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Over the last few weeks, a few people have been asking me how exactly we choose which of our lovely ladies will make it to the Women Wednesday feature. The process, I’ll admit, is not Rocket Science. A while back, Justin conducted an exercise to discover the top 45 female bloggers in Africa. This post has formed the basis of my selection and basically I go through the list and read. It’s that simple. When I find a good blog, that blogger is then feature here. As I said – it’s hardly rocket science.

Justin’s entry was posted some time back, so I thought that a quick update might be nice. And with that, I present to you the Top 20 Female Bloggers in Africa as ranked by Afrigator

There are a few things to consider when looking at this list

• It was drawn up by hand, so there’s no money back guarantee on the data.
• This list is based only on bloggers who have signed up to Afrigator.com

The ranking is taken directly from the top blogs section as ranked by Afrigator’s unique ranking system which takes into consideration page views, unique visits, links from blog posts and finally links from blogs to formulate an overall rank on Afrigator.

The list is accurate as of about 9pm on Tuesday 8 July and is subject to change pretty much immediately due to the way that the ranking system works.

It was very encouraging to see that many of the bloggers here have moved up in the ranking and that there are also a few new entries on the list

So, now you can see where it is that we find all these great blogs to present and you can go and have a read for yourself.

Till tomorrow, keep on blogging.

Lester

Today was supposed to be Women Wednesday. Well, technically is still is Women Wednesday, but it’s also the start of a new month and more importantly the end of the old one. As things stand, I’m snowed under with admin wrapping up June here at the GatorPen, so there won’t be a Women Wednesday post today

On a positive note, Afrigator had it’s 10,000th blog added today This is proof that the universe is listening. I love house music, so does Justin, so it’s only fitting that the 10,000th blog is all about house music.

Have a look and see for yourself

http://www.hotshotsound.blogspot.com

Be sure to check back tomorrow for our country close up on Ghana!

Lester

Blogging is different for different people. We each use it in our own way to achieve our goals, whether this be to express, inform or educate. One of my favourite blogging types (and one we don’t showcase enough) is photoblogging. Photographers often use the simplicity and power of blogging to communicate via images. What’s more, it also affords the photographer an opportunity to add history, context and insight to a scene.With that in mind, here is this Week’s Women Wednesday featured blogger.

Scarlett Lion: Liberia

The first thing that grabs you when you land on this blog is colour. The subtle colours used in the header image and the vibrant array that streams from the photographs showcased in her posts.Now before I move on to the content, I’d like to take a second to admire the layout of this blog. Hosted using the very popular Blogger platform, it shows that with a little tweaking amazing results really are possible.

Photographer, writer, reporter. Going through life with an eye towards creating records and histories. Previously in Uganda, now in Liberia. This blog provides curiosities, cynicism, and commentary. And some photos.

It certainly does do what it says on the tin. With topics ranging from African Barbie dolls to the Liberian Surfing scene, literary and visual stimulation are both provided in plentiful supply.I spent quite a few hours reading through the posts, going back a few months and found the writing to be witty, compassionate and eloquent. But more than all of this, it was easy to read and entertaining for me as a reader.

One section I particularly enjoyed was the photo of the day, a showcase of good photographs selected with a keen photographer’s eye.

Blog description:

Scarlett Lion: Lieria.Photography and dispatches from Liberia.

Blog Rank:

Scarlett Lion: Liberia. Ranks 1 in Liberia and ranks 63 in Africa. According to site visitors it ranks 235, and 358 according to page views:

According to blogroll links it ranks 115 and 169 according to the amount of links within Afrigator blog posts

If you haven’t done so already, make your way over to Scarlett Lion’s blog right now and have a read.

Sokari Ekine – Women Wednesday #2

Sokari Ekine is a rare find. A Nigerian by birth, Sokari started blogging while working in Spain. Armed with sharp wit, striking prose and  most importantly, an eye for what’s really going down behind the smoke and mirrors, she is an inspiration.

