Infinix Mobile sponsors 2015 Kenyan Blog Awards

Nairobi, April 22, 2015: The 2015 Kenyan Blog Awards got another sponsor; Infinix mobile who launched different makes of their phones in the Kenyan market last year to a good reception from the consumers. Aided by intelligent marketing, the company is fast making a name due to their friendly prices for high performing phones. You can get a high end Infinix phone for less than half the cost of competitor brands.

In a statement regarding the sponsorship, here is what the Infinix Marketing Director Mr. Peter Zhou had to say. “We are happy to be the sponsor for the BAKE Kenyan blog awards this year to let more people involved in the exploration of the trend of technology and fashion. We believe BAKE will promote quality content creation with more blogs involved in the future, and we believe “The future is NOW.”

As more people turn to online reviews before they can make a purchasing decision, bloggers are fast becoming a source of unbiased criticism that helps consumers to make choices. Everyone wants advice from someone who has used and tested a product and that way they are almost certain of what step to take.

The mobile phone is one of the fastest growing social tools we use today. With bloggers taking center stage in the awards, this is a massive opportunity for Infinix to showcase their products and show that it has what it takes to be a market changer in the mobile phone market.

Apart from bloggers, the mobile phone market has also had a huge impact on application developers who have used this platform to generate income. The Kenyan youth have realized this opportunity and have been developing a lot of mobile applications, particularly in android enabled phones like Infinix.

We sincerely appreciate Infinix for being one of the sponsors in this year’s Kenyan Blog Awards and we hope that this partnership will go a long way in helping to promote online content creation.

You can help promote Online Content creation by simply voting for your favorite blogs.

Best African Blog at The World Media Awards

I am  happy to announce that this blog has just been voted as the "Best African Blog" in the World Media Awards website on Saturday 25 February 2012.This especially so due to the post on Nairobi Nights featuring a Kenyan Prostitute that was recently featured on Al Jazeera and other international media outlets.

Among other blog that's won awards at the World Media Awards include:

• Live Tricks- Best Blog Design
• Jason Keaths "Social Fresh" -Best Social Media Blog
• Marie Forleo-BestVideo Blogger
• Allyssa Milano-Best Celebrity Blogger
• Ken Davenport 'The Producers Perspective'-Best Entertainment Blog
• Brian Solis-Best Guest Blogger
• Wonkette-Best Political Blog
• Shangaiist- Best Asian Blog

 It is quite an honor to be reckoned among the Worlds Greatest bloggers by a panel of Jurists from different Countries and this just goes to indicate that the African blogosphere has matured and is a source of credible, informative ,inspiring ,captivating, resourceful ,entertaining ,and newsworthy content! I count the recognition not only as a win and an honour to this blog but to all the creative African bloggers out there and their readership.Continue informing,engaging and influencing your online readership.Thank you all for keeping it locked on this blog!

The Internet Blogger's Awards !

Why YOU Must Participate: The Internet Blogger's Awards(2011)
 (guest post by  "Murray Newlands")



One can find numerous remarkable bloggers and publishers doing excellent work, and those who stand out deserve to have their hard work recognized, relate with each other, and see their readerships grow. That’s why the World Media Awards exist- to recognize and reward great contributions to media from bloggers and publishers.

In my own career, I’ve learned and benefited so much from others that I wanted to help establish some way to give back to an industry I love show appreciation to the up-and-coming leaders. The World Media Awards will culminate in a 1 day event in San Francisco that will celebrate the best in blogging, forums, publishing and media from around the world.

So if you are a first class blogger, why should you enter?
   
1. Get Recognized- You Deserve It

 You put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into making your blog incredible. You understand it and your readers know it. The World Media Awards is a way for you to get authoritative recognition from other bloggers and industry experts. That recognition will help you increase your readership, make fresh collaborative connections, and hopefully have great moments that make all the late nights even more rewarding.
  
