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Many Nigerians are interested in blogging to express their ideas, make money, and express their views to a global audience. But they don’t know how to start one, so how do you start a blog? This Complete Beginner’s Guide on how to start a blog in Nigeria will walk you through each step you need to take to have your blog website ready, from picking a topic, designing your blog theme, writing content, and monetizing it.
Blogging is one of the rapidly growing industries in Nigeria, with many Nigerian bloggers gaining national and international recognition for their work. Nigerian Communications Commission reported over 122 million internet users in Nigeria as of August 2021, with over 50% accessing the internet through mobile phones. This presents a huge opportunity for Nigerian bloggers to reach a large and diverse audience, share their ideas and opinions, and potentially monetize their blogs through sponsorships and advertising.
So, let’s take this opportunity to learn more about Blogging. If you’re looking for a passive income stream, Blogging can be a great income stream to monetize.
What is a blog?
A blog is a website that includes written articles in a conversational style, updated regularly. A blog enables people or organizations to share knowledge, ideas, and stories with a large audience. This can vary in topics from Personal experiences, news, entertainment, sports, education, health, and a variety of other topics.
Why is blogging important?
Blogging is important for several reasons. It primarily offers a platform for people to express themselves and communicate with the rest of the world. People can share their knowledge, express their ideas, and interact with others with similar interests.
Blogging provides businesses the platform to reach a large audience, making it a win-win for the blog owner and the advertiser.
how to start a blog in Nigeria
We build this blog website using exactly these methods. You can create a blog in less than an hour if you follow these 9 steps.
1. Define Your Blogging Niche
A blog niche is a specific topic or subject your blog content will be about. There are a lot of blog niches to choose from. When starting your blog, choosing your niche can look like the less important part, but this is one of the most important parts while setting up your blog because it can decide your success.
Many people would advise you to choose a niche you are passionate about. The question is, do you know what your passion is? “Your passion is is a function of how you have been raised or the environment you grew up in”. It would be best to find what works in your environment. The steps below show you how to pick your blog niche.
How to find your blog niche?
Inspiration: When starting your new blog website, you need to find inspiration from other successful blog, look at their niche and what they are blogging about, and start writing them down. If the blog is successful in their niche you too have the potential to succeed.
Evaluate your skills and expertise: Another way to pick a blog niche is to evaluate your skills and expertise. Think about what you’re good at and what you can offer your readers. You can also decide on this base on what you’re currently doing. For example, if you repair computers, you might want to have a blog on computer repair guide, or even if you are a student, you can start a blog on school and admission guides.
Choose a niche with monetization potential: If you want to start blogging as a business and build a passive income stream, it’s important to choose a niche with monetization potential. Consider how you can make money from your blog through advertising, sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, or selling your products or services. For example, if you’re interested in personal finance, you could start a blog focusing on saving money and investing, which can attract advertisers and affiliates in the financial industry.
Are you still curious about what niche to pick? Here’s a guide on how to find a blog niche on Ubbersuggest.
2. Choose a Domain Name
Your domain name is the address people will use to access your blog, so choosing a name that is memorable, easy to spell, and relevant to your niche is important. If you are building a personal blog, you can also use a combination of your name and niche, for example, if your niche is Tech and your name is Joe. Your domain name can be “Joetech.” But if you don’t feel like using your name, you can use domain name generators like Godaddy and Nameboy to help you find ideas for your domain name.
Tips to consider when picking a blog name
Keep it short and memorable: Keep your blog name short so that your audience can easily remember them and will not have issues typing them on Google.
Use keywords related to your niche: You want to build a blog that ranks on Google, so it will be ideal to include keywords related to your blog’s niche in your blog name. This can help you with your search engine optimization (SEO) and make it easier for readers to find your blog when searching for topics related to your niche. Remember that using keywords in your blog will narrow it down to that niche, so you might have issue scaling it up in the future. If you look at our blog name, we have used keywords such as Digital & Tech. These 2 words are the main topics we discuss on this blog..
Avoid using numbers or hyphens: Numbers and hyphens can make your blog name harder to remember and less professional-looking. Sometimes when buying a domain name, a hosting company can suggest numbers or hyphens for you, so make sure to pick a .com domain name extension.
Check for availability: Before finalizing your blog name, make sure it’s available as a domain name and on social media platforms. This can help with branding and make it easier for readers to find and follow your blog. You can use websites like Who Is to find domain name availability.
3. Choose a Hosting Company
The hosting provider will host your blog and makes it accessible on the internet. You have to choose a reliable and reputable web hosting provider, as this can affect the speed and security of your blog. Some popular web hosting providers in Nigeria include Namecheap, Bluehost, and Godaddy.
When choosing a web hosting platform in Nigeria, there are many options. However, Namecheap is one of the best web hosting providers for bloggers, small business owners, and website owners looking for affordable, reliable, and fast web hosting services. Here’s why:
Affordable Pricing: Namecheap offers affordable website pricing plans, including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, and VPS hosting. Their pricing plans start at $1.58 per month, which is great for bloggers and small business owners on a tight budget.
