₦airaland Forum

OpenCart is taking the e-commerce world by surprise, growing to become one of the most secure e-commerce platforms and also one of the most recently used. Although OpenCart security has been widely acknowledged, it is still recommended that these four steps be followed for the security of an OpenCart e-commece store.

Sourrce: https://www.todhost.com/blog/best-practices-for-opencart-website-security.html

Please if the Ibos want the support of the Ogonis, they should negotiate it and not force people to Biafran membership. That era is gone. Ogonis have since clearly established their identity and moving free from the Nigerian internal oppression which had been prosecuted by the Ibos, Yoruba and Hausa-Fulanis.

ofeeh:
Ogonis are not Biafrans, and the non-violent struggle of the Ogoni is far from the violent Biafran revolution. The domination of the Eastern region by the Ibos does not mean Ogonis are Igbos or Biafrans and there is no document to show Ogonis endorsed Biafra.

An estimated 30,000 Ogonis died during the civil war as a result of Ogoni's resistance to Biafran imposition. Ogonis rejected Biafra from the onset because they already had a bitter experience under the Ibos. But some of them were forced to endorse Biafra at the point of death - "aceept Biafra or you die" was the slogan and many had no option.

The Ogoni demands are well articulated in the "Ogoni Bill of Rights" Read the document at: http://www.ogoninews.com/documents-reports/215-ogoni-bill-of-rights

The image above represents an individual artist's impression and not a coat of arm for the Ogoni. Moreover, the Ogoni do not have a coat of arm, Ogonis do have a symbol representing the Ogoni nation.

Once again, Ogonis are not Biafrans. If the Igbos think they cannot fight for their freedom without the involvement of the Ogonis, then they should negotiate and not force people to Biafran membership.

Ogonis are not Biafrans, and the non-violent struggle of the Ogoni is far from the violent Biafran revolution. The domination of the Eastern region by the Ibos does not mean Ogonis are Igbos or Biafrans and there is no document to show Ogonis endorsed Biafra.

An estimated 30,000 Ogonis died during the civil war as a result of Ogoni's resistance to Biafran imposition. Ogonis rejected Biafra from the onset because they already had a bitter experience under the Ibos. But some of them were forced to endorse Biafra at the point of death - "aceept Biafra or you die" was the slogan and many had no option.

The Ogoni demands are well articulated in the "Ogoni Bill of Rights" Read the document at: http://www.ogoninews.com/documents-reports/215-ogoni-bill-of-rights

The image above represents an individual artist's impression and not a coat of arm for the Ogoni. Moreover, the Ogoni do not have a coat of arm, Ogonis do have a symbol representing the Ogoni nation.

Once again, Ogonis are not Biafrans. If the Igbos think they cannot fight for their freedom without the involvement of the Ogonis, then they should negotiate and not force people to Biafran membership.

Duru1:
Ogoni land was integral part of eastern region of Nigeria. Besides, prominent Ogoni sons and daughters stood up and be counted as Biafrans. One was even a Biafran ambassador (representative) in London.

Nigeria is expeirencing some form of e-commerce revolution following the availability of e-payment gateways enabling easy integration of online payment systems on websites. It has now become easy to receive payments through credit cards and direct deposits. There are some options available for this with great features and limitations.In this blog, we will examine the major payment gateways in Nigeria with which you can recieve payments on your website.

InterSwitch

Interswitch remains the largest and most stable gateway for receiving e-payments. Interswitch
Interswitch has a secure, reliable, and scalable platform for electronic transaction processing in a multi-institution, multi-functional, Online/Offline environment. Interswitch supports payment infrastructure that deliver the highest level of availability and transaction integrity. Our systems accept transactions from a diverse range of delivery payment channels, intelligently switching them to a variety of external networks including Nigerian Verve cards, VISA, Mastercard.

Unified Payment System

A creation of Nigerian banks, the Unified Payment System can be easily integrated into your website with integration tools for WHMCS, Joomla, WordPress and a lot of others.

Website: http://unifiedpaymentsnigeria.com/

eTranzact
eTranzact is a multi-application, multi-network and multi-channel electronic payment platform that supports all major networks including AMEX, VISA and MasterCard. eTranzact Platform is designed and built as a credible alternative to all transaction which are currently cash or check based and the platform capability is such that any solution that is driven by consumer payment can be automated on the platform. eTranzact as a Switch processes payment requests from multiple channels – Web, ATM,POS, mobile, etc using automated procedures. The switching platform validates transaction requests after running security checks on the payment cards. The system ensures there are no security breaches during the transaction processing by encrpting all card information using tripleDES technology, thus protecting the card information.

