Blogging is on the lips of everyone associated with information technology and everyone who is interested in the dynamics of communication. As the world shrinks into a global village, people are always open to better ways of sending and receiving information. Over the years, with the proliferation of the new media, people have been spoilt with options. Selective exposure ensues, and no one can deny it is, in fact, nourishing to every society. In Nigeria, blogging’s permanence isn’t coincidental; many seek guidance on how to start a blog.
Many Nigerians depend on blogs for daily news items. It should not surprise you that most people base their opinions on information emanating from blogs. Blogging is so flexible that one can do just anything on the platform. You can rant, advertise, publicize, sensitize. You can package messages in various different clever and creative formats to achieve a planned effect.
Why blogging is popular among Nigerians
Blogging is a very popular topic with many Nigerians these days. This is majorly because it creates an enabling environment for ordinary people to share their thoughts and/or ideas online. This article is going to hold you by the hand and show you how to start and keep a blog and make money from it. A blog is a viable marketing tool for people and businesses. Though the popularity of blogging is largely because it offers ordinary people the opportunity to become stars in their own rights as well as make a reasonable living from their blogs, blogs mirror many societies. However, cub bloggers often do not have what is required to start and keep a blog as well as achieve planned goals.
Succeeding in the blogging business takes a lot of time, patience, nurture and strength of mind. Blogging is not about just posting articles on your blog or copying other people’s posts to your blog. But the blogging business takes a lot of efforts in creativity and self-motivation. Money does not just roll into your bank account as a starter. But if you keep feeding your audience over time, you create traffic, and you will definitely earn your dues before long. Knowing how to start and keep a blog is, therefore, as precious as a diamond.
Brief History of Blogging
According to Web Designer Depot, which captured the brief history of blogs, it explained that blogs have become an integral part of online culture. Almost everyone reads blogs now, encompassing “official” news blogs linked to traditional news media, topic-based blogs related to work or hobbies, or blogs solely for entertainment. Just about anyone you ask has at least one favourite blog. But it wasn’t always so. Blogs have a relatively short history, even when compared with the history of the Internet itself.
The general recognition attributes the creation of the first blog to Justin Hall, a Swarthmore College student, who established Links.net in 1994. During that time, these platforms weren’t termed ‘blogs’; Hall simply labelled them as his personal homepages. The term “weblog” emerged in 1997 and is credited to Jorn Barger of the influential early blog Robot Wisdom. He coined the term to illustrate the act of logging the web while browsing. 1998 marks the first known instance of a blog on a traditional news site, when Jonathan Dube blogged about Hurricane Bonnie for The Charlotte Observer.
According to Emma Onwuka, blogging has a relatively short history in Nigeria, even when compared with international blogs. If you say there are over a hundred thousand Nigerian blogs on the web today, you would be forgiven, for it is not an overestimation. The numbers of Nigerian blogs have skyrocketed. Right from the year 2012, according to Easyspace records, 62% of business owners now own and run blogs.
The 2000s marked the emergence of blogs as a result of the free blogging platform Blogger.com, launched in 1999 by Evan Williams and Mog Hourihan of Pyra Labs. Initially, individuals shared personal photos, family pictures, and life experiences online through Blogger.com blogs and Picasa web albums.
Google’s foray into blogging
In 2003, Google purchased Blogger.com and acquired AdSense from Oingo Inc. Google matches ads to blog content. AdSense made it possible for bloggers without huge platforms to start making money from when they start blogging (however, payments to low-traffic blogs were not very large). When some bloggers started making money from their blogs, the number of Meta blogs increased. Many Nigerians began to put up their own niche blogs on entertainment, fashion and style. Later on, tech and how-to blogs followed. Blogs became bigger when another today’s popular blogging platform, WordPress, was released on May 27, 2003. It became fun and competitive. Best Nigerian bloggers usually bag awards at the end of every year; nominations were done through blog readers’ rating. Some group of Nigerian bloggers organise the award and prize-giving.
In 2005, Nairaland forum, an online community created by Seun Osewa, joined the trend. Many Nigerian bloggers, seeing how promising Nairaland is going to be, joined. Today, the biggest online community forum in Nigeria is Nairaland.
In 2006, all blogger blogs were associated with Google accounts and were moved to Google servers. By the middle of 2006, there were 50 million blogs according to Technocrati’s State of the Blogosphere reports. Between the middle of the years 2006 and 2008, there were over a hundred Nigerian blogs on the web. Some of today’s top-ranking Nigerian blog sites were created in 2006 after Google’s pronouncement on monetisation of blogger blog contents.
