Back in 2013, I wrote and published an ebook in pdf format on "How to start a blog in Nigeria".
Initially, I had wanted to put the guide on for sale. But after considering some factors judging by my online status and followers back then, I decided to give it out all for FREE.
As a matter of fact, I didn't request for an email address in exchange for the FREE blogging for money PDF download. I wanted beginners bloggers from this part of the world to benefits immensely from my experience as a blogger. And to kick-start their online journey on the right path to success without the heavy cost.
The previous PDF guide is a total of 72 pages that contain no fluff. Just raw information, my experience back then with blogging for money and things I know and believed to be the right way to start a blog that makes you money in Nigeria.
This short guide you're reading won't be that long. Consider this post a short report on blogging for money and a handy tool you can keep for reference purposes.
I encourage you to download it in PDF format, read it and take actions on the things you find interesting and relevant to your online business.
Click here to Download This Full Report in PDF format And Keep it With You – a 28 Pages Full Guide on How to Start a Blog That Makes Money In Nigeria…Thank You!
Not every information in this guide will be relevant to everyone who read it – picks the one that matters most to you. Works on it implementations long enough to see the expected result.
If something is working fine as expected for you, do more of it. If it's not…try something else.
The success of that guide (the first edition) was encouraging and something that makes me realize I need to keep it updated to meet with current blogging best practices.
A reason that gave birth to this post you're reading now.
It is my hope and sincere wishes that the information presented here on this page today will serve positively everyone that reads it.
I see many young Nigerians beginner's bloggers struggling to get their voice heard among the millions of blogs on the internet. It is not easy my fellow Nigerians.
We have to work three times harder than most of our counterparts living in developed countries like the Europeans, Americans, Indians and the rest.
When taken into consideration the ready-made available resources at their fingertips. Compared to what is available to us here and the environments we lived in – many limitations here and there.
I have been trying my luck with different internet business models since 2009, –Paid to read, Paid to click, Online Survey, HYIP, Make money online programs – before settling down with this crazy thing called "blogging" back in July of 2012 after coming in contact with the word "blog".
You can read my story on the about me page. How I started my blogging journey.
Seeing what I have achieved within the space of my time blogging – I decided to share my experiences (what works and what's not) with you and the rest of the world as a blogger living in Nigeria.
So you could scale through quickly and build a better blogging career by building upon the foundation and experiences set by others.
Therefore, what you're about reading on this page are the collections of 9 (nine) years experiences in internet marketing and six (6) years of hands-on blogging (going from a novice to a professional).
So I believe the advice you get here is unique and one that will certainly add more values to the quality of your internet business.
Depending on where you're coming from and who is given the definition. You might have read that a blog is an online diary, a journal or a place you keep your personal stories on the internet.
I believe that's an old or outdated meaning of what really a blog is in today's marketing space and demands. A blog is more than a book diary or journal today.
It has become an indispensable marketing tool. A means of communication. An office space or call it a building, etc.
A blog is an online office space, a company, a shop or an apartment you operate to meet and attend to your customers in order to carry out the businesses of the day.
Just like an offline office, company, shop, store, houses your goods and services, so also a blog does to your online business. A blog is a visual company you owned online where you do all your business transactions and meets with your customers.
Traditionally, a blog is where a writer or group of writers (as the case may be) shares their opinions, views or knowledge on a subject for others to learn from and participate in the discussions.
Blogging is no different from running a brick and mortar business in the offline world. Everything that exists and affects your business in the offline world also exists here too.
Don't get caught up with the cliche "Make money online while you're sleeping". There is no sleeping here.
For your information, especially during the early days of your blogging career. You might need to be working for more than 10 hours on your blog and content promotions every day.
Blogging is for the serious, determined and hardworking entrepreneur. Not for the fainthearted or the lazy type. Blogging is a serious business and you MUST treat it as such.
Without the proper orientation. The mindset of a successful entrepreneur. You will never move your blog to a level you can quit your day job to become a full-time internet businessman.
One major reason many bloggers have failed to make money with their blog(s). For you to depend financially full-time on your blog(s), be ready to invest your time, energy and money.
Growing your blog to a full-time business is not going to be an easy task.
