LECTURE CONTINUES...

Taking blogging as a business

A business is any venture that is engaged in for the purpose of making a profit. If profit is your reason for going into blogging, then you're actually going into a business. And you really need to take your blogging as such.

If you think blogging is all about opening a free blog on Blogger, stealing posts from other sites, spamming Nairaland and Facebook groups with your links, putting up Adsense ads, and sitting back to watch your bank account grow fatter, you're dreaming! I mean, you're only chasing shadows. If that has worked at a time in the past, I'm cocksure it doesn't work again now.

So, what are the things to do before starting a blog?

Just as you would need a business plan to start a physical business, you also need to plan your blog carefully even before launch. Here are questions you need to ask yourself before getting started:

1. What topics are Nigerians interested in and are searching the web for? (If entertainment is your only answer, no problem. Later on, I'll reveal how you can build an entertainment blog that will stand out from the shitty crowd).

2. What topics are you really passionate about, interested in, or knowledgeable on? It doesn't have to be a topic you know so much about. But you must be interested in it and be willing to research extensively about it.

3. Are you targeting a Nigerian audience or a global audience? The Nigerian front is less competitive and you really don't need stellar writing skills to make a mark. On the other hand, the global front if more competitive but much more lucrative. And you'll need to really have world-class copywriting skills for you to be taken seriously.

4. What types of information would you be offering on the blog?

5. Who exactly are your target audience? Wannabe farmers, wannabe small business owners, fashion freaks, tech gurus, job seekers, students, etc.

6. How will you create unique content for your blog? If you're not a good writer and are not willing to pay someone to write good articles for you, then blogging isn't for you. Try something else.

7. What monetization methods will you adopt? Adsense, affiliate marketing, information products, freelance services, etc.

8. What traffic strategies will you adopt? Search engine optimization is by far the most reliable for bloggers who want an "autopilot" blog that pulls in traffic even if they don't publish new posts. Social media, forum marketing, etc is more appropriate for those who publish "transient content" like news updates and entertainment gist.

9. How much would it cost to start the blog? While Blogger is free, I always recommend WordPress, which offers much more in terms of functionality, aesthetics, user experience, and optimizability.

10. What materials would I need to start blogging? Some would say you can use your smartphone, but to me, that's cumbersome. Your best bet is a PC. And it goes without saying that you need a reliable Internet connection.

In addition, you'll need to have a lot of free time on your hands because blogging requires investment of time and effort. If you're able to set aside at least 2-3 hours a day for blogging (and you're consistent with that), then you're fine.

Most importantly, you'll need a mentor. Now, don't ever rush to anyone who calls himself a mentor. A real mentor is someone who has achieved what you're also trying to achieve and has proof of that (not just word-of-mouth claims). Also note that you don't have to meet a mentor physically. Their are many bloggers out there who can be your mentor as far as blogging is concerned. Some of them are Jon Morrow of SmartBloggers, Neil Patel of QuickSprout, Sonia Simone of Copyblogger, Tom Ewer of LeavingWorkBehind, Brian Dean of Backlinko, and many others who teach practical and scalable tips on how to build a successful blog.

Achieving success in today's blogosphere requires learning new things everyday. I mean tips on how to grow your traffic and audience. Your aim here is to discover working strategies and replicate them for as long as they continue to work.

Let me stop here for now. I'll be back later.

webincomeplus:


Of course, this post wasn't aimed at those blogging for fun or as a hobby. It's targeted at those who want to make a living blogging and see successful blogging as profitable blogging.

Well, I think your comment on my last sentence is sillier because I don't see how it should give you headaches or palpitations. And for your info, I have a number of successful blogs, and all I'll be revealing here is based on 5 years of blogging experience. I don't need your opinion on my words at all.

You do not have any successful blogs you are jobless and ignorant. Stop making noise.

omonnakoda:
You do not have any successful blogs you are jobless and ignorant. Stop making noise.

Thank you.

webincomeplus:

Which blogging platform are you on? If it's Blogger, the answer is YES. If it's , the answer is NO.

so between bloggers and wordpress which one is better? Can change to bloggers?

360command:
use wordpress or blogger by using pages. Or you can download adobe muse which is easier to help setup a website.

bros, which one be WordPress and adobe muse again?

webincomeplus:

And what has the expert said about niche blogging? Who is the expert?

Well, I don't see any huge traffic on the blog you showed. Alexa ranking was over 9 million. So, there's nothing spectacular. The visitor count shown in the sidebar is majorly visits by spambots and crawlers, if you know what those mean -- it's not human traffic. If it were human traffic, which Alexa a blog attracting an 73,000+ visits in 6 months won't rank 9 million+. The gold standard for traffic monitoring is Google Analytics. It's more accurate than most other analytics tools out there.

Moreover, if the visits shown in the sidebar were truly by humans, how come there's no comment on the posts despite the fact that comments are enabled. Or you want to tell me that none out of the 73,000+ "visitors" deemed it fit to leave a comment?

And when I stated the part of my post you quoted, I was referring to the Nigerian audience majorly. How many Nigerians search the web for materials related to Physics or Biology? Don't chase shadows, my sister. There are far better niches out there where you can do better.

nitch blog is unlike entertainment blog everyone wil rush to comment

santopelele:
bros, which one be WordPress and adobe muse again?

there is something called "google". You don't expect me to write my a55 out by spoon-feeding you. Internet marketing is self explanatory and if you want to learn, you better learn by picking out keywords and type them on google.

webincomeplus:


Of course, this post wasn't aimed at those blogging for fun or as a hobby. It's targeted at those who want to make a living blogging and see successful blogging as profitable blogging.

Well, I think your comment on my last sentence is sillier because I don't see how it should give you headaches or palpitations. And for your info, I have a number of successful blogs, and all I'll be revealing here is based on 5 years of blogging experience. I don't need your opinion on my words at all.

Mr WIP I hail. pls I had mailed u on ur addy basicfreelance which hopefulli isnt wrong. pls reply.

omonnakoda:
You do not have any successful blogs you are jobless and ignorant. Stop making noise.

Oga please stop insulting people you don't know. I don't understand the kick some people get out of this ignoble habit. Na wah o. If you had done your due diligence instead of prancing about in the ring drawn by you, begging for a fight, you would have realised that this is someone whose blog webincomeplus is an authority in it's niche and one that also attracts top bloggers as guests. And that is only one of his blogs. Even if you don't agree with some or all of what he said, couldn't you have been polite about it? Must you condescend to making rude remarks? Hia.

Don't attack me o... I'm only correcting you. It is not a civilized practice. Learn to politely disagree if you have cogent reasons why you cannot agree.