I've observed something about Nigerians: whenever an individual tries out a particular business and succeeds at it, everyone quickly jumps on the bandwagon, hoping to make quick money.

The same story runs true for blogging. Since it became well known that the likes of Linda Ikeji are earning huge figures from blogging, there has been a very sharp increase in the number of Nigerian bloggers -- mediocre bloggers who jumpstarted blogging with little or no knowledge of what blogging entails.

But because blogging didn't give them the overnight riches they expected from it, many had abandoned their blogs. Poor guys! They've been told that all they needed to do was set up a simple blog on Blogger.com, publish a few stolen articles, embed ads at strategic points, and sit back to watch their bank accounts soar.

And they've been told that Linda Ikeji achieved success by simply doing it that way. But when they faced the harsh realities of blogging, they hit the roof -- frustrated and disappointed.

In their bid to make quick money from blogging, many of these losing bloggers make several mistakes. And many newbies would still fail woefully because they are also (or will most probably soon start) making the same mistakes.

Whether you're just starting out or you've been into blogging for a while, you must avoid the following mistakes if you really want to succeed as a blogger.

1. Trying to earn profits overnight (desperation)

Because of what they've learned from greedy, desperate folks who only want to sell ebooks or certain services, many newbies go into blogging hoping to start making money within few days to weeks.

A couple of days back, I landed upon a new blog that contained less than 10 articles -- mostly crappy ones. I was amused when I observed that the owner had slapped up Adsense banners everywhere. I needed no other proof that he isn't any passionate about blogging; he only wants to tap from the “cake.” I quickly closed the page because it looked very sickening. (I'll soon tell you what drew my attention to the useless blog in the first place.)

Also, I've seen "advertise here" pages on blogs that were just days to a few weeks old. And I wonder what the owners of such blogs took blogging to mean. Of course, only foolish advertisers would pay to have their offers promoted on a blog that attracts zero or unit visits per day.

Another blunder by Nigerian bloggers, which I've seen times without number, is their adoption of silly (and st*pid) tactics for driving traffic to their blogs. Some would concoct and publish false stories just to catch people's interest. Some would use photo-editing software to design fake pictures and lure people with silly captions. Some would sprinkle links to their blog on online forums, other blogs, and social media pages with massive followership -- derailing from the main topic of discussion most of the time.

What you need to realize

Blogging isn't a get-rich-quick scheme. Growing a blog to the point where it starts to generate a decent income takes time. It takes dedication. It takes hard work. And it takes consistency. Only after you've given all of these (and played by the rules) can you attain success in blogging.

Darren Rowse (Problogger) didn't start making money from his blog until after 3 years. Linda Ikeji blogged consistently for several months before she started earning a living from her blog. So, if you've been told that you can achieve the same goal much faster than these people did without investing time, effort, and even money, then you've been taken for a ride. And you're on a "long thing."

While it's true that your success as a blogger hinges largely on how much traffic you generate, you won't succeed by trying too hard to attract traffic the wrong way. (Who would visit your blog again after discovering that your last blog post was a bloody lie you concocted just to attract attention?)

Building a huge audience of loyal followers requires publishing authentic, unique, and valuable information. And your traffic will increase gradually with time.

If what you're looking for is a business that will start fetching you huge profits within days to weeks, blogging is certainly not what you're looking for. And you'd better not start a blog at all.

Great write-up...But for me, i blog mostly to share my personal opinion these days and i do it for fun and not for quick bucks. That's why you won't see ads running on my site for now.

Brand_new: Great write-up...But for me, i blog mostly to share my personal opinion these days and i do it for fun and not for quick bucks. That's why you won't see ads running on my site for now.

Blogging for fun is cool. And as a matter of fact, many people started blogging for the fun of it (e.g. Linda Ikeji) before they later realized they could turn it into a business.

While there's nothing wrong with starting a blog with profit on your mind, trying too hard to achieve that goal within a very short time is wrong.

infact, this is true of a lot of Nigerian bloggers. so many people just jump into the blogosphere and think by tomorrow, the money will start pumping in. i av a lot of friends who used to be bloggers but gave up out of frustration. people need ro realise that blogging takes a lot:passion,dedication,determination.
By the way, nice piece of information. i hope someone out there knows this before thinking of starting to blog