You have to work your way up to it from scratch going through many obstacles. Learning a lot on the way. Trying so many tricks. Investing in necessary premium tools, being consistent, time, money, etc.
Blogging is more than a hobby, it is a career.
It doesn't have to be something you kill yourself over. You just have to learn to work smarter, consistently. And with the right attitude and fortitude. The mental approach and the right mindset of a successful businessman.
…you're on your way to build a profitable blogging career.
Why You Shouldn't Blog Alone – But Collaborates With Other Bloggers in Your Niche.
When I started as a beginner blogger. I was so excited and wanted to prove to everyone I could do it. I was determined to build a blog no one else has ever built.
Since I wanted to do something different from what everyone else was doing. I decided to figure out everything on my own and build something like never have seen before.
Building a popular successful blog involves many things done right.
Among those things is collaborations, outsourcing difficult task, getting help from the outside. Inviting guest authors to share their experience with your blog readers, promotions, etc.
Like you, I taught everything could be done by me using Google to find the right answer to any challenges or obstacles I come across during the course of growing my blog.
No! It never happened that way.
I failed to realize one powerful weapon to greater achievements – Mastermind Group.
Look around yourself, analyze every special inventory that was created by Man in history. Then tell me one single inventory that was single handle and bring to life by one Man without a group of Mastermind individuals there to help with one thing or the other?
Don't try to blog alone, is never done.
Get people to involve in your blogging career.
Seek help from the outside. Learn from others – join relevant forums. Be part of your blogger's communities. Consistently learn about your industry and always strive to improve your knowledge.
You'll need the services of other bloggers to provide you with some of those things you will need to achieve success in blogging.
Relying on free tools/services will not see your blog grow in time. Be prepared to purchase premium services/products when the need arises. Spend time, money and energy building that blog of your dream.
Don't even attempt fixing everything that got broken. Appreciating other people's talent is the way forward to a professional blogging career.
If writing useful content is your weakness (though is advisable you learn how to write for your audience), hire someone who can do that job better and agree on terms. Give the person his/her dues and claim the content.
I learned this lesson the hard way. Until I agreed with this simple rule, my blogging career was crawling like a snail.
Down this post, I talked at length and in details why building friendship and establishing useful connections are vital to the success of your blogging career. You'll discover why your peer groups are your best marketing channels.
What's The Purpose Of Your Blog? – How to Start a Blog.
In the first edition of this guide (How to Start a Blog in Nigeria – back in 2013). I gave the advice of starting your blog base on what your passion is.
What you can easily write about without too many extensive research or technicalities involved.
As a beginner, that advice is valid and one you should take.
The year is now 2019, which means I'm seven (7) years older and more experienced as a blogger and internet marketer.
The advice I'm going to share with you here might be a bit above your current online marketing knowledge. But I assure you is the one you'll need most going forward starting your blog.
Choosing your blog topic around what your passion is has been the default advice the "Gurus" usually sold the newbie on.
But from experience, this is not always the best approach to start a blog that will earn you significant money online.
Validation is everything in online marketing.
You need to analyze, evaluate, research and validate what your passion is vs the demand for it in the market.
You need to be sure people are interested in what your passion is. Otherwise, you might just be starting a blog no one really cared about.
There are certain questions you'll need to answer before choosing what your blog topic will be all about.
This becomes necessary to do because you're not starting the blog just for fun or hobby, right?
Do you want to make money blogging? Yes!
Hope I'm right on that?
If that's the case, then start a blog people want to read.
Start a blog that provides solutions to the current problem people are facing. Start a blog that solves a problem people are readily paying for its solutions.
Let's assume you're a professional doctor in the brick and mortar world.
Why not start a blog on health-related issues?
And if you're an architect by profession. Is best if you consider starting a blog that discusses related issues.
The thing here is that you build your blog around a topic you're competent with. Something you're familiar with. Something you can teach others how to get better at.
This does not mean you must attain an expert status in your field before starting your blog. A little knowledge about your chosen topic is enough to get you started.
As you move along with your blog and teaches others what you know, you also improve your knowledge, skills, and experiences together.
So don't allow the lack of adequate knowledge about your blog topic deter you from starting your blog.
