The next general elections push Museveni to an alternative trade route from the coast.

The next general elections push Museveni to an alternative trade route from the coast.

Kenya is gearing for elections next year and just lake in the disputed 2007 elections, there is a looming fear of disruption in the transport industry. It is due to these prospective transport disruptions in Kenya that Uganda is taking strategic measures to pillow its market from the same.

It is due to the disputed 2007 presidential election that Uganda has decided to look for alternative routes through Tanzania. With Kenya heading to the presidential elections next year, president Museveni has decided to look for alternative options for fear of the same disruptions according to Macharia Munene, an international relations analyst.

The post election violence of 2007 saw the railway lines leading to Uganda uprooted. In addition, key roads in opening up to the northern corridor were blocked by protesters leading to a business standstill in these regions.

These blockades then led to an acute shortage of petroleum and its products thus increasing in the cost of basic items in these regions. In addition, due to lack of fuel, thousands of Ugandans had to walk to work.

To counter that, Mr. Museveni has stepped up negotiations with Tanzania for an alternative railway passage to connect the port of Tanga to Uganda regardless of the higher costs involved. As an encouragement, Uganda has announced tax discounts that could sum up to about 150 Uganda shilling (Ksh5.6) per liter of petrol for traders that import oil through Tanzania.

This revelation was made during a meeting with the Tanzanian president, Jakaya Kiwete. As a suggestion, it is evident that president Museveni is pressing for the construction of a railway line linking Tanga and Musoma.

Uganda being Kenya’s key trading partner, this move will negatively affect the Kenyan economy since it will not only disrupt business between these two nations but business within the wider Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), from where more than half of its trade is derived.

At the meeting, it was revealed that this 800-kilometer project would cost up to a total of $2.7 billion since it will include    digging another multi dollar deep water port at Mwambani Bay in Tanga to Musoma on Lake Victoria, with onward connection to Kampala and Juba.

Since Kenya has an oil pipeline from Mombasa to Eldoret, not far from the border with Uganda, it would have been better to extend this pipeline through to Kampala since the entire road is in good shape and much shorter than the route through central Tanzania, estimated at 1,500 kilometres.

In cost comparisons, the pipeline is the cheapest mode of transport since it consumes about  KSh43.86 ($.043) per tonne per kilometre within the northern corridor, followed by the  railway at Sh69.3 ($.068) per tonne per kilometer and road the most expensive at Sh11,526($.113) per tonne per kilometre.

Charges along the central route through Tanzania are about higher than those of the northern corridor where hidden costs among them, delays siphon up to 46 percent of the entire cost. On the other hand, the costs on the central corridor through Tanzania are higher mainly due to the low capacity at the port of Dar-es-Salaam and the long route. Kenya has an intricate pipeline network which makes sense to use the corridor from Eldoret into Uganda unlike the preferred route through Tanzania.

According to Mohammed Baraka, the managing director at GAPCO Oil , The option of the Tanzania route is unpopular under normal circumstance. To confirm his sentiments, by last week only one oil company had made contact with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to move its oil through Tanzania. Many oil companies saying the route puts pressure on operational costs.

Although the railway is a much cheaper option mode of transport, it handles less than six per cent of cargo to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, The Democratic Republic of Congo, parts of Tanzania, south Sudan and Ethiopia.

Rift Valley Railways International (RVRI) that manages the Kenya-Uganda railway received Sh14.7 billion in August this year  from six international financiers including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), KfW of Germany and Equity Bank to help in upgrading.

Sheltam Trade Close of South Africa that was granted the concession to run the railway in 2006 has since been frustrating the two nations over their failure to make significant improvement or investment in the joint railway line. However, infrastructure experts consider the meter gauge railway lines have become obsolete and would not support the region’s transport needs even when rehabilitated.

Although it is sensible to move products competitively through the Kenyan route, according to Jimmy Mugerwa, managing director at Kenya Shell, analysts however say that the port of Mombasa requires expansion and modernization to sustain the trade between Kenya and Uganda at the moment, the port of Mombasa handles about 99 per cent of all cargo heading to Uganda, signifying the importance of upgrading the ports operations.

