NetNaira.com another Nigerian e-payment site

If you have been following this blog since the start of the year, you will notice a growing pattern in the Nigerian web space. I wrote last time about an e-payment service for Nigerian (FasteCash). I went o Interswitch on yesterday (Tuesday) to ask for any update regarding their payment platform, well nothing has changed in the setup fee and transaction commission and no plan (as much as I know) to review the price.

In their own word: “NetNaira is a secure pointing/credit system designed to solve the problem of exchanging goods and services for value online speedily and securely.”

NetNaira aims to help small businesses with facility to accept payments directly on their websites without having to share their bank information with their customers.

A New Deal?

Not really a new deal but very strategic deal to the growth of the industry. A number of websites have been online for quite sometimes now providing the same service. Looking at Nigerian web industry, this service is yet to be fully embraced and any site that starts early and can build its trust capital should be profitable when people’s apathy to online payment is relieved.

Real Deal

• NetNaira Allows easy, secure payment platform for those who are not willing to disclose their card detail to just any website, like in the case of a recent fraudulent site we wrote about.
• The platform is secured with Comodo.
• Helps merchant accept payment on their website.
• It also has a simple website integration API that allows communication with its server.
• Referral commission on new customer introduced to the platform
• Transfer fee is 1.2% + 10 naira
• Account is free to open and to receive payment
• An escrow service that allow anyone to become a cashpoint for the platform
• It’s seller are numerous (where you can withdraw your money)

Downside

• Just about 7 merchants are available on its directory
• Maximum transaction cap on personal account

Business model

Transaction broker; it helps people fulfill deals across the internet and making money from commission.

At this point in time, services like these are extremely needed to help facilitate buying and selling on the internet in Nigeria. Given the peculiarity of Nigeria Trust wise, having your money channeled through third party could be a safe way to buy stuff online

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Corporate Web Strategy: Setting up the implementation team

In my last post I discussed about what corporate strategies was and how to get started defining one. Title for today simply wants to focus on how to form a team that will deliver a fulfilling web strategy.

The Team

Snap shot of those who should be on the team;

• The CEO or COO
• The CIO or top IT personality in the organization
• Customer Support personnel
• Sales & Marketing
• External consultant (Web designs, Developer and Strategist)

That’s the ideal fulcrum of people you should make members of the team, now let’s look at their respective roles in the building process. Remember, less is better, don’t let too many people be in the team so as not to slow-down the process.

CEO or COO

The CEO is the engine room of the company, with keen understanding of the business role, the role of company in the industry and the future of the company. In case the CEO is not available, the COO or vice-president can stand in. These other people are members of the Management and will be able to voice the importance of the web project and be able to allocate resources according to the company’s budget and strategies. Even though the CEO may have an idea of the importance of the web campaign, he should further be educated by the consultant or the IT person on the strategic roles of the web. The CEO will be more concern about the ROI of this campaign hence making sure that overzealousness is curtailed in the process. I have seen in some companies in my course of consulting with clients that, some CEO may have read, heard and seen some positive effect of the web (and IT), they just want it implemented ASAP, hence given less room for thorough implementation and strategies. So, thorough briefing or education is very important.

CIO or IT Personality

In most organizations, there are separate department for IT and a figure-head in form of manager or CIO. IT personalities are generally informed to a large extent as to what is happening on the internet, the service providers, competent vendors and experience as to how to implement the web strategies. Their roles are very important so that you don’t over pay for services to be rendered by the external consultants.

I have seen some companies making the web building process a sole responsibility of the IT department to their detriment. Most IT persons don’t know rudiments about the business, and mostly placed in the support department. So they just implement the website just the way they think other people do it with the company’s operations in mind.

Customer Support Personnel

The web has evolved from just another brochure for marketing to customer service. With the advent of web 2.0 and its child social media, web sites are now responsive giving the customer service department a better way to help customers faster. The customer service personnel should be in the team to tell their story, how customers respond, which method they like to be served and the trends.

