Since I did the video on how to renew a driving license in Kenya online a year ago, NTSA has upgraded their system and they have introduced new requirements on the process of applying for the renewal of driving license in Kenya.
VIDEO TUTORIAL
Watch video – How to renew driving license in Kenya
To get started, login to your ecitizen account and click on apply for a driving license.
You will be taken to your NTSA self service portal. On the user dashboard here, click renew.
Under renewal type, select, virtual driving license one year.
Enter your place of birth, blood group, country and county of residence, and enter your physical address.
This is mandatory for your application to be processed.
On the next window, upload a passport photo of yourself and click on next.
Check on the box here to declare that it is you who has provided all the information as required in regard to the application and click renew.
You will be taken to the payment gateway to pay Ksh. 650 for renewal. Make the payment.
Once your payment is confirmed, you will be redirected to this page to download your electronic driving license.
And that’s it on how to renew your driving license online in Kenya today.
if you are looking for help to develop and produce video content for your business on budget, I can help you. You can reach out to me using this link.
At the end of the month of June 2023, the government of Kenya under the leadership of His Excellency the president of the republic of Kenya Dr. William Ruto officially launched Ecitizen portal making over 5,000 government services readily accessible to its citizens.
In this blogpost, I will review the New Ecitizen portal.
Landing Page
Generally, the landing page looks clean and neatly done. The information is well organized starting with the most requested services like application for a driving license, showing on top of the page. Before you can signup or sign in, you are able to check if the service you are looking for here is available.
You can do this by typing the name of the service, ministry,department or agency on the search bar on top and hit enter on your Keyboard to search. This will display the service if available.
Website loading speed is fast and seamless compared to how it was in the past. With clean landing page design, its easy to locate the sign in and register links on top of the site once you are here.
Here, services are classified in two categories namely National and County. Aside using the search bar to find the service you are looking for, you can access them using the menu links on top and below the website.
Logging In, Registration and Security
If you are new to Ecitizen, you will need to register in order to access the services here. Click on register to get started.
You will taken to a page to confirm the account type that you would like to create. Depending on your background, you can choose either citizen, resident, diplomat or foreigner.
For Citizens, you are required to provide your ID number, contact, password and profile photo. Some of the things needed today on the platform was not required in the past. E.g The profile photo.
For those who already have an account on Ecitizen, you just simply login with either your e-mail or national ID number as username and enter your password. One thing that you will notice when logging in is that 2Factor authentication has been introduced, something that was not there in the past. This is a good move to a more secure digital future for Kenyans.
One Time password Verification can be done via e-mail or phone. This is the phone number and email you signed up with.
Account Dashboard
Once you are logged in to your account, you will taken to the dashboard that looks like the image below. On top, you can see summary of your personal details. Also on top you can find menu links to manage your profile and account.
From here you can start searching for the service you want.
Profile & Account Management
When you click on profile, you can view your identity documents like your national ID and driving license. As it looks, the details on the previews available here are not complete. However, there is a note below the preview to notify users that its only for illustrative purposes.
There are other new menu tabs under your profile which I believe it will be active once population of data from relevant organizations is complete. As it looks, in future, the government will have all your data including your health, income, taxes, family and more. When that time comes, no one will be excluded from government activities.
Under the Account Management menu tab, make changes on your account critical data like phone number, e-mail and password. Also, you can choose to disable the 2 factor authentication here.
There are other additional menu items that are not active yet like biometrics and electronic signature which I think it will be active in future.
With all this information, what else will the government need in order to control it’s citizens? absolutely nothing. I am just saying.
Help & Support
If you encounter problems while accessing services on the portal, there is a dedicated team ready to assist you with your problem. Click on help and support menu on top and you will be taken to this page here.
Here you can choose which way you would like to get help and support. There is a phone number and e-mail address that you can use to contact support team. Alternatively, you can visit Huduma Center to get the help you need.
But before you reach out, its always wise to go through all the Frequently asked questions (FAQs) and see if the answer you are looking for is there. I have reached out several times to the support team on Ecitizen in the past and I got the assistance I needed. So, good news is that the contacts you find here are working.
