₦airaland Forum

See the link below.

http://www.justwebservices.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=2aa524612628e82e9c8f61c3bc561266&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=1

Hello All,

You can get an inverter to power anything and you can have a system designed to last for as long as you want.

The inverter simply converts the dc from the battery bank to ac (usable electricity) to the mains or your appliances.

We build our inverters locally (that means support is reliable) and they are reliable.

We have installed 1.5kva inverter with just 1 battery (12vdc 200AH), some 2.5kva inverters with either 2 or 4 batteries, 5kva inverter with 8 batteries.

Our inverters come with integrated battery chargers unless the units are higher than 3kva in which case we elect to get external chargers because the energy losses will be great if you make use of the same transformer to server both the inverter and the battery charger.

Before you start talking about getting an inverter/battery bank solution, its best you try to reduce the load in your house or office as the cost of even replacing some appliances will surely be lower than the cost of getting inverters to handle your current appliances.

For example, one might assume that a big TV is a huge load when compared to just regular bulbs but the fact is that just 3 bulbs will draw more power from your system than the TV.

I have changed bulbs to energy efficient bulbs rated 30W (will even get 15w soon). Just replaced a standing fan rated 100W with a new one rated 45W.

So, it's not just a question of getting an inverter from a seller or distributor, you need a good energy design to help you reduce your power requirements then get a solution that makes economic sense.

Modified sine wave inverters will run over 95% of regular appliances and they are cheaper when compared to pure sine wave inverters that will run anything but are just expensive.

I know the post is long but I felt many may need the information presented.

Hello Neticash,

What's this about not having a Nigerian website that is financially viable on its own?

Just Web Services was setup from scratch in 2003 and its doing extremely well today.

See www.justwebservices.com

On the issue of online payment system, I guess we need people that understand what e-commerce really means and how to achieve it.

This idea of people coming out and promising everything only to fail to deliver is becoming too common that it is embarassing.

Don't go making statements that you cannot substantiate as the statements would simply weaken your arguements for real.

Gradually but steadily, most business owners are beginning to realise that good websites don't come dirty cheap.

With outfits experiencing crashed servers and big organisations siezing domain names to prevent the owners from going elsewhere, its just a matter of time before prospective website owners will start looking for reliable solution providers.

Bottomline? You get what you pay for. I have packages ranging from N20,000.00 to N360,000.00, I simply provide prospective clients with valuable information and allow them to make up their minds. I get to charge them if I must help them choose a plan.

N150,000.00 is required to integrate interswitch into your plan, either online or offline the last time I checked.

Now, save for very few businesses that may want to join the bandwagon without doing proper and complete analysis, I guess Interswitch is just cool for the banks and their ATMS.

A simple, easy and very affordable online payment is needed to ecommerce to take off real good unfortunately, there seems to be a disconnect between the many promises being made by these providers and the reality on ground.

Hi Kazey,

Could you please provide more information on how you can delete a registered domain name.

I will like to know this. I am sure the issue of losing the money spent on registering the domain name is a sure banker as no registrant will refund you any money spent on domain name registration.

You can get a Mastercard debit card from UBA or Ecobank. I have not seen a credit card issued by a Nigerian bank before, it may be happening but I am yet to see one.

If you have won a prize online, ask them to send you the money via Western Union. You really do not need to own a debit or credit card before you can do business online.

I believe serious businesses do not restrict themselves to credit/debit cards or online as regards settling transactions online.

You can do a wire transfer, money order or Western union. Talk to your bank about opening a domiciliary account so you can do these things save for Western union anyone can do.

Paypal, moneybookers etc will not allow you register with them if you are resident in Nigeria.

Genuine businesses will still do business with you online if you are genuine. They are only being too careful based on what our brothers and sisters have done in the world of online business.

Hope this helps.

You can learn web design by using Microsoft frontpage that is almost a common feature on Windows platform or get a MAcromedia Dreamweaver and install it on a computer you have a lot of access to.