Sales & Marketing

As Newton once said “Everything remains at the staff of rest until a force is applied”, in business nothing really happens until a sale is made! The sale is what brings in the money, while the marketing is worth expose to people what you have to offer! The input of these departments is very important because it is the ultimate thing that will affect the bottom line which will make the CEO happen and every other staff members and investors.

The sales and marketing persons explains the method they have been using, how they have performed so far, what they want change, what is hot in the market and ways to make them reach the customers better. If all their comments are well taken note of and integrated into the web strategies, the success of the web campaign is inevitable.

External consultant (Web designs, Developer and Strategist)

Getting an expert in these areas is very important, if your IT department are not web savvy, you must consult an external person to help you in this process.

Talking about the web consultants, you need to understand that, the web is vast and in most cases one person doesn’t know it all. Firms generally consultant with a web designer or developer who are basically tech people and may not be able to maximize the potential of the web. Yea, well they will provide their service to your liking but I will like to add that the impact of a strategist is the void currently needed to be filled in your next web campaign (in case you don’t have one). The role of the strategist is simply to create a bridge between the business process and the web technology at hand for optimum return. This will make sure that, all efforts are geared towards serving the customer and at the same time getting good return on your expenditure.

Summary

I will summary the works of each team members as; CEO brings the business needs, challenges and focus to the ground, while the customer services & sales and marketing personnels brings the business process, customer needs and their ideas to fore, the web designer/developer create the web pages and application while web strategist link the business need with what the designer/developer is doing for effective return and monitoring.

Do you have a web team? What are they comprised of and how have they performed so far? Drop comment below…

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Top Web Development Companies in Nigeria

I will be reviewing on this page, top web development companies in Nigeria, we would look into applications they have developed, how long they have been in the business and their general influence on the web space in Nigeria. Don’t mind if I start from the big guns, I think we should appreciate the impact they have had on the industry.

Sidmach Technologies

They developed Waeconline.org.ng, jamb.org.ng Nigeria‘s first online examination registration websites. I will say these projects opened a new chapter in the web industry in Nigeria!

Looking at Sidmach’s portfolio, they have more government related projects than Taviatech.

They have offices in Lagos, Abuja and Portharcourt.

Taviatech

“Tavia Technologies Limited is an experienced technology company offering Web, Wireless & Business Intelligence services. We have consistently provided first class services to our valued customers in the Telecommunication, Banking, Oil & Gas, Law Firms, Insurance, Real Estate, Non-Profit, Recreational, Manufacturing Industries and other sectors. “

Taviatech has been in the business for 10 years and have deployed high-end solutions including Interswitch e-payment system (website), MTN, Access Bank, FCMB, Starcomms portal and other great solutions. Their office is located at Motor ways centre in Ikeja, Lagos.

This is just the beginning as more companies will be featured here. We will also look at individual designers that are world-class from Nigeria.

Stay tuned!

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Understanding Facebook Ads: How to get the best out of Facebook ads!

Contents

• Current Nigerian Stats on Facebook
• How it works
• Getting started
• Keys to measure
• Looking back: how far has it worked?

I have been taking a close look at how Facebook ads is becoming popular in Nigeria and how much people are willing to spend to place ads on Facebook. As a strategist in the industry, and with the experiments I have performed with this platform, I will like to share with you how you can get good ROI (Return On Investment) for your Facebook Ads.

Current Nigerian Statistics on Facebook

Stats on current users From Nigeria:

13+ (Male & Female): 625,400

18+ (male & female): 607,420

20+ (male & Female): 556,960

All : 625, 400

How it works

Facebook Ad uses the profile information and demographic (IP Mapping) information of its users to display ads. Facebook currently have 3 slots for the top match ads while the rest can be view in the “Mores ads” page. The 3 slots or top match are basically for the current logged-in user. For example, if out of 100,000 logged in users only 20,000 match the criteria; they are the only ones to see it.

