How I Made $1,000/Month Blogging from Nigeria - the Simon Zaku Story

Hello everyone and welcome to the IbiFoundry blog. In this article I'm going to show you exactly what it takes to start, run and manage a blog that makes you $1,000, even as we approach 2025.

Here's my story in Taraba State, Nigeria;

For the past 10 years I've started countless blogs and I've been able to squeeze out a living from it from my hostel bunk here in NIgeria (Yes, I’m from a beautiful part of Nigeria.

You see, most of these blogs I started have failed before even making a dollar, but through trial and error I was able to start a blog making me $1,000 a month and $2,500 one time.

Unlike you, I've never had a guide or a walk through just like this article when I was starting out.

I was forced to try things on my own.

I blogged my way through trial and error.

Blogging has evolved over the decade. A lot of strategies that used to work no longer work anymore.

A lot of new content and SEO policies, strategies and newer and more advanced tools (like A.I systems and bots) have been created and are now being used to help bloggers run successful blogs.

I decided to take the time to create this indispensable blogging guide that will help you go from starting a new blog that generates $0.00 and growing to $1,000 monthly even as a Nigerian.

(These days, we should not just depend on the government)

This is me sharing my personal story and experience on how I went from zero to making $1,000 and even at some point I was making $2,500 a month from my blog.

Unlike the millions of blogging guides on how to start a successful blog, I'll be asking and answering some of the most disturbing questions beginner bloggers ask before getting into blogging.

I'll be answering them from my own perspective.

The burning questions I asked before starting my first blog are what I'm going to answer here.

How I Started and Run a $1,000/Month Blog

Starting with the first question;

BLOGGING QUESTION #1: How did I get started blogging 10 years ago?

Let me tell you a short story.

It was on a beautiful Friday evening here in Taraba, Nigeria.

I stepped out and decided to take a walk around the neighborhood.

I was barely 13 years old and while walking I came across an old friend and someone I regard as a mentor, Job Benedict.

He looked so excited and I couldn't wait to ask the reason behind his excitement.

He replied; “I just cashed out $60.00 from Google Adsense!”.

Now I can still recall the shocking feeling I felt realizing this is someone in Taraba state, Nigeria getting paid in USD just by using his computer. And guess what?

At the point I never knew what a blog was so I replied;

“What is a blog?” He said.

“A blog is a platform where you could make money from Google Adsense”.

“What is Google Adsense and how can I get started too?”

He said; “A platform you connect with your blog to display adverts and make money”.

“How do I get started?”

He said go Google search it out. I said to myself, I definitely have to learn about this to make money on my own and at the time $60.00 was a huge amount of money converted to Nigeria Naira.

That got me excited and I really wanted to go into blogging from that moment.

Guess what happened next?

The next day I immediately went back home and I created a pretty scrappy (and free) blog running on Blogger Blogspot.

Now if you don't know what Blogger Blogspot is, it is a free blogging platform where you could start a blog for free hosted by Google.

So the next day I came back to Benedict and said I now have a blog; what's next?

How can I begin earning $60.00 just like you did?

I was already geared up to start earning even though my blog was just a day old.

If you think about it, the mindset was the first thing I had gotten right. Which was to start a blog AND make money.

Most beginner bloggers I see today just go into blogging to write, send a few tweets, write anything and all of that or even steal content on the internet.

But the first thing is you need to get the mindset right.

The mindset is to start a blogging business, not to start a writing blog where you can just write what you want to write.

I had the mindset that I wanted to create something that would turn to a side income, so I was focused on generating revenue.

Now Fast forward to five to seven years, I had a blog running and earning $1000 monthly.

And what got me even more fulfilled was that Benedict (my old time friend) turned out to be a student in one of my blogging coaching programs.

I felt fulfilled because I was determined and I never gave up.

Even though it took a long, long time for me to start earning, I never stopped. If you look again, it took me six to seven years before I earned my first dollar as a Blogger.

I made so many mistakes and I failed countless times, but that never stopped me.

I was determined to build a side income, just like my friend Ben.

Now don't get discouraged seeing it took me this long to make a dime from my blog and this was because I never had a coach.

I never had a guide, mentor or a comprehensive walkthrough just like this. So I basically did this all on my own which caused my blogs to fail several times. I simply didn't know what to do.

I didn't know what products to create and sell on my blog.

(I ended up selling e-books) - I’ll be publishing an entire blog article on how I was able to write and sell ebooks on this blog that generated good money in a few days so be sure to subscribe to my blog.

