Being such a famous blog, when a site like Linda’s goes down, people
go into panic mode, gossip mode, accusation mode, and all manner of
thoughts and words will fill the blogosphere just to make sense of it
all.
Over a very short 24 – 72 hour period, even those who had never
heard of Linda Ikeji or her blog’s success were forced to pay attention
to the drama of Google’s shutdown of a popular blog.
Add to that, scandalous claims, and back and forth write ups
attacking and defending the subject of this sudden take down, and you
have what we in the business of Internet marketing and web publicity
often refer to as “The Perfect Storm”.
You see, the end result of a brouhaha like that is usually only one
major thing: instant fame locally and across the world via social media
and the general web, constant site visits to the affected domain into
the tens of thousands (and very possibly millions), and the eventual
short and long term branding of a name some may have either forgotten,
never heard of before, or were not fully focused on for months or years.
With a scandal like this, which was suddenly “cleared up” within mere
hours by an unexpected confession from the very person who claims to
have started the attacks that led to this media circus, you gain FOR
FREE, the kind of advertising some companies have to spend tens of
thousands of DOLLARS on throughout a full year to get even close to the
kind of instant fame that was generated here within mere hours.
And for me, that threw up some red flags instantly, and prompted an
immediate investigation into whether or not this could have been the
publicity stunt of 2014 played out so far, rather successfully before
our very eyes.
Now before I continue, let me make it clear that I respect anyone,
especially in this case a person like Linda Ikeji, who puts their name
out there in front of millions of people around the world as legitimate
internet entrepreneurs.
Why? Well being one of Nigeria’s first ever globally recognized
Internet entrepreneurs myself, having gotten involved in successfully
creating and selling my own ebooks about online marketing since as far
back as 1999, I know what it means to have your claims doubted and your
story scrutinized by millions of people who don’t know you personally.
So, I must make it crystal clear that this is in no way a personal attack targeted at Linda Ikeji or her friends.
I was in truth one of those hundreds or thousands who publicly sent
tweets to Linda showing support during a tough time. Which is why I was
alarmed, concerned, deeply interested, and eventually quite frankly
disappointed by the saga that the Ikeji-Aye Dee incident created.
In all honesty, I felt betrayed after reading all of the
“confessions” that were posted by Linda and Aye Dee. To have my trust
and interest toyed with like that IS NOT something Linda should ever
take lightly. In fact, I believe strongly that an open letter of apology
still needs to be written to all fans and well-wishers who were tricked
into investing in this scandal at all.
I feel as though we were all played and all this noise was created to
force millions of people to pay attention to the Linda Ikeji blog.
So, What Really Happened Here? Were Nigerians scammed into believing a
fabricated falling out just to get Linda’s ratings & site visits
up? I realize that is a bold accusation and I do NOT make it lightly.
I
therefore humbly invite Linda and Aye Dee to respond if they so desire
because I have some rather startling, though speculative, information to
share that requires their input for things to be clarified.
Inconclusive Evidence #1:
After some research, I found that the Linda Ikeji blog had been
losing site visits loosely estimated into the hundreds of thousands
monthly over the past 13 months to the tune of close to 1 million
monthly site visits lost within that time. The screen shot on the link
below is from a little known Internet-based investigative site which
estimates (from the outside) the number of non-unique visits to popular
web sites like Linda’s blog. See the screenshot here.
As you can see from the image shown above, Linda’s blog visits appear to have been on a steady decline for over a year.
If that estimate is accurate to any degree, then it stands to reason
that if her blog’s popularity was on a steady decline, it would only be
wise to do something urgently to ensure those precious site visits are
immediately restored or even dramatically increased, to block off any
loss or possible loss of income as a result of less and less traffic
visiting Linda’s blog.
Now as I stated, this is a speculative deduction as I am not an
inside source and have not performed inside forensic analysis on her
blog traffic or income from her site. But any expert internet marketing
analyst will tell you there is reason here to suspect some form of “foul
play” as if indeed her site traffic was on a steady decline so would
her income (eventually), which would likely prompt an attempt to regain
any loss in popularity.
