Lovebase.com is formally alarena.com a top Nigerian dating site with over 60,000 members and growing, turned positive. We got this tip-off from the founder Simdul Shagaya in our recent interview we conducted with him.

How it works

You sign up on the site with the basic information you wish to be recognized on the site, and activate via your email.

To get people of interest, you can use its search function which allows you to specify whether you need male or female and the age grade, location and users with picture.

A New Deal?

Yea! We asked the founder of the reason for the change of name and he said; “The name change happened for several reasons. One was to have the brand appeal to a greater population of Nigerians in terms of ethnicity and age. As you know, Alarena means matchmaker in Yoruba. The brand now addresses an ethnically wider and younger crowd that may be looking for casual relationships in addition to those seeking marriage”.

The design is sleek and aesthetic, a world-class and web 2.0 compatible website. It’s really one of the top Nigerian sites with powerful user-experience.

The site also has a dedicated line 080-66-33-22-99 for customer support.

The Real Deal

The site has two options; premium and free membership. With premium membership, user get message from serious people and reduces spam. You can actually upload your picture to increase relevance. On the other hand, the free membership allows people to use the site for free!

Business Model

The site has seen considerable number of people making payment for the premium service. With this, the site has been able to sustain itself, innovate and reach broader audience. The model adopted by this site is Subscription model under Web Business Model structure.

Downside

The site can leverage the power of social media to reach far more audience as we now have more than 1.6 million Nigerians on Facebook.  Integration with Facebook will do the site good and help users find match faster and better.

Also understanding that mobile has more penetration than computer, a mobile site and SMS alert will help users get result faster and make them stick to the site, eventually increasing word-of-mouth.

Have you used this site before? How was it?

visit: Lovebase.com

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Ever thought of a site where you can get an informed review of products and services that resonates with Nigeria? Exxset.com could be the right one for you. The site hopes to solve the lack of information about products and services in Nigeria and other west African countries.  In their press release (made available to us); ExxSet a recently launched an antidote to the region’s dearth of information with a site where professionals can finally source and provide information on the quality of products and services. It is invitation-only to ensure a platform of trust and credibility. It is a series of regional sites across Africa with the initial focus on West Africa. The key point for me is its mission “mission of facilitating the flow of credible hyper-local information between professionals in the West African region – by providing a resource where they can connect on common issues and find proven solutions, with its word-of-mouth platform.“

Owned by ExxSet Ltd, a UK based company with branches in Nigeria and South Africa.

How it works

The way it works is simple; solve a common (frustrating problem), find a proven solution and discuss your business industry.

Frustrating problems is represented by; FRUSTRATING while solution represent the Fantastic (FANTASTIC) side of a product or service.

New Deal?

The concept is new and fresh! With the service you can get review/comment of a product or service your company may be planning to spend millions on.

“ExxSet is already receiving fantastic product and service insights from professionals and is acting as a resource that filters the proliferation of new and unknown products and services in West Africa.” – Shana Joris, Marketing Manager

Real Deal

The real  deal is that, you get professional review, comment of a product or service offered by any of the companies listed. Remember, the site is targeted at bluechip firms, hence the requirement for the membership application. Many companies and products are already reviewed!

• Informed products and services review
• Networking platform for professionals
• It reduces risk and increases opportunity based on information shared on the platform.

Business Model

The site is newly launched and for now, we can’t find a price for any services offered on the site. Am pretty sure the company is working that out. It will be a perfect advertising platform for the upwardly mobile professionals who needs top class services.

Downside

The only downside for me is the application for membership; it will reduce the churn of interested people who could be of great help to the platform. If the membership is approved by qualification or company they work, am sorry it might not help get a real-life experience of the service under review. A better option would have been to let users gain point as they answer questions and comments made on topics under discussion. With this, it can be a thumb up, thumb down approach with a scoring system that gives weight to voting made by members who have a higher ranking score (Some calls it Karma system).

Log on to Exxset.com now to check it out!

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Yea, I mean it! A Nigerian topic trended on Twitter today. I wrote earlier this month about Nigerian topic #abaversion which also trended on twitter. Today @JideAboderin start #nigeriangrammar and other Nigerian tweeples took it up till it got trended on Twitter.

