How to Start a Blog In Nigeria That Makes You Money

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In 2013, I published an ebook titled “How to Start a Blog in Nigeria.”

Initially, I wanted to put the guide on sale. But after considering some factors, I decided to give it out for FREE.

I didn’t request an email address in exchange for the FREE blogging for money PDF download (how to become a blogger in Nigeria).

I wanted beginner bloggers from this part of the world to benefit immensely from my experience as a blogger. And to kick-start their online journey on the right path to success without the high cost.

The previous PDF guide is a total of 72 pages that contain no fluff, just basic information and my experience with blogging for money and how to become a blogger in Nigeria.

Things I knew and believed to be the right way to start a blog that makes you money in Nigeria. And how to be a successful blogger in Nigeria starting from scratch.

This short guide you’re reading won’t be that long; consider this post a mini step-by-step guide on how to start blogging in Nigeria. It is a handy tool for referencing for creating a blog in Nigeria.

Not all information in this guide will be relevant to everyone who reads it. Picks what matters most to you. Works on its implementations long enough to see the expected result.

If something is working as expected for you, do more of it. If it’s not, try something else.

That guide’s success (the first edition, how to Create a Blog in Nigeria) was encouraging and made me realize I need to keep it updated to meet current blogging best practices.

A reason that gave birth to this book you’re reading now.

I sincerely hope the information presented on this page will serve everyone who reads it.

Whether you’re starting a free blog or a self-hosted WordPress website, most of the information on this page will work equally.

A Word to My Fellow Nigerians

Many young Nigerian beginner bloggers struggle to get their voices heard among the millions of online blogs. It is not easy for 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.

Running an online business in this part of the world is not easy.

I have tried 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.” That was back in July of 2012 after coming in contact with the word “blog.”

You can read my story. I started my blogging journey on the About Me page.

Seeing what I have achieved while blogging, I decided to share my experiences (what works and what does not) with you. And the rest of the world as a blogger living in Nigeria.

You could scale through and build a better blogging career by building upon the foundation and experiences set by others.

Therefore, what you’re about to read on this page are the collections of eleven years of experience in internet marketing—ten years of hands-on blogging (going from a novice to a professional).

The advice you get here is unique and will add value to your internet business. After reading through, you will gain valuable knowledge on how to start a blog business in Nigeria.

Let’s go.

What is a Blog? How to Start a Blog In Nigeria

Depending on your mindset, a blog is an online diary: a journal or a place where you keep your personal stories online.

I believe that’s an old or outdated meaning of what 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, a company, a building, etc.

Since we’re using our blog as a means to an end, the end is to earn money online. To run our business activities smoothly without any hiccups, I’ll define a blog as follows:

A blog is an online office space. A company. A shop or an apartment you operate to meet and attend to your customers to carry out the day’s business.

Just as an offline office, company, shop, or store keeps your goods and services, a blog also does to your online business. A blog is a visual company you own online where you do all your business transactions and meet 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.

It’s as simple as that.

What Blogging is Not?

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 lives here.

Don’t get caught up with the cliche “Make money online while sleeping. “There is no sleeping here.

For your information, especially during the early days of your blogging career. You should work over 10 hours daily on your blog and content promotions.

Blogging is for the serious, determined, and hardworking entrepreneur. Not for the fainthearted or the lazy type. It is a serious business, and you MUST treat it as such.

Without a successful entrepreneur’s proper orientation and mindset, you will never move your blog to a level where you can quit your day job to become a full-time internet business person.

This is one of the primary reasons many bloggers still need to make money with their blog(s). To depend financially full-time on your blog(s), be ready to invest your time, energy, and money.

Growing your blog into a full-time business will take a lot of work.

It would be best if you worked your way up to it from scratch, going through many obstacles, learning a lot on the way, trying many tricks, and investing in necessary premium tools, consistency, 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 have to learn to work more brilliantly and consistently. And with the right attitude and grit. The mental approach and the right mindset of a successful business person.

… you’re on your way to starting a blog in Nigeria and making a profitable blogging career.

Why You Shouldn’t Blog Alone

When I started as a beginner blogger, I was excited and wanted to prove I could do it. I was determined to build a blog no one else had ever produced.

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 I had never seen before.

Boy, I was wrong about that.

Building a popular, successful blog involves many things done right.