Downsides
While ‘recent applications‘ tab is visible on the dashboard, it’s no yet active. Same thing with notifications. The only way to see the request you have made in the past is going to the site that you requested service in and you will be able to view your request. E.g BRS portal if you had applied to register a business or company.
Secondly, there used to be a live chat feature which only a bot responded to in the past. That was a clever idea. With more and more government services being linked to Ecitizen, its important to also reintroduce live chat so that users can get help via chat in real time.
Finally, the portal is sometimes down. I guess it is due to the amount of traffic/visitors to the portal. It notifies the user that their internet network is down yet in reality, the internet connection is ok.
At the time of doing this review, the site was down for almost a whole week and I had to hold the review until it was back. The government through the ICT cabinet secretary later responded to the downtime saying there was a cyber attack which was not successful. He said that the technical team was able to block the attackers IP address on time.
Conclusion
Unless the service you are looking for requires you to be there physically, there is no need of paying a visit to the government office issuing the service. First check if they have the service on Ecitizen portal. If they do, well and good, make your application online.
Technology is here to simplify work and make everything convenient. Take advantage of it because you can. Moreover it’s cheaper that way.
And that’s it from me.
Have you made any applications on Ecitizen portal? How was your experience like? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you need help to create and produce professional video tutorials or any other video production service, reach out to me here.
Until next time, bye bye and take care. Please follow me on twitter @cheptiony and also check out my YouTube channel here.
At the end of April 2023, I started my hunt for a house to let within Kasarani, Roysambu, Claycity, Santon and Ruaraka area. It took me 2 Months to find a quality and fairly priced house that suites me. I wanted a space where I can comfortably enjoy my stay when I am home without feeling uneasy or uncomfortable. That means it had to have some key features like good ventilation, continuous water supply, easy road access, internet e.t.c
My Journey Started In April And Ended On May
On April 2023, my search for a house around Thika Road began. During my hunt, I spent more than 20 days combined walking around the estates to view all available houses to let.
At the end of my adventure, I had looked at over 100 houses in different regions of Thika road including Thome, Marurui, Roysambu, Kasarani, Santon, Clay city and TRM drive. Out of all these houses I viewed, I only picked one.
PS: More than 50% of the houses that we had viewed had been vacant for more that 2 months. This means, people go there, view the house and find out that there is something missing and then go away never to come back again.
So what made me choose the current house I am renting now over others?
In this article I will share with you six house features that I think many tenants look at when searching for a perfect ‘house to rent‘ in Nairobi.
This post will act as a guide to someone looking for a space to rent in Nairobi and any other place.
Also, it will be a source of inspiration to current and future real estate developers.
1. Convenience To The Main Road
How easy is it to access the main road from the house? Do you have to take a boda-boda to connect to the main road? Even if the house has quality finish and you still spend money to connect to the main road, it is still not economical.
I know you are asking; butit depends with what you do? Well, sometimes the convenience to the road come in handy e.g emergencies, security e.t.c.
Aerial View of a House Convenient to the main road
Having this in mind when searching for a house to rent in Nairobi will save one a lot of time. You will not waste time going deeper into the estates to look for a house. You will only focus on the ones that are closer to the road.
2. House Design And Ventilation
Is the house design appealing? How is the house ventilation from the inside? Some of the design features that was important to us was the positioning of the toilets, kitchen, bedrooms and balcony.
There is a huge problem with many house designs in most flats in Nairobi. In some, the first thing you will see when you enter the house is the toilets, then Kitchen, then bedrooms then living room then finally the balcony. All the rooms are connected by a tiny corridor. This isn’t in anyway appealing having in mind that you have to pass through the corridor to connect to all the rooms.
Another issue with many designs was ventilation. Many houses we viewed located at the Ground floor had very poor ventilation. There was no natural light coming into the house. This means that aside spending a lot of money on power, its not a conducive working environment if sometimes you work from home.
