How to Start a Blog in Kenya

Blogging is a lucrative venture in Kenya. A publisher can earn upwards of Ksh100, 000 every month when they produce good content. To start a blog, you need capital of Ksh3, 000 to Ksh20,000.

For a blog to function, it needs the following components:

1. Domain name
2. Hosting plan
3. Website(WordPress)
4. Domain registration

The first and most important stage is to register your own domain name. At Bluehost, it costs Ksh1, 000 only. I recommend Bluehost because it’s the best hosting companies for new and high traffic websites. To register your domain,click here to visit Bluehost website

Go to Bluehost website, select Domains and start searching for available domain name. You must have a list of domains you want to register.Normally,most .com domain names are takens,so coming up with several names is good so that at least you’ll get a couple of them which are available.

Once you find the domain is available, proceed to register it.But as you register, you should also buy hosting plan.

• Purchase of hosting plan

A new blog does not consume a lot of resources, which is what we recommend Basic Hosting plan which is under Shared Hosting. The plan costs Ksh4, 200 per year. Remember that when you purchase a plan, you are given a domain for free.Bluehost’s cheapest plan costs $2.95 to $3.95 per month.

To buy the plan,follow this link to visit the company’s website

Go to Bluehost,point at Hosting, select Shared Hosting from a drop down menu. Then pick Basic plan.

The plan has these features:

1. Free Domain – 1 year
2. Free CDN Included
3. Free SSL Certificate
4. WordPress Integration
5. Drag and Drop Functionality
6. AI-Driven Templates
7. 99.99 uptime guarantee
8. 1 Website
9. 50 GB SSD Storage
10. Custom Themes
11. 24/7 Customer Support

Enter the domain name that you wish to register and proceed to pay.

• Install WordPress on Bluehost

Here is where most people get stuck. After purchase of your domain and hosting plan, you’ll be able to login to your new account at Bluehost.Bluehost will guide you on how to start a free blog.You will be required to pick a free theme

Click on “Start Building”

On the next screen, you can choose “Business” or “Personal” – it’s up to you. Or, you can click the “I don’t need help.”

From here, you have your own blog. Proceed to write your first post.

How to make money with your blog in Kenya.

There are many ways bloggers make money online. The first one is through AdSense. This is the most popular Ad Network in Kenya. To apply for AdSense, your blog must meet the following conditions:

1. You must be the owner of the blog
2. You must be 18-years –old and above
3. You must create at least 20 blog posts
4. Your blog should not contain adult content
5. Avoid fake traffic
6. Each article should contain more than 500 words
7. Use your own images in each blog post
8. The blog must be 6 months old
9. Avoid plagiarized content

Monetize with MGID.

MGID is also another way most Kenyan bloggers monetize their content. The conditions for joining are not as tough those for AdSense. But you need some good traffic (atleast 5,000 page views per day).Entertainment, news, gossip, sports and politics are the best niches to monetize with MGID.To register,click on this link

Affiliate marketing

There are publishers who prefer making money through affiliate marketing. Some of the leading affiliate marketing include: Jumia, Kilimall, 22Bet, Betway,Kenya Website Experts,HostPinnacle and Betwinner.

Unlike AdSense which pays per click and RPM, affiliate marketing companies pay in terms of commissions—only when you make a sale.However,the earnings for affiliate marketers are good when they run niche blogs.

It takes 6 months to 2 years for a blogger to start earning decent income in Kenya.The average money to earn per month is Ksh50,000.