Among those things are collaboration, outsourcing complex tasks, getting outside help, inviting guest authors to share their experiences with your blog readers, promotions, etc.

Like you, I taught myself everything using Google to find the correct answer to any challenges or obstacles I encountered while growing my blog.

No! It never happened that way.

I failed to realize one powerful weapon to more extraordinary achievements – Mastermind Group.

Look around yourself and analyze every unique inventory that man in history created.

Then tell me one single inventory single handle and bring it to life by one Man. A Man without a group of Mastermind individuals to help with one thing or the other?

Don’t try to blog alone; it is never done.

Get people involved 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.

Starting a blog in Nigeria means starting from scratch. A complete novice to the online world without any connections. Or with zero levels of entry.

Therefore, you’ll need other bloggers’ help to succeed 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 dreams.

Don’t even attempt fixing everything that got broken. Appreciating other people’s talent is the way to a professional blogging career.

If writing helpful content is your weakness, hire someone to do that job better and agree on terms. Give the person their dues and claim the content.

It’s as simple as that.

I learned this lesson the hard way. Until I agreed with this simple rule, my blogging career crawled like a snail.

In this post, I discussed in detail why collaboration and networking are essential to success.

I talked about why building friendships and establishing valuable connections are vital to blogging success. You’ll discover why your peer groups are your best marketing channels.

But before that, there is a question for you.

What’s The Purpose of Your Blog?

In the first edition of this guide (How to Start a Blog in Nigeria – back in 2013), I advised starting your blog based on your passion.

Blog topics you can quickly write about with little research or technicalities involved.

As a beginner, that advice is valid and one you should take.

The year is now 2023, which means I’m eleven (11) years older and more experienced as a blogger and internet marketer.

You want to learn how to start a blog and make money in Nigeria. How do you make money from blogging in Nigeria? How do you monetize your blog in Nigeria?

Then follow the advice below.

The advice I will share here might be above your current online marketing knowledge. But I assure you it is the one you’ll need most going forward when starting your WordPress blog in Nigeria.

Starting your blog topic around your passion has been the default advice the “Gurus” usually sold the newbie on.

But from experience, there are better approaches to starting a blog than this one that will earn you significant money online.

Validation is everything in online marketing.

You must analyze, evaluate, research, and validate your passion vs. market demand.

You need to be sure people are interested in what your passion is. Otherwise, you might be starting a blog no one cares to read.

There are specific questions you’ll need to answer before choosing your blog topic.

This becomes necessary because you’re not starting the blog for fun or a hobby, right?

Do you want to make money blogging?

Yes!

I hope I’m right about that.

If that’s the case, start a blog people want to read.

Start a blog that provides solutions to the current problems people are facing. Start a blog that solves a problem, and people readily pay for its solutions.

That’s how to start a blog and make lots of money in Nigeria and worldwide. Every successful business is built on providing solutions to issues facing the community.

How to Start a Blogging Business in Nigeria – The Niche

One obstacle beginner bloggers face in starting their blog is what to blog about in Nigeria. Many believe that Nigerian online users are more into reading entertainment blogs.

But in reality, this is not true.

You can build popular blogs in Nigeria in any niche and make money from it – BIG time. All you need is the correct technical approach and the resources to make it work.

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. It is best to consider starting a blog that discusses related issues.

Here, it would be best if you built your blog around a topic you’re competent in. Something you’re familiar with and others how to improve.

Before starting your blog, you don’t need to attain expert status in your field. A little knowledge about your chosen topic is enough to get you started.

As you move along with your blog and teach others what you know, you also improve your knowledge, skills, and experiences.

So, don’t allow the lack of adequate knowledge about your blog topic to deter you from starting your blog. No man was born an expert in his chosen field.

Everyone has a beginning and a learning period.

Something Very Important to Know

This little secret I want to share here is crucial you read it carefully and adhere to it.

This is because it is the BIG difference between a blog that falls flat right from the word go and one that significantly impacts the world.

Create a focused blog; it is as simple as that.

There are more than 700,000,000 million blogs already in existence, excluding yours.

However, a more significant percentage of these blogs are classified as inactive or dead zones because their owners can’t figure out how to create a blog that people read.

You’ll find many Nigerian blogs on the list of dead/inactive blogs because bloggers can’t figure out how to make money through blogging in Nigeria.

