Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

Short answer: It depends. But in this article, I challenge Nigerians/Africans to do LESS copying and MORE creating of original content online, for use by others. For years, I’ve sold my own creative digital content to buyers in and out of Africa. (E.g my Ration Formulator, Poultry Farm Manager, Payslip Generator, and PDF Information products like my popular Feed Formulation Handbook).

I’m Not Alone: Many Others Do Even Better. But Our Numbers Remain Too Few!

This is the painful truth.

Creating original digital content (for possible sale) requires little or no capital investment. If you can think originally, and creatively implement ideas that come to you, your chances of hitting on a profitable niche product or service are high.

Sadly, too many Africans remain seduced by the easier option of “parroting” creative content originating from developed societies.

It’s so bad now, that journalists in our part of the world rarely do independent investigation/research of news stories today.

They simply wait for foreign media to publish, and they basically copy and paste to their own platforms.

Today, Nigerians/Africans make use of various web-based resources like Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, EzineArticles.com, Youtube.com – the list is endless.

Virtually all of these tools cost no money to access. Not surprisingly, numerous Nigerians/Africans find such places most attractive to be online! “Who no like better thing?” as we say in Nigeria. Everyone loves freebies, and there really is nothing bad about that.

But here’s my grouse: In contrast to our situation, Asians, Americans, Europeans…even South Africans have found a way to create THEIR OWN value adding systems online for the rest of the world to use (often times for a fee).

Examples include the home based highly skilled software/web developing young Indian; the European/American offering a variety of products for sale online, and the South African providing after hours office phone support service for foreign companies.

In contrast, what we (in Nigeria/Africa) seem extremely good at is rapid adoption of the latest creative content on the web.

Our presence on Facebook and Yahoo! alone is intimidating to say the least. Yet most of what we use them for are NOT value adding in any way!

I ask: Why can’t we introduce some creative concept or resource of our own online, to be adopted and massively used by the rest of the world?

For instance, if you are a consultant or specialist in engineering, you can choose to include Google adverts for visitors to your site to click – making you some money.

But, you could do even better by developing YOUR OWN branded content – publications/services etc – that visitors can be invited to purchase from you over time. 

For instance, you could diligently add useful, relevant content to the site, to:

(a) attract new and repeat visitors

(b) boost their perception of you as a competent/credible specialist in your chosen field

(c) convince them to eventually purchase your information (packaged in various forms) or your services (e.g. consulting you or even inviting you to speak, work etc with them).

Every now and then I hear some chap announce the impressive earnings from his Google Ad words or other money earning scheme available on the web.

Quite often, I cannot help but wonder if he (and other Nigerians/Africans like him) realize they can develop their own original money spinning concepts to be deployed online for OTHERS across the world to use, make money from and share with others!

Why Most Nigerians Still Do NOT Offer Useful ORIGINAL Content On The Web

The big problem we have is that we do not like THINKING.

And that (i.e. thinking) is a crucial part of the creative process needed to develop original concepts.

Another thing we do not like is NURTURING the products of our thoughts into maturity.

We lack that aspect of emotional intelligence, which makes a person give up temporary comfort in pursuit of a valued goal.

Delayed gratification for most Nigerians is something to be avoided at all costs.

Anything we engage in must yield immediate benefit/returns – else we’ll discontinue it as quickly as possible.

But successful living requires more than that.

Back in 1998, I recall stumbling across a personal domain name service called “Namezero.com”, whose American owners chose to startup by offering EVERYTHING FREE for the first two years.

You got a free domain name (mine was tksola.com), with all the bells and whistles – a personal webmail account with massive storage space at you domain; plus domain URL forwarding and many other powerful features.

They were new on the net, and they wanted to WIN OVER huge numbers of potential customers by PROVING they were reliable and competent. 

I signed up, like many other people on the web, and enjoyed a wonderful quality of service from these chaps for those two years.

In 2000 they announced to us via email that retaining our accounts with them would require us to make payment. By then most of us had had enough time to evaluate what they had to offer, and were convinced enough to pay to KEEP what we had with them.

I took up their wonderful bundled purchase offer, and paid for two years, making great savings. 

My point is – those guys chose to offer something that already existed, in a NEW way, that added value to their target audience.

They believed in their idea enough to offer it FREE, and SERVE their potential customers for long enough to win them over as paying customers.

