At Connect Nigeria’s Annual Writers’ Conference which held on Saturday 18
th April, author and Okada Books creator,
Okechukwu Ofili spoke about his experience as a blogger and author.
When it comes to monetizing your blog, he made it clear that there are several routes to take (Google AdWords for instance). However, the focus for this session was public speaking. As the session went on, I couldn’t help remembering Ifemelu, the lead character in Chimamanda Adichie’s novel, Americanah. I recalled that she ran a successful blog that opened doors to countless speaking engagements for her.
So, what do you need to know about building a blog that serves as a platform for a speaking career? A lot, as participants will testify, but here are a few tips:
1. Halfway to success is just looking and acting the part. You have to work on your image. One of the greatest favours you can do yourself is get a good photographer to give you professional, high resolution head shots, and put them out there. There should be a good picture of you on your blog
2. When you’re asked to speak, you may do so for free at first, but know that you need to demand what you’re worth. Understand the value of your time. Don’t expect that people will see your work and hand you money just like that. You need to demand what you’re worth. Value yourself. Value your craft.
3. To increase traffic to your blog, write for blogs that are looking for posts, and make sure you put the hyperlink to your own blog at the bottom. For captivating work, avoid copying. Go out there and get the fresh stuff. Be original.
4. You define the lifestyle you want. You don’t have to quit your job to be a writer if you don’t want to. The speaker was emphatic about this, he himself having run his blog, built a speaking career, created OkadaBooks, and authored several books all the while holding a 9-5 job in a non-writing field; engineering. Now isn’t that something?
5. Write every day. “Talent is just a word. The reason I was successful as a writer is because I wrote every day,” he said.
Were you at the conference? Please share your own favourite takeaways in the comments section!
