29/11/2024
NewsfeedOpinion

Ever wondered what the most valuable Zambian websites are?

Zambian Sites
Zambian Sites

The world is digital, there is no doubt about that.  Thousands of people around the country are beginning to tie their interests, hobbies, causes and businesses into social media and the web as a whole.  However, have you ever asked yourself what really makes a website or blog successful?
We recently looked at a number of Zambian websites, and based on:

  • How much content they have and how dynamic the content is
  • Advertising opportunities available on the site
  • How well optimised they are and how well the content hits all the search sweet spots

We used this information and tallied it with several services dedicated to website valuation to come up with an estimated value for each website. The list below is of the top 10 most valuable websites serving the Zambian community. The values are not the revenue made by the website as that is private information but rather the value of the web property and its associated brand.  There could be many other sites valued within the same range, and if you do find one, please let us know:

So, let’s look at what makes these websites that popular.

  • Search Engine Optimization. Content is carefully matched to keywords that someone searching for content would use.  Based on these keywords, search bots index the websites and rank them.  Today if you typed in the keyword “Zambia” Zambian Watchdog is considered the best resource on anything about “Zambia”.  Categorising content in therefore an important task that any webmaster should carry out, as we have rightly pointed out in one of our articles on blogging best practices
  • Most the websites above are news websites, with a heavy reliance on advertising around their content.  While this can be annoying for the reader, it translates to a huge advertising possibility for advertisers.  Finding the right balance of course is important, as too much advertising can result in fewer unique visitors
  • Dynamic content. Users visit websites to keep up to date on something.  Most websites, tend to have the same static content for weeks if not months, gradually reducing the number of unique visitors per day/week/month.  Dynamic content, ensures there’s something new to find each day, and successful websites understand this and make every effort necessary to keep their home pages fresh
  • User engagement. Most of the news pages, have a huge social media presence with everything from breaking news to controversial headlines.  This results in hundreds of likes and thousands of comments, which when redirected to their websites, results in millions of unique visitors each month
  • Except for iConnect and ZRA the rest of the websites are all news sites. That does say a lot about the type of content we like to consume as a nation. It also demonstrates the potential for new entrants to come into the market and make their mark.

We weren’t very surprised to see that old websites like www.zamnet.zm didn’t make the list.  However, that Zambia Watchdog is the best resource available on the keyword “Zambia” is very surprising, especially that the Zambian Government does run an official website.  We will keep a close eye on the list and update it regularly waiting for a break through from the new entrants like Dotcom Zambia.

#ICTZM

6 thoughts on “Ever wondered what the most valuable Zambian websites are?

  • where is Mwebantu new media here because on facebook it has the most likes how come there website is not among the top 10 here

    • If you notice, we have not included zambiareports.com as well. At the time of writing this article, we did not have enough information on both. But for the sake of your comment, mwebantu.com is worth around K220,000. Having more facebook likes does not exactly correlate to an increase in website value.

  • You have not given any citations but simply given blank statements, article would be more valuable if it were well cited were necessary e.g. “Zambian Watchdog is considered the best resource on anything about “Zambia”” according to who? How? Google rankings correlate with perception. Otherwise, it’s a nice topic, you just needed to fill the article with a little more relevant citation of sources. What website valuation service did you use? How does that website valuation service rank globally? These would have made the article excellent if they were included guys…just my views. All the best!

    • No Ben, articles don’t work like that, citation is for lectures and research papers. Our role in writing is to engage the imagination of the reader, that they may agree or disagree with the content and share their point of view. It is only through that the we can truly engage. If we wrote this article with every bit of information relevant to every idea we have presented, would you have felt the need to comment?

  • This post is not objective,say I know my uncle owns lusakatimes website and then me as his nephew decide to write an article about the most valuable websites,his definately coming 1st.please clarify further how you came with such figures,from what I know watchdog servers are not even domiciled in zambia….Interesting topic though just clarity is needed

  • I agree with some of the above comments, its important for us readers to gain a better understanding of how these estimates were made (the tools used).

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