Are you looking to start blogging as a business or for passion? If your answer is YES, and you are not sure how to go about it, Not to worry, in this article, you will learn all the tips to help you
I had the pleasure of interviewing the founder of MobliityArena.com, Yomi Adegboye popularly known as Mister Mobility on ‘Tips To Starting A Successful Blogging Business That Makes Money’ on the YOBO series for Yelo Digital Hub. Yomi has been in the blogging business for more than 17 years. This article is an excerpt of the interview, you can read along or watch the 2-part video series if you want to get acquainted with the business of blogging. Enjoy!
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Who is Yomi Adegboye?
Popularly known as Mister Mobility or Mister Mo, Yomi Adegboye started his journey in mobile when GSM technology was introduced in Nigeria in 2001. Besides obsessing over mobile phones, he also began creating WAP sites (early mobile-friendly websites created with HDML/WML).
Yomi began writing about phones in 2004 and has been at it since then. He has owned over 200 devices, from Symbian, Palm, PocketPC/Windows Mobile, BlackBerry/BB10, WebOS, Windows Phone, Firefox, Ubuntu Touch, to Android, iOS, and KaiOS operating systems.
Some of the brands he has worked with include Africa Reinsurance, OPPO, DStv, Nescafe Africa, Ntel, Nokia, Xiaomi, TECNO Mobile, University of Lagos, GTBank, Unity Bank, among others.
How Yomi Adegboye Started Blogging Over 17 Years Ago
Yomi started Mobility Arena as a hobby, he saw an opportunity to share information with like-minded people. He began to put information out there as a hobby, he was also running a domain and web hosting business at the time, he then realized that he wanted to run full time, so he sold his hosting business to focus on it. Although the transition happened over a couple of years, it was tough, but what the while. Yomi, has access to handheld devices as a teenager very early in life, thanks to his dad, and it became a passion. He also said he will continue to review gadgets forever.
How Yomi’s Passion For Gadgets and Writing Skills Set Him Apart
Yomi also had a passion for writing as early as when he was in high school, He had his first newspaper article published while in junior school. So he sort of had a background in writing even though he was a science student. The passion he had was for mobile devices and writing and that unique combination made it easy for him to build a blogging powerhouse and stay at the forefront. There are some individuals who know the business of mobile phones well but are not good writers, there are also people who are better writers but have very little knowledge of mobile devices. That unique combination gave Yomi a vantage point and has made him a leader in the mobile review space in Africa and not just Nigeria.
How To Start A Blogging Business Without Being A Great Writer
As a business is quite different from blogging as a hobby, you can start a blogging business without being a writer yourself. The good thing about starting a business is that you do not have to be the one doing the work as an entrepreneur, you get to hire people with the right skill set to get the job done like writers, researchers and those who have the required knowledge you need.
For example, if you are starting a legal blog, you are going to have to hire writers who understand the field of law. All you need to do is get the business strategy and plan right and get them to do their job. In a little while, you will have a thriving blogging business. You will also need to put in a lot of work and resources into marketing and advertising
Treating Your Blog As A Business – Know Your Audience
As a blogging entrepreneur, you are going to have to answer questions other pe business people ask, like who are my target audience. The way you write if you want your blog to target legal professionals si quite different from how you will write if you want your blog to target a layman who has little or no understanding of law e.g small businesses who need legal advice. Your content will be more technical for the first set of audiences while you need to use very easy terms for the other audience. This is applicable in all sectors you may be considering writing for/on. If you need to also consider whether your target audience is wide or small, this will help you make decisions around the kind of product or service packages you create and how much money you make. In blogging, the content is not what makes you money, it is how you use the platform to create products and services tailored for your audience that makes you money.
How To Hire The Right Talents For Your Blog, Especially Writers
“Human resources is the backbone of every successful business, I do not see how we can talk about running a successful business without talking about it. It is a big challenge in our current environment and the reason is that there are not a lot of multi-disciplinary people around yet. Earlier, I talked about how my great writing skills and passion for mobile devices gave me a good start in the business.
In staffing, you are going to have to look for people who don’t only know the subject matter but also have other skills like writing, basic image manipulation, basic knowledge of SEO etc.
Tips To Creating A Profitable Blog In Nigeria Despite Low Internet Penetration
Below are a few tips to creating a profitable blog in Nigeria:
Pick a focus
Laser-sharp focus is very important, it allows people to know and remember you for something. If you are spread out too thin, people are unable to pin you down with something
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Ask yourself what people are looking for in this topic or subject
I keep asking myself what are people looking for when it comes to smartphones. In answering that question, you can create content that your audience wants to read. Yomi Adgboye has been doing this over the last 17 years and his readers keep coming back.
You have to be engaging
Too many people do not understand, for example, in the tech blogging field, too many bloggers think that it is about the tech but in reality, tech blogging is media and the secret to success in all media is to be engaging. If you write your content in a language that people find difficult to understand, you are going to lose readers
Keep your blog lightweight
no matter the kind of content you create, keep your blog lightweight if you want a log of people to read your blog, this is Nigeria, the internet is costly and often slow. If you want to increase your chances of reaching the highest number of people.
Make your blog mobile-friendly
Most readers also view blogposts from their mobile phones so it has to be mobile-friendly. Most of them don’t even browse the internet from high budget smartphones but java and GPRS enabled phones. If your blog is heavy and bloated, you will make it difficult for them to access your blog.
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How Video Blogging (VLOG) Is Affecting Audience Reading Culture
Yes! It does. Every time a new media channel or platform show up, the older ones lose some market/audience to the new ones. When TV showed up, radio lost some market share to TV. Then some people said radio will die because of TV but that didn’t happen. New radio stations keep popping up daily. It is the same with Video platforms and text-based platforms, blogs will lose some market share to them but all in all, they will co-exist and in the nearest future, there will be a merge that is already happening. Many top blogs have started infusing videos to their content mix to meet their audience demand.
Have a plan or strategy, modify, adjust and adapt to new trends. Once you do this, you can keep your blogging business afloat without burning out when new platforms show up. And if you feel the need to pivot, shut down your blog and watch it fully into video, that’s okay too. You don’t just jump into a new terrain because people are joining in.
The Yomi Adegboye Blogging Academy
You can register to attend Yomi’s blogging academy where he trains bloggers how to write and other skills they need to run and operate a successful blogging business. Sign up now via yomiadegboye.com
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