I don’t want yours to fall into this category, nor do you want that to happen, 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. Creating a blog like the Huffington Post takes lots of resources, workforce, marketing budgets, energy, time, and money.

Though you might want to emulate their blogging style, you’re only allowed to see the blog’s front end, but you never see everything that goes behind the scenes.

You never see the sweat, blood, resources, workforce, time, energy, dedication, money, authors, marketing budget, and everything necessary to make such a blog a reality.

How to Create a Focus Blog

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 could create a blog that only discusses a particular disease in a specific 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 it easy for content ideas and marketing to your audience to be targeted and direct.

However, if you’re starting a blog in the entertainment niche, this approach might not be a good option to follow.

Because in such industries like entertainment – everything from gossip, breaking news, celebrity news, gossip politics, society, and sports – everything goes here.

The main idea is to think it through before starting a blog. And to know what section of society or audience your blog caters to.

Define your target market; narrow your choices to be more focused and reach a well-targeted audience.

Two Types of Bloggers – Two Types of Blogs

Based on my experiences, there are only two types of blogs and bloggers on the internet – Expert bloggers/blogs and advertising bloggers/blogs.

I know this might confuse you, but don’t let it be. Every blogger you see online 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 leverages 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 with practical skills, knowledge, or goods to sell to people who require 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 blogger can earn significant income from their blogging activities.

Their earning potential depends more on service quality, lead generation, and marketing funnel, not traffic volume.

While the latter may not necessarily have practical skills or goods to offer, he is not a teacher; he informs the public, breaks the news, entertains, or makes an announcement.

He leverages the volume of website traffic to earn money on his blog. Most of the content on such blogs as this is time-sensitive, gossip, breaking news, events, etc.

This type of blog trades traffic volume for money: the more blog traffic, the more earning potential.

But before starting, you must evaluate yourself, analyze your potential, gift, and capability, and see which category of bloggers you fall into.

This is because the approach and operations of the two blogs are different.

One demands regular publishing of content daily (multiple times per day), while the other is good to go even with 1 (one) published article per week.

Do you see why you must think it through before starting a 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 have already discussed these two in this guide’s opening chapter.

If you need to remember, read that chapter to understand these two terms better.

There are lots of domain name registrar and hosting services providers available today online, but only a few are worth patronizing.

In the previous edition of this latest guide, I strongly recommend WhoGoHost as the ideal indigenous domain name registrar and hosting services provider you can try out.

That has changed for now.

After the ugly hosting services I experienced at the hands of WhoGoHost in 2016. I decided to try another hosting services provider.

Namecheap is my recommended web hosting services provider.

Check out the Namecheap website or read my extensive NameCheap EasyWP review.

After purchasing hosting and registering your domain name, it is time to get your blog online.

This is where your practical aspect of blogging starts.

You’ll want to install your blogging software after registering your domain name and secure hosting. To save you time, go for a self-hosted WordPress blog.

WordPress is the industry-acclaimed number-one blogging platform. It makes blogging more convenient and fun both for beginners and professionals.

Of course, other blogging platforms, like Google’s Blogger, come in handy as a quick, easy way to start blogging in minutes.

The good part of the blogger platform is that you can start blogging in minutes without spending a kobo on hosting and domain names.

Blogger is completely free.

But you don’t own the platform or your blog itself. Google owns everything and can take your blog down without notice for whatever reason best known to them.

When you consider that WordPress now powers more than 58% of the top 100 blogs and over 43% of the web, you have little to no choice but to blog with WordPress.

Plus, you own your blog and have absolute 100% control over what goes in and out of it.

After getting your domain name and hosting in place, I suggest you get the service of a professional web designer to set up your blog.

You can do it yourself, but you should go for a 1-on-1 practical tutorial on building a WordPress blog from scratch before attempting it yourself.

If you need a one-on-one tutorial on creating a WordPress blog in Nigeria with fully functional SEO optimization, feel free to call my direct mobile number ( 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 specific niche.

Think about how you want your visitors to engage with your content or services before opting for a particular theme.

Astra is a leading WordPress theme developer. Browsing through their website, you will find a theme that suits your needs.

Of course, thousands of free WordPress themes are available for anyone. You can start with it, especially if you’re on a tight marketing budget or need to test things before diving into your bank account.

Based on my experience with free WordPress themes, you’ll never get all you desire, and you can’t do more than the developer allows.

