Monday, 22 July 2013
Facebook And Google Aren't As Popular As You Think (And 6 Other Things You Need To Know About Online Selling To Overseas Customers)
You’re online. You’ve setup a great e-commerce site. And you want to sell more of your products overseas. Maybe it’s to China where there could be “half a billion” opportunities. Or Europe. Or South America. Financing options, led by the Export-Import Bank and others like HSBC are plentiful. TheU.S. Government and the Small Business administration have both developed comprehensive sites with tons of resources to help businesses, big and small, to export their products to overseas customers. In other words, there are plenty of resources available to help you.
But here’s the most important thing when selling your products online to overseas customers: you’ve got to focus on the right market. A miscalculation could be costly, or even fatal if you bet on the wrong place. It’s a big world. And you’re not going to be able to cover it all. So it’s likely you’ll have to do it one market at a time.
Last week, AVG, who makes business, personal and mobile security products, put together this interesting infographic about the Internet, e-commerce and online markets in other countries. Full disclosure: AVG is a client of my company. I also blog on their website. I took some time to look at this infographic and learned a few things. Here are a few examples.
1. Mobile devices are hugely popular in the U.S., but not as much as you think. In fact, despite their huge popularity, most Internet pages in the U.S. (87%) are still overwhelmingly viewed through desktop computers. Want to design a marketing campaign or sell your products online where mobile views are more popular? Consider India or South Korea, where 55% and 33% of online usage respectively goes through mobile devices. France, Germany, Italy and Russia lag far behind.Last week, AVG, who makes business, personal and mobile security products, put together this interesting infographic about the Internet, e-commerce and online markets in other countries. Full disclosure: AVG is a client of my company. I also blog on their website. I took some time to look at this infographic and learned a few things. Here are a few examples.
2. Depending on where you sell, Facebook FB -0.23% is not necessarily the king of social media. In fact, it’s not even the leading social media outlet in China, Russia, South Korea and Japan. According to the AVG survey China’s QZone has the biggest number of social media users per country with 190 million and VK (originally VKontakte) has over 100 million users in Russia. Cyworld is South Korea’s most popular social network. And you thought it was challenging enough to get people to engage on Facebook!
3 – Google GOOG +0.56% is not the search engine market leader everywhere. OK, in just about every county it dominates. But not as much as you may think. In Russia, for example, just 55% of searches go through Google and in Japan it’s 66% (this number is more than 90% in most western countries). In reality, if you want online users in China to be able to find your products you’ll need to be proficient on Baidu. Depending on where in the world you sell, your search optimization strategy may need to change. And where is Google most popular? Brazil!
4 – Some countries are doing work faster online. For example, the AVG analysis showed that South Korea and Japan have the fastest average download speeds, with South Africa and India having the slowest. Online buyers in England, Germany, and Russia have faster download speeds than the U.S. Browsing in China and Australia are significantly slower. For those countries where the Internet is slower, a quicker and easier buying process, with less graphics and downloads, will be important. How quick and easy is it to buy products from your website?
5 – Australia has the most online users. You’d think with all that sun and potential for adventure, most Australians would be outside chasing kangaroos and bungee jumping. But according to AVG’s survey, 88.8% of Australians are online, compared to 78% in the U.S., 58% in Italy and 11% in India. Seems like a good market to sell your wares. Just be careful of their slow download speeds (see 4 above).
6. The U.S. is still the biggest online market in the world. The potential size of the American online market (GDP per head times by the number of online users) is estimated at $11.3 trillion. In second place is Japan with an estimated potential of $3.35 trillion, followed by China who with all its economic power and population has a potential of $3.16 trillion – less than third of the U.S. So to get the biggest bang from your online buck it may make sense to focus on those three countries. The smallest potential online markets are in India ($266 billion), Saudi Arabia ($233 billion) and Indonesia ($131 billion).
The takeaway? Know your market. You can’t be everything to everyone. And you probably don’t have the resources to make the kind of investment you want everywhere. To really make an impact overseas you’ll need to focus on those markets that will generate the biggest return for your investment. And you better get to know the social engine and search marketing tools that are most popular in those markets if you want to reach as many customers as possible.
Photos: Eniola Badmus Spotted With New Pal
Nollywood plus-size actress Eniola Badmus, who is popularly known as Gbogbo Big Girlz in Omo Ghetto surely had a blast while having a pool hangout with a friend.
Photos From Yvonne Nelson's "House Of Gold" Premiere
Ghanian actress, Yvonne Nelson premiered her third production House of Gold at the Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday 19th of July 2013. Her fellow Ghanaian stars Majid Michel and Eddie Watson were on ground to support her. Also Nollywood stars including Rukky Sanda, Ikay Ogbonna, Ebube Nwagbo and Mary Uranta as well as House of Gold actress/Nigerian Idol winner Mercy Chinwo were also at the event.
...more lovely pics after the cut...
