More and more people are getting online due to the falling prices on connectivity and prices are set to come further down in mid-2009 when the first new major under sea cable comes into operation. With the ever changes in technology, there are new ways for one to get connected to the Internet and connecting via the ‘old fashioned’ way of dial up is going to be a story of the past soon with the advent of broadband and 3G technology.

Right now I am connected to the Internet via a 3G card whilst at a coffee shop. Who would have thought this would be possible a few years ago?

The more people coming online the better for the online industry in South Africa. Access to the internet is becoming a near essential in the world we live in today.

There are many advertising agencies that offer various jobs to people related to hosting or even adsl, in devising new marketing activities.

It makes a lot of sense to have a blog for Manchester United as they are one of the most supported teams in the world, maybe even the most supported. I may not have the exact statistics but I know they have a larger fan base than Liverpool across the world. Therefore, having a blog for Manchester United fans from across the world to visit and comment on would be a good idea. You would get a lot of traffic to the blog just due to the fact that there are more supporters across the world and granted too that Manchester United have been a more successful team on the field than Liverpool over the last couple of years. There is no denying the fact that a Manchester United blog would get in a lot of traffic. And based on the Rand Mediacom model: Traffic = Money.

But here at Rand Mediacom, we have no one on our team who is passionate about Manchester United. The reason OurKop.com was started and has been a success up until now is that the OurKop.com team is comprised of passionate Liverpool supporters. When starting a blog, it is much easier to blog about a topic that you not only know about but one that you are passionate about. It is so much easier to write about something you are passionate about and put all your heart and soul into it.

Rand Mediacom could easily start a blog for Manchester United and call it OurStratfordEnd.com. But there would need to be passionate Manchester United fans to blog on the website to make it a worthwhile venture. Many people start blogging with the view of making money. At the end of the day it is not easy to make money from a blog you are not passionate about. It takes time for a blog to become established on the world wide web and to get enough traffic to start generating revenue from the blog. One may have to wait for about 3 years to start getting revenue from a blog. I know of some blogs that have taken 5 years to start generating substantial revenue.

Tip: If you want to start a blog, pick a topic that you are passionate about and go with it. Do not pick a topic that you think would make you money but you know nothing about. Blog about what you know.

The marketing process that involves domain names or the web design cannot just begin with free web hosting. Proper education is required to continue this process.

Rand Mediacom will continue to develop new and exciting features for the current blogs and look at adding more blogs to the network over the next 12 months.

Please feel free to visit www.RandMediacom.net to view Our Blog Network.

It has been observed that while 642-845 and 350-018 professionals are more inclined towards blogging or writing preparatory material for 70-647, other certifications like 640-816 and 650-393 prepare one for the technical part of it.

Today I will not be talking about property websites but rather what online real-estate is in the view of Rand Mediacom. Many people today have made fortunes through investing in property. You just have to look at the likes of Donald Trump and how they have become wealthy through investing in property. Very few people have gone wrong by investing in proper. But one of the biggest barriers to entry in the property world is capital. Having enough money to purchase a property is limiting to many thus not many people are able to make the investment. But the barriers to entry in the online real-estate world are not as difficult.

Many have built empires through property and in today’s world; many are going to make millions through online real-estate. Online real-estate in this regard is having a website or application which will generate a return for you. Take for example a block of apartments that an investor purchases, then renovates and either leases the apartments out or sells off the building. The same can be done in the online world. One can find a website up for sale, purchase it, and make necessary changes to the website that will in turn create a more appealing website which will be of use to its visitors. As we always say at Rand Mediacom , “Content=Traffic=Money”. The more traffic to your website the more money you can make.

Now finding a website to purchase and then ‘renovate’ is not too easy and very few people opt for this route. The most common route is for one to develop their own unique website or application from scratch and then build it up to a level where the website or application is worth something. Equating it yet again to the actual property world; this would be the same as buying a piece of land and then building something on it, be it a house, a shopping mall or hotel and then generating revenue from your development.

Take for example Facebook. Facebook is a prime piece of online real-estate. It has millions of users from across the world and thus generating millions in terms of revenue. Not every one can have a piece of online real-estate such as Facebook but one can try build something that could be as great as Facebook one day. You will never know how great your development would be unless you actually go ahead with developing it. Developing in online real-estate is much easier than developing in the actual property world. Yes, development costs for a website or application may initially be high but certainly not as high as paying a 10% deposit and taking out a mortgage.

