What problems do bloggers face in Nigeria?

[Demi Akin Participant]

Let’s talk about them…

We’ve previously spoken about how your location can affect your blogging activities but now let’s talk about these activities that are affected by being a Nigerian blogger in Nigeria. What problems do you face as a blogger in Nigeria that you feel is peculiar to you? Light issues? Internet issues? Blog expenses? Little or no ways of Monetizing your blog?

What we’ll aim to do today on HTT is have a really interactive session where you share an issue that you face and hopefully we can all advice each other on how to over come them. For me – although I currently spend most of my time in the UK – I find that whenever I’m in Nigeria the data/internet service always gets to me. I also can’t imagine how people run blogs in Nigeria, seeing as most bloggers tend to be students and most students in Nigeria tend to be, well just students with no source of income expect the pocket money given to them by their parents. Most Nigerian bloggers that are doing well in Nigeria today, seem to all have a side hustle.

So how do you run a good blog as a student in Nigeria or do you need to start a side job to sustain your blog? How do you get products to review? Where do you shop for outfits for your blog? How about something as simple as hosting your blog as a .com?

[Winifred Oribhabor Participant]

I’d say brands tend to reach out to the well known bloggers. They aren’t really supportive of the growing bloggers. Actually, not just brands, Blogger platforms too.

[Barakah Bashir Participant]

hi Demi of life

[Barakah Bashir Participant]

I am not even gonna speak english for this one… Demi internet/ data in nigeria Loooooorrrrrrd! is not a joking sturv! I was frustrated! And restless. The kind of money i spent on data, i don’t ever want to try such again, what is now annoying is, you spend all that money and then the internet is as slow as.. OMG…

[Demi Akin Participant]

Hi Winifred! Thanks for joining us today ^_^.

Hmmm, that’s true I guess… Do you think it’s because they feel well known bloggers are more established? because come to think of it, I feel that growing bloggers have some sort of influence as well but maybe brands just don’t know this but about blogger platforms reaching out to established bloggers only – can you explain what you mean a little bit more!

[Demi Akin Participant]

Barakah of Life – It’s always nice to have you here hun! I can totally understand @data. But what really uses up all your data allowance? ‘cos I’m thinking about it now and I don’t think just publishing a post uses that much data or is it the research you need to do for posts that uses it up or Instagram? lol

[Jennifer Okafor Participant]

Hi Winifred. Thanks for contributing and I love the point you raised. I just wanted to put it out there that if you wait for a brand to contact you, you’ll probably be waiting forever. You have to learn to actively market yourself. Design a media kit, build a list of brands you want to work with and send it to all of them. Repeat. As a newbie blogger, it might take a while before anyone decides to take the risk with you but in the mean time, there’s no reason why you have to sit on your hands and wait for anyone to come meet you. These established bloggers you see today had to fight to build themselves. Granted, the competition is way higher now but they invested a lot of time and effort to get to where they are now. This is something we should all learn from.

[Jennifer Okafor Participant]

Demi to be honest, 90% of my data goes to Instagram. The obsession is real. Once I go through my feed I move to the explore page 🙁
Lol. But for real tho, the data issue is serious.

[Barakah Bashir Participant]

I wish i Knew and i will really appreciate if someone can tell me why, I thought it was instagram. you won’t believe i was off instagram for weeks just because i wanted to get to the root of this, But all to no avail.

[Demi Akin Participant]

Very good point Jennifer! Thanks for joining us today and yes I agree with you totally. We actually spoke about something similar a few weeks back and young bloggers need to stop waiting for things to happen. Granted! brands might want established bloggers because of their large follwership but that doesn’t mean young bloggers have no influence as well and it’s all about making them aware of this fact.

So yes, I agree with you. Bloggers should learn to start reaching out to brands and just like applying for a job – some might accept your offer some might not but one advice though, I’d say it’s usually best to reach out to start up brands as well because they are more likely to appreciate your service.

[Demi Akin Participant]

Lol! I knew it! @jennifer. Instagram is the culprit. Not blogging :p

[Demi Akin Participant]

Oh wow! @Barakah – How do you prepare your posts? Do you do a lot of online search for images or information for your blog?

[Mide Participant]

Hey Demi,
I would ask how you’re doing but I already know the answer to that 😉
Regarding the problems we face as bloggers, you’ve basically mentioned everything but for me I would say the data ‘palava’ wins biko😝 the struggle of subscribing every two weeks is too real! Especially if you’re a heavy data user like me. We all want to see if we have new comments,what a particular blogger has posted or even when TBP will announce the data and venue for the blogger’s brunch so we have to stay connected, unfortunately this doesn’t come cheap.
Then the monetary aspect. I particularly emphatize with fashion and style bloggers on this one. But it seems like most of them have it under control because I hardly see fashion bloggers repeat their dresses and I know this must be taking a toll on their savings especially for the students.
I guess you just have to make it work one way or another. With the little you have or get, you start from there and eventually everything will fall in place because if the ‘problems’ are the reason why you become complacent or discouraged, then there’s literally nothing you can handle.

[Barakah Bashir Participant]

i came across an interview of a porpular bloggger who kept complaining as regards to data as well. she was like in nigeria her major issue is internet. she finds it really hard to upload a video (she vlogs as well).

[Barakah Bashir Participant]

i was just about to say where is Mide.. Hi mide

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