This is a sign that social media adoption in Nigeria is on the upward trend! In our last review of Facebook users in Nigeria, we discovered that over a million Nigerians are now on Facebook, wow!

You may want to wonder why all this? Well not to worry! The internet is mostly used by people who catch fun and Nigeria is no exception. @niyyie tweeted and I quote “The #nigeriangrammar trend on twitter is “hilariously funny”. ) If only the energy was channeled into a productive cause for Nigeria.” That was a good point there! As Nigeria’s image continued to be battered abroad, we need to use every possible opportunity to showcase the good side of us.

Nigeria, now is the time to make use of opportunity with our online strength to show the world that, we are not a terrorist country and that we have enormous enterprising youth talents right here!

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WTN=Web Trends Nigeria

WTN: Can we meet you?

Chiemeka: Firstly, I must express our appreciation for the invitation to do this interview. My name is Chiemeka Ozumba, and as a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of ishopinlondon.com, the challenge of developing and building this online venture into a great success falls to my lot. My background is in Public Relations and Brand Development with hands on experience in graphics designing.

WTN: Tell us about your site, ishopinlondon.com

Chiemeka:        ishopinlondon.com is basically an online shopping portal that will avail Nigerians with the golden opportunity of shopping online for authentic designer labels and high quality products from top high street shops in the United Kingdom. For household goods, electronics, tools, fashion, toys, wedding things, books and many more: Our customers can place orders for products of any quantity and value and we will deliver it to their door anywhere in Nigeria! The site is elegantly designed with a very user-friendly interface. It is really a beautiful website Nigerians will enjoy and be proud of.

WTN:     What is your expectation of the Nigerian Internet market?

Chiemeka:        Sincerely Shittu, the expectation is positive. You know that Nigerians are Internet savvy, love the good things of life and are keen for any online experience, which contributes to the fulfillment of their life aspirations. Our brand as a lifestyle brand is designed for this. We are not only providing goods and services, most importantly, we are offering an experience.

WTN.     Looking at your site, it’s a full ecommerce site, what are the hurdles and drawback you think could have helped make things faster and cheaper?

Chiemeka:        Well, in life hurdles and drawbacks are challenges and they are laden with opportunity. We see only prospects, because where there are challenges there is possibility. That is our resolute view of the situation. And we believe that at this stage in the development of ecommerce in Nigeria, more entrepreneurs need to invest in this sector to help position our country as the African leaders in ecommerce. This is what we are doing and we see ourselves as joining many like you who are keenly working towards this goal.

WTN.    Do you have a local representative?

Chiemeka:        Yes we do. We have a full-fledged office based in Ikeja Lagos State run by our General Manager in charge of our Nigerian Operations. We also have nine service points across the country ensuring that the benefits that ishopinlondon.com has for Nigerians reach them wherever they are. By the end of this quarter, according to our plans, we would have set up an additional 5 service points making our operations fully national.

WTN.    What should we expect from your site as you continue the journey?

Chiemeka:        Expect innovation! Expect excellence!! Expect great customer care!!! We will not compromise standards. We will invest in customer loyalty reward schemes because we believe that the customer deserves something extra for his or her patronage. We will support small retailers. We will encourage young startups. We will contribute significantly to the development of ecommerce in Nigeria.

WTN.     A piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs…

Chiemeka:        Dream big! Believe resolutely. Learn expansively. Plan extensively. Go for it. Do it. And never look back. Never doubt. But never be over confident! Stay the course. And as my grandfather always said: sticking to it is the victory thereof.

WTN.     What else will you like to share with our readers?

Chiemeka:        As ishopinlondon.com launches on Thursday 18^th February 2010, I will like to say to your readers that ishopinlondon.com is a people oriented enterprise. We believe in people. We invest in people. We are open to hear your views, your suggestions and even your criticisms. So that we can learn from you the best way we can serve you to your satisfaction and happiness. And you know, I cannot possibly end without saying this: After having a critical look at your website, we are impressed with the work Webtrendsng is doing, which is contributing to development of the internet as well as online ventures in Nigeria. Well-done Shittu.

WTN: Thank you very much Chiemeka.

Chiemeka: You are welcome.