This little secret I want to share with you here is very important you read it carefully and adhere to it.
This is because it might just be the BIG difference between a blog that falls flat right from the word go and the one that makes a very big impact in the world.
Create a focus blog…is as simple as that.
Right now on the internet, there are more than 300,000,000 million blogs already in existence minus yours.
Although a larger percentage of these blogs are better classified as in inactive or dead zone. Because their owners can't just figure out how to create a blog that people reads.
I don't want yours to fall into this category neither do you want that to happen too, right?
So, create a blog that focuses on a section of an audience.
Don't create a blog that talks about every subject under the sun. It takes lots of resource, workforce, marketing, energy, time and money to create a blog like that of HuffingtonPost.
Though you might be tempted to emulate their style of blogging. The thing is, you're only opportune to see the front-end of the blog. But everything that goes behind the scene you never see.
The sweat, blood, resources, manpower, time, energy, dedications, money, authors, marketing and everything necessary to make such blog a reality – you never see.
So How do You Create a Blog That Focuses on a Section of an Audience?
Let's take the health niche for example.
Instead of starting a blog on all things health, why not create a blog that discusses HIV-related issues only. Or let's say High blog pressure?
You might even create a blog that only discusses a particular disease in a certain country.
For instance, South Africa is well-known for having the highest population of people living with HIV. You can create a blog for this section of the audience only.
This approach will make easy for content ideas and marketing to your audience well targeted and direct.
Though if you're starting a blog in the entertainment niche. This approach might not be a good option to follow.
Because in such an industry like entertainment – everything from gossip, breaking news, celebrity news, and gossip, politics, society – everything goes here.
The main idea here is for you to think through before starting a blog and to know exactly what section of the society or audience your blog cater for.
Define your target market. Narrow down your choices so you can be more focus and speak to a well-targets audience.
Two Types of Blogger – Two Types of Blogs.
Base on experiences, there are only two types of blogs and bloggers on the internet – The expert bloggers/blogs and the advertising bloggers/blogs.
I know this might confuse you a bit, but don't let it be. Every blogger you see on the internet falls into one of these two categories.
It is either the blogger is teaching others what he knows how to do better and in the process making money from it by charging for some premium services.
Or the blogger leverage on the existing website traffic to sell advertising space on his blog to interested advertisers through which he earns money.
The former is more of an expert who has a practical skill, knowledge or goods to sell to people who are in need of his services.
This type of blogger doesn't publish breaking news, gossip or events on their blog. 90% of their published content is evergreen and timeless information.
They teach others how to do something better.
With little traffic volume, but well targeted, this type of blogger can earn significant income from their blogging activities.
This is because their earning potential is more dependent on the quality of services, leads generations, marketing funnel and not traffic volume.
While the latter might not necessarily have that kind of practical skills or goods to offer. He is not a teacher, what he does is to inform the public, break a news, entertain or make an announcement.
He leverages on the volume of website traffic to earn money on his blog. Most of the content on such blogs as this are time sensitive, gossip, breaking news, and event, etc.
This type of blog trade traffic volume for money. The more traffic they could drive to their blog, the more the potential to earn.
Before you go ahead to start your blog.
It is important you evaluate yourself, analyze your potentials, gift and capability very well and see which category of bloggers you fall into.
This is because the approach and operations of the two blogs are different.
One demand regular publishing of content on a daily basis (in fact, multiple times per day) while the other is good to go even with 1 (one) published article per week.
Do you see why you'll need to think through before you start your blog?
It's Time! Let's Get Your Blog Live on The Internet.
The first thing you'll need to have in place before getting your blog ready is a domain name and hosting space. I already discuss what these two are in the opening chapter of this guide.
If you forget, go back and read that chapter for a better understanding of these two terms.
There are lots of domain name registrar and hosting services providers available today online, but not many worths patronizing.
In the previous edition of this latest guide, I strongly recommend WhoGoHost as the ideal indigenous domain name registrar and hosting services providers you can try out.
That has changed for now.
After the ugly hosting services I experience from the hands of whoGoHost back in 2016. I decided to try another hosting services provider.
Garanntor is my recommended indigenous web hosting services provider for now. You can check the Garanntor website out from here to see if it is something you want.
