4. Increasing Search Traffic While Google PR Drops
5. Cost Effectiveness Of Internet Advertisement

This topic aims at giving a short argument on the cost effectiveness of internet advertisement over the traditional method of advertising on electronic and print media. I decided to make this post because I observe that Nigerian Entrepreneurs are really not responding to the current shift from traditional advertisement on electronic media to internet advertisement. Many are still sticking to TV and Radio adverts despite the huge cost and the ineffectiveness of those media to capture the growing population of youth in Nigeria. With the advent of cheap internet connectivity in Nigeria, the youth are beginning to spend more time on the internet than they spend watching the local TV or listening to the local Radio stations.

It is an established fact that small and big entrepreneurs recognize the fact that effective advertisement can be a major determinant of a business’ success. Having a good product or service is not enough, such must be presented to the end consumer in such a way that their interest will be spurred up to give the product a trial. However, advertisement cost can be a real overhead-headache if not properly planned and managed. The cost of advertisement must be seen as a form of investment and the rate of return of investment must be pre-determined before implementation to ensure that the fund been expended on advertisement is justified.

An entrepreneur cannot be successful if he or she does not recognize the fact that human societies are dynamic. What worked yesterday may not necessarily work today. The mode of packaging and the advertisement media that were effective in the past decade are no longer holding their previous high rank. Gone are the days when TV and Radio advertisement were the most effective way of reaching consumers.

Advantages of Internet Advertisement

1. Low Cost Per Reach – This is the biggest advantage that internet advertisement has over the traditional advertisement via electronic or print media. The entrepreneur has several options that can be tailored to his or her peculiar business need. He can use text, audio, video, graphic or combination of one or two to package Affordable Internet Adverts targeted at a particular demography. The cost of such adverts will be based on response from potential consumers who are exposed to the internet advertisements. A good example of such is the opportunity provided by Google Adword whereby an entrepreneur can choose to only pay for adverts click by curious potential consumers. This can’t be compared to the cost of TV advert that is just a flat rate irrespective of impact on consumers.

2. Targeted Market – Internet Advertisement is best suited for having a laser target advertisement campaign that focuses on a specific category of consumer. It is easier to identify and provide adverts best suited for a particular demography when using internet advertisement. You can choose to show your internet advertisement to a particular continent, region, country, age group, class etc by using data already captured by search engines on the surfing habit of internet users. An entrepreneur may even have different sets of adverts to show to different categories of people. All these can be achieved without much effort and at an affordable cost. For example, you can choose to show a particular set of advertisement to those that are from the southern part of Nigeria while another set is shown to those that are from the Northern part of Nigeria. This is made possible by the data already captured by search engines.

2. Hassle Free Deployment of Advertisement - The advertisement project from Idea conception and packaging to the actual delivery of the advertisement can be outsourced. You don’t need to do it yourself if you don’t want to neither do you need to employ any staff to handle the tasks in house. The entire project can be handle online by a professional online marketing company. Also, the effect of the advertisement on your sales can easily be monitored from the comfort of your office or home. All you need is an internet connection via a computer or smartphone. Reports on advertisement performance is in real time. This makes it easy for you to judge in good time, which advertisement campaign is working and the one that is to be discountinued.

3. Advertisement Packages Can Be Updated Seamlessly – Unlike the electronic media advertisements that are difficult to change because of the cost implication, internet advertisement can be changed at minimal cost. Let use a practical example, if you make a video clip for a 60seconds advertisement on TV, the cost of producing the video clip will make it practically uneconomical for you to attempt to change the video clip one week after launch. However, for an internet advert, the cost of paying for new design could be negligible such that you can make changes to keep in tune with recent happenings. This particular advantage cannot be overemphasized. Internet advertisements are more flexible than any other form of advertisement.

Possible Disadvantages of Internet Advertisement

It won’t be fair to only point out the merit of internet advertisement without mentioning some shortfall that it presently have.

1. Market Scope – Presently, not all consumers can be reached via internet. Actually, there are some consumers that have no access to the internet yet, so such can only be reached via the traditional methods of advertising via the electronic and print media. For example, the lowest income group in Nigeria presently do not have access to internet. The average artisan in Nigeria towns and villages is not interested in taking his or her business to the internet because the consumers they serve have no business with internet. I can’t imagine the road side “roasted plantain seller” going to Google to advertise. Not that it is not possible to advertise “boole online” just that, the local consumer won’t search for “roasted plantain” in Google. They will simply search the street corners for “mama boole”. However, if Eko Le Meridian decides to place “boole” advertisement online while advertising its menu, it will yield positive result because their clientele consist of high income earners who uses the internet.

It therefore means that an entrepreneur must not embark on internet advertisement without first considering the audience he is targeting. Although most people now are into the use of technology, i.e. surfing the Internet, still, majority of the average consumers still relies on the old form of advertising as a means of gathering information about certain products and services, so an entrepreneur has to take this into consideration.

