Time to Put This Baby to Sleep

After several months of writing on this lovely little blog, and just over 1 month of wondering what else to write about, I am throwing in the towel.

I hope that someone somewhere has discovered this blog and at the very least thought about what I have written about. If that has happened, and continued to happen, my work here will be done.

So, that’s it. I say bye-bye to my Simple SEO.

It’s been fun.

Art and SEO

I am exploring yet another new project, following my flop with Kenyan eBooks. I am going into the arts. Yep. I’m a budding artist.

How is this connected to Kenyan websites and SEO and stuff?

Number 1: Does any Kenyan artist have an online gallery?

Number 2: Where the heck can an artist order art supplies online in Kenya?

Just these 2 questions make me go, “Hmm…”

There are numerous Kenyans dealing with sculpture, painting, fashion, virtually any and every field in art. Why not display or sell their items online? All you need for this is a blog page or website if you want your own domain name, and a very good camera and some photography skills. Take pictures of your creations and post them on your site. Then do all the SEO you need to get your page to #1, and you’re good to go.

I would do it for the sake of publicity. You can get gigs, even international ones, plus it adds to your portfolio, coz now you can add photography and web design (if applicable) to your artist resume. If you are more into making crafts, you can set up a commercial website, complete with a shopping cart and MPESA/ZAP payment integration. There’s no limit.

As for art supplies, I was recently looking for acrylic paints online from some of the sites I have reviewed. Nada. I got nothing. Some gave me 0 results matching my search terms, while others just give me related products, which happen to be BOOKS! Surely, how am I supposed to paint with books? I want my acrylics!

Anyhoo, I wound up going into town and spending quite a lovely amount of cash on art supplies, including 3 miniscule containers of acrylic paints, along with brushes and paper and whatnot. I only wish I could have got some of these things online. I would surely have ordered them. And there you go. This right here is a business idea waiting to be exploited. A majority of artists in Kenya go through hell just looking for supplies for their work. Imagine if I was looking for cyanotype supplies. I would let my idea die just like that.

Once I have set up my art project fully, I will have a website/blog for it for sure. And if it picks up well, I will need to have a credit card to order stuff with from Amazon or eBay. I hope it won’t come to that though, coz someone has GOT to get us artists some supplies online.

 

NotOnMyAss.Blogspot.com Review

I don’t remember how I actually discovered this blog, but NotOnMyAss is a compilation of what I can only call excellent writing. Unfortunately, the contributing authors stopped contributing in April 2006, which is the last month of their posting, and honestly, a sad, sad loss for readers everywhere.

Not On My Ass image

Me Likey:

First, the blog may contain some adult content, but forget that. When you look at it from a literary standpoint, you will see the humor, the poetry, intermingled with those somewhat weird stories that the contributors wrote about.

Secondly, I haven’t seen a blog that is such a collaborative effort, at least not from Kenyans. The blog has 4 different authors, which accounts for its diversity and differences in perspectives.

Me No Likey:

Why did they have to stop? I tried following up the authors, to find out what happened to them. I only discovered that one out of the 4 went on to greater writing exploits, but that’s about it. Not even their blog profiles say much about them, except that one is a marketer, another involved in “the arts”, another in IT, and another unidentified.

Do check out this blog. It is awesome. And be prepared to blush a little- like I said, adult content. Enjoy.

Rating: 4 out of 5. I deduct 1 point for stopping the contributions, considering that you guys started blogging in 1990!

Sheng.co.ke Review

Parents are (still) complaining about the death of “proper” language with the spread of sheng. Watasema nini wakiona there is a Sheng.co.ke? I discovered this site a few months ago, and I have been waiting to publicize it as much as I possibly could. It is one of the few things that truly make me proud to be Kenyan.

Sheng.co.ke logo

The site has over 5000 members, and it comes full of features including a sheng dictionary, lyrics and free texts, etc. Sheng.co.ke has partner sites like Mchongoano.co.ke, ShengWear.co.ke for t-shirts and stuff, and ShengNation.co.ke. It’s a great resource for the mtaa, and even for us Kenyan blondes who get lost whenever conc. sheng is spoken.

Me likey:

The features. On the home page alone you can find little funny things like “Random Mchongoano” at the bottom of the page, “Kukuru Yetu”, which is their own version of Kukuru Kakara, and “Zurura kwa Dictionary” for a collection of the sheng words they have already defined.

I also like the “search sheng word” facility where you can look up that random word you heard kwa mathree or on Facebook or wherever. If the word is not there, other members can define it for you, etc.