2. Meet Other Bloggers Who Care

 Blogging, forums and most other online media is about conversation and interaction, but sometimes it’s easy to end up pecking away behind a screen in your office or home all alone. Meeting other bloggers and publishers keeps the fire lit and the conversation going. When you enter the World Media Awards, you’ll be listed alongside other bloggers and publishers who put the same level of satisfaction, attention and work into making their blog great.
  3. Expose Yourself to New Partners

 If your blog or forum is part of your business, being part of the World Media Awards will increase your exposure by putting your name in front of countless visitors to our site and the award ceremony. That means you can find out who else is doing very good work, strut your own stuff, and expand your network of contacts and collaborators.
  
4. Make Yourself Irresistible to Clients

What helps your chances at winning that next pitch more than extending your network? Telling that network that you just won a World Media Award. Winning an award shines a light on your achievements, and it serves as an example of the commitment, engagement and exacting standards you apply to your work.
   
5. Be Part of the Beginning of Something Big

 Because 2012 is the first year for these awards, you have the one-time benefit to be the inaugural winner and set the standard for the World Media Awards in your category. Getting in on the ground floor of these awards will open doors for you as a blogger and a publisher.

The bottom line is, the World Media Awards will shine a spotlight on the year’s most prosperous bloggers and publishers, and on the businesses and companies that serve and interact with them.

Now is your chance to be one of them.

The sponsors include Growmap, Pace Lattin, VigLink and Trancos.
World Media Award judges include Steve Hall, Sarah Austin, Chang Kim, Julie Wohlberg, Pierre Zarokian, Ivka Adam, Cheryl Contee, Krystyl Baldwin, Adrian Harris, Jeremy Wright, Rob Bloggeries, Dave Duarte, Tanya Alvarez, Dana Oshiro, Tom Foremski, and Judith Lewis. hashtag #wmads on Twitter.
Web Traffic Control and FeedBlitz
My Blog Guest,Murray Newlands is author of How to Make a Blog Book and Online Marketing; a User Guide. He is also founder of the Affiliate Marketing Awards. Born in the UK, he now spends his time in San Francisco and New York. Murray works for Audience Mindshare and consults for Trancos Ins as well as being an advisor for VigLink. Actually he is working on his new book: The Email Marketing Book.

The BOBs Deutsche Welle Blog Awards Winners 2011

Deutsche Welle have just announced the 2011 Best of the Blogs(BOB' s) Awards at their website. Among the Jury Award winners from the African Continent  is the African Blog dubbed "A Tunisian Girl" published by Lina Ben Mhenni a professor at the University of Tunis.In Social Activism a Facebook Page dubbed "We are Khaled Said" created in honor of a young Egyptian man named Khaled Saeed carried the day.Khaled was killed by Egyptian police in unclear circumstances in June 2010 sparking the January 25 revolution in Egypt that saw the ousting of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

This year's Bob Awards saw 90,808 votes cast .Its good to see two items from Africa feature among the notable award winners !Last year the Kenyan site Ushahidi was voted the best Weblog .Congrats to all the new winners.

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

Kelele-African Bloggers Conference Website

Its nice to see some of the ingenious Kenyan bloggers and web aps developers organize for an Annual African Bloggers Conference that will basically be owned and run by African bloggers.The first African bloggers conference as can be seen from the banner will be held next year August 13 to 16, 2009.Kelele is an initiative being spearheaded by Kenyans(among other African bloggers and Citizen Journalists) but poised to have a wider African appeal as the conference will be hosted by different African cities on an annual basis.

The idea is noble but when it comes to sponsorship .....there is often a big let down from indeginous African Companies.From practice i have witnessed that mainly foreign companies host or sponsor this events with little input from the locals.I hope this time..it will be different! The corpoartes need to embrance the power of the internet as a powerful medium for communicating vital information.