2. Need to Learn How Internet Advertisement Works – Without proper understanding of how internet advertisement works, an entrepreneur can run into huge overhead cost by employing internet advertisement wrongly. Even though an internet advert package cost $0.01 per click (N1.50 per click) that multiply by 1,000,000 clicks is a huge overhead that can wreck a small scale business.

Ignorance can be very deadly for a business online because things happens fast and often the effect of an error is irreversible. Before buying an internet advertisement package, get all the information you can and ask questions until you are satisfied that you understand fully what you’re getting into. You won’t want to have 1,000,000 clicks at $0.01 cost per click that produce $5 dollars worth of sales. That will be simply disastrous. But it does happen. Several online businesses have folded up because of such error. Never forget that little drops of water makes the mighty ocean. The internet has millions of users online, not all are useful to you. An advert package that attracts the wrong set of consumers will earn no revenue while at the same time it digs holes into your pocket. Never use the Nigerian idea of joining the bandwagon when deploying internet advertisement. You will only regret your action.

Summary

The aim of Internet advertisement is to offer the widest range or maximum exposure of your product or service at the least possible cost. That can only be achieved when you know what you’re doing. I strongly advice that you employ the service of tested professional firms with track records and good testimonials to handle your internet advertisement. That way the cost effectiveness of internet advertisement will be glaring as your business revenue soars. Cheers.

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4. Make Money Online, Promote Local Small Scale Businesses!

I got a cheque from a foreign firm who places adverts on this website (I do make money online you know). The cheque was for $125. Small amount I know, but that’s what makes the big bucks when it comes from different streams. Well, with excitement, I deposited the cheque in my domiciliary USD account with my banker, one of the famous Nigerian Banks (some are no longer famous, if you care to know why, read this post, .

The cheque was credited into the account and I went home smiling that in another 21days (well, from experience that is what it takes before a foreign cheque gets cleared into a Nigerian domiciliary account),  I will have access to the fund. However, I was shocked to discover when checking my account online the following day that the figure credited into my bank account has been reversed. A new figure for $100 was now credited! That was so confusing. I’ve never heard of such before. What manner of accounting is that? At least the cheque figure should be credited and then whatever charges the bank wants to make can now be debited into the account with explanation. Well, that wasn’t the case.

Careless me, I forgot to take the issue up (I guess I was too busy chasing more money online). I forgot all about the transaction until this morning when I discovered that I have been charged another $10.50 for the same cheque (21days is accomplished, the cheque from the foreign firm has cleared). Also, another $20 was charged as handling fees for sending the cheque from Nigeria to the foreign firms banker! For crying out loud, it is just a piece of payer, almost weightless! Isn’t this courier charge outrageous!

Anaylsis of The Outrageous Bank Charges

A quick analysis of all the charges got me angry. First, $25 charged for unknown reason, another $10.5 charged for unknown reason and finally $20 charged as handling fees. That means a total charges of $55.5 out of $125! That is a whooping 44% of the cheque value. So, while I labor tirelessly trying to make money online legitimately, my banker is sitting in the comfort of his office and taking out 44% of the proceed without my authorization. And nobody deemed it necessary to offer some explanation on why my internet business proceed should be divided between me and my banker in a manner I consider unfair.

My Reaction To the Bank Charges

If they had taking 10% or 20% of the proceed, maybe I would have been too busy to notice, but they took 44%. Of course, that was too much for me to forget. I paused my online business activity and made a franctic call to my account officer, ready to express my grievance. Unfortunately, he was not available to pick the call. That did not disuade me from making more effort, 44% of my earning can’t just end-up in the banker’s pocket without me putting up a fight. I quickly drafted an email and fired same with a note of urgency to the customer care service of my bank. It has been over 30 minutes since then, but there has been no respond. My account officer called back and I narrated the situation, he too promised to look into it, but there has been no response till now.

Nigerian Entrepreneurs Doing Business Online Please Help

Am I using a wrong bank?

Is this what other Nigerian Entrepreneurs doing businesses with foreign firms go through?

Was it stupid to have agreed that the foreign firm issue a cheque in settlement of the service I rendered?

What are the best steps to take when disputing bank charges?

Can bank charges be reclaim in Nigeria? I know it is possible elsewhere.

I need answer to this because it was not a one time deal. Another payment will be due soon. (I’m still making money online legitimately though I live in Nigeria!) The foreign firm does not use AlertPay, PayPal, is yet to remove Nigerians from her blacklist. So, what other options do you suggest for receiving money from this online business client?

This is not the first time am dealing with a foreign cheque. I’ve not really been careful to determine if the bank charges was fair or not. However, this particular incidence is a good starting point. I may not have noticed the outrageous bank charges if the cheque was for a five digit figure! I need your opinion on this, especially naija online entrepreneurs. Are you experiencing outrageous bank charges?

