If you’ve read this post on Google Adsense, you’d have known that I have a blog aside this one you’re reading that also caters to a Nigerian audience. For some reasons, I don’t want to reveal the name of that blog. But throughout this post, I’ll refer to it as NGFR.
I created NGFR in April 2013, and as at one year after its launch it was attracting over 1,200 daily visits — with less than 50 posts published. Thanks to keyword research and search engine optimization.
When I noticed that amount of traffic, I tried monetizing NGFR through various methods, including contextual ads (Adsense, Ad Dynamo, and Promo Nigeria) and direct sales of ad space to interested advertisers. However, I didn’t achieve success with any of these.
For months, the blog continued to generate 1,200+ daily visits, but I couldn’t make good money from that traffic. At a point, I got confused as to what do with the blog. I put it up for sale on Nairaland, but no one showed interest. Then I dumped the decision to sell the blog, and I planned to keep and grow it, instead.
I had no doubts that if I could boost the blog’s traffic to at least 10,000 daily visits, I’d be able to make money consistently with those same monetization options that have failed me in the past.
So, I sat down to brainstorm for ideas on how to grow the blog. I conducted keyword research and generated hundreds of promising keywords. I knew for sure that if I could craft fine content around each keyword, the blog’s traffic would blossom with time.
My next step was to write posts around those keywords. I planned doing that gradually until all topics in my “pool” are exhausted. But I never found time for that. Client assignments, my academics, family matters, and other commitments couldn’t avail me the extra time I needed to write the posts. All I could add to the blog over the next six months were less than 10 posts.
Despite that I was too busy to act on my plan and couldn’t do much to grow NGFR, the number of visits increased gradually to 2,000+ daily visits and 70,000+ monthly visits. Sadly, however, this increase in traffic didn’t fetch me a kobo.
In October 2013, I stumbled upon a post on Nairaland, in which the poster stated his intent to invest in any promising web-based business. Seeing that as an opportunity to grow NGFR, I quickly pitched him my original idea (which was to build a high traffic blog through the power of keyword research). I stated how much I’d put into the project already, and how much traffic the blog was generating at the time. I also told him my plans to grow the blog, and how his investment can help achieve the goals.
Fortunately, the guy (I-Jay is his nickname) became interested in my blog. We fixed an appointment, and he paid me a visit at my place in Lagos. We agreed to hire freelance writers to create content around all the keywords I’d generated. We also discussed other ideas on how to grow the blog.
The following week, I-Jay released about 30% of the money I requested from him, and we outsourced the first batch of articles (about 120 in all). We planned publishing the articles gradually over the next two months, and then pay for more if necessary.
Let me tell you a bit about I-Jay: He’s a cool guy who works as a database administrator with a software development firm in Lagos. He’s fun to be with and very understanding. He’s just two or three years older than I am, so we interact like friends. And we got along easily and quickly.
Fast forward November 2014, the blog started generating income, fetching us $128. And since then, the figures have been increasing every month ($291 in December 2014, $361 in January 2015, and $434 in February 2015). Now, I’m loving it. And I-Jay is loving it, too.
[I know you’re wondering how exactly NGFR makes money. I’ll reveal that in the next post. Find out in this post]
Between November 2014 and February 2015, we published 241 articles. And as at the time of this writing, NGFR’s traffic has increased to about 4,500 daily visits, over 100,000 monthly unique visits, and about 400,000 monthly page views.
We’re moving forward. Without I-Jay coming into the picture, I doubt it if the blog would have moved forward one inch.
Now, what should you learn from all these?
There are times when you’ll have all the knowledge and ideas you need to make money online, but you won’t have the time or money required to implement your strategies.
Similarly, there are times when you have the time and money, but you won’t know jack about how things work in online business.
What you should do in such instances is to find someone who has what you’re lacking, and pool resources together with that person. That way, you’ll be able to achieve your goals rather than have your ideas rusting away in your brain or notepad.
In my own case, I knew the strategies that would work, but didn’t have the time to implement them. The other option I had was to pay people to write the content, but I didn’t want to do that. I-Jay, on the other hand, had some money to invest, but has no idea where to invest it. He came on board, dropped the money for content outsourcing, and we’re now getting the results. Now, he has realized his investment on the blog, and subsequent earnings would be his profits.
If you’re unable to implement your great online business ideas because you have no time or money, or you’re have some money to invest but don’t know how to go about it, then find someone else who has exactly what you lack and pool your cards together. That way, you’ll achieve great goals within a short period.
Although this recommendation won’t work for everyone because we humans are just complicated. But if you think it will work for you, give it a shot!
Your turn
Do you have any contributions, objections, or questions? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment. I’ll reply.
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