At Rand Mediacom we have some online real-estate in the form of Our Network. We currently have 5 leading blogs which we developed from scratch and they are growing every single day. We may not be investing in actual property such as apartments and houses but we have our own investments in online real-estate and these investments are set to generate return in years to come. You see I have used the term years and not days or weeks. Investing in online real-estate is just the same as investing in actual property. It is not a quick return and can take some time. One should not expect to develop a website or application today and expect to start making money out of it straight away. Yes, some are lucky and get returns straight away but for the majority it takes a lot of hard work, patience and a bit of luck for your online real-estate to start blossoming.

I do not blame some people who think it is easy. They look at the likes of the young men that started up YouTube and how they have made millions in a short space of time, or the university student who started up Facebook and is now sitting on a potential fortune. The first perception many have is that; all this ’stuff’ is being done by young people so surely it can not be that hard. Well believe me, if it were very easy we would all be millionaires. What differentiates these ‘young guys’ from the rest is that they have come up with a unique idea which no one had thought of before and have been able to develop an application, online, which can carry out their idea. Once millions of people are ‘hooked’ on this application, the money starts to role in.

The ’secret’ to making money online lies in the ability of coming up with a unique concept that will differentiate you from the others. You may not have a totally unique idea but maybe you can build upon what someone else has done and find a way to better what they have done. Making money online is all a ‘numbers’ game. The moment you have millions even thousands of visitors using your application or visiting your website, you are half way done in your battle to being a millionaire. As I always say, “Content = Traffic = Money”. If you can come up with a website or application that has great content or is a great benefit to its users, you will in turn get a lot of ‘traffic’ i.e. many people will use or visit your website or application. Once you have a lot of ‘traffic’ then you can convert that ‘traffic’ to money by various models; The most common model of converting traffic into money is through selling advertising on your website or application. Another option is to sell a subscription for the website or application. For total profit satisfaction, you maybe lucky to find someone who wants to buy the website or application from you for millions of dollars and thus you have made your money.

In conclusion to answer your question; come up with something that will be of value to the people, and you have to make sure people will use it and preferably a lot of people will use it. Once you have that in place then you can make money online.

OurKop.com is a blog dedicated to fans of Liverpool Football Club. There are millions of fans across the world and with the digital age today, Rand Mediacom has decided to try bringing as many of the millions of fans together in one place and thus the creation of Our Kop.

You may ask, “Why the name Our Kop?” Liverpool fans are symbolised by the famous Kop at Anfield. Not every Liverpool fan can have the privilege of standing in the Kop at Anfield so we have decided to create our own online Kop and thus the name Our Kop was chosen.

OurKop.com will be posting new articles every day and keeping fans up to date with the latest news about the most successful team in England, reported by the fans. Our Kop comprising of a team of passionate Liverpool fans from across the world. If you want to find out about the latest transfer gossip, the latest injury news, who has done what at Anfield or the latest results, Our Kop is the best place to be.

The Rand Mediacom network continues to grow and now comprises of 5 leading blogs: The Rand Today, In The News, Rons Crib, Gens Blog and now Our Kop with many more exciting blogs lined up for launch in the near future.

Not all 642-552 and 646-588 applicants are suited for 70-294 and tests like 70-642 and 642-642 series help in determining that.

The featuring was a ‘feather in the cap’ of Rand Mediacom. Being featured and linked on such a major website and news corporation such as the BBC is something to be very proud of and we at Rand Mediacom have taken great confidence in this and will continue to publish high quality blogs in our network.

You can have a look at the BBC article by following this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7413565.stm

Why would I want to setup a blog for this purpose you may be asking? Many people like to write their thoughts down so they can keep track of what is happening in their lives and maybe come back at a future date to read about what they were thinking about 6 months ago. A blog is a perfect platform for this. Not only are you keeping track of your thoughts but millions of other people can read your thoughts and leave comments which maybe beneficial to you. Using our Joe Blogg example, Joe may have had a really bad day and gotten fired from his job. He may decide to write a post about this on his blog and maybe someone will read this post and leave a comment that may be encouraging and positive to Joe.