This is an observation that has been made for a long time and even Gilbert Lagat, the Kenya Shippers Council CEO echoed on the same claiming that the low capacity and congestion at the port of Mombasa remains a drawback to users. Additionally, he pointed out at the need to improve the railway system to be in good trade partnership with Uganda.

 Rehabilitating the railway network between Kenya and Uganda is vital in boosting regional economy through enhanced trade as a result of affordable transport.

The possibilities of using the new routes are still doubtful because of the costs and the timelines to set up such infrastructure. The distance involved here is also another task given that it will be more costly compared to the Northern Corridor.

Mobisites: A formidable cache in Internet marketing

Mobisites: A formidable cache in Internet marketing

The government’s initiative to zero-rate tax on computers and other communication gadgets, internet penetration is still shallow in the Kenyan economy. However, the undersea cables landed in the country in 2009 and were billed as being a universal remedy to slow Internet speeds and expensive access costs but this is still yet to open up.
According the a Study on ICT Access Gaps in Kenya conducted in July 2011 by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), we only have 4.7 million Internet subscriptions with broadband connections standing at 84,726. These statistics are so disappointing especially for e-commerce take up and sustainability. The same report however states that there are more than 25 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya.
The above statistics are a disappointment thus calling for an option of a better e-platform for any business organization. Since we have a larger mobile phone subscription, the mobisite is a better option to reach out to a wider customer base. SMEs need a better internet marketing strategy since a significant number of their potential customers have access the internet through their phones.
This means that people are searching for goods and services using their mobile phones. This being the cases, SMEs have to look out for better means of getting to this clientele community too. With the evolving technology, SMEs should keenly look at this option. But how can you get to this option?
To get to these clients that depend on their mobile phone for the internet, you should first build a mobisite –a mobile site-. A mobisite is a website specifically designed for mobile phones. Its URL is your SMEname.mobi.co... (example.www.bestech.mobi.co.ke) you should have a very simple layout mobisite to ease navigation through the pages.
Since mobile phone consumers may lack the patience and time to wander through your mobisite in search of information, you should have your products and services spelt out in a neat way to attract their attention.
 You being your mobisite administrator, you should customize your content for different interactions such as sound and text. It is advisable that you avoid adding videos since most of consumers may have the fear of quickly exhausting their airtime watching them.  Furthermore, their phones may not be compatible with the video option.
Ensure that you use keywords in your each of your content to give your mobisite high chances of appearing in search results. You can also measure your mob site’s performance for insights into what’s working and what isn’t.

Since this is the best and more direct way of internet marketing, you should have that in mind thus design a user friendly mobisite free of heavy images. Why wait? Take this idea and forge ahead!!!

How Does Search Engine Optimization Apply to Internet Marketing?

How Does Search Engine Optimization Apply to Internet Marketing?

In the internet marketing field, search engine optimization is the continuous process of modification to your website to ensure that when your potential traffic searches for your services, it’s either the highest-ranked page or among the top pages to appear in a search engine’s results pages.

Optimising your website involves these basic steps.

First, your website has to be easy to get to by search engines’ spiders. Search engines’ spiders crawl through the internet looking for content to add to their search list. If they encounter barriers when they visit your site then your content won’t be indexed. Take for instance your business competitors being found at your expense. You can guess the effects.

Second, your website must be easy to navigate through. Include lighter pictures in the search so that your potential customers get to the pages without haste.  Nothing is as offending as waiting for long before a page loads. This should be the first measure to you page sustaining your customers. Your pages must load quickly, though this is one area you have no control of because it will depend on your ISP. Since SME owners mostly sign up with the cheapest ISP due to budgetary constraints, their speeds are slow thus you will have no option but to sign up with a more expensive ISP that gives you quicker speeds, especially if you are targeting foreign traffic who have little patience with slow loading pages.

Third, regularly update your content because search engines treat stale content as fading ones and gives them little or no attention. This is because the news will have lost value, so they downgrade your site. If you add a new product or remove an existing one, put that information immediately.

