African Fashion and Photography Blog

I have stumbled upon an Afrocentric fashion and photography blog that is truly iconic that i wish to share with my readership.For quite some time now ,i have been highlighting the absence of good Kenyan fashion blogs but it seems i have been looking in the wrong direction.There's a personal blog written by an alias "Warm Spirit" at makosewe.blogspot that features quality delightful African fashion ,African model shoots etc.

I hope more such quality blogs sprout up so that we can have more Kenyan presence out there in the online fashion world .For today the makosewe blog scores an A+ for Kenyan fashion and photography at this blog!

Here is a screen shot :

And wonderful photos from the site:

The 2009 Black Weblog Awards

The nomination period for the 2009 Black Weblog Awards is now officially on. According to the Black Weblog website : the nomination period is open from June 20 – July 25, 2009 whereupon blog owners can submit their sites for the awards in 31 categories as follows:

• Aaron Hawkins Award
• Best Blog Design
• Best Business Blog
• Best Culture Blog
• Best Faith-Based Blog
• Best Food Blog
• Best Gossip Blog
• Best Group Blog
• Best Health & Wellness Blog
• Best Hip Hop Group
• Best Humor Blog
• Best International Blog
• Best LGBT blog
• Best Micro blog(Twitter profiles)
• Best Music Blog
• Best New Blog
• Best Parenting and Family Blog
• Best Personal Blog
• Best Photo Blog
• Best Podcast
• Best Political/News Blog
• Best Sex & Relationships Blog
• Best Science & Technology Blog
• Best Sports & Recreation Blog
• Best Style & Fashion
• Best Teen Blog
• Best Writing in a Blog
• Blog of the Year
• Blog to Watch
  

The Black Weblog Awards has been in existence for the last four years and seeks to reward and recognize exceptional black blogger's both in America and the Diaspora who have excelled in their online blogging activities and who may have remained unrecognized in mainstream blogging.The site boasts participants from over 90 Countries and steadily rising to be one of the Black fraternity's most prestigious online activity event and awards !

To nominate your site please visit:http://bit.ly/14U8Jk

Microsoft Bing Webmaster Center

For webmaster resource tools the New Microsoft Bing Webmaster Center sets the pace with an easy interface,http verifier tool(to enable you identify broken links), robot text validator,site analytics, keyword research and optimization.

If you are a webmaster and want to improve your page ranking or make your page search engine crawler friendly Bing.Com is just the site for you at no cost.There is also Bing community whereby users share tips and techniques on improving their website.In sum total , the site is a must join for all website owners and webmasters.

To make use of the tools all you need is an MSN, Hotmail,or Windows Live I.D .You can submit your site URL for listing in a very simple procedure at the site .So if you are new or old at blogging please visit the site and be upgraded!

Sponsored Conversations

China Confidential Blog !

There are interesting blogs on the worldwide blogosphere with quite totally different perspectives. I just bumped on one dubbed"China Confidential" written in the United States. The blog refers to the American President Barrack Obama as 'apologizer in Chief'...i find that simply hilarious.You should check out the blog for an interesting but satirical read!

A Nairobian Perspective-Premier Blog for Reality Tv

As an African Blogger im quite happy with the success of this blog,It takes a lot of effort for one to be a successful blogger,to have good page rank and to have tons and tons of traffic especially here in Africa.

For now im quite pleased that this happens to be the premier blog for many readers in Africa particurlarly for three reality tv series:

1. Tusker Project Fame -2
2. Idols East and Central Affrica
3. The Apprentic Africa(Nigeria)

The traffic is quite impressive and i would like to thank the readers and encourage them to comment and vent out there opinions.Since the post is being read extensively whatever you writee goes out there! Now that is what i call succesful blogging!

Kenya Blog Awards 2008

There are many notable Kenyan bloggers out there addressing serious issues and churning out useful information that is shaping the face and future of Kenya.However little attention is being paid towards rewarding and recognizing their efforts!

That is the subject of this thread and i hope the corporate industry especially the media fraternity will take the cue from the suggestions herein. The first and only time Kenyan bloggers were recognized and awarded for their efforts was in 2006 under the initiative of kenyaunlimited .The awards featured such categories as most innovative,creative and inspirational blog,best political, most humorous,best new blog,best blog not written in English,most interactive blogger,achievement award(for blogs started before 2005)outstanding membership to the kenyaunlimited blog aggregator website etc.The 2006 kaybee awards seem to have been the first and last thereafter little activity has been undertaken to recognize Kenyan bloggers.



The Kenyan blogosphere is rapidly developing and the bloggers are becoming more ingenious as is the case of blogs such as Mama Mikes,mentalacrobatics, jikomboe ,kumekucha...etc.

Many of us are indebted to the marsgroupkenya especially in its fight against corruption and whistle blowing yet it is sad to see that such efforts are hardly being recognized perhaps because there is no unity or unifying forum for Kenyan bloggers.The best efforts seems to be the Barcamps Kenya which are not limited to the blogosphere as an alternative medium for information and communication.I indeed invite Kenyan bloggers to a venture to recognize Kenyan blogs and i hope the media fraternity will support this initiative!I believe strongly the failure of what would be an annual event the kaybee awards was due to lack of support, a committed and resourceful secretariat,exposure and sponsorship.But that should not necessarily be the end of blog recognition in Kenya while the rest of the world prospers!


