A word of hope for struggling bloggers

Deola Kayode

Time and again, I get emails from people interested in blogging as a business; and they ask what it takes to be a celebrated blogger. Some mention that they are Internet marketers and I ask what they are actually marketing and they cannot pin-point the precise value they are offering in order to make money online.

While becoming “Internet- famous” may be a quick way to becoming famous and make money, it is by no means easy. If I were paid for everyone who wants to blog, I should be a millionaire. For fun, I generally segment the interest of bloggers into several categories – professional blogger either blogging as a business or for their business; ex-blogger, blogger-to-be, casual blogger and the popular category – copy-and-paste bloggers.

The truth is that blogging is awesome. If done right, it can make you a generous income. It has the power to help you build credibility, authority and ultimately profits. In fact I believe everyone should blog because in the age of digital, building an online presence should actually start with a blog, not Facebook. Somehow so many people get disillusioned because they see the way Internet marketing experts tell them how much they make, how much you can make and invite them into seminars that make them more money than the actual way of making money online.

They eventually leave the so-called blogging seminars believing they will begin to make thousands of dollars almost with little efforts. But few months after they get discouraged, disillusioned and distraught.

Linda Ikeji is one of Nigeria’s foremost bloggers and recently celebrated her birthday and eight years of blogging. People love the super blogger Linda but rarely identify with the process of getting there. While there are some others who make money online, she is undoubtedly Nigeria’s most successful blogger who made her money from blogging. I have decided to use today to draw lessons from her work in answer to quick tips to being a super blogger.

Own your domain before you become a celebrity

You see everyone needs to register their personal domain name and business name as early as possible. The times are coming when the things you consider unnecessary will be critical to your business survival. Gist had it at one time Lindaikeji.com was obtained way long before Linda Ikeji considered registering it. Gist also had it that while Vincent Enyeama, Nigeria’s ace goal stopper was having a fantastic performance during the match between Nigeria and Argentina at the 2010 South Africa WorId Cup, someone was busy registering his name as a domain name. Cyber-squatting is common as it defines the practice by people who buy domain names with the hope of selling it later – a kind of internet real estate. However, after the number of years blogging and she is still successful at it, outperforming all imitators, competitors and squatters, who says rules are not meant to be broken? Actionable tip? Register your business and personal name – including likely misspells and extensions.