Interview with a Ghana based Nigerian blogger and web entrepreneur – Oluniyi David Ajao

The following interview was originally published by bloggingfornaira.com at http://bloggingfornaira.com/2009/01/22/interview-with-a-ghana-based-nigerian-blogger-and-web-entrepreneur-oluniyi-david-ajao/

I secured this interview with another of Nigeria’s foremost bloggers and web entrepreneur in the person of Mr Oluniyi David Ajao. Currently residing in Ghana, his blog chronicles his experiences living abroad as well as his opinion on current affairs both in Ghana, Nigeria and the world in general. As a photography enthusiast, Mr Oluniyi’s blog includes a gallery with pictures from many parts of Africa.

Aside from his blogging activities, Mr Oluniyi owns and runs the web hosting company web4africa.net. He is also an avid website designer.

Please, introduce yourself briefly (including your website and what its all about. What you aim to achieve in the near future)?
I am Oluniyi David Ajao, a website developer with Web4Africa Limited (web4africa.com). My personal website is at www.davidajao.com and it contains my blog as well as photo gallery. I aim to be the best at what I do, on a global scale.

Who or what inspired you into blogging?
I felt compelled to share my personal views on issues as they unfold and also to impart some knowledge about my areas of expertise, to the up-and-coming.

Are there any relevant training/qualifications you hold that has enhanced your online career especially in building your website?
I have some academic background in Computer Science and that has contributed to my modest achievements online.

What would you say were the main difficulties you faced over the years in building your website to what it has become today?
My main challenge has been, creating enough time to improve on my personal website and adding new content to my blog. It could have been much better than it is already but I am always busy with my main pre-occupation, which is working at Web4Africa Ltd.

Being that you run your website from Ghana and considering the relative technological bottlenecks of an infant Internet industry, how have you coped with the issue of hosting, electricity and getting traffic for your blog?
I have coped just fine. Growing up in a third world country leaves me with no option than to be ingenious. People like me have had to be creative with working around the many problems in this part of the world, just to stay afloat. To the specific issues you raised, power is relatively stable in Ghana and so that is not much of a problem. Despite that, I have back-up power sources made-up of UPS units and a power generator when power from the national provider is not available.
About hosting, Web4Africa Ltd is the leading web hosting provider in West Africa and so I get to host my blog for free since I am with Web4Africa.
Creating content is not difficult for me. There is no scarcity of events I can share my thoughts about and there are many tips I have that I can share with fellow bloggers and Internet entrepreneurs. My main problem is creating the time to do so.

Approximately how many visitors come to your website daily and from where? What types of people mostly visit your site?
I got approximately 2,345 visitors daily in December 2008 mostly from Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. The rest are from the UK, USA, Cote d’Ivoire and many other countries on every continent except Antarctica.
I believe all shades and shapes of people visit my blog daily. I do not target any particular group of people and so my audience is diverse.

Do you think its possible to earn a living from blogging only?
It is absolutely possible to earn a good living from blogging only provided it is done right. I hope to be able to share full details about this in future but the key is to shun mediocrity and embrace very high standards in terms of content quality, content uniqueness, regularity of posts, timeliness etc.

What methods have you adopted in monetizing your website (adsense, affiliates or direct ads)
I have adopted Google Adsense, Text-Link-Ads and a few direct ads, consistently.

What platform does your blog run on (Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, Blogger, Others)
My blog runs on the best platform – WordPress.

What would you say is the most important lessons you have learnt over the year running your website.
I have learnt to keep the high standards people expect from me.

Could you offer any tips to beginners on how to grow site traffic?
I reckon this question is specific to blogging and so I will answer in that vein.
1. Blog regularly. Do not keep your audience hanging for months as they would loose interest overtime when they see that you do not take yourself seriously enough.
2. Be engaging and interactive. Reply as many comments as you can. This would keep some readers coming back.
3. Blog about contemporary issues. You are not in competition with the mainstream media (i.e. TV, Radio, Newspapers etc) but timeliness can give you an edge sometimes. I remember blogging about Lucky Dube’s death within 2 hours after it happened and I had a huge overnight traffic with people sharing their thoughts and condolences.
4. Be an expert in your field of endeavour. There are many niche blogs from Nigeria that focus on issues like entrepreneurship, mobile communications, forex, fashion & lifestyle, celebrities etc. Whatever niche you choose to blog about, be a master at it. Read deeply and widely. That way, you can impact meaningful knowledge and with time you will be highly respected.
5. I would share more useful tips on my blog in due course. Watch out.

Do you think “Nigeria focused” blogs and websites can earn serious income from Google Adsense given that most adverts on the programme target foreign customers.
Yes they can. Do not forget that Nigeria is a country of about 150 million people and so the Internet traffic from Nigeria is substantial. The key thing is to be an authority. Also, though most Google Adsense ads are targeted at North America, Western Europe and South-East Asia, I can assure you that a substantial number of ads are targeted at African countries. There are diverse websites online today and some businesses need patronage specifically from Africa. Having used Adsense since 2004, I can assure you that with good traffic, you will never lack adverts even if you target a Nigerian or Kenyan audience exclusively. What’s more? You can configure Adsense to display 3rd party ads when there is no ad to display.

Do you recall making any mistakes during the formative years of your blogging experience?
I cannot remember any at this time. I think this is because I was already a website developer before I started blogging and so I knew some of the intricacies of the Internet and so knew what to avoid.

Please, give us a few DOs and DONTS for aspiring web entrepreneurs?

DOs

1. Be hard working and persistent. Nothing worthwhile comes easy and persistence is an ingredient of success. If you know what you are about, do not give up if you don’t get things right in the beginning.
2. Seek help from experienced people when necessary. Many would be glad to put you through but don’t be pushy as people have their lives to live and are only doing you a favour. Alternatively, learn from discussion forums but be careful with the advice you take.
3. Get good training about whatever you want to delve into and spend money on buying good learning materials (like books, CDs/DVDs) specific to what you do.
4. There is time for everything. Eat healthy food and exercise regularly. Rest when it is time for rest. You need all the mental energy, concentration and stamina you can muster, to work online for long hours.

DONTs

1. The Internet is a reflection of human reality and so they are several scams online. Even more scams than you find offline since scammers can hide their identity online, more easily. So, do not fall for scams like “make $15,000 weekly”, “Learn how to make millions monthly, from forex”, “Learn web design in 1 week. Guaranteed”. There are many such ads online and you will loose your little money if you fall for them. There is really no secret to success outside working hard and working smart. So be wise.
2. Don’t sell your integrity on the altar of money. Keep to your promises. Do not advertise what you cannot deliver.
3. Do not engage in illegal activities online. There are laws in your country, keep to those laws.

What can you say has been the key to your success?
A combination of many of the tips I have listed above but there is nothing as good as being smart and efficient with one’s limited resources.

How do you combine social life with blogging?
I have a poor social life, as I am virtually always online. I hardly mingle socially. It is not a good thing and I would change soon enough.

In terms of earnings from your blogging per month, which category do you belong?
(a) hundreds
(b) less than 5,000
(c) up to 10,000
(d) up to 20,000
(e) Up to 30,000
(f) up to 40,000
(g) 50,000 and above
Category A. Remember, blogging is not my main activity online. With what I know, I could easily earn much more if blogging was all I did on the Internet.

Any other comment or advice you would like to give aspiring bloggers or net entrepreneurs.
Stay focused. Know everything about something and something about everything. Do not be a Jack-of-all-trades and Master-of-none.