₦airaland Forum

I think its somewhat true, to be able to focus on being successful it is commonplace to have a good and reliable spouse or partner!

Picked up some MTN pink sheets Full article here

I had a read of Transcorp's prospectus posted on Vitiva's website and must say I'm delighted with the asset base uderwriting their IPO.

The purchase of of 51% of Nitel along,

Full article here

Transcorp aims to raise N7.5 x 8,000,000,000(eight billion)shares which is N60,000,000,000 more or less US$500 Million or even more fashionable phrase of half a billion dollars!

Now that's a lot of money anyway,

full article here

Transcorp

I won't lie to you, the market sentiment on Transcorp is hard to measure, I sit here in London glued to BENTV seeing Transcorp adverts scrolling the TV; I can't pretend not to be interested in the fanfare surrounding of the last few days.

I remember in June 1999 when Ariba a US quoted stock debuted on the nasdaq amide the same kind of funfare and roadshows, and I also remember what happened to the stock price when the market boom was over!

In stockmarkets there where winners and losers and like in any marketplace there is always money to be made and likewise suckers are born everyday, which are you?

full article here

Where to go in Miami for Nigerians?

I watched a music video on www.naijatube.com by some guys called mad melons, are they still around? Their song Danfo Driver was quite a hit here in the UK and I was wondering whether they are still active musicians?

If you know anything please say.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGd7wYTbgWU

@me-sharon,

The best advice i can give to you is get here first and get a job to get into the system, after your first year, you will be in a better position to consider the choices available to you.

Your future is bright and opportunities are plenty in the UK if you are ready to work hard. You can build a career in whatever field you like and become a professional earning substantial income if you have a plan.

I've mentored several nigerians who have re-located and can give guidance to you but, you must realised that self improvement is required at all levels.

A university degree is handy, as it prepares you for managing your expectations and you can re-train to a more relevant profession if you choose.

Remember, the sky is the limit and hard work is the key. After you have "aclimatised" business ventures can become achievable by investing you savings in a venture of your choice or combing efforts with others. If you have savings already, then you might want to consider seeking advice from a qualified/regulated/licensed financial advisor.

Others have mentioned setting up a small business, I suggest you widen your options by seeking opportunities AFTER you've considered all options; and this may take a year to eighteen months.

enjoy.

@WolGlobal and Afam et al.

I remember reading somewhere that some US based web hosters block traffic from certain countries including Nigeria. I contacted Godaddy.com and the owner said the practice does exist.

As we all are aware, the hosting servers are usually outside Nigeria and if your site hoster specifically blocks Ip addresses originating from Nigeria you are best advised to host eslewhere. I use hosters with servers located in the UK on the BT or Level 3 backbone.

So when conducting website access testing for your website make sure you QA your geo-target by getting users from Lagos / Abuja and PH to logon from their location before you go live.

A final note: We need to invest in location based servers located within Nigeria.

I've posted my picture which is what you all voted for

@D3nD3 Age of course, it's not everyone that reaches 40 and as they say Life begin's at 40!

Since I'm an old man I didn't want to admit defeat, so I kept reading over and over again; almost 10 times!

The trick is to ignore the obvious answer that first comes to your head and read all the words slowly and carefully until you understand their meaning.

The Cost of the room is $25 and the Co-worker kept $2 which equals $27. Any other fact or clue that comes to your head is not relevant; just discount them.

Then add the $3 returned as change to $27 and you have $30, no shaking!

There is no missing $

Cost of Room=$25

Co-Worker = $ 2
_______________

Total = $27
_______________

Since I'm the oldest member until someone tell's me otherwise I am contesting for Life President of Nairaland and declare myself the Resident Elder.

Please vote in the poll and I will abide by the results.

Yes, how can I help?

@All

This is bullshit!

This is the crap you all subject yourselves to, I say this guy is not Oyinbo, read he's original post then check he's sentence structure and grammar. Canadians don't write that way, and definitely don't talk that way.

Caucasians will not refer to them self as "white", or ask whether black people as a group are "racist".

He definitely is a black man, as it is only black people who relate to the word "racist".

Whatever he's motives are, they are sick and stupid!

If you are white then I'm Queen of Sheba!