In 2004 Sokari started BlackLooks, a Pan African blog and soap box. With frequent updates over the years, the blog makes for intriguing, informative and engrossing reading as you get to know Sokari through her writing. I found myself drawn in by Sokari’s writing style and challenging her perspectives only to be greeted by an often well reasoned argument. Her blog is both personal and passionate without being a zealous outburst, which is very often the case of blogs dealing with subject matter as explosive as hers.

Afrigator Stats – Black Looks

Blog description:

Pan African Political & Cultural Blog

Blog Rank:

Blacklooks ranks 27 in Africa and 3 in Nigeria. According to site visitors it ranks 151, and 233 according to page views:

According to blogroll links it ranks 49 and 68 according to the amount of links within Afrigator blog posts

With her sharp wit and sharper quill, this blogger vocally states her position on issues such as climate change,  human rights,  gender issues,  Africa relations and her love of literature.

“I started blogging with the idea of presenting a progressive and feminst perspective of Africa and the African Diaspora. I am interested in seeking out ways to encourage more Africans to blog and creating a community of grassroots African bloggers as a way/space for Africans to exchange ideas and strategies for effecting change in our communities, share experiences and tell our own stories in our own words.”

Her blogging has also stood Sokari in good stead, as she was part of a group of bloggers who connected the world leaders at the G20 summit in London to the rest of the world. She writes for a number of other online publications and still blogs frequently at Black Looks, though she has invited guest bloggers to contribute as the popularity of the blog increased.

Sokari is not only proof of the intelligence, eloquence and strength of African women, but also of the power of blogging.

http://www.blacklooks.org

It’s been a very busy and even more productive week here at the Gator Pen. We’ve launched a spiffy new home page design on Afrigator.com, debuted Tuesday Tips and launched new campaigns on Adgator. In the spirit of starting cool new things, we’re launching Women Wednesday.

What is it?

Here at Afrigator, we’ve got lots of love for the ladies We’ve very recently hired a lovely lady of our own, but in general we respect and revere our female readers and users. In the spirit of showing the rest of Africa and the world just how beautiful our African sisters are, we’ve launched Women Wednesdays where we will profile a female blogger every week. We’ll give some basic info bout the  blogger, some stats about their performance on Afrigator and we’ll point you in the direction of their blog.

Tertia Albertyn – So Close

If I had to write this review in one line, it would read something like this – Tertia Loeberberg Albertyn is one helluva woman. Her book “So Close: Infertile and Addicted to Hope“ is an inspiring, funny and up close account of her battle with infertility, child loss and life in general. Her blog of the same name seems to be the book’s legacy, the bat cave where her blunt, funny, irreverent and delightfully shocking humour lives and plays.

The best thing (for me) about Tertia’s blog is that you don’t have to be interested solely in the subject matter to appreciate it. I’m a fairly young guy who’s not thinking about kids, let alone infertility, but over the last few days I’ve found myself constantly going back to the blog for the sharp wit and the borderline humour.

On her ‘About‘ page, Tertia has some funny thing s to say about herself and her blog”

“This blog started off as a chronicle of my journey through infertility. Amazingly, nine IVF’s and a few losses later I managed to get knocked up and keep the babies this time. My twins, Adam and Kate, were born January 2005.”

Tertia did win her battle with infertility and is now the mother of three pretty good looking kids. Me mumbling it out all in one sentence does not justice to the depth and scope this amazing African woman’s strenght, character and resilience.

If you haven’t yet – do yourself a favour and give her blog a read now.

Afrigator stats: So Close

Blog description:

After being So Close for so long, I have finally arrived. Life after infertility.

Blog Rank:

So Close ranks 11 in Africa and 10 in South Africa. According to site visitors it ranks 14, and 24 according to page views:

According to blogroll links it ranks 75 and 176 according to the amount of links within Afrigator blog posts