Blogging, as we know is being given different definitions by men. Some take it like some form of job, some take it as a hobby, and some take it like a necessity.
Anyway for me, it is whatever you call it. Blogging has given everyone a chance to be a journalist, and of course since you can earn as a journalist, you can equally earn as a blogger. If you are a great writer of fictions, then you can start a fiction blog. You know much about sports, you can cook, and you’re a fashion freak? You too can be a blogger.
You can even start a blog telling people about the latest gadgets in town, or giving health and relationship advises. Some blogs even exist to review other blogs, and the owners are really making it from there. It’s all your manner of approach, and depends heavily on the amount of time and money you invest, you must be committed. From my own point of view, blogging can also be represented by this >>> YOU KNOW SOMETHING >>> YOU FEEL I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THAT TOO >>> YOU WRITE IT AND UPLOAD >>> I CHECK IT OUT ON YOUR PAGE >>>. Did you notice that I didn’t put monetization among my examples?
Yeah! That was intentional. Monetization is the last part of blogging. Remember, it is your readers first. The mistake newbie bloggers make is to rush into making money, and at lat you are discouraged and finally quit, that’s not the approach o a successful fellow. You have to push on, because when you start getting discourage, I bet you. You’re very close to making it online as a blogger. You are posting what you love, so that you would never run out of posts, and you need not to be a novice. Now in blogging, one of the confusions people face is the choosing of a niche, and I’ll break them down below.
How Do I Start?
If you want to blog, then this is a question you should ask. You have to choose where you’ll host the blog. If you’re a novice, then start with Blogger. It’s very perfect, especially if you get a nice template. The major problem with Blogger is that they can take down your post anytime, and that’s so sad. I once woke up to find my blog with over 70 original posts taken down. There was no prior warning or something like that, just did their mind and left me stranded. I had to start afresh and you know how discouraging that was, some people will quit after that.
My next suggestion is Wordpress. Wordpress is the best for building quality sites, and it gives you what you want, but you need to know a little coding to enjoy it to the fullest. It doesn’t have unlimited bandwidth like Blogger, and if you don’t have a source of income yet, I suggest you leave wp for the mean time. You can always transfer. If you don’t like these, then check out Wapka, Wix, Joomla and so many others. They have their own pros and cons too.
This is an aspect of blogging that deserves great commitment. You must be out to listen to news, watch TV, read newspapers and dailies and of course, surf the net. When the people notice that you always bless them with nice news, they will keep on returning.
2. Entertainment: Never underestimate the power entertainment in blogging. People love music, movies, sports and anything entertainment. They would be glad to discover that you can provide them with the latest of the information on a platter of gold, and bet me, they would surely return. They would love to hear that Rihanna did this, Nicki Minaj did this and Chris Brown did that.
They would want to know what killed Micheal Jackson and Tupac and if you know any of that, you can give it to them. Linda Ikeji used the power of the growing music industry to become the most powerful blogger in Africa, and thanks to this wonderful niche. An example of this is Naijaloaded.com.
3. Politics: For some people, politics would be a great niche. At the same time this is a sensitive niche. You might post something that would implicate you and you find yourself behind the bars. An example of a politics blog is the SaharaReporters. They have been sued several times for what they posted.
4. Tech: This is a very broad niche. It goes from gadgets tutorials, to telling us about the latest gadgets in town and even teaching things like Corel Draw, blogging and other things. Can you tell us when Nokia produces a new handset, describe it for us, tell us the price and even link us to where we can get it from, then we want to see you be a tech blogger.
Can you do some tutorials, teach us how to get blog traffic, YouTube views, Facebook likes, Instagram and Twitter followers, etc, then you too can be a tech blogger. Just anything about technology. An example is the Ogbonge Blog.
5. Sports: I’m not that a sports fan, but I know of Goal.com and Live Scores. If you are a football fan, then you must have visited this site. It tells you live scores as they are happening and thanks to the power of Java Scripts, you even hear GOAL when someone scores, and with the uprising of betting websites like Bet9ja, Naira Bet and the rest of them, trust me this sites will be noticing more visitors.
6. Food: Have you ever seen your mum go online to browse for how to “Make Fried Rice”? We don’t normally browse our contemporary food but for these new ones, some people would love to browse how to prepare them. So if you can make cooking tutorials, you can monetize them.