After you purchase hosting and register your domain name, is time to get your blog online.
This is where your practical aspect of blogging starts.
After registering your domain name and secure hosting, you'll want to install your blogging software. To save you a whole lot of time, go for self-hosted WordPress blog.
WordPress is the industry acclaimed number one blogging platform. It makes blogging more convenient and fun both for beginner and professionals.
Of course, there are other blogging platforms. Like blogger owned by Google which comes pretty handy and a very quick easy way to start blogging in minutes.
The good part of blogger platform is that you can start blogging in minutes without having to spend a kobo on hosting and domain names.
But you don't own the platform neither do you own your blog itself. Google owns everything and can take your blog down without notice at any time for whatever reason best known to them.
When you consider that WordPress now powers more than 52% of the top 100 blogs. You have little to no choice than to blog with WordPress.
Plus you owned your blog and have absolute 100% control over what goes in and what goes out of it.
After getting your domain name and hosting in place, I will advise you get the service of a professional web designer to set up your blog.
You can do it yourself, but is better you get a 1-on-1 practical tutorial on how to build a WordPress blog from scratch before attempting to do it yourself.
If you need a one-on-one tutorial on how to set-up a fully functional WordPress SEO optimized blog, feel free to call my direct mobile numbers ( 08132971159 or 09056169849 WhatsApp number).
Your overall blog layout and design should flow along with your blog topics. There are several WordPress themes specifically made for a certain niche.
Think about how you want your visitors to engage with your content or services before opt-in for a particular theme.
StudioPress by CopyBlogger is a leading WordPress themes developer. You will find a theme that suits your needs by browsing through their website.
Of course, there are thousands of free WordPress themes available for anyone to use. You can start with it. Especially if you're on a tiny marketing budget or need to test things out before diving into your bank account.
Based on my experience with the free WordPress themes, you'll never get all that you desired in a theme. And you can't do more with it than what the developer allowed.
Most of them are not well SEO optimized, lack responsive design and sometimes don't get regular updates or support from their developers.
In fact, the majority of the free WordPress themes developers offers no support of any kind whatsoever.
Besides, you're not the only one with the same theme for your blog design. It's might be well over saturated depending on the downloading rate and usability.
But like I said in the past, blogging is a journey, not a race. So, it is good to start with free tools. Especially when you're just getting started and don't know much about how things are working here.
As you grow older in Internet marketing and gain more positive knowledge, you'll need to shift from freemium to premium.
I decided to tag this section with the headline above for a reason.
The reason because you're just starting out with a brand new blog or probably your first attempt at blogging for money.
In the first edition "How to start a blog In Nigeria" pdf guide.
I discussed some practical ways or tactics you can explore to market your blog for business growth. I also advise that it is important you map out your marketing strategies even before getting your blog ready.
That advice is still valid and I recommend you do so before stepping out of the gate.
No matter how good your product and services, if no one is aware of them, they do not exist.
Maybe you have heard this phrase before or not, but is one of those talks that are easily thrown around and most especially, given to the newbies by the so-called "Gurus".
Build it, They will come!
Yes, the gurus told you to go build your blog. Put content on it and see the magic happen – money in your pocket. But what happens next when you follow this advice?
Zilch, Nada, Nothing! The sounds of crickets!
If you follow the advice to go build it, they will come. I bet if anyone will ever find your blog.
In today's marketing world, the competition is getting heated every second of the day. More startup here and there. Buyers are getting wiser and lots of distraction happening.
Customer acquisition strategies are now more important than before.
You must be on top of your game at most times if you must win the race here and rake in the maximum return on your investment.
Promoting your content is more important than hitting the publishing button every now and then.
Spend 1/4 of your time writing, editing, proofreading and publishing your content. But spend the other 3/4 of your time marketing the same content.
It is called the 20/80 rule.
The success of your online business could be tied to two important factors – the quality of content, services/goods, and effective content marketing strategies.
If you're better at these two things. I promise you're going to build a blog that not only makes you money but also a reference point for others in your field.
You need to promote your content aggressively across multiple relevant marketing channels where your targets audience gathered regularly and in a larger crowd.
