₦airaland Forum

GraphicsPlus: Just tell us one well known blog that is a general blog site.

Mine will be the first. There is a first time for everything.

Job opportunity for security personnel at Protea Hotel along NPA express road. Work starts immediately! If you are not interested, you can refer someone who is interested.

GraphicsPlus: You are just funny. allafrica.com is just a news website that collects news from different websites. For instance, I hovered on multimedia, i chose website hoping to see tips, articles or tutorials on website design, i just saw a collection of news from all kinds of websites.

Look, general blogging is waste of time. If you want to blog, you must have to build on a niche. Unless you want to blog like Linda Ikeji that writes all kinds of things especially frivolous stuff.
There is no well known blog world wide that is not based on a particular niche. If there is, tell me.

Blogs like: HuffingtonPost, TMZ, BusinessInsider, engadget, PerezHilton, Gizmodo, Mashable(10 million monthly visitor), TechCrunch(7.5million monthly visitor), Gawker, lifehacker, The Daily Beast, SmashingMagazine, FailBlog, Kotaku, boingboing.

These are among the world top blogging sites. And yet, none of them is a general blogging site.

Success in an internet business is when you do something different. My target audience is global and not just Nigeria. This whole idea of mine might seem strange and baseless but trust me, i know you and a host of others are dying to see what i would come out with. Am doing this at the very professional level.
I dont have to outline my strategy here but currently i am doing recruitment online for writers and authors (and believe me, i have a monthly budget for all). I am gong to employ writers from India, US, London, Philipines, and maybe NONE from Nigeria. I would check for originality and plagiarism before publishing. Then when i have the time, i would write my own catchy stories and articles.

GraphicsPlus: Blogs like: HuffingtonPost, TMZ, BusinessInsider, engadget, PerezHilton, Gizmodo, Mashable(10 million monthly visitor), TechCrunch(7.5million monthly visitor), Gawker, lifehacker, The Daily Beast, SmashingMagazine, FailBlog, Kotaku, boingboing.

Thanks for siting these but i dont want to be like them. The internet is big enough for different concepts and ideas, and i have been in the game long enough to decide for myself and not stick to some so-called guru's advice. Who knows, i might end up bigger than them cos i am niche-less.

GraphicsPlus: NICHE OR NO NICHE?
There is nothing wrong in blogging generally. But the most powerful blogging is niche blogging. There are blogs that specifically address a particular niche. For instance, as a web developer, if I want some authoritative information on a particular topic related to the web, I know where to go. It's either Smashing Magazine or Alist Apart. I can't go to a general blog site and start searching for the topic I want when the author has over 1000 topics in 800 different niches. Whereas at the sites above, I will get 1000 topics in one niche. Generality is never celebrated in any field of human endeavour. That is why medical doctors after spending about six years in the medical school, will still specialize on a particular branch of medicine. If you want to be an authority in the blogging industry, you must choose a niche. But if you want to just have a diary where people can check occasionally to see if you have written anything that interest them, then general blogging is the way to go. Someone like me cannot bookmark such blog. For instance, if i see a blog topic on sports, i dont even try reading a single line of it. Why? I have complete zero interest in sports. So i will not fancy a blog that will write about sports today, health tomorrow, cooking next tomorrow and web design the other tomorrow. No. I want a situation, if I want topics in let's say about love and relationship, I will know where to go and get what I want. Not where i will go and as the page is loading, I will not know what to expect. And when the page has finished loading, I will see a Chelsea vs Manchester ranting. I will just hit the close button. And thereby increasing your blog bounce rate.
Goodluck.

In blogs there is what they call "categories". If you need info on relationships, the category is there for you. If yo need gist on sports, the category is there for you too. It isnt going to be so mixed up as you emphasized. Blogging is all about writing stories and articles.

visit www.allafrica.com and tell me what you observe. Its totally niche-less! You may call it a news website but i call it a blog..they are all one and the same thing.

I am enjoying all these because it seems this is really very new in this country. I am a versatile person and i have to represent that trait in my blog. If you dont like sports, you would like other categories and leave the sports category for sports lovers. Mr A might be on my blog reading about sports, yawa-ti-de will also be in another section reading about joomla, dual core might also be in another section browsing through contact details of fine chicks looking for boyfriend, etc...that's why its called general blogging or a niche-less blog. I get all the followers with different interests. I believe i am more convinced to proceed because with all these criticisms, what i see is success and more followers. Jaurshub.com is basically about career and mentorship.....but i see alot of sports and political analysis....it seems someone is diversifying.

