For sometime now, I have been a big fan of nairaland. Infact ,I have gotten to like nairaland as a website to the point of depending on it when I am bored with life sometimes. My usage of the website have been like any other nairalander. At first, I was just a visitor, later a member and now a writer .
I started writing articles some months ago and I have been improving my game since then. After writing 25 articles on nairaland, I graced the much beloved first page. It was like a dream come true for me as a writer. It was like a milestone for me. I felt like the way Gerald must have felt wearing a Liverpool shirt for the first time.
As a learner from the school of life, I have learnt five lessons from making first page appearance on my dream website - nairaland. Below are the lessons :
1. Looking for success ? Look inwards not the other way round.
I have always asked myself, How will I get to be noticed to be given a first page appearance on nairaland ? I was seriously hoping to be seen and heard. Infact, the day I wrote the article titled " 4 ways to create a good reading habit ", I was just thinking about that. So what brought about that "10000 views" topics ? I simply looked inside and did what I do best which is writing educational articles. As a person , if I were to look elsewhere for what I should be writing about, I would I have thought about entertainment or news but my innermost will not allow me. So I decided to heed to my inner calling and the result have just been splendid ever since. Why not try that too ?
2. It is only men of one thing that succeed.
True talk, it is only men of a singular purpose that succeeds. Mohammed Alli once said that he feared not a man that has a thousand kicks but rather a man who have practised one kick for a thousand times. There is this tendency of us as individuals to try and go in all directions looking for success. But to really achieve success, one have to first conquer one line perfectly before diversifying. Of all my 25 post, most have always been in the educational forum. Practising, getter better and improving myself and finally my day came. You might just try and differentiate too.
3. Never give up ! Keep trying so that you don't stop one mile from Gold.
There were many times in my writing career when I felt like I was never going to make a first page appearance but giving up is just not an option for me. The thing is that we don't know what the future holds. We never can tell when our breakthrough will come. You can only be rewarded if you don't give up. Never do.
4. Although God blessings is not location based, location matters a lot in business.
I understood this truth first hand last week. I have written some articles which I thought were cool pieces but they never made first page. As a result of this, they did not get the anticipated welcoming I thought they deserved. Infact the article that later graced the first page initially had a little above 1000 views before it made first page. When it made first page, it now had more than 12000 views. See the effect of location. My brother, location matters in life.
5. Once there is not always there.
Yeah, that is true. Baba, you made your first million does not mean you will always be a millionaire. You need to keep working hard. I made my first "first page" and I am striving to keep on making it on a regular basis. How do I achieve this ? By working hard to improve myself.....
I hope you read in between the lines and saw valuable lessons too for yourself. I hope this makes first page too. I will be glad if my two hopes actualizes.

Follow www.ogunleyeakinola. for more educative, informative and motivational articles.

You better get yourself organized by getting a good domain name or brand name and working on your blog.

There were people like you who made Frontpage every other day and gave all to nairaland but when some jealous mod would start to ban you, it would be so frustrating

ITbomb:
You better get yourself organized by getting a good domain name or brand name and working on your blog.

There were people like you who made Frontpage every other day and gave all to nairaland but when some jealous mod would start to ban you, it would be so frustrating

Thanks for the advice. I will keep it in mind.