Finally still on the issue of design, the curtain holders in most houses were ‘box type.’ They have not embraced curtain rods yet. So if one had curtains designed for rods, they had to install the rods at their own cost.
3. Water And Other Amenities’
One of the biggest problem in most Nairobi estates is water. Tenants are not told about the water rationing when they move in. I remember at one time, in my previous rental, we stayed a whole month without water. Thanks to my friend who lived in a house with no water rationing thus I did laundry and showered at his place until the water was back.
But imagine, what will happen if you don’t have a friend you can run to for helpwhen having water crisis? You will buy 20 litres of water at up to 100 shillings. On average, one person needs at least 40 litres of water daily to use in bathing and flashing toilets.
The house design and beauty doesn’t matter if there is no water. It is better to pay for water in units than live in a house without water.
4. Space Size Including The Balcony
How spacious is the living room and bedrooms? In some houses, the bedroom space was very small that it only fits a 5×6 bed. Literally, the whole bedroom is occupied by only the bed which doesn’t make sense.
Spacious living room and balcony is also important. In the balcony, one can hang clothes, relax and bask in the sun e.t.c. This are things that matters to anyone.
In a spacious house, one feels free and flexible. There is a special feeling that one gets when he/she is living in a very spacious house.
5. House Floor Levels and Lift
Which floor is the house in? Is it in 1st floor or 6th floor? In my search, I found 3 good houses in 5th and 6th floor, but what turned me off was the poor ventilation on the stairs and absence of a lift.
Imagine you have gone to the shop and back to the house only to realize you forgot to buy something essential from the shop. You will have to walk down the stairs to the shop and back to the house. In this day and age, that’s a lot of work. That is why its important to have a lift in place if the house is tall.
Anything above 4th floor should have a lift for convenience.
6. Cost
This is the last thing that one looks at. How much is the rent? Some people rarely ask the renting cost if the house didn’t have the features they wanted. If they do, they will do it as a by the way. Some of the houses were overly priced despite having all the features we were looking for in a house.
In many cases, I realized that many landlords are nowadays focusing on the decorations other than the space size thus charging more. There should be a balance.
At the end, like business Tenders, one choses the lowest priced house with good space, water 24/7, security, easy access to the road and is properly ventilated.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a house to let in Nairobi, don’t rush; take you time. It will take time to find a good house that is habitable. A house that you can live in until you are able to have your own home designed to your own taste. You do not want to move into a house and little after moving in, you find a problem and you are forced to move out again.
I hope you found this article helpful.
What are those things you look at when looking for a house to let in Nairobi that fits your taste? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you are looking for help to create and produce high quality videos for your business, I will be glad to help you. Reach out to me via my business website here.
Unlike in the past where freelancers and business owners went out searching for deals via the search engines and social media, deals are now searching for freelancers and business people. In many occasions the deals that comes looking for them are too sweet for them to ignore.
On the other hand the deals that you find via the search feature on social media platforms like YouTube, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram looks very appealing and easy to start earning from.
What stands between you and the deals is the judgement you make. Also the financial position you are at the time of finding the deals plays a major role. Are the bills at hand overwhelming you?
For instance if you are compelled to search for these deals at a time when you are broke and have no money, the probability of you falling into them is high.
So what are the red flags you should watch out for when deals comes looking for you or the deal you find on your search adventure is so sweet?
On this blogpost, I will share with you 3 red flags to watch out for when looking at deals on online.
The Project Manager Is Claiming to Be The Director of A Popular Company
This trick is very popular on Telegram groups and Facebook. The conversation starts when a person offering a job that requires the skills that you have posts on the group. You start the conversation and they tell you he/she is the project manager at a Freelancing platform you know e.g. Upwork, Toptal, Appen e.t.c.
And for them to award you the contract, you will need to sign a contract they send you in PDF or .JPEG:-). Contract presented to you in .jpeg is a biggest red flag I have seen so far.
A closer look at the contract letterhead shows the name of a popular company you have been wanting to work for. That’s another red flag. Freelancing platforms don’t hire people that way. They use their secure platform with escrow payment to do that.
