Owning a blog is practically an identity, a brand and a profession. It is certainly a good idea to start a profitable blog in Nigeria. The potential to monetize your blog while creating and regularly updating useful, fact-based content for your readers is quite huge.
Do you know that the highest-paid online entrepreneurs make so much revenue BECAUSE THEY OWN BLOGS? The same can be said of businesses that record huge profits online – majority of them make solid use of blogs. Some of the well-known professional bloggers in Nigeria today are millionaires in their own right.
They include the likes of:
- Linda Ikeji (Linda Ikeji’s Blog): Net worth of 40 million USD
- Omoyele Sowore (Sahara Reporters): Net worth of 10 million USD
- Uche Pedro (Bella Naija): Net worth of 5 million USD
- Makinde Azeez (Naijaloaded): Net worth of 4 million USD
- Jide Ogunsanya (Ogbonge Blog): Net worth of 4 million USD
- Noble Igwe (360Nobs): Net worth of 4 million USD
- Bamidele Onibalusi (WritersinCharge): Net worth of 3.5 million USD
The list goes on and on. We will soon find out why.
What Actually is a Blog?
A BLOG (or web log) is a website or webpage with regularly updated content, and written using a conversational style. You can call it an online journal or diary. It may be updated daily, every few days, or weekly; and is normally owned by an individual or organization. A blog may be used as an introductory landing page into a bigger website. That is, a way of generating interest from visiting readers to attract and keep them coming back.
Contents of a blog are written in the form of blog posts – articles dedicated to specific topics. The entire blog may be dedicated to topics in a particular niche or field of interest. It could be food, travel, health, politics, education, religion, parenting, agriculture, electronics or more. Or it could be several viewpoints, observations or findings of one or more writers, written to engage readers.
Requirements to Start a Profitable Blog in Nigeria
To start a profitable blog in Nigeria is both relatively cheap, and a visionary step – if you are focused. Reliable online sources put the population of internet users in Nigeria at around 122.5 million as of January 2023.
Imagine a significant fraction of this number regularly visiting your blog everyday, clicking links and interacting with you and other visitors. And of course you are not lazy – you are willing to constantly add fresh, engaging content and valuable information to your blog.
It certainly would take some months and your unwavering dedication to build up your blog and generate enough website traffic. You also need to find out what topics are trending in your area of interest, and hone your writing skills.
Above all, the three basic things you will need to start a blog are:
- A good computer: Your laptop or desktop computer is good to go. As long as it has the basic configuration to support blogging, and constant electricity supply. Some bloggers are even reported to have started blogging on a smartphone, tablet or mini-laptop successfully. However, a Windows 10 or Mac computer with at least 4gb memory, and 250gb hard disk space is good for a beginner. You can upgrade your hardware with time.
- A dedicated blogging platform (free or paid) such as Blogger, WordPress or Wix. They are usually referred to as content management systems. There are cheap and reliable blog platforms around, if you make your findings well. You can start with a free package. However, you will need to pay a small monthly subscription to host your blog if you intend to make money from it.
- Reliable internet connection
- A domain hosting service to keep your website active at all times
- A bank credit or debit card – preferably a Visa or MasterCard Dollar card. Note also that bloggers in Nigeria may receive payments through Wire Transfer (domiciliary account), PayPal, Payoneer, Skrill, Bank Deposits, and Crypto.
Advantages of Owning a Blog
1. Build for yourself a unique, attractive and personal brand that becomes popular. That way, you attract partnerships, affiliate networks, and other marketing opportunities.i
2. Wth time, you will acquire a dedicated fan base who are attracted to our style of writing and your content. That translates to huge revenue over time as well.
3. You can showcase your skills and knowledge through blogging. You eventually earn yourself a place of authority, a resource person to look up to when needed by others.
4. You increase your online visibility when you have developed your blog to attract an ever-increasing number of visitors (website traffic). A good way of ensuring that is to use enough relevant keywords in your blog posts. It will bring up your blog in web searches very easily, thus improving your web search engine rankings. Whatever professional or ecommerce website is connected to that blog is exposed directly to the increased website traffic. Another way to promote the website brand, product or service.