The Kelele website is live and running at http://www.kelele.org .The concept behind Kelele is captured by the following words at the website:

Kelele is the Kiswahili word for noise. We are organising a gathering of African bloggers in the tradition of historical African societies where everyone has a voice. With too many voices marginalised or simply ignored in Africa society today for a variety of reasons we believe that the internet in general and grassroots media tools such as blogs in particular represent the most powerful way in which to give Africans back their voice. We are gathering to make a powerful, positive, inspirational noise that will be heard across the continent and beyond. KELELE!

May this noble idea reach ultimate fruitition...thanks to the Kelele team.

Deutsche Welle Bob Awards 2008

This site has been submitted and nominated for the Deutsche Welle 2008 (Best of The Blogs)Bob's Awards.Bob Awards are the Worlds largest international awards for Weblogs, podcasts and videoblogs. Since its inception four years ago, the BOBs have grown to include 11 languages and 16 Categories . The winners of each year’s awards are decided by both an international jury of bloggers and through online voting.

If you have been benefited by this blog (example the Paypal Africa Campaign)and would like to vote for it.Please go to the following link:

http://www.thebobs.com/index.php?w=1216805507639294KLJBOCEO

Africa please vote for your own! There are just 27 days of voting left,Deadline September 30th 2008 so please vote!I i will highly appreciate dear readers!

VOTE!VOTE!VOTE NOW!

Extreme Blog Makeover at Izeafest

Does your blog need an extreme makeover!are you still on the traditional pyra labs-blogger themes of the late 1990's or some old wordpress template and feel its time to shape up your blog with the latest designer templates yet you have no iota bit of knowledge of html, xml ,css and other programing languages out there !Need no worry our friends at IZEA Fest have decided to hold an extreme makeover contest!The 3 Winners will their blogs re- designed by re knowned blog experts Matt Blancarte, Scott Allen and Christopher Schmitt, ONLY CATCH ,you must be attending and be registered for the IZEAFEST conference in Orlando ,Florida from 11 to 13 th September, 2008


Personally im playing around with some tempaltes so as to upgrade this blog, one thing i have come to notice that some of the new blogger templates out there are actually SEO optimized and help improve one's Google ranking.I recently came acrross a scroll over blogspot website with a lot of javascript(payperpost, Social sparks and other sponsored programes) but only to be shocked that it had a pagerank of 6 and had only been in existence for five months.Apart from that my content beats it thumbs down, thats why i loathe google's algorithm, it doesnt lay down a level playing field.After i pulled down payperpost and other javascript adverts from my blog, this website has now a pagerank of zero !despite the readership and authoritative backlinks! So i am forced to soon discard this misty look template for a more optimized blog template that i will have generated, perhaps sometime i can award my faithful readers free optimized blogger templates!Its just so interesting the things i have learned through blogging!

Around The Blogosphere:Blog Idols

It's interesting the stuff that goes around the blogosphere.Now that the East and Southern Africa Idols music competition is over with Zimbabwean Eric Moyo having won the competition on 28th July, 2008 at the Bomas of Kenya something new needs to come up and capture your attention...blog idols may just be it if if you maintain a blog.

Surprising the blogging idols competition has been ongoing and is in its third week as we speak!How we know little but thanks

The Competition:

The competition aims at getting the best of the best bloggers around the world and all bloggers are eligible provided that they sign up to Feedburner .The competition focuses on getting the most number of new subcribers for ones blog within a particular period.When one enrolls the number of subcribers for the blog is indexed then the challenge of getting new subscribers to one's content begins.The blog with the most subscribers carries away the grand prize of $3000, or an equivalent of Kenya shillings 189,000/=

The Rules for the BlogIdols Competition are:

1. All participants must activate the Feedburner feed count at the beginning of the competition.
2. Participants will need to send a short email weekly (100-200 words), describing their strategies to gain RSS subscribes, and what they are doing on their blogs.
3. The emails will be published on a weekly basis at http://www.dailyblogtips.com so that readers can follow and understand how participants are competing.
4. Blackhat methods will not be allowed, so bloggers can’t fake stats, try to damage the blog of competitors and so on.
5. Paid promotion will not be allowed, else it would become a “who can spend more” contest.
6. If you have a blog with over 1000 RSS subscribers and will create a brand new one for the competition, you can’t use your established blog to promote the new one
7. All other strategies and techniques are allowed (guest articles, contests, give-aways, controversial articles, free eBooks), so you are free to get creative

Well thats quite a competition and requires quite some amount of strategy, i just wish they had a special category for African blogs, alternatively we can borrow a cue and start our own competition! Any willing sponsors for Afria's blogging Idols Competition?????