Unlike the millions and billions of such results on how to start a successful blog, I'll be answering the top questions around blogging and then helping you with each and every step.

And if you have any more questions that I haven't answered in this blog post, you can feel free to use the comments section and I will reply to every single one of your questions.

Like I've mentioned, I'll be covering both the technical and mindset aspect of running a successful blog through some of the most disturbing blogging questions on the Internet.

QUESTION 2: What type of blog did I start that failed and why?

The second question here is;

“What type of blog did I start that never made a dollar in six years?”

When I started blogging I was not fortunate to have a tutor, mentor or a guide to help my journey.

Throughout my blogging journey I depended on my (mediocre) knowledge as a beginner and it turned out to be a huge mistake that took me years because I knew nothing about blogging.

Here’s the story of the first ever blog I started;

Earlier on I started an entertainment blog which was funny because I basically stole other people's content and published on my blog.

This is what bloggers call the Copy and Paste Blog.

Now the first blog I started was zakxloaded.com (pretty funny name).

What did I publish?

At the time, there was a famous Nigerian Blogger Linda Ikeji (Lindaikejiblog dot com) who made billions of Naira from blogging.

On zakxloaded.com, what I did was I basically went to Linda's entertainment/celebrity blog and copied every single thing she posted and reposted on my blog expecting to get as much traffic and revenue as she was making, which was the biggest mistake I made.

And as a result, I never got any leads, traffic and I was barely getting 5 to 10 clicks from my shares on Twitter and Facebook.

Even though I put in so much content, I was also never accepted to Google Adsense because I was simply doing ‘copy and paste’.

Google Adsense says every one of your content must be unique for you to be accepted to the Google monetization program.

This made me frustrated for years and I almost gave up blogging.

My traffic never scaled above 10 clicks per month so I couldn't convert any traffic to sales or leads at all.

I basically stole content from other websites and pasted on my blog which also negatively affected my SEO.

During my first blogging year, I sent more than 50 Google Adsense applications from different emails and all were disapproved.

So if you want to go through the Google Adsense monetization program, you must create your own unique content.

SIDE NOTE: This very blog got approved just a day after applying for a Google Adsense account.

This was because I created unique content and had only about 10 blog posts yet it was approved 24 hours after applying for my Google Adsense account.

Now here's the thing;

I didn't grow this blog to $1,000 monthly through Google Adsense.

We'll be discussing this later in the post. But if you're looking to make some money from your new blog as a beginner, you can try the Adsense program and can try other much more lucrative blog monetization methods just like I did.

“I am ready to start a blog but what are the technical aspects of creating a blog from scratch?”

Now the next most disturbing question new bloggers ask is; “what are the technical aspects of starting a blog today?”

You see, unlike when I started blogging, there were a ton of technical things to do before you could get your blog online.

Today you can have your blog up and running in less than 5 minutes.

Yes, I repeat, in less than 5 minutes your blog would be up and running.

Now there are few things you just need to put in place.

There are three basic technical aspects of starting a blog today.

The 3 Technical Aspects of a New Blog:

1. Domain Name (or blog name/url)

2. Web Hosting

3. Blog Host (WordPress, Wix, etc)

1) BLOG DOMAIN NAME:

The first is a domain name, the second is your hosting and the third is the blogging platform or blogging host.

What is a blog domain name?

Your domain name is what your audience types in the browser search browser to land on your blog.

For example, this very blog's domain name is SIMONZAKU.COM. This is what you, my target audience or clients type in a web browser to land on this very blog.

Other examples of domain names include are blogginwizard.com, Wix.com, Ryrob.com, Neilpatel.com, Wordpress.com, Google.com and so many more.

How do I choose a domain name for my new blog?

When choosing a domain name for your blog, try to keep in mind that the easier your audience or customers can remember your domain name and easily type it in a browser, the better for your blog brand in general.

I try to avoid things like hyphens (-), special characters, numbers or any long difficult names that aren't easy to remember.

For me, I wanted to build a personal brand around my new blog which could easily be remembered with my name so I picked my first and last name which is Simon Zaku for my domain name. Hence simonzaku.com.

I went for a dot com (.com) because it is way easier to remember and is the most popular domain suffix to use. We have numerous like .net, .org, .site, etc.

With my first blog, I used zakxloaded.com and now simonzaku.com for this blog and simonwritesagency.com for my content and blogging agency. And freelancebeginnertraining.com for my freelance coaching services and products.

Get the idea behind blog domain names now?

