In Nigeria and many other African countries, there could be challenges with power supply, weak network signal, high cost of internet bundle, and high cost of living thereby, making it difficult for young persons or families to afford a smartphone, laptop, or desktop computer. Aside from the lack of some of the basic infrastructures mentioned in this paragraph, it’s also important to understand that the economic situations in the affected areas have positioned many persons in search of a get-rich-quick scheme, which blogging is never in that category.
As
a Nigerian, who has made success in the blogging industry right here in
Nigeria, I see myself as someone who is in the right position to share with you
helpful tips that will help you start a successful blog in Nigeria or any other
African country amidst every possible challenges you may encounter.
To
start blogging in Nigeria, the following tips can help you start your blogging
business in Nigeria and with time build the most visited blogs in the country.
1. BE READY
To
become a blogger, you first have to understand what blogging is all about and the
possible things required of you to make your first step. Knowing the basics
that are needed, will greatly help you prepare for your journey into the
blogosphere. Your little research will reveal that you need at least a
smartphone, a laptop, or a desktop computer to get started. You will also be
able to decide whether you want to start with a free blogging platform or go
for paid hosting (self-hosted blog) where you will purchase a custom domain
name, and pay for a hosting plan to host your files on a server.
As a beginner, it’s
common for most people at your level to start blogging on free platforms like
Blogger.com by Google, where their blog files are hosted for free and they have
uncustomized unique URLs through which people can access their blogs. But, if
you mean business, you should consider WordPress from WordPress.org, which is a
free and open-source content management system that requires you to host your
files on a server. Interestingly, there are a great number of hosting companies with
pocket-friendly hosting plans for beginners to help them start their businesses
online without breaking the bank.
2. I have a particular interest in?
It
is your blog, but you are not building the blog for yourself.
This
is where most people get it wrong in starting a blog, while your interest and
what you are good at, can make you put out content easily, it’s important to
look beyond what you can easily do or passion.
When
you figure out what you are good at, the next thing to do is to find out if
there’s an audience for it, you can start by checking out those who are already
in the field and how they are performing on search. If you notice that there
are not a great number of interested persons in that niche, make a switch to
what people are looking for.
Writing
about what people are looking for, which is not within the scope of what you
already know, will fetch you more money in the long run but requires an extra
layer of work as you will have to carry out extensive research to put out
valuable and engaging content in that niche for your blog. The good news is
that you can also hire experts in that field, to write about the topic you will
publish on your blog, they might not even be experts, but they might be people
with exceptional ability to dig deep into the internet in their research and
come up with helpful content that solves a problem.
3. Learn from a mentor
Leave
aside the huge social media followership and noise, do not also take the
opposite to be the genuine and safe ground to pay and learn. At the stage of
searching for an expert to learn from? This should be one of the most careful
moments of your life, as it can make or mar your blogging journey and no one
makes it to the top a frustrated blogger.
When
it comes to blogging, some people see it as something they can learn on their
own, while some see the need to have an expert over their shoulders to help
them point clearly at what needs to be done to achieve great results. YouTube
is a great platform to start learning for free, unfortunately, the
communication between the instructor (video creator) and the viewers, is
nothing to write home about.
Make use of all the free
resources available to you, while considering cost, they will help you get
started, you will make mistakes, and also learn from your mistakes. However, if
you are a time-conscious and result-oriented person, you wouldn’t want to waste
all the time trying to figure out how to get things done yourself. As a
Nigerian who has had a fair share of the challenges of starting a blog in the
country, I clearly understand what it looks like to people who are starting out
and in this comprehensive WordPress Blogging Course, you will learn everything
from how to start a blog from scratch to finish and tips for building a
successful WordPress blog.
4. Start Now
If
you have been thinking about starting a blog, the right time to start is now.
Blogging
is something you can start with your smartphone, while people complain that
they do not have a laptop, and wonder if they can start a blog with a phone, I
am here to let you know that it’s something you can do with your smartphone.
However, a laptop or desktop computer will give you a wider display and enhance
your efficiency, but you can get going with what you have and in the long run,
get a better device.
