How To Find Profitable Internet Business Models

June 29, 2009 by 1 Comment

So, the much-hyped fibre optic cables are finally here! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting for them for years… Why? The cables are very likely to change the way the internet is accessed and used in Kenya. The main benefits are going to, eventually, be cheaper and faster access to the internet. This probably means that:

  1. There is going to be a sharp increase in the number of people who access the internet
  2. There exists a big HUGE opportunity to make money online in Kenya and this opportunity shall increase as the number of internet users increases.

So, the big question (apart from reading Like Chapaa regularly – subscribe for free if you haven’t yet) is: how do you make money online? There exists big opportunity, but how do we take advantage of it? What can you do to make money online?

How To Find Profitable Business Models
When thinking of starting a business, any business, the part where most people struggle is the conceptualization of the business model. They don’t know what kind of business to start, what market to target, where the revenues are going to come from and so on. The same applies for web businesses, perhaps even more so. People often do not know what sites to create, or how they are actually going to earn money.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a place where you can go to and study, in detail, successfully employed web business models? Is there any place where you can go to to generate web business ideas?

Yes there is, and it is: www.flippa.com

Flippa is a place where people buy and sell websites. The site has had a lifetime total of USD 24 million in sales so a lot of business gets done there! When you visit the site you will find lots of sites for sale. Obviously, some of them are not worth your time so you need a way to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. You can do it in two ways: click on “just sold” or “browse all listings“.

Clicking on “just sold” will let you view websites that people actually bought. These sites are obviously built on sound web business models as they would not have been bought otherwise. You can click on each site sold to learn more about it and, possibly, why the purchaser paid for and bought it.

Clicking on “browse all listings” is even better. It lets you see a long list of sites up for sale but not yet sold. The thing to do is to browse through the list and check on the number of bids. If people have actually placed a bid on a particular website, it means that they are prepared to buy it. This probably means that the website in question is built on a good and workable web business model. You can click on each listing to learn more about the website.

Now, this is where things get interesting. Since people genuinely want to sell those websites, they will give all sorts of information about them, including details of how they built them, where they get traffic from, where their revenues come from and so on. Better yet, you can ask questions about specific points and the seller will gladly respond to them. Think of the possibilities: you can learn the ins and outs of a web business and then just duplicate it elsewhere.

Just today, I learnt that you can actually be paid for offering free magazines to your website’s visitors. I sincerely do not know anywhere else where you can learn so much detail about existing businesses for free. It’s a goldmine.

I haven’t even touched on the very hot prospects of buying a web business and running it yourself, or improving it and selling it for HUGE profits. Therefore, stay tuned to this site…subscribe to receive free email updates. Or by RSS.

Have a question? Don’t hesitate to ask!

Filed Under: Cool Sites, Make Money, Small Business, Tips Hacking and Reviews Tagged With: ,

Alice and Kev

June 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment

In a brilliant blog, games design student Robin Burkinshaw tells the tragic but fascinating story of what happened when he stripped two game characters of their possessions and left them in a place designed to look an abandoned park, letting his simulated humans fend for themselves.

It’s a virtual social experiment that relies almost entirely on the programming of the characters to decide what happens next.

I’ve read through the entire blog in one sitting (it is that amazing) and I recommend the blog to all of you! While reading through it, it felt like a good book and I could not stop thinking that it would make a great movie or TV series. It just goes to show how good games are getting these days, particularly this game.

Calling the Sims a game is an understatement – it is so much more and you just have to play it to find out that for yourself.

Please have a look at Alice and Kev.

Do not just look at it for its entertainment value. Think about what Robin is doing. He’s drawn a huge amount of attention to his blog and, ultimately to himself. In the process he’s proven what a great storyteller he is (this should work well for his career in game design) and probably earned quite a lot from Amazon.com (if you buy The Sims 3 from one of the links on his site, he gets a commission).

It is a prime example of using what you already have in hand to try and get ahead. What talents/skills/strengths do you have in hand? Are you fully exploiting their potential?

Filed Under: Case Study, Cool Sites, Tips Hacking and Reviews Tagged With:

Remember The Milk

November 16, 2008 by 4 Comments

Is there anyone else out there who simply forgets to do stuff (that are rather importnat)?  For example, I’ve been meaning to send an email to my friend in India for a few days now, but I just keep on forgetting to do this.  So last night I set out to find a solution.  I do spend a lot of time on the internet and, particularly, I check my email very often.  In fact, my gmail is almost always open in a tab on my browser.  If only there was a way to have some sort of to-do list integrated into my gmail – I’d be able to see what I needed done easily, and often. As it turns out, there’s something just like that:

“Managing tasks is generally not a fun way to spend your time. We created Remember The Milk so that you no longer have to write your to-do lists on sticky notes, whiteboards, random scraps of paper, or the back of your hand. Remember The Milk makes managing tasks an enjoyable experience.” – Remember The Milk.
Filed Under: Tips Hacking and Reviews

Reaching for the Cloud with OpenGoo

November 13, 2008 by 3 Comments

I really like Google documents.  I like the flexibility – I can access my information from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.  Also, it feels good not having to buy the pricey Microsoft Office.  Actually, I'm one of those who is very excited about cloud computing so I pretty much use Google docs for everyday things. (I hear zoho is much better though).

