Going to school helped me be a better blogger —Sir Keneyo

Blogger, Sir Keneyo, grew his platform from his room in the University of Ibadan to become one highly sought after by companies and individuals due to his ever expanding followership. He recently graduated with honours and spoke to ROTIMI IGE about his achievements as a young online entrepreneur.

You run a blog. How does that flow with being an a Sociologist?

Well, sociology is a field that is interesting. It runs across every aspect of human life/endeavour. That actually affects one’s blogging life. You are able to draw a line between what the society wants and what is ethical to put out. You are able to predict how an individual might react if you publish a certain gist about him/her. And since blogging is also a vast field, it affects me positively in my sociology and my minors which are political science courses.

When did you start the blog?

I started blogging around 2011/2012 and got very serious in 2013.

What’s your blog’s niche?

It’s basically about what you all want. But mostly entertainment, music, videos, humour and politics because of the current atmosphere; the blog evolves with what is trending.

What motivated you to start your brand?

I did not even know that blogging was lucrative. I just had a thing for writing and making people happy and laugh. So my blog, initially, was just about reports that appear in humorous ways. But the motivation to go bigger came in 2011/2012 after my nomination in the Nigerian Blog Awards.

Your challenges so far…

There was the challenge of getting a proper team and how to get everyone dedicated to the blogging cause. But the most challenging issue was that of web hosting and internet service provider. The web hosts were basically taking advantage of me and the network was always bad before I got everything stabilized.

Your hopes and aspirations…

Hopefully, one day I will be as big as Linda Ikeji [popular Nigerian Blogger] and purchase my own property at Banana Island, Lagos. [Laughs]. Well, the aspiration of everyone is to get bigger. So I am hopeful that my blog would acquire more loyal readers and cover a wider audience. In addition, I plan to take the PR aspect more seriously in the future.

You made a 2’1 from UI, and you were busy, how did you manage that?

I thank God for his grace and knowledge. I think I was able to manage my time well while in school and I understood I had to set my priorities right. Everything worked out fine at the end of the day. My family and friends also motivated me to study well for exams. My father is a Professor in U.I, I didn’t want to disappoint him too I guess.

How does blogging pay?

I didn’t know about google ads early. If I did, I would have made some money early in my business. But a few artistes and companies were the ones paying our bills initially.

So new bloggers, you all have to get google ads, ad dynamo, prestad, etc on your platforms. Be an affiliate to Konga, Jumia etc.  So basically, you get paid via direct ads, music uploads, sponsored posts and so on.

Last words for entrepreneurs still in school

“A true balance between work and life comes with knowing that your life activities are integrated, not separated”, said Michael Thomas Sunnarborg.

Hustling in school isn’t a good excuse to be a failure academically.

Last words for aspiring bloggers

Nothing good comes easy. You will be bullied. Twitter staff did that to most of us because of auto tweets. Celebrities will bully you too as I have some court letters in my email.

Hosting could be a pain initially, simply fight on; I spent up to N200,000 on hosting within 3 months when I started because I was clueless, so you all should ask people for help. Always trust God and pray fervently.