Most themes are not SEO optimized, lack responsive design, and sometimes don’t get regular updates or support from the developers.

The majority of free WordPress theme developers offer no support of any kind whatsoever.

Besides, you’re not the only one with the same theme for your blog design. It might be well over-saturated, depending on the download rate and usability.

But as I said, blogging is a journey, not a race.

So, it is good to start with free tools, especially when you’re beginning and don’t know much about how things work here.

As you grow older in internet marketing and gain more experience, you’ll need to shift from freemium to premium.

Blog Marketing – How to Promote Your Blog

I decided to tag this section with the headline above for a reason.

The reason is that you’re just starting with a brand-new blog or probably your first attempt at blogging for money.

In the first edition of the “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. You must 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.

Often, in Nigerian online marketing communities, you will see beginners asking this question: how do bloggers make money in Nigeria?

I will answer that question here with a straightforward answer.

Behind every blog monetization strategy or tactic, there is a need for targeted website traffic. Without super-targeted significant website traffic, you will always struggle to make money blogging in Nigeria.

No matter how good your products or services are, if no one is aware of them, they do not exist. 

In this post, I discuss some beginner-level traffic tactics you can apply immediately.

But if you want to be more aggressive in your content marketing approach, I recommend you read this post.

They’re a massive guide on how to increase website traffic that results in sales.

Continue reading; I discuss more practical ways/tactics on how bloggers make money in Nigeria in this post. You will discover some proven industry monetization tactics you can start with immediately.

Build it. They Will Come.

Maybe you have read this phrase before or not; I don’t know. But it is one of those cliches thrown around, especially given to the newbies by the so-called Gurus.

Build it. They will come!

Yes, the gurus told you to build your blog. Put content on it and see the magic happen – money in your pocket, right?

But what happens next when you follow this advice?

Zilch, Nada, Nothing! The sounds of crickets!

If you follow the advice to build it, they will come. I bet anyone will ever find your blog.

In today’s marketing world, competition is getting heated every second of the day. More startups here and there. Buyers are getting wiser, and lots of distractions are happening.

Customer acquisition strategies are now more crucial than before.

You must be on top of your game 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 now and then.

Spend 1/4 of your time writing, editing, proofreading, and publishing 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 lie in two essential factors –

the quality of content, services/goods, and effective content marketing strategies.

If you’re better at these two things, I promise you’ll build a blog that makes you money and is a reference point for others in your field.

You must promote your content aggressively across multiple relevant marketing channels where your target audience gathers 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 social media platforms, blog commenting, and guest posts regularly on relevant blogs, participate in the communities where your audience hangs around.

But remember to stretch yourself enough across relevant social media sites.

Pick two or three marketing channels at most, and give them the best of your resources, budget, energy, time, and attention.

It is better to be the master at one thing than average at all things.

At this stage of your online marketing career, you don’t have the resources, technicalities, knowledge, and expertise to be everywhere.

Don’t go after traffic tactics because everyone says it is the next big thing in Internet marketing. Unless you’re sure it will benefit you in the end and that you can make it work for your type of business.

For instance, podcasting is one of the significant shifts in online marketing. But I tell you the truth: not more than 3% of online entrepreneurs can get substantial results from podcasting.

This is because there is much more to it than you see on the surface.

From equipment, influencer status, existing followers’ loyalty, brand recognition, marketing plan, connections, and budget to energy, time, and determination, there is a whole lot that goes behind the scenes to what you see on the outside that, when considered; an average blogger like you can’t handle for now.

So don’t get caught up with marketing tactics that won’t help you. Instead, focus your energy and time on things you can handle. Something that will help improve the value of your blog.

But don’t limit yourself to things that are too easy to accomplish, like blog commenting, 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 more challenging to finish will get better and more significant results if done right.

Given everything equally, a successful guest post will perform better and bring significant results than a remarkable comment you leave on a blog post.

It takes, on average, 2 to 5 minutes to craft excellent comments on a post – assuming you know what you’re doing. However, it might take days or weeks (depending on the level of research involved) to complete a guest post.

Do you see the difference?

In this post, I have already shared five practical ways or tactics you can use immediately to promote your brand-new blog. It’s a massive guide, too, but not exceptionally long like the one you’re reading.