I recently started a small web design 'business'. Basically, I build sites for small organisations and individuals.  I have a reseller account with Myriad Networks so I also host my client's sites.  When I ventured into this, I decided to try and store all the business documents online.  I chose Google docs as I perceive them to be stable and fair.  However, as my small business is progressing, I'm starting to worry about my important documents stored in the 'cloud'.  What if something happened to Google, or what if I somehow lost my Google account?  Questions such as these wore down my resolve to online-only document and spreadsheet processing. I made a local back-up last Tuesday.  Sadly, that's the main problem with computing in the cloud – you entrust your information to a third party.  I'm sure many individuals don't mind doing that – they already have their whole lives on facebook or myspace – but for corporations it is a big problem.  Not only is it worrying to store your company's private information on someone else's disk space bit in some cases, it is not even legal to share client information with third parties.

Guess what? Today I found a reason to go back to my online-only strategy.  OpenGoo is an open source web office solution for every organization to create, collaborate, share and publish external documents.  It offers:

Text documents
Spreadsheets (coming soon)
Presentations
Task lists
Email (very cool)
Calendars (very useful and feature-rich)
Weblinks
Contacts

Of course these are available elsewhere so how is open goo different? Well, 🙂 , OpenGoo is open in all ways.  It isn't hosted on someone's server like, say, Zoho.  You install it on your own disk space and run it from there.  The installation process is similar to WordPress' five minute installation.

Lifehacker has a wonderful review of OpenGoo.  Read it.

My take: OpenGoo provides a solution to many of the problems that plague cloud powered online office suites. Not only that but you don't even need the internet to install and run OpenGoo.  You can use XAMPP instead.

What do you think of OpenGoo?

Filed Under: Tips Hacking and Reviews

How to Kill a Nice Brand – The Business Daily Way

November 8, 2008 by 1 Comment

Do you remember back when The Business Daily Africa was launched?  I was happy to see that we finally had a good quality business newspaper and I bought it enthusiastically.  I especially loved that, from inception, they had a very strong online presence.  They did everything right, it seems.  In fact, I had predicted that it would grow into one of the best and most respected business papers in this part of the world.  Arguably, it already is.  They built the brand well. However, they’re now destroying their nice brand with equal zeal.

Two cases in point:
“My target of vitriol is the headline story on the Business Daily of October 7, 2008, titled “Internet theft hits a new high” Naturally I was attracted to this story because I am an avid Internet user and a promoter of its potential as a business tool. Considering the very serious nature of the paper’s allegation, I expected a fact-laden article with detailed testimonies, statistics, and warnings. Instead what I read was a vacuous, sensational, and rambling article that relied on unsubstantiated claims, wildly inaccurate headlines, false syllogisms, and a lack of understanding of the internet, internet banking and banking in general.” From Startups in Kenya: Literary hacks at Business Daily.
And,
“The Business Daily is not a well run paper. This particular article should never have been published unless they’re shedding their “Professionally done Business Paper” image. If you read the article carefully, you will notice subtle nuances that suggest the writer is not Kenyan, or at least doesn’t usually live here. Personally, I think he hails from the UK or thereabouts.

What does this mean? Two things:
1. The Business Daily sources articles from freelance writers. Nothing wrong with this, of course.
2. The article was a shameless cut-and-paste by some lazy editor who trusts this particular freelance writer so much that he didn’t bother to read the article fully.” From Kikulacho: Hating The Business Daily.
I don’t know when it started, but I think that The Business Daily is turning into something it never intended to become.  This, to me, demonstrates the easiest way to kill a good brand: negative publicity.  Negative publicity has always been a problem but in the age of the internet, it can mean a quick and vicious death fueled by the viral nature of the internet.  For example, one person writes pure hate about your product, another picks up on it, and before you know it anyone who googles you can see nothing but negative reviews and hate for your product.
When you’re hit with negative online publicity, the worst thing you can do is do nothing about it.  In publishing shoddy and suspect content, the Business Daily is contributing to its fall.  It makes it worse by doing nothing about it.  If you work for the Business Daily or you are simply interested in online reputation management, read this: “Customer Service and Reputation Management the Twitter Way: A Case Study.”  That article will give you an idea of how online reputation management should work: it should be fast, genuine and consistent.
Filed Under: Internet Culture, Tips Hacking and Reviews

How to Earn While Learning (in Kenya)

November 5, 2008 by 26 Comments

JJ people have set up a Java Development Centre in Nairobi, Kenya and are looking for people to join them to become professional software developers writing Java code for clients spread across Europe, Canada and North America.