 On the other hand, if you have attained new information on your industry and want to share the findings with others, you can upload that information then request your visitors to download it. If you agree or disagree with a new government policy that will affect your business, share your views and encourage your visitors to comment on them.

 If you experience disappointments like power rationing that might delay product delivery, post this information in time or as an alert to your visitors. Always use keywords in your content relating to your industry because these keywords are the leads to your potential visitors to your site. So for example, if you operate a security firm, business, put “security services” somewhere in your content.  Also consider the fact that good gramma is vital for every clietntelle and that your site is an international one thus should appeal to a wider customer base.

Fourth, give attention to your site the same way you do to your better belongings. Check for broken links and once you find them, take time to amend them. You can also  experiment with different colours and fonts.

Fifth, search engines sometimes announce changes in the way they rank websites which can suddenly make your website lose a few positions. In such cases you may have to do a pay-per-click campaign that will restore your website to its original position.

Lastly, monitor your website for statistics such as where your visitors’ location, the time they spend on your site, what they buy the most, etc. You can use some Google applications to make your services unique in the search. This information will not only make your internet marketing efforts easier, but they will allow you to know what keywords to optimize your website for.

why should you bank on internet marketing

Why should you bank on internet marketing?

Some major obstacles facing the Kenyan SMEs range from unstable cash flows to their inability to afford high-caliber workforce, power rationing to complying with a maze of central and local government regulations, nothing thus keeps their owners awake at night than the best way  to market their businesses.

The only available platforms of advertising which include radio, television and print media, are exemplary expensive, it is in return very impossible to measure their return to your investment. Apart from these, other business registration logistics also need a chuck from the pocket.

There is no need to keep worrying about such no more since there is a cheaper solution to the same. This is made so by the entrance of the undersea cable and where you can now be able to use it to market your SME. This is not a thing so new since you are already using it. This is the internet.

With the entrance of many network providers, into helping get SMEs online, you are able to your products /services, your contact details, your mission and vision, etc. this will enhance your image thus reaching a wider customer base. In addition, you also need not pay a designer to do it to you thanks to Google’s recent initiative that lets SME owners build and host their own websites for free.

In addition, you don’t even have to pay social sites to have your business image posted.  Popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter also allow SMEs to create their own free accounts.

There are many advantages of internet marketing to your business which include:  your ability to update content round the clock depending on the new products in the market, the potential to discover what your competitors doing by visiting their websites and then seeing how your business can do it in a better way, the ability to target specific customers by using key words in your content among many others.

You should therefore, not fret because you can’t afford to market your SME via the usual suspects, you have an alternative staring at you. So pick up this information and use it for your benefit!!

add multiplicity to your internet marketing

Add multiplicity to your Internet marketing content

Once the word ‘content’, is mentioned, you will tend to think about it as basically a written document  or an article. This is the reason why you may find many websites with longer passages and with very little graphics and video content.

It might have come to your notice that many corporate prefer advertising their products on radio, television and newspapers with the aim of reaching a wider customer target and maybe build their social capital with varied tastes.  A good example is the fact that a television advert tends to engage more senses in a viewers emotion than when the same advert is posted on a newspaper. Take for instance, if you are connected to any social site, you find it that people not only share written texts but also post videos and pictures.

As a business person, you should take this finding as an opportunity to see your business grow. This should be taken as a marketing strategy for you. We are currently running on the powers and might of internet marketing, in line with this evolving world.

This is not only concerned with the computers and any complicated technologies but with as low as the gadget on your hand. Smart phones have the capability to take short videos; record sounds and even takes high quality photographs. You should try putting to use those features as a tool to market your business. You don’t need the powerful electronics to do such little things as these anymore.

Another alternative is that, you can download software that sometimes is offered free on certain sites and make use of them as a tool for marketing. There are useful tools in the internet that if put to use are a tool that can be use to propel your business to greater heights.

This being the case, you need some precautions on uploading so as to avoid traffic on your site. One directive is that while you upload these pictures and videos to your business site, you need to schedule different times to do so. For example, you could schedule different times for videos, like lets say early in the morning for videos, mid day for audio then in the evening for pictures. By doing so, your site wont suffer from bloating due too much content consumption.