So let's say, I want to start a blog around books. I could use something like Simonbookreviews.com or Dailybookreviews.com.

Your domain name could be anything at all. Just focus on getting a domain name that can easily be remembered and can easily be typed and searched by your target audience or customers.

2) BLOG WEB HOSTING:

Now the next thing is your blog’s web hosting which is as crucial as your domain name. In fact, I’ve lost some of my blogs due to poor hosting services. This caused me to switch to different web hosting companies to find the perfect one for my blogs.

And don’t worry, I have a few I’d recommend so you don’t have to lose your blog along the way.

What is blog web hosting?

Your blog’s web hosting is the company or service which your blog will run on or be hosted on. It is called the hosting service provider which provides all the necessary technicalities and features for websites and blogs to run on the Internet.

They are also responsible for backing up your website data.

Here’s the catch;

You can get your domain name from one hosting company (say nameservers.com) and get your hosting from a different hosting company (Hostinger.com or Hostgator.com).

For example I could get a domain name from GoDaddy and then get my hosting from Hostgator and then map it.

You could as well get your domain name and hosting on one platform (say Hostinger, or Hostgator, or Bluehost).

For this blog, I use Wix.com for my blog hosting while my domain is hosted on Hostgator.

There are other hosting sites like Namesaver.com, Bluehhost, etc) where you can get your domain names, blog hosting and all of that.

All you have to do is map your blog’s domain name to your preferred host.

Now the next thing is where exactly where your blog will be hosted?

Where should I host my new blow?

Like I said, your blog can be hosted on your hosting provider through Wix, WordPres, Hostgator, or Hostinger.com.

But for this very blog, I use Wix but over the years I used WordPress which is more effective to use.

I moved from WordPress to Wix months ago but don't get me wrong, I still have some of my sites hosted on WordPress because there's so many features on WordPress that weeks does not have.

But for now this very blog is running on Wix.xom.

WordPress is a tool that runs your blog.

It is the largest blogging platform in the world with billions of websites and blogs running on it.

Other competitors are Wix, Hostgator, Namesavers and all of that.

Why is WordPress the best Blogging platform for blogs?

Now why I love WordPress to be specific is that WordPress offers millions of blogging features which come in forms of WordPress plugins.

What are WordPress plugins?

WordPress plugins are additional services or add-ons that help bloggers or website owners run successful blogs effectively. For example, they are blogging plugins that help you create pop-up plugins.

There are WordPress plugins that help you secure your WordPress sites and more.

These plugins basically help you gain more control over your blogs or your websites. Some examples of WordPress plugins are Google Analytics, WordFence and all of that.

Here's the thing about Wix.com…

There are some alternatives to addons on Wix that are important and can be used in space of the WordPress plugins.

QUESTION 3: How did I go from $0.00 to $1,000 monthly from my blog (simonzaku.com)

Now the next and one of the most disturbing questions is how do you actually take your blog to $1000 per month?

In short, here is the thing; I didn't grow a $1000 per month blog through Google Adsense or Ads.

What I did was I grew a $1000 per month service based business.

In other words, I grew a $1,000 per month freelance writing business through my blog.

I want you reading this to start looking at your blog as a marketing channel or a marketing tool rather than a business on its own.

This blog is a marketing channel which I use to promote my freelance service business. What I do is I write for businesses across the globe, especially startups in the B2B space.

I create genuine and unique content on this very blog which attracts people (my target audience) who need my freelance writing and marketing services.

Now I want you to ask yourself this;

“What are you normally good at and you know you can write about?”

That is what you are good at and you know you can write and blog about every single day or week. This strategy helped me grow a $1000 per month blogging business off freelancing with just a few blog posts.

I didn't even need to create tons of blog posts. What I did was I researched, wrote and promoted a few blog posts targeted to my b2b freelance writing audience and I promoted them properly.

And then I got them to contact me to write SEO articles or run content marketing tasks for them.

This way, I was able to land several SEO and content clients paying me anywhere around $150.00 to $1000 a month to create blog content for them.

What you need to do is you need to find a business, you need to find a service that you can offer. There are so many services and products you can offer and then create your blog around that service. Then your blog will serve as a promotional channel to that very business.

Here are the things I did to create a successful blogging business:

The first thing I did was I created exceptional content around my freelance writing business.

Secondly, I planned out an effective sales funnel for my blog.

And then thirdly, I incorporated email marketing and lead generation and then implented effective blog content marketing.

Now you see having a sales funnel pretty much covers it all as to why I was able to convert my blog visitors into clients and customers as a Blogger. But the real deal is having an efficient sales funnel that syncs with my blog content marketing effort.