Related posts:

1. Can You Still Trust Your Banker?

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2010. | Permalink | 36 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bank charges, Make Money Online, Nigerian Banks, Nigerian Entrepreneurs, Small Scale Business

What Customers Want When You Don’t Deliver

There are situations when the best companies and businesses fail to deliver. It does happen and all the time.

It happens in online businesses and offline businesses. It happens online when you do a launch, offline in customer care, offline in delivery and in any department you can think of.  So when it happens what do you do? What should you do?

Let me tell you a little story.

Sometimes when I am far way from my PC and internet access, I do head to a cyber café to get stuff done online. One day, I dashed into a cyber café. The management had obviously done a great job. They had flat screen monitors, all well arranged with great furniture.

They had functional air conditioner, God, I was so happy. Now I could just cool off and surf the web. I paid for one hour, it was quite costly but, in my mind, it was well worth it.

I sat on the PC close to the air-conditioner and started working. 18 minute later, the unexpected happened. There was a power cut. (Sudden power outage is almost normal so I was not shocked) .

The people in charge scrambled to the back of the building to start the power generator. I was still working thankful that management had thought it good to get UPS (unlimited power supply) and that the power generator would be on in no time.

I was wrong.

10 minutes later, the power generating set wasn’t on and the UPS were not beeping any more. They were screaming, a sign that meant- I gonna go off in seconds”. I was in the middle of something. There was nothing I could do than hope that power would come on.

Then suddenly, it happened, what I feared happened. The UPSes started going off one by one. Mine was the 3^rd to go off. Everything I was working on in the last 20 minutes was gone.

All I was doing was gone.

Seconds later, the power came back because they finally put on the generator. One of the workers came in and started putting on the computers. He excused me and put mine on too. After powering up the computers, he left without a word!

I was vexed. I stood up and went to complain at the customer desk.

“I was doing something very important and now I have lost everything” I told the attendant.

“It is not our fault, he replied, there was a power cut and we could not put the power generator in time”. I kept complaining hoping for something to calm me down, they gave me none.

I was very annoyed, it showed on my face.

Even though, I knew about the problem of incessant power cuts, and I knew that mechanical devices like power generator sometimes have problems. Even though I know we are all humans, we sometimes fail in our promise and that things sometimes happen and does not go according to plan. yet I expected a better treatment form that cybercafe than what I got. That brings up the question I want to ask you.

How do you treat your customers when you fail to deliver?

Sometimes the customer just needs you to feel his pain. To sympathize or empathize with him/her.

In the Case above, the attendant or people in charged should have had done any of the following, and I would have been pacified.

Apologize:

He would have apologized after the power cut, apologize when he came to on the PC. Simply saying “please we are sorry for the problem, there was a power out and we could not on the generator in time” would have done the magic. I would have felt better.

Compensate:

I would have been happier if he came  up to say “sorry for the delay…blah, blah, we will add 10 minute to your remaining time”. He didn’t.

My satisfaction wasn’t their concern. They took my money and failed in their service. My money was more important to them than my satisfaction.  They forgot that, “you are not in business to make money, you are in business to serve people and give them satisfaction” after satisfying them, money comes. 

Solve the problem:

Yep, solve it. I may forgive you when you slip once, we may forgive you again if it happens another time, but if keeps happening again, we will just avoid you and your business.

We don’t want to hear your sob stories, we won’t tolerate it.  Just fix the problem and make sure it doesn’t happen again. People pay for quality service or product, not sorry tales!

Conclusion

Do you plan for these unexpected occurrences? How do you handle your inability to deliver on your promise?

Do you have a compensation plan for your customer when you fail to deliver? I’ll surely like to hear your views.

Thank you for your comments.

Mk Akan is an entrepreneur, blogger and publisher of the FastClick, a web-centric magazine published in Nigeria. He blogs at www.MkAkan.com

Related posts:

1. Steps to Starting a Small Business
2. 5 Tips For Business Growth
3. 5 Tips For Ensuring Consistent Customer Patronage
4. 7 Mistakes Home Based Online Entrepreneurs Should Avoid

© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blogging, Business Tips, Contigency Plan, Contingency Plan, Customer Care, Entrepreneur, Offline Businesses, Personal Experience, small business

It is an established fact that the success of a small business often depend on the ability of the business owner, i.e. the entrepreneur, to make the right decision especially, when such decision is considered critical to the survival or growth of the business. One of such senarios is choosing a business opportunity among several available options. Even if the entrpreneur has a team of staff he brainstorms with, as the CEO, the responsibility to make a critical choice among available business opportunities will eventually rest on him.

In as much as you may wish to shift such responsibility to one of your employee, common sense dictates that it is better to take such business decision than delegate it to another, knowing fully well that you are accountable for the success or failure of your business.

