I recently discussed this idea with a friend . I call it the  “local town website”.

In this post ,I am going to elaborate on the idea and how viable it can be.

What Does A Local Town Website Mean?

A local town website can be compared to a local newspaper .it only publishes or concerns itself with information ,news, events and anything happening in a specified geographical location.
That locality could be likely be the capital of your state or any place you choose.

What Will You Be Publishing On The Site Or Blog?

Like I said, news, events ceremonies etc happening in your locality. You could see it as town’s own CNN or your city’s version of BellaNaija.
Who Would Be Your Target Readers? Who Would Be Visiting Your Blog Or Site?
Your likely readers would be residents of your town ,indigents of your state living in other towns , people in other towns close by ,indigene of your state or town living in other countries and general people interested in any kind of information in your town.

How Would You Make Money From It?

Let’s look at offline magazine for ideas-you will be likely making money from:

1. Coverage Of Ceremonies And Events

You can start talking to people organizing ,marriages to pay a certain sum to get their events covered and posted online for everyone to see.

2. Naming Ceremonies
You can also cover and publish naming ceremonies for a fee.

3. Other kinds of ceremonies like coronation , parties ,graduation , commissioning etc can be covered and published for a fee.

4. Advertisements 
Another way you can make money on this type of site is with advertisement. This could be in the form of Google Adsense or direct adverts .
But remember adverts only work when you have traffic . If your site becomes popular, you can start soliciting for advertisement from companies and businesses around your town.

How Long Would It Take Before One Can Start Making Money With Type Of Site?

Frankly , I don’t know. A few weeks or a few months maybe.(This is not anything new. Money online is not made overnight)

What Equipments Is Needed For This Type Of Site?
Basically , you would need a good digital camera (or a good camera phone),a camcorder or video recorder (a good video phone can do)
This is needed to basically take pictures and record videos. Later as your site or blog grows ,you can pay someone to do all that for you.

How Can You Set Up A Blog Like This Online?

All you need is a WordPress blog.

Apart From This What Skills Would You Need?
Well for one ,you should be able to write well, because it’s like being a journalist . You might also need ,video and image creating and editing skills.
Hey ,don’t be scared ,you can learn all of this from a little practice or get someone to do them for you.

What Should You Call Your Site Or Blog? What Domain Name Would You Use?
For a domain names ,I will use a name people would love to check out. It has to be brand able and easy to remember.
Something like “Town name Celebs” .example like MkCelebs , LagosCelebs ,UyoWire , NaijaWire ,etc.

What Would You Do To Ensure Success?

I would do the following :
a. Set up a YouTube account for the site and post videos on it
b. I would build a list of subscribers by asking them to sign up for daily, fresh news from that locality .
c. Build a brand for yourself by covering some top events for free then use than to entice other potential customers.
Generally , you need to promote your site and build traffic for it to be profitable.

Conclusion

Now this is just an idea . I am going to swear that it is 100% fool proof way to creating a blog or website and making money from it but it is a unique idea that will stand out and likely succeed.

First ,A Few Things About 2go.

It is a mobile chat service that every young Nigeria is using now to chat and meet up with friends and strangers all around Nigeria.So the question is-is it possible to make money with 2go directly just by chatting?

2go Is Not Like Facebook And Twitter

unlike other social networks online like facebook and twitter, you  can click on a link and land on the online shop or sales page of a website or online business, where one can make an order or  purchase .With 2go , this is not possible.
There are no clickable links on 2go therefore there is no way someone on 2go can directly land on an online shop or sales page.

The only way you can make money on 2go for now , is through advertising and promoting your brand and business on the medium and not by just chatting .



If you think that you will get on 2go and money will just drop into your account like magic then think again. If anybody claims he or she will show you how to make money on 2go . well, that person is a scam.

If you buy  any e-book product that claims so ,then you have been had.

Let me repeat it for emphasis…you can only make money on 2go for now via updating your status with some form of advertorial or promotional information. And not directly by chatting with people.
Money cannot be made directly on 2go for NOW…until when one can click through from it to a website or blog or something where an order can  be made .