How to Start a Blog in Nigeria
Below are the steps to starting and keeping a blog in Nigeria:
Step One: Know What You Want To Blog About
Whatever you choose to blog about must be of interest to you. You must love what you want to blog about. Try as much as possible to create your blog around something that interests you or something you are passionate about.
Step Two: Choose Your Blogging Platform
Once you have understood what you want to blog about, you would need to choose the platform on which your blog will be established. There are several platforms online to choose from (Blogger, Tumblr etc.). But don’t get carried away; WordPress is still the best.
Step Three: Get a Domain Name and a Web host
You need two things to create a blog. This is your domain name and a web host. These are actually the only things you will have to pay for while creating a blog. Your domain name will be your unique blog address where people can easily find you online. Your domain name is very important because it defines your brand.
Step Four: Install WordPress
By now, your domain is available but not yet accessible on the internet. It’s until you install the WordPress software before it can become visible! The good thing is WordPress is pre-installed for you if you’re using BlueHost. These are one of the benefits that are not available with other hosting companies. After the checkout page, BlueHost will notify you to create a new password for your account. Once completed, you can then use the details to log into your account whenever needed.
Step Five: Customize and Choose a Blog Theme
By now, you already have a blog, but what you have is a blank blog. What you need to do now is log in and customizes your blog.
Step Six: Add Your First Post and Pages
This is where the actual blogging begins. In this step, you will learn how to write your blog post and at the same time get familiar with the WordPress admin interface.
Coming Up with Content Ideas
This is practically where the work starts. Coming up with content is actually time-consuming; that’s why I emphasised being passionate about your blog topic. If you feel you don’t have the time to come up with content, you can outsource it and let other people write it for you.
Generating Traffic To Your Blog
Once your blog is loaded up with content, your next task should be about traffic and how to generate lots of it. You probably won’t start seeing reasonable results because your blog is still a new one. It takes a few months, around 3-5 months, before Google can fully identify with your blog. But pending that time, there are other ways at which you can generate traffic to your blog, which include sharing posts on social media, answering questions on Quora, focusing on getting backlinks, collecting emails on your site for revisits and promoting your site through sponsored ads.
How to Start a Blog and Monetize it
Apart from the spotlights or stardom that comes with blogging, it is important a blogger invents ways to make money from it. There are many ways to do so, but The Invoice answers all the questions of this sub-topic on the best ways to monetize your blog:
1. Google Adsense
This is a revenue-sharing opportunity for publishers in the Google network. Google place ads for goods and services that are relevant to the content of your site, targeted to the people who frequent your pages. You receive a small payment when the ad is displayed on your page or clicked.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you recommend a product or service to your audience using special tracking links and then get a referral commission for every time someone buys after clicking your link. You can find a list of popular affiliate marketing programs in Nigeria here.
3. Sponsored post & banner ads
When you have a good amount of traffic and terrific influence over your audience, other companies will pay to sponsor a blog post or your website. They can sponsor your entire site, which would cost them more, or a single page. Some just have advertising.
Types of Blogs That Make Money in Nigeria
The types of blogging that you can make money from in Nigeria are as follows:
1. Health, Sports and Fitness
2. Diet and Nutrition
3. Food and Healthy Eating
4. DIY and Crafting
5. Home Decor
6. Beauty and Fashion
7. Lifestyle
8. Personal Development
9. Parenting
Conclusion
If you are looking for a less capital-intensive business or a safe way to make money online at your comfort in Nigeria, delving into the blogging business might just be the safest and best way out. One beautiful thing about having a blog is that you do not need an expensive budget. It is not capital-intensive. Depending on your financial muscle, you can start with as little capital as possible. After completion, you can use the details to log into your account whenever necessary. Upon logging in, Bluehost will present various free WordPress themes for your selection. All blogging needs you to do is work hard – harder than even a banker or a doctor. As a blogger, you must recognise the importance of human interests in your write-ups. Write about subjects that captivate your audience’s interest and engagement.
It is as clear as a shallow stream that there are many ways to earn money from a website or blog. But many of these blogs require that you have traffic and an audience that is paying attention to you before they make any money. This is why a blogger must be religious in his/her blogging dealings. Do not start what you cannot finish.