Despite the harsh economic reality we are currently facing in Nigeria, as an entrepreneur, you can reduce to the barest minimum the risk of making mistake when choosing between business opportunities by following some old and tried principles. I’ll share with you 10 Tips For Better Business Opportunity Selection:

1. Never reject a business opportunity because you see a flaw in it. That it has a flaw doesn’t mean it can ‘t succeed. Ask how the flaw can be corrected.

2. Never reject a business opportunity because you won’t get the credit. It is the impact of the success on your overall business that really matter, not who gets the credit for proposing the idea.

3. Never reject a business opportunity because it looks impossible. Go ask the Wright brothers, nobody thought it was possible to fly

4. Never reject a business opportunity because your mind is already made up on other possibilities. It won’t hurt if you have an open mind and consider all options on their individual merit before settling for one.

5. Never reject a business opportunity because you think it is illegal. Get expert legal opinion before trashing the idea.

6. Never reject a business opportunity because you don’t have the money, manpower, muscle or resources  required. Whatever happened to partnership, joint ventures etc. You must not insist on getting 100% returns and eating it all alone. Also, 10 return from a $1,000,000 joint venture deal is better than 100% return from a $1,000 deal you did all alone. Look at the big picture before making your choice.

7. Never reject a business opportunity because it will create conflict. If you’re not ready for conflict, then you’re not ready for success.

8. Never reject a business opportunity because it is not your way of doing things. You can learn to do better than you’re already doing. Be an avid learner.

9. Never reject a business opportunity because it might fail. Life is all about taking risk. It is actually risky not to take risk.

10. Never reject a business opportunity because of your personal emotions. Human feelings are quite unstable. It doesn’t take much for emotions to change. So, never bring your emotions into business decisions.

If you follow those ten don’ts whenever you are making your selection, you would have gone a step closer to making good business choice. Wishing you all the best. Cheers.

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1. 5 Tips For Business Growth
2. 10 Tips For Creating Business Ideas
3. Steps to Starting a Small Business
4. How Needs Give Birth To Business Opportunities
5. Thinking About Business In 2009

Why are employees referred to by companies as being the greatest asset? The answer is simple, machines, equipment, tools etc no matter how automated they are still need human beings to operate them. A seasoned human resources manager understands that the success of the company is dependent more on the loyalty of the workforce to the vision of the company. One of my colleagues who will fondly call Bossman, gave me a write-up he photocopied from a Nigerian daily. After reading it, I was prompted to write this article, Earning Employees’ Loyalty.

A business survival is dependent on getting customers who will patronize her goods or services. Growth is dependent on how loyal the customers become to the product or service of the company. Getting the right customer is a critical step in building a loyalty based business system, but it is only the first critical step. Once a company has loyal customers and it begins to enjoy steady supply of revenue, it is time to put a strategy in place to re-invest a good portion of the surplus to getting and retaining loyal employees.

Just as it takes quite some effort to build personal relationship with customers, so also it takes effort to build relationship with employees. Loyal employees have greater potential to learn and increase job performance.

Why Earn Employees’ Loyalty

Loyal employee will save you money. They save you money by reducing recruiting and induction costs. That money can then be use for some other productive ventures.

Seasoned Human Resource Managers do not like high rate of employee turnover because it is counter productive. It is not just about the financial cost of induction and training, but the distruption that constant changing in the workforce can have on the growth of the organization.

Even though some organizations claim that people are their greates asset, few actually act it. It is important not just to know the cost of your employee, overhead cost, but also the worth of your employee, their potential, the value they add to the organization.

As an entrepreneur going places, your business must learn to attract the best possible employees, hold the employees, recognize them, motivate and reward them.

Earning Employees’ Loyalty Requires Planning

You can’t earn employee loyalty just by sitting back and wishing it will happen. You must have the right mindset about the value of employee. You must define in definite terms what you consider as loyalty. Then you need to put in place strategies, tactics, practices and policies that will enhance measurement of employee performance and degree of loyalty to the organization. All these require effort and determination. If you don’t have a good Human Resource Manager, you may need to outsource to a competent Human Resource consultant.

The right place to start is during recruitment. Ensure that you recruit peole who share the organizations philosophy. Employees who personal goals and visions are in agreement with the vision of your business. Never recruit base on cost or professional competence alone. A happy employee will always be more committed and loyal than one that hates the job he/she is doing.

Treating people fairly should be the hallmark of your corporate loyalty system. If you follow the Golden Rule: Treat Your Employee The Way You Would Like To Be Treated. Let your fairness extends to employee compensation. Never feel that extra compensation to employee is undue overhead burden on the business. Look at your workforce as your partners in progress. Align Employees interest with that of the business and strike a balance that will be win-win for both the business and the employee. If you consciously work on strategies to ensure that employees earn more compensation, they will get committed to the business.

