For the past few days active users online in African and Nigeria could be very aware of the report that search engine giant Google shut down Linda Ikeji blog over copyright infringement claims, but was later restore back online within 24 hours of being offline.
However over the past few days if you were online, especially on Blogshpere, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in the last few weeks, you would have likely witnessed the whole Linda Ikeji blog shutdown brouhaha. After Google Restore Back Linda Ikeji Blog online, she come out to address the all shut Brouhaha in one of her post where she exposed the person behind that stunt and reason why the person make that attempt.
About few hours ago, if find this opinion write-up interesting on Sahara Reporters, but immediately contacted the person to give me full right to share the interesting piece to GY readers. Here is the piece title ” Did Linda Ikeji and/or Friends Scam Millions Of Nigerians With The Recent Highly Publicized “Blog Down” Brouhaha ? The article is written by Kunle Olomofe.
If you’ve been online (especially on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter) over at least the past few weeks you would have likely seen the story going around about Linda Ikeji and her “blog down” issues. Being such a popular blog entertaining and informing millions of people across the world, 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.
Such is what happened with the Linda Ikeji “blog down” saga over a very short 24 – 72 hour period and even millions who never heard of Linda Ikeji or her blog’s success would now be forced to pay attention as the drama of a Google take down of a popular blog would instantly cause the rocus it did.
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 un-slot of 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) right 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.
In fact if anything, I love to see how Nigerians like Linda are finally catching theonline entrepreneurial bug in a big way and making great things happen for themselves, because frankly that’s what I’ve spent almost half of my life campaigning for and I do believe it’s finally time for not just Nigeria or Africa, but the entire world, to hear and see more and more young Nigerians showcase the many positive things Nigerians are capable of as globally recognized Internetentrepreneurs.
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 feel betrayed after reading all of the “confessions” that were posted by Linda and Aye Dee. To have my (and millions of others) 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 this scandal at all. And Linda should just as she claims to have felt betrayed, make a stand and present (as well as require Aye Dee to also present) a truly heartfelt and humbled apology to all affected parties in what has turned out to be a huge and unnecessary waste of valued time and emotions on what should have allegedly been a 100% personal matter.
I say allegedly above because after some scrutiny on my part, I feel as though we were all played. I feel as though this whole hubbub was created to force millions of people to pay attention to the Linda Ikeji blog. Why? I expound on some reasons below and leave it to you dear reader to draw your own conclusions.
So, What Really Happened Here?
Were Nigerians (and the world) 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 making 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.
After much of the dust had started to settle down, my internet publicity instincts (honed over almost 2 decades) as a globally renowned Internet publicist of great repute kicked in, and I began to suspect that this may all have been a clever ruse to get Nigerians’ (and perhap the world’s) attention focused on Linda Ikeji’s blog like never before.
Inconclusive Evidence #1: After some research, I found that the Linda Ikeji blog had been losing site visits loosely estimated into the hunrdeds 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 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. 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.
But my suspicions of a falsified scandal to aid Linda’s blog rather than adversely affect it (as claimed by Aye Dee) don’t end there. I considered a second piece of evidence…
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 cyberquatters. 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 ago (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, 3 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 rocus of her blog being shut down. Something is definitely out of whack here.
I mean, why the 3 year delay giving her the domain name he has now so readily offered up?
What were they (or what was he) waiting for?
Here’s my theory (and remember it is only speculation as I have no hard facts or confessions as yet to prove this beyond all reasonable doubt)…
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 that could even become a permanent loss as most online users have such poor attention spans that if a domain name change is made suddenly and quietly would almost definitely mean 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 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.
It was less than 24 hours after Google released her blog to her that Aye Dee offered to put up Linda’s blog on a domain he’d had in his possession for 3 years as at the time of writing this piece.
Now the change has been made and the world seamlessly follows the new domain name(s) without any traffic likely being lost as all eyes were on them even during the name change.
Frankly it all seems much too coincidental and this is the second possibility of a ruse that prompted me to doubt the stories of alleged plagiarism, attacks from enemies jealous of Linda’s success and finally a betrayal by a friend who it turns out was responsible for a lot of the success she had enjoyed in the first place. It all just doesn’t add up. And as I told a few of my friends while writing this article…
If it looks like a dog, smells like a dog, barks like a dog and runs like a dog,
then it probably is a dog.
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 2.
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 a veteran Internet entrepreneur, author and marketing and publicity coach who is among the 1st Nigerians anywhere in the world since 1997 to discover the real earning power of the web and who first started teaching people from all over the world how to earn a living ethically from the web since as far back as 1999. He can be reached at kunle@kunleolomofe.com. Twitter: @kunleolomofe.