How To Start A Blog In Nigeria
Are you wondering how to start a blog in Nigeria so you can work from home and make money online?
Blogging is a genuine work-from-home job in Nigeria and a legit way to earn a full-time income. So if you’re thinking about starting a blog in Nigeria, this might just be the best decision you’ll ever make!
In this post we’ll look at everything you need to know to be able to start a successful blog in Nigeria, I’ll cover topics like:
- Choosing a profitable blogging niche
- Using the right blogging platform
- Setting up your blog
- Creating quality content
- Monetising your blog
- Promoting your blog
I won’t keep you waiting any longer, let’s dive in and find out how to become a blogger in Nigeria!
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I may earn a small commission for affiliate links in this post at no extra cost to you. Please read my disclaimer for more information.
Why start a blog in Nigeria?
Starting a blog in Nigeria is a great business idea with lots of flexibility.
Because you are your own boss, you get to choose when and from where you work. This makes it the perfect job for people who are juggling family life and want to work from home.
Another good reason to start a blogging business is that it has unlimited earning potential. How exciting is that?
With a little bit of hard work at the start of your blogging journey you’ll soon be able to make money while you sleep!
How much money you make will of course depend on the quality of your blog content and how you monetise this content. But the older your blog gets, the more content you accumulate and the more income you’ll make in the long run.
You might even be able to create and sell digital products or online courses from your blog or offer coaching or other services to clients which will increase your income potential even more.
There are many creative ways to make money with your blog. Many of these monetisation techniques require you to do the work up front and then you can reap the benefits for years to come. This makes blogging one of the best passive income ideas in Nigeria.
How much does it cost to set up a blog in Nigeria
The great thing about blogging is that it doesn’t cost much money to get started. In fact, I think it’s probably the cheapest business to start in Nigeria!
All you need is a laptop, reliable internet and a website hosting company to host your blog on and you’re good to go.
If you set up your blog with Bluehost you can host your blog for about ₦760 per month.
How much do bloggers make in Nigeria
The earning potential for bloggers in Nigeria can vary widely depending on several factors including the blog’s traffic, niche, monetisation methods, and the blogger’s marketing strategy.
Some Nigerian bloggers might make as little as ₦70.000 per month, while others will make over ₦2.000.000 per month. Top bloggers with high-traffic websites who use several monetisation techniques can potentially earn much higher, up to ₦15.000.000 per month or more.
So what do you think? Is blogging lucrative in Nigeria?
Yes, I think so! Blogging is definitely a legit way to make money online in Nigeria.
How to become a successful blogger in Nigeria
If you want to start a blog that makes money, it’s a good idea to plan all the important details of your blog. To help you plan your blog for success I’ve created a Blog Planner Workbook that asks you all the right questions, you can grab it for free below:
How to start a blog in Nigeria
Follow the next steps to start a professional blog that is ready to make money!
Step 1: Choose your blog niche
The first step to starting a blog is choosing a blog niche. This is a very important step because your blog topic can determine the success or failure of your blog.
You need to choose a specific topic that you know a lot about and that you will enjoy writing about. When choosing a blog topic, make sure to ask the following questions:
- Is this topic in demand (do people search for this topic online?)
- Will I be able to write 200+ articles on this topic?
- Is this topic easy to monetise?
Sometimes new bloggers want to start a personal blog and write about their day to day life, but this not always a good idea unless you write about a certain aspect of your life that is relevant to other people. If you want to make money blogging you always have to ask; will anyone search for this topic online?
Choosing a niche will make your blog more focussed, which will attract a certain audience and make it easier to create targeted content for your blog. Niching down will also help Google understand what your blog is about, which will help with your blog’s ranking in the search engines.
Some examples of popular blog niches are:
- Personal finance
- Parenting
- Craft
- Online business
- Food
For more tips on choosing a profitable blog niche, read:
High Demand Blog Topics (that make good money)
Step 2: Choose the right blogging platform
Once you’ve decided on a blog niche you need choose a blogging platform (also called a content management system).
There are many blogging platforms to choose from and some will let you start a blog for free. While this may sound tempting, it’s best to avoid free blogging platforms, here’s why:
- On a free blogging platform you don’t own your blog, when the platform shuts down, you’ll lose your blog.
- You won’t have your own domain name, it will include the platform’s name and it will look confusing to your audience.
- Connecting your own domain is possible but you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan and this often costs more than starting your blog on a self hosted site.
- If you use a free platform you don’t look professional and some affiliate platforms and brands may not accept your application.
- Free platforms have lots of limitations on functionality and design.
Because there are quite a few disadvantages of free blogging platforms I don’t recommend starting a blog on a free platform unless you want to start a hobby blog that you never want to monetise.
