E-Business
Mastering the Skills of Effective e-Marketing In Nigeria
The reason most businesses in Nigeria have not really established their online presence is because of their opinion and the way the internet is being seen. Like I have always said in my previous articles, every business should use the infrastructure of the internet in one way or the other if they want to survive this age. It gives your business a boost, integrity, wider reach, global recognition and patronage resulting in additional profit.
The internet will be maximized for business purposes here in Nigeria, when it is viewed as a marketing medium which has the advantage of instant interactivity and response. It should also be seen as a marketing communication tool which can reach a large number of targeted prospects faster than the traditional methods of marketing and it is cost effective too.
Bearing this in mind, the basic marketing principles for businesses should also be applied here but this time it is done differently.
Here are basic e-marketing strategies which when mastered will impact greatly on the way businesses are being done today. They also serve as a guide to help (individuals, small businesses, entrepreneurs, organizations etc.) avoid the pitfalls while taking their businesses online. They are simply:
a. How to choose the right concept for your online business
b. How to build your customer base.
Choosing the Right Concept for your Business
when establishing your web presence, the concept of your business should be well planned. This is where it all starts; good planning will determine how successful your online business will be.
Choosing the right concept for your online business involves, finding a profitable niche and building your online shop or office (your website) to suit the niche you want to play in.
A niche market according to Wikipedia (an online dictionary)is a focused, targetable portion of a market. It is a narrowly defined group of potential customers. Your online business should be one that addresses a particular need.
A.P. Giannini, the founder of Bank of America (BoA), one of the most influential bankers of the twentieth century said “serving the needs of others is the only legitimate business today.
Your success online is guaranteed when you focus on a particular small group and satisfy them. You should specialize on a core service or product for you to become an expert.
A good and profitable niche can be one in which you are already an expert in, where there is good competition resulting in demand, one you have special interest in or passion for.
After choosing the right niche for your online business, another challenge you have, is to pick the right concept for your website. Your website is your online store or office. This is very important because if you pick the wrong concept for your website you will get the wrong result no matter the market you are playing in. It also becomes more interesting when you know that there are billions of websites on the internet so you can’t afford to miss it here. Don’t just have a website, get the concept right.
The concept of your website must either be a sales website or a portal website. A sales website is one which is totally designed to sell your products or services online like amazon.com. While a portal website is one which is basically built with the mind of first providing good content, service and specific information for your prospects for free, thereby attracting more people (traffic) to it like Yahoo.
The portal website makes the bulk of its revenue from advertising and back-end products. Which ever one your business falls into, you should understand the techniques involved. Your website must also be designed in a simple way so that your prospects find it easy to navigate through in a short while.
The next thing to consider is to choose the right domain name for your business. Your domain name is simply the name of your business on the internet that is the name of your website. It is your web address which your customers will use to locate your business on the internet. It also has to be registered online ones you have selected a name.
Simple tips to follow when choosing a name for your website.
1. The name of your website must reflect the type of business you do.
2. Short and sharp names are usually very easy to remember and they also allow your prospects to spell it easily and correctly.
3. It must be unique, to reduce competition in that niche.
4. If you want to use your name, make sure you are such a popular person and that it is a personal site.
Building your Customer Base
After finding a profitable niche and building a website around your product or service, your next task is to start building a list of prospects who will become potential customers. This process is known as List building. To be successful in online business, you just have to build a database of your customers, it is always said in internet marketing that the money is in the list.
In building your customer base, the unique and specific benefits which differentiate your business from others should be emphasized and boldly spelt out. It is what will attract prospects to your website.
Like every successful business has what they are known for as their unique selling proposition (USP), here you can also regard it as the Ultimate advantage of doing business with you, Sensational offers you give your prospects and Powerful promise which you always deliver. Your USP must solve the customers’ immediate problem while you build a lasting relationship with them.
All am trying to establish here is that your marketing campaign or the focal point of your business should be on making the customer feel right, you should be customer-centric not product-centric or profit-centric, this is where most businesses in Nigeria miss It.
So in building your list, your first goal with any visitor to your website is to make them see what is in it for them within few seconds and get them on your email list. They should be made to subscribe to your email list by willingly ‘opting in’ thereby allowing you to contact them subsequently through their emails. This is known as e-mail marketing.
Web based applications such as the auto responders and the list serves now automate your email campaign and give you all the data about your prospect and the follow up details. This simple and automated act of making your prospects willingly subscribe to your email marketing messages is very important because statistics have shown that over 70% of internet users check their emails and don’t have time to browse sites.
Ones you have succeeded in getting them on your list the first time, you can have the time to build up their confidence with benefit-driven sales copy and your USP that compels them to buy your product or service always. You can also seek expert advice where necessary.
Do these simple things well you would have mastered the skills of effective e-marketing 101!
E-Business
Microsoft Server Hack Likely Solo Actor, Thousands at Risk