There are many ways you can go about it,

1. you can ask your friends what they do apart from chatting directly

2. you can watch them while they surf the web to find out what other things they are doing

Read this to get more ideas https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-867430.0.html#msg10163430

If you have an idea for a website or blog or online services and you INTEND to make money online with it .Then you need to ask and answer these very important questions.

Here are some of the questions.

1. Is there demand for this information , product or service online?

2. Are people actively searching for it online?

3. How do you intend to make money from it?(online business model)

4. Are people already buying products and services or information in the topic you want to write about?

5. How can you get prospects , leads and traffic to this blog , website , product or service ?

6. Where can you reach your target audience or readers online or offline easily and cheaply?

7. Why would people read or  come to your blog instead of others (what can you do differently)

8. Can you find useful products and services related to your topic that you can review and promote to your readers

Obviously these are not all the questions you should ask yourself but these questions will help you move in the right direction as you build your idea.

use this free word processing tool, converts the typed work to pdf with one click www.openoffice.org

One of the biggest information that many Nigerians worry and bother themselves about is " how to open a paypal account in  Nigeria".
People even buy e-books and information products about the subject.Some people even pay others to open these accounts for them. It is bloody insane.

There is something you should know about having a paypal account.

Do you know that having a paypal account does not mean you will or can make money online or offline.If this was the case then every American and people in the UK would be millionaires .But this is obviously not the case.

You see, having a paypal account is like having a bank account.And if you don't know already just having 10 bank accounts does not mean you will become rich.Even if you open an account in the central bank(that is not even possible) it does not mean you will be richer than Dangote.

Just having a paypal account does not amount to money.It is something you should not worry yourself about.
I don't have a paypal account and is not really bothered about it because i know this , if i have a paypal account and do nothing to put money in it, i will still have no kobo in my pocket,

Bottom line is , paypal does amount to money, period,

And same goes for clickbank,

This is the very basic knowledge that i realize many Nigerians or people interested in making money online don’t have .This basic principle is used offline too in every kind of business and activity that involves making money that you can think about. It is so basic many of us don’t know or notice it.

And it is simply this , you need to :


sell something to make money online, or people must pay you for something valuable online


Yes , i told you it is basic knowledge right.


The Mistake We Make

You see , many times we think a blog or website or forum  is what makes money we forget that basically unless you sell something , no money can be made.

The fact remains ,everyone making money online or offline is selling something.


Take a look around you ,take a look around offline every one making legit money online is doing one of these things.

1. selling a product (theirs or from other people)
2. Selling a service (Their or from other people)


This is the same thing that happens online and the same way anyone can make money online.It boils down to selling a product (yours or from others) and selling a service(yours or from other people )



For a lot of people when the hear of sell something online the first thing that comes to their head are E-books and sometimes the “make money online niche”.Well ,they are not wrong but they are not completely correct.

All online business models involves selling something online, And before we proceed , i know that there are ways some people make money online without directly selling something , like getting donations . Apart from this all other ways involves you selling something, at the least it will involve selling your time.

And Yes ,making money by advertising (Google Adsense ) is selling (renting) the space on your web property.

So the very basic knowledge you should have and understand is this , you need to sell something to make money online.

You will need to do keyword research to determine exactly what Nigerians search for. www.google.com/insight and https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal are tools you can use

Affiliate marketing is very profitable but there are a few things you need to do rev it up.

1. Research and start with a good niche.

everything begins with this. if you get it wrong you will fail all the way.The best niches and markets and markets where people are always spending money.
example the four broad ones are wealth,health , hobbies,

2. Build a list

The people that make the most monies with affiliate marketing have a list of people . you can start building a list with a squeeze page and email marketing service like mailchimp.com.

3.Build traffic

without traffic you will make no money.List building is highly recommended because it is like owning your own traffic.
you can use free ways to build traffic or even buy traffic by advertising.The best thing is to buy traffic for list building.

These are just three good tips but you need , you can learn more from www.nairacow.com

hope this helps

My Friends,
The most important thing about making money online from Nigeria or from anywhere in the world is the single fact that “you have to sell something”.

I have written some guest post on other blogs discussing it in details. In my free guide, I mentioned it passively but it is very important.