It would be a credit if you can upload them as videos to YouTube and attach to your posts, and also add amazing photographs to show that you actually prepared the stuffs. You can even use name like Mama Rachael’s Kitchen, I guess it would go well with a food blog.
7. Relationship: Can you give the people relationship advises [of course who cannot], then you can be a relationship blogger. People constantly go to Google to check out things like, “HOW TO TELL MY BOYFRIEND THAT I’M A VIRGIN ON A FIRST DATE”, HOW TO TELL A GIRL THAT I LOVE HER”, HOW TO SEDUCE A GIRL/BOY”, HOW TO GET A GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND” etc. you will never lack posts if this is actually your niche. An example of this kind of sites is Purple. It focuses on teaching the people how to get over some stresses, depression and so on.
8. Health: Are you a medical student, or a medical practitioner? Then you too can be a health blogger. Teach people how to overcome certain diseases, and you can even recommend drugs for certain diseases, but make sure to recommend a doctor always. You can aid them get over emotional stresses, depression and so on.
9. Movies: Review that your favorite movie and someone will be glad you did. People would always go to search for things like Merlin’ Summary, Actors in Legend Of The Seeker, bla bla bla. So if actually you can do any of that, then go on with reviewing movies.
10. Apps and Games: This is another great niche. You’ll provide games and applications for people to download. Make sure that you scan them to prove that they are virus free, because a virus infection can ruin the reputation of your blog. You’ll also do a lot of search engine optimization to grab the unlimited free traffic from Google. You can focus on a particular type here or be versatile. You can provide pc, android, java, Symbian or even ios games and apps, depending on your choice.
Now other sources of traffic are online forums. Some of them are Nairaland and Nigerian Creative Forum. You have to post interesting stuff there to get good attention. I have once gotten more than 3,000 clicks on my links in Nairaland but that was spamming, I would make them appear like adult posts and then give them the link, when they click through, they see another thing even though related. This isn’t that good because it brings down the reputation of your blog unknowingly. The visitors will eventually not return.
I get a great deal of traffic from Facebook groups and pages. I make my posts as interactive as possible so that it would trend. I can ask you to comment your birth month or something like that, chipping in my links with superb headings. I don’t have much members in my own group yet [about 18,000 members], but it’s still growing. I can also pay someone to help me grow them. Blogging is all about investment.
You have to run Facebook and Twitter ads, and of course Facebook is cheaper. Share your post to Google+, no traffic is excess. Use any available method but avoid spamming, it isn’t nice. Time your tweets properly to get it when people will be active. Build an e-mail list, but don’t spam people’s emails, they’ll mark you as spam. Just know how to send reasonable e-mails, and don’t make them look too good to be true.
That's the issue most bloggers are facing today. Don't quit yet, push forward and you'd see yourself booming in the blogging business. You can see more on that here.
Which Niche Should I Choose As A Blogger?
This is a very difficult question I must tell you, because even the most experienced of a tutor would not be able to dictate your hobby. It is here that you talk about the “MOST LUCRATIVE NICHE”. Believe it or not, there is nothing like the most lucrative niche, it’s all your approach to it. All niches have different people that patronize them, and they make it from there. I’ll share with you my ten favorite niches, and you choose from one or more if you want to run more than one blogs. Never confuse your readers by diverting in niche. Even if you want to do a sponsored post, make sure it is related. It must be your hobby or else, you might run out of posts eventually.Now the Niches:
1. News: No doubt news blogs are a very important part of blogging. Check out sites like Naij.com and Laila’s Blog, they focus on news, and the people already trust them with providing them with the latest news, and so they would return eventually.This is an aspect of blogging that deserves great commitment. You must be out to listen to news, watch TV, read newspapers and dailies and of course, surf the net. When the people notice that you always bless them with nice news, they will keep on returning.
2. Entertainment: Never underestimate the power entertainment in blogging. People love music, movies, sports and anything entertainment. They would be glad to discover that you can provide them with the latest of the information on a platter of gold, and bet me, they would surely return. They would love to hear that Rihanna did this, Nicki Minaj did this and Chris Brown did that.
They would want to know what killed Micheal Jackson and Tupac and if you know any of that, you can give it to them. Linda Ikeji used the power of the growing music industry to become the most powerful blogger in Africa, and thanks to this wonderful niche. An example of this is Naijaloaded.com.
3. Politics: For some people, politics would be a great niche. At the same time this is a sensitive niche. You might post something that would implicate you and you find yourself behind the bars. An example of a politics blog is the SaharaReporters. They have been sued several times for what they posted.