If you find a sweet deal with characteristics like these posted on Freelance group on social media, take you time to analyze before committing.
You can only accept a deal if the person offering it is subcontracting the work to you. For such, the terms are clear and straight forward. You can tell this from the deal amount and how they intend to pay you.
The Job is Easy and pays 3 Times The Market Rate
Before I expound on this, I have a disclaimer. You can be paid any amount to complete an assignment. Its up to the client to decide. But think about this.
A prospect posts a job on a freelancers group on social media. He/she is looking for help to post jobs on the popular freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer e.t.c. They offer $1000-2000 weekly to do this job. For one to qualify, they need to have an account of 2-3 months old.
Imagine this offer is posted on a Telegram group that has more than 1000 freelancers.
How many freelancer do you think will DM the person who posted this? Several right. This is a good deal if you think about it.
If you are a member of the freelance group, you will find the same person posting the same thing everyday.
When you express interest, they send you a contract document that requires you to fill all your personal data and sign. In the contract, you agree that you will be paid after the job is done and approved.
Question is, how sure are you that you will be paid despite their assurance? How sure are you that the same job has not been given to other freelancers same as yourself?
Incase you are not paid, what will you do? Will the contract help? Do the client have a website? Did the client agree to do a video call with you?
Do they use escrow payment? All this questions unanswered are red flags. Run before they varnish with the completed work.
Ask these questions before spending your time to do the job. Otherwise, you may waste your time and end up not getting paid despite giving out all your personal data.
They Want Logins To Your Cryptocurrency Account
Nearly every freelancer or business person who works remotely have a cryptocurrency account even if they don’t use it. On occasions as an account holder, you look for deals that pays in cryptocurrency. The popular cryptocurrency platforms here in Kenya isBinance andPaxful.
If you join groups with users in either of these cryptocurrency platforms, you will see users post juicy deals. I decided to try one of them with my Paxful account and ended up getting my account suspended.
So on a Telegram group a guy posted that he wanted someone with an account with good reviews to help him transfer $3,000 USDT. At the end, the holder will get a commission for the help. So he wanted logins so that he can load the money from his Visa card.
I have never seen something like this on Paxful where one loads money using a card but out of curiosity, I went ahead with this deal despite the red flag.
With 2FA activated, I gave him my login details. The guy logged in from Accra Ghana. That means he was a Ghanian.
I was to wait for 6 hours for his funds to reflect and we could finish the deal. 3 hours later, I receive an e-mail from Paxful that my account has been restricted for attempting to defraud users through trade.
On contacting the guy, he never replied to my calls or messages. That was when I knew he was a scammer who wanted to use my account to defraud others.
Conclusion
Don’t let your financial situation dictate the decisions you make. You will end losing more instantly than what you were to gain from the deal. Be patient and honor your instincts when you spot a red flag. As you look at deals online, always know that your personal data, your money and your reputation is at stake. Handle yourself with care.
You have the power to protect yourself online by shunning away fraudulent deals even if its presented to you by your relative.
And that is it from me.
What are those red flags that you watch out for when looking for deals online on social media or when the deals are presented to you by prospects on social media?
Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you need help to produce video content, let me know about your deal by reaching out to me here:-).
On the top menu, click on tenders. On the dropdown, select ‘active tenders.’
Skim through active tenders there within your category and click view. On the new window click on view again. This will open a preview of the tender.
Look for one with a negotiation number. Most of the government institutions and county government tenders have a negotiation number.
As for this example, I have found one from the county government with a negotiation number.
Download, fill the tender and put together all the documents needed as attachment in one folder ready to submit.
Tender Submission On IFMIS
You need an IFMIS account to file your tender. If you don’t have one already, you can sign up on the portal www.supplier.treasury.go.ke
Fill in the required details to sign up.
Once done, login to your account to submit your Tender application. This is where the negotiation number you picked earlier in the tender document will come into play.
On the right side of the page, you will see menu and below it there is a folder named sourcing supplier.