If you want to start a blog to make money you need to treat it as a business and start a self hosted blog with WordPress.org.
WordPress.org is the best blogging platform and industry standard for professional blogs. When you start a self hosted WordPress blog it means you:
- own your blog and nobody can shut it down
- will have your own domain name
- look more professional
- have no limitations when building or designing your website
Follow the steps below to start a blog with WordPress.org.
Step 3: Set up your website hosting
To set up a self hosted WordPress blog you need a web hosting service. A hosting provider is basically a server where your blog lives on the world wide web.
A great web host for beginners is Bluehost.
I love Bluehost because they do all the tech stuff for you and make it super easy to start your blog. They will:
- Install WordPress for you
- Give you a free domain name and link it up for you
- Have an easy dashboard with prompts to set up your site
- Give you a free SSL certificate (to show Google your site is secure)
- Give you a free domain email address
- Have helpful 24/7 chat support
So if you want an easy blog setup, Bluehost is a great place to start. Follow the next steps to set up your website hosting with Bluehost.
#1. Set up your blog with Bluehost
Go to Bluehost with this link to receive a free WordPress install
#2. Select a hosting plan
Click the blue button View Plans and select a hosting package. If you want to set up one website, the Basic Plan is a good option for you.
#3. Claim your free domain name
The next step is choosing your blog name. Bluehost gives you free domain name that you can claim here. Simply type your chosen domain name in the box Create a new domain to see if this domain is available.
The name of your blog is quite important, you want it to be short, relevant and memorable. If you need help deciding on a good domain name, read this post:
What Should I Name My Blog? 20 Tips For Finding The Perfect Blog name
If you need a bit more time to decide on your domain name, simply click the link: I’ll create my domain later.
If you already have a domain name, you can fill it out in the box Use a domain you own.
#4. Add your account information
Next you need to enter your personal details to create your hosting account. You can also choose how many years you want to buy hosting for.
At package extras you can untick all boxes if you want to save money because these are not must-have items. You can create a free domain email with Bluehost with these steps.
#5. Add your payment information
Add your credit card details and click Submit.
#6. Create a password and login to the Bluehost portal
Next you need to create a password for your account and then you’ll receive an email from Bluehost that includes a link to the Bluehost portal which will guide you through the first steps of setting up your site.
#7. Install a WordPress theme
In the Bluehost portal you’ll be asked to select a WordPress theme (this is the template for the ‘look‘ of your site).
You can try one of the free WordPress themes that are suggested, but I recommend uploading a premium theme to make your site design a lot easier.
Great quality WordPress themes that have free themes available are:
Other good premium WordPress themes are:
Enfold (which I use for this blog)
BluChic Themes (feminine WordPress themes with step by step setup instructions)
#8. Design your website
Next you need to design your site. If you picked a good blog theme, this should make your blog design process a whole lot easier.
To create a certain look for your site, you may want to create a brand and logo first. You can DIY your logo with this tutorial. Or you can buy pre-made logo & branding templates with the button below.
#9. Create your website pages
Once you’ve got your branding sorted out, it’s time to create your website pages.
The main pages your website should have are:
- Home
- Blog
- About
- Contact
Your blog also needs legal pages like a Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms & Conditions. To find out more about blogging legally and to get access to an affordable legal page bundle make sure take this free legal course for bloggers.
WordPress Course for Beginners
If you need more help figuring out how to do things in WordPress, I have a WordPress Course for Beginners that shows you how to:
- Configure Your WordPress Settings
- Install & Configure Your Plugins
- Install & Customise A WordPress Theme
- Create And Edit Your Pages & Posts
- Create Your Menus
- Create Your Headers, Sidebars & Footers
- And Much More
So if you’re struggling to build your website make sure to check out Wonderful WordPress here.
#10. Write your first blog post
Now you’ve come to the part where you finally get to write your first post. This is exciting but also a bit scary because you might be wondering what to write about…
The most important thing to remember when writing a blog post is to create helpful content that your target audience is looking for. Try to figure out what they are struggling with and answer their questions and help them solve their problems.
For more tips on how to find good blog topics read:
93 Blogging Topics For Beginners
And for a detailed tutorial on how to write a blog post read this:
How To Write A Blog Post That Ranks In Google
How to monetise your blog in Nigeria
There are many ways to monetise your blog and to maximise your income it’s a good idea to use multiple methods. The most popular ways to make money with your blog are:
1. Affilate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to monetise your new blog because it’s free to get started with, and you don’t need lots of traffic, you just need targeted traffic (this is where your niche comes in).
As an affiliate you promote products for other companies with your unique affiliate link. When someone clicks on your link and buys something, you’ll earn a commission on that sale.
To find companies to promote affiliate products for you can sign up to affiliate networks. Some popular affiliate networks are:
2. Ad Placement
Once you start getting more traffic to your blog, you could join an ad network.