@Koboheights, thanks for the tips.

akintayo1: @OP, I love your type, very courageous and not afraid to fail even if seems the chances of survival is very slim.
One of your point I do agree with "Blogging for the Money"; yes , to me you're dam right.

The Guru says "Blog for the Passion" , I tell you the truth. Passion alone will not build a successful blog. You need to blog for the money, if not time will come your passion will get lost and fade out.

Tell me, those who advocate "Blogging for passion", what happen after blogging for years and still nothing to show for it? You will hear them complaining in forums and bloggers communities, begging other smart bloggers to please show them how their blog can generate money.

you can read this post to learn more why "Blogging for the Money" is the rule in our 21th century. http://www.cybernaira.com/2013/do-you-make-money-from-your-blog/

And again read Darren Rwose' "secret to blogging your way to six figure income" and tell me if Darren had not make money from his blog has agreed by his wife and him, if passion would have keep the blog alive?

Op, your other point "nichless Blogging"; well, I won't say much about it for now. In as much as I see no break through in that.

Please, I would personally love it if you can let me know about your nicheless blog when you're up and doing with it. I love to read it and see how effective you will be capable of managing it.

PS : "Word of advice" Managing a niche blog is not easy. You're about to start something harder, think deeply if you can finish it.

Just my 2kobo.

Thanks for your insight. First of all, niched blogging is more difficult to manage. Example, i write about phones only..now even though its my passion some day i will get bored! And when that boredom comes, then i lose interest. On the other hand, when i blog about anything i like, i wont run out of ideas and the blog gets to be alive for a longer time. If i watch a new movie, i can do a little review about that movie (cos am already fired up with the movie as its pretty interesting) and even put a download link!

We truly have missed the purpose of a blog. Its more or less like a personal diary where you are free to write and document ANYTHING you like about your daily occurrences. Presently we have turned it into a business and i see nothing wrong with keeping to same old tradition of writing about ANYTHING you like.

Now my blog though a personal project, its still open to all! I am gong to be having guest authors and contributors so who says am going to be dong all the writings? If you send in your article and i verify its free of plagiarism, what stops me from publishing it? I have some friends right now who are interested in guest-blogging and believe me you will find the blog interesting!

IN addition, i think almost all our newspapers (online version) were built using wordpress. Do not forget that there are over 67 million sites running on wordpress presently with more than 374 million people visiting wordpress sites and blogs monthly. (source: http://en./stats/)

Thanks for the tip but like i said your strategy in setting up a blog can be quite different from mine. Seriously, i know alot about blogging, SEO and stuff. I am a good writer and like i said earlier, my perspective is this: Create a blog to stash up your research and make some bucks on the long run.

The reason why many fail is because they listen ALOT to so-called gurus. The truth is, if i stick to a niche, i will get bored. I have tried that before and it isn't my style. Recently i did a research on holiday spots in Korea and what i got was amazing....now, that research was not documented cos i had other stuff to do and am kinda tired of storing these stuff in my laptop.

Now who says its WRONG to talk about football and health in the same blog??..So-called Gurus??...Com'mon.

And who says its also WRONG to set up a blog with monetary gains at the back of your mind?.....com'mon again!!

The success of your blog depends on the style you chose to run it and my style is NO NICHE. And if you are conversant with bloggers around the world you will notice that most of them have no specific niche.

You can read these articles to have an overview of my idea;
http://www.thejackb.com/2013/01/04/you-still-dont-need-a-niche-to-be-a-successful-blogger/

http://richwp.com/niche-blogging/

http://jessicalawlor.com/2013/03/niche-blogging-vs-general-blogging/

http://mycyberhouserules.com/2012/05/29/my-blog-is-nicheless-most-likely-because-i-am-without-a-niche-myself/

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/choosing-a-blog-niche/

Lets say niche-less blogging is something new which is yet to be embraced. Why do i need to capture the attention of soccer lovers only when there are music lovers roaming the net looking for content? Whats so wrong if i get all the attention? With a niche-less blog, i am so free to write about ANYTHING i find interesting, if you are not interested in reading it someone else would....my 2cents.

I may have know everything or almost everything about blogging but i have refused to delve into it because of its complexities. I believe what is what doing is what doing well. I may not be an expert web developer BUT i can boast that i am very good with wordpress. People wake up and set up a webhosting business and i laugh cos at the end i use just 2 hosting companies in Nigeria (the rest are crap...forgive me). I have watched and observed how so many Nigerians wake up in the morning and decide to start a blog then end up doing copy-paste which is not a good beginning. People often talk about using a super niche when blogging which has less competition and projects your interests. While this is true, i find myself refuting this belief system.