Click on it to open the dropdown. Under the sourcing folder click on sourcing homepage.
You will be taken to this page here. On top you can see number then a box to the left as you can see below.
Paste the negotiation number on the box and click on go. You will be take to this page here where you will see the tender. Click on the number again to open.
From here you can complete the tender document and submit. And that is it. If you have any question and need help, click on help link here. This will take you to a page with contact of the support team.
I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Share your feedback in the comments section below.
And if you need help to produce professional video tutorials for softwares and apps, let me know here.
Until next time, bye bye and take care. Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.
Many people who work and earn their income online struggle a lot with one thing; choosing the right investment vehicle for their earned income. Am not left out on this. I too struggle. This is owing to many mouth watering investment deals presented to them by random followers on social media and ads they find online. While others are quick to spot a fraudulent deal, it’s really hard to crack others until you lose money on them.
Note that some have gone a notch higher to advertise their shady deals terming them as ‘mind-blowing investment.’ Anyone can advertise what they are offering online on the platform they choose. So how can you determine a good investment deal from the bad one? It’s really hard to know one especially if you are a first timer. Sometimes, its worth risking on the investment of interest in order to learn if its legit or not.
In this blogpost, I will share with 3 ways to invest your earned income online.
Blogging
Blogging is a long term investment with potential to earn you big. When starting one, don’t be in a rush to earn big at a go. Take your time to first find your voice. The voice is in other words your ‘niche.’ It will pave way for you to create more without guess work. Also, as the time goes, you will be able to come up with many related products and services to sell to your audience.
For example, for me, at some point I will want to be an authority in the freelancing business. I can do this by either developing a course about freelance video production or selling my services as a freelance video producer. To get started, invest your money in buying a domain and hosting services for your blog.
If need be, pay someone to help you design a captivating landing page if you are not able to do so yourself. Investing money on a blog is not a one time thing; you will have to do it in bits as needed until you get the results you are looking for. The small investments you make will compound to a big investment with high returns in a long run.
Based on my research on successful bloggers, a blog has the potential to earn you between $200-100,000 a month depending on how much effort you put.
Mobile App/SaaS
Mobile apps and Software As Service Apps(SaaS) are developed with an aim to solve a problem in the market. It’s therefore worth considering them as an investment vehicle with high returns in future.
As an online freelancer or business owner, you have great advantage on this owing to your exposure to the online marketplace. To get started, identify a problem within your niche that can be solved by an app or software. Think of ways to leverage in your idea.
Is it possible to earn from it after solving the problem at hand? If you find yourself with many ideas for software and apps, take your time and start with one. Don’t run with all even if you have money. I repeat this again, INVEST in one first until its a success. Launch it to the market. Get as many users as you can to use the product.
Invest in retaining the users you find. Build it as a business until it stabilizes and the income generated by it is enough to sustain the team you are working with and you have got back your initial investment. If you do it right, this investment will earn you big. You may even stop what you are doing to go and work on the product. Steps to investing in apps/software’s includes ideation/brainstorming, design & development, testing and review, official launch, marketing, updates, monetization and more.
Website Services
Website services is what has a lot demand today going by the number of searches online by website users. It’s therefore important to consider investing your earned income in website services. The first step to doing this brainstorming. Look at the market and analyze trends.
Using Google trends in your analysis can be of help here. Look at the services many people are searching and using online. See ways that you create similar service with a fresh approach. E.g Creating a classifieds website, job website, e-commerce website e.t.c.
The best way to start is launching a service that is within your skills. If you are skilled in something, it will be easy to market it. This is because, you have marketplace experience. This is key. Give yourself a room for improvement in the early stages when your service is not performing well. You will not go wrong if you continuously invest in it.
Always give it your all.
Conclusion
It takes a lot of sacrifice and dedication to succeed with any investment online. On the other hand it takes a few clicks to loose your hard earned money online in a fraudulent investment. Make your choices wisely.
