How to Start a Blog in Kenya and Make Money Online

Blogging in Kenya is an excellent way to generate a passive income. During the Covid-19 outbreak, many countries went into lock down and many people lost their jobs. Bloggers were not greatly affected since they continued blogging from the comfort of their homes. Blogging is one of the best self-employment ideas you can start. In this article, I will show you how to start a blog in Kenya.

Decide on the Niche of Your Blog

When you think of how to start blogging in Kenya, the first thing you need to do is to find a subject your blog will address. When picking a blog niche, consider your interests and skills. For instance, if you have a hobby in cooking, you can start a blog in food niche.

However, ensure the niche you choose does not have high competition. Otherwise, it will be challenging to rank for keywords. For instance, finance is one of the best paying niches, but it is very competitive and it will take long for your keywords to rank.

Register a Domain Name

Once you have decided on the niche you want to blog about, the next thing is to register a domain name. A domain name is also known as URL or web address. For instance, www.nexinstartups.com is our domain name. There are many platforms that offer domain registration services like Bluehost. You can get a free domain name from Bluehost.

Domain name registration costs around $10 a year. Get a domain name that matches your blog's niche. The domain name should be impressive and easy to remember. Your domain name is your brand name and therefore make sure its unique.

Purchase a Hosting Package

The other step to getting started with blogging in Kenya is purchasing a hosting package. Bluehost is the best hosting company to use for only $3.95 per month with a free domain name. Sign up for a hosting package using this link and get a free domain registration. You only need to register your domain and then choose a hosting package. Enter your credit card details and you are ready to get started.

You get other advantages when you use Bluehost for hosting. Besides a free domain name, you will also get WordPress Installation and a custom email address with your domain name. You get 30 days money-back guarantee if you wish to discontinue using their services. Besides, Bluehost has excellent customer service, excellent pricing and is reliable.

You may also want to have Domain Privacy & Protection to ensure that your details like name and email and phone are not accessible to the public from the domain registration database.

Download and Install WordPress or Publii

WordPress is free and it is commonly used for web design. If you are using Bluehost for hosting, then you do not need to know how to design a website. They do it for you. If you are using another hosting company and you do not know how to design a website, then you may need to hire a professional web designer. If you do not wish to use WordPress, you can use CMS static website creators like Publii which is also free.

One thing I like about Publii is that it is very fast, which is good for SEO and also, you do not need to know how to code. Whether you are using WordPress or Publii, you need to choose an impressive website theme. Some themes are free while you can purchase others. For WordPress, you need to add plugins like Yoast SEO to enable you to carry out various tasks on WordPress. With Publii, everything has been done for you. The next thing you need to do is to link your website to your web hosting and domain name.

Best Blogging Sites in Kenya

Some of the best blogging sites include:

Create Content for Your Website

Once you are through with website creation and design, you can start adding content to your website. This is the area where you need to be very keen. Make sure that you publish high quality and unique content.

Never copy-paste content from other websites to your website since it’s a copyright violation. To make sure that your pages rank on search engines, you need to research keywords. Keywords are phrases that internet users type to search for information online. Use the keywords naturally in your content to start ranking.

A good blog should have content that adds value to its audience. Make sure to use pictures and images in your content. You can download free images on websites like Pixabay and Flickr. Do not use copyrighted images in your blog. A blog without images looks dull and may discourage your audience from reading your content.

Drive Traffic to Your Website

One thing I can assure you from my experience, blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. It requires a lot of hard work, outreach and commitment. First, you need to be aware of the Google Sandbox effect. This is where Google prevents new websites from ranking on search engines for some time. Google has never admitted to the existence of the Sandbox effect but many bloggers can confirm its existence. Normally, the Google sandbox effect lasts between three to nine months. For many websites, it takes six months.

Apart from creating content for your website, you also need to improve your domain rating. You can check the domain rating on Ahrefs for free. The domain rating is calculated on a scale of 100. The higher the domain rating, the more authoritative a website is. The domain rating is calculated depending on the number of websites that have links pointing to it. You need to get a website to link to yours. One of the ways to do it is through creating high-quality content and also guest posting on other websites. With a few backlinks, you should start ranking for keywords.

Start Monetizing Your Blog

Once you have created content, driven traffic to your blog and your website is ranking for keywords, you can start monetizing your blog. There are many ways you can make money with a blog.

One of them is through placing adverts on your site. For every click on the advert, you get a few coins. The higher the traffic your website has, the higher the earnings. There are many companies that you can use like Google AdSense, Media.net and Mediavine to place adverts on your website.

The other way to make money using a website is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is promoting a company or its product using your website. For every successful sale made through your link, you are paid a commission. There are many companies that offer affiliate programs like Amazon, Bluehost, ShareASale, ClickBank. You only need to sign up for a particular affiliate program, promote their products and services and start earning.

You can also sell or promote your products using your website. For instance, if you own a restaurant, you can promote it using a website. You only need to tell your audience about the services and products you are offering and they will start buying from you.

How Much do Bloggers earn in Kenya?

If you are thinking of starting a blog in Kenya, the first question that comes into your mind in, how much do bloggers earn in Kenya? How much a blogger in Kenya earns depends with a lot of factors. Some of the factors that influence earnings while blogging include:

Number of unique visitors to a blog
Source of website traffic
Niche of the blog
How the blogger has monetized the blog e.g AdSense, affiliate marketing, etc.

With an authoritative blog that gets huge traffic from 1st tier countries like the U.S, bloggers in Kenya earn over Ksh 100,000. However the average blogger in Kenya earns Ksh 50,000 every month.

Summary of How to Start a Blog in Kenya

Blogging in Kenya is a good source of passive income. With a blog, you are sure of getting some revenue at the end of the month. To make good money blogging, go for the best blogging ideas that make money. Also, look for a reliable hosting service, create high quality content. You can start driving traffic to your website before monetizing.