Blogging in Nigeria has become one of the most successful and lucrative businesses for lots of online entrepreneurs. However, there are people who still struggle to make it through this online business, — maybe they don’t have the right footing, technical know-how, or someone to guide them through the successful part.
If you are one of those looking to start and become a successful blogger in Nigeria but are stuck on how to go about it, then follow this guide through. You’ll get all the details about starting a blog in Nigeria, and how to become successful and make money blogging in Nigeria.
Before we delve in completely, here are some facts you need to know about blogging in Nigeria.
Read Also: Top 5 Free SEO Tools for Keyword Research and Content Creation.
Post Contents
Things to Note About Blogging in Nigeria
- Starting a blog in Nigeria is not as difficult as you think. Anybody can literally start and grow a blog successfully from the comfort of their home.
- Blogging can make you a full-time income if it is successful.
- You can start blogging from the comfort of your home and make money.
- You don’t need to be a guru in web development or know about coding to start and run a blog successfully.
Gone are the days when you needed to learn all the hard coding before you can build a website. There are several CMS and drag-and-drop website builders that allow you to create your website. — you’ll learn about all of this in this post and how to start a profitable blog and make money in this article.
With content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, it is now very easy to design and build a professional blog that makes you money here in Nigeria. The most popular blogging platforms used today are WordPress and Blogger.
Why Choose Blogging
Blogging is one lucrative business that gives you enough time and space. With blogging, you don’t need to work round the clock and no need to work every day of the week. A simple 4 days per week commitment is all you need to become really successful.
You are your own boss, working from the comfort of your home. Also, distance and location are not a barrier, — provided you have an internet connection.
That’s not all. You can earn money from several sources as a blogger. The most amazing part is earning passive income. — You make money while you sleep. I’m sure everybody loves the idea of making money even while they sleep.
Things to Note Before You Start Blogging in Nigeria.
Every business requires some level of research before you get started. Blogging is not left out of this as well. Before you start blogging in Nigeria, there are some things you need to know. — These things will help you stay focused and become successful in the long run.
Before you start blogging in Nigeria, ask yourself, — If you want to become a professional blogger, or just blogging for fun.
While professional bloggers are those who depend on their blogs and make their full-time living from the blog, those who blog just for fun do it as a side hustle.
Is blogging your passion, or you are in because you want a way to make quick money? Although blogging is very lucrative and can make you a lot, you need to know that, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. Blogging requires time and effort.
Most importantly, you need to be consistent if you want to be a successful blogger, whether in Nigeria or anywhere else. Another thing you should keep in mind is that it requires commitment. Commitment helps you keep your blog active and engaged at all times. — This is where the success begins.
Steps to a Successful Blogging in Nigeria.
If you want to start a successful blog in Nigeria, here are the key steps to take.
- Choose the perfect niche for your blog
- Coming up with your blog name
- Getting a Domain Name and Hosting
- Installing WordPress
- Basic WordPress settings
- WordPress Theme Installation
- Essential plugins installation
- Creating your first blog post
- Make money blogging in Nigeria
- Keep growing.
1. Choose the perfect niche for your blog
Choosing a niche for your blog is the first and most important thing to do. You can’t create a blog without knowing your niche of interest.
A blog niche is a specialized area or topic you’ll be focusing on when writing your blog content. Niches allow you to narrow down your audience, helping you craft content that will interest your audience.
Niche Categories
There are three main categories of niche, namely…
- The super niche
- The sub-niche
- The sub-sub niche.
The Super Niches: These niches are in a broader category, they are usually the hardest to rank for. An example of the Super niche is Health, Fashion, Sports, etc.
It is always advisable to avoid going for these niches, — you may find it difficult ranking for them, especially as a beginner.
The Sub Niche: These are niches that are a part of the broad niche. For example, writing about women’s fashion, kid’s fashion, football, etc. If you are good with SEO and can write quality content, then you can compete and maybe rank for some keywords in the sub-niche.
The Sub-Sub Niche: When you pick a very smaller portion of the main part as your area of interest, — for instance woman Ankara fashion, English Premium League, weight loss food. This is seen as a sub-sub niche.
As a beginner, it is usually advisable to start from this level and expand as you grow.
Remember, there are several niches out there, and you can’t possibly write about all the niches. You have to be specific and know what you want from the start.
However, if you are not sure where to start, here is a guide for you.
How to come up with a perfect niche idea for your bog
To be successful, you need to blog about what interests you. If you are into fitness, you could blog about it, if you love cooking, you could go into food blogging. Start from your area of passion.
It should be a field you know too well, — I mean, you should have some level of knowledge about the subject. Although, with the internet, you can blog about anything, – all it takes is some online research. But for sustainability and consistency, it is best practice to go for your passion when starting your blog.
Another thing that will help you decide your niche is the intent of your blog. There are several types of intent, they include, Informational, Navigational, Commercial, Search, and Transactional. However, you should go with a niche that focuses more on Search, commercial and informational intent.
