How to Start a blog in Kenya: Beginner’s Guide

ByBizhack Editorial

Jan 9, 2023
How to start a blog in kenya

Last updated on August 17th, 2023 at 05:35 pm

This is a comprehensive guide on how to start a blog in Kenya.

In this guide you will learn everything you want to know concerning blogging in Kenya and blogging in general.

I will show you the basic tips and tricks of raising a popular and profitable blog.

Are you ready to start your SUCCESSFUL blog?

Who is this guide for?

  • Anyone who wants to make money online
  • Anyone who wants to build their career in the blogosphere
  • A freelancer who wants to start a business and also learn how to start a blog in Kenya.
  • A marketer who wants to gain exposure

Why Should You Blog in Kenya?

Kenyan bloggers can make a good living online.

This is because there are many people willing to pay for your knowledge and expertise on a given subject.

In fact, most bloggers you see make money through sponsored posts, advertising, selling products, affiliates and so on.

However:

You can also use blogging in Kenya as a platform to share your passion with the world.

And the good thing about it is that you don’t have to be an expert in the field or industry you want to blog about – all you need is to be passionate about the subject matter.

Blogging in Kenya can also help you get better at what you do.

For example, if your goal is to acquire more coding skills then starting a tech blog can help you accomplish this goal faster than learning how to code alone.

What do you want to start blogging about in Kenya?

The first step to starting a blog is to think about what it is you want to write about and share with the world.

What are you passionate about? Imagine a topic you could talk about for hours, what would it be?

For instance, I’ve been obsessed with technology since the age of 5.

Even though I was pre-teen at the time, my fascination with gadgets made me want to learn more and more.

It was this passion that led me to start blogging on tech topics back when I was 12 years old.

If your blog were a person, they’d need to be an expert in their field—or at least know more than anybody else at the dinner party.

So before you begin blogging, do some research and write down what you know so far regarding your chosen topic (or potential topic).

This will help understand that when your readers ask questions or make comments on your posts, you’ll have enough knowledge and expertise to answer them intelligently—and it will give you new ideas for future posts too.

Brainstorming on the most popular topics in Kenya is key when blogging.

So where can you find these topics?

To see the most popular topics in your country, you can use Google Trends, Ubbersuggest or Semrush.

These tools will help you to know what people are searching for in your country and even worldwide. You’ll also be able to see how interest for certain topics have been changing over time.

Or you can;

Check out the most popular blogs in Kenya.

As a blogger, it’s important that you know who other bloggers are and why their blogs are popular.

To find these, simply search for ‘most popular blogs in Kenya’. You should also check out their social media pages to see what discussions they’re having with their readers, what challenges they’ve overcome and which of their posts is getting plenty of attention from readers.

Also:

Look at the most popular blogs in the world.

You should also look at the top bloggers across the world who may not necessarily be based in Kenya but focus on developing content around African issues or share stories about successful African entrepreneurs and more specifically Kenyans like Lupita Nyong’o whose success can inspire others to pursue their dreams as well regardless of where they come from.

Step 2: Choose a simple topic to blog about

The most important consideration when choosing a blog topic is picking something you’re passionate about.

The main why I’m emphasising on passion is because:

It’s a lot easier to write about things you feel strongly about. And when people read your words, they can tell if it’s something that makes YOU excited or not.

If it doesn’t make YOU excited, why should it make anyone else excited?

It also helps if you know a lot about the topic you choose. For example, I knew a lot about blogging because I had been blogging for years before I decided to start my own blog.

So, if you want to know more about something before starting your blog, then spend some time learning from other bloggers and training sites like Udemy and Lynda.

Step 3: Planning Your Blog

Also read:

Successful Businesses to start in 2023

To create a successful blog, you must take some time in the beginning to plan your blog’s layout and content. These are things you need to consider when planning your blog:

  • What do you want to name your blog?
  • What is going to be the focus of your blog?
  • Who will be reading it?
  • How often will you post new content?

Your answers should help guide the design process for your website.

For example, if you live in Kenya and want to create a travel blog, then you would need an easy way for people from other countries to understand what is written on your website.