As a newbie or beginner with little to no marketing budget. You'll need to leverage the free marketing tactics and channels.
Like the social media platforms, blog commenting, guest post regularly on relevant blogs. Participating in the communities where your audience hangs around.
But remember not to stretch yourself too thin across all social media sites.
Pick two or three marketing channels at most, and give it the best of your resources, budget, energy, time and attention.
It is better to be the master at one thing than to be average at all things.
Plus at this stage of your online marketing career, you really don't have the resources, technicalities, knowledge etc to be everywhere.
Don't go after traffic tactics because everyone says is the next big thing in Internet marketing. Unless you're sure is going to profits you in the end and that you're capable of making it works for your type of business.
For instance, podcasting is one of the Big shift in online marketing at the moment. But I tell you the truth, not more than 3% of the online entrepreneurs can get a good result from podcasting.
This is because there are lots more to it than what you see on the surface.
From equipment, influencer status, existing followers loyalty, brand recognition, marketing plan and budget to energy, time and determination.
There is a whole lot more that goes behind the scene to what you see on the outside that when put into considerations, an average blogger like you can't handle for now.
So don't get caught up with some marketing tactics that won't help you at the moment. Instead, focus your energy and time on things you can handle. Things that will help improve the value of your blog.
But don't limit yourself to things that are too easy to accomplish too. Like blog comments, social media sharing, group posting etc.
In online marketing, you'll always get what you pay for.
Most marketing tactics that are easy to complete will always bring mediocre results. While other tactics that are not so easy to complete will always bring better and significant result if done right.
Given everything equal, a successful guest post will perform better and bring significant result than a remarkable comment you leave on a blog post.
It takes on average 2 to 5 minutes to craft out awesome comment on a post – assuming you know what you're doing. But it might take days or even weeks (depending on the level of research involved) to complete a guest post.
I already share 5 practical ways or tactics you can start using immediately to promotes your brand new blog in this post. It's a massive guide too, but not extremely long like this one you're reading.
Take a moment to go through all the five (5) tactics discussed and see the one that best fits your current blogging needs.
Nevertheless, let's explore some of the industry well-known marketing tactics that are both suitable for beginners, intermediate and professional bloggers.
I'll begin with some simple stuff you can start doing immediately to kick-start your blog marketing. And to build effective communication channels while you also build your network in the process. Then I'll be moving on to some complex tasks that need a bit planning and perfection.
Blog Commenting And How To Use It.
I will have to talk at length about using blog commenting for traffic building, establishing networks and driving Traffic back to your site.
Blog commenting is the interaction that happens between the author of a post and the blog readers. A box is placed at the very end of the post for readers to leave their thoughts, opinions, and views on the post.
It is a great way to improve blog interaction and one major difference between the traditional websites and what we now call "blogs".
Benefits of Regular Blog Commenting.
You drive free targeted traffic back to your blog.
You build your backlinks profile in the process.
You establish a good relationship with other webmasters.
You learn new ideas and meet new people.
You're building your profile as a ProBlogger.
Among all these benefits, there is only one I want you to focus on while leaving comments on other blogs.
Yes, that's the one most important benefit I want you to focus on achieving while you're leaving comments on other blogs.
The more meaningful effective connections you have out there, the better your blog growth.
By leaving valuable comments on popular blogs, first, you're leaving your blog footprint on that blog for other readers to see and possibly, follow through to your blog.
Secondly, you're building a relationship with the blog owner that might open doors to more significant achievement. It helps in collaboration in the future like guest opportunity, interview appearance, business deal, etc.
Don't focus on traffic or links building opportunity when you're leaving a comment on blogs. Rather focus on building connections, establishing a relationship and networking with others.
The amount of traffic you could get from blog commenting is not significant.
The better part of this strategy is that when you focus on leaving valuable comments on blogs to build a good relationship. The traffic you want will naturally flow in your direction without you forcing it and it might be regular.
Other blog readers will start looking out for you through the insightful comments you've left on the post and who knows…the blog owners too might invite you for a guest opportunity.
After leaving comments on the post, take a moment to share the post link on Twitter, Facebook and Google plus. Do this for the post you find interesting and worthy enough to be shared.