Blogging 101-Tips and Tricks For Kenyan Bloggers

I am moved by necessity to write this post more or less because ,after Nairobi barcamp 2008 ,it became openly apparent that most of Kenya's over 700 bloggers are "blogging blind".A term i have coined to denote blogging without any technical know how or basic information on what blogging entails.Indeed due to this is suggested that an exclusive Kenyan bloggercon be organized.I bet it would be the first one in Africa.

There are various issues that few bloggers tend to recognize such as:

1. The importance of Google/Alexa page rank and how to improve it!
2. What content to capture!
3. Plagiarism and or duplication of published material
4. Search Engine Optimization/website optimization(Peperuka has a post and tips on it though there is one myth therein that you loose page rank each time you give out a link thats a fallacy!)
   
5. Keyword Density
6. Link building and Link Baiting
7. Basic HTML and how to insert metadata
8. Which blogging platforms to utilize i.e word press or blogger or typepad etc
9. Blog Aggregation/blogging tools, pagerank checkers!
   
10. Syndicating content
11. Monetization of blogs(Google Adsense or Adwords are not enough, a dollar a month may not be worth it!)
    
12. Legal Liability, "fair use" policy and Defamatory content
    

Its due to these issues that i have put some links above but since the above issues are lengthy once again i will take upon myself the task of regularly updating my readers on this issues especially with respect to the legal bits(there you have it free legal advice) .I'm sure non of the bloggers would like to find themselves facing hefty legal charges and fines for defamatory articles, one can even get arrested or the blog removed from blogger or other platforms!Keep tuned to these blog.Interestingly next month i will have accumulated nine years of experience as a blogger,my first blog being a personal/private one!

Blogskinny -Blog Aggregator

I,ve always taken upon myself the duty of informing my African readers and bloggers on the latest and most effective blog aggregators that they can use to generate traffic for their website!Today i focus on blog skinny(this information is also useful for non- African bloggers).

A look around the African blogosphere today indicates that most bloggers rely on Google's Ad sense & Ad Words to generate revenue.I would verily say this is a long shot
since there are not so many Africans out there who have access to the internet or who are willing to purchase stuff online.I know for certain mostAfrican Bloggers earn probably less than a dollar each month from Google which is not worth it!With low traffic then ad sense is not so readily advisable for African users.At the same time our Big Corporates companies are yet to embrace online advertisement.At best only in the south African blog market does one have a chance of succesfully,monetizing and achieving rewards from monetizing their blogs.But that does not need to be the mainstay of the African blogosphere and for African Bloggers.Today i would like to recommend blog skinny which is a site that does not only get you more traffic but using your rss feed publishes your content.Further they offer you advice on how to monetize your blog .They are definately true to the banner here below.They make your computer do work for you

Hence my appeal for African bloggers whether they are from Kenya ,Ghana, Egypt,Algeria,SudanZimbabwe,Uganda,Tanzania, Morroco,Nigeria,Ziare,Sierra Leone,Gabon,Namibia(there are quite some best quality blogs there that need recognition and awards just that lets not just blog about politics,our leaders, or even ourselves only.Africa is rich in content and diversity)or any other Country out there.Your blog cannot only be a source of deep satisfaction but can also generate money.Stay tuned to this blog for interesting reviews, news on blog directories,aggregators,African blog awards etc.I am sincerely commited to encouraging the development of the African blogosphere and bloggers

If you find my posts to be worth it and helpful.Kindly click on the below link to promote tis blog and hopefully reach more audience with this crucial information(Thanks in Advance)

Promote

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.