Finally, ensure that your compensation system is not lopsided in favor of the executives only. Your compensation plan should be fair ensuring that non-executive employee get adequate compensation. Nothing wanes employees’ loyalty like the feeling that your business is operating like the Animal Farm. A situation where some employee are considered and treated as being more important than the others. Let the process of career growth be plain for all to see and understand. Promotion should be based on merit and performance not personal sentiments.

Just as customers’ loyalty will keep your business revenue flowing, so also employees’ loyalty will keep the engine room of your business working smoothly and at lower maintenance cost. Even if you forget all that have been said in this article, Earning Employees’ Loyalty, don’t forget the Golden Rule – Treat your employees the way you will like to be treated.

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© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Business Growth, Employees, Entrepreneur, loyalty, small bsuiness, Successful Entrepreneur, workforce

There are two kinds of income.

Income Earned By Working For Money

This is where most people start from, except you inherited some income generating asset from your parents. It consists of Salaries, Wages etc. The issue here is that you only earn by working. If you don’t work, you don’t earn. Once you stop working the income stops. So, it is not the best source of income. For many small scale entrepreneurs in Nigeria, this is the case.

Income Earned By Your Money Working For You

This refers to income generated from assets you own. Here, you invest in an asset and the asset in return generates passive income for you. Even if you decide not to work again, as long as you have a system in place to manage and maintain those assets the income keeps flowing.

Now that I’m done with the brief definition, let’s get back to my question.

What kind of Income are you earning?

Initially, when I read Cashflow Quadrant, I was congratulating myself that I receive income from different sources. Some are earned by me working while some are from assets that I owned. However, now I am more interested in the percentage of the passive income to the total income.

I sat down and wrote down all the income I earned monthly. I then classified them into Passive Income and Non-passive Income. The analysis was an eye opener. I realized for the first time that even though I was earning passive income, it was less than 10% of my total income. Invariably, I am still in the rat-race. I’m still busy working for money. That means, if I stop working today, I will not be able to sustain my present standard of living. The income from my assets is grossly insufficient to cover my monthly bill.

Since I made that discovery, I’ve been working on a plan to change my strategy. I don’t want to work for money at my old age. I will rather spend my time doing what I really enjoy doing while my money works for me. So, now is the time to start acquiring assets that will generate the volume of income that I desire to earn so as to sustain the kind of lifestyle I want to live.

The Cashflow Quadrant is a great book for small scale entrepreneur to read. I recommend it to my fellow Nigerian Entrepreneurs. It offers some great financial knowledge that would have cost you years to acquire. The paperback edition is readily available in bookshops and is not expensive. Please note that this is not a product review. Now it is your turn to answer the question, What kind of income are you earning? Tell us in a comment. Cheers.

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© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2010. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Income, Nigerian Small Scale Business, Passive Income, Small Scale Business

Have you started your own online business? Do you have a website? Are you online? Are you making money online? Those are common topics for discussion these days. Internet services are fast becoming available everywhere. Gone are the days when you must visit a cybercafé before you can get online. This days, you can hook-up to the internet using mobile phones even if you’re living in a village where electricity is a luxury.

The information technology improvement has created an exciting frontier that is abundant with business opportunities. It is an established fact that people in this present generation now communicate more using the internet than they do using any other media. So, why not exploit the same for business ventures? That is what this post is looking at.

What is Online Business?

Are you kidding me? You want a definition of Online Business! Well, since you asked, my definition of online business is “An Online Business is any legitimate activity carried out on the internet (world wide web) that generates profit after all expenses has been fully paid for”. Please note the following:

• If it is not a legitimate online activity, then it can’t be called online business. It is better referred to as scam!
• If it doesn’t generate income that is more than the expenditures incurred in carrying out the activity, then it can’t be called online business. It is better referred to as hobby!

I believe that definition is simple enough for our purpose. Let’s get to the next issue.

Who can do Online Business?

Anyone who has enough determination can venture into online business. There are myriad of online business opportunities that are waiting to be explored. You don’t have to be a computer guru. As long as you can read and move a mouse or any other pointing device, then you can learn to do business online. Even if you lack those basic abilities or you are unwilling to get involved, you can learn to outsource many of the tasks you don’t like to others who are willing to do such at a fee. In other words, you can actually run your online business without engaging a computer physically. The possibilities are endless.

What do I need to start Online Business?

Well, the minimum requirement is a link or connection to the internet. For you to do business online, you must go online. That is the only requirement that cannot be bypassed. Once you get online via an internet connection, either with a computer or a smartphone, then you’re ready for online business. The fact that you’re reading this shows that you know how to get online, except if you got a printed copy of this article.

The subsequent requirements will depend on the type of online business you wish to do. There are some online businesses that requires huge amount of money to start while some other ones require zero capital. I will give two examples to buttress this point.