Website: ishopinlondon.com
Facebook Page: ishopinlondon.com on Facebook

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It is no doubt that entertainment is one the top image makers for Nigeria and  has helped Nigeria’s image on the positive side globally. Nigerian entertainment industry popularly called Nollywood is world second biggest movie industry (in terms of film production per year) behind India’s bollywood and ahead of US Hollywood. Nigerian music is also Africa’s top, with Nigerian artiste carting almost every awards organized for Africa.

Technology as come to stay and to accelerate growth and satisfy customer’s undying thirst, here comes Naijamusic.net a site dedicated to giving Nigerians at home, abroad and lovers of Nigerian music and video access to varieties online real-time! Founded in 2005 and has grown organically with over 5,000 tracks and more than 260 artistes on the site. In a chat with the founder Welborn Michael, he said: “We want to redefine entertainment in Nigeria, we want to take Nigerian entertainment to the doorstep of everyone who needs it anywhere in the world via the internet and other medium”. This was what caught my attention and interest in the site in year 2005, and I was involved in the development at the early stage. The passion of the founder, couple with his vision, have been his driving force even as the company is close to profitability. Innovation and products development has been the key driver over the years.

A New Deal

(Innovative or copy cat? Let’s see!)

There is really no essence in duplicating foreign technology if you do not have local content or needs you want to meet! Naijamusic.net have a robust platform that is able to manage track, album and artiste information extensively. Aside that, it also have thousands of music cut across many genres, from oldies to hot music in the market. Also it features music in various Nigerian tribe, this I think appeal to those who have never listen to a music from other tribes and those who wants more. It also have numbers of religious song, fuji, juju and evergreen albums.

Right on top of it includes; Artiste/DJ search, Artiste branding, Online Music sales, Artiste request (in case you need a service of an artiste) and many more services.

The Real Deal

(These are some of the good side to this site, value expected.)

Thousands of music plus oldies and hot music, I think this is cool! Also giving Nigerian artiste platform to sell their music to local and international fans is a great concept plus artiste booking. These are great features that have come to fill the void in online music sites.

Down Side

This site is far from realizing its potentials, It needs more publicity to reach the target audience. More so, the contents are too many and a redesign can be done to make it more appealing.

Business Model

This site’s business model is not far fetch as you can see, it sells music, advertises, link up artiste and other service rendered are good ways to make money.

Final Thoughts

I see this site going a long way; it’s got good products and service and strategically located in a virgin market. I think anyone willing to invest in an online asset should give the founder a shout.

Online Networks

Website: Naijamusic.net
Twitter : @naijamusic
Facebook Page: NaijaMusic

Oh! More so Naijamusic brand is a registered trade mark of We-Media Entertainment Ltd.

Can Naijamusic rule the world? What is your take? Drop below…

Disclosure: I was involved at the early stage of development of this site before I handed over to the current development team. And I as also involved in the product development and business model.

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Outlook 2009
Barcamp Nigeria
Internet Marketers Association of Nigeria
Launch of Turenchi.com
Launch of naijaborn.com
Launch of greenlagos.com
Launch of kilonsele.com
Digital Sense Africa
Launch of nairajobs.com
Joomla Day Nigeria

• I predict a high increase in corporate awareness of importance of web to their businesses.

• The mainstream will be more interested in online related business as Web Technologist will be at the coming Outlook 2010.
• Network Marketing awareness/trust will also increase next year with the growth of Holiday and Cash products.
• These and many more…

As 2010 will be released on Thursday this week, what is your prediction of the Internet Market in Nigeria/Africa for the year 2010. This could include corporate web awareness, product releases/launch and events. What do you hope for or expect in 2010. Drop below…

Hey we are currently conducting research of the Nigerian Internet Market, click here to participate.

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I wrote way back in January about top internet icons, many artiste controlled the wave in the social networking sites… garnering fans from Facebook, MySpace and others. To also know the impact the entertainment industry in bringing to the web, take a look at the Lighupnigeria.org project and the outburst from an article written by Ruben Abati of Guardian news paper.

Back to thenetng.com, the company is founded by Black House Media and boast of its ability to use “… past, present and future platforms to deliver accurate, reliable and up to the minute news, entertainment and information to audience wherever they are.” Meaning; it is poised to use new and old technology to reach its audience. The most visible of the parts being social media, the site already have accounts on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thenetng) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/thenetng).