And they gained valuable experience providing their services to potential customers, addressing issues they raised, until the service became valuable enough to be offered at a competitive price.

How Nigerians/Africans Can Begin To Offer Useful ORIGINAL Content On The Web

We can invest time, intellect and energy into developing our own original variants of money-spinning web based solutions.

These would be targeted at the Nigerian/African population, but designed in a way that the rest of the world would still find them attractive enough to buy into.

We could start by writing our own e-books – instead of ONLY buying and selling those sold by others.

Then there are the membership websites offering useful information to a niche market. And there are countless other ways we can use the net to win over people from beyond our shores – using the net.

NB: I have already noted that some Nigerians/Africans already offer solutions like those mentioned. But the numbers are just too few compared to our potential!

Do you recall what used to be the case in the music industry here in Nigeria?

Back in the ’80s it was difficult to hold a party playing ONLY Nigerian music. Today, we all know our industry practitioners have continued to succeed in creating new music that is increasingly marketable to an international audience.

We can do the same with our Internet based resources by offering more original content that others will be willing to BUY from us. And the benefits – financially and socio-economically – will be tangibly felt in our societies.

By then, just like people no longer discourage their kids from going into music, we will find that more Nigerian parents will stop frowning at their kids spending long hours on the net or the PC.

Indeed, many Yahoo! boys (and those aspiring) are likely to “switch” over to more positive roles, bringing their unique skills to bear in the evolution of a new and legitimate way of earning online income.

Speaking of Yahoo! boys and their online scam activities…

Those of us who depend on income earned via adverts and affiliate programs (e.g. Google ad words) originating from developed societies MUST keep the following in mind:

If those in charge of those programs acted like Yahoo! boys, most cheque payments for their Nigerian participants would NEVER arrive!

And they would not be able to brag about making dollars online! This is why Nigerians starting ventures like I propose must be honest in their dealings.

But is it NOT a FACT that most of these foreign internet money making websites actively discourage use by Nigerians?

Paypal is a good example. Until recently, Nigerians could not even make legitimate use of that platform, to transact business online. And even now, with the recent entry into the Nigerian market, Paypal only allows Nigerians to send money. Receiving payments via Paypal remains a NO – NO for us!

The truth is however that, even before Paypal chose to let us in, many of our online money making Gurus in Nigeria have been using “IP hiding” software to register for and use Paypal!

Does that not imply some degree of “dishonesty” on their part? 

Of course it does!

See what I’m getting at now?

We are forcing our way into other people’s money making systems, even as they work hard to keep us out.

That’s why most of our Gurus here cannot rub shoulders with their colleagues from developed societies without fear of being found out. 

Would it not be better if we started our own online money making systems?

Would it not be better to do that even as we use payment systems that allow us generate income via online transactions among ourselves, and from outsiders?

After all, many of us today use ATM/Debit cards that enable online purchases/transactions.

Does that not make PLENTY of good sense?

Would it not benefit us MORE?

And isn’t that something we would all be proud to show to the rest of the world?

I say YES to all 3 questions. And that’s why many years ago, I stopped trying to get Google ads to work on my website.

I am a performance enhancement specialist. I sell my knowledge and expertise to a niche market – which does NOT include every person online!

So, why should I depend on Google Ads (alone) to make money online?

Should my website not be about me and what I can do to benefit those who need me/my services?

Yes, of course it should – and so should yours! 

Visit www.briantracy.com or go to www.burtdubin.com. You will find that they all focus on offering their own content for sale to their visitors. These are individuals like you and I, who chose to “sell their own unique brands”.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m NOT saying it’s a crime to have Ads on your website…

In truth, there are circumstances under which I may be willing to incorporate ads on my own website. Especially if they are reliably sensitive to the “context” of my website content(but that’s NOT easy to get!).

However, if you REALLY have – and know – your stuff, I honestly believe it makes a LOT MORE SENSE to offer (via adverts and other promotional strategies) your own products and services for your target audience to buy from you. 

Indeed, you will be able to make significantly greater earning margins from sales of your own products than you would from sales of other people.

And that would be in addition to cementing your credibility as an expert in your field in the eye of your potential clients/customers. 

To me, that makes bucket loads of SENSE!

What do YOU think?.

PS: This article is based on excerpts from an original piece published on 1st February 2010, by Tayo K. Solagbade – on www.spontaneousdevelopment.com