Always remind yourself that even your friend or a family member can refer you to a bad investment and you will end up loosing money. When scouting for what to invest in, look at the return on your investment in a long term as opposed to short term. Investing in products that solves peoples problems are the best investments that is hard to go wrong.
And that is it from me here. There are many more investments out that one can invest in.
Do you have an idea of something else that people can invest in online? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you need help to edit or produce professional videos, do not hesitate to reach out to me here. Until next time, bye bye and take care.
People in the creative economy depend on their original ideas and knowledge to thrive. During hard economic times, one can easily get discouraged from continuing to do what they love. If you enjoy doing what you do, then you have no reason to give up.
Hard times should be a time to reinforce your creativity and move it to a new level. Spend your time creating more as better times are always ahead.
In this blogpost, I will share with you 3 ways to reinforce your creativity during difficult times.
Invest Your Time in Writing A Journal/Blog
Look at your current life state and draw your inspiration from it on what to write on. For example, I am writing this blogpost at a time when I have less work that pays. What I am writing here is what I am practicing right now. Writing anything useful that comes to my mind on my blog is what I have been doing for as long as I can remember.
It is important to dwell on positive things as opposed to negative ones. Every person who has succeeded in life confess that they found success the moment they dwelled on the positive things in life.
Focus on ways to create abundance and internalize it for your own benefit. When you do so, you will surely be preparing yourself for abundance and at the right time, you will receive it.
Try New Creative Things in Your Business or Freelancing
Every day ideas for your business or freelance career comes to mind. The hard part is introducing the ‘new’ ideas to your business and trying them out.
Take advantage of difficult times to experiment on those Ideas and see if they work. You never know, the ideas you have had in your mind for a long time might turn out to be the beginning of your success in business.
Think of Partnering With Established Individuals/Companies
During difficult times, money is scarce. Many at times, entrepreneurs and freelancers run out of money. On the other hand, many may have good ideas but lack financing to push the ideas forward.
How about reaching out to an established company in your field and seeking their help to push your idea forward to fruition? Does it sound difficult for you to pursue? Everything is worth trying in life. Make sure you are well prepared when approaching these partners.
If you pitch your idea well and it resonates well with their policy, then, they may consider working with you.
Conclusion
Don’t let difficult times kill your creativity or talent. Keep it alive by finding a way out for yourself. Identify best avenues that you can use to connect with the world. When you do so without ceasing, you will be enhancing your creativity in preparation for your next big break.
And that is it from me here.
Did you find this post helpful? let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you need help with content creation do not hesitate to reach out to me here. I might be of big help.
Frugality is a virtue needed by every entrepreneur from the word go. Otherwise, they will waste a lot of their time wondering why their businesses are not breaking even despite putting in a lot of hard work.
I have built a business to stability and have seen the same business I built tumble down to zero. Based on my analysis on what caused the business to fail, all fingers pointed on me not being frugal. I was weak at planning before spending the money earned from my business.
The issue of frugality stretches far beyond business. It boils down to being frugal on a personal level FIRST. Frugality revolves around how you spend your money or income. So how can one start being frugal on how they spend in business?
Watch Video – Why Frugality is Critical To Business Growth Today
It Starts With Being Frugal With Oneself
This is the lesson I learnt after building a business for 7 years and eventually failing while at it. All through the growth stages, I always struggled with capital management despite the business bringing in money. So why was my company struggling with managing finances? The problem was rooted on my personal financial management pattern. I knew that frugality was necessary in business but I did not practice it individually. If you are not frugal when it comes to how you spend your own money, you will struggle with everything related with your finances.
In this case, I struggled with managing and growing my business capital because of poor accountability of the earned income.
Ways In Which You Can Be Frugal With Yourself
Account for every shilling that you EARN or Borrow. It doesn’t matter if the money you have is earned or borrowed. Make yourself accountable and ensure that every shilling goes into good use. Resist the urge to engage in impulse buying. Also, delayed gratification plays a major role when it comes to resisting the urge to spend anyhow.