1. You can sell other peoples product or service. There are different methods of doing this. However, many of the methods allow you to start operating with zero capital. You can setup a free website, write your own articles or get free articles from article directory to promote the product or service you want to sell. The last step will be to work on generating web traffic for the new site.
2. Bulk SMS reselling. To start this business, you must buy an SMS package from a major SMS reseller and then sell to individuals or corporate entities that need the service.

As you can see, it is possible to start the first idea without spending a dime, but the second business idea requires at least about $20 as kick-off capital.

How can a Nigerian run a successful Online Business with the poor social infrastructures?

Too many never get to start because they are waiting for a perfect business environment before they start. The truth is you can start making money online even with the poor social infrastructures that we have in Nigeria. I started browsing when it cost N20/minutes to work online. Today, you can go online for less than N1/minute in some cybercafé. If you’re are really determined, you can make it. Instead of wasting your time chatting with strangers on Yahoo, you can start your online business by building a blog.

Is Online Business Risky?

Well, life itself is full of risks. It is a risk to wake-up in the morning and step outside your home. So, the answer is yes. Online business has risks. However, the risks are such that an average Nigerian can handle. You will only get into a mess by engaging in either of the following:

1. Engaging in illegal activities online because you want to get rich overnight. Gone are the days when online activities can be carried out anonymously. EFCC and other agencies are on the lookout for those that use internet to commit financial crimes.

2. Parting with cash in a hurry without learning how things work online. Too many Nigerians have fallen victim to fraudsters who sell all manner of automated junks that they claim are capable of making you rich while you do nothing.

My suggestion to you is that you start with free resources. When you have learnt how things work, and you have practice with free resources, then you can start spending your hard earned cash for resources you feel will enhance your online business. Take it from me, online business requires patience. You can’t make it big online in a hurry. You will simply get your pocket burnt by falling victim to scammers.

So quit talking and get into action. Start your own online business today. Cheers.

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3. How Needs Give Birth To Business Opportunities
4. Outrageous Bank Charges!
5. Make Money Online, Promote Local Small Scale Businesses!

Do you need targeted traffic? If you answer is yes, then my advice is that you stop working hard and start working smart to get search engines traffic. If you are wondering what I am talking about, here is a little background information.

As a blogger and a webmaster, one of my goal is to have consistent and relevant traffic for my numerous websites. Before the year 2009, my understanding was that the more I socialize on the different social bookmarking websites, like Digg, StumbleUpon, BlogCatalog etc, the more popular my websites will become. So, I started the year 2009 with the zeal of increasing my participation in the various social websites that I had joined in earlier years.

I labored and joined several social communities. I was very active and participated in all manner of gimmicks to attract visitors to my website. Well, did I see result? Yes, I did. The more I participated, the more I saw increase in the number of visitors that visited my websites. However, I noticed two facts that made me felt that something was terribly wrong.

1. Even though visitors came, they were not spending time to read my posts nor comment. This was evident from the high bouncing rate that Google Analyticals recorded for the site and the zero comments that many of my articles were recording.

2. I was not making money as I expected. A glimpse into the statistics of those visiting my website showed the reason. They were fellow bloggers who only came around because I  had earlier visited their blogs. They were simply reciprocating love!

The situation was very depressing and I almost gave up because I was getting burnt-out. I spent hours laboring online but was not seeing the desired result. Well, all that is history now. I can sincerely say that every little effort that I put into my websites yield results that I am proud of. It all started when I learned to stop working hard and started working smart on my websites.

There are three key lessons that I have learned that is giving me the present result that I am having. If you practice them, you will soon start testifying too. It may be slow at first, but when it starts paying dividend, it pays good dividend. Here are the three points.

Write for Human Consumption

If you write articles that cater for humans needs, you can be rest assured that they will not hurry away when they visit your website. They will definitely stay and devour articles upon articles and will likely drop comments on those they find really interesting. That is a sure cure  for reducing your website bounce rate.

Arrange Your Writings To Get Search Engine Robots Attention

Unlike human beings that are interested in their needs being met by the content of your articles, Search Engine robots judge your articles based on certain parameters. For example, a search engine robot will try to figure out what your article is all about by identifying the keywords used in the article,how many times the keywords were used and the positioning of the keywords. Based on this and its driving algorithm, it will categorize the article and rate it. So while your article that is so rich in content is nowhere to be found on the SERP (search engine reports page), a junk article that has its keywords well arranged will be ranked higher and may find its way into the first page of the SERP.  So, you need to understand at least a little bit of SEO (search engine optimization) so that you can arrange your article well. If you don’t understand SEO, then I advise that you pick up tutorials and get yourself educated. A good place to  start learning is the The Keyword Academy. If you can’t be bothered then you need to outsource your SEO to a professional. If you don’t get your onsite SEO right, the search engines will not be rank your websites content well, and that invariably means they will not send you any traffic!

