Today, I’m featuring an interview with Dayo Edunjobi, a Nigerian blogger who covers Internet Marketing in Nigeria and author of the first ebook about Blogging in Nigeria titled: “Blogging Made Easy”.

The ebook covers topics such as “Several Hot Niches You Can Blog About”, “How to Generate Ideas for Your Blog Contents”, “How to Drive Free Traffic to Your Blog”, “How to Build Backlinks for Your Blog”, “How to Get More Blog Comments”, “Hot Monetization Ideas for Your Blog”, “Top Mistakes Business Bloggers Make” and many more…

In this interview, Dayo shares his thoughts about the Nigerian blogosphere and talks about his ebook. Enjoy the interview!

SN: Please tell us about yourself, background and interests

Dayo: I’m Olusanjo Dayo Edunjobi, born in Lagos and a native of Ogun state. I’m a Computer Engineer and currently working with NetSolutions Ltd, as a Computer/Network Services Consultant at the CBN Yola Branch. I love making and meeting friends and like helping people as far as my abilities can go. I enjoy browsing the Internet and I’m sure you will understand my passion for blogging from that. What’s more? I’m passionate about God.

SN: How long have you been blogging and what inspires you to blog?

Dayo: Officially, a year and a half, though I’ve been down with the blogging thing longer than that but didn’t think of going into it full-time, not until early last year. And even now, it’s still what I do on a part-time basis. Honestly, my initial thoughts on blogging was to create a residual income, but as I got more and more involved in blogging I discovered that my passion for helping people with what I know had surpassed the desire to make money. So, in order to keep focus and not loose my inspiration I decided to go with the passion for helping people with my ‘knowledge’ as my inspiration.

SN: What is your main focus on blogging, and why?

Dayo: Providing quality and authentic information on Blogging and Internet Marketing! During my earliest researches into Blogging and Internet Marketing, I discovered a whole lot of misconceptions flooding the Internet, which is the main reason people get scammed easily.

Also, I found out that many people are into both of these Internet phenomenons without even knowing the basics, which is why they easily get swept off their feet by diverse ideas and schemes. So, I decided to use blogging as a means of sharing my knowledge and ideas, with the hope that it would somehow have a positive impact on someone’s Internet experience and life.

SN: What are your thoughts on the impact of blogging in Nigeria and what future do you see?

Dayo: Well, Blogging is still relatively underutilized in Nigeria. I guess that’s because the level of awareness is still terribly low. In fact, the very majority of bloggers in Nigeria are those that are into blogging without having the real clue of what they are going into. They mostly got into it because they see blogging as a money making scheme through Google Adsense.

But, with the way blogging is becoming more and more popular and adopted, I see a bright future for blogging in Nigeria. Very soon Nigerians will start to understand the power of blogging beyond what is currently obtained and the positive impact they can achieve through blogging.

I see a time when CVs would carry blog addresses. I see a time when most companies would integrate blogging into their business models and every employee maintain a personal blog. I see a time when large organizations will be more involve in initiatives and projects that has to do with blogging. I see a time when Nigerians will become full-time bloggers, living solely on income from blogging. Generally, I see a great future for blogging in Nigeria, and I’m really glad to be one of the pioneers of blogging in Nigeria.

SN: Please tell us about your ebook Blogging Made Easy and your motivation for writing the ebook.

Dayo: Blogging Made Easy is a full-fledged ebook on Blogging that deals with every idea any blogger needs to know to become successful. The book begins with the most basic topics like, the meaning of a blog and blogging with a little bit of its history. Then, it discusses topics like: how to generate ideas for blog posts, how to get traffic, blog comments and the mistakes most business bloggers make (even some of the experienced Nigerian bloggers make some of the mistakes I exposed in the ebook). The ebook was written in a language that even a novice will understand, and has been optimized for easy navigation “using bookmark navigation” which makes it easy to read and reference on a computer, and above all it is printer-friendly, so whatever you decide do, you can do.

On my motivation, for sometime now, I’ve been helping my friends get the best of their blogging experience, most of which are people I met online. These people ask series of questions and requests that I respond to individually. After a while I decided to do some research to know how informed Nigerian Bloggers are. Although, I was a bit disappointed with my findings, I decided to contribute what I know and that was one of the inspirations for the ebook - Blogging Made Easy.

The major motivation for Blogging Made Easy was an idea I had sometime ago to develop a reference material I can use to help those of my friends “most of which I met online”, that always ask me series of questions on one aspect of blogging or another. I thought then that instead of having to write individual replies to each of those request, why not write an ebook to serve as a reference material.

Back then, my intention was to write a not so comprehensive 10-page ebook to handle the basics of blogging which will be given out for free to my friends as reference material. At the time, I was mostly active in the foreign blogosphere, and then became aware how inactive I have been in the local blogosphere. I was already running the research for my ebook, which was then to be title “Beginners’ Guide to Blogging”, so

I decided to make it a full project and comprehensive enough to make a positive impact on the Nigerian blogging community.

SN: With issues around scamming in Nigeria, people are always skeptical about making online/bank payments. How do you intend to effectively market the ebook despite this trend?

Dayo: Basically, I intend to build a more personalized relationship with my readers and potential customers, where we can get to relate both online and offline whenever that’s possible; this I hope will help to build trust between me and my readers. I also intend to partner with well-respected figures in the Nigerian Internet Marketing arena and get them to review the ebook, which will lay credence to the ebook and my reputation.