Any of these two will guide you (they all come with inbuilt user guides) to learn all you need to learn in setting up websites looking at it from a beginner level.

But if you are interested in learning something that will make you money if you want to become a professional, learn PHP, its all you need to do automagical things on the web.

Always ask questions when in doubt and do not hurry about it otherwise na vex you go take scatter your computer be dat.

Good luck.

Issues relating to web design or programming are best outsourced to companies that do these things professionally rather than managing or training web designers to do them.

A company asked me how much it would cost for me to redesign their website and I told them. The contact told me the decided to hire a web designer to work for the company and admitted the guy wasn't up to speed with the skill sets they needed.

I asked him how that made economic sense to the company and he replied that they needed the guy to be going other things like cordinating their logistics issues and things like that.

In this scenario, they prefered using one stone to kill many birds yet the major need for a decent web presence has not been met.

It is either some companies have too much money to spend or that the don't give a damn what the web does which is sad because the web makes it too easy to question the reputation or credibility of a company from its website.

The low entry requirement to online business happens to be the major problems facing the industry.

NB - General notes on the issue though, felt like sharing this as it may benefit someone somewhere.

You cannot deregister a domain name. Domain names are usually renewable every 12 months.

After the expiration, it goes into what they call redemption period where only the owner can recover it at an additional fee, if after the redemption period the domain name isn't renewed, it is released to the public and anyone can then pick it up.

If you don't want a registered domain name to be useful, simply point it to a non existent page and all call to the domain name presents a blank page or page not found page.

Seun:
The last time you tried it, you couldn't even feed yourselves and millions died of hunger.

Seun,

I hope this is not Seun the moderator of this forum making the quoted statement above?

How can one make such a hate filled and erronous statement on an issue like this?

I would rather believe that we have 2 users with the name Seun here otherwise this is a bad development.

http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html isn't an ugly site. It is very task focused, bringing different news from different websites on a single site.

Not easy to run if you asked me.

On the internet, anything that works for you and is legitimate is what matters.

Some beautiful websites do very well and most ungly websites do badly.

So, it's neither here no there.

As long as your website is task focused, easy to use and with relevant content you are on the right track.

Hi Kris,

Can't remember the guy's name -- a site that you (I think) helped to produce the original template he used even after he claimed the work was original.

Maybe, not on this thread but I am sure you know the site I am discussing here.

Same guy built a hospitality site and I can't remember seeing his posts/contributions since then.

Hello All,

Very interesting topic. Witnessed how 2 Nigerians that boasted about copied work being their original works were uncovered and they simply disappeared with the sites in question becoming unavailable for different reasons.

To use templates or not to use them:

As long as you do not claim the work of another as being original, I don't see anything wrong in using templates. Is yahoo, amazon, ebay etc not sites built on templates?

To design a site for search engine or not to do so:

Unfortunately, a lot of people have buried their heads in what the search engines do to the detriment of the jobs websites are supposed to do.

I do not need google, yahoo or any search engine for my business to succeed online. All I need is an easy to use website with relevant content that makes sense to the target audience (not to me) and some form of easy payment system.

Did people get to know about yahoo through google? What of CNN? Amazon nko? Ok, which search engine helped google?

SEO is simply an industry that was created by a group of online business people to make extra money online. Algorithms change every now and then. A site may rank well in google and becomes almost no existent in yahoo.

Instead of website owners trying to make the websites work for their target audiences we hear debates about SEO all the time.

In reality, is google really effective? How many times have you search for certain keywords only to get trash as search results?

It is about the fact and not hype.

I believe someone can publish a site today and have it doing well in google in 3 or 4 days even without submitting the site to google.

Even if you spend all the time and money to get your website to rank no 1 in all the major search engines, it will amount to nothing if your target audience do not use the search engines to reach you.

Calendars, business cards, radio adverts, newspapers, tv adverts, bill boards are still avenues of getting your information out to the public. Search engines is just one channel and to tweak your website to make google happy when it may affect your business adversly is pure nonsense in my opinion.

Moderation is key and balancing the different efforts be it design proper, marketing, SEO etc is where the game is won and lost.

