7 Things every Nigerian blogger needs to have

When it comes to the world of blogging, there are a growing number of people in Nigeria joining the system. Nowadays, it's become so easy to be a blogger as long as one can write, take pictures or even create videos. There is a growing number of free and easy to use blogging tools out there. However, for a blogger who is living in Nigeria, there are certain things one should have in order to be really productive and stay in the game for the long term.

Here are what I'll consider the 7 important things every Nigerian blogger needs to have:

1. Personal computer: You need a personal computer as a blogger and this can be either a desktop or laptop. I prefer laptops to desktops since power supply is not reliable in Nigeria and desktops consume more power. You need a computer that you have access to anytime you want. It would be better if it was not a shared computer for safety reasons. If you intend using a desktop, for better productivity, you'd also be needing an inverter. It's probably ok to use a public computer as a start up blogger but as time goes on, you'd just need to have your own private and personal computer.

2. Original Computer Operating System e.g Windows or Linux. In Nigeria, a lot of people however use Windows but most of them use a cracked version. As a professional blogger, it would be best to use an original version and you can get this from the CD version or by buying an original computer already bundled with a Windows Os. I've seen that computers with cracked version of Windows tend to break down many times and you'd be losing a lot. I've been using an Original Windows for over 2 years now and my system has not failed yet. Stick with an Original OS and you'd be glad you did.

3. Anti-virus software: This is mostly necessarily if you want to protect your computer from computer viruses. Products from Norton or Mcafee are recommended and this will help your system work for the long term without being infected with the latest viruses.

4. Website: Yes, you do need a website for without it, you can't publish your writings. A website requires a domain name and a hosting service. Your website should allow you to make use of a blogging platform(e.g Wordpress, blogger, Typepad, others) through which you'd be able to make blog posts.

5. Debit or Credit card e.g Visa or Mastercard: You need to be able to make online payments with an electronic card for services such as web hosting and domain name renewal.

6. Internet service: I go for bundled data plans which normally expire monthly. I used to go for monthly unlimited data plans but since those are becoming scare and even the ones available are unreliable and so slow. So, I now go for a prepaid data plan. This means I only pay for data I actually use from my service provider. There are many internet service providers in Nigeria and the ones that has helped me are MTN Hynet, Glo bolt and Starcomms Izap. There are also other internet service providers like iPNX, Oxygen, Etisalat, Airtel, Visafone and others.

7. Alternative power: A generator, UPS, batteries and Inverter can all really be helpful if you intend being a blogger in Nigeria. If you rely on the national grid aka NEPA, you'd end up being disappointed and so you need an alternative and independent source of power as a Nigerian blogger. I make use of multiple laptop batteries and this can last for up to 6 hrs off the grid. An inverter may be able to power your computer for longer. As for generators, I don't like them because of the noise. In fact, I don't think you need a generator if you are a small blogging company with few computers.

I think those are the basic things every Nigerian blogger needs in order to be successful in Nigeria.