Free Domain: Namecheap offers a free domain name with its hosting plans. This is a great added value for you since you are just starting and can skip getting a domain name. By choosing Namecheap, you can save money on the cost of a domain name and start building your website immediately.
30-day money-back guarantee: Namecheap also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on their hosting services. If you’re unsatisfied with their services within the first 30 days of making payment, you can request a refund.
Fast Load Times: Namecheap’s servers are optimized for speed, ensuring fast load times for your website. This is important for user experience and search engine rankings, as fast websites rank higher on search engine results pages.
For hosting, we recommend Namecheap, and Please note that if you use the link below to purchase hosting with Namecheap, you will get a free domain name and discount, and we will get a commission at no additional cost to you.
4. Choose a Blogging Platform
After identifying your niche, domain name, and hosting, you should pick a blogging platform. There are numerous platforms accessible, each with unique advantages and disadvantages. WordPress is the most popular CMS. And that’s what I recommend you should use.
It’s crucial to consider whether you want to self-host your blog or use a free platform when selecting one. Free platforms are simpler to set up but could have restrictions on functionality and design. If you don’t know what’s hosting and self-hosting or which one to pick, read this article: Hosted vs. self-hosted: which is best for your blog?
What is WordPress?
Millions of bloggers use WordPress daily, making it the world’s most widely used content management system. We also use WordPress. In fact, according to the most recent statistics on Blogging, this CMS powers more than 60% of all blogs, including Forbes, New York Observer, TED, TechCrunch, NBC, and others.
Why WordPress is Excellent for Beginner’s Blog
WordPress has emerged as the platform of choice for all bloggers. Thanks to the large selection of themes and plugins, customization is a major selling point. You can get started with WordPress and develop your blog to your taste and make changes regularly as you wish.
How to Install WordPress
WordPress is simple to use and has many features and plugins that can be used to personalize your blog. WordPress can typically be installed with only one click from any web hosting service, making getting started simple.
Steps to installing WordPress on Namecheap
- Log in to your Namecheap account and navigate to your dashboard.
- Click “Manage” next to the hosting account where you want to install WordPress.
- Scroll down to the “Softaculous Apps Installer” section and click the WordPress icon.
- Click on the “Install” button you will be redirected to start the WordPress installation process.
- Select the domain name you want to install WordPress and fill in the necessary information, such as the site name and description.
- Create a username and password for your WordPress admin account.
- Select any additional plugins or themes you want to install with your WordPress site (optional).
- Click on the “Install” button to complete the installation process.
If you have completely installed WordPress, you can now log in to your WordPress admin dashboard with the username and password you created, and start customizing your website to install plugins and themes.
5. Design your blog website
After installing WordPress, it’s time to design your blog website to your taste. The benefit of using WordPress is that you don’t need to code, everything you do is drag and drop, but first, you need to install a WordPress theme that will fit your blog style. You can browse a good number of themes from themeforest
Starting a new blog can be exciting, but finding the right theme for your website can be daunting. With so many free WordPress themes, finding what will work best for you can be difficult. This section will explore three top options for free WordPress themes that are perfect for new bloggers:
Astra: Astra is a WordPress theme for bloggers. Their themes include a modern and professional-looking website. With over 150 starter templates and a user-friendly interface, Astra is an excellent option for beginners who want to get started quickly. The theme is also fully responsive and optimized for speed, making it a great choice for bloggers who want to provide a seamless user experience.
Hestia: Hestia is a WordPress theme perfect for bloggers who want to showcase their content visually appealingly. Hestia makes creating a unique and engaging website easy with a one-page design and customizable sections. The theme is also fully responsive and compatible with popular page builders like Elementor, making it easy for new bloggers to get started.
Ashe: Ashe is a clean and minimalist WordPress theme great for new bloggers. With a simple design and easy-to-use customization options, Ashe makes it easy to create a professional-looking website without any coding knowledge. The theme is responsive and optimized for search engines, making it a great choice for bloggers who want to drive website traffic.
Finding a good WordPress theme for your new blog is essential for creating a visually appealing and user-friendly website. Whether you’re looking for a lightweight and customizable theme like Astra, a modern and stylish theme like Hestia, or a clean and minimalist theme like Ashe, there’s a perfect option for every blogger. So, take your time and explore these three top options to find the best free WordPress theme for your needs.
6. Install important Plugins
Plugins are software that you can add to your WordPress website to extend its functionality and features. Thousands of plugins are available in the WordPress plugin directory, ranging from simple tools like contact forms and social media icons to complex systems like e-commerce and membership sites.
When starting a new blog, several plugins can be helpful to install to enhance your website’s performance and functionality. Here are some of the most important plugins to consider:
- Yoast SEO – This plugin helps optimize your website for search engines and can improve your chances of ranking higher in search results. It provides recommendations for improving your content’s readability and optimizing meta descriptions and keywords.
- WPForms – This plugin allows you to create and add contact forms to your website. It’s user-friendly and comes with pre-designed templates that you can customize to match your website’s design.
