Six months later and here is my second "regular" update. Sorry about that but I have been pretty busy in between my studies and promoting the Afridestinations website.
Firstly something more about myself which I did not mention in my first blog entry.
As with the founder of this type of advertising, Alex Tew from milliondollarhomepage which by the way was a runaway success and congratulations to him, I am also a student and was about the same age when starting the sites.
I am not outspoken about my personal life except that everyone can know that I consider myself an entrepreneur and when finishing my studies, hopefully become a successful business woman.
The first knowledge of Alex Tew's website was when one of the lectors mentioned it as an example . I viewed his website and an idea was born. In my mind I visualized a similar one in South Africa as well as the rest of the African Continent but with some differences. That is when www.afridestinations.com also came to light.
Today I can proudly say that although the initial idea did come from Alex Tew's website , my websites are slightly different and that difference makes it A FIRST IN THE WORLD. I am talking about pixel advertising websites only.
The difference - Anyone that qualifies to buy on the sites can do so by means of a brochure. A business that has no website for whatever reason can submit a brochure with their details which will be placed on one of the relevant websites. I also supply them with their "own" address. If no brochure is available I create one for them.
I have been accused of being a copy cat. Before starting this websites I did sent Alex Tew a couple of e-mails asking out of decency if he would have any objection me starting similar ones as well, of which I did not get any reply as yet. Possibly because he had nearly 1000 unopened e-mails. Now you will find numerous pixel sites all over the world, but again, I am the first with these changes unless also being copied.
By the way, I may be a copy cat but please add another cat to it - original cat.
Coming back to "all kinds of people". I have discovered through my many telephone travels how diverse human beings are.
You get those that have an attitude of being "born" with a business. They have forgotten that before they started to walk, they crawled. These are the types that somewhere along the road have forgotten that they also had to start from scratch, made a success of it, and then lost their humanity and compassion for others. To them I would like to say; This is a recently started website and sorry that it is not opened with a sold out sticker attached to it. Why asking me how many "hits" I had or did those that placed their trust in me and the website already made sales when you can see that this is still new. This concept is fairly unknown and to many we contact, totally unknown. But I can say with all honesty that I do not make promises I cannot keep and do deliver what I sell namely "service par excellence". So please give me a fair chance.
Then there are those that really struggle, and I would like to mention in particular the artists and crafters . Although they do not always have the necessary funds but would like to have the opportunity to be discovered somewhere in the world, they do take that chance.
You will notice that some of the brochures ‘s photo quality are not that good. The reason being that most of them are taken by the artists or crafters using their cellphones and sending it via mms. Please look past the poor quality of it but notice their beautiful handwork. Some of them live in rural areas and others do not have any knowledge of the Internet, but they still managed to have their work viewable to the rest of the world.
Note: - All these artists and crafters can be visited either by certain days they display their handwork at craft markets or those in the rural areas - by appointment. If visiting the country, you will need to make use of a tourguide that has knowledge of the area as well as the language spoken.
I have a small dedicated team of helpers where the following languages are spoken; Afrikaans, English, Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Pedi, French and Dutch. Even with some language barrier solved, it takes sometimes two to three months of dialogue with one artist or crafter before one block is bought. A MAJOR obstacle is lack of the following in especially rural areas; access to modern technology i.e. fax machines and Internet or Internet Café, knowledge of its workings, cameras, and last but not least, sometimes the funds. I had one crafter who had to travel over 200 km's to retrieve the e-mail I sent him. He did make the effort and went all the way. You will notice on the afridestinations website, page "pixel track", that my first clients are those that can least afford to pay to advertise but realize the importance of it. It's not all the way discouraging news. A very big plus is that most of them can be reached via the cell phone. No problem with that!
At the moment my first priority is reaching those that could do with International exposure, and those are the small businesses or entrepreneurs. It is very time consuming but the results gained are worth it. If you maybe have a struggling guesthouse or your sales are not picking up, please do not tell me that your business is too small to advertise. It is especially important to make yourself known and maybe become a success story.