Reasons why i want to go into blogging;
Recently i discovered that i am obsessed with something... and even though i dont fancy it as an "interest", i see it as a founding REASON to set up a blog. I do research day and night and the end result of my research is either i save details in notepad or i save in my head which usually fades away with time...this is no good. SO i need to be documenting my research and help whoever mighty find it useful.
Secondly, i have found a great niche and that niche is .....NO NICHE!! I dont believe that cra.p that says you must base your blog on a particular niche in order to succeed. I conduct research basically on every subject area and streamlining myself to a particular niche means limiting myself and that is not my target.
Thirdly, i hope to add it to my source of incomes .... why, everybody needs money and i believe with a successful blog i will have an added source of income. People say dont blog for money...hmmm but my belief system is kinda different.

I will be blogging with a no-niche and for money...wish me luck guys!

una don start? who is nadia self?

Nigeria and South Africa on Tuesday signed an agreement aimed at ending visa acquisition by holders of official and diplomatic passports.
Ministers from both countries have been charged to ensure the effective implementation of the newly signed instruments and the conclusion of outstanding agreements.
Both Presidents, Jacob Zuma and Goodluck Jonathan met in Cape Town, South Africa where various issues were discussed on how to improve on relationship between both countries as they agreed on so many issues aimed at boosting development in the continent.

source:
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news-update/nigeria-safrica-approve-visa-waivers/

i experienced same thing last night.....hmmm...

*laughs*

http://www.deltastate.gov.ng

i think this is better than most of them on the list.

The issue has been resolved and my account re-funded. I also received a call from them with an apology, plus email......and N*** was deposited into my account as compensation. Least expected from a Nigerian company. Kudos.

Una own good na, me i was offered 25k for a micro finance bank website

LAGOS—THE United States Government, through its Embassy in Lagos, has cautioned the Federal Government to improve on its ports security system within 90 days or face the stoppage of sail of vessels to Nigeria. The Embassy, Vanguard gathered, got an audit report from the officials of the United States Coast Guards who were in Nigeria about a month ago, to inspect security of the Nigerian ports. Based on the report, the embassy sent a diplomatic note to the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Nigeria, which in turn contacted the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other relevant agencies.

Confirming the development, General Manager in charge of security at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Col Jamil Tahir (Rtd) told Vanguard that a Diplomatic Note was issued to the foreign affairs ministry to protest the poor state of security at the ports, particularly the Tin-Can Island Port. Tahir stated that the ports authority has swung into action, following a stakeholders’ meeting called by NPA to sensitise everybody on the need to be pro-active on the security challenges currently facing the ports. He said that the authority has already secured an approval to instal counter terrorism equipment in strategic areas in and around the port premises.

The 90-day ultimatum, according to Tahir, started last month and will expire at the end of August. He said that the US threatened to stop shipping services to Nigeria and to also mobilize its allied countries to do the same if the port security situation was not improved upon. At a Port Facility Security Officers (PFSO) Forum meeting in Lagos last week, a member of the group who preferred to remain anonymous said that the situation at the ports after the visit of the U.S coast guards has not changed as the people still hibernate under disused vehicles around the ports. It was also said that the Tin-CanIslandPort in particular is like a regular market place where all kinds of people have unrestricted access while broken down vehicles liter the port’s access roads.

Besides the measures being put in place to secure the nation’s ports by the NPA, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) called for a stakeholders’ meeting today (Monday) to intimate stakeholders of the transfer of Designated Authority (D/A) responsible for the implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code. The ISPS code is the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) convention to secure and safeguard ships and port facilities around the world following the renewed global terrorism. It will be recalled that the Executive Director in charge of NIMASA’s Shipping development, Captain Bala Agaba had said that the ISPS code has not been properly implemented in Nigeria, adding that with the transfer of Designated Authority to NIMASA, the industry will begin to see improved ship and port security in the Nigerian ports.

if its a Nigerian site, then whats wrong in using blacks in the photos?

You uploaded the files to your sub domain folder.

mashnino: @yawa you refuse to reply my instant message on yahoo messenger...
don't know why

YIM is for Nigerians, Skype is for Americans. Drop a message on skype and you will see instant reply.