Well, since the current generation of consumers has developed a liking for soft content, you should complement your text with audio, photo and video content. Doing this will not only your current fans’ interest, but you will also attract new members who respond better to content in different formats.

Having numerous hits on you site allows you to be more creative apart from giving you the motivation to continue doing Internet marketing. Although this is a social site, businesswise, you should not include contend about your personal life but remain loyal to your business content.

Stages in developing your e-marketing plan

Stages in developing your e-marketing plan

Planning for e-marketing does not mean you are going to start from scratch. Any online e-communication must be consistent and should work with the entire marketing goals as well as your current marketing efforts of your business.

The main machinery for e-marketing plans normally includes stages outlined in this article.

You should first of all identify your customer targets. Identifying multiple targets and ranking them in their order of importance you will then be in a position to allocate resources accordingly. As an SME, you must profile each target group and understand their requirements and expectations in order to make your e-marketing campaign a success. Having this type of customer classification helps you choose the right tactics for your plan as well as financial allocation for each segment.

As a point of importance, you should understand your competitors both away from your area of location and those within the market you operate. Also analyze the types of online marketing strategies being used by your competitors as well as how well do they perform? This knowledge will help you in understanding the environment within which you operate

Have a Set of objectives as to how your strategy should run and maybe your target numbers. For this, the possible objectives could include brand awareness for your products, improving sales or online registrations, improving customer maintenance, providing greater internal efficiencies such as decreased marketing costs among many more. You should choose your objectives depending on your business needs.

Once you have put in place the above strategies, you then have to plan your tactics. Here you need to you need to identify the tactics that you want to use and their availability. The plan can as well cover any other non-internet marketing activities being undertaken. Consider issues such as how best you will measure your success. This can be achieved by for example building feedback mechanisms and regular analysis to enable you in assessing your e-marketing activities as well as identify areas that require improvement.

As a measure of accountancy, you should have a clearly outlined budget to avoid over spending. Careful budgeting allows you to prevent costs spiraling out of control. In this, you should also identify the returns you expect from the investment in e-marketing activities. It is advisable that you compare these with the costs so as to develop a cost/benefit analysis.

Having a properly outlaid plan will automatically spell out your success in e-marketing. Having it done for you from this analysis, take advantage. Who knows, you might be the first.

The benefits of e-marketing to small enterprises

The benefits of e-marketing to small enterprises

E-marketing gives SME businesses the access to a wider market at an affordable price unlike the TV or print advertising. It therefore allows beyond doubt, personalized marketing.

Among the various advantages, we have outlined those that stand out and are effective especially for the Kenyan economy. Through e-marketing, a business on the internet is likely accessible to a global audience. Since a website allows you to find new markets and trade globally for only a small investment, you therefore attract business partners and clients from diverse localities.

You also reduce marketing expenditure through a properly planned and effectively target for an e-marketing campaign. This is so because you get your message direct and comprehensively to the right customers at a much lower cost than traditional marketing methods.

Through your business website, you are assured of the effectiveness of your campaigns since with the ever improving technology, web analytics can establish how effective your campaigns are. You can get detailed information about the traffic in your site.

Another importance of the internet is your ability to personalize relationships with your clients. If for example your customer database is linked to your website, then whenever someone visits the site, you can greet them with targeted offers. Here, the more they buy from you, the more you improve your customer profile and effectively market to them.

E-marketing is an avenue of openness. Through the presence of the social media, you can build client reliability and create a reputation for being easy to engage with. Here you are bound to having a higher social capital hence a large customer base. It on the other hand lets you create engaging campaigns through different types of rich media. These campaigns can gain social currency - being passed from user to user and becoming viral on the internet.

 If you have a business website, it means that your customers are only a few clicks away from completing a purchase. Unlike other media which require people to get up and make phone calls, or go to a shop, e-marketing is flawless and immediate.

Having all these advantages of making your business go online, why don’t you have a business website to get the real experience? Well, together, all of these aspects of e-marketing have the prospects to improving your sales and enhance profits.