SimplePay
SimplePay Payment Gateway allows any business or consumer with an email address to securely, conveniently and cost-effectively send and receive payments online. Simplepay builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global, real-time payment solution. Simplepay deliver a product ideally suited for small businesses, online merchants, individuals and others currently underserved by traditional payment mechanisms.
• Simple Pay’s service, which lets users send payments for free, can be used from PCs or web-enabled mobile phones.
• SimplePay launched this service so that anyone with an email account can send or receive credits. Each credit is valued at N1.00. SimplePay Payment Gateway members may redeem their credits for the cash equivalency at any time by selling these credits back to SimplePay Payment Gateway, in the form of a withdrawal from the system.
• You can believe there should be one universal online payment system and will strongly compete to be the provider of choice.
• SimplePay Payment Gateway will however suspend any account that is found to be involved in any fraudulent or malicious activity, including impersonating a representative or attempting to gain other users passwords. Any decision made by, its officers, or representatives will be final.

CashEnvoy
CashEnvoy is the safest, easiest and most convenient way to make payment, send money and get paid online in Nigeria. It is an e-commerce business that allows payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. A Cash Envoy account can be funded with Nigerian debit cards or through online bank transfer from specific local banks.
CashEnvoy performs payment processing for online vendors, auction sites, and other commercial users. It charges a transaction fee for receiving money (a percentage of the amount sent plus an additional fixed amount).
CashEnvoy is owned by Electronic Settlement Limited, an independent, private sector led, limited liability Company located in Lagos Nigeria focused on providing secure and convenient online solutions.
• Merchants, receive Money Online
• Easily pay and settle other merchants on your platform.
• No integration, withdrawal or subscription fees!
• Easy to use, with complete transaction records.
• Receive payment and donations online with ease.
• Accept payment on your online store from debit cards and CashEnvoy account holders.

Website: cashenvoy.com

UBA U-Collect
The UBA U-Collect is an Internet Payment Gateway service which allows Merchants accept online payments for goods and services. This solution accepts multiple card types available in Nigeria – VISA, Verve, MasterCard and e-Tranzact.
• U-Collect on the web is the same as POS but on the web for businesses that have presence online. An example of U-Collect is what you see on Aero page when you select to pay for airline ticket online.
• The platform support International VISA and MasterCard for selected industries.
GlobalPay is a web-based payment gateway that enables you accept payments on your website from customers all over the world. With a one-time integration, you can receive payments from a wide variety of locally and internationally issued credit and debit cards. This solution gives your business a global outlook and vastly expands your potential customer base.
If you’re open for business on the web, you might as well be open for business to the world, and for that, GlobalPay is the perfect solution.

Voguepay

Voguepay is an independent payment system and has been relatively stable. Voguepay is an Interswitch merchant and recives payment through VISA, MasterCard, e-Transact, PocketMoney. Voguepay requires a verification fee of N1,000 for business accounts. Voguepay allows customers to accept payment on their website. The system support automatic withdrawal to the merchant bank account, unlike most payment processors that merchant has to manually request for withdrawal.
• Easy integration work flow and documentation
They have developed Plugin, merchant can just download and install to their existing website for selected shopping carts. This minimizes the stress and energy of having to integrate the gateway to your website. Sites without a readymade plugin or code, the company has an integration document you can use for custom integration with your website.

Website: voguepay.com

GTPAY
GTPAY is a one-stop, safe, secure and convenient web payment solution that enables merchants receive payments from both local and international payment cards.
FEATURES
• International Acceptance: GTPAY accepts both locally and internationally issued cards including Interswitch, MasterCard and VISA.
• Timely transaction processing: Merchants get value next day after transaction takes place.
• GTPAY monitoring log: GTPAY comes with a unique, online monitoring console that allows merchants view transactions as they occur.
• Reduced sign-on fee: GTBank is a certified developer partner so we take on GTPAY integration for our merchants and as such the integration fee is waived for them. WEBSITE: http://www.gtbank.com/

Source: https://www.todhost.com/blog/top-nigerian-website-payment-gateways.html

Web design is about about impression and you have to draft a good design to attract visitors, get their repeat visits and possible patronage. A key aspect of this impression creation is content development because decions will be based on content and not just desin layout or look..

A well written website copy tells a story, conveys a message, distinguish you from competitors and most of all makes visitors act.

How to write website copy?

We shall now take some detailed look at how to write a website copy. Writing for the web is often more complex than thought at first. Good copywriting means thorough research, knowing your audience, creativity and detailed editing.

