TheTechieGuy.com, two-times winner in the the SA Blog Awards, has received an Africa-wide accolade for the blog with the Best Advice in Africa
The blog with the Best Advice in Africa has been announced in the 2014 African Blogger Awards, and it has gone to a regular contributor to Gadget, Liron Segev, editor and founder of TheTechieGuy.com.
The Best Advice in Africa award follows hotly on the heels of TheTechieGuy winning the Best Science and Technology Blog in South Africa in both 2012 and 2013.
The 2014 African Blogger Awards received 520 blog entries from bloggers in 27 African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Benin, Mali, Morocco, Togo, Cameroon, Malawi and Eritrea.
“The competition received entries from all corners of the continent, a clear indication that social media influencers across Africa have welcomed the opportunity to be measured quantitatively against their peers,” said Murray Legg, co-founder of the African Blogger Awards.
These awards are different to most, in that the winners were determined by an impartial metric system, run on the Webfluential platform, rather than by public vote. The system determines the influential value of each entrant based on the 3 criteria:
“The entrants’ combined audiences total over 5.6 million blog visitors, 10.2 million Twitter followers, 2.5million Instagram followers, with YouTube channels offering a combined 75 million views,” said Mike Sharman, co-founder of the African Blogger Awards.
We spoke to Liron Segev about his achievements and what it takes to be an award winning Blogger:
Q. Why did you get into Blogging ?
A. It all started in 2008 when the word Blogging wasn’t a buzz word yet. I founded TheTechieGuy.com as a way to share solutions to problems amongst my clients. What I quickly discovered was that the problems my clients were experiencing were in fact problems that other people were experiencing right across the globe. I use the Blog to provide simple to understand, jargon free, information to people around the world.
Q. What are the benefits of blogging ?
A. Being a blogger I get to work with the largest brands in the country. I am invited to events, product launches, media briefings and get an insider look behind the scenes of major corporations as I interview CEOs. I am able to review the latest devices and being able to access the latest technology before it is available to the public which assist me in advising my clients in my consulting practice.
Q. Why do brands want to engage with Bloggers ?
A. Brand engage with bloggers as bloggers have more freedom than traditional media. As a blogger I am able to say exactly what I think about a product or service and I am able to post it online instantly and not wait to the print-run of the publication in several month time. My job is to talk about these products and technology in my own voice stating my unbiased opinion. The better the content I generate is, the larger my audience grows and therefore the more exposure the brand receives and therefore I am invited to the next event.
Q. How is the Blogging scene shaping out and what are some of the pitfalls ?
A. From an IT Blogger’s point of view, I see a lot of people starting a blog with the thinking it is easy method to get “free stuff” as there is a misconception that large brands have thousands of devices to simply give away. The truth is completely the opposite as brands only want to deal with a blogger that has an audience that they want to reach. Therefore, those bloggers that do it professionally, with respect and the correct attitude will rise to the top and be noticed by the brands. Those that have ulterior motives of “free stuff” will not make it. Their motivation was wrong – its not about the gadget it is always about the content and providing value to a reader who has to make a decision based on what you write. I am always conscious of that.
Q. What would you say is one mark of a good blog ?
A. Authenticity and Consistency. The audience wants to know they can rely on you to produce information that they can use. Therefore, if the Blog is not constantly updated, or the blog is smeared with fake praises for a product for service, they will replace your blog with another.
Q. What tip could you give someone who is trying to set up a blog?
A. The most important is to blog about something you are passionate about. Do not get into Tech blogging because it is sexy or travel blogging because you get to travel. Blogging needs to be a passion. If it’s a passion you can write from the heart and write often and consistently. If it is not, then its always a burden to come up with new material and that will show in your work.
* Liron Segev is also known as The Techie Guy. You can read his blog at http://www.thetechieguy.com or follow him on Twitter on @Liron_Segev
* Follow Gadget on Twitter on @GadgetZA