Take a moment to review all the five (5) tactics discussed and see which best fits your current blogging needs.

Nevertheless, let’s explore some of the industry’s well-known marketing tactics 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 move on to some complex tasks that need a bit of planning, skills, and resources.

Blog Commenting and How to Use It

I will discuss using blog commenting for traffic building, establishing networks, and driving traffic back to your site.

Blog commenting is the interaction between the author of a post and the blog readers. A box is placed at the 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 significant difference between traditional websites and what we now call “blogs.”

Benefits of Regular Blog Commenting

Without missing words here, there are several benefits to leaving valuable comments on relevant niche blogs:

• You drive free targeted traffic back to your blog.
• You’re building your profile as a ProBlogger.
• You establish a good relationship with other webmasters.
• Guest post opportunity.
• You learn new ideas and meet new people.
• You’re building links back to your website pages.
• Expand your industry knowledge.

Among all these benefits, there is only one I want you to focus on while leaving comments on other blogs.

“Establishing a good relationship with other webmasters.“

Yes, that’s the most important benefit I want you to focus on achieving while leaving comments on other blogs.

This is because driving massive relevant blog traffic comes from two important factors:

“Links and existing connections.”

The more meaningful, effective connections you have, the more your blog grows.

By leaving valuable comments on popular blogs, you’re leaving your footprint 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 a guest opportunity, interview appearance, business deal, etc.

Don’t focus on traffic or link-building opportunities when leaving a blog comment. Instead, focus on building connections, establishing relationships, and networking.

The amount of traffic you could get from blog commenting is insignificant.

The better part of this strategy is when you focus on leaving valuable blog comments 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 might invite you for a guest opportunity.

After leaving comments on the post, take a moment to share the link on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Do this for an exciting and worthy post to be shared.

Please don’t share it for the sake of it. People share information with their friends because they want others to know what they’re reading.

Don’t share if you don’t feel good or comfortable letting others know you’re reading such stuff.

Sharing what you find interesting on other people’s blogs is an excellent strategy to get on the radar of other bloggers. Hopefully, they will do the same for your blog post too.

This is how you start creating awareness for your blog content and promoting it across social platforms. This strategy could gain you some social media followers if done right.

This is how you grow your blog as a beginner until you have a 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 featured resulted from the relationships I have established with the bloggers behind them through valuable blog commenting that has expanded into excellent cordial relationships.

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 its message, 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, leave remarkable comments, not some “well-done,” nice post, etc.

This type of one-liner comment won’t bring any value or result in anything meaningful. It might cause more harm than good.

Read and understand the author’s view before posting your comment.

And if you don’t have something good to say, it’s better to share the link on your favorite social media sites.

In no particular order, here are some of the top blogs in Nigeria:

• Ogbongeblog owned by JideOgunsanya.
• Wale Adekile owns DonCaprio.com. A.K.A Doncaprio.
• Onenijablog owned by Babanature.
• Larry Frank holds Oscarmini.
• LindaIkeji – Owned by Linda Ikeji.

Join online Blogger Communities.

Join communities of like-minded people and establish good friendships with other bloggers.

It helps you learn quickly and is a good marketing channel for exposing your blog. Also, it enables you to prove 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, etc. Join relevant groups to share thoughts and experiences.

Try to make friends, build lasting relationships, network, and make connections in these places, which you’ll need mostly on your way up to create a popular blogging career.

But remember, don’t spam the group with your content. Follow the community guidelines, contribute positively, and always follow the rules.

Interview Popular Bloggers

This is one of the easiest ways to drive free targeted traffic and market your blog. There is simple logic as to why interviewing famous bloggers works well for blog marketing and traffic building.

You’re leveraging someone else existing traffic channels to build your traffic foundation. And to market your blog to a larger crowd you could not reach alone.

Finding a famous blogger to interview on your blog will drive free targeted traffic to your website and lay the foundation for a good, lasting relationship.

As a beginner blogger, finding influencers and top bloggers to interview on your blog will take a lot of work. This is because people like to associate with existing success, and this is something you don’t have at the moment.

Here, you don’t have to go after the “A” list blogger in your industry.

Look within your peers.

Find someone just a few steps ahead of you in the industry with significant followers and authority.

Reach out to this person and let them know you’d like to interview them on your blog. Tell them your audience wants to learn more about their online success story.