They look to have a very sweet deal: basically, you sign up with them to receive FREE training in java.  After you complete introductory level training, they will pay you to learn with them following which they will then offer you a three year as a java developer working with their clients from Europe and North America.  Now, I don’t know about you but that does sound too good to be true.  


Guess what? It’s not too good to be true.  This is the real deal.  In my view it’s the quickest and easiest path to becoming a software developer (and get paid while doing it).  I have the good fortune to have a good friend currently in the JJ people program and he agreed to an interview.  So without much further ado, I bring to you, Paul.

How did you find JJ People?
I found the JJ people opportunity through the help of my big sister.  She saw the advertisement in the newspaper, and knowing how much I enjoy using computers, she suggested I sign up.  So she helped me draft a letter which I sent through email with my CV attached.

How easy was it to get in?
Getting in was easy, the hard part was waiting for my username and password.  I remember I waited for a month, calling the JJ people HR Manager everyday asking about my username and password.  After two weeks, I had lost hope of joining.  After four months, I finally got the email from JJ people and that same night, I finished the first module.

What is your experience like?
When I frist went to the office(situated at Augustana College Building – on your way to Karen along Ngong Road), I saw all these older people, very active at researching and coding.  I knew it had been some time since I did Java, but I always have preferred it over any other programming language. So that same day, I had to borrow a huge book on Java programming from a friend. Since I was coming to the office once a week, it took me two months to finish the second module(Java fundamentals) as I was studying Java all over again.  After finishing that module, it was easy street. 

At JJ people you meet all kinds of people.  Those who have had years of experience in Java, those who are starting out. T hose who are in it for the money (eventually most have quit midway module two).  At the main office, you get to meet those who have gone through the whole training and are know either Senior developers, Developers or trainees doing projects for the company.  The training has helped me think outside the box more when it comes to java. This is my 4th week at JJ people and what I’ve learnt, no university or college in Kenya can match.

Best moment so far?
I don’t think I have had a particular best moment at JJ people because everyday, walking into that office and sitting at my laptop is a good moment for me.  At JJ People, not everyone is the “serious type”.  You will find the IT Manager, Mr John Dickerson, talking to students and sometimes complaining out loud.  But with the friendly environment comes work.  You must work hard to achieve that 3 year contract you want with JJ People.

Worst moment so far?
Once when I was the only one caught on facebook (people are supposed to be working and not chatting. Yet half the room was on facebook).  Also another time when I was accused of copying someones idea. Sincerely, if the question read the same, they also gave the names of the methods to use………to me, it’s not copying, I simply learnt from the person’s idea.

Any advice for people looking to join?
If anyone wants to join, join. But I must warn you, join if you know what you want. If you have a passion for Java and you want to further develop it, join. There will be people greater at Java than you, but in the end its all about understanding because later on, you apply what you have learnt in previous tasks.

What do you hope to achieve at JJ people?
I joined JJ people because I wanted to learn.  That is my main reason after which is the pay.  But all in all, my dream job is working at EA(Electronic Arts) in Europe.  So my next part-time task is learning 3D programming and 3D animation.  I find a job to learn more than to earn. Most of the cases people quit jobs because of the pay and not because of the skills they acquire.

—
Enough said. Here’s the link to the JJ People website, click and go. Please leave a comment telling us what you think of this.

Did you enjoy reading this?  Make sure you don’t miss anything else from by subscribing, for free, to receive updates from my blog.  Alternatively, sign up to get free email updates. 

Filed Under: Interviews, Online Jobs, Tips Hacking and Reviews

When your Mouse Dies

November 16, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I don’t know about you, but I find surfing the internet without using a mouse pretty hard, almost unbearably so. Last weekend when my mouse died, for no apparent reason, I was tearing my hair out trying to find a way of moving the mouse cursor with the keyboard. Fortunately, I did find ways to do this. Apart from being a mouse-death contingency plan, some folks argue that using the keyboard to move the mouse cursor is actually better than using the mouse at all. For myself, the mouse somewhat lowers my productivity (keyboard-to-mouse hand movements are ineffficient) and makes ergonomics at my computer desk slightly more complicated. However, the mouse is still the king of the click-and-point world and replacing it completely would be hard.

So what do you do when you want to use the keyboard for a mouse? Fortunately, windows does have a pretty handy way of doing this: using the numeric keypad to move the mouse.
Steps to follow:

1. Go to control panel and select ‘Accessibilty Options’.
2. Select the mouse tab.
3. Check ‘Use Mousekeys’ and click apply.

Turn the numeric keypad on (by pressing Num Lock) and you can move the mouse using keys 1-9, with 5 being the left-click button. The movements are Up, Down, Left, Right, and all diagnols. Pretty neat, huh?

Alternatively, you can try out this niftly little program, or try a keyboard-shortcut based approach.

Filed Under: Tips Hacking and Reviews