Hi Guys,

Here is a link to OLPC http://www.laptop.org/ (one laptop per child) website and they have a resource on Open Source in Nigeria http://mailman.laptop.org/mailman/listinfo/nigeria-opensource

Hi Guys,

When I first heard that our government was placing an order for 1 million laptops for kids (as reported in Vanguard) I was skeptical of the plan and even went as far as protesting my disgust to all and sundry.

On reading the article in Wired News http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/laptop.html?pg=1&topic=laptop&topic_set= I have changed my mine.

I now think it's a great idea and an opportunity to educate out youth, and this initiative should be given a chance to develop further.

What I feel is more important is, we Nigerians have here an opportunity to influence the development of our own software industry. It is reported that the laptops will come pre-loaded with Linux as the operating system which can be customised even further, Linux is a great OS and there are thousand of free programs available on the internet.

Opportunities are available to create localised and open source programs for Nigerians including games and local language literature.

Just imagine, the amount of free software programming tutorials currently on the internet can now be available to a wider audience of Nigerian students and teachers.

This could be the start of a revolution in software, and Nigeria may one day become a hub for the development of smart applications and hopefully an outsourcing centre.
[img]http://FF_158_laptop2_f.jpg[/img][img]http://FF_158_laptop3_f.jpg[/img]

My personal favorite is Surah Al-Ikhlas (112):

[center]Bismi Allahi alrrahmani alrraheemi

112.1. Qul huwa Allahu ahadun

112.2. Allahu alssamadu

112.3. Lam yalid walam yooladu

112.4. Walam yakun lahu kufuwan ahadun[/center]

Hi Guys,

Goole Earth has updated the lagos area map with a new satellite image/photograph, you can see the third mainland bridge snaking through lagos and the new image clearly shows an area north of the airport.

Guys, this is so exciting, if you have broadband access why don't we have a crack at creating nametags for known streets/areas in Lagos.

I was able to make out Allen Avenue in Ikeja, Ikorodu Road and even Oshodi!

Guys, if you are lagos based and have a gps device let me have you co-ordinates to plot on the map.

@Malaika,

It is obvious that you and your mother are kind hearted people and you are now becoming wary of your nigerian guests. It is plain and simple, they have outstayed their welcome regardless of the circumstances or story leading to their plight; wheter true or not.

You need to consider carefully whether you want them to stay and if so for how much longer, once you've decided make sure you communicate this to them directly. Advisable, get a third person someone in authority to convey your decision on your behalf in the presence of all concerned.

You have done a great deed by saving the life of the child and making sure she/he survived. Now it's time for them to move on regardless of whether papers have been fixed or not.

We Nigerians are big thinkers and also big dreamers so our stories are sometimes bigger than life itself; don't be alarmed about stories of grandeur and self importance these are just normal prose of our spoken yoruba language. I assure you no harm or hurt is intended to you or your family.

If you are in a position to help with new living arrangements please do so, as we nigerians are always thankful and never forget a good friend.

If all fails to move them, just KICK THE MUTHAF**A'S OUT TO THE BLOODY GUTTER (not the baby of course!)

@Tuphyne,

I started this thread to find artist(s) who are willing to create oil based abstract commissions on canvas. if this is you please contact me directly.

@VitualCom,

Thanks but, I'm currently looking for abstract not realism works. Out of interest what are the dimensions of your painting?

It's not the solution but, it's an option and there are those who are prepared to take it. The good thing is that we always return and bring back wealth of experiences that help strengthen out knowledge.

We only have to look at the dynamic imports in technology and enterprise, Non- Resident Nigerians (NRN) also contribute a net inflow of capital to the Nigerian economy.

FYI


http://p218.ezboard.com/bcanningpantryforum

@marknor,

Let us look back at what the whole aim of your enterprise: To MAKE A PROFIT. The question is HOW?

From what you have disclosed, I can infer that your plan is to make a profit from selling ebooks.

Why don't we consider ebooks as a profit centre,

Are these ebooks in demand ?

How many ebooks have you bought recently ?
______________________________________________________________________________________

What I trying to get at is, do not use google or any other type of advertising be it online or elsewhere in an incorrect fashion.

I'm the first to agree that the google online advertising system is fantastic and exciting but, you can't use google adwords it to make a profit; you can only use it to DIRECT CUSTOMERS TO YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE.