You also need to know that the pricing or bidding rate will determine if your ads are displayed at a particular point in time. Say: same ads with same criteria; ad A bids for $0.20 CPM while B bids for $0.19 CPM , C bids for $0.18 and D bids for $0.15 CPM. A,B and C will show before ad D.

Getting Started

Remember; whatever you do not measure you can’t really tell if it’s performing or not. Hence, before you place an ad, kindly define your measurement keys. Google analytics is good for this. With this you will be able to track how many people are being referred to your site by your advertisement on Facebook. I will advise that you create your landing page for effective tracking. Say, you are advertising an event, you should link directly to the form for RSVP or if you are selling a product, you can link to the product information page with a “call for action on it.” Your landing page must be able to let the visitor understand what you offer and take action immediately. Generally people link to their home page. If you advertising for  various products then this is good.

Facebook has by default 25 characters for the ads title and 135 characters for the ads message. If your ads needs a picture, fine upload it, else you are good to go! Remember your ads message is as good as your marketing/sales pitch, be straight to the point. Call for action immediately!  Like a recent ad on Facebook for Car Tracking products in Nigeria with a title of:  Locate. Control. Secure. This calls your action, as in what am I locating? What am I Controlling and Securing? Then you see the ad message and follow the link.

Keys to Measure

Like I said earlier, measuring is key to knowing whether your ad is performing or not. It helps you know whether the ad campaign is really worth it. If it does, then you can intensify your campaign or reduce or even stop it.

Let us look at the keys one after the other:

• Date: The date this ad started
• Imp.: Total impressions as at time of study
• Clicks: Number of times people have clicked on the ad
• CTR: Click Through Rate. What is the percentage of the clicks to the display times?
• Avg. CPC ($): Average Cost Per Click. Amount changed per clicks.
• Avg. CPM: Average Cost Per Impression ($). How much charged per impression or display of the ads.
• Spent: How much you have spent so far for the ads/impression.

When you take a close look at this, you can be sure of how the ad is performing.

Measuring performance on your site

The above is for your Facebook Ad stats. You also need to check your stats on your site, if you use Google Analytics, you can simply check your referring sites to check for the traffic coming through Facebook.

Looking back: How far has it worked?

Well you are the only one to know how far your ad has performed based on your expectation.  If it has driven enough traffic to your site, then good else you may take a second look at the way you write the ads literature. You also need to know that; though some may not click on your ad immediately, they will store it in their memories and they can then go to your site at a different time.

The bottom line is to plan, measure and not expect too much. Always seek advice if you are not sure or need better understanding.

FAQS

I placed an ad on Facebook but I can’t see it, why?

If you are the owner of the ad, Facebook may not display the ad to you. Tell me, why do you want to pay to view what you did? Why not just check from the preview.

Someone placed ad on Facebook for me but I can’t see it, why?

Like I said above, your profile information might not match exactly the criteria used for the ads or put another way at that point in time. Also, the ad is displayed to quite a number of people each time. Like 100,000+ may login at same time so, it’s a game of probability.

Does this Facebook ad work at all, are they not just eating my money?

Well, internet as in Life is a game of trust! As it general referred to, it’s a “Trust Economy” we are operating online. So if you doubt, don’t waste you time, just move on, else get someone who understands it to guide you. It sure works!

If you are staying far away and you really want to be sure, ask your guide or consultant to send you snapshots of the performance.

What time will my ad start incase I want to specify time?

Unlike Google, Facebook uses ONLY US time to display its ad. So you need to minus your country of residence’s time from that of the US to get the accurate time. Also, note that Facebook ads runs round the clock.

I sure believe you have understood this piece, please share with us your challenge or result so far.

If you need a guide on how to go about placing ad on Facebook or other sites, you can contact us no: info@webtrendsng.com or hotline Possicon on +234-802-792-4441

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