Most importantly, don’t forget to check if the niche will accommodate a vast number of promotional products for affiliates, — since the goal is to make money blogging in Nigeria. It should also be a niche that has multiple ways of generating revenue if you want to make consistence income blogging.
Finally, the niche you choose should be able to solve problems or entertain people. If you are choosing a niche that solves a problem, it should be an evergreen niche.
2. Coming up with your blog name
Once you have decided on your niche, the next thing is to get a name for your blog. Remember, no blog exists without a name. — This will be the domain of your blog or the website address. This is how it will look. www.yourdomainname.com
How to come up with the perfect domain name
Use short names that are simple and easy to remember.
It should be an easy-to-remember name (Not more than 3 words)
It should be something related to your niche, – not an abstract name
If possible, the name should contain your make niche keyword. For example, if your niche is in fitness, it should contain fitness.
Check for the availability of the name on social media and if the exact domain is still available.
To do a domain name search, you could use Namecheap. This will show you the domains that are available and the ones that are taken. You could also use sites like instant domain search and Leandomainsearch to come up with a perfect name for your blog. Simply type your keyword or niche, and it’ll show you all the different name suggestions you can use as your blog name.
Once you’ve got a perfect name for your blog, you can then proceed to Namecheap to do a quick name search, — if the domain name is available.
If the name is not available, — go through the process again till you find an available name.
3. Getting a Domain Name and Hosting
Now that we have chosen a niche and gotten a domain name, the next step is to get buy the domain name and get hosting.
It is important to note that you can run a blog without a website URL and hosting. They are the 2 essential elements for you to have a blog.
At this point, you need to get your domain name registered. Remember, this is the website address of your blog. An example of the domain URL is www.munchads.com. When buying your domain, always go for the .com extension since it is the most common and easily remembered.
And you also need to buy your hosting. The hosting is where all your blog content, including media and files, will be stored. It is a platform that provides storage space on the internet for your website.
It is important to choose a hosting company that’s reliable, secure, and fast with almost zero downtime. And also affordable. My recommendation to you is Namecheap.
Namecheap has one of the best customer care services — providing you 24/7 support irrespective of your plan and their performance is topnotch, this is why we strongly recommend them for beginners.
Get your domain and hosting here.
4. Installing WordPress
Now is time to install WordPress and get our blog up and running. I will be using the Namecheap platform for this process, — so if you registered with Namecheap, the process will be easier for you. However, if you registered with other companies like GoDaddy, Bluehost, or Hostinger, the process will be pretty much the same. Just follow through.
We are making use of WordPress — since it is the most used blogging platform. It also has lots of support and resources in case you get stocked. Plus, there are several plugins and themes to help you build an amazing and professional blog.
Installing WordPress on Namecheap cPanel
- Login to your Namecheap account, click on the hosting list and then click Go To cPanel.
- Next, go down to Softaculous Apps Installer and click on WordPress.
- On the next page, click on Install, on the Choose Installation URL, select the URL you want to use. In this case, it will be the domain you registered.
- Scroll down to fill out the necessary details, like site name, description, admin username, and password. Also, ensure to input your email so that you can receive instructions and details of your website.
- Once you are done, hit Install, it only takes a few secs, and you’re set.
Hurray, you just completed the most important part of creating your blog.
Read Also: How to Start and Grow a YouTube Channel: A Beginners’ Guide
5. Basic WordPress settings
After installing WordPress, you’ll need to enable some basic settings on your WordPress dashboard.
To do this, visit your WordPress dashboard by going to www.yoursite.com/wp-admin. Enter your admin name and your chosen password to go to your dashboard.
On your dashboard, go to the setting on the left panel and click on permalink. On the permalink page, choose post name and click save changes.
Click profile in the top right corner, and click edit profile to set up your author name.
You could also set the title and tagline of your blog by going to settings, > general. And then save changes.
Before we proceed with theme and plugin installations, uninstall all unwanted plugins and themes.
6. WordPress Theme Installation
A good theme is what you need for successful blogging in Nigeria. Themes play an important role in making sure your blog loads fast, is lightweight, and has a good display both on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices.
If you go with a theme with a bad user interface, this will generally impact negatively on your blog.
Luckily, there are thousands of good themes out there. Both paid and free themes, with a simple search of WordPress free themes, you will get tones of themes to choose from.
You can also go to theme forest if you want to buy a premium theme.
Here are some good themes to choose from.
Newspaper theme, Flatsome, Porto theme, Betheme.
There are two methods of installing a WordPress theme on your blog.
The first method is by installing themes using the WordPress Repository on your dashboard.
To do this, go to the appearance from your dashboard, click on appearance >> themes >> click on add new. Chose the theme you wish to install and click install.
The second method is by installing themes from third-party sites.
To do this, you need to download the theme to your local computer, then go to Appearance >> themes >> add new >> Upload theme and click install now.
Now you are done, it’s time to install plugins.