Don't share for the sake of it. People share information with their friends because they want others to know what they're reading.
If you don't feel good or comfortable letting others know you're reading such stuff, don't share it.
Sharing what you find interesting on other people's blog is a very good strategy to get on the radar of other bloggers. Hopefully, they would do the same for your blog post too.
This is how you start creating awareness for your blog content and promotes it across social platforms. This strategy might even gain you some social media followers if done right.
This is how you grow your blog as a beginner until you have good enough financial marketing budget to support yourself and the blog. Until then, you'll have to work your way up in a baby step manner.
Most of the blogs I have been featured on were the result of the relationship I have managed to establish with the bloggers behind them. This is through valuable blog commenting that has expanded into a good cordial relationship.
Here is a list of blogs with high authority SEO juice and popularity you can start reading. Then leave valuable comments on the post they publish, understand the message in the post and contribute your opinion to it.
This way you can get closer to the blogger behind the blog and get on their radar.
These blogs moderate every comment before it goes live. So make sure you leave a remarkable comment and not some "well-done", nice post, etc.
Read and understand the author's view before posting your comment. And if you don't have something good to say, better if you can just share the link on your favorite social media sites or alternatively, just walk on.
Geek Ng owned by Wale Adekile. A.K.A Doncaprio.
Oscarmini owned by Larry Frank.
Join communities of like-minded people and establish good friendships with other bloggers.
It helps in learning quickly and a very good marketing channel for exposing your blog, proof your expertise, make friends, learn more and gather valuable knowledge about your industry.
There is nothing like learning from others, their mistakes, success stories, comments and so on. Join relevant groups and share thought and experiences with each other.
Try to make friends, build a lasting relationship, networking, and connections in these places which you'll need most on your way up to build a popular blogging career.
But remember, don't spam the group with your content. Follow the community guideline, contribute positively and always play by the rules.
This is one of the easiest methods of driving free targeted traffic and marketing your blog. There is a simple logic to why interviewing popular bloggers works well for blog marketing and traffic building.
You're leveraging on someone else existing traffic channels to build your own traffic foundation. And to market your blog to a larger crowd you could not possibly reach on your own.
So, if you can find a popular blogger to interview on your blog, it will not only drive free targeted traffic to your website but also lays the foundation to a good lasting relationship.
Though as a beginner blogger, it will be difficult to find some influencers bloggers to interview on your blog. This is because most people like to associate with an existing success.
The thing here is that you don't have to go after the "A" list blogger in your industry. Look within your peers, find someone who is just a few steps ahead of you in the industry and with good significant followers and authority.
Reach out to this person, let them know you'll like to interview them on your blog. Tell them your audience wants to know more about their online success story.
If you're lucky, you get a positive reply, and if you're not, don't feel discouraged. Not everyone you request something from will respond positively.
Learn how to handle disappointment.
There are other small traffic channels like forum discussion, blog carnival, press release, articles submission to directories (outdated marketing tactics), etc.
But in my opinion, all these will bring in small occasional traffic but not really something you should depend on for massive blog traffic. This does not mean you should ignore their importance, use them.
Massive blog traffic comes from combinations of referral links, direct and organic traffic.
Right down this guide, I'll be taking you on some proving marketing tactics for Big traffic stream both paid and free marketing strategies.
Advance Blog Marketing – It Starts With Your Audience.
You start with your audience. Your audiences are the best marketing channel. These are people who are genuinely interested in your content and always come back for more.
Why are your audiences your best marketing channel?
Imagine you published a post on your blog and at the time, all you have is just 10 regular readers who frequently visit the blog to read your post.
Let say out of these 10 readers, 7 readers really love what you published and three decide to share your post to their followers either on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit, LinkedIn, etc.
Each one out of these three loyal readers has an average of 2,000 followers.
What this means is that your content is now been viewed by a total of 6,000 people. Wow! With a little effort on your part, your content is now in the hands of 6,000 followers.
Assuming you published really good stuff. You should see significant improvement in the traffic to your blog. Except that your content is not interesting, useful or irrelevant to this audience.
Out of these 6,000 external followers, just 5 decided to check on what their friends had shared with them. So they follow the link down to your blog post and find it as interesting as their friends had thought.