Do your ‘Shopping budget‘ Audit. How often do you shop for household consumption? How much does it cost you? For instance, while I was doing my shopping audit, I found out that I didn’t like doing one main shopping a month but instead I did shop in small bits. This when spread across the month was an expensive affair. When you buy in bulk you get quantity at a lower price. The small savings you get by being frugal in your shopping will amount to big savings in a long run.
Have a goal for every month. This is what you aim to a achieve every month. We all desire to grow and move to a new level every month. Have a goal that requires you to invest money in. This way, you can redirect the savings you get from being frugal to your investment goal. Do not have many goals, have one goal and and ensure you achieve it.
Limit giving out loans to friends. Are you that generous person who lends money to people when they are in need? Being generous is not a bad thing. But are those people you are generous to grateful. Do they pay you back what they borrowed on time? If you find yourself stuck in life simply because of being generous to others financially, start being frugal. Stop giving out loans to people and start focusing on yourself. Divert these loans you are used to giving out to viable investments.
Work on your spiritual life. What do you believe in? Irrespective of where you come from, we all believe in the ‘I AM.’ That’s God. Practice what your believe in. For instance, Christians believe in praying. If this is the case, make sure you always pray. Practicing your faith and incorporating it onto your life and business is critical. It strengthens your mind, body and spirit.
Conclusion
Like the saying ‘charity begins at home‘ frugality for success begins with you. If you are not frugal with yourself, you will not be frugal with finances in business. Embracing frugality first on yourself will make it easy for you implement it on your business. Frugality in business is necessary if it has to grow to profitability.
And that is it from me here. Do you think being frugal is necessary in business? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below here.
For help to create professional content for marketing your business online, reach out to me here.
Talent and professionalism are two main prerequisites that motivates individuals to start businesses online today. But that’s just the starter. With 1.13 Billion websites online in the world today, a lot more is needed to market your business.
Watch Video -3 Marketing Tools And Services You Need For Your Online Business Today
In this blogpost, I will share with you 3 marketing tools and services that you need in your online business.
1. Email Marketing Tool
Marketing through e-mail is a bit taxing when you think about it. This is particularly if you are doing everything by yourself. But the long term benefit of having e-mail marketing in place for your business is critical. There is a lot of ground work that goes into setting up e-mail marketing. These include;
E-mail collection – When designing a website, it is important to have in mind how you intend to capture e-mails of people who visit. This may include adding a form which users can enter their names and e-mail addresses in order to subscribe to your services and get updated on special offers. Another way to collect e-mails is through an opt-in form that pops up on your site. Usually these forms are scheduled to pop up while the user is browsing through the site.
E-mail Composition and Frequency – For your e-mail marketing plan to succeed, your e-mails have to be creatively written. This will result in high open rate. Also, the frequency in which you will be sending your e-mails to your subscribers needs to be set. This can be done through ‘funnels‘ found inside e-mail marketing software’s. E-mail funnels are there to automate the marketing process and save you time.
Advertising Services
As more and more people take their businesses online, competition of traders operating in the same niche continue to grow. The only way to defeat this battle for attention is through advertising. Good news is, there are many options of online advertising that one can choose from. You can advertise on search engines, social media platforms and more.
To get the best results; have a budget, stick to it and be consistent. If one medium is not giving you the results you are desiring, try a different medium until you find one that connects you with your targeted audience.
If done well, one is sure to get the results they are looking for.
Content Creation Tools
In order the create the best content for marketing your business, you need to have the right tools. Ask yourself; which type of content can effectively deliver my message? Is it graphic images, videos, photos, audio or written content? Each type of these content’s has their own special creation tool or software.
It is important to mention here the availability of free content creation tools online. The only problem is that these tools are designed to upsell you to the premium version. That is why it is better to purchase the tool/software license at the beginning of your content creation journey. That’s unless you are comfortable using the free version with limited features.
Having in mind that content plays a big role in marketing, it has to done efficiently. This can only be achieved through subscribing to the full features of the content creation tool you pick.