If you’re lucky, you get a positive reply; if you’re not, don’t feel discouraged. Not everyone you request something from will respond positively.

Learn how to handle disappointment.

Other small traffic channels include forum discussions, blog carnivals, press releases, article submissions to directories (outdated marketing tactics), etc.

These will drive occasional traffic and are not something you should depend on for massive blog traffic, but you should still pay attention to their importance and use them.

Massive blog traffic comes from referral links and direct and organic traffic.

Down this guide, I’ll take you on some proving marketing tactics for significant traffic streams, both paid and free marketing strategies.

Advance Blog Marketing

You start with your audience.

Your audience is the best marketing channel. These people are genuinely interested in your content and always return for more.

Why are your audiences your best marketing channel?

Imagine you published a post on your blog; at the time, you only have ten regular readers who frequently visit the blog to read your post.

Of these ten readers, seven love what you published, and three decide to share your post with their followers on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn.

Each one of these three loyal readers has an average of 2,000 followers.

This means that a total of 6,000 people view your content. Wow! With a little effort, your content is now in the hands of 6,000 followers.

Assuming you published excellent stuff. You should see significant improvement in the traffic to your blog, except your content could be more helpful.

Let’s take it a bit further:

Out of these 6,000 external followers, just five checked what their friends shared with them. So, they follow the link to your blog post and find it as interesting as their friends had thought.

They decided to hit the sharing buttons after reading your post, and guess what?

Each of these five people has an average of 2,500 followers on Twitter, 2,000 Facebook friends, and 500 LinkedIn connections.

What does this mean?

Gradually, your content is going viral, and your blog is now becoming a portal for a targeted audience. This extensively explains why you must always produce good quality content.

Your readers will play a more significant role in your blog’s growth.

You need to appreciate the existing small traffic channels at your disposal while gradually building the gateway to potential large traffic channels, which are the key to a successful blogging career.

All you need to do is work on your small communication channels regularly.

And 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 these happens, you’ve just hit a bang!

Always work your way up; guests post regularly on different blogs.

This allows you to showcase your blog and creativity to different communities. 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 that making friends, establishing connections, and networking are the backbones of a successful blogging career. Having good friends in high places makes it 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 successfully get appointments, contract awards, senatorial seats, executive positions, and even presidential seats?

The answer to all these questions lies around one crucial factor to more extraordinary achievements.

Belong to the right caucus; you’ll always get what you want.

Connections bring most of our dear politicians to where they are today. We have many worthy people who are more deserving of political appointments, but without belonging to the correct party – you and I know they will never get there.

The same thing happens in the blogosphere.

That’s why you’ll see pro bloggers linking to each other more often than 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 convey here.

Some time ago, Philip Ariel published a roundup post on his blog, which featured 130+ experts on sleep and productivity.

I was privileged to be on the list. The expert opinion post was republished on the popular Huffington Post blog for maximum exposure and traffic.

I have also landed many guest posts and been featured on industry-leading blogs like Daily Blog Tips, Enstine Muki, NinjaOutReach, Search Engine Land, etc.

All this wouldn’t have happened without the circle of bloggers I belong to. Belong to the right group, and things won’t be difficult.

Build Your Email List

Whatever your marketing techniques, ensure they are tied to one end – building an email list of targeted subscribers.

Whether you’re marketing your content on social media sites, guest posts on other people’s blogs, running pay-per-click advertising, solo email, etc. You must turn this cold, earned, or paid traffic into owned traffic. 

The email list will be your best traffic channel for many reasons, especially if you consistently want to earn money on demand.

Your email subscribers are the people who have been exposed to your content and appreciate your work. As a result, they permitted you to send them featured post updates via email box.

Much was said about the possible decline of the 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 marketer’s marketing tool.

Your email list of active subscribers is, if not more important than, your blog. But together, they’ll make for a perfect business tool if done right.

I did not add an email opt-in box to my blog when I started blogging 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.

You should start from day one by placing an opt-in form on your website to collect contact details; several benefits await you when you have a good, healthy list of subscribers.

You can:

• Promote affiliate products and services.
• Sell your products and services.
• Announce the newly created product(s) to your list.
• Driving targeted traffic on demand.
• Make money online with the list – of Solo Ads.
• Get feedback on your services.
• Your imagination only limits the benefits.

You can start with many good email marketing services, but most cost money.