Also, if you write only in Swahili and expect visitors from other countries to read it, they won’t be able to.

You may need someone who can translate what is on your website into English so that readers around the world can have access as well.

Step 4: Research your competitors

To analyze your competitors, you should make a list of your primary competitors and then research each one of them.

For each competitor on the list, research the following:

Content: Write down the content that they have produced in recent months.

Which type of content is most popular on their blog?

Are these contents well-written or poorly written?

What sort of content is missing from their website?

Writing style: Is the writing engaging and fun to read?

Does it feel like it was written by an expert in this field or by someone who’s just getting started?

Which tone do they use when writing their articles (formal vs. informal)?

How do they address the reader (i.e., “you” or “they”)?

Do they write long form or short form content? Write all this information down.

SEO: Look at how well each competitor ranks for your target keywords.

How many pages from their website rank on Google for each keyword on your list?

If none rank, then you can try to beat those websites with those exact keywords by publishing more optimized posts.

However, if several pages are already ranking for a target keyword, then there may be no way to beat them unless you publish something better than what’s currently ranking.

In that case, we recommend changing your target keywords and going after less competitive search terms instead.

Here are some tools you can use to analyze how well a competitor ranks for certain keywords: Ubersuggest (free), SEMrush (paid).

Social media followers: How many social media followers does each competitor have on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest?

Write all these numbers down as well as any other social network that makes sense for your business .

For example , if your business targets people who use Snapchat, then check out how many followers they have there as well.

You can manually check this information yourself online or use a tool like Buzzsumo which provides.

Also read:

Investment opportunities in Kenya

Step 5: Plan your blog’s contents and layout

Decide on the most popular topics in Kenya. This is important if you plan on making money off the blog, as it will increase your chances of having advertisers who are interested in your content and readership.

Choose a clean layout for your blog, with a design that fits what you’re writing about. If you’re writing about soccer, for example, choose a theme with soccer balls or national flags to keep the reader’s attention and make the site more interesting.

Decide on the best blog name to achieve your aims — whether it be setting a record in Guinness Book or just telling around with friends/family members/colleagues/followers/readers over social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (to name but a few).

A good blog name would be one related to what is being written about; e.g., if blogging about sports then it might be something like “Sports Blog” or “Sports Blog”; the same goes for other kinds of blogs such as business blogs where an appropriate title would probably be something like “Business Blog.”

Have a list of topics to blog about and create corresponding posts that are well thought out before publishing them online so they have time to circulate among readers without becoming stale from being over-exposed too quickly (which happens when writers publish multiple posts at once).

Step 6: Have a blog name ready

Choosing the right domain name is not a simple task. There are many factors to consider, including the potential of your name to rank in search engine results, whether it is available and its suitability to your audience.

While there are many ways of coming up with a blog name, here are some tips that will help you create an amazing one:

  • Make sure it ranks well with search engines: The best domain names for SEO purposes contain keywords that relate to the content on your blog.
  • For instance, if you have a blog about mobile phones and technology gadgets, then cellphones and gadgets could be great choices for a keyword.
  • However, if you want to include additional keywords such as cool gadgets or cheap electronics into your domain name so that it would rank better with Google and Bing search engines, then you have to make sure that they don’t make it too long.
  • Keep it short: When choosing a good domain name for blogging in Kenya or anywhere else in the world, be very careful not to pick one that’s too long because people tend not to remember long website addresses as easily as shorter ones- especially if they’re searching by typing them manually into their address bar rather than clicking through from another site.

How to start a blog in Kenya.

  • Choose a domain name for your blog
  • Set up web hosting for your blog
  • Install WordPress on your web host
  • Choose a WordPress theme for your blog
  • Start writing content for your blog
  • Promote your blog
  • Come up with working schedule
  • Stick with it

How to start a blog in Kenya

01. Choose a domain name for your blog

It’s time to buy a domain name for your blog.

The domain name is like the address of your home; it tells people where your blog lives on the internet.