Conclusion
There are many more tools that you will need to market yourself or business online. However, the 3 tools I have highlighted here are effective if utilized well. You only need effective tools to succeed. How you set them up at first will determine the results you will get. Also, how consistent you use these tools is key.
And that is it from me here.
Did you find this article helpful?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
And until next time, bye bye and take care.
For help to create professional marketing content regularly, you can reach out to me here.
When you hear the word Scam, what comes to your mind? Is it the money you lost to con men and con women who called you, or is it the work you did via a website you signed up on with the hope of getting payment and ended not getting paid.
How did it start? Its a fact, anyone can get scammed. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have online. Scammers study their victims complaints after every successful scam and mutate to another fresh scam targeted at the same victims. And guess what, many still fall for it.
Watch Video – Do Scammers Play a Role in the Evolution of Online Ecosystems
Oxford dictionary define SCAM as a ‘dishonest scheme; a fraud.‘ There are several scams online and can only be defined based on the context in which it occurred.
Scam Adviser and GASA (global Antiscam Alliance) define scam as a situation when the gap between the promise and delivery is huge.
The number of scams reported currently stands at 293 Million with online scam being the 2nd most reported type of crime in many countries globally. This is according to Scam Adviser and GASA insights report.
How People Meet Scammers Online
Scammers are great marketers who take advantage of popular recurring events, crisis and trends to execute their plan. A good example is the popular Netflix series Squid Game Scam. Squid Game crypto token siphoned $3.4 million in 5 days from unsuspecting users and vanished. Here is a list of annual events that people should be vigilant of when looking for services online.
Popular Annual events – Valentine, mothers day, fathers day, holidays, Christmas and new years.
Crisis – Corona masks, vaccines, bush fires, Ukraine war, General elections, Big companies promotions e.t.c.
Trends – Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Mining, E-commerce, NFT’s, Energy crisis, Real Estate investments.
While every nation across the world is working hard to fight the scam vice, the speed at which they mutate is unprecedented. This begs the question, do scammers play any role in the online space? While I hate scammers, their presence have had a big impact in my life.
Here are 3 ways in which scammers have stimulated vigilance in various sectors of the economy.
1. Scammers Have Stimulated Security Innovations
Web service providers have continued to enhance their security frameworks in their platforms based on reported cases of fraud by users. This is aside creating awareness to their consumers of how scammers work and how they can protect themselves.
Many online security innovations have largely contributed towards elimination of scammers from interfering with various online business infrastructure. Such security inventions include introduction of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)Technology, Disaster Recovery as a Service (DDaaS), Firewall, Continuous Data Protection (CDP) and more.
While this comes at price, its worth every penny for anyone who wants their business, service or users protected from malicious scam attacks.
2. Emergence of Security Agencies to Investigate And Prosecute Offenders
Many countries today have an Agency that monitors and prosecutes people found guilty of online fraud. In Kenya, this is done by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI). They have a special unit that investigates and prosecutes offenders found guilty of this vice.
At the moment, they investigate on reported cases of scam by individuals and business entities. Those found guilty of scam are judged and prosecuted.
3. Users Are Now Vigilant
After a user has experienced hacking of their e-mail and social media accounts by scammers, they become enlightened and vigilant. From then, they are more willing to cooperate with the platforms security recommendations.
With various scam awareness campaigns being sponsored by various social media sites, email service providers, mobile service providers and popular online platforms, users have now found a way to easily report all suspected cases of fraud.
Users are also now wary when e-mailed or called by impersonators.
Conclusion
Scam remains an illegal yet profitable and risky activity to engage in. No one will ever see the value that scammers add to the growth of online ecosystems unless it was ethically done e.g. Ethnical hacking. For those who engage in it, it is a matter or life and death.
It is notable to mention here that not every victim of scam will report to the responsible authorities. Some will instead take law on their hands and punish the offenders. In some occasions, they kidnap the offenders, kill them and throw their bodies in the wild.
It’s important to note the existence of dark web where a lot of illegal activities take place. But that is a story for another day.
I hope you found this article insightful.
Do you think scammers play a role in the growth of online ecosystems?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
