How to Start a Blog in Nigeria and Make Money Online

Blogging has become the new cool as a large number of people own blogs. Blogs which emerge in the 1990s has now become mainstream.

The number of blogs have greatly increase over the years since many people can access the internet, create and manage their blogs.

What started as a hobby for many has evolved into a source of income.

From being sources of information to entertainment and ideas, blogging has become commonplace in online community.

Thinking of launching your own blog? Guess you’re wondering the steps to take to start a blog, manage and build it over time to generate a passive income online or make money via blogging?

The art of blogging isn’t rocket science.There’s a whole lot to know about blogging.

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to start a blog in Nigeria and how to make money online. So, let’s get started!

First of all, you need to know what blogging is.

What is Blogging?

Blogging is the art of writing a blog or an online journal with the intent of sharing your thoughts and knowledge about a particular topic with readers.

This skill which was once restricted to journalists, writers and critics has advanced into the business world. Virtually, all businesses run a blog.

A blog is an abbreviated form for “weblog” and it is used to describe a website or a web page which is often updated with new content.

Comments, videos, widgets and links to other websites are usually included in blogs. A blogger is someone who writes, runs or administer the blog.

Some blogging facts you’ll find helpful:

  • Most bloggers publish at least weekly.
  • A good number of bloggers write for more than one blog.
  • According to Search Metrics, the average word count of top ranked content in Google is between 1,140-1285 words.
  • There are over 300,000,000 million blogs in existence.
  • Over 409 million people view more than 22.2 billion pages monthly.
  • According to InternetLiveStats, over 4 million blog posts are written each day.
  • 93% of bloggers share their content on social networks.

How to Start a Blog in Nigeria and Make Money Online

Want to learn how to start a blog and earn money online? Follow the steps below.

1. Choose your blog niche

This is the first rule of thumb. Blog experts advises newbies to choose a niche they’re passionate about.

This will make your blogging journey interesting instead of being a task that you have to do.

The niche should be one you’re knowledgeable of and capable of garnering views from audience.

Before creating a blog, you’ll need to analyze, evaluate, research and confirm what your passion is and the demand for it in the market.

Also, there are certain questions you’ll need to answer before choosing your blog niche. Below is a list of blogging ideas to choose from.

  • Money
  • Business
  • Fashion
  • Parenting
  • Finance
  • Fitness and health
  • Food
  • Inspiration and advice
  • Games
  • Travel
  • Relationships
  • Electronics
  • Photography
  • Music
  • Politics
  • TV Shows
  • Politics
  • Affiliate marketing
  • e-commerce
  • Cryptocurrency and many more

2. Choose a blogging platform

A blogging platform is an online software utilized in creating a blog and publishing content.

There’s a wide range of blogging platforms to choose from online, which offers a set of blogging tools and services needed to set up a set up and run a blog.

These platforms can either be free or paid for. While WordPress seems to be the most popular platform for blogging, there are other platforms like Tumblr, Blogger, LinkedIn, and Medium amongst others.

WordPress, the industry-acclaimed number one blogging platform makes blogging more convenient and fun both for beginner and professionals.

Little wonder why over 70 million users are presently using WordPress with 60% of top company blogs using it as their blogging platform.

3. Register a domain name

A domain name, also known as the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the unique blog address.

For example, the domain name of this blog is www.allnigerianinfo.ng. Your domain name makes your brand stand out from competition.

Here are tips for choosing a domain name for your blog:

  • Choose short memorable domain names.
  • If it’s possible, include your keyword in your domain name.
  • Use a popular Top Level Domains (TLDs) like .com, .org, .net. .com.
  • Avoid using other people’s brand names and registered names in your domain.

After choosing your domain name, you’ll have to register the name with an online company.

4. Choose a web hosting company

After you must have selected a domain name, there’s a need to host your blog.

A web host is a service provider which facilitates the accessibility of your blog to everyone.

There’s a wide array of hosting companies to select from. Looking for a great platform with good customer service and support? Bluehost is your right choice.

Why should you consider Bluehost?

Bluehost is one of the largest 20 web hosts, hosting over 2 million domains and over 900,000 blogs worldwide.

They provide 24/7 support and money-back guarantee. This means you can access their help center at any given time.

Using Bluehost, you’ll save yourself a whole lot of stress and money. You’ll definitely get value for your money.

Others reasons to use Bluehost include the following:

  • Simple and easy to use
  • Free domain for 1st year
  • Pre-install WordPress
  • Free SSL certificate
  • Well established hosting company
  • Recommended by WordPress.org
  • Bluehost gives your blog a professional look

Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting platforms and is used by many bloggers all over the world! Now that your mind is all made up, let’s get you a desirable and standard blog.

First, go to Bluehost.com. You can enter the domain name on a tab.

Click the “Get Started” button on the homepage.

Bluehost

You’ll be redirected to another page where you’ll have to choose your hosting plan.

For beginners, it’s best to select the Basic plan. You can upgrade to a better plan in the nearest future.

Bluehost

Next, you’ll need to create a domain for your blog. You’ll be provided with two boxes titled “Create a new domain and Use a domain you own”.

If you have a domain, go for the “use a domain you own” option but if you want to create a new domain, type the domain name in the box (Create a new domain) and click next to begin the registration process.

Bluehost domain

Domain

 

Fill out your billing details on the registration page as shown below.

Billings information

After this, select a hosting package plan. You can choose from 12, 36 or 60 months subscription. The higher the months the lower the cost of subscription.

Package information

Untick all the boxes under the ”Extras” subtitle except “Domain Privacy Protection”.

Next, fill in your payment details. Fill in the information as required with your Debit (Mastercard) or Credit Card, check the terms and condition box and then click submit.

Payment Information

Congrats! You’ve gotten yourself a domain name and a web hosting account for your blog.

What next? You’ll need to install WordPress on your website so you can easily blog.

5. Install WordPress

One thing about Bluehost is that it comes with Pre-installed WordPress, a feature which isn’t available to other web hosting companies.

After the checkout page, BlueHost will instruct you to create a new password for your account.

WordPress password

Once done, you can then use the details to log into your account whenever you want to.

Once you’re logged in, you’ll be shown some free WordPress themes by Bluehost to choose from.

The next page welcomes you to WordPress with a question asking if you’re in need of help. Click on “I don’t need help” to proceed.

WordPress

Finally, your blog is all up and ready for posting content. Within the WordPress post editor screen are various options for addition of images, videos and customization of your blog.

How to Make Money from Your Blog

Now that you’ve known how to set up a blog, how can you make money online while blogging? You must know that it takes time to start seeing some profit from your blog. It’s especially harder now that Google is cracking down on low quality blogs but with dedication and consistency, you WILL see results. You just need to get your blogging niche right!

There are a number of ways to monetize your blog. Here’s a list of monetization tactics.

1. Google Adsense: This is one of the best and easy ways to earn money on your blog.

Here, Google place ads for goods and services that are relevant to the content of your site.

It is a pay per click (PPC) advertising platform. You get paid when your visitors click the ads.

2. Affiliate Marketing: This is another way to monetise your blog.

Here, the bloggers recommends a product or service to their audience using unique links, and then get a referral commission for every time someone buys after clicking their link.

3. Sponsored posts: In this case, you have to create a blog post promoting a particular business, product, or service.

You’ll in turn receive an agreed commission for the promotional post.

Businesses who wants to boost sales search for blogs with relevant content and good traffic to promote their products.

Other means of monetizing your blog include selling digital products, physical products, email marketing, coaching services etc.

Now, you know how to start a blog and make money online through various means. Never forget, you need to be hardworking, patient and consistent in your blogging journey.

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