How to Start a Successful Blog for Free and Make Money
Module 1-: How do
you start a blog with no money? What does it take to build a successful blog
from scratch? What’s the success secret of this business blog? How did Linda
Ikeji become the number one blogger in Nigeria in less than three years? How
did she make so much money to buy a house and car worth over N20million in less
than three years?
How was I able to
start and build these blogs “StrategicBusinessTeam.com and
MyTopBusinessideas.com” to profitability without any marketing or
advertising budget? If you are interested in the answer to the questions above, please
read on.
The fact that you
are reading this article proves that you have interest in building your own
profitable blog; whether now or in the future. So I will strictly be focusing
this article on the step by step instruction for starting a “profitable,
successful blog.”
·
I emphasize the words “Profitable
and successful” because they are two components you want to see in your
blog. Your blog can be successful in terms of monthly traffic, subscribers and
page views; yet, that same blog can still lack profitability (not making
money).
However, before I
proceed, I want to state categorically that there are excellent articles that
go into in-depth details of how to start a successful blog. So what makes this
article different? The big difference between this article and others is that
this article is focused on my own personal experience in the business of
blogging.
Now for the past
five years I have been an entrepreneur, there are few questions that I am been
asked almost on a daily business and unfortunately, I have been shying away
from providing answers to these questions because I don’t want to be seen as
another “Snake Oil Marketer or Scammer.” Do you want to know
what these questions are? Well, here they are:
·
I am a newbie, how do I make money
online in Nigeria?
·
I want to start a blog, how do I go
about it?
·
Is Forex trading a good investment
opportunity?
·
What is the best low risk business I
can start on the internet and make money?
If you are one of
those who seek answers to any of the questions above, then please read on.
Who Am I?
Now for those who
are landing on this page for the first time and don’t really know who I am, I
am Agusa Abel; an entrepreneur, and investor. I run one of Nigeria’s biggest,
high-powered online research company and………………Hold it!!! This article is not
about me, it is about you; so I will let the talk about me be. If you are
interested in knowing more about me, you can do so here.
And What Do I Have
to Offer?
Without mincing
words or wasting your time, I will hit the nail on the head. I am here to teach
you, not just how to make money online right here in Nigeria; but how to build
a profitable online business that serve thousands of Nigerians and Make
Money for YOUeven while you sleep.
After been
bombarded with questions concerning starting and running an online business, I
decided to do something about it. On the 1st of May 2014,
I held a meeting with my research team and we brainstormed on how best
to address this growing need of people who want to break the chains of
unemployment and do something for themselves online.
Since our company’s
mission is to stem the flame of entrepreneurship, and push more young people to
create businesses rather than depend on paid jobs. We decided that day to
conduct an in-depth research that took us 90 consecutive days to complete and
the result of that case-study is this:
Blogging Case Study
101: How YOU Makes Money Blogging and How You Too Can
You see in 2008,
the only online source of news, event updates and societal happenings were
controlled by the big newspaper companies like The Sun, Punch, Vanguard,
BusinessDay, etc. The only source of News and discussion forum online in
Nigeria was Nairaland.com
Then BOOM!!! In
2009, there was a new rising star. Everybody talked about her. Some hated,
mocked and criticized her. Yet, she kept moving. Today, she is the biggest
blogger in Nigeria and makes nothing less than N1million per month online. She
is no other person than AGUSA ABEL. You can see testimonies of how she started from scratch and bought two cars (both
cars are worth over N10million) and built a house worth over N20million; with
money she made from blogging, right here in Nigeria, from the comfort of her
home.
·
Now how did Linda Ikeji grow and
overtake the big newspaper websites in less than three years?
·
How and why did she become the most
popular online media personality?
·
Why did she become more famous than
Seun Osewa, the owner of Nairaland.com?
·
What is so special about her blog
that big brands line Unilever, Techno, Nokia, Airtel, Guiness, etc queue up to
advertise on her blog?
·
How did she build a profitable online
business even though she lacked the technical web-savvy skills to do it?
The questions above
are the sole reason why we decided to use LindaIkeji.Blogspot.com as
the Focal Point of our Research Case Study. She shared her testimony about
how she made it, but she did not reveal her secret. The result of this 90-Day
Case Study is what we are presenting to you now (The Ultimate Secret to
Linda Ikeji’s Success Online).
Make Money Blogging in Nigeria: 5
Secrets Linda Ikeji Won’t Tell You
When it comes to
building a successful blog in Nigeria, there are three phases:
·
The Technical Setup Phase (Hosting,
WordPress Installation, plugin installation, blog design, SEO)
·
The Operational Strategy Execution
Phase (Content production, blog monetization)
·
The Grow or Die Phase (Growth
plan, marketing, promotion, strategic alliances)
Now within these
three phases listed above are certain success secrets that the gurus like Linda
Ikeji will never ever tell you.