Your domain name should be easy to remember, not too long and not contain numbers or hyphens if possible. I recommend choosing a .com extension because it’s catchy and most people associate it with professional websites. If you really can’t find an available .com version of your preferred name, then try to avoid using extensions like .info, which are sometimes associated with spammy websites.

Additionally, make sure that you’re getting a great deal on your domain name by comparing prices against other providers such as Namecheap and GoDaddy to ensure that you’re paying an affordable price for your domain.

02. Set up web hosting for your blog

Your website needs to be stored in a place where people can access it. The place you store your website is called web hosting. Web hosting companies provide disk space on a server owned or leased for use by clients, as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for other servers located in their data center, called colocation, also known as housing in Latin America or France (see below).

The name of your website is referred to as a domain name. Your domain name will be your address on the internet (www.yourblog.com). You need to register a domain name before you start blogging in Kenya so that people have an address to visit your blog.

03. Install WordPress on your web host

To start a blog in Kenya, you need to follow these steps:

  • Install WordPress on your web hosting. To do this, first login to your hosting account
  • Create a database for your blog and then configure the WordPress settings with it. After you finish installing WordPress, you will be redirected to the login page, where you can login with the username and password created while setting up WordPress.
  • After logging in to your WordPress blog, you can customize its appearance by selecting a theme and matching it with some plugins that help improve its functionality.

04. Choose a WordPress theme for your blog

Take a look at the options below. Since there are so many to choose from, it can be hard to find a theme that is just right for your blog post.

Cute yet powerful? Simple yet professional? Responsive and search engine friendly? Easy to customize? Fast loading and quick loading times? All the above.

05. Start writing content for your blog in Kenya

By writing style, we mean the way your blog posts are written, or how you want them to be. This is where your niche, if it isn’t already, comes in.

If you’ve chosen a niche that’s very specific (like technology and finance), then you’ll want to write your blog posts in an authoritative style – i.e., as an expert telling people what they should know about technology and finance.

If you’re focusing on a more conversational topic, like lifestyle or beauty products, then you might consider writing more conversationally and using first person pronouns: I would suggest that… And so on.

It’s important to decide on this early because it will affect your content moving forward.

Resources for writing can include anything from old research papers (if applicable) to online sources like news articles and industry blogs to books still in print.

If you don’t feel confident enough to write your own content yet – especially long form content – there are services out there that can help. Fiverr is one of these; other writers will write basic content for you for a small fee.

06. Promote your blog in Kenya

Create social media accounts for your blog on networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Share the content you publish on these platforms.

Don’t overdo it with the self-promotion, though—people are savvy and don’t want to be bombarded with ads.

Email subscribers when you publish a new post. This way, they’ll know about it early, so that they can be among the first to comment.

There are so many reasons why you should consider starting your blog today

Earn money online. Yes, this is a reason to start blogging. Blogging has become a major source of income for many people today and I’m sure you’re there thinking, “How do they make money?”

Well, this is not one of those how-to articles but we’ll look at the various ways bloggers can make money online e.g selling digital products (eBooks), ads (Adsense), Sponsored posts etc

Be your own boss. You have seen some people go to work on weekdays only to struggle during the weekends when there are no jobs available?

You don’t have to be such a person if you start blogging in Kenya today because blogging is something that you take control of and do as per your schedule.

As long as you are consistent with your blog posts and other stuff, making money from it will never be an issue.

Freedom to create content that matters to you – probably the most important thing about being a blogger. You get to write about things that matter most to you and inspire others with your message.

Blogging is fun.

There is always something new everyday in the world of blogging; writing new content which gets traffic, commenting on others blogs which helps build relationships with other bloggers…the list goes on. Hope liked our how to start a blog in kenya guide.

FAQS

How much does it cost to start a blog in Kenya?

The exact cost to start a blog in Kenya can range from around 5,000 to 20,000 Kenyan Shillings, depending on your specific requirements and choices for domain, hosting, and additional services.

Here’s a table outlining potential costs for starting a blog in Kenya:

ExpenseCost Range (KES)
Domain Name Registration1,000 – 2,500
Web Hosting2,000 – 5,000/year
Content