The official launching date of the site was last Monday 23^rd of November 2009 and specializes on

• Music (happenings, features, charts, album/song/video reviews, interviews)
• Movies (reviews, happenings, features, interviews)
• Fashion (features)
• Events coverage

Though contents on the site dated back to early this month (which I think is good for bootstrap) more news are being added everyday. The site is developed by one of our profiled top Nigerian Influencer Temi Kolawole “Antigravity” and based on wordpress blogging engine.

The New Deal

(Innovative or copy cat? Let’s see!)

Well in the mail I received from the founder it reads in part; “…We’re not doing something that has not been done before. We’re only doing old things in new ways; we’re doing things differently; putting the E back in entertainment journalism.“ The site does not explicitly say that they have come with an invention but they have come with reinvention which is key to staying competitive. One of the things I also find a great deal is authenticity. The company has promised to rely on its network of insiders and enthusiast and to abide by basic journalism rule and to make the users first! Well the new deal could be that its not “just another blog” but a serious entertainment media poised to become competitive.

The Real Deal

(These are some of the good side to this site, value expected.)

As the Nigerian Entertainment industry continues its growth, all available means of communication will definitely be explored to take it to the consumers, the internet is the least used of the communication media in Nigeria. While more businesses are expected to come along, the early adopters’ needs to set the standard and possibly enjoy good market share.

• Access to insider in the entertainment industry; this is a wonderful part as it will allow the visitors have a feel of the industry like they do on TV.
• The site also make use of social media (particularly Facebook and Twitter) to reach their audience. As Nigerian usage of social media grows, to “fish where the fishes are” is very cool.
• The site also said it would put the users’ first meaning that it will listen to what you and I says and make necessary changes as we demand (lolz)!

Business Model

It’s conspicuously displayed on the site that it planned to run on advertising business model. The sea is “kinda” wide for them to fish and more entertainment companies still needs to get the words out on the internet. I also foresee a possible pay-for-coverage of events as this site grows.

Go to the site here

It’s a good way to begin… more businesses being built around blogging! What is your take? Does this company have an edge in the industry?

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Movers

Our top movers for the month is Naijaloft.com, which moved 21 places follow by Informationnigeria.org (19 places) and gtbplc.com 18 places.

Shakers

Site that dropped most places from the ranking table; 9jabook.com 12 places, independentngonline.com 8 places, and nigeriamasterweb.com 7 places. This shows that most didn’t drop too much compare to how much the movers moved.

Top ten

It is quite encouraging to see how things have changed in the last 30 days, in the top-ten last month we had 60% of the sites from the news sub-sector, but things have changed slightly this month. Gtbplc.com made the top-ten after a long spell off the circle, spending the last five months wandering up and down the table.

As usual, nairaland.com remains the no. 1 site in Nigeria but this time around followed by vanguardngr.com which replaces sunnewsonline.com that now stands on the 4^th spot. nigeriagalleria.com arrived on the top five last month and now stamping its authority by moving 2 places to the 3^rd spot, its first time ever on this spot. ngrguardiannews.com dropped a point to stand on the 5^th spot.

naijahotjobs.com failed to lift a leg from last month’s spot remaining on the 6^th spot, what’s happening to the top job hunting forum? thisdayonline.com, 234next.com both remained on the same spot they were last month, this shows steady but no increasing site hits for these two sites.

Gtbplc.com is one of our top mover for this month, climbing 18 spots to the 9^th spot as nigerianbestforum.com stands on the 10^th spot with 3 places move up the table.

Top twenty

There is no much upset from this list as most of the sites here last month also made the list excerpt for goodlife.com.ng that dropped from the top-ten to 11^th place. punchng.com continued its journey downward by dropping yet another 2 points to now stand on the 13^th spot. tribune.com.ng and nairalist.com dropped 5 places to stand on the 14^th and 19^th spots respectively as Saharareporters.com sealed the 20^th spot.

Top Thirty

Naijaecash.com is leading on the 21^st spot having gained 5 places, followed by Naijaloft.com which moved a whopping 21 places to stamp its presence on our list, currently stands on the 22 spot. Thepmnews.com retains the 30^th spot for the second time in a row as Informationnigeria.org moved 19 places to stay on the 29^th spot. Thenationonlineng.net , osundefender.org are the last newspaper websites; maintaining 25^th, 26^th and 27^th spots respectively. They seem to be the least traffic news website in Nigeria. And finally, nigeriamasterweb.com dropped 7 places to stay on 28^th spot.

