HOW I MADE MY FIRST MILLION AS A BLOGGER

Blogging is fun, an adventure, can be incredibly satisfying and also financially rewarding when you "blow". I started blogging over 6 years ago and like I've mentioned in a lot of blog posts and I did not really start making money till about 2/3 years ago. Blogging was a hobby for over 4 years but after a while I had to give myself brain when I realised I could actually turn it into a career which is what I am doing now. I am a full-time blogger in Nigeria and it was not easy making that transition but I can tell you that it is possible. Let's talk about how I made my first Million+! 

SO YOU WANT TO START A BLOG? TIPS FOR BEGINNERS + GIVEAWAY!

Hands down one of the bestestestest decisions I ever made! This is why anyone that comes to me for blog advice will always get encouragement and some tips to grow their blog. There has been a recurrent question I keep getting asked since I started blogging and it is "How Do I Start A Blog"...I did not do a post on this because I thought it was pretty basic...perhaps I was wrong. If you are looking to start a blog and don't know where to begin, you're at the right place. First of all read this post HERE. I have been blogging for over 6 years now and I am a FULL TIME BLOGGER  and this is how I make my income so my post can definitely help you. I have a lot of other blogging TIPS if you click HERE

5 SMART MONEY HABITS TO DEVELOP IN YOUR 20s !

This topic was inspired by Arese Ugwu's book, "The Smart Money Woman". I have money habits  that I want to share with you that will help you make better financial decisions and make your life a whole lot better.
This is not restricted to women or those in their twenties, you can start where you are. What's one smart money habit you have?

17 SCENARIOS THAT ARE TOO REAL FOR NIGERIAN BLOGGERS

1.

When you are invited for a meeting and you get prepped, drive all the way from mainland to the island, discuss ideas and then when it comes to budget they say "sorry we don't have a budget"

HOW TO MAINTAIN ORIGINALITY AND UNIQUENESS AS A BLOGGER

Last week I was invited as a speaker (Eees like this speaking thing is my new career oh) at the Leverage Conference in Lagos State University. When I was contacted at first I really didn't want to do it because you know when I get in public oju m'an timi = my eyes are pushing me =  I am shaming shy.  However the convener Abraham was persistent-oh he was! I gave in!

I tried to prepare for this speech but I couldn't think of anything to say. I had at leat 2 months to prepare oh! On the day I got there prepare to bulldoze them with bullshit but God intervened. LOL. I did have a few points written down on my phone but it was more like skeletons, I needed to make my speech robust so I need flesh. 

Just before I spoke Chigul's video was played and that was not my first time watching it but she ministered to me and gave me the flesh for my speech. Thank you Chigul for being my inspiration  and case study. 

So how do you maintain originality and uniqueness as blogger? Make I no lie, e hard die!!! There are so many of us!There are lifestyle bloggers like me, tech bloggers, fashion bloggers, food bloggers, gossip bloggers  and more. How can you stand out from the crowd?

HOW TO DEAL WITH NEGATIVE & POSITIVE BLOG COMMENTS!

Follow @Sisi_Yemmie

My fellow bloggers, how are you all doing? There was a time I got an email asking how I deal with negative comments on my blog; I’m not sure if I responded to that email but today I am responding publicly so that everyone can see. 

Let me start from the beginning: story story….the first day I started blogging (then with the name GISTDOTCOM) …the first comment my blog was baptized with was a negative comment. It made me feel terrible and I cried like a baby to Bobo “they hate my blog!” …he was like “calm down, don’t take it personal”…how won’t I take it personal? Someone took their precious time to write something like “stop blogging, your blog is terrible”…how is that not personal?

6 WAYS TO GET MORE READERS TO YOUR BLOG

Follow @Sisi_Yemmie

Every blogger wants great readership- we all want like three hundred thousand million readers for our blogs because more readers = more traffic = more comments = popularity and engagement = fulfilment + money = Gbo gbo aiye foreign! 

So usually a question I get often is "how do I get more people to read my blog?". There are less aggressive ways of getting more people to read your blog...apart from shoving your phone in people's faces saying "oh I blog now, read this post" (which I used to do)... *hides face in palm*

ONE VALUABLE THING I LEARNED WHEN I GOOGLED MYSELF - SISI YEMMIE

I don't make it a habit to google myself but lately I decided, oya search Sisi Yemmie, what comes up? soooo many things! Chai, I have so many photos on the internet, but because I blog and am very vain and take so many photos of my face to show the world, that's understandable. I am forgiven. At least it's photos of my face...not nudes. Thank Jesus my political career and ambitions remain untainted. 

Anyways, so I was googling myself and found photos that I never knew I took, paparazzi things. Some hideous and some I liked. I quickly downloaded the ones I like and didn't have and I wish those hideous ones would go away...far far away! Please don't google me... Just come straight to my blog, I don't know what you're looking for that I won't tell you here directly. LOL

BLOGBETTER: HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU CHARGE AS A BLOGGER?

Hello my fellow bloggers! Ah, I’m back to being a good girl and today I want us to share with each other. I don’t have all the answers, just sharing my opinion. I was asked a few days ago “How much should bloggers charge for ads”? and frankly that was not the first time I was being asked that question but before I give my own opinion on how much bloggers should charge I would like to answer other questions:

SISIYEMMIE ON PM NEWSPAPER AS A FEMPRENEUR - READ THE INTERVIEW !

