Hello,

Nairaland is currently the most popular Nigerian website, but the site has not been growing. I thought it was due to the downtime issues, so after last month's involved server maintenance process, I expected the site to gain more traffic instantly. The reverse has been the case; probably because of my crackdown on HYIPs.

Now there are competitors springing up left and right, including foreigners operating sites much bigger than mine, but out of fear I have been reluctant to change the Nairaland formular that seems to be working so well. I'm afraid that this fear of mine will enable a new competitor to rise up and overtake Nairaland.

That's so sad, isn't it? What are we to do? What am I to do?

i guess nairaland cant afford to stop growing so you better find ways to keep it booming.

More so the competition are watching u closely

For what we have to do we would could just keep our eyes open for you

I got this in my inbox, from the administrator of ghanaweb.com:
> Nairaland is the most popular Nigerian site but its popularity is
> very low in view of the
> size of Nigerian population. It's Alexa ranking is only 37,426. You
> think you have a formula
> which works very well but I think you are wrong. If your formula is
> really working well you should
> have an Alexa ranking in the range of 500-2500 considering the size
> of the Nigerian population.

He seems to think he can just waltz in and take over the Nigerian market. Maybe he's right; I don't know.

Anybody can waltz into the Nigerian market.

The Nigerian market is big enough to have at least a dozen Nigerian websites in the Alexa top-1000. As we speak the most popular Nigerian website (nairaland.com) only has a ranking of 37,246.

A one-man operation such as yourself doesn't have the financial resources and manpower to build a top-1000 website. It is only a matter of time before bigger outfits will take over the market.

There are only 2 options to avoid this scenario. The first option is to arrange serious financing for your business. The second option is to team up with one or more strategic partners.

@ Seun,
does the "Alexa" ranking consider the number of internet users in a country. Naija might have a lot of people but we have relatively few internet users.

Anyways, why don't you try advertising? Get the Nairaland brand on TV and in the papers. Stop the crackdown on HYIPs

The thing is that I'm quite tired of Nairaland - or at least my labor-intensive approach to it. It's too stressful.

We wud really watch out 4 signs, nairaland has brot smiles nd laughter 2 pple,we just cant divert 2 oda sites. U're really doin a gr8 job, Nairaland rocks.

Seun:

The thing is that I'm quite tired of Nairaland - or at least my labor-intensive approach to it. It's too stressful.

Maybe you should bring in other admins. . .and that would make it less labor-intensive to you.

Maybe you could add more functions as well. . .what they are, I don't know.

Seun:

I got this in my inbox, from the administrator of ghanaweb.com:
> Nairaland is the most popular Nigerian site but its popularity is
> very low in view of the
> size of Nigerian population. It's Alexa ranking is only 37,426. You
> think you have a formula
> which works very well but I think you are wrong. If your formula is
> really working well you should
> have an Alexa ranking in the range of 500-2500 considering the size
> of the Nigerian population.

He seems to think he can just waltz in and take over the Nigerian market. Maybe he's right; I don't know.

Seun please don't let anyone discourage you.

When you’re running a business, your rivals would look for your weak points to criticize you with; and when they see that you are so worried about what they said, they would make sure they paint you as black as possible so you would loose faith in yourself and eventually your business might crumble.

Seun, anyone who visits Nairaland for the first time would know it’s a success. A site that has active and regular posters 24 hours round the clock what else do you want?

Why should you pay attention to someone else?

Just exercise patience and am sure it would reach the 500-2500 ranking ok?

Little drops of water they say makes a mighty ocean. Remember when Nairaland was born, things looked as if it won’t work out. But because you were so determined and focused, you were able to bring Nairaland to its present state. I can confess here that most forum sites didn’t get half way to Nairaland they ran down. Nairaland is a success and we all know that. So please don’t let any one discourage you.