A widespread cyberattack targeting Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) server software used by thousands of government agencies and businesses for internal document sharing was likely orchestrated by a single actor, a cybersecurity researcher said on Monday.
Microsoft issued an alert on Saturday warning of “active attacks” on on-premise SharePoint servers.
The company clarified that SharePoint Online, part of the Microsoft 365 cloud suite, was not affected by the exploit, which is considered a “zero-day” vulnerability due to its previously undiscovered nature.
“Based on the consistency of the tradecraft seen across observed attacks, the campaign launched on Friday appears to be a single actor. However, it’s possible that this will quickly change,” Rafe Pilling, director of Threat Intelligence at Sophos, a British cybersecurity firm.
That tradecraft included the sending of the same digital payload to multiple targets, Pilling added.
Microsoft said it had “provided security updates and encourages customers to install them,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
It was not clear who was behind the ongoing hack. The FBI said on Sunday it was aware of the attacks and was working closely with its federal and private-sector partners, but offered no other details.
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Washington Post said unidentified actors in the past few days had exploited a flaw to launch an attack that targeted U.S. and international agencies and businesses.
According to data from Shodan, a search engine that helps to identify internet-linked equipment, over 8,000 servers online could theoretically have already been compromised by hackers.
Those servers include major industrial firms, banks, auditors, healthcare companies, and several U.S. state-level and international government entities.
“The SharePoint incident appears to have created a broad level of compromise across a range of servers globally,” said Daniel Card of British cybersecurity consultancy, PwnDefend.
“Taking an assumed breach approach is wise, and it’s also important to understand that just applying the patch isn’t all that is required here.”
E-Business
Flaw in Microsoft SharePoint Sparks Global Cybersecurity Concern

A Microsoft SharePoint server software flaw is causing widespread concern across the global cybersecurity landscape, exposing thousands of organisations to hackers exploiting a new vulnerability.
This critical vulnerability exposes government agencies, universities, and energy firms who are at risk of cyberattacks. The flaw, now being actively exploited by unidentified hackers, allows attackers to gain deep, remote access to on-premise SharePoint servers.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that the vulnerability can enable malicious actors to access internal files, change configurations, and even execute remote code, effectively giving them high-level control over compromised systems.
Microsoft has also acknowledged the breach and released a security patch aimed at stopping the ongoing attacks. The firm urged users to apply the patch immediately, saying it is working to roll out additional protections, according to a statement reported by Bloomberg.
Despite these efforts, cybersecurity researchers warn that systems may remain vulnerable if attackers have already infiltrated networks, stolen authentication keys, or implanted persistent backdoors before patches were applied.
The United States hosts the highest number of these vulnerable systems, followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
The Washington Post reported that the breach has already impacted a range of institutions, including U.S. federal and state agencies, academic institutions, energy companies, and a telecommunications firm in Asia.
This latest incident adds to a growing list of cybersecurity challenges facing Microsoft. In March, the company revealed that Chinese state-backed hackers had targeted its cloud-based services to infiltrate both U.S. and international organisations.
Last year, the U.S. Cyber Safety Review Board sharply criticised Microsoft’s internal security culture as ‘inadequate’ after a separate breach compromised its Exchange Online mail systems and exposed communications of high-level officials.
E-Business
NIMC Enrolls 122m for NIN, Cuts Extortion by 40 Percent

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said that it has reduced incidents of extortion and unofficial charges in the identity enrolment process by over 40 per cent.

Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director general of NIMC,
Abisoye Coker-Odusote, director general of NIMC, who disclosed this at an event in Lagos at the weekend, attributed the drop to improved transparency in fee structure at the commission.
The CEO was represented by Lanre Yusuf, director, Information Technology and Identity Database, NINC.
The workshop, organised by the identity regulator in partnership with the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, focused on repositioning Nigeria’s digital identity landscape and combating misinformation.
According to Coker-Odusote, the sharp reduction in illicit charges is a direct result of reforms introduced by NIMC to curb racketeering and unauthorised payments, which have for years plagued the national identity registration process..
“Enrolment for the National Identification Number remains free. We have standardised modification and authentication fees, and these are publicly disclosed. Our enforcement of a transparent fee structure has resulted in a 40 per cent drop in extortion and unofficial charges,” the regulator said.
She explained that prior to her assumption of office, complaints about exploitative fees at enrolment centres were widespread, fuelling public distrust in the system.
However, she noted that the commission had since prioritised transparency and stakeholder accountability, ensuring that Nigerians no longer have to pay above the legally mandated fees. “We are addressing deep-rooted issues that once undermined public confidence in the enrolment process,” she said.
The NIMC chief added that the commission had introduced digital tools to reduce human interference in the registration process.
These include the NINAuth mobile app, the Self-Service NIN Enrolment and Modification app, and Contactless Biometric Solutions, all designed to make the system more efficient, secure, and user-friendly.
Coker-Odusote also reiterated the commission’s commitment to inclusion, stressing that no Nigerian should be left behind in the country’s digital identity transformation.
According to her, over 7,167 front-end enrolment agents and partners have been revalidated and retrained to serve the public professionally, with strict monitoring mechanisms now in place.
In addition, NIMC has deployed grievance redress officers across all 36 states to handle complaints from Nigerians about enrolment centres and agents, with a 24/7 toll-free line available to report any misconduct.
The reforms are part of broader efforts by the Commission to build a unified, secure, and people-centred digital identity system that facilitates access to government services, financial inclusion, social protection, and national planning.
Coker-Odusote called on media partners to support the Commission in disseminating accurate information, countering misinformation, and raising awareness about the benefits of digital identity.
“We are asking our partners in the media to help us combat fake news and promote transparency in the identity ecosystem. We need to ensure every Nigerian understands their rights and knows that their identity is key to accessing opportunities and services,” she said.
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