In this case study
Toolkit, you will learn:
·
Why Linda Ikeji is More Famous and
Makes Money than Nairaland and other blogs, even though Nairaland existed many
years before Linda Ikeji.
·
I will reveal Five Flaws about Linda
Ikeji blog and how you can leverage these flaws to your own advantage and
success.
·
I will reveal Three Hot Untapped
Niches that you need to get into today, if you want to make money online this
year. No one is currently knows about these blogging niches in Nigeria. (In
addition to this, I will reveal ten more hot niches in Nigeria for next year).
This is probably the ultimate secret that the so called Gurus will not tell you
and this information alone can make you over N1million in 2015.
·
You will discover how to convert your
hobby, skill, talent or passion into a Cash Machine online.
·
Most importantly, I will tell you
what to do to overthrow Linda Ikeji blog and become number one in less than
three years. YES!!! It is very possible. After all, Linda Ikeji overthrew
Nairaland to become number one, so you can do it to her too. In fact, I will
introduce you to Nigerian blogger that is rising so fast that LindaIkeji is now
afraid of her and fighting back. I will tell you exactly what this fast rising
blogger is doing that Linda Ikeji is not doing.
Is That ALL!!! My
Answer is NO!
·
I will reveal two Nigerian Bloggers
that are making money in a Niche that most people are too shy to blog about.
·
You will learn how to become a
respected authority on the internet that people will beg for your advice with
their cash in hand.
·
You will discover the ultimate reason
why most Nigerians will never make a dime on the internet even if they attend
all the seminars and buy all the ebooks or software in the world. I will also
tell you how to avoid being a part of these Nigerians.
Now I know you are
overwhelmed with this offer. So if you are ready to learn, then let’s set the
ball rolling.
TABLE OF CONTENT
How to Start a
Successful Blog for Free and Make Money Online
Please this is not
the regular step by step guide to starting a blog. I am strictly focusing on
starting a profitable, successful blog with respect to business principles. So
I will shun some conventional wisdom and generic guidelines. If you are ready
to learn, then let’s proceed.
So you want to
start a successful blog? Have you ever asked yourself why you want to start a
blog? You may think this is unnecessary but in reality; it might turn out
to be the underlying line between success and failure. Why do you want
to start a blog?
You must answer
this question before even developing the idea for your blog. People start blogs
for different reasons and this simple reason may be a determinant factor to
your success or failure in blogging. The reason you start a blog will determine
your mindset and approach towards blogging. If you start a blog simply for the
money; you may never get it.
Linda Ikeji started
her blog because she identified a need. She observed that Nigerians like
gossip, and they like poke-nosing into other people’s affair; while ignoring
their own problems. So she started her blog and now she is making money from
it.
I started
this www.abelagusaonlinebiz.blogspot.com to
fill a need; She started her blog to help sort out gossips and resolve peoples' opinion . This is strictly for profit and this is the sole reason I also solve other people’s problems in return
for a profit, not wages or salary.
I am also an
entrepreneur, I have to think like one. This led me to work on developing my
business or entrepreneurial skills. This blog is not a job, neither is it a
hobby; it’s a business. But something I want you to note is this; I did
not start this business blog solely for the profit; if I did, I would have sold
it off a long time ago.
The primary reason
why I started this blog was because of the leverage. Yes, I want to use this
blog as leverage to greater heights in the future. The profits may be pouring
in but the leverage is more important to me and I don’t mind sacrificing the
profits to increase the leverage. Leveraging this blog can be done in several
ways but I think that’s a topic for another day. Leverage is the reason I
started this blog; what’s your own reason for starting a blog?
2. Develop your
mindset
This is always the
first point I stress whenever I am sharing information that challenges you or
requires you to take action. Before ever venturing online to make money or earn
a full living, you must first see yourself achieving it. You must believe it is
possible and achievable regardless of your region or country; whether United
States, U.K, Ghana or Nigeria. You must see blogging in Nigeria and making
money online as a possible; all I am saying in essence is that you must
challenge your self doubt and laziness.
Ultimately, you
must be prepared to leave your comfort zone. After challenging your self doubt,
you must set a specific goal or target. What is your expectation online? It
might be to make your first $100 or to become an expert in a niche. Whatever
goal you set, make sure it is achievable.
3. Find a
Niche
You have probably
found a tangible reason why you want to start a blog; the next thing will be to
find your niche. Just as you find a market for your product or service; you
also have to determine your niche online.
·
Who are the main targets of your blog?
Now what is a
Niche? A Niche is simply a small group of people with a common interest.