#1 – Make a research

Research is usually the most time consuming process in copywriting and most often ignored. The reason for thorough research is simple – research helps to figure out what consumers' needs are. If you have an idea of consumer/visitor expectations, your website presentation will be more likely to focus on that need and gain greater attention from visitors and users.

#2 – Focus on Benefits instead of features

Because online products are not tangible, a detailed description is critical to succeeding rather that just focusing on features like color, size, quality etc.

The biggest challenge of great copywriting is to go beyond technical descriptions and write for the consumer about what they really care about. Good sales copy focuses on benefits, not features. A consumer wants to know how the product or service changes their life. They want to know how their life is made simpler, better, interesting; how they save money or time. Take the focus from “we offer” to “you get” point of view. So instead of writing something like “we are specialised on foreign language study” use more consumer centric approach like “learn foreign language in 3 weeks!”. People care about themselves not about your business.


Simple writing style – Write as simply as possible. Avoid technical jargon, abbreviations, fancy words etc. Albert Einstein has said: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Personal approach – If your copy is about you and your company not about the prospects and their problems, your copy will not be successful. Use personal approach instead and write for your consumers. In fact, “You” has a magical power. Instead of “Our clients’ value quality service” say “You will get top quality service”.

Short sentences – Use short sentences instead of endless text blocks – one sentence, one idea is enough.

Grammar – Sloppy written copy is one of the biggest turn-offs. Follow sentences structure and remind school grammar lessons.

How to use punctuation, construct sentences, use tenses etc.
Frontloading – Open the page with a conclusion or an afterthought following with body copy in converse pyramid style. The opening paragraph should catch readers’ attention and convince to keep reading. Giving the most important thoughts in the beginning acts as a teaser giving the sweetest idea right in the beginning. If the beginning is interesting enough the visitor will hopefully continue reading.
Length - The length of the text depends on what you have to say. Don’t write an encyclopaedia on your page. Too long and clumsy text looks scary. Think of your own perspective, whether you’d bother to read it again? Avoid other extreme as well, as not that much information will leave too many unanswered questions in the air.

#4 – Keywords

No matter how good copy you create, it has no benefit if no one visits your website. Use keywords in your copy to make your website visible on search engines. The golden rule here is to write for the users not for robots i.e. use keywords naturally. Artificial usage of keywords will not go unnoticed for visitors. It leaves a bad impression. Try to use keywords in headings, meta data and in body text. Don’t forget that there is no magical number how many keywords you should use in your copy, just let it be natural.

#5 – Break it up

Most people scan webpages instead of reading every word that’s written down. To make your copy scannable you need to break it up:

Empty space – Add empty space between paragraphs, pictures, quotes and other elements. White space makes it easier to read and scan the text also creating better visual effect than using only big text blocks.
Short paragraphs – Using big text blocks is one of the most common mistakes in web copy. They work well on books but are hard to read on computer screen. Using short paragraphs helps to break up the text and leaves 1 important idea per paragraph. Try to keep one paragraph max 3-5 rows. Use one line sentences to emphasise most important ideas.
Subheadings – Use subheadings when changing the topic. It gives a fast overview of pages’ content without going deep into the copy.
Bold - Use bold to highlight important information.
Bullets - The bullet lists are easier to grasp than long paragraphs.

Conclusion

You don’t need to be a natural talent to write great website copy. All you need is an adequate sense of grammar and following few key points. Now go check your website copy and make sure you follow the given tips. You will be able to make great achievement through increaded traffic to your website if you follow these steps.

Source: https://www.todhost.com/blog/tips-for-effective-website-copywriting.html

Responsive Web Design (RWD) is an approach of laying-out and coding a website such that the website provides an optimal viewing experience — ease of reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling — across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones).

Search Engines Love Responsive Sites
The primary goal of a search engine is to give you the best answer to whatever question you have asked it. Modern search engines look at more than the words on your website pages they also look at how accessible the site pages are. Over the last few years the search engines have measured the benefits to the viewer of responsive websites and give higher ratings based on responsive features being present.

1) Reach more audience

There are many studies that came out since early last year (2013) showing the dramatic rise in the number of people who use their mobiles and tablets for all their online activities (social networking, shopping, researching, searching google etc).

Two of these studies are published by Google (here and here) with some very interesting findings, the most important are noted below and summarized in this custom infographic:

Appearing on smartphones is critical for local businesses. 94% of smartphone users look for local information on their phone and 84% take action as a result, such as making a purchase or contacting the business.
77% of users have researched a product or service on their device, and 46% of smartphone users have made a purchase on their phone
67% of people start shopping on one device and continue to another
65% of sequential shopping occasions are started on a smartphone
34% of people turn to the screen that’s closest when looking for information.