If
you have a smartphone in your hands right now, you can start to learn how to
blog for free or via a paid course. When you want to start creating your blog,
you can use your smartphone for; domain name search and purchase, hosting
account setup, WordPress one-click installation, your blog post content
writing, and many more. All the platforms you will use for these processes are
responsive and mobile-friendly. For easy use, I would recommend an Android
smartphone as it gives you the flexibility to easily access downloaded files,
rename files, unzip, or zip folders, etc. You can achieve all that with an
iPhone but might require some additional steps or the installation of an app.
Alternatively,
you can borrow a friend’s laptop, or make use of computer centers/cyber cafes
where you can buy time and have access to a computer and the internet. A few
hours a day or a week can have a great impact on your blogging journey.
5. Solve a Problem
Having
a problem-solving blog is one of the most reliable ways to blogging success.
While human problems are uncountable, you can dive into niche-specific blogging
and provide helpful content in that field. One of the top secrets of blogging
is your ability to narrow your idea or blogging activities to a particular
niche or even a sub-niche. Honestly, going into a niche that you know well
about or can carry out further research on, will help you to cover great
topics, rank better, and even earn more from advertisements since your type of
audience can be easily identified by advertisers.
Seeing
blogging from a business point of view is very important, but this doesn’t mean
you should over-stress on making money without discovering what value your blog
readers will get from visiting your blog.
So,
what problems do you intend to solve with your blog? To answer this question
correctly, take a look around, draw out your pen, and begin to write down some
shortcomings in your niche of interest that you intend to solve with your blog.
Then, write out the steps you want to take to solve them and write
easy-to-follow guides based on your discoveries.
A simple problem to
solve with your blog can be the discovery of how there are many comments on
different blogs waiting for replies, comments from people who are actively
looking for answers to a particular question, or how to fix a problem. You can
build a blog to foster communication between you and your readers, to help them
out with questions they may have after following your guide. A little dive into
different online forums can also reveal popular questions or the most
disturbing challenges people face using a product or service. to fast-track
this process and enjoy our list of most profitable niches, make sure you enroll
in our professionalblogging course to set you on the right path and avoid wasted efforts.
6. Advance your blog
Blog
advancement is the strategy employed to increase your reach and maximize your
revenue. There are various ways to promote a blog, it can be through paid
promotion, partnership, referral, or SEO techniques. Some of the blog promotion
methods are capital intensive while some can be achieved with little or no
money.
To
incredibly promote your blog, normalize sharing your posts on social media
platforms such as Facebook groups, link insertion in Quora Answers, Medium,
Linkedin, and many more. Pay attention to value, and craft means of bringing
back visitors to your blog. If you provide helpful content on your blog, your
visitors are likely to increase by at least 4% if visitors keep recommending
your blog to their friends and families. A great tool to bank traffic for your
blog and keep people revisiting is building an email list, or a push
notification list.
To
effectively build an email list, consider giving out something for free that
people can get in exchange for signing up for your newsletter. It can be a free
ebook on anything you know that will be of interest to your readers.
7. Make Money In Your Blog
Are
you wondering “How do bloggers make money in Nigeria?” In Nigeria and many
other African nations, there are various ways to monetize your blog traffic,
starting from the most popular ad network called Google Adsense to many others
such as Adseterra, and Media.net, However, it is important to note that each ad
network has requirements, rules, and regulations that every publisher must
abide by, to generate revenue from their blogs.
Aside
from getting AdSense approval in Nigeria or joining any other ad network, there
are also a great number of ways to make money from your blog in Nigeria and
this includes; affiliate marketing, selling your products and services,
sponsored posts, link insertions, and many more.
To
monetize your blog through ad networks, review the ad network of interest,
develop your blog to fit into their terms, write great blog posts that are well
optimized for search engines, generate the minimum required traffic, and keep
it constant for at least 3 months, submit your blog for approval. After a
successful approval, you will start displaying ads on your blog.
The simple truth remains that not every blog gets approval, but if you keep to the terms and eligibility criteria, you can increase your chances of getting approved to display ads.
In Blogging you can
start blogging with your smartphone, hence you have access to the internet.
Bloggers are considered publishers, advertisers pay bloggers to help them increase their reach. Most of the time, advertisers use mediation programs to advertise their products.
Note: To get our bogging E-book kindly contact us