How I Started Blogging

I usually write my titles before I start writing. The titles usually motivate me to write. Looking up at this title today, and seeing what lies ahead of me, I know that this must be a lot briefer than it should be.

Right now I’m in Ikeja, I’ll be in Maryland by 3pm, and I need to be in the UK for a meeting tomorrow morning – Billionaires in Training. I need to also be back almost immediately as I have other meetings and engagments all over the place. I really desire to write everyday, this is my ideal, but atimes things just swing into accelarated mode, that I catching my breath is a struggle. Blogging is still a first love for me, I feel like telling the whole world to join me online as well, and let’s position ourselves as Nigeria’s New Media.

Tomorrow will make it exactly 3yrs after I made my first. 3 sentences post on blogosphere. I remember starting then, going on for about 3 days then having a 5 months break before I posted again. In those 5 months, I could very much have stopped, but somehow, I kept getting reminders like this post, and decided to go for it. Today, I’m 1 blogger, with about 450 posts, 9000 comments, and 400,000 visitors. I didn’t know how powerful having a blog was, until I gave it a good shot. Today, it’s helped me to achieve a lot, and if you digest this history lesson, and take a few tips from it, it might help you too.

Well, what qualifies me to talk to you about blogging? If that’s the question on your mind, let me offer you a little bit of statistics.

Today, if you go online to www.google.com.ng and you indicate that you intend to search in Nigeria, if you search for any of Self Motivation, Personal Development, Personal Growth, Personal Growth and Development or Entrepreneurship Development, my site is the first site that you will see. This means that as far as google is concerned, I am the number 1 resource in Nigeria on these topics. If you go to www.google.com directly and type in any of these themes with Nigeria, for example, “Self Motivation Nigeria”, I’m atimes both number 1 and number 2 on these searches (thanks to my SEO consultant, I can link you up for a small fee). Recently, I was approached by an international organization as having been nominated as one of the best blogs in the world (lol), well, I believe they were humouring me, but for it’s worth, I’m being recognized for my work, and have some partnership requests from a number of initiatives across the globe. I have made some decent money, and I have also gotten tons of email from friends and fans who appreciate the work I’m doing. I’ve also met MDs, CEOs, Directors, Managers and people from around Nigeria and the world that I respect from a distance, tell me they value what I’m doing. So without meaning to brag, I wanted you to know that I’m qualified to share some experiences on blogging.

1. 11:40am 16th November, 2005. My blogging career began. It began on blogspot, and it began with 14 almost incohent sentences. It had no comments :), few views. It was free, it was small, it was obscure, but it was a start.

When you begin anything, it won’t always be picture perfect from day 1. It won’t look like it’s gong to look, it’s going to be small, it’s going to be hidden, it’s going to be a baby. That’s how all great things and people start – Small.

2. My second article was about Nigeria, in my thoughts I was at crossroads.

In the future, many people will come to know you for your passions. You must realize that it didn’t start in one day, if it’s being seen today, it had been there in the days of obscurity. Don’t give up on your passions because you are not getting the recognition you deserve today, keep at it. Someone say me yesterday, saw a shaped CD in the shape of Nigeria with New Nigeria Club written on it. He asked me if I was a member of the club, I told him I was. He now went on to tell me about a great guy that goes to his church that founded the club. I looked awed and asked him which church, he told me and spoke some more. He really loved this guy the founder, and I would have thought he had met him, he told me that the guys name was Adeolu Akinyemi! Talk about embarrasing moments.  It might not look it today, stay with your passions.

3. After a while, I got tired and didn’t write for almost 5 months.

It happens to all of us, the seed needs to die first before it grows.  Sometimes the ball needs to fall really low and bounce to go high. It also means no matter how long we have stayed down, we can always resolve to get back up. Don’t let you downtime put you permanently down, get up! To all those whose blogs are in the state of commatose, today I offer thanks to God for always hearing me and I proclaim ” Lazarus, come Forth!” 🙂

4. I decided to own my own domain, I moved here to www.deoluakinyemi.com, and trust me it did not look anything like what it is now, nor does this look like what it will be tomorrow. I decided I really wanted to do this, and started thinking creative ways to make it popular afresh.

A time comes in everylife, when you can afford to be your own landlord, when you want more control of your life and resources. It meant starting from scratch again, building new links, telling my friends afresh that I have moved, thinking up ways to get people interested. I actually started a job blog off the site as well, so I can get jobseekers getting information from my site to help them. The Job blog gives information about vacancies, and is still alieve here. Starting something new is hard, and going on requires patience, surviving requires creativity.

5. I was a newbie online in those days second quarter of 2006, but I was eager to learn.  I asked questions of people before me, I sought counsel. I read other peoples blogs, learnt from them, buzzed them, mailed them, participated in blog carnivals, shared my links with a few friends, updated my blogroll, I posted articles regularly, it wasn’t a quick fix, it was work, but it was fun!

Whenever you are starting something, you need counsel, you need support, you need mentors, maybe coaches, maybe direction. Go for it. Don’t die in an island without supplies, call for help! There are tons you can do to get your blog up and useful. You just need to replicate what I did. You can too! Yes you can! 

6. I changed my theme, I created and focused as I grew, I got the services of an SEO expert, I learnt a few tricks and concepts from my colleagues (Anu Oluwadare in particular), I also developed mini books out of the site and kept working it. I’ve moved the site around often, from server to server, I’ve had attacks from people who uploaded viruses into my wordress, I face challenges regularly, but I never let it stop there.

There is never an ultimate time of terminal rest on all sides until death. Peace is real, but it’s not the absence of challenges, it’s the state of mind that knows that there is sufficient to handle all that is coming. No matter what it is you are doing, it will have up times and regular challenges, braze yourself not to ever give up. Go on, keep on. Don’t slack, don’t stop. Today is your best day ever, don’t lose site of today in the hope of tomorrow. What can you do today to keep you happy and fulfilled?

There are lots more to learn, but like I told you… I’m facing a very busy weekend, and an exciting week. Don’t expect me not to write regular posts though, I would not want to dissappoint you. For as long as you see my posts in your mail box, or get to see that I’m writing from here, let it be a reminder to you, that you can succeed at anything in this life, if you so desire!

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