Anybody online making money using the internet is selling something. Any method of making legit money online always involves the sale of a product or service. Think about this for a second or two.

It is the same principle applicable offline. It is how offline businesses make money. They all sell something. On my blog NairaCow.com and Mkakan.com I revealed that I was not making any money yet. This is because I am not selling anything yet.

So my biggest advice is, if you want to start anything online. If you want to start a website, if you want to start a blog, think about what you are going to sell on it to make money. It is very important.
So the question is; what can you sell. Where do you sell? What do you need to know in other to sell?


Mk Akan

sama,
you have to register with google first then register with their adsense program. if you have a blogger blog it is very easy.just click on monetize and follow the instructions given.
hope this helps,

RIP Doggg, will miss your voice, nate bezlle

Nadia,
it is very possible to make money online with google adsense but you need these 2 things.Get

1. High traffic site
2. High click through rates and high paying ads


1.Just having a blog on blogger.com with very low traffic will not help you make money online with adsense.You need a high traffic website.So you need to grow traffic to your website first in order to make money with adsense.

2.Not all adverts are paid equal.some are paid higher than some depending on what the advertisers are bidding for.if the ads appearing on your blog are low paying ,you will not make much money from adsense.
But before you can even enjoy adsense ,you need to register with Google and copy and paste the code on your site.

so the 2 lessons are ,grow traffic and get high paying ads,

visit www.NairaCow.com for more tips, hope this helps

The biggest lesson and advice i can give you about this on-line thing is that you need to prepare to learn ,practice ,fail and then succeed.
My biggest tip is that if you want to make money online ,you need to sell something.
in fact anyone making money online is selling something.
so the question is ,what can you sell online and how can you do that from Nigeria and receive payments.

There are many things you can sell online but basically you can sell your product or some other person's product(affiliate marketing).

There are many products you can create or outsiurce to others to create but what ever ypu create must have value -solve a problem before people can pay for it.
you can create and sell e-books,softwares,games and other electronic products .
you can create ans sell physical products like t-shirts computer accessories like mouse pad and covers etc on sites like www.zazzle.com or www.cafepress.com

Or you sell stuff on other sites like amazon.com -the accept Nigerians.

But you cannot make sales without traffic ,so you need to think of how to get traffic ,whether paid or free traffic ,
this is just a summary, the bottom line is you need to sell something online to make money online.

you can get more info from NairaCow.com ,
Hope this helps

There are a few nigerian hosting companies that provide hosting services but one shoulbe be very careful because some of them are just resellers to the big companies.like www.syskay.com
if these resellers have any kind of issue with the mother companies(and this happens sometimes)like when too many spam or fraudulent websites are hosted on the resellers servers, they may be shot downnnand thta means you blog,website and content will be shot down too. if you never had a back up of your work, you are doomed,
i would prefer you get premium and affordable hosting straight from the mother companies,
www.nairacow.com has a list of web hosting companies and other companies accepting nigerian customers,

success online requires many things.

1. learn , there is so much to learn and you have to be willing and ready to learn them to succeed.it might require investing in your education and may cost you some money.

2. practice, knowledge is only power when you use it.so practice what you have learnt.

3. patience, a lot of people believe that making money online is a breeze. they think because every thing is fast online making money should be fast too, that's a big fallacy,some people have worked for 2 years before they have made any kind of cash.so beware of products that promise heaven in a month, they are just scamming you.

4.persistence, keep working and doing what you believe in

5.you need a plan

planning is a lot of things. you need to have an idea of how you will make money and have a legit plan backing it

now these are just a few points.
but one needs to know first what he needs to learn,
you need to know the right things before you can practice them

this is where a lot of people get it wrong, wrong knowledge or incomplete knowledge is worst than no knowledge.

what you need to know about making money online

1. blogs and website don't make money

blogs and website don't make money but what you do on them is what will bring the money.

2. solve problems with products and services
people who make money online are people helping others to solve their problems(wants and needs) using products and services.
the reason why we visit any website is that it is going to help us do or solve something.

a few important things you need are;
1. how to know what people want
2. hoe to produce products and services to solve these problems or needs
3.internet marketing, how to get people to pay.

guy ,there is so much to learn and practice, just start , all the best