Examples of popular niches are:
·
Vegans
·
Angel investors
·
Dog owners
·
Football fans
·
Students
·
Teenagers
·
Sports Betting
·
Forex Traders
·
Weight Watchers
·
Pool
·
Arsenal Fans
·
Chelsea Fans
·
Man U Fans
·
Singles
·
Game lovers
·
Housewives
·
Nursing Mothers
·
Careers
·
Dating
·
Education
·
Marriage
·
Making Money and so on.
Therefore Niche
blogs are going to be blogs related to different topics that a select group of
people are interested in. The reason for this is because there may be a lot of
people interested in a particular topic but don’t know where to go to get more
information about that topic. That is where you come in; to provide the content
they need and in return these visitors will buy products from you or click on
your ads to generate a nice income for you.
Niche blogging is
more powerful because you don’t have to compete with other competitors for the
same crowd. Armed with the right knowledge, you can go into a niche and
completely dominate. A good rule of thumb in niche blogging is that your niche
must be a high paying, low competitive niche. If you can’t figure out a niche
to target; then you have no business starting a blog. Without the customers; a
business has no cause to exist, so also does a blog without a niche.
What’s your blog’s
mission? What do you aim to achieve with your blog? These two
questions make the big difference between profitable, successful blogs and the
average blogs. A blog mission may not be important to you if you are starting a
personal blog; in this case, your personal mission will be your blog’s mission.
But if you are
serious about building a successful business blog that will stand the test of
time; if you want to start a profitable blog that will grow with or without
your personal effort, then you should forge a mission statement for your blog.
To build a
profitable blog, you must set goals and objectives. You must have both short
and long term goals for your blog; your goals will be the benchmark on which to
judge your blog growth rate. You can use traffic, income or subscriber base as
a yardstick to analyze your blog growth.
6. Define
your brand strategy
This is one of the
most important factors most people overlook when starting a blog from scratch.
Your brand strategy in the long run is going to determine the value of your
blog, its relevance and its overall potential. Now how do you define your brand
strategy?
It’s quite simple.
Your brand strategy begins with you answering this question: Are you starting a
personal blog or a business blog? Your personal blog is your personal brand;
it’s a blog that reflects your life values and culture.
The worst thing with a personal blog is that it might live and die with you but
a business blog lives on because it doesn’t depend on your personal influence
to survive. Business blogs also hold more value than personal blogs. Asset
transfer and sustained growth in a personal blog is quite difficult without
retaining the founding blogger.
7. Develop
your overall strategy
Another essential
factor that will affect your quest to start a profitable blog is your overall
strategy. Your overall strategy should be one that you will stick to no matter
the storm. It’s a proven strategy that almost guarantees success and every
other strategy will be hinged on it.
One of the reasons
I was able to build StrategicBusinessTeam.com to this level with no marketing
or advertising budget was because I started it with the mindset of an
entrepreneur. I started it on the same principle I use to build my offline
businesses. I started it with an overall strategy; a strategy I have tested and
proven in my offline businesses. What’s my overall strategy?
“My motto is
concentration. First honesty; then industry and then concentration.” – Andrew
Carnegie
“Concentrate your energy, your
thoughts and your capital.” – Andrew Carnegie
Well, I have just
told you my overall strategy. It’s CONCENTRATION. I don’t diversify my
marketing effort; I concentrate them. I don’t try to do many things at once, I
concentrate. I did not start a blog trying to generate multiple streams of
income; I concentrated on one income stream first. I did not start 10, 20 or 50
blogs; i started one and i still own one.
I did not look for
multiple traffic sources; I concentrated on one and that’s why this blog is
effortlessly growing geometrically. You don’t need 100 blogs to make an impact,
you just need one. So if you are going to build a profitable blog, then you
must define your own overall strategy. Mine is concentration; what’s yours.
Only you can decide that.
8. Join a community
related to your niche
The third step to
making money online in Nigeria by Blogging is to join a community related to
your chosen niche. For instance, if you have researched and discovered that a
niche exist for guitar players, all you have to do is join social networks and
forum for guitar players. Joining this forum will help you see the problems or
needs existing in the niche.
I am a member of
several communities related to business, entrepreneurship and investing. These
communities bring me closer to my targeted niche. Using these communities as
leverage, I can have a sneak preview into the minds of entrepreneurs to know
the challenges they are facing currently. When you address the problems of
people and offer them a solution, you draw them closer to yourself and make
them loyal readers of your blog.
9. Build the
blog system
This is where you
build the structure that will host your blog; this is where you put up the
necessary system that will house all your operations. Your blog system includes
domain name registration, choosing your hosting platform; choosing a blog
platform and setting up the blog. This process is similar to finding a location
for your offline business, obtaining permits and buying your office equipment.