The funniest thing I have ever seen is the member registration page. There are options on top of the page for Sheng or English, and I will quote a few parts of the page:

First, the URL for the registration page is in itself a piece of comedy: http://www.sheng.co.ke/wateja/jirigista.asp. LOL does not cover it. Then there is the first line:

“Tu gei ma details zako, jina, mtaa nini nini…”

Gender is a choice between “mse” and “mshi”, last name is “jina ya lanyo”, and one of the several benefits of joining the site is “Uta get tu movie na tu ngoma za sare!”*

*It has taken me ages to type all that out because I am completely unaccustomed to typing anything but English. How did those guys manage? Mob respect.

Me no likey:

The clutter. The Sheng.co.ke homepage is rather full of stuff, and there order is wanting. The tabs for home, chongoa msee, lyrics and others are too small, considering that tabs on any website need to be visible.

I like that the main theme is the Kenyan flag colors, but still…rearrange the website. And other thing: the collaboration with other sites mentioned above is great, but it’s rather unexpected for a user to click on a page and it suddenly opens in another tab. I think it would be great if this was also made clear on the website.

Light Bulb Moment: how about there should be one ShengNation website,where there will be links to Mchongoano, Sheng.co.ke, and others, and then people can choose for themselves which site to go to? It’s quite convenient instead of the surprise redirects.

Rating: 3 out of 5. Nice try

Typical Kenyans, hata Online :(

I am rather disappointed with the trend I have found in Kenyan websites. Many sites, which I won’t mention or bother to review, are basically the same theme: “Kenya’s largest online shopping [mall/store/whatever]“.

I have no problem with there being several stores where I can buy stuff online from. I do have a problem, however, with them being generic. It’s the common Kenyan business mentality: open a salon here, and next thing you know, there are 10 others right next to you.

Now, I think I have a right to complain. I spent ages thinking of a concept that has never been done before in the country, hence my ebooks website. I have the right to claim that it is Kenya’s first self-publishing platform, because it is. But when you have 5 or 6 sites claiming that to be the largest online store, which one should we believe?

Another issue is that they sell virtually the same products. Okay, there are some unique ones that specialize (which is exactly what we need) in technology, others in lingerie and such, and others, but the rest share almost the exact web page format!

So this is my formal complaint. I never expected that this Kenyan mentality should also apply to online businesses and websites, but I guess I gave us too much credit. I won’t be reviewing any more of these generic commercial sites, and I hope to see more interesting websites coming up.

Maridadi.co.ke Review

I totally love the butterflies and the black and purple theme happening on Maridadi.co.ke. I discovered this site on Facebook Ads, and indeed there’s lots of maridadi being sold on the site. Jewelry, lingerie, beach wear, accessories, etc.

Me Likey:

The site is designed by Clifton Consulting, which I had never heard of before, but I would very much like to see their portfolio. Maridadi is very simple to use and you can get some pretty nice stuff on there. Especially for the ladies. I would recommend it for anyone planning to spoil themselves a little.

I also like that they make their deliveries faster than I expected, that is, according to the website. They send your order the next day as long as you live in Nairobi, which is excellent compared to other commercial sites in Kenya. Apparently, you can also exchange or return what you have bought from the site, which is especially important when it comes to buying clothing.

Me No Likey:

…nothing I can think of right now. The site looks beautiful, easy to use, appeals to the right customers, good pictures, has reasonable prices (for the quality of products and the target clients)… it’s great.

Rating:

5 out of 5. Kudos Maridadi.

Kalahari.co.ke Review

Kalahari.co.ke is one of the best known online shopping sites in Kenya. It has lots of products, from books and movies to electronics and also gifts and vouchers. The website also has its very own shopping cart and wish list, which I totally want for my Kenyan eBooks.

Courtesy of Kalahari

Me Likey:

First, the Kalahari logo is interesting. So is the mobile site.

Secondly, the site is verified by Thawte, so your transactions are safe.

Thirdly, deliveries done within 5 days. (Others done in 11, 12, 14 days…I blame the postal system we have here. If we had a method of delivering stuff to our doorstep, it wouldn’t take so long.)

Then, the site has everything you would want to know about shopping online, which is a double bonus because Kenyans are always suspicious of the Internet. Ni ukweli. There is info about deliveries, contact info, password reminders, gift wrapping (who would have thought ) and a neat currency converter. It’s no Amazon, but it’s great for Kenya.

Me No Likey:

Numero uno: the prices. I am clearly not the targeted user for Kalahari because I cannot afford to buy any of the stuff they have on there. It’s like shopping at Nakumatt, only now online. Mi ni wa Naivas, ama Southend (a local supermarket where I live. Hata wao hua expensive, but that’s another story…)

I am also in an outrage about DVD prices on Kalahari. Sure, they have stuff like Startrek and Angels & Demons and other great stuff, but I am not spending 2k for a DVD I can get at 100 bob, and not just one season (like they have Californication Season 1 for Ksh 2,264.86, and that is at a discount!).

