We wrote a post on the Jamaica Gleaner last week with the headline- “Jamaica Gleaner,Caribbean’s oldest newspaper profits plummets, vows to focus on increased market share online” which became the hot post for the week. It had a just under 20 comments amongst all of that was a continuous banter between two regular bog readers that was a Gleaner vs Observer war of words of sort.
The debate raged as to which site is really number one. So we decided to dig up some stats and see what comes out of it. We used both Alexa.com(owned by Amazon.com) and Compete.com as references. Here are the results.
JamaicaObserver.com a few months ago changed the design of their website much to us and all their readers elation. The previous site was over give years old and well, sucked. Since they’ve made the change, their website traffic has gone up more than 50%, which oughta be the case, everyone likes a pretty and functional news website. And it wasn’t done by no large local or American firm, instead it was a designer, a programmer and an inside guy who did it and that must be commended.
However having said that, I recently went to popstylejamaica.com the leading Jamaican fashion blog run by Tesi Johnson and I was like, hold up ahmm this site design looks familiar. So I opened two separate windows, one at jamaicaobserver.com and the other at popstylejamaica.com and then it hit me, they are template twins. You have a look at that pic and tell me.
This is a special invitation to all Jamaican bloggers to join us at the next Kingston Beta, this Thursday June 25th, at 6:30 p.m. at Susie’s on the Terrace, Southdale Plaza. It’s Free as usual. Bring 5 Friends, your business cards, wear your Blog Promotional Teeshirt. Wine Complimentary by CPJ (Caribbean Producers of Jamaica). See you there.
I haven’t posted a fresh blog since last week Wednesday, the day I got a call that my mom had a mild heart attack and was in the hospital. At that time nothing else mattered and what usually comes with such a shocker is a barrage of questions. My family doesn’t have a history of high blood pressure, heart disease and high cholesterol at all, for mom it’s been the simple case of living a sedentary lifestyle plus stress. She’s 72,retired, loves ice cream and loves to take her grand kids to KFC, which she insists is not fast food because it’s just chicken and all you gotta do is not eat the fries and such. Ahh mom. Thankfully she’s now out and recovering and has been doctor ordered to strict diet and exercise. But it all got me thinking about how to stay healthy while being a professional blogger.
Being a professional blogger can take long hours of sitting in a chair at a desk, tapping away at the computer. I get neck,back and wrist pains at times but I go work it all out at the gym at least 3 days a week and also get a bimonthly full body massage. So, recently I’ve personally resolved to do the following:
- Get an expensive ergonomic chair, keep my cheap desk.
- Increase gym time to 4-5 times a week and lose 15lbs.
- Get an iMac, as a laptop can seriously encourage bad posture at a desk if you’re not aware and careful.
So being active outside of blogging hours are important. Your body is made to move and like a car left unused for weeks, your body will seize up on you if you don’t give it the motion it needs. So how do you maintain a balanced lifestyle and grow a successful and profitable blog? I went to some of my colleagues for a little information and inspiration. Here are three posts that I liked alot.
My mom’s wake up call was my reminder, a stop and check to see if I am doing what I need to live a healthy dot com lifestyle. Every now and again check yourself to see if you’re getting out and being active as much as you are being a slave to ones and zeros and making money online.
MusicPassNetwork.com is a site where you go to download the reggae singles you bought using the equivalent of a top up phone card. We first got the preview of this online music product at Kingston Beta on April 28th by its lead pitchman Lloyd Laing. MusicPass.com the reggae music card and MusicPassNetwork.com are products from Riddim Jamaica a Kingston-based company that’s also spawned the Reggae News Agency. Watch Lloyd tell you in 3 mins what is MusicPass, MusicPass Network and why it’s important for the Reggae music and Caribbean music industries. He talks about the cost, when it will be launched and what they are doing now.
Then have a look at what the card looks like:
It’s the worst time ever to start a company, right? Only if you’re not an entrepreneur.f you are an entrepreneur, the economics have never been better: Let entrepreneur,venture capitalist and owner of alltop.com Guy Kawasaki tell you why this is the best time to start a business. More
If you can listen in to Business Suite Today a radio show, this Wednesday(June 17th) 10am-2pm live online at bessfm.com and if you’re in Jamaica on 100.5 fm. I’m joined by other Internet Entrepreneurs invited to be on a panel at the Jamaica Stock Exchange to talk about the Internet and matters as they relate to Jamaican companies.Join us.
I’m a huge believer in networking both within your own industry and across many others. So when I got this in my inbox, thanks to my business partner Sandor Panton, I had to pass it on too. You can never network too much is my belief.
Jamaica Trade and Invest, in keeping with our commitment to stimulate the trade and business environment is pleased to introduce the Jamaica Business Opportunity Service- ‘JBOS’ for ease of reference- a highly interactive web-based service that is dedicated to connecting buyers and sellers online.
The Jamaica-based Gleaner Company Ltd the oldest operating newspaper in the Caribbean, held its Annual General Meeting last week and reported to shareholders and analysts what they called their worst financial results in the company’s 175 year history, posting “a dramatic loss of JMD$444.69mm for 2008, coming from a profit of JMD$98.2mm in 2007.” This information we secured from the Equity Research Company Update a report done by the stock brokerage form Stocks & Securities Ltd dated June 12, 2009 which had as its headline: The Gleaner Company Ltd (GLNR) Looks to Increase Market Share with Online Medium.
I saw the Google ad and I clicked. When I landed on the site’s homepage, I was stunned. The Jamaican-based coffee company Wallenfordblue dropped me off a cliff with what is in essence an awful site. Come on wallenfordblue.com, I just think if you’re selling a premium product then your website oughta reflect that. It irks me even more since this is the brand I often buy to take to friends in the United States, so if they went to replenish their coffee supplies in between my visits they’d surely be scared off by this site.
Lots of people waited for 12:01 last night for the chance to grab their facebook.com/username vanity url. In fact Mashable.com reported that over 200,000 vanity urls were grabbed in 3 mins and over 500,000 in 15 mins. So what is, was the big deal anyway?
Facebook’s Spin
Well this was how Facebook explained..er..spun it . “From the beginning of Facebook, people have used their real names to share and connect with the people they know. This authenticity helps to create a trusted environment because you know the identity of the people and things on Facebook. The one place, though, where your identity wasn’t reflected was in the Web address for your profile or the Facebook Pages you administer. The URL was just a randomly assigned number like “id=592952074.” That soon will change.
