It comes as a huge task bloggers face translating hard work into well-merited profits. Few bloggers have however found ways to monetise their efforts and have either become full time bloggers or Web content writers.
Linda Ikeji recently spoke to Ndani TV, on The Juice series, on her success-story in the blogging industry, and how a pastime activity can turn into a multimillion-naira business.
Her blog is one of the most read entertainment blogs in Nigeria currently ranked at number 23 of the most visited sites in the country.
At first when she started in 2006, Linda didn’t know how to monetise her blog until one client called her and asked for a advertising rate for her blog.
She quickly asked around from her blogger friends and came up with her own rate, although she used to charge around 10,000 Naira (US$65) to 30,000 Naira (US$190) per month. She quickly realized that most high profile blogs and websites charged over 300,000 Naira (US$1900) per month.
This coupled with a high growing readership, Linda now charges a maximum of 600,000 Naira (US$3800) for advertising on her blog. This has seen her set up business around her blog.
According to last year’s rates, Nation Media Group’s website would charge up to KSh400,000 (US$4700) for a banner on the front page per month.
The company would justify this figure by the fact that Nation.co.ke receives over 3 million visitors to their pages each single month.
Bloggers and website owners who would like to generate income on their sites will have to invest in interesting unique articles that would attract readership.
Ikeji saw her traffic rise when she decided to turn her personal blog to become a celebrity news website with unique content. She receives thousands of comments on her articles and she admits she has to regulate comments on her site constantly.
Advertising poses as the simple way bloggers and website owners can monetise their efforts. Reviews of gadgets and sponsored stories are additional ways that bloggers can generate revenues.