Get Relevant Backlinks From Related Websites

Finally, I recomend you spend time getting backlinks from related websites. My tutor in SEO recommends that I spend 30% of my time writing good articles that are well presented and 70% building backlinks. A good place to start building backlinks is dropping  comments on blogs and making posts in relevant forums. If you are permitted by the webmaster of the blog or forum, use your keywords as anchor text to link back to your website articles (not the home page!). This will help your articles to get well ranked in the search engine reports pages.

As you may have guessed, this is where the real work lies. You have to be persistent in building backlinks as it is a slow job. You may not see the result of what you’re doing immediately, except if your niche is unoccupied by better competitors. Also, some search engines, e.g. Google Robot are skeptical about new websites, so your website may be placed in the sandbox for some months just to double check that it is authentic and not a spam-farm. During such period, you will receive no traffic for all your effort. However, if you persist, after about six months (maximum, sometimes it is less than that) you will start receiving traffic.

Why I love Search Engine Traffic

The good news is that once the search engines start sending you targeted traffic, it gradually increases in volume. At first the traffic may be in trickles, but as you continue to write more quality articles and practice good onsite SEO the number of your articles that will be well ranked in the search engine reports page will increase. Then, you can say goodbye to laboring in social network websites forever.  This is not an academic thesis, this website is a living proof that these three simple tips works. So, if you are really interested in getting quality website traffic that will translate into income, then you need to stop working hard at the social network sites and start working smart for search engine traffic.  

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1. Increasing Search Traffic While Google PR Drops
2. Using Articles As Affordable Internet Marketing Tools
3. Free Blog Traffic From Stumble Upon

I had my business dreams and goals for the year 2009. About half of them suffered as a result of harsh economic environment. However, instead of getting depressed and feeling gloomy, I’m all excited because I learnt some valuable lessons which I wouldn’t have learnt if there were no economic challenges facing Nigeria.

It is true that we all often underestimate what we are capable of achieving. The truth often comes out when there is intense pressure and the survival instinct buried deep down within jumps into action. Even though I lost some business deals and made some losses this year, I can proudly say that I’m ending the year better than I started. The crisis that hit the Nigerian stock exchange market affected my asset and cashflow negatively. It was a financial disaster I won’t forget so soon. However, in the bid to recover from the adverse effect, I discovered some other opportunities of making passive income which I never considered before. So, I can actually say that it wasn’t altogether a bad year. Something good came out of the financial crisis.

My balance sheet may not show a fantastic result by the close of business today, but then, intangible assets are never easy to measure. And that is the area I have sown seriously waiting for a bountiful harvest in years to come.
Also, I have invested heavily in self development. I’ve come to understand that what makes an entrepreneur successful is more about who he/she is not what he/she has locked up in a bank or possess as physical assets.
So, my conclusion is that the year 2009 has been a wonderful year for the Nigerian Entrepreneur. How has it been with you? I wish you a prosperous year 2010

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Whao! Today is Christmas and I’m all excited. Even though today is just like any other day, the fact that people all over the world are remembering the Birth of Jesus makes the day special. Jesus Christ is the reason for this season. I hope you have room for Him in your heart. There couldn’t have been a Christmas if there was no CHRIST! Never mind all the arguments that surround the date. What I consider important is how I spend the day.

It is possible to spend the day making positive impact on the lives of others through acts of kindness. On the other hand, it is also possible to make negative impacts on others lives by being irresponsible in your actions. I for one belief in spending the day sharing the love of Jesus Christ with people in rural areas. The Lord Jesus Christ has been so good to me and my family, the least I can do is to tell others about His loving kindness. So I won’t be at home for Christmas, instead I will be camping with other Christians in a village. We plan to spend four days in the village sharing the love of Christ with the locals. I’ve participated in such camping in time past. Beside the spiritual benefit it offers, it also have other benefits too. For example, it is usually a great relief leaving the hustling and bustling activities of the city for an environment that is close to nature and devoid of artificial distractions.

I guess someone may be thinking it is odd to spend Christmas away from the family. Well, it is base on mutual agreement. The children have already gone for a Christmas Camp Meeting for Children and Teenagers. The preparation for the meeting was quite elaborate and I was hinted from a reliable source that they are going to have a swell time at the camp. It wasn’t easy letting go, but then, since my better half will be with them, I had nothing to worry about.

The entire family will be reuniting on Sunday and there will be lots of stories to tell. I’m looking forward to an exciting time as I relate my experience and listen to the children tell theirs. How do you plan to spend your Christmas? Once again, I wish you a Merry Christmas

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© NaijaEcash for Nigerian Entrepreneur, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Christmas, Jesus Christ

Managing business overhead cost can be critical for the continued growth or survival of your business. Of recent, I observed that many large corporations and even small scale businesses are struggling to reduce their overall operating cost or overhead by laying off staff en-mass. To me that is not the right way to go. Using your employee as the sacrificial lamb to combat the present economic depression may actually get you into more trouble. When you lay off employees because you want to reduce business overhead expenses, you are actually sending a wrong signal to the rest of the workers and possibly your clients. There are better ways to reduce business overhead cost and avoid wastage. I’ll share some tips with you.