So, did Linda and/or her friend Aye Dee see this constant declining
trend and then plan a fictitious reason to regain the lost attention to
Linda’s blog and even catapult it to greater fame than it had in the
past? You have to agree this is a possibility especially in light of the
“confession” by Aye Dee and a clarification of whether or not the trust
of loyal readers has in any way been tampered with in an attempt to
rescue a slowly dying blog.
Inconclusive Evidence #2:
The domain name change from the free URL lindaikeji.blogspot.com as
we all agree (Linda included) is something that should have taken place
much sooner than it eventually did. However according to Linda’s own
statements, she never bothered to make the change since most of her most
obvious choices had already been taken up by cybersquatters. Well, it
turns out that one of those cybersquatters was her mentor and friend Aye
Dee. So then I am forced to ask the following rather obvious question…
Why on earth would a mentor and friend purchase a relevant domain
name years before their alleged rift and not pass that to his friend and
mentee for her required needs?
It simply doesn’t add up that Aye Dee purchased such a valuable
domain name (lindaikeji.net) since 2011 and yet did not release it to
his friend immediately upon his purchase when it made sense to do so.
Now, three years or so later, that same domain name is what he offers as
part of a peace offering to “help Linda get her blog back on top”.
All of this barely 24 hours into the ruckus of her blog being shut down. Something is definitely out of whack here.
My theory: Either Linda or Aye Dee or both decided it would be best
to effect the domain change only after a scandal like what we just
experienced would force the world to pay attention to Linda’s blog at
the time of the change.
Why wait for the latter?
Well, recall that Linda’s blog was already haemorrhaging huge amounts
of traffic and/or visits monthly. It would therefore be foolhardy and
downright dangerous to effect a domain name change that could easily and
very likely result in even greater loss of traffic.
Most online
users have such poor attention spans that if a domain name change is
made suddenly and quietly thousands of visitors would lose interest
within minutes or days if they are unable to access the blog via an old
name they are used to and then are forced to find out where the new site
has been moved to. Many people simply won’t bother.
So, rather than risk further heavy losses in traffic, it would make
sense to for example to create a situation in which all eyes would be on
the old blog’s domain being shut down, and then Linda would of course
be forced to find a new name and relocate in order to carry along all
her old and new readers.
The incidents of the past few days and weeks look too much like a set
up to invoke interest in a dying blog and make a long needed change to
its brand without risking any loss in traffic and thus income.
Now while rejuvenating a dying site or creating interest in a
changing brand are not wrong in any way, the way in which this is done
is what must be carefully considered, analysed and reflected upon to
ensure the people’s trust and loyalty that has helped make Linda famous
has not in any way, shape or form been betrayed by the need to retain
her income.
I therefore invite Linda and friends to clear up any misconceptions their actions over these past days may have created.
Was this scandal real or faked?If it
was faked then that is a breach of trust and should never happen again
as if that kind of betrayal is allowed to go on unchecked many more will
soon follow possibly by the subject of this article and thousands more
bloggers and site owners who would readily do anything illegal or
unethical just to get attention and make a quick buck or two.
If none of the actions taken were as a result of a conspiracy to
defraud the public into believing a false rocus, then please take the
time to prove what happened was not pre-planned.
How? Show screen shots of a thriving blog’s traffic, show proof of
messages that Aye Dee claims to have sent a year or so ago proving this
was not a recent development that was planned to garner undeserved
attention. Share any other proof that can be showcased for the public’s
own scrutiny.
All this is necessary to guarantee others’ actions at getting justice
from sites like Google, attracting deserved attention and gaining
popularity through ethical means are not lumped into a negative box
alongside faked plagiarism claims and possibly faked scandals as may be
the case here.
For the guarantee of the belief in the integrity of
Internet entrepreneurs within Nigeria especially, this issue must NOT be
swept under the carpet.
Kunle Olomofe is an Internet
entrepreneur, author and marketing and publicity coach. He can be
reached at kunle@kunleolomofe.com. Twitter: @kunleolomofe.
Text convo between Ikeji and Mr. Aye Dee
Text convo between Ikeji and Mr. Aye Dee
He claims that he reached out to her for over a year straight, but all his attempts failed.