So they too decide to hit the sharing buttons after reading your post, and guess what?
Each one out of these 5 people has an average of 2,500 followers on Twitter, 2,000 Facebook friends and in 500 circles of Google+. What does this mean?
Gradually, your content is going viral and your blog is now becoming a portal for a targeted audience. This greatly explains why you must produce good quality content always.
Your readers will play a bigger role in the growth of your blog.
You need to appreciate the existing small traffic channels at your disposal. While you're gradually building the gateway to potential large traffic channels which are the key to a successful blogging career.
All you need to do constantly is to work on your small communication channels regularly.
And hope an opportunity will present that a popular blog will link to you from within their published post. Feature you on their blog as a guest author, in their newsletter or in an interview.
If one of this happens, you've just hit a bang!
Never stop at working your way up, guest post regularly on different blogs.
This allows you to showcase your blog and creativity to different communities. Who knows – an authority blogger might pick your article and feature you on his blog.
The Power of Peer Groups.
Next, you'll need the help of your peer group to build up your blog traffic. Not just traffic, but also building a popular successful blog.
This is why I told you earlier on that making friends, establishing connections and networking are the backbone to a successful blogging career. When you have good friends in high places, it gets easier to get what you want.
Let's go off blogging, and come back home to Nigerian politics.
Why do you think some of our dear politicians are so successful in getting appointments, contract awards, senatorial seats, executive positions, and even presidential seat?
The answer to all these questions is tied around one important factor to greater achievements…belong to the right caucus and you'll always get what you want.
Connections are what bring most of our dear politicians to where they are today. We have many worthy people who are more deserving of political positions but without being in the right party – you and I know they will never get there.
The same thing happens in the blogosphere. That's why you'll always see pro bloggers linking to each other more often than to an average blogger. Your friends will help you a lot in achieving massive blog traffic.
Here is a typical example of what I'm trying to get across here.
Sometimes ago, a roundup post was published by Philip Ariel on his blog which featured 130+ experts on the subject of sleep and productivity.
I was opportune to be featured on the list. The expert opinion post was later republished on the popular HuffingtonPost blog for maximum exposure and traffic.
I have also landed many guest post on some industry-leading blogs like the Daily Blog Tips, Blogging Tips, Enstine Muki, NinjaOutReach, etc.
All these wouldn't have happened if not for the caucus of bloggers I belong. Belong to the right group, and things won't be difficult to get.
Something Very Important – Build your email list.
Whatever your marketing techniques are, make sure they are tied to one end – building an email list of targeted subscribers.
Either you're marketing your content on social media sites, guest post on other people's blog, running pay-per-click advertising, solo email, etc…make sure you turned this cold, earned or paid traffic into owned traffic.
For many reasons, your email list will be your best traffic channel especially if you want to consistently earn money on demand.
Your email list subscribers are the people who have been exposed to your content and appreciate your work by giving you permission to send them featured post updates via email box.
A lot has been said about the possible decline of email newsletter as a marketing tool. But that's not going to happen anywhere so soon. As long as people pay attention to their email messages, email marketing will always be around as an online marketers marketing channel.
Your email list of active subscribers is, if not more important than your blog itself. But together they'll make for a perfect business tool if done right.
I made the mistake of not adding an email opt-in box on my blog when I started blogging back in 2012. Only God knows how many subscribers I lost during that period.
I don't want you to make the same mistake. So start today with your list building strategies.
I urge you to start from day one to place an opt-in subscribers form on your website to collect prospect details. Lots of benefits await you when you have a good healthy list of subscribers.
Promoting affiliate products and services.
Make an announcement of newly created product(s) to your list.
Driving targeted traffic on demand.
Making money online with the list –Solo Ads.
Getting feedback on your services.
The benefits are only limited by your own imagination.
There are many good auto-responder services you can start with but most of them cost money to use.
At the beginning of your blogging career and especially when you're not earning any kobo yet, I would advise you start with the free available auto-responder services.
MailerLite email marketing services allow you up to 1,000 subscribers with all the benefits and features rich services that come with the paid plan all for free.