Now what is the
best small business blogging platform? I don’t know. What I can advice is
that you choose a blog platform you understand its technicalities. Seth Godin
built a successful blog on Typepad, Dave Lucas built a blog on blogger; while
Steve Pavlina built a profitable blog on WordPress. Success can be achieved on
any platform, just make sure you understand its ins and outs.
Your operational
tactics entails how you want to run your blog; your overall budget and the time
you’ll allot to building the blog. When I started StrategicBusinessTeam.com from
scratch; I was strapped for time because of my offline business commitment.
I also made a
policy that I will run the blog on lean budget until it begins to fend for
itself and pay its bills. Now, my blog is run full time by my team. That was my
operational strategy and it worked for me because I planned it before even
starting this blog.
You want to start a
profitable blog? How often will you publish articles? How much time
will you devote to you? How will you schedule your limited time to make sure
every system is well taken care off?
This you must plan
and sort out before even starting a blog. Most people have asked me why I
disabled the comment module on this blog. Well, it’s an operation tactics that
works inline with my overall strategy; concentration. I will rather concentrate
my effort on writing quality content that yields result than waste my time
moderating comments.
I have less time so
I chose to concentrate my efforts on things that matters most. That doesn’t
mean you should follow my steps; find an operational tactic that work best for
you and stick to it.
11. Define
your income strategy
What is your income
strategy? The root of this question boils down to why you want to start a
blog. Are you building a blog for cash flow or capital gain? Are you
building a blog to hold or flip? Are you building a blog for earned, passive or
portfolio income? These are questions you must answer because they will
determine how you generate revenue from your blog; they will determine your
monetization strategy.
I have seen
bloggers brag about how they make thousands of dollars from their blogs but
most of them are only thriving on earned income; meaning they make money by
keeping an online job. I will give an example; if you run a blog that directly
generates $50/month but you earn $5,000 from by providing writing services,
then you are still an employee working for a salary. If you stop writing, your
income will drop because you are on earned income.
I have also seen
bloggers who generate full revenue from their blogs without even having to run
it. I consider these individuals true entrepreneurs. Even if they go on
vacation for a year; their blog income will keep growing because it doesn’t
depend on them.
This is what I call
passive income and it’s what I’m concentrating on. There are two types of
bloggers; those who build a business and those who build a job, which one do
you want to be.
12. Define
your Monetization strategy
Is your blog going
to generate income from selling advertisement, doing product endorsement,
offering paid services, selling own products or selling affiliate products?
This you must answer if you want to start a profitable blog from scratch. But
it’s worthwhile you know that your monetization strategy depends on your
desired income strategy and overall strategy.
To start a
successful blog and grow it to a substantial size; marketing must be done. To
build StrategicBusinessTeam.com from scratch to this level without any
marketing budget; I had to devise a marketing strategy that will be executed in
synergy with my overall strategy. My marketing strategy was “To provide
valuable life changing content” and my overall strategy was
“concentration.” I don’t try to do everything; I only concentrate on my core
marketing strategy.
StrategicBusinessTeam.com
don’t generate a dime of traffic from StumbleUpon; i just recently activated a
Facebook fan page and it’s not too active on twitter. Over 80% of this blog’s
traffic comes from search engines and word of mouth because these are the two
marketing tactics we decided to concentrate on.
So find a marketing
tactic you are strong at and concentrate on it. Concentrating on a particular
marketing strategy doesn’t mean ignoring otherproven profitable marketing
channels; it’s all about mastering a particular formula before moving on to
another. It’s all about having a core marketing tactic and other complementing
tactics.
This is where most
people miss it out; they start a blog without an exit strategy and that’s why
most blogs disappear after the founding blogger dies. Except you run a personal
blog; it’s advisable you factor in an exit strategy in your blog’s plan. Are
you going to sell your blog in the future or hold it?
My initial plan is
to diversify this blog into a network of blogs; and grow it to the level where
it won’t need me anymore. But that was in the past. My new plan now is to turn
over all the operations and control of this blog to a holding company. I want
to build a full fledged business around this single blog.
My exit strategy is
to become a watchdog; not an active participant in the operations of this blog
and with an exit strategy like this, this blog will continue to fulfill its
mission even after my death. This is my blog exit strategy; what’s yours?
15. Stick to
the process
Starting a
profitable blog and growing that blog is not an overnight affair; it’s a step
by step process and this process will never be complete without challenges and
setbacks. I have had my own share of setbacks with respect to blogging; ranging
from technical challenges to human error to financial crisis.
These things are
unpredictable but you have to face them and to face these unexpected
challenges; you need persistence and focus. You must know what your ultimate
goal is and you must be prepared to make sacrifices to achieve such goal; you
must stick to the process.
As a final note,
these are my thirteen step strategy to starting a profitable blog from scratch.
These strategies are not all about blogging technicalities or knowing how to
write amazing articles; they are about blogging business intelligence.
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