As long as you are trying to buy a legitimate product on the net, you will not have problems.

Yes, every business wants to sell to anyone that can pay while minimizing exposure to risks especially avaoidable ones.

You can send me a private message if you need to buy items online. I do have a valid debit card and I have been using it for quite some time now.

15% of cost of item for items below $100.00

12.5% of cost of items between $100.00 and $150.00

10% of cost of items above $150.00

You will get a Mastercard debit card from Ecobank or UBA. I don't know why they keep your collateral, fund your account with your funds and still call the card credit card.

Multilinks remains the best in Lagos, very reliable, transparent and accurate billing, speed not great but reliability is what really matters when talking online.

Used them for over 2 years, switched over to MTS but nobody asked me to dump MTS and rush back to Multilinks.

Starcomms is time bomb, believes in damage control rather than provisioning their services properly for customers.

Anyday, anytime choose Multilinks for reliability and availability.

The body is a waste of time and resources. It is a real shame that the body is just used to siphon money and recylce people that have very little or nothing to offer Nigeria and Nigerians as regards ICT.

Interesting post, well some of the sites I designed are

1. www.justwebservices.com - online solutions provider

2. www.timeautos.com - online auto shop - up to 6 clear views of each automobile

3. www.travelnigeria.info - aviation news portal

4. www.portharcourservices.com - business directory of PH

5. www.solutionspharm.com - pharmaceutical website

The NEPA/PHCN site is an example of plain frontpage with almost all the default settings. Gradually, companies are beginning to redesign websites to solve real business problems.

There is no week that passes that you don't see adverts by companies asking for people to redesign their sites.

Can you imagine what the website of Globacom looks like these days? www.gloworld.com

Hi,

Nice site, loads fast, I don't see anything wrong with the site save for spelling mistake on e-commerce (check the last e).

I would have prefered a simpler domain name that can be remembered easily.

I guess you need to point potential clients to previous works if any since your copyright notice shows you have been around for quite some time now. And its always a good practice to update the year in the copyright notice. I don't deal seriously with websites that don't update the copyright notice. This is 2006 and you are telling potential clients that your website is as good as 2003.

Take care ang good luck.

PrepaidNg,

Interswitch is no way near Mastercard in terms of everything but the focus on Nigeria.

Do not spread misinformation here abeg.

Interesting topic.

I have been using an inverter in my office on Allen Avenue since February last year and installed one for a client that was spending close to N7,000.00 a day for diesel (because people were simply taking advantage of the guy and he had the cash to spend).

This client had one installed last April and since then has not touched his 15Kva sound proof generator, yet even without Nepa he still enjoys constant electricity for up to 3 days.

See the link below for a complete range of available inverters. They are built here in Nigeria, not imported and have been known to be very reliable.

I am interested in the reliability and functionality, not price because I have heard people say I saw a cheaper one somewhere, to which I always reply "go get that one and leave this one alone".

Like they say - you never get to appreciate a reliable product until you get huge disappointments.

http://www.justwebservices.com/index.php?option=com_phpshop&page=shop.browse&category_id=2aa524612628e82e9c8f61c3bc561266&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=1

Times without numbers I have read posts by members of this forum that try to classify web designers as template defacers and I find it difficult to understand the point.

Isn't google, yahoo, amazon etc built based on templates or do we imagine that every single page of these sites are hand/hard coded?

Most web designers unfortunately focus way too much on things that are not necessary as far as effective online presence is concerned.

Take the design and give me the functionality I want and I will be heading to the bank faster than the best designer out there.

I provide business websites that tend to solve business problems and that is where the story starts and ends - being able to deliver on any promises you may make.

www.justwebservices.com, www.timeautos.com, www.travelnigeria.info, www.estocknigeria (not yet finished), www.supanigeria.org (not yet finished), www.portharcourtservices.com are websites that are setup to handle different issues for their owners.

SOme of us embrace technology for the sake of it without understanding it at times. There are technologies that have been marketed by very sleek marketers that failed yet people abandoned workable technologies because they were carried away by the buzz words.