What does this mean for businesses? If you don’t offer your users or potential customers a good experience on the device of their choice, you may lose visitors or customers.

What is the difference between a mobile website and a responsive website?

Many people tend to confuse a mobile friendly website with a responsive website but that’s not exactly the same. A mobile friendly website looks good on mobile devices but may not look so good on devices with bigger resolutions.

In the majority of the cases, there is the desktop version of a website and then there are dedicated pages (usually on an m.subdomain) optimized for mobile which are different from those shown on the desktop.

While these websites look good on the desktop and mobile, if you view them on other resolutions the user experience is not so good.

With responsive websites there is only one set of pages (and one set of code) for a website and what is changing is the way those pages adapt in the different devices.

SEO Benefits For Responsive Web Design

Google Says responsive designs is the way to. If Google says ‘this is the way to do (something)’ you would do well to listen to the “friendly” advice.

We rely heavily on search engine results and traffic to drive our lead generation efforts, so why go against what the Big G says? They quite clearly state that responsive design is their recommended configuration for mobile site development. Just listen. You can be sure that there’s some SEO value in there.

Eliminates Duplicate Content

One of the primary issues with building a separate mobile site is the fact it is a ‘standalone’ site. Each m. version of your page is considered a separate entity in Google, meaning that you may unknowingly be creating duplicate content. Although Google claims that a mobile version with the same content as a master site won’t be hit with the Panda stick, it still means you have duplicate content on the web and you run the risk of serving the wrong version at some point.

Stronger Link Building

Unlike a mobile and desktop version of a site, a responsive site has a single URL for each page. This means that any link to your master site is in essence a link to your mobile site as well. There’s no diluting of PageRank and you’re building a stronger backlink profile on both desktop and mobile search at the same time. SEO win!

Reduces Bounce Rate

I think we’ve all experienced it at one point or another? Opened a website on our mobile device and faced with a lot of horizontal scrolling and teeny tiny copy. The endless battle with your mouse tracker or swipe screen coupled with the necessary squinting is enough to cause you to close the site and try the next one. Hello, bounce rate!

Google uses bounce rate as a signal of user satisfaction with results. If a person is closing your site after a few seconds or not clicking through to any other pages, your bounce rate is going to rise and Google will drop your rankings for those key search terms, which naturally results in less traffic. A responsive design can help reduce your bounce rate as people are able to see that the site is designed for best user experience, irrespective of device. Navigation is optimised for mobile and all page elements scale according to the screen size.

Reduces Page Load Speed

According to Google, the average mobile page load speed today is over 7 seconds. Google prefers mobile pages to load in one second or less. A responsive website design does not require queries to redirect users to a different URL (the mobi version of the page) and thus it significantly reduces the load time of the page.

While it isn't expressly known how much of a direct impact mobile page load speed has on rankings, Google is stressing its importance because of the impact on user experience - and what is good for user experience is good for rankings. Again, who are we to question?

Improves Mobile Search Rankings

This is another example of the ‘Google Says’ type suggestion. In addition to recommending responsive design for mobile, it has also claimed that it ranks sites optimised for mobile higher in mobile searches.

Considering that mobile search is set to overtake desktop search queries in 2015. (Another bold predication, this time made by analyst firm BIA/Kelsey) it is probably a good idea to get a head start on your competition-to-be in mobile search by implementing a responsive website now.

Switching to responsive design will help you rank better in mobile (and possibly desktop) search as you continue to build backlinks to a master site and provide your visitor with the best user experience for their preferred device. With all statistics and trends pointing to this becoming the leading source of website traffic, we highly recommend considering responsive design if you are looking to continued success with search marketing

Source: https://www.todhost.com/blog/time-to-switch-to-responsive-designs.html

Below is a report on the server uptime for [url]Todhost.com[/url] provided by a website monitor: Internetseer:

========================================
Weekly Summary Report
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http://todhost.com

Total Outages: 0.00
Total time on error: 00:00
Percent Uptime: 100.0
Average Connect time*: 0.10

Outages- the number of times we were unable to access this URL
Time on Error- the total time this URL was not available (hr:min)
% Uptime- the percentage this URL was available for the day
Connect Time- the average time in seconds to connect to this URL
Statistics provided by Internetseer

Though Todhost offers 99.9% server uptime, this report shows it can get up to 100%.

To order web hosting from Todhost, visit https://www.todhost.com

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