Remember - ANY tourist related business or attraction can advertise on the Afridestinations website. These include the established big ones as well.
A couple of answers on questions asked (I have no FAQ page yet but if justified , will acquire one later)
• Why so expensive - If you find this once off payment expensive considering what services
I provide that also needs to be paid from out of my pocket, think again.
• Is this a hoax - No, I have a legally registered business and not likely to disappear with
your payment. For each payment made a receipt is made out. You can also follow my
progress, just switch on your computer and access your Internet and that is where you will
find me. If for some reason my website is unavailable, please do not panic, there should
be a logic explanation for it, like updating the site.
• Hits? Search Engines - The importance of this website is for you given the opportunity to
advertise on the Internet, be it by using your own website linked on my website or by
means of a brochure. I do my own marketing both ways and still believe in word by mouth
including the modern technology way. Remember, if there was a power failure you could
not access the net but you could still speak. Excellent service is still also being spread
through word of mouth.
• If I only buy one block will it make a difference in the size of brochure made - No.
Whether you buy one or 100 blocks, brochures stays the same. There is one advantage I
have included because of the limited space on a brochure. If you would decide to buy
more than one block I do not only place just one brochure over the amount of blocks
bought. Where you have a lot of information I can create more than one brochure and
spread it over the number of blocks bought. A good example is Hotel Tayba and Amst
Tayba in Mauritania which bought 2 blocks and 2 brochures where made. The only
difference is that the more blocks you buy the sooner you may be noticed. But as your
details are also on the "pixel track" page, you have basically equal chances.
A bigger block of course also makes it more interesting on the "destinations" page.
• How does reserve work - When you are not ready to have a brochure made or maybe your
website is not completed you can pay for the amount of blocks you would like and I will
reserve it until such time you are ready to add the outstanding details. In the meantime
some of your details will already be on the Internet and people will be able to contact you.
• Can I advertise and pay after I have made sales - No. Unfortunately you must pay. I am
not a NPO,NGO, etc. but a BWAH. Although my dream is to be able to help with the
possibility of International Exposure to those that need it, I am still running a business
with payment responsibilities.
• I have no e-mail address - I will gladly help you with setting up one using free email
services available on the Internet.
• Will those interested of making use of our services or would like to buy our products
contact you and you will take a commission - No, Your or your agent's details will be
displayed on the brochure so anyone interested in your services will contact you directly.
An extra service I am prepared to provide is anyone not getting hold of you can contact
me via email and I will try to contact you and notify you of such person's attempt.
• Any changes on your website in the foreseeable future - Yes, a couple .I would like to
make it even more user friendly but keep in mind that Rome wasn't built in one day.
• I am already advertising on the Internet or have my own website - Nothing stops you to
advertise more using other websites to do it. Remember this is at @ once off payment.
• I advertised using a brochure but have decided later on my own website - No problem, let
me know and I will remove the brochure and link your website.
• Can we place comments on your blog - No. This is my personal "diary" and a happy
website. I do not wish to see anything negative from somebody not likeminded. Everyone
is entitled to his/her opinion and I respect that. Rather send me an e-mail.
• Can we only advertise in English - No it is your choice which language you want to use but
please bear in mind that English is an International spoken language.
• Do you provide photos to be placed on our brochure - I suggest if you create something
beautiful or render a service where people use your facilities, you send me photos to place
on the brochure. Showing what you have to offer will attract the right person.
• I have been done in by people selling website facilities, paid them and they just
disappeared - I can only speak for myself and not for other people. My family has been in
the curios business since 1975 and I will not jeopardize their good name by starting what I
cannot finish. You can also monitor whether you are on my site or not by just visiting the
relevant one. If you see your details, believe me the rest of the world visiting the site will
view the same details.
I hope this blog entry has shed some light on myself and also answers to questions you have been thinking of asking me. Please, to all the interested people out there, look at what Africa has to offer, be it some hand creation or accommodation in the smallest unknown places. You have the opportunity to know of their existence. In the meantime I will go on discovering them. BWAH - Business with a heart!