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde On Child Marriage
The pretty actress who was in Bayelsa over the weekend for the 2013 Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant, spoke on the senate bill endorsing underage marriage in Nigeria.
Omotola who was among the panel of judges for the beauty competition, was presented with a Silverbird Unique Personality Award (SUPA). Just before receiving the award, she gave an emotional speech on the troubling issue of child marriage. Read the transcript of the speech below:
Let me first and foremost thank The Lord almighty, my saviour and help for this award.Thanks also to Silverbird group the organizers of MBGN Thanks to my wonderful husband, Capt Matthew Ekeinde, my support and best friend whose also here tonight.I am Today one of the Most influential person/people in the world because I wasn’t given off to marriage before the age of 18. It scares and totally shocks me that the Senate in Nigeria (the most populous Black nation in the world and Giant of Africa) would not be passing in a law ensuring that every child should compulsorily be enrolled in school.A very alarming number of children today are on the streets hawking or have been abused, raped or are married to men/women who should be protecting them. Who protects the children of Nigeria?Would we wait for another Milala before we act? Should we now remove the parental caution on movies that say “Not for persons below 18″. This is a call for justice and equity for children especially the Nigerian Girl child, who has the right to quality education, a childhood and the decision of whom and when to marry.My Name is Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and I say No to phedophilia and No to the senate Bill endorsing Child marriage in Nigeria.
SHOCKING: How Prophet TB Joshua Influenced President Jonathan To Release Al-Mustapha
This is an interesting but shocking one from Sahara Reporters...read their report below:
Sources have told SaharaReporters that last week’s “judicial decision” which set free ofmurder charges Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to late Nigerian dictator, Sanni Abacha, is owed to President Goodluck Jonathan, who was following a “spiritual” fortune-telling that would enable him to win the 2015 election.
Controversial Lagos sect leader, Pastor TB Joshua, who has Mr. Jonathan eating out of his hands, has been identified as the person who told the Nigeria leader that his political fortune rests with setting Al Mustapha free.
In addition, Mr. Joshua has also told Mr. Jonathan if he is to win in 2015, he needs to bring back to Nigeria James Ibori, the former Delta State governor who is currently serving a 13-year jail term in the United Kingdom.
After Mr. Joshua's spiritual “forecast” was told to Mr. Jonathan, SaharaReporters sources say he instructed the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke to take care of the judges involved in the case, giving him a war chest of $2 million.
But a judge, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, a Northern Muslim, who was earlier contacted to do the dirty job, refused to accept the bribe and removed himself from consideration of the plan.
Another judge, Amina Augie, was then drafted to handle the Al-Mustapha’s acquittal. Ms. Augie, formerly known as Anna Graham, who is originally from Anambra State and fourth wife of late Senator Adamu Augie of Kebbi State, took the case and assembled some lawyers to help with drafting the judgement.
It is also alleged that she got help from some members of the Nigerian human rights community in drafting the judgement, which blamed the prosecutors in Mr. Mustapha's case for doing a “shoddy” job. Among other ridiculous arguments, Ms. Augie’s claimed in the judgement that the prosecution couldn't provide the bullet that killed Mrs. Kudirat Abiola in 1996.
A source at the Presidency in Abuja told Saharareporters that Mr. Joshua has so much control over Mr. Jonathan right now that whatever he requests is granted without delay because the president believes that the pastor holds the spiritual key to his electoral success in 2015.
President Jonathan and his wife, Patience have made several nocturnal visits to the pastor since becoming president. Al Mustapha also visited the Pastor soon after he was released from prison before heading to Kano to meet with family and friends.
It's Time For The United States To Cease Financial Aid To Egypt
Egypt, July 3, 2013(Photo credit: Moravsky Vrabec)
Egypt is a disaster veering toward catastrophe. President Barack Obama’s decision to ignore U.S. law by continuing financial aid will only exacerbate the situation. The administration’s signal achievement is that almost everyone in Egypt now blames America, which has provided almost $75 billion in financial assistance to Cairo over the years.
Egypt became a top aid recipient after Anwar Sadat switched sides during the Cold War. His government was paid even more for making peace with Israel. Washington argued that the stability seemingly purchased was a good deal. No longer, however
First, the law requires halting assistance. If the administration doesn’t want to obey, it should urge Congress to amend the law. Only by applying a Clintonesque twist can what happened in Cairo—the army arresting the president and top aides, prosecuting opponents, shutting television stations, detaining journalists, freezing assets, and shooting demonstrators—be called something other than a coup. In fact, the Associated Press detailed how the military planned its takeover for months and aided the group Tamarrod in building opposition to former president Mohamed Morsi.
The Heritage Foundation’s James Phillips acknowledged that “the letter of the law does require a cutoff of U.S. aid,” but contended that “the spirit of the law, which was passed to help protect democracy, would support continuing aid because the coup was launched against a leader who was ignoring the will of the people in order to impose his anti-democratic Islamist agenda"
Traditionally conservatives do not favor legal feelings over enactments. More important, Morsi was not alone in his authoritarian tendencies. Mubarak-era military, judicial, and bureaucratic leaders worked to block democratic rule at every turn. Nor was Morsi the first elected leader to inflate his own powers: George W. Bush and Barack Obama come to mind.