I am pleasantly informed to note that the journalistic group Reporters sans frontie`rs have an annual blog awards link here and recognize blogs defending freedom of expression which for the most part have been blogs in the Arab ,Asian and some few African (Egypt and Morocco)countries.Kenyan bloggers you need to arise don't read this blog and shelve the idea kindly contact me we begin something for posterity!

The South African 2008 blog awards are around the corner from 11 to 14 March 2008 .There is much we can borrow a leaf from them !Among the new categories include recognizing the best music blog,best sports blog,best website promoting blog,most controversial blog,best undiscovered blog,best podcast, best travel blog,best photographic blog(we produced Mohamed Amin of Camerapix we can do more!)best cookery blog .Participants and corporate well wishers are invited to contribute in kind towards the awards.The robust South African IT industry supports the events in a wholesome way donating laptops, computers,software ,money etc towards this event.The net effect is that blogging standards, innovation and blog quality in South Africa is rapidly developing and attracting a lot of investment from foreign markets.Same goes for the Nigerian blogosphere which is robust but slowly rising !

I am yet to see a Kenyan fashion blog yet blogging may just be the easiest way for our local fashion designers such as Anne Mc Reath of kikoromeo(fortunate enough to have a website),African Heritage,House of Brides(of Susan Omino),Betty Vanneti of The Wild Ones Creations,Sue Muraya,Rosemary Manyalla of Roma Designs, etc and those who are little known to showcase their works of art to the international fashion industry.A blog is basically a website that allows a user to post information whenever and wherever with little knowledge of web design,programming and development.

Kenyan bloggers should therefore take the cue.This should not be a mere part time activity or a forum for venting but should offer other significant opportunities.The nomination process should be fair and just since corruption seems to be a perennial problem in Kenya! The Kenyan corporate industry especially Google Kenya,Dell Computers,Microsoft East Africa, Wanainchi online,Safaricom,Celtel(K)Limited,Lowe Scanad.. etc should come out and support the Kenyan blog industry.

Blogging for Peace!

It is nice to see that quite a number of Kenyan Bloggers out there are appreciating the gravity of the problem before us and rather than forment hatred they are crying out for peace.Your efforts are to be applauded!Thi noble endeavour has caught the attention of the international media e.g The Daily Telegraph but the question remains ,what about us Kenyans ,are we heeding the call to maintain and seek Peace? With fresh violence erupting in Naivasha,Kisumu,Nakuru etc ,I hardly think so.The challenge for Kenyan bloggers is to write posts advocating for Peace ,their contribution may go along way in healing the nation that is now very polarised!

Notable among these bloggers is Harry Karanja who has set up a blog entitled ,amanikenya calling out to Kenyans to now try peace,while indeed a majority of the bloggers are pressing for Justice so that peace prevail, it is noteworthy that the hostilities must cease to pave way for investigations that may give room for justice.The events in Nakuru and Naivasha are depressing and worrisome.We have deviated from normalcy and morality and are now resorting to primitive violence to try solve problems that cannot be solved by arms!


I verily invite more bloggers to unite in voicing a unanimous call for Peace !The friends of Kenya Organization have a post inviting all Kenyan bloggers to list their posts calling for peace at friendsofkenya.org .That is a noble venture.I hope all Kenyan bloggers will take up this venture.Infact i propose that a Kenya Peace Blog carnival be immediately commenced to attract us to the very things that unite us rather than those that divide us!There is no need to ruin the Country famed for the saying "HAKUNA MATATA"(espoused in he Lion King Movies) meaning there is no problem!

What is further aggravating the problem is the denial by those in resonsibility about the extent and magnitude of the strife that is being experienced in Kenya.The Police are giving far lower figures for the death toll than the civil society and the media.Well its not in Kenya's interest to argue about the number of dead ,what's more important is to recognise that lives are being lost by the minute and that the leaders must seek a solution- fast before the violence reaches uncontrolable level !No matter which tribe or nationality ,each life lost is an indictment to us all! May we shun tribalism and all its proponents and embrace peace for the posterity of us and our future generations!

Make Big Money Through Affiliate Marketing !

Each day millions of blogs are churned in the internet and it is becoming increasingly attractive for many publishers to make their blog earn money !The critical challenge is to build up a critical mass of subscribers and make one's blog stand out so as to enable one earn money especially in Africa, Asian and Arabic Countries! The feat is achievable but one needs to take cognizance of the following:

There is no magic wand to enable one immediately get massive traffic save for

1. Publishing interesting and captivating content


2. Being specific and consistent on what you write


3. Time and effort


4. Minding one's language and dicta


5. Let your blog be visually appealing

The above are just but suggestions (i wouldn't want to reprint the massive suggestions on 'how to' prevalent on the net but you can try johnchow.com for something sensible) not a panacea to getting more traffic .Another Key to succesful monetizing depends on the marketing affiliate/advertising programs one joins.I have found bidvertiser
weblink here to be one of those affiliate programs that is true to its word and realistic in achieving substantial PPC (pay per click)payments .Google adsense and adwords rarely deliver but are a must for a serious blogger as alternative fund generating sources.For the Kenyan bloggers and African bloggers out there intent on monetizing their websites(be it South African Rands,Kwachas,Shillings,Birr,etc) you certainly ought to give BidVertiser a try!and yer ...write blog content thats captivating and really worth it!