Meet Linda Ikeji – The successful blogger who makes a lot of money from gists
She started her blog in 2006 with no particular intention of making money online. Her blog posts feature the latest society gossip, celebrity talk and details of her personal life.
The blog’s original content, sensational articles and close engagement with readers have earned her a huge following in Nigeria and the diaspora.
Newsjagaban believes her blog rakes in in excess of $65,000 every month. How did this ordinary Nigerian achieve this extraordinary feat?
Let’s find out...
With a free blog from Google’s Blogger.com, an ear for gossip and good writing skills, Linda was able to start a ‘business’ with little startup and running costs.
Today, lindaikejisblog.com has become one of the top go-to websites in Nigeria and, arguably, the most successful and influential social platform in Nigeria.
In addition, Linda has used her blog as a platform to effect social changes. In 2011, she brought attention to the case of a teenage Nigerian girl who had been held in a maximum prison for nearly four years without trial for stealing a mobile phone. With the support of some of her blog’s most avid followers, the young girl was released from prison and returned to her parents.
For a lady who had a failing modeling career in a country with one of the world’s highest unemployment rates, her extraordinary success is another evidence of the immense opportunities in Africa for people who can transform their natural God-given talents into wealth.
Linda now makes a full living from her blog and has joined the coveted club of entrepreneurs who enjoy the rare privilege of working from home.
In 2015 Linda Bought herself a house In Banana Island Ikoyi Lagos believed to be worth about N600m
How does Linda Ikeji’s blog make so much money?
As you already know, newspapers and magazines make a major chunk of their money from advertisements, and not sales of the papers.
Millions of people are always interested in finding out what’s new in society, politics, fashion, business. Anyone who’s got a product, event or service to sell, pays the newspaper publishers to have their adverts placed in the papers.
Due to this exposure, more people get to know about what they’re selling and buy from them. The advertisers and magazines both make money and everyone is happy.
This is exactly the same way online magazines (blogs) make money. But unlike newspapers whose distribution is constrained by physical boundaries, blogs can reach anyone anywhere in the world. And you don’t need to be a professional publisher or have an expensive printing press to own one! It’s simply amazing!
We could go on and on about the amazing power of blogs and how you can make money from blogging, but let’s focus on Linda Ikeji’s blog for now. You should follow us on facebook if you want to find out more about making money online.
Now that you have the background, let’s take a dive into all of Linda Ikeji’s money makers!
Money maker #1 – Private placements
Just like with paper magazines, interested advertisers contact Linda to place ads on her blog.
The sweetest thing about private placements is that you get to set your own rates. These advert banners can fetch very handsome prices depending on the banner sizes and their position on the blog.
Very often, private advertisers pay Linda to have their adverts as the backdrop of the whole blog. It’s called a ‘site takeover’ and usually makes Linda a lot of bucks!
From the ads on her blog, it’s pretty obvious that the advertisers are targeting the overwhelmingly young demographic who constitute the blog’s loyal following. 18 to 44 year-olds make up 85 percent of the blog’s audience, with the 25-34 age bracket alone making up more than 50 percent!
No business with interests in Nigeria would slip past an opportunity to reach such a large audience of young people! Smartphones, fashion, music, movies and anything that rides the modern technology or cultural trend would be particularly interested in gaining exposure through her blog.
Money maker #2 – Pay-per-click (PPC) adverts
Unlike private placement ads that pay a daily, monthly or weekly advert rate, Pay-per-click (PPC) adverts only make money when people click on them.
Google Ads pay quite different rates per click. So, for the purpose of our evaluation, we have chosen a conservative estimate of $0.30 per click.
Applying a (conservative) Click through rate (CTR) of 2 percent, it becomes apparent that about 5,000 of the blog’s 250,000 daily views lead to clicks on PPC ads. For those of us who do not know, CTR is the estimated percentage of blog views that lead to ad clicks.
At $0.30 per click for an estimated 5,000 clicks per day, we conservatively estimate that Linda’s blog makes (on average) $1,500 from PPC adverts alone per day!
Money maker #3 – Brand Endorsements
Having built up a large loyal following that spreads beyond Nigeria’s shores, Linda Ikeji has attained a celebrity status for herself. Not by any singing or acting talent, Linda has built a solid fan base by sheer gossip blogging!
Businesses are usually very keen to exploit the power of connectors and celebrity symbols in society. This is exactly why football stars, celebrity actors, musicians and comedians across Africa are fast becoming ambassadors for several product and business brands on the continent.
It’s a bit difficult to put a price on these brand endorsement deals due to their negotiable nature. We have deliberately left out the income from these endorsements to preserve our conservative estimates.
Linda Ikeji’s efforts have really paid off!
From Money makers 1 and 2, we can infer that Linda Ikeji’s blog makes an average of $2,175 every day. This figure does not include brand endorsements and full-page takeovers and reflects our modest estimates of her blog income.
With a monthly income that comes up to $65,000, Linda is definitely in the league of very successful bloggers who have made a fortune out of a mere hobby.
While this may sound like a get-rich-quick scheme, it’s not! Running an internet business like Linda’s requires sincere dedication, originality in content, hardwork and discipline. When all these elements are well combined, the rewards can be astounding and are totally worth all the hard effort!
Do not forget every business has secrets. Most times you see and envy the success of others but if you knew their secret you will be able to replicate exactly what they have done.
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