5. Blogging can be a great way to provide friendly and dynamic customer support for an organization that wants its online presence to be taken seriously. It will keep your website active, constantly generating customer feedback and attending the needs of prospective and loyal customers alike.
5. By extension, building rapport and interacting with customers and visitors through an active blog helps to build quality relationships. This will secure the future profits and survival of the organization behind it.
6. You can generate multiple income streams through blogging.
7. A blog can be designed like a showroom. It can showcase a company’s products and services in a quick but attractive, engaging view. As such, a passing but curious visitor will want to find out more about the main website.
8. Blogging also presents an opportunity to develop oneself professionally. It can help you to learn valuable skills and new knowledge to boost your overall net worth and capabilities.
Money-Making Opportunities Available through Blogging in Nigeria
The many ways you can make money from a profitable blog in Nigeria include, but are not limited to, the following:
- By selling digital products: ebooks, online courses and educational videos
- Offer freelance services: You can market your skills and attract clients. Such skills include video editing, graphics work, transcription, writing, coding or social media management.
- Affiliate marketing: Earn a commission by promoting your unique referral link, to attract buyers of a product or service.
- Online advertising networks such as Google Adsense will reward you for providing a space on your blog to display adverts. You will be paid per click or visit.
- You can work directly with a brand or company to promote their product or service, and get paid for it. This is called sponsored ad (or content).
- Furthermore, you can become the face of a company or brand to promote their products or services for greater effect – that is, their brand ambassador. There are huge endorsement deals that go with this, sometimes in millions.
- Set yourself up as a consultant or resource person (a coach) in a particular area of specialization. And promote that service on your blog. Interested persons will negotiate with you.
- Membership offers: You can request for visitors to subscribe to membership packages in order to access your content exclusively. And if indeed your content is truly valuable, people will buy into it.
- Sell physical products and services. Especially those related to your area(s) of specialization or niche.
- Write paid reviews of products and/or services
- Use your blog to host an online event – such as a conference or other video meetings. And get paid for it.
- Sell advertising space directly to other entrepreneurs
- Seek for support through donations donations to your blog
Essential Steps to Follow in Order to Start a Profitable Blog in Nigeria
Decide on the Scope of Your Blog – Which Niche(s) You Will be Writing on
You cannot be a specialist in all fields. That is simply exhibiting lack of focus, and it may likely waste your energy. So – choose the niche(s) that showcases your knowledge and expertise, and that you love. And plan to stand out from others in the same field. Don’t keep repeating what others have done. Unless you intend to do blogging for fun.
Choosing a niche is a sign you mean business – you are ready to make dedicated profit. So you must be focused. It helps you to identify a clearly defined target audience who would need your content, and work on it. And be global in thinking – your target audience could very well include readers beyond Nigeria. If you are interested in more than one niche, start with one and develop it well, before embarking on another. And if you have the financial capacity, hire some co-writers to help you – particularly to cover other niches.
You will also need to research the topics of interest that people are usually searching for on the internet. You can also glean into other related blogs, websites and forums for ideas and guidance, especially the successful ones. All in all, ensure that you enjoy what you are doing, because it will be the driving force to keep you going.
Pick a Good Blog Platform
A blog platform is an internet-based software or app you can use to create, edit and maintain your blog. Also called a content management system. It allows you to upload and organize all kinds of relevant content from videos to pictures, text, and voice with animations.
There are several added functionalities and tools to enhance the appearance and performance of your blog. They include free and paid plugins, and widgets of all kinds. They even allow you to integrate your social media handles.
It is always easier to start creating your blog with a blog platform that offers you a free option. It is also advisable to use a beginner-friendly blog platform, so make your findings carefully before choosing one.
Some very good blog platforms with free starter options include WordPress, Medium, and Blogger. However, prepare to pay for extended, advanced features that would enable you to truly profit from your site over time.
WordPress is particularly useful, and is swamped with loads of very useful plugins to bring out the best from your blog. Additionally, there are two options for WordPress which are WordPress.org and WordPress.com. WordPress.org has more robust features and is self-hosted, so it is highly recommended to you.