QUESTION 4: How to create and design an effective sales funnel for your blog?

How am able to create a sales or marketing funnel that attracts my ideal content clients that will convert them into paying clients?

As for your business, your blog content should be the starting point of your sales funnel.

I mean your traffic should be the pillar to your content pieces which will build trust and convert readers into subscribers.

Email subscribers are a huge channel for every blogger - Most successful bloggers making thousands of dollars online leverage email marketing to generate sales.

Email subscribers then into raving fans and then they trust your business through emails and value added content and if they are interested in your service, business or product then they become customers.

It is way easier to convert your readers into subscribers or leads using content rather than using just lead magnets.

How?

Your content will basically showcase your expertise in whatever niche that you are in. For example, as a content marketing and writing expert, I create exclusive content on content writing and marketing and I attract startups and businesses who do not have the time or experience to write content that generates sales. And then they join my email newsletter.

I then send weekly, or daily emails depending on which lead magnet they register through on this very site. This helps build trust and connection with my subscribers. And if they're interested, they email me and ask me about my services.

This is how I've been able to earn from several clients.

How do you create content that attracts the ideal customers/clients you need for your business?

You see, publishing educational blog posts tends to convert your visitors into email subscribers way easier.

If you look at the Buffer blog for example, you will notice that they put more effort into producing and publishing educational blog content around their niche (b2b, marketing) rather than company related posts.

Here’s the thing;

This actually depends on the type of blog you want to start.

Educational blog posts, how to post, listicles, guides, etc. are posts that educate your audience on a specific topic and unlike company-related posts, they teach users, build trust and relationships that convert your readers into buyers, clients and customers.

And don't forget email marketing is a huge part of your sales funnel and should not be left out. I use Wix email marketing feature for my email marketing campaigns but you can also use a free platform like MailChimp which is completely free for your first 2000 subscribers.

Now finally, without effective blog marketing or promotion, every content you publish will be forgotten. Like I always say, content isn't king; Content with effective promotion or marketing is king.

Do you get the idea?

Now if you do not design an effective content marketing plan for your blog and implement it, then your content pieces wouldn't be generating traffic, leads or sales because no one will even see it.

I mean, what is content without marketing?

Here is my five (5) step plan to running a blog that generates sales on autopilot:

The first step is to use Google Keyword Planner, which is completely free to generate lucrative and educative content ideas to publish.

The second step is to write or create lead magnets using these ideas (from Google Keyword Planner) and create a landing page if you want.

The third step is to write 3 to 7 high-converting emails and plug them into your email service provider like MailChimp or Wix.

The 4th step is to build trust through these emails and send leads to your products or services by promoting them.

Now the 5th and final step is to continually send traffic through SEO, Pinterest or other social media platforms to your blog content pieces.

This is called content marketing and this is where most bloggers get it wrong but let me quickly explain how Google Keyword Planner works.

Google's Keyword tool allows content creators and marketers to research and find keywords and key phrases that people are actually searching for online.

The first step is to use this free keyword tool to find lucrative content or keywords to create blog content your customers/clients want rather than just creating random content you think your audience wants.

Starting out, I was creating content I felt people needed, but with these tools, you will actually be creating content that people are actually searching for on search engines just like Google. This will help you attract the right traffic that your business actually needs.

This is why I say you don't need millions of traffic to make $1000 a month blogging. You could just simply create good content that attracts the right traffic and then convert this into sales or leads and make your sales as a Blogger.

The first thing you need to do is to go to the Google Keyword Planner account. This will take you to the main Google Keyword Planner dashboard. There you will need to navigate to tools and select your keyword planner.

You can input your keywords that are related and Google Keyword Planner will bring out related keywords and the details for every keyword that you've inserted.

You can also manually run some of these searches on Google AutoComplete to find related keywords to include within your content.

Now the next thing is to create pillar content that fits perfectly into your blog sales funnel.

For me, I prefer to make a quick funnel plan before I even begin writing and publishing my blog content pieces. This way you don't waste hours writing content that doesn't fit or convert into sales for your new blog.

Now here’s the call;

Drop a comment below with your most disturbing blogging question and I’ll reply within a few hours.

Finally, do you need an experienced blog content writer for your startup, blog or company?

Feel free to reach out to me via simonzakucom@gmail.com with all the details on how I can help you create content that ranks fast and generates sales.

Thank you once more for reading this guide!

Best,

Simon Taki Zaku