Top Forty

This section has 3 debutants (internetmarketingnigeria.com, nigerianbulletin.com , smartbuyng.com) on our ranking table. It also features two Nigerian social networking sites; naijapals.com and 9jabook.com. Cscsnigerialtd.com is now at 31^st followed by arikair.com on the 32^nd. Unilorin.edu.ng (I was with the Tech guys at Unilorin earlier in the week, this is massive students registration going on, which pumped the ranking up) also made the list, standing on the 34^th spot. smartbuyng.com (36^th place) has witnessed a significant growth and displacing a top ecommerce site, buyright.biz.

Top Fifty

This list contains 2 telecoms companies’ sites, 2 banks and the central bank.  A debutant (smsdam.com 41 spot) tops the list, followed by zain.com which dropped a place. Firstbanknigeria.com, intercontinentalbankplc.com and cenbank.org maintain 43^rd, 44^th and 45^th spots respectively.

Buyright.biz has witnessed a downward trend in recent months and now stands at the 46^th spot. Etisalat.com.ng have been enjoying good reception since they started business in Nigeria in 2008, and with their recent product launch, they are surely making waves.

Nigerian sites are gaining momentum, as more sites are beginning to challenge the dominant news websites for attention more site are also being launched. This trend is expected grow bigger next year.

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Kayode Muyibi, one Nigeria’s top internet personalities (Profiled Webtrendsng.com) has launched a Job aggregator portal (first of its kind in Nigeria) with the aim of bring all Nigerian jobs in a single portal to help job seekers search for jobs easily.

In its own word nairajobs.com “…is a Nigerian job and career search engine that aggregates jobs for Nigerians be it overseas or in Nigeria. These jobs are gathered from various sources across the internet. This is an initiative to create a one stop station for all jobs that is related to Nigeria for Nigerians and friends of Nigeria.”

A New Deal

(Innovative or copy cat? Let’s see!)

Well so many Job search sites have emerged in Nigeria of the years, with a recent addition of Jobberman.com, who could link this with job hunting in the country and also to the emergence of a niche worth exploration (Online Job search).

Nairajobs.com says it doesn’t want to lift content but link to various sites with the actual information. I will simply call it a “Data collector site”. First of its kind in Nigeria and, with good value to the end users who are always searching for jobs. While some have taken job search as a full time job, I think it is high time for them to resign now so they can use flexible means provided by Nairajobs.com to search and keep track of jobs.

Nairajobs.com allows anyone to link to jobs from any site then keep those who have registered for an alert informed about the jobs. The alerts come in form of email but SMS alert is expected soon. To further encourage people to post link, a model has also be built around job link with a virtual credit of 5 Naira per link. Well I will say this in itself is a job (lolz) but I must appreciate this strategy.

The Real Deal

(These are some of the good side to this site, value expected.)

• The real deal here I must say is the creation of a battle ground for the crowded job search sub-industry. This I believe will make other sites to link their job posting to nairajobs.com so as to increase their hits.
• Segmentation and alert: You can get alert base on your selected industry, state and latest job posting, this is a good deal.
• SMS Alert: if implemented, I think this will also save the consumer time and money to only come online when there is a relevant listing, this, looking at the way most people (job searchers) come online in Nigeria (via Cyber Café) , I can simply say, keep the money, buy a ticket ONLY when you have a related alert.
• Cash reward for job linking; yea this is cool! You don’t only link to jobs for free but get rewarded, this is cool!

Downside/Challenges

Like I suggested to Kazey on Facebook, I think there need to be a Nigerian touch on the site, it is currently a mix of red and blue, He should look at localization in terms of colour mix. A green feel will make it more Nigerian looking at the URL (Nairajobs.com which makes use of Naira).

This is a good product and a good awareness will surely drive it. A strategic alliance could also be worked out with the job portals around to further make the users get value more.

Business Model

Having enumerated value for the consumers, I sure believe this service needs to get to more people hence the need for a sustainable business model (you gotta make money man!). I suspect a future advertisement for job listing from various vendors and also premium alerts (mostly via SMS).

Great Product!

Have you been to the site? What are the potentials you can see from this site?

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