It also takes forever to load, even when my 1X Telkom modem is working overtime. Maybe it works on faster Internet connections, but isn’t the point to have any customer, no matter their Internet connection? Hmm…

Suggestions:

None that I can think of right now. Kalahari is clearly doing very well, and I would only advice people to simply check it out and buy stuff. The site is reliable and it works, so what’s stopping us? Even if you won’t buy anything, create a wish list

Rating: 4 out of 5. The collabo with XFM just took it up a notch. It’s like an online “secret shopper” thingy. I would encourage people to just look at what the site has to offer. You may find a gem in hiding in there

Kenyan eBooks Review

Kenyan eBooks is my very excellent idea for a website and business project. It is indeed taking time to pick up, as do all websites,  but more particularly it’s the theme that is quite the…delay.

The website is for Kenyan authors to write ebooks and promote them on the site. This means that I have to assume that people are currently writing their ebooks, which will take months, even years to do. I have been promised a research project to publish, and I am (barely) working on my 3rd ebook, and I hope my other friends are writing, too, but I am bracing myself for a long, long wait

On to the main business here: the layout needs work. I have a vision about how the site should look like, but my budget limits me from working with a web designer. When I do manage to do so, you will definitely see a new look Kenyan eBooks.

The MPESA/ZAP system is also in need of work. Again, I have envisioned the payment system on the site to be automated, and I know someone who can do this for me but again, budget.

The blog page also needs updating, but I am still thinking of things to update about, and the same goes for the forum page and the Facebook page. These will get active when I receive more ebooks in future.

That’s all I can think of right now, but if I find another glitch on the website, I will definitely update this post. All comments and recommendations are very welcome here.

Kenyan Website Reviews About to Begin…

Drumrolls please…

Kenyan websites, here I come!

I want now to evaluate our very own websites for various aspects- page ranking, layout, content, and whatever else I will think of in this amazing brain of mine, and I will let it out here. Of course I cannot cover all Kenyan websites, and I definitely will NOT talk about government websites (oh, where to begin!)

I will start with my own Kenyan eBooks because I do believe that I have not reached full potential with it. Other websites will follow, and hopefully I can make a bit of progress as a website reviewer and maybe, just maybe, add this new skill to my CV (hehehe…)

Why Don’t Kenyan Musicians Have Websites? Hmm…

It’s not that our so-called artists don’t have Internet presence. Just Google “Nameless Kenyan musician” and you will see even some related searches. People are looking to know them and their music. But all they find is entries from MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, LastFM, newspapers’ sites (akina Nation na Standard), lyrics sites and people’s personal blogs. The same happens when you search Sauti Sol, Wahu, eSir, P-Unit, etc.

[P.S.: Nameless, now that I’ve mentioned him, is on freakin’ Wikipedia, (so is his wife) but he doesn’t have his own website. Ridiculous. Hata Nonini ako Wikipedia! I laughed my head off when I found out. No offense to his fans lakini ]

[P.P.S.: If you know of any Kenyan artist/band/actor who has their own website (apart from akina Suzanna Owiyo and other “afro-fusion” artists), do send me the link kwa comments hapa. I would totally love to know if there are any.]

Automatic traffic for artists’ websites

These people have a free pass to direct and referred traffic, and it is due to 2 words: unique keywords. Nobody has a name like Sauti Sol, nobody except Nonini can use that name to his advantage, we could go on and on. The point is, why not have sautisolmusic.com, or p-unit.net, or even wahumusic.co.ke? I bet these domain names would be perfect if they had taken advantage of them early enough.

Sautisol.com gives me some site that says “Under Konstruktion” and written in Swedish. Wahu.com has pictures of mzungu hands and laptops. Bummer.

Now you see, these artists either have to buy the domain names from whoever owns them now, of course at a ridiculous price, or use some variations that I have mentioned above. Either way, they have lost their chance at nearly effortless traffic.

Sigh.

Ideal scenario for Kenyan artists online presence

Google “Lady Gaga”, “TI” “Arctic Monkeys” or even “N Sync” if you’re into boring old boy bands (hey, it’s my blog, my opinion, har-har-har!), and on page 1 of the search results, you will get the official sites of these artists/bands/whatever-else-you-wanna-call-em. And not only the official sites, but the official fan sites as well, where people can rave about the latest music and what their “fave celebrity” is wearing or who is dating who, you know, the usual.

I think Kenyan musicians need up their game now. Their ideal domain names will be snatched up by the Swedes! Just kidding Anyhoo, Kenyan artists owe it to their fans I think. They can afford web designers and SEO specialists, and they don’t even need to update them for themselves. So what’s stopping them?