7. Essential plugins installation
Plugins are what give your blog juice and improve its functionality. Without plugins, your blog will lack so many features and the ability to function well.
There are thousands of plugins developed for WordPress sites, however, not all plugins are meant for use in a single blog/site. Also, you need to be careful as some plugins may be fishy with the intention of corrupting your blog or stealing users’ information from your blog.
Below are some useful plugins needed for blogs
- Classic Editor
- Advanced Editor
- AMP
- Updraftplus
- WP Rocket caching plugin
- Really Simple SSL
- Akismet Anti-Spam
- Contact Form 7
- Elementor Website Builder
- Social icons by Wzoom
- Yoast/Rankmath SEO
- OneSignal push notifications
- Easy table of contents
- All In One WP Security / iThemes security
- Jetpack
8. Creating your first blog post
Congratulations, you made it to this point, — in this blogging in Nigeria post, it shows you are ready to start creating your posts and making money online.
Now that we have successfully created our blog, and installed a theme and plugin, it is time to start creating posts. Posts are the content that people will click to read, — it is what drives traffic to your blog and makes you money.
To start creating your post, log in to your WordPress dashboard, and hover your mouse on posts. You’ll see All Posts, Add New, Categories, and Tag.
Click on Add New and start typing your blog post. Remember to take care of all formatting, and editing, and also, do not forget to add images and videos if needed. When you are done, hit publish. — Hurray! Your post is live.
Few things to note:
Remember, the post-session has Categories and Tags. Let’s talk about both.
Categories are what help you put your blog posts into different sessions or parts. For example, if your blog covers lifestyle, you could have a session where you talk about beauty, women’s fitness, nutrition, and so on. You need to go to the Categories to create all of these sessions.
Tags are just what it is, — this is just like adding hashtags on an Instagram post. They help you segment your blog post, so they belong to a particular tag on your blog.
As a blogger, it is important to always create rich and quality posts if you want to be outstanding in your niche. This will also help you in ranking your post.
Use Grammarly Chrome Extension to enhance your writing and avoid unnecessary errors in your writing.
Driving traffic to your blog should always be in your mind — the traffic makes you money. You should focus on generating targeted traffic to your blog and to do this, you could use any of the means listed below.
- Learn, and implement, both on-page and off-page SEO
- Use social media to get traffic
- You can use paid ads if you have the money
- Contribute to blogs of the same niche through comments and guest posting
- Utilize social bookmarking sites
9. Make money blogging in Nigeria
We have come to the most interesting part of this post, — how to make money blogging in Nigeria. Yes, we all want to make money from our blog — that’s the reason why most of us started blogging at first, right?
And it can be frustrating if you are not seeing those money roll in after putting in the work. So, here is how you can make money from your blog.
- Affiliate Marketing
- AdSense Ads
- Selling ad space
- Selling digital products
- Paid Webinar
- Selling of Physical Products
- Email Marketing
- Coaching services
- Sponsored post
10. Keep growing.
One thing that makes people better and outstanding is growth. And to grow, you need to constantly keep learning. As a new blogger, this is what’ll help you conquer your niche. Remember, every pro blogger out there started just like you. So, it is time to go out there and give out your best.
No matter who you are, you don’t need to be perfect to become a blogger and make money online. The most important requirement in this business is your passion and the will to do it.
Another thing that will help you grow and get better is to look for and follow blogs in your niche. Model what they are doing right and implement it on your own. If possible, enroll in a blogging class, join like communities, ask questions when stuck, and be open to suggestions and positive critics.
Most importantly, seek ways to generate targeted traffics to your blog. Your traffic is your gold mine, — it is your power of making money.
Read Also: Blogging niches – Top 5 topics you can start blogging on today
FAQs on Blogging in Nigeria
Can I Start a Blog for Free and Make Money in Nigeria?
With platforms like blogger, wordpress.com, and Wix, you can start a blog for free in Nigeria and make money.
However, these platforms are not self-hosted and may come with an added extension to your domain. Also, there may be a need for a switch as your blog grows.
Can I Make Money as a Beginner Blogger?
There are several ways to make money blogging in Nigeria. – However, as a beginner, the easiest way is through affiliate marketing.
WordPress or Blogger, Which Should I Use?
It all depends on your choice. But WordPress is more robust and gives you full control plus lots of functionality.
How Much does it Cost to Start a Blog in Nigeria?
With as little as $70 you could start blogging in Nigeria. However, it depends on the hosting company you chose to register with. Companies like Namecheap and Hostinger offer the most affordable plans.
So, as a starter, you may want to check them out.
Conclusion
Blogging in Nigeria has proven to be a very lucrative business over the years. I don’t need to say much about this, as there are already people who we may have heard of.
Some people have gone ahead to even replace their 9 – 5 jobs with their blogging business.
I must say, it’s not as easy as it sounds, but with patience, consistency, and good effort, you will surely be smiling to the bank every month as a blogger in Nigeria.