On the other hand, some people may want to create personal blogs for the purpose of letting people know what they are up to. In this situation, the person writing the blog will want to let the rest of the world know that they are the one writing the blog. And example would be a famous person or celebrity who wants to let the public know what is going on in their life. A blog would be a perfect platform for them to use. Again, you do not have to be famous or a celebrity to get a personal blog going. Some people want to keep a blog so that family and friends can keep up to date with what they are doing. An example would be Mary; she is at university in Spain and all her friends are all over the world and her family is in Australia. Mary can setup up blog and keep in touch with all her family and friends through this blog. In the past most people in Mary’s situation would send emails out to their family and friends updating them about her happenings but now by using a blog you do not need to send out emails, you just post what you have to say on your blog, let your family and friends know about the address of the blog and they can visit anytime they want to and find out what you have been up to.

There are many free services on offer on the internet today that allow you to setup your own blog. Some of the services are a bit limited in terms of what you can do on the blog. If you want something basic then you should go for one of the free blogging services like blogger.com or blogspot.com . These free services are also ideal if you are new to the blogging ‘game’ and just want to try get a feel about what blogging is all about.

But if you really want a professional looking personal blog that can set you above the rest then you can get a custom blog developed. The beauty of having a custom blog is that you can pick / design exactly what colours, graphics and layout you want on the blog. You can pick what features you want added to the blog and the best part of a custom personal blog is that you can have your own domain name. Having your own domain name will make it easier for people to remember your blog. People will remain JanesBlog.com much easier than jane.bloggspot.com . Everone is unique in their own way and having your own unique domain name sets you above the rest.

Rand Mediacom specialises in developing custom personal blogs. You can visit www.RonsCrib.net to view a personal blog from Rand Mediacom. If you would like your own custom personal blog please feel free to contact us and we would gladly assist you in getting your own blog online.

In the more developed countries, online advertising has become a multi billion dollar industry with many large corporations spending large percentages of their marketing budgets on online advertising. The main hindrance businesses in South Africa currently have with online advertising is that there are not enough people in South Africa who are online to advertise to. Not every household in South Africa has a computer let alone an internet connection. A large percentage of the South African population is still not online. Getting connected to the internet is still very expensive in South Africa. I would not be surprised if the cost of internet connectivity in South Africa is amongst the most expensive in the world. But plans are in place to increase the number of internet connections in South Africa and to make it affordable. I predict that within the next two years, a large percentage of South Africans will have internet connectivity and at an affordable rate. It is not a question of if a large percentage of South Africans will be online but more a matter of when and it is sooner rather than later.
With online advertising, the business wanting to advertise online must make sure that their advertising campaign is targeted towards its target market. That is the beauty of online marketing; one can target people you know will respond to your advert. Look at advertising on the TV, a business can flight an ad on TV and the demographics of the people watching that particular show or channel vary greatly. But when it comes to online advertising, one can place their ads on websites or newsletters which their target market constantly read and visit.

Online advertising also has the benefit of being measurable. If an ad is placed on a website, it is so easy to track how many times that ad has appeared i.e. how many people have seen that ad, and at the same time see how many people actually clicked on that ad. So it is easy to see if your online advertising campaign is being a success or not and tweak it accordingly to make it better based on the statistics obtained.

In South Africa today there are not that many websites that are run by South African businesses which receive a high amount of traffic. Most of the websites visited in South Africa are your major international websites like Yahoo, Facebook and Google. There are not many highly visited local websites outside the Media24 websites, the online banking websites and the airliners websites. Advertising on these websites is relatively expensive, especially for small businesses wanting to advertise online. One has to make sure if they want to advertise their business online that they place their ads on websites which have high traffic. The more high traffic websites that come along in South Africa the better and businesses will start to have the ability to pick from a variety of websites to advertise on. This brings me back to my earlier point of there not being many South Africans online. If there were more South Africans online then they would visit more websites and thus create more traffic.

The timing could not be any better right now for businesses to start paying more attention to online advertising as this sector is set to grow over the next few years in South Africa. Businesses in the Online Media sector should also start looking at producing websites with great content which will drive a lot of visitors as more and more South Africans get online.

Feel free to contact us at Rand Mediacom for any further information you may require regard online advertising in South Africa.