Yay! My friend Cocogist sent me this! I didn't even get to see my first proper newspaper feature *sobs sobs*...it deserves to be framed! LOL. I look forward to being on the cover of a magazine one day sha....Here's the interview so you ca enjoy and maybe pick something from it!

WHAT IS YOUR BLOG ABOUT?

My blog is a lifestyle and personal blog. I write reviews, beauty, relationships, advice, inspiration, career, recipes, giveaways and I have a lot of humorous stories to share. I also have a YouTube Channel where I share similar content.

WHAT WAS YOUR LINE OF CAREER BEFORE YOU STARTED THE BLOG?

This has always been my line of career, so I didn’t switch lanes. I studied Mass Communication for my BSC. So it is within the same family as Mass Communication is very broad. The typical careers in Mass Communication would be working Radio/ TV/Advertising/Newspaper & Magazines but now New Media has come to stay and more career paths have opened up.

BUSINESS CARDS FOR BLOGGERS? WHY NOT ! 5 TIPS FOR A SMASHING BUSINESS CARD + GIVEAWAY!

Someone asked me a few days ago, why does a blogger need a business card? I want to share the answer. Why not? If you're a serious blogger you definitely need one: it's awesome at networking events. I have been invited to a couple of events and after networking people request for my business card so I always go with the popular excuse..."Oh sorry, my cards have been exhausted, I'm ordering new ones" ...L.I.A.R! Lol. Enough with this lie-lie life. I have come to a reasonable conclusion that I need a business card for SISIYEMMIE.COM as a #DoroBlogger. 

When Printivo offered to send me some cards I was so lazy about it...it took about 4 months for me to finally decide to design one, and then I kept forgetting to finish the design everyday. They were too kind in their reminder and offered to design it for me. YAY! This lazy babe was happy! In a rush to have it done and over with I sent my details which included a phone number (for business purposes only), my email address, my blog address and my picture. In less than 3 days my cards had arrived; delivered to me. Oh the joy! I fell in love with them.

HOW TO GET MORE TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG : GET OVER 100,000 THOUSAND PAGEVIEWS MONTHLY!

How do I get more people to visit my blog? How do I increase traffic? How do I get more page views, isn't that what all bloggers would like?!!! I love page views, I can have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and I will be filled, just looking at my page views! LOL. Page views can easily turn into cash, a house in Lekki and a Range Rover- that’s if you have a lot of page views. Advertisers source for blogs with high rankings and page views, and they often require proof, not just word of mouth. So If you want to make money blogging, your page views need to be mega!!! At the moment I average a monthly page view of 90, 000 -110, 000! I have over a million 1, 000, 000 views on my blog. Is that a lot or too little? Be the judge, but I’ll be sharing with you what I do to boost my blog views.

DEAR BLOGGERS... HOW I ALMOST GOT SUED [PHOTO CREDITING & BLOGGING]

Dear Nigerian bloggers, there’s something you need to be aware of: posting pictures on your blog without crediting the source or getting consent is equal to stealing which can land you in hot pepper soup. You think you can’t get in trouble for that? How will they find out? Who will prosecute you? Just hear me out please. I almost got sued.

#BLOGBETTER | THE 5 W'S & H BEFORE STARTING A BLOG!

This is going to be the first post of the #BlogBetter Series...hooray!!! I didn't even check to see if that name was taken, anyways I do hope you find these posts resourceful. Can we start from the very beginning? What do you think about before you start a blog? For some it was just a hobby (that was it for me): for others it started with a purpose. It doesn't really matter how you started blogging as long as you can answer the 5 W's and H below.

MY 6 BLOGGING TIPS!!!

I promised earlier this week that you need to keep your eyes glued to my blog if you're a blogger or aspiring to be one. Just to remind you, he he he, I have a YouTube Channel where I upload videos weekly, please SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any video. Not all my videos are shared on my blog. 

I hope you enjoy this video and I will write down the tips for the benefit of those who can't watch. Please share your tips with me my fellow bloggers,(I follow amazing blogs!) and if you are new to blogging and have questions... ASK! 

TIP 1 

WHY DO YOU WANT TO BLOG?

Some people are attracted to blogging because some bloggers are like celebrities, others are attracted because dem don see say e be like say some bloggers dey hammer seriously. You want to make money? That's not a bad motive, blogging is not moin-moin, if you want to make money from blogging you are going to WORK for it. A blog is not built in a day. Find your blog purpose. 

HOW TO GET MORE FOLLOW BACKS ON TWITTER!

If you’re on twitter you’re probably familiar with people tweeting at you, "pls fbk! Pls fbk! Now following please follow back!" And they always use exclamation marks!!! I liken it to walking on the street and poking strangers  saying “be my friend! I’ve just befriended you, friend me back! LOL. Would you do that in “real life”? Then why would you do it online? It’s real people behind handles, real emotions, so you need to be strategic about it.

You can get follow backs without hounding or bullying people into doing so. Since I started my , ahem, twitter career, I nor  dey do am. If I follow you, it means; I’m interested in your tweets, I like your bio and I want to interact further with you. I knew I was doing good getting follow backs when celebrities like Ali Baba followed me. In fact, when Rita Dominic followed me, I knew I had arrived in twitterville! I’m waiting for Oprah, Mo Abudu and so many others to follow me and may my bia bia not grow grey before that happens.

So what do you need to do?