Until you reach 1,000 subscribers, all the paid plan features are free to use, so you build your list quickly at zero cost.
Another good email marketing option is Mail-chimp.
Mail-chimp will allow you up to 2,000 subscribers base free before you're required to register for a premium account if you want to continue using the service.
But the downside to Mail-chimp is that as a free user, you won't be able to make use of the paid plan features. Like the autoresponder services which allow you to send out a pre-written message at a set date and time or trigger by an event.
For beginner's, I'll advise you to go with MailerLite. There are lots of advantages you get using MailerLite to build your email list.
Traffic Level, Monetizing Strategies And Money.
There are lots of debates going around in the blogosphere on how early should a newly created blog monetize based on traffic level, especially for beginners.
I believe you need no traffic level to start monetizing your blog from day1. Unless you're not planning to monetize at all in the feature. Or you're waiting for a certain event to occur before testing out different monetization strategies.
Like I said early in this guide, you're here to earn your living online using blogs as a tool to that end, right?
So I see no reason why you shouldn't monetize your blog from the get-go.
The earlier you start with everything in mind, the better for your blog growth and learning curve. You keep learning here till you stop marketing online.
Some argument for early monetization includes potential to start earning from the word go assuming you have enough targeted traffic to your blog.
Ability to test different monetization methods out when your blog is at the infant stage. So you grow your marketing experience alongside your blog growth.
If you chose not to monetize your blog from day1. You might risk losing your loyal readers in the feature when you start pitching your affiliate offers or even your product sales in their face.
When your readers have accustomed your blog with a text-based blog. But later you start placing banner ads everywhere. This may turn off some visitors and eventually you lose your loyal readers.
Your blog may lose its overall design too. And this will eventually give "you" the blogger, another hectic work to do. Possibly you will settle for another blog theme entirely when you decide to monetize.
So, if you desire to keep your blog image and style for a long-term, start with everything in mind from day1.
Though, there are some benefits too in not monetizing early on your blog.
It gives you enough room to focus on the core aspect of professional blogging career which is "content creation". Content is the reason people visit your blog, every other thing is by-products of it.
Your only focus is on your reader's satisfaction – providing them with useful actionable information tailored to their needs. But as I said, you're here to make money, right? So monetize early.
They contain information on some monetization tactics you can implement on your blog that might result in earning money.
Selling Your Own Product and Services.
Freelance Work. Marketing Your Skills.
Sell Advertising Space on Your Blog Directly to Advertisers.
Run Google Adsense Ads and other Contextual Ads etc.
Well, this might come shocking to you, but from experience, I tell you this…those are tactics and not the actual fundamental principles that lead to earning money from your blog.
If you really care to know how you can make a significant income from your blog. Then focus on attracting the right attention to your blog – the right attention in large quantity.
Attention is what leads to earning in online marketing. If people are not paying attention to your offer or blog, no amount of monetization methods out there will result in anything worthwhile.
If you have been following my advice in this guide especially on blog marketing, getting the attention your blog needs to make a BIG impact in the world should be right there standing boldly in your front.
If you master the art of blog marketing effectively, you already have the attention you need to make things happen and to earn significant income from your blogging activities.
I hope this short guide on How to Start a Blog In Nigeria will go a long way in helping you start a blog worth reading….one thing before I drop my pen, let me know if you need help starting your own blog.
Thanks so much, Shamsudeen for sharing this huge information about starting a blog in Nigeria. Even as I've been blogging for 3 years, I still find this guide useful.
There's no need repeating what's on the content. I'm going home with a hand full of ideas and things to get fixed on my blog.
I suggest you add a table of content for this post to allow quick navigations.
Glad you find the information useful. And thanks for sharing your thought with us.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thought. Have a nice day.
Thanks, Qeemat, glad you like it.
This is one of the best post I have ever read about making money online. You really gave a detail explanation on how one can make money online by blogging. I really love this post. This is like a tutorial.
I'm glad you find the information very useful.
Making money online is not an easy thing but with a clear road map, consistency, implementing what works…success is achievable.
Glad you find the information useful, Duncan. Thanks for reading through.
Thanks for reading through, and I'm so glad you find the information useful. If you need help with anything related to this, don't hesitate to let me know.