It goes without saying that that a global audience can fetch you more money than a Nigerian audience. And there are reasons for that (I can only remember two of them right now):
Firstly, virtually all niches and online business models can fetch you money from a global audience, but only selected ones can fetch you decent profit from a Nigerian audience.
Secondly, with the right strategies you can easily convert a foreign audience into buyers, but most Nigerians are either too skeptical to grab your offer or are looking for dead cheap (or even free) offers. I mean, Nigerians are difficult to convert — even if you market brilliantly — because they hardly part with their cash.
Now, I’m not saying you cannot make more money from a Nigerian audience than someone else who focuses on a global audience. In fact, many Nigerian online marketers and bloggers are making more money from their Nigerian audience than others who went global.
So, there’s no natural law stating that the global audience is always more lucrative. What I’m saying is that you’re very likely to make more money from a global audience than you would from a Nigerian audience–provided you do things right.
Before you start thinking of going global with your online business idea, you need to understand the pros and cons of that move and compare them with what obtains with a Nigerian audience, so that you won’t get burned in the end.
Now, let’s analyze each option…
Option 1: Going global
As I stated earlier, you can make more money by going international. There are countless affiliate offers that you can promote. There are countless clients who need your freelance services (and are willing to pay fat rates if you offer quality). There are countless potential buyers for your information products. And there are countless opportunities to tap from.
But as alluring as the idea of a global audience might seem, you will always have to battle with one challenge — fierce competition. Start a tech blog, and you’ll never topple the likes of Mashable and Techcrunch. Start a health blog, and WebMD will always block all your chances of getting recognized.
Even when you opt for the so called low-competition niches, you’ll always meet some players in there who are trying to achieve the same goal as yours. Market an affiliate product, and over 78,000 others are doing the same.
Think of a “brilliant and promising” topic to write an ebook on, and you’ll be shocked to see that there are already over 200 ebooks discussing the same topic (with some even available for free). It could be frustrating. But if you can weather the competition and get to the top, my friend, you’re made!
Another important requirement of targeting a global audience is the ability to craft near-perfect, compelling, and engaging content. This means your blog posts, sales pages, articles, and other text that you publish online must be grammatically sound–because obvious grammatical errors kill your credibility and make you pass for a scammer.
And the truth is, most foreigners (especially the native English speakers) don’t buy from or deal with people with broken English. Ordinarily, the quality of your English is not a determinant of your credibility, but the reverse is usually the case online.
Option 2: Staying local
As of present, only a handful of niches appeal to Nigerians. These few include entertainment and celebrity gist, technology, business, football, and sex-related topics. So, you can only attract a large Nigerian audience with these topics, and not topics like artworks and poetry.
And even if you’re able to set up a high traffic soccer or celebrity gist blog, your monetization options are very limited. Most of the time, advertising is the only choice you have, and it’s just unreliable. From my experience with Adsense and other pay-per-click networks, they will most likely not be worth your time. And as for private advertisers who pay better rates, you never know when they will come or go.
In addition, not all online business models are workable to the extent of fetching decent profits from a Nigerian audience. There are very few affiliate offers that you can market to Nigerians. Most Nigerian clients will lowball your freelancing rates. And the average Nigerian would rather have your information product for free than pay a dime for it (that’s if it appeals to them).
In short, making money online from a Nigerian audience isn’t easy–though gathering the audience may be very easy.
One upside of targeting a Nigerian audience, however, is that the competition is less fierce. Even in already-beaten-to-pulp niches like entertainment gist and latest soccer news, you can easily gather a huge audience within a short period — with determination and consistency.
So, which option should you choose?
Well, it depends on many factors, especially those that I’ve already discussed.
You can consider targeting a global audience if…
- You have a very good command of English and can write great content
- You have great determination to weather the fierce competition with badass online marketing strategies (some of which may cost you money to implement)
- You have unique and compelling products to sell (not an ebook that has been written by another author 15 years ago)
- You have some skills that are in huge demand globally (such as writing)
- You’re an expert in a topic or niche that doesn’t interest most Nigerians
- You want to earn as much money as possible from your online business model
On the other hand, consider staying with a Nigerian audience if you do not meet any of the listed requirements for targeting a global audience. That is, choose the local option if you think your offer is better suited for Nigerians, you just can’t battle the huge competition in the global front, your English isn’t up to international standard, or you’re just planning to start small.
Now, your turn…
Do you agree or disagree with this post in any way? Or do you have any questions? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment. I’ll reply — as I usually do. And don’t forget to share this post with others (you can use the buttons below).
You must be logged in to post a comment.