- Jetpack – This plugin offers tools to improve your website’s security, performance, and traffic. It includes site backups, image optimization, and social sharing buttons.
- Akismet – This plugin is essential for eradicating spam comments on your blog. It automatically filters out spam comments so that you can focus on engaging with your real audience.
- WP Super Cache – This plugin helps speed up your website’s loading time by caching your website’s pages and serving visitors more quickly.
- UpdraftPlus: It’s usually a good idea to have a backup plugin that will regularly store all of your hard work, and this plugin is free and works well.
These plugins can help streamline your blogging process and improve your website’s performance. However, staying moderate with installing too many plugins is important, as this can slow down your website’s loading speed and cause other issues. Choose the plugins that are most essential for your website’s needs and make sure to keep them updated for optimal performance.
Steps to install a WordPress plugin
- Login to your WordPress dashboard.
- Navigate to the “Plugins” tab in the left-hand menu.
- Click the “Add New” button.
- In the search bar, type the plugin name you want to install.
- Click on “Install Now” to install a plugin.
- Wait for the plugin to install, then click the “Activate” button to enable it on your website.
- Once the plugin is activated, you can access its settings and configuration options by navigating to your WordPress dashboard’s “Settings” or “Plugins” tab.
Note that some plugins have bugs and may not be compatible with your website’s theme or other plugins. Be sure to thoroughly research each plugin before installing it to ensure it meets your website’s needs and is safe to use. Keep your plugins updated to ensure they continue to work properly and don’t pose a security risk to your website.
7. Set up your website SE0 (Search Engine Optimization)
Optimizing your WordPress website is important to improve its performance and provide a better user experience. Steps to optimize your WordPress website for a new blog:
- Choose a Fast and Reliable Web Hosting Provider: The speed and reliability of your web hosting service are crucial to the performance of your website. Choose a reputable web hosting provider that can handle your website traffic and provides fast loading speed.
- Install a Caching Plugin: Caching plugins help speed up your website by storing frequently accessed data in memory or on the hard drive. Popular caching plugins include WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, and WP Rocket.
- Use a Lightweight WordPress Theme: Avoid bulky themes with unnecessary features and functionality. Use a lightweight and optimized WordPress theme to ensure your website loads quickly.
- Optimize Images: Large images slow down your website. Optimize your images by compressing them using a tool like tiny.png or ShortPixel.
- Use a Content Delivery Network: It helps improve the loading speed of your website by delivering content from servers closer to the user. Cloudflare and MaxCDN are popular CDN providers.
- Enable Gzip Compression: Gzip compression reduces the size of your website’s files before sending them to the user’s browser. You can enable Gzip compression in your web server or use a plugin like WP Fastest Cache.
- Minimize CSS and JavaScript: Minimizing CSS and JavaScript files reduces the size of your website and improves its loading speed. Use a plugin like WP Minify or Better WordPress Minify to do this automatically.
- Monitor Your Website’s Performance: Use a tool like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor your website’s performance and identify areas for improvement. Regularly check your website’s loading speed and fix any issues that arise.
Following these steps, you can optimize your WordPress website for a new blog with a great visitor experience.
8. Create Your Content
It’s time to start writing blog posts for your new blog website. Your content should provide values to your readers. You should create a content calendar to keep your content uploading schedule organized and consistent. Writing content can be stressful and difficult if you don’t know how to write content. We have written a full article on how to write a blog post, so make sure you read it.
9. How to Monetize a Blog in Nigeria
After setting up your blog website, monetizing it should be your goal because you want to earn money. Forget about the amount of money you will make because at the start of your blog, you might not be making money, but keep the momentum and build your blog to become successful. What you need to do now is to set up a structure at the start of your blogging journey by knowing how to monetize your blog. So that in the future you will not have issues making money. Here are a few ways you can monetize your blog website.
- Display Ads: Displaying ads on your blog is one of the ways to monetize your blog using Google AdSense, which pays bloggers to display ads on their blogs. You can also consider other ad networks like Media.net and Ezoic. These ad networks pay you based on the clicks or impressions the ads receive on your blog.
- Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is another popular and easy way to monetize a blog in Nigeria. You will earn a commission for promoting a company’s products or services through your blog. They are a lot of companies you can choose from.
- Sponsored Posts: Sponsored posts are a great way to earn money from your blog. Brands will pay you to write posts promoting their products or services. Be sure to disclose sponsored content to your readers. You can also consider offering product reviews in exchange for compensation or free products. This can effectively monetize your blog, especially if you have a large and engaged audience.
Never give up
Starting a blog is an exciting journey filled with endless possibilities. Whether starting a blog as a hobby or intending to make money, it is important to remember that success takes time, effort, and dedication.
Feel free to put your blog out there and promote it through social media and other channels. Building a community around your blog takes time and effort, but it can be one of the most rewarding aspects of Blogging.
Most importantly, enjoy the process and don’t be discouraged by setbacks or slow progress. Keep learning and growing as a blogger; you can achieve great things with time and persistence. Good luck on your blogging journey!