So once again, are you sure ebooks are the right product ? Basically an ebook is a electronic book and could be an electronic copy of anybody's book even "James Hadley Chase". This doesn't make ebooks are special when they are FREE.

On the other hand if your ebooks containing UNIQUE information that is not available elsewhere, then they may be worth a price, but what price ? This price issue is what you need to work out yourself by taking the cost + profit approach.

Getting back on track, assuming your customers are online and also have the ability and willingness to pay for your ebook; you then forfeit a percentage of your profit to invest in advertising.

If you have chosen google adwords and the numbers you came up with are those you provided, then you have no choice but to ABANDON the venture.

ALWAYS GET THE FUNDAMENTALS RIGHT AND STICK TO THEM LIKE GLUE.

The fundamentals never lie!

@kazey has already said

kazey:
few clicks out of a lot of impression infers you need to work on your keywords and ads construct. The main reason for such an impression is that your ads are showing in the wrong places due to the way you constructed them and hence the audience of that place where they show up are not interested in your product or whatever your ads are about.

So as i said, you would need to work on your keywords and advertisement captions and surely you would get the right audience.

I've looked at it from a very narrow perspective, ignoring a lot of other facst but, it's easliy seen that emphasis is heavy on the "google fun factor" and not on the business "ice cold facts".

************ ebooks could easily be any other product or even service ****************************

We've all been there before, so it's no big deal.

______________________________________________________________________________________

All is not lost, I'm assuming you generally want an online business with little need for inventory, why don't you consider the other side of the coin. Google Adsense is equally lucrative and removes a lot of speculation. if you combine Google Adsense with adbrite's offering you can a decent income with less risk.

If you need some idea's on what will work best with google adsense, just let me know.

@Marknor,

This is a valuable thread so if you don't mind let's keep it open and I will answer your questions in as much detail as possible.

I think it's fair to note that you have to undertake a lot of research yourself, and the only evidence will be the quality of your questions.

Remember, running google campaigns is a profession so, the more time you dedicate the better your campaign.

Lets start by you telling us what your expectations of google adwords are and what stage are you right now in your campaign.

Or if your prefer, what would you like to know?

Hi

Those who have ears, listen.

I have been running adwords campaigns for 3 years and yes I agree with Seun, it can be a hopeless venture if you clickthru asset is weak.

For example, the 1st campaign I ran was to promote CD's I was selling in eBay and things were truely amazing almost all the clicks resulted in a sale of a CD. This was possible because the artist was well known and the target audience were able(having a card and the willingness to pay a fair price) to pay by credit card and were happy to trust an eBay trader with a good and traceable reputation. I was smiling all the way to the bank and sold out!

Another campaign was to attract sellers to a mobile phone ringtone site and the click through was also good because the adwords campaign was on target to a ready market of UK mobile phone users who were happy to pay for a ring tone. This also was a fantastic deal!

Now when your product or clickthru asset is weak, you will end up having clickthru liabilities; this is when people just click out of curiosity and have no plan's of buying or EVEN TAKING AVANTAGE OF FREE OFFERS. This is mainly because they the wrong audience and don't have a history of using the internet apart from chat and making friends.

Nairamarket is a free website for Cars and Mobile phone and the ratio of people who clicked on my adwords adverts in google and even adbrite[i](another good competitor to google, almost better payout than google)[/i] compared to the number of people who actually took up the free offer were 250:1 this is a very bad ratio so I stopped the adwords campaign and will transfer to newspaper adverts nationwide once I finish the project I'm on.

So in a nut shell, what we can learn from my experience is:

1. Make sure your Click-Thru Asset is tangible (don't fall in love with technology just for it's own sake)

2. Be aware of what part of the process your targeted audience can participate in, if they are mainly students don't try selling things they can't afford yet even if the product/service is FREE OF CHARGE

3. If online/offline payment is required, make sure the collection process is trusted and painless.

4. Make sure your website is "sticky" eg. nairaland: which is sticky like cellotape!

5. Remember to dedicate enough time to perfecting you "gameplan" don't neglet it because of football or other distractions.

6. Remember to Smile when making a loss!

alo ?

Check out this thread

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/catfishfarmersnig/