Some of the best ad networks are MediaVine and Monumetric.
To be able to qualify for MediaVine you’ll need 50k sessions per month, Monumetric will let you use their network with less sessions but if you have under 80k sessions you’ll need to pay a $99 one-time implementation fee.
You can also apply for Google Adsense which has no minimum traffic requirements or Ezoic, which will accept blogs with around 10k sessions and won’t charge an implementation fee.
3. Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is any type of content you create directly for a brand. Sometimes a brand will approach you to see if you can write an article about a certain product or create a video tutorial about something etc.
You can of course also contact a brand that you would like to work with and let them know how you could promote their product.
4. Digital Products
Digital products are another great way to add another revenue stream to your blog.
Examples of digital products you could create are:
- eBook
- Online course
- Planner
- Audio file
- Printables
- Templates
I sell several digital products from my blog, you can check them out here for inspiration.
Check out this tutorial to find out how to create printables:
How To Make Printables To Sell
5. Offer A Service
If you have a skill that you can offer as an online service, you could easily sell this from your blog.
Services that are often offered by bloggers are:
- Graphic design
- Web design
- Writing
- Editing/Proofreading
- VA (Virtual Assistant)
- Social Media Manager
Plenty of more established bloggers are looking for online services to help their productivity, so adding a service to your blog is great way to boost your blog income.
6. Memberships
Do you have a service or product you could sell as a membership or subscription?
If you’re a coach you could create a coaching membership where your client receives a certain amount of coaching calls and other coaching materials each month.
Or if you’re a photographer you could create a stock photo subscription site.
As you can see there are a lot of creative ways to make money with your blog, you might be able to come up with more ideas that suit your blog topic.
Promoting your blog
For your blog business to become successful you need 2 things:
- Great content
- Blog traffic
And while you may think that great content will attract blog traffic, it’s still a good idea to promote your blog (as much as possible).
The easiest way to create brand awareness is through social media marketing. By posting engaging content to social platforms like Instagram or Facebook you’ll be able to reach a wider audience and create a community of like-minded individuals.
Email marketing is another great way to stay connected to your readers and build a community of users that are interested in your content and products or services.
While it’s a good idea to start building an email list and join one or two social media platforms, the best ways to drive blog traffic are Pinterest marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
More than 60% of my blog traffic comes from Pinterest, so I highly recommend learning how to use it. I have a complete beginners’ tutorial so make sure to read it here:
Pinterest For Bloggers – Your Pinterest Strategy
SEO optimisation is the technique of optimising your website for good user experience and writing valuable content with relevant keywords.
Both search engines and Pinterest rely on you to use keywords to get your content found, so to make sure your blog visitors can find your content you need to learn how to do keyword research.
Adding relevant keywords to your blog posts and creating high-quality content that answers all your readers’ questions is how you can start ranking in the Google search result pages.
A great keyword research tool that I use is RankIQ. This tool was especially created for bloggers (by a very successful blogger) and it will show you exactly which keywords to use in your article. It also has a huge library with keywords that your blog can rank for. RankIQ takes all the guesswork out of search engine optimisation and is sure to get your blog on the first page of Google in no time.
Have a look at the image below that shows how MediaVine blogs that were using RankIQ had a 4.68x greater increase in monthly visitors vs blogs that didn’t use RankIQ.
Click here to find out more about RankIQ.
For an SEO tutorial for beginners, read:
SEO for Bloggers – The Essential Guide
And for more tips on promoting your blog, read:
How To Promote Your Blog Like A Pro
FAQ About starting a blog
Where to learn blogging in Nigeria
The great thing about blogging is that you can learn all blogging skills online. So no matter where you live in the world, you have all the resources at your fingertips!
There are plenty of free blogging courses you can take. Feel free to sign up to my free course:
Kickstart Your Money Making Blog
How do bloggers get paid in Nigeria
How you get paid as a blogger depends on which monetisation methods you use. If you have ads on your blog, you will get paid by your ad network, and if you use affiliate links, you will get paid by the affiliate network or directly by the company you’re an affiliate for.
You can also create sponsored content which of course will be paid by the company that sponsors you to create the content or if you create digital products your website visitors will pay you directly.
As a new blogger it’s a great idea to start with affiliate marketing, because you need the least amount of traffic for this. But it’s always a good idea to diversify your income and by creating multiple income streams through ads, digital products, sponsored posts and possibly services.
This is how to start a blog in Nigeria
I hope you found this post helpful and you now have a better understanding on how to start your own blog!
If you have any questions please drop them in the comments below and for more blogging tips make sure to sign up for my free blogging course.
Good luck starting your blog!
Thanks for sharing
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Sassy Boss
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