Moreover, it is sheer fantasy to impute democratic yearnings to the Egyptian military, a praetorian institution which served as the guardian of dictatorship since the 1952 coup against King Farouk I. Egyptian military officers are a caste apart, pampered apparatchiks who control as much as 40 percent of the economy. They always have been far more interested in power and privilege than democracy and liberty. Noted Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute: “the military traditionally represents the older elite as well in Egyptian society, which feels that it’s their God-given right to do this sort of thing.” For the generals, Morsi’s authoritarianism simply became a pretext for their authoritarianism.
Second, abundant foreign “aid” has contributed to Egypt’s catastrophic economic failure. Government-to-government assistance has consistently hindered rather than advanced economic progress in developing states. John Bolton recently argued: “Everyone, whatever their politics, agrees that Egypt’s economy needs massive assistance.” Actually, no. What that economy needs is massive reform. Unfortunately, American subsidies discourage reform by underwriting Egypt’s inefficient and counterproductive economic policies.
Third, whatever political influence the U.S. may have gained from foreign aid was dissipated when Cairo realized that it could count on receiving the money irrespective of its behavior. The Washington Post’sDavid Ignatius contended: “Better to continue aid, and insist that it be conditioned on the military scheduling early elections.” However, that requires the willingness to stop writing checks, which Washington has never done and obviously will never do.
Where is the evidence of American leverage? The Mubarak regime rejected both economic and political reform, creating the corrupt, inefficient state which fails the Egyptian people today. As the revolution unfolded the administration successively declared itself for Hosni Mubarak, his negotiated exit, and his speedy exit, without Egyptians paying the slightest attention. Although the administration attempted to mobilize its network of U.S. trained Egyptian officers, Adm. Mike Mullen, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted that money “couldn’t buy the U.S. the connections it needed in a time like this.”
The decision to continue aid under President Morsi had no positive effect. He pursued exclusionary political and incompetent economic policies, apparently against Washington’s advice. The security services worked to undermine his government, also presumably against the administration’s wishes.
The coup even more dramatically demonstrated U.S. impotence. Observed the Hoover Institution’s Kori Schake: “Reports that the national security advisor, secretary of state, secretary of defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had tried unsuccessfully to restrain Egypt’s military led to the [conclusion] that the United states has very little influence over a military determined to once again entrench itself above elected civilians.”
No one in Cairo is listening to Washington now. The military is adopting the Egyptian equivalent of North Korea’s “military first” policy, shooting demonstrators, making political decisions, and appointing civilians friendly to the military. Even the coup-friendly Wall Street Journal admitted: “the military drew up the new constitutional ‘road map’ in secret without consultation with the anti-Morsi opposition. The interim president will rule by decree. The constitution, which an authoritarian Mr. Morsi rammed through late last year, will be redrafted by unelected officials,” mostly Mubarak retreads.
Worse, contra Washington’s plaintive pleas, the military has reverted to the Nasser-Sadat-Mubarak policy of suppressing the Muslim Brotherhood. If the movement goes into violent resistance there will be neither stability nor democracy in Egypt.
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns visited Cairo two weeks after the coup. Brotherhood leaders refused to see him. Morsi’s opponents, the fundamentalist al-Nour Party and liberal Tamarrod movement, also rebuffed the U.S. envoy. At least Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sissi—who simultaneously serves as head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, defense minister, and deputy prime minister—gave Burns an audience. However, the regime continued to target Brotherhood officials even as Burns called for “the military to avoid any politically motivated arrests.”
Welcome to Sanni Kusby's Blog: The Devil made me kill my first husband with a sto...
Welcome to Sanni Kusby's Blog: The Devil made me kill my first husband with a sto...: Thirty-year-old pregnant woman, Fatimoh Issa, has been arrested by the Kwara State Police Command for allegedly killing her first ...
Welcome to Sanni Kusby's Blog: Former Eagles Player, Pius Oleh Found Dead
Welcome to Sanni Kusby's Blog: Former Eagles Player, Pius Oleh Found Dead: Pius Oleh was found dead in his car garage in his United States home. The coordinator of the Association of Nigerian ex-internationa...
Former Eagles Player, Pius Oleh Found Dead
Pius Oleh was found dead in his car garage in his United States home.
The coordinator of the Association of Nigerian ex-internationals in the Diasposa (ANED), Pual Okoku said a former Flying Eagles teammate Alphonsus Akhahon, who resides in Michigan and a one-time close friend of the deceased former footballer confirmed Oleh’s demise. He said,
“It is true that Pius Oleh was found dead at his home car garage and the unconfirmed cause of death was linked to carbon monoxide.
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