I’m also taking my time to create an avenue where I can be easily accessible. Moreso, I have broken the ice of anonymity by personalizing the ebook with an authentic picture of myself, so readers can connect with me. Like I said earlier, the intentions behind Blogging Made Easy has gone far beyond just the money, and if you notice it’s been a couple of weeks ago since I announced that the ebook is available unofficially and it’s still not available to the public. This is to show that I’m not in a haste just to sell for the money.

Above all, there is a 100% money back guarantee on this ebook. Yes! I know it’s nothing special as you get to see that everywhere; even the scammers paint it all over there products. But the unique thing about my money back guarantee is that it is backed with an authentic picture of me.

SN: What is your pricing strategy and what are your Internet marketing strategies?

Dayo: Well, before putting a price tag on the ebook I did a little research on the market to determine how much products of the same quality goes for in the market. Then I sat down and compared it with the average purchasing power of buyers within the market, before deciding on the price. Thus, my major pricing strategy is about quality and affordability.

I’m currently adopting marketing strategies such as viral marketing, email marketing, forum marketing and buzz marketing (that’s talking about blogging).

SN: What is unique about the ebook - Blogging Made Easy?

Dayo: Blogging Made Easy is very unique in so many ways. It is the very first ebook in Nigeria that talks about the A-Z of becoming a successful blogger, providing great information and resources to compliment each of the ideas shared in the ebook. Blogging Made Easy is also an ebook, that provides information that is geared towards a long-term success in blogging, rather than the usual ‘make money quick’ products currently flooding the Nigerian Infomarket.

For example, under Section 02, you have “8 tips for generating ideas and research for your blog contents”, which explains 8 proven ways to generate contents for your blog. Under Section 03, you have “The 5 best
ways to drive free traffic to your blog”, followed by an in-dept analysis of each of these five ways. Under the same Section 03, you have “8 solid ideas for generating backlinks for your blog”, which handles the aspect of getting links. And you still have others like “11 fast and easy ways to get more blog comments” - under Section 03, “6 ideas for making money with your blog” - Section 04, “Top 6 mistakes business bloggers make” - Section 04. To crown it all there are series of resources, under the Resources & Bonuses Section at the end of the ebook, which will also help you to immediately explore each of the ideas discovered in the ebook; Top Nigerian Forums, Top International Forums, Top Social Networks, Blog Submission Directories, Top 50 Article Directories, etc etc

SN: With the successful publishing of your ebook, how would you like to be rated in the Nigerian blogosphere?

Dayo: Hmm! That’s a big one! Well, I would love to be seen as an authority in my “niche” and the Nigerian Blogosphere. I’ll like to be seen also as someone that’s more passionate about helping people to succeed, even if I’ll have to sacrifice some of the successes I should have used my information and ideas to achieve personally.

SN: What are your thoughts about the African Bloggers Conference - Kelele 2009 coming up in Nairobi, Kenya?

Dayo: I think that’s long over due, but in any case I’m glad the initiative has been born. I think the African voice has been underrated and neglected for a long while and I believe Blogging has the potentials to give us back our voice. I believe the Conference will help to open our eyes to the great potentials of Blogging in Africa; it would expose more individuals and organizations to the realities of adopting the blogging idea.

Subsequently, Africans would wake up to the reality that Blogging has come to stay and start exploring the full benefits of Blogging. I also hope to participate at the event.

SN: Do you think that the Nigerian blogosphere is matured enough for its own Bloggers’ Awards?

Dayo: If the Bloggers’ Awards is to be determined solely by the level of maturity of the Nigerian Blogosphere, then I think it is hardly matured enough. But personally, I think it is high time we had a Nigerian Bloggers’ Awards, which would help to give the Nigerian Blogosphere a more professional recognition. The Awards would mean that more creative individuals would adopt the idea of blogging; both small & large organizations would begin to integrate blogging into their business models and before long the Nigerian Blogosphere would attain the level of maturity that we all crave.

SN: How can Nigerian bloggers make more impact on the African and Global web space?

Dayo: Nigerian Bloggers need a unified voice; we need to build a Nigerian Dream, which cannot be undermined by the prevailing political atmosphere. Also, Nigerian Bloggers need to start getting more creative by inventing things rather than relying on those from our foreign counterparts.

Why can’t we have a Nigerian Entrecard? A Nigerian Payperpost? A Nigerian Blog Directory? A Nigerian Digg? A Nigerian Bloggers’ Network? A Nigerian Entreview? A Nigerian Bloggers’ Expo? A Nigerian TV programme dedicated entirely to Bloggers and Blogging? A Nigerian Radio programme talking solely about Bloggers and Blogging? and lots more.

Like I mentioned in one of my blog articles “Mindset Is Everything”, we need to reshape our mindsets from the usual “me and my success”, to that of “my success and my society”, because your achievement is not complete if it doesn’t have a positive impact on your society.

So, Nigerian Bloggers need to be more sensitive to their blogs; the outlook, the contents, and its impacts on both the local and global web space. If Nigerian Bloggers can successfully execute these, I believe they will create a great impact on the African/Global web space.

SN: What advice would you give to wannabe Nigerian bloggers?

Dayo: Always take enough time to learn the rudiments of whichever aspect of blogging you are interested in. Beginning from the platform you are using to the niche you are blogging about, then to the day to day happenings within the blogosphere both local and global. That way you can position yourself as an authority within the blogosphere, because you can provide good contents that appeal to your targeted audience.

SN: Who are some of your greatest influences in the African/Global blogosphere?

Dayo: I’m pretty young in the local blogosphere, but in the global arena, I have Darren of Problogger, Graham of entrecard, Amanda of Bloggerbuster, Daniel of Daily Blog Tips, David of eblogtemplate, Gosu
of Gosublogger, Jen of Tips for New Bloggers and several others.