There are comprehensive how-to articles and videos in WordPress that will help you to:
- install and set up the software properly
- add pages, contents, and widgets
- customize the appearance of your blog
- instal plugins that would enhance the performance of your blog or website
- monetize your website
- connect your website with your social media accounts
- process payments
and so many other functionalities designed to make your blog extremely useful and profitable in a short while. Ensure you judiciously follow out these guidelines and tutorials. Do not embark on designing a blog without taking these tutorials. You can also connect with WordPress admin and customer support through their communication channels for expert guidance.
Buy a Domain Name and a Web Hosting Package
Your domain name is the name or web address of your blog (or website). It must be a unique name that is easily remembered by web visitors and not used by anyone else, so it requires careful choosing. Thankfully, sites such as WordPress.org will suggest and help you pick a suitable domain name for your blog. It also tells you if you have chosen a domain name that is already in use on the internet.
You will need to pay for an easily customized domain name of your choice. And remember – your domain name should be related to your chosen niche, and easy to remember.
A web hosting service is a company that sells dedicated storage space to store your blog, on their own web servers. It guarantees that your blog is always online, accessible and active; as well as well secured from cyber attacks. Good (and cheap) examples to choose from include Namecheap, DreamHost, HostGator, Bluehost, WP Engine, and GoDaddy, amongst others.
You need an Online Dictionary. Get a Grammarly account
It is essential that your blog posts be plagiarism-free and error-free. Plagiarism-free means you should not copy anyone’s written work word for word. That smirks of lack of creativity and originality; and no one is allowed to take credit for other people’s work. In fact, Google search engine will rank your work low, and even heavily penalize you for that offense. You must learn to rewrite content and inject it with your own ideas and style – that would make it attractive to readers.
Your content must also be error – free in terms of English spellings, punctuation, correct syntax, and context usage. That’s where the online dictionary, Grammarly comes in very useful. You can open a free basic account; although there is the premium paid version with advanced features. And it will be embedded as an extension in your browser to automatically handle grammar corrections for you while you type.
Other important steps you will need to embark upon to make your blog successful and profitable include the following:
- You need to make use of Analytics tools (such as Google Analytics) to check and track the performance of your blog in search engines. It will also help to optimize your blog to receive more web search views through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is the expert use of relevant (and high-ranking) keywords in your blog.
- Create an email list in your blog right from the onset. Implement it by inserting a pop-up notification attached to an email form, to harvest email addresses from visitors to your blog. That way, visitors will not merely check on your content and disappear afterwards to seek other information sources. Rather, you will send well-crafted reminders with personalized messages to their email addresses from time to time, to bring them back. You can even plan and schedule your email messages with the help of email automation software, such as Getresponse.
- You need to add plugins that can improve your website speed into your blog. You may also need to streamline your blog contents so as not to consume too much data, nor make it too data-heavy. The aim is to help your blog to open quickly enough when users intend to access your blog at any time. If it takes too long for your blog to respond and open up in a browser, it will discourage visitors from returning to your blog.
- Design your blog to be responsive and mobile-friendly. Many of your visitors are likely using mobile phones to access your blog; you must be conscious of this. Thus you need to create suitable versions of your blog for mobile phones, and for social media pages. WordPress is highly helpful in this regard, as it will provide you some SEO guidelines and recommended tips to make your blog mobile-friendly.
- Add widgets that will link your blog directly to your social media pages, and other communication channels. For instance, insert your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, email and other social media links into your blog with the appropriate widgets. This would help readers to communicate, interact and connect easily to your blog from anywhere across social media and the internet.
- Insert backlinks or hyperlinks to connect each of your blog posts to other relevant blog posts and websites. That way, you will attract even more visitors, who will more likely click those links to get more information.
- Use every opportunity to promote your blog. You can easily publicize your blog through your social media pages, WhatsApp, Telegram, email and other communication channels.
- And very important: you aim to make as much money as possible. Don’t you ever forget that. By all means, monetize your blog in every available and possible way. Don’t limit your vision. Use multiple methods to monetize your blog: insert affiliate links, sign up for Google Adsense, showcase products and services, market your skills. PUT EVERY MONEY-MAKING OPPORTUNITY TO WORK!! And thank me later.