Get Your Employee Involved in Managing Overhead

The very first step I recommend is that of convening a meeting with your key employees in attendance. Explain to them what you want to achieve and how critical it is to the survival of the business and the well-being of the entire workforce. You will be surprised at the kind of suggestion such brainstorming session will produce. People will be eager to make suggestions and may even volunteer to take some sacrificial steps which they would have resisted if suggested by you. Find below some suggestions I got from such a session.

Cut Communication Cost

I was surprised when a staff analysed the unnecessary waste been made in the name of communication. He explained that often times, it is cheaper and more effective sending a message via SMS instead of making an official call. Have you taking time to analyse how much you spend on communication and see if it is justified. Nigerians are known for wasting money on communication due to our culture that demands that you show courtesy by exchanging greeting or pleasantries before stating the matter that warranted the call. SMS helps in reducing such waste.

If you have a message that needs to be detailed and is quite long, then use e-mail. It is cheap and more effective than verbal conversation when passing technical information. If you need to get feedback as you communicate, then you can employ the use of instant messenger e.g. Yahoo Messenger. This is very cheap and as effective a phone call. If you are not comfortable typing, you can make a PC to PC call using SKPE or a similar online facility.

Cut Energy Costs

How much do you spend on energy (electricity)? With the epileptic power supply in Nigeria, the cost of running petrol or diesel generator is a major headache to many entrepreneurs. Even though this cost cannot be totally eliminated, the truth is that it is a major avenue for waste. The fuel bill is killing several small businesses as they are operating at a loss. You should take time to check your cost in this area and look for ways of reducing the cost. Also look for ways of plugging loopholes for fraudulent practices by dishonest staff and fuel suppliers. From experience, I have discovered that often time, staff in charge of generators connives with fuel suppliers to defraud businessmen. Put measure in place to ensure that you get the quantity you paid for and it is not being stolen after delivery.

Better Inventory Management

Carrying large inventory can place undue burden on your business as you are forced to pay for space and security of such. On the other hand, not having sufficient inventory to meet client’s request can send potential business to your competitors. So, there is need to get creative and balance the act of inventory management such that you don’t incur unnecessary cost as you overstock or lose business deals because you run out of stock.

Cut Down on Office Stationery Expenses

Office Stationery cost  can be a silent waster for your business. The tradition of making photocopies of every document tagged “important” for distribution to different department has to be stopped. Instead of making photocopies and sending a physical memo, it is cheaper and neater making scanned copy of such documents and sending it via email to the various people. This will cut down considerably the fund being wasted on Photocopying papers, box files, filing cabinets etc. E-paper is a good cure for stationery wastage.

Watch Your CashFlow – Borrowed Fund Is Expensive

Your cashflow is crucial at this period. Gone are the days that poor cashflow management can easily be covered up by taking overdraft from your banker. Since the financial institutions are having the searchlight on them, they have become very shrewd and cautious in lending these days. A banker told me of recent that her bank cannot give out any credit facility until further notice. So, if you mismanage your cashflow and get fund tied down unnecessarily, you will be forced to borrow at a high interest rate in other to conduct your day to day business transactions. That will negatively impact on your business as you will be loosing much of your profit to your banker via interest payment.

Review Your Marketing Expenses

Having large budget for traditional means of advertisement may make you look big for a while, but it can also send you out of business. Believe it or not, the internet have a greater coverage and is cheaper for advertising your business even at the local level. Gone are the days when people spend hours listening to radio or watching local Television. So many spend hours working or getting entertained online. So it is time you start considering changing your marketing approach.

Manage your tax using a professional

After doing all the above, you will still loose much if you don’t get good tax advice. So many Nigerian entrepreneurs who have been ignoring tax are now waking up to the rude shock that they are heavily indebted to the Federal or State governments. Gone are the days when government doesn’t bother to check if small scale businesses are paying their taxes or not. With the present economic crisis, state governments are employing the services of TAX consultants to ensure effective tax collection. A look at the Nigerian tax laws shows that a businessperson who is not properly advised can loose much of his/her income to double taxation. So, it is advisable that you get a professional tax consultant or accountant to give you advice and help prepare your tax returns. Don’t wait until FIRS or the state tax man comes after you. It can be disastrous.

Well that’s my little advice for you. Instead of using your employees as the sacrificial lamb, get them involved in reducing your business overhead cost. That way it will be a win-win situation and your business will be better off. See you at the top. Cheers.

Related posts:

1. 5 Tips For Business Growth
2. Thinking About Business In 2009

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Post tags: business expenses, cost control, economic crises, small business