At the beginning of your blogging career, especially when you’re not earning any kobo, I advise you to start with free email marketing services.

My favorite “free” email marketing services provider is MailChimp.

MailChimp email marketing allows you up to 500 subscribers before upgrading to the pro plan.

Until you reach 500 subscribers, you can use MailChimp for free and send up to 2,500 emails monthly. But you won’t have access to advanced email marketing features like autoresponder, email automation, sales funnel, webinar, beautiful email templates, etc.

But that’s OK, and you’re good without them.

Several email marketing providers offer free trial periods, which you can use to test-run the service. Here are a few options to consider:

• MailerLite
• GetResponse
• Aweber
• Sendinblue
• ActiveCampaign
• ConvertKit
• Sendpulse
• Benchmark
• Ominisend
• EmailOctpus

You can try any of these email marketing services to see what best fits your marketing needs. However, if you request my opinion, I recommend you try Getresponse.

GetResponse is one of the leading email marketing services providers in the industry today. It has many advanced email marketing tools that allow you to build an email list faster and grow your business.

Another option is SendPulse, a marketing automation platform that allows you to send email campaigns with up to 15000 emails to 500 subscribers for free every month.

Unlike many competitors, SendPulse’s free plan lets you use automation features and send drip email campaigns or use their autoresponder.

Traffic Level, Monetizing Strategies, And Money

Many debates are going on in the blogosphere on how early a newly created blog should monetize based on traffic level, especially for beginners.

You need no traffic level to start monetizing your blog from day one unless you’re not planning to monetize at all in the future. Or you’re waiting for a particular event before testing different monetization strategies.

Like I said in this guide, you’re here to earn your living online using blogs as a tool, right?

I see no reason you shouldn’t monetize your blog from the get-go.

The earlier you start with everything in mind, the better your blog growth and learning curve will be. You keep learning here till you stop marketing online.

Some argument for early monetization includes the potential to earn from the word go, assuming you have enough targeted traffic to your blog.

And the ability to test different monetization methods when your blog is at the infant stage. So, you grow your marketing experience alongside your blog growth.

Suppose you choose not to monetize your blog from day one. You might risk losing your loyal readers in the feature when you start pitching your affiliate offers or even your product sales in their faces.

When your readers have become accustomed to a text-based blog, but later, you start placing banner ads everywhere on the blog, this may turn off some visitors and consequently lose your loyal readers.

Your blog may lose its overall design. And this will eventually give you another hectic work to do. You may need to change to another blog theme when monetizing.

So, if you want to keep your blog image and style long-term, start with everything in mind from day one.

Though, there are some benefits to not monetizing early on your blog.

It allows you to focus on the core aspect of a professional blogging career, “content creation.” Content is why people visit your blog; everything is a by-product.

Your focus is on your readers’ satisfaction – providing helpful information tailored to their needs. But as I said, you’re here to make money, right?

So, monetize early.

How to Monetize a Blog?

If you run a Google search for the keyword “How to Monetize a Blog,” I’m 100% confident you’ll find millions of pages with generic advice like this:

They contain information on monetization tactics you can implement on your blog that might result in earning money.

Monetization tactics like:

• Affiliate Marketing.
• Selling Your Product and Services.
• Run Membership Program.
• Freelance Work.
• Marketing Your Skills.
• Sell Advertising Space on Your Blog Directly to Advertisers.
• Run Google Adsense Ads and other Contextual Ads, etc.

Surprisingly, from experience, those are tactics and not the fundamental principles leading to earning money from your blog.

Suppose you care to know how bloggers make money from blogs, then focus on attracting the proper attention to your blog – adequate attention in large quantity.

Attention is what leads to earning in online marketing. People need to pay attention to your offer or blog content so that monetization methods out there will result in something worthwhile.

If you have followed my advice in this guide, especially on blog marketing, getting your blog’s attention to make a BIG impact in the world should be standing boldly in front.

Suppose you master the art of blog marketing effectively; you already have the attention you need to make things happen and earn significant income from your blog business.

How to Start a Blog in Nigeria – Summary

Despite Nigeria’s economic situation and infrastructure, anyone with the right attitude and mindset can build a successful blog in Nigeria. 

All you need is to be patient, work smarter, not harder, and consistently achieve your goals.

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 with your blog.

I’m here to help.