I must confess dat on my discovery of dis si e,my mind was blown with d potential it possessed.Look,seun! Ur dealin wt dynamite here bt u got 2 explode d fuses,man.Hve u got vision? Where do u see dis taking u in 10 yrs time? If u see what im seeing,then u gotta  start building ur workforce now.Dnt be afraid 2 share ur baby wt others(watch out 4 d snakes,thoui).U cant do it alone! Son,u need more media exposure.Some will come naturally,others u hve 2 get urself. Ur a genius,son.Money is a sucker 4 one thing only: ideas! Packaging and constant re-branding keeps u ahead of competition.I got u,son! Anyday!

hahahaha Oga Seun,

I have figured out the secret of ghanaweb.com and the way I'm going to defend myself from the pending attack!

As for the sites that are merely clones of Nairaland, here is the best and most intelligent one: www.

The best seun can do is to encourage members to invite their friends and associates. That will increase the number of members significantly, especially meaningful contributors.
What is HYIP? 

@seun,
I'm so sure u ve got a smart visison for Nairaland, plz for God sake don't allow anybody on planet earth to discourage u
its nice there are competitors everywhere and good u are seeing them around u, but the fact is just that if u are a man of great and smart vision, competitors will only show u ur weak point so u can work on them, for crying out loud don't allow conditions, situations or ur weaknesses to weigh u down because in the process of trying to attend to such things ur competitors will take advantage of u. A man that will pull down a wall must stand firm and must staggered not.
Seun plz i must say that u have got all it takes to succeed in this business, so just go ahead and succeed, no limitation to what u can achieve and besides plz stop focusing on ur competitors, just be the best in the area of ur endeavours and u will find out that u competitors are just behind u.
Everybody that has contributed to the thread has made a lot of senses just follow up with all what they have said and make adjustment and i must tell u we will all keep the flag flying(nice work guy, WELLDONE)
SKY IS JUST OUR STEPPING STONE.

seun,

i really don't have suggestions yet because i just came across this but i am all for the offline recognition for nairaland.
tundewoods suggestion for T shirts, Caps, Bunper stickers etc is very good and i am totally in support of it.

nairaland is like the biggest thing on the net in my office. when we are less busy almost all the staff go on net to nairaland.com. we have come to an agreement that if you go with the t shirt idea we will make our friday, nairaland day by wearing the t shirts as our causals for friday.

we are solidly behind you and if there is anyway we can help, we would be glad to help.

If its too stressful, sell it to me

If u want to keep it, then do a little awareness programme.

send massive junk mails.

wow, kilma, thanks and please send my humble greetings to your colleagues.

Another form of free adverts for nairaland would just be getting members

of nairaland that have lovely blogs and websites to include Nairaland on their blogroll.

Or better still just have a link to Nairaland.

Innovation is also key. Seun has to be innovative and i believe adverts in

Newspapers would also help. Maybe just www.nairaland.com, would be fine.

I would advise seun to try it for a week and then watch whether there is any

increase in traffic.

I also believe Nairaland is getting to a stage that it is outgrowing just a one man

Business. I think it's time seun get's other people involved in his vision.

Building a team and communicating the vision to your team members is key.

It's time you start delegating responsibilites.

What happens if Seun is sick? I have worked in a one man business before that

we had to go and meet the MD in the hospital when he was ill, just to sign some

Cheques.

It is more challenging to remain on top than just getting to the top.

I am also very sure that there would be some people with more resources

working hard  to overthrow Nairaland

Seun has to step up from just doing an Administrative role to a Leadership role.

Nairaland has to move from being a good forum to a great forum.

Seun wish u all the best and i think it's time you get back to the drawing board

and re-strategize.

I believe the future of Nairaland is bright and the possibilities are endless.

Regards,

SEUN what can we do to help this forum grow faster and be on top l am not into IT but l think there should be something you can use us for. for me l am ready to work and render help in anyway l can l love this forum,

Seun . . .the likes of Ghanaweb would continue to use reverse psychology on u as long as u choose NOT to have moderators to assist and inability to eat d humble pie just puts u in a fix with d most intelligent peeps around, need I tell u those r d ones you should cherish most ?

A bit of marketing plan and opening up for more moderate would help like stated already.

Especially to cut crappy contributors ------- that would chase away well meaning ones.