I doubt if they check their mail. They looked serious until recently. As for onlinevouchersng, i was subjected to an ID verification process before my account became fully active. So i doubt if the high funding limit is an anti fraud system. I cant fund an account with 5k cos i want to buy N400 mtn card at the middle of the night for an emergency.

Actually i am not supposed to do this but i think i have to, maybe a staff of simplepay4u can see this.

Sometime ago, i tried to purchase recharge card via their VTU portal, the mistake i made was to click on MTN instead of Airtel BUT i put my airtel number and surprisingly my account was debited from my account.. I called them and complained. I believe when trying to buy airtel recharge card and i placed the order from MTN doorway, i am supposed to see an "error page". They apologised and said it was a programming error, that they will get it fixed. To cut a long story short, it took them almost 2 months to revert the transaction.

Yesterday morning around 6am i want to buy recharge card for my mother and i made same mistake (cos i always buy MTN so am used to clicking the mtn cart without even thinking) and instead of clicking the GLO cart, i clicked on MTN and still put the GLO number to receive the topup. Amazingly AGAIN, my account was debited without showing the error page they promised to fix. This is the result of the transaction:

Thank you for your N510 MTN purchase.Details are as follows : a)Service Name : MTN b)Mobile No: 08052222828

I have been calling their customer care numbers since yesterday and NONE is available. I opened a support ticket yesterday morning and till now no response.

Am quite amazed because people always clamor for Nigerian based internet companies but truly, 98% of them are unreliable.
There is a site i saw www.onlinevouchersng.com and registered so i can purchase recharge cards but guess what, you can only fund your wallet with a MINIMUM of N5,000 paying a service charge of N500.. (na do or die to make money?)and yours truly fled with speed!

*shaking my head*

nwakstar at yahoo dot com

whats the task.

Social Media Marketing expert needed to get 5,000 facebook fans in 30days without using ads. Please provide links of similar jobs done.

I dont need to hire filipinos or Indians for this. I need a social media marketing expert to get over 5,000 fans on a facebook page in 30days or less manually without ads. Genuine fans is what i need to see, as it will be closely monitored and any spam moves detected, then the contract will be automatically terminated. You will have to provide evidence of similar and previous (or current) jobs.

If you are qualified for this, send your application and evidence of similar jobs to nwaka@myprova.com using the subject line: SOCIAL MEDIA

Thanks.

I dont need to hire filipinos or Indians for this. I need a social media marketing expert to get over 5,000 fans on a facebook page in 30days or less manually without ads. Genuine fans is what i need to see, as it will be closely monitored and any spam moves detected, then the contract will be automatically terminated. You will have to provide evidence of similar and previous (or current) jobs.

If you are qualified for this, send your application and evidence of similar jobs to nwaka@myprova.com using the subject line: SOCIAL MEDIA

Thanks.

*trolling by*

I get your point. Its alright to be asked series of questions by investors. But dnt you think after spilling your guts to tye investor, it is pertinent to let the person know that they cam fund the said idea or business? Rather they just disappear into thin air. I am growing my business gradually and i dont need Nigerian investors cos they are never serious.

As a continuation of the existing thread https://www.nairaland.com/1247249/nairaland-dragons-den-get-funding/3#15546437

I wish to state that the way people come here to advertise that they need businesses to fund and end up doing nothing is kinda interesting. They talk alot here and end up doing nothing. If you are interested in funding an idea or existing business then you should try to meet with the entrepreneur, prepare some paperwork, invite the person for a physical interview, etc and then you fund the business.

What i see here are so-called investors who are looking for a business venture or idea to hijack and own.

If you are a serious investor, please introduce yourself here, What you do for a living, amount of cash available for investment and your location. If you are a lawyer, please tell us what it takes for a proper agreement to hold and what benefits both parties (investor and entrepreneur).

Business plans and start up ideas can also be placed here to. I have a plan but when i noticed the games investors are playing, i decided to start setting up the biz by my self. Its up to an extent and i will continue further, if as an investor you are interested in partnering with me, then i can drop my business idea here too. And we will come to an agreement AFTER a lawyer has made us understand what we stand to benefit from the business both as in investor and as an entrepreneur. I don't need no so-called investor hijacking my business and owning it because he invested some money. So let the games begin

OP i dont think you are serious. If you are in distress as you have pointed out there are options which you can use. Sell one of your bad laptops to fix the other, if the money isnt enough, then go do some manual jobs to raise the balance abi you dey shame? i once sold my external hard drive, CD ROMs just to get capital to start bulk sms business. Its a normal thing.