Most of the tools out there do the same thing so I don't see any reason in arguing which is better because any mastery of a tool will get the job done and that's the bottomline.

Use templates if you have to, I use them, I will continue to use them because it makes my life easy and the time frame for setting up any web project shorter which translates to freer time and more money, chikena!

timmy:
come this guy whats your steez, u still havent prooved to me your self aclaimed rating as one of the best webguys in nigeria..
anyways as for one of deji's apps think you can check access banks site (http://www.accessbankplc.com)

lets see if u can beat that

Nice site. I tried to use the loan calculator feature at http://www.accessbankplc.com/index.cfm?ID=6520

Seems not to be working, is there something I am not doing right?

Kris,

If you need a website that list only websites owned by Nigerians you may check out www.justwebservices.com

Website listing is also free.

pendelite:
Akolawole is so reasonable. What happened?

PDP Chief Resigns, Rejects Third Term Agenda
Written by Jonathan Elendu
Thursday, 05 January 2006

http://elendureports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=33

The article remains the only valid pointer to any real 3rd term agenda because all we have been hearing all these while are rumours, suspicions, speculations etc.

We need to stop depending on rumours and sometimes outright lies in discussing serious issues in this country.

Maybe lies and rumours are sweeter or easy to believe that facts.

Pendelite,

I am of the same opinion with you on this OBJ issue.

Unfortnately in Nigeria today it is either you agree that OBJ is evil and that he has failed on all fronts or you are branded an OBJ apologist or supporter.

OBJ did well on some fronts and did badly on others. Any blanket condemnation or commendation will be totally misleading in my opinion.

I hope he does not go for a 3rd term anyway but not because of the reasons being canvassed by people that just want him to leave without giving any thoughts on who he hands over to or what becomes of Nigeria after him.

Thanks for the article on color schemes. I have always liked red, blue and orange. I guess they fit on my business site at www.justwebservices.com

Thanks once again.

Olex,

The diversity of views on discussion forums is healthy and should be encouraged. We need to discuss issues openly and fankly if we intend to make meaningful progress.

I do not believe in condemnation for the sake of it.

A country's constitution is flexible, no country has a fixed constitution, it remains a working document. There is absolutely nothing wrong if the Nigerian constitution is amended to serve any purpose as long as the purpose if for the overall interest of the country.

Bearing this in mind, the next question is - whose interest is it for the constitution to be amended to allow for a 3rd term today? Is it for a personal interest eg to suit OBJ's personal plan? Or, is it for the betterment of the country?

If it is for the country, then there is nothing wrong in amending it even if they do so every month.

If it is for OBJ's personal plan then Nigerians should say NO and attempt to stop such plans by doing the right thing.

All these noise about 3rd term is complete waste of time.

The only body saddled with the responsibility of amending the constitution is the National Assembly. If these law makers say NO to 3rd term agenda, the thing will die a natural and sure death.

So, if the law makers remain the only body empowered to make such changes, why are we not focusing our energies on them, telling them that we do not want such amendment.

If they agreee with us, then the agenda will die, if they disagree with us, then there is nothing we can do because we are practicing democracy where the majority will continue to have their way and the minority their say.

If we do not like those representing us at all levels of law making, then we should get involved and ensure that only credible Nigerians are elected. It is not enough to be talking and writing all the time without doing anything.

Akolawole,

Do not get bothered about people calling you OBj's boy. This is Nigeria for you, you either join the bandwagon or they label you one thing or the other.

OBJ is neither a saint nor a devil. OBJ has done some terrible things as well as some good things.

If we must judge a man we should do so objectively and in a fair manner.

IF the NA reserves the sole right to amend the constitution, the blame should fall squarely on their shoulders if the constitution is amended to allow for a third term whether the decision is popular or not.

We keep playing the blame game instead of properly pin pointing a problem and making attempts to solve it.

Too much focus on OBJ invariably projects him into the demi god people are accusing him of trying to project.