They are loads of witty pp i have met on Nairaland all see this as a project that has come to stay and have outgrown the "me thing" into a brand known for fun & vital resources. Like any other brands it need some prof handling. am sure u know what that means

Who is the moderator in Nairaland ?

hey Seun
don't b discouraged. This should act like a wake up call for you. HOwever the only way you'll keep ahead of the competition is if they are chasing you and the oonly way that's gonna happen is for u to have a dream you're following. I'm talking of you having an end for nairaland in mind and not just trying to stay ahead of the competition.
It's time to reinvent urself my man unless u wanna stay small forever.

As someone said this site is agoldmine which just needs to be lit. So go ahead and light it.
You should also consider getting some decent staff cos this one man business thing aint cuttin it oooooooooooooo

Discourage,Competitor,Stressfull,Bored Are Troubling Seun?you can't work alone man

they said two head is better than One,i admire your FORUM alot & i will help to keep it going

you just Relax and see the FORUM growing,i also suggest you have a MODERATOR,

huh!! hope you know the work of a FORUM MODERATOR? anyway is for your own good.

i guess you understand the simplicity of these contest drop out.


- NicezStyle!!

Nicez, ever heard of d book series 'brighter grammar' ?

Mc Omo - what's the meaning of that

@seun
Don't be discouraged at all keep on with the good work and i tell you that the sky will be a starting point for you.I totally agree with Kilma and the rest but i think you still av to use any of the advertising media such as Billboards, Tv adverts,calendars,magazines,radio and others just to make people more conversant with the loving site and make it globally known._{that is if it won't be too expensive for you}

We will not hesitate to tell people in our offices, homes or whereever about the site too.Gdluck

I can't believe that Seun is the only staff of Nairaland, it sound somewhat absurd. I think he should build an effective staff and try to create a marketing plan. Nairaland could become a social networking site, if well-managed.

@ Seun
Think PR.

i think you should try getting media attention. it doesn't necessarily have to cost you a dime.

the long awaited nairaland "tee-shirt" party would definitely help create awareness for the forum (dont worry this is the last time i'll mention the party)

on a different note, is nairaland open to advertisement and though this could generate income for you to hire assistants with, i'm asking for my own reasons.

p.s. why do i have this strange feeling ur just sampling peoples opinions. u dont come thru as some1 who gets easily discouraged

@Seun. i was mulling over nairaland when my mind struck an idea about a Nairaland award.i will update tha details as soon as i get them together. the probem is that i only do such thinking at weekends so hopefully by next weekend will give u my side of the idea.hope to come up with something good.

Apart from that is a suggestion that u remove the word 'forum' from the back of Nairaland.Nairaland is much more than a forum and it will expand.The word 'forum' is restrictive.
I dont know if Nairaland as a registered trade mark is also registered with the relevant body cos if thats not the case please do that b4 u reply.that name is too sweet to be left for vampires.
Clamping on HYIP is also good idea to me.Branding takes a lot of sacrifices and banning those HYIP's will do ur brand more good than bad.Its not all about traffic.u are building a brand.HYIP's frustrate me when i nget to that business page.was looking at that stock exchange thread today and couldnt but be amazed at the quality of discussion going on about WEMA banks result released today.

here are few things i want u to empahsise on.
1)Member Loyalty. Dont lose your best contributors for any reason.Pareto law still works here.20% of ur members contribute 80% of the sensible and inviting things on the site.Adopt member loyalty strategies.Highlight and reward ur brilliant,controversial and interesting members.The awards is another project that can help get people addicted.hope to finalise my own side for possible additions and subtractions.for ur information,i am already addicted to nairaland.
2)Branding. Creating a niche 4 ursef among other websites will take u ahead.Ur name has given u an advantage and i discover that u have a good visibilty on google.any enquiries abour nigeria on google gives u nairaland in the first few pages.dont know if u worked it out or its becos of the posts and contributions of the members over time.Read more and seek advice about enhancing ur brand.when competion increases,branding and innovations become handy.u have so many examplea to learn from.

Let me stop here 4 now.hope to start visiting this thread frequently as from now on.will contribute my best to the growth of this venture.its Nigerian.Hope there is some sense in all i have poured?hopefully.