4. Tech: This is a very broad niche. It goes from gadgets tutorials, to telling us about the latest gadgets in town and even teaching things like Corel Draw, blogging and other things. Can you tell us when Nokia produces a new handset, describe it for us, tell us the price and even link us to where we can get it from, then we want to see you be a tech blogger.
Can you do some tutorials, teach us how to get blog traffic, YouTube views, Facebook likes, Instagram and Twitter followers, etc, then you too can be a tech blogger. Just anything about technology. An example is the Ogbonge Blog.
5. Sports: I’m not that a sports fan, but I know of Goal.com and Live Scores. If you are a football fan, then you must have visited this site. It tells you live scores as they are happening and thanks to the power of Java Scripts, you even hear GOAL when someone scores, and with the uprising of betting websites like Bet9ja, Naira Bet and the rest of them, trust me this sites will be noticing more visitors.
6. Food: Have you ever seen your mum go online to browse for how to “Make Fried Rice”? We don’t normally browse our contemporary food but for these new ones, some people would love to browse how to prepare them. So if you can make cooking tutorials, you can monetize them.
It would be a credit if you can upload them as videos to YouTube and attach to your posts, and also add amazing photographs to show that you actually prepared the stuffs. You can even use name like Mama Rachael’s Kitchen, I guess it would go well with a food blog.
7. Relationship: Can you give the people relationship advises [of course who cannot], then you can be a relationship blogger. People constantly go to Google to check out things like, “HOW TO TELL MY BOYFRIEND THAT I’M A VIRGIN ON A FIRST DATE”, HOW TO TELL A GIRL THAT I LOVE HER”, HOW TO SEDUCE A GIRL/BOY”, HOW TO GET A GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND” etc. you will never lack posts if this is actually your niche. An example of this kind of sites is Purple. It focuses on teaching the people how to get over some stresses, depression and so on.
8. Health: Are you a medical student, or a medical practitioner? Then you too can be a health blogger. Teach people how to overcome certain diseases, and you can even recommend drugs for certain diseases, but make sure to recommend a doctor always. You can aid them get over emotional stresses, depression and so on.
9. Movies: Review that your favorite movie and someone will be glad you did. People would always go to search for things like Merlin’ Summary, Actors in Legend Of The Seeker, bla bla bla. So if actually you can do any of that, then go on with reviewing movies.
10. Apps and Games: This is another great niche. You’ll provide games and applications for people to download. Make sure that you scan them to prove that they are virus free, because a virus infection can ruin the reputation of your blog. You’ll also do a lot of search engine optimization to grab the unlimited free traffic from Google. You can focus on a particular type here or be versatile. You can provide pc, android, java, Symbian or even ios games and apps, depending on your choice.
Traffic Source
This is a major traffic that newbie bloggers face, traffic source. Traffic is expensive to get I must say, or you invest a lot of time and energy. But what is blogging without traffic? You’re just writing for yourself, and you cannot get a dime from it. So where will you now get the traffic from? You can get traffic from social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linked In, Digg and so many more. I don’t fully recommend Instagram because even links don’t hyperlink there, except the ones in your bio, and no one actually clicks them except you’re a big personality.Now other sources of traffic are online forums. Some of them are Nairaland and Nigerian Creative Forum. You have to post interesting stuff there to get good attention. I have once gotten more than 3,000 clicks on my links in Nairaland but that was spamming, I would make them appear like adult posts and then give them the link, when they click through, they see another thing even though related. This isn’t that good because it brings down the reputation of your blog unknowingly. The visitors will eventually not return.
I get a great deal of traffic from Facebook groups and pages. I make my posts as interactive as possible so that it would trend. I can ask you to comment your birth month or something like that, chipping in my links with superb headings. I don’t have much members in my own group yet [about 18,000 members], but it’s still growing. I can also pay someone to help me grow them. Blogging is all about investment.
You have to run Facebook and Twitter ads, and of course Facebook is cheaper. Share your post to Google+, no traffic is excess. Use any available method but avoid spamming, it isn’t nice. Time your tweets properly to get it when people will be active. Build an e-mail list, but don’t spam people’s emails, they’ll mark you as spam. Just know how to send reasonable e-mails, and don’t make them look too good to be true.
Monetizing Your Blog
That's the issue most bloggers are facing today. Don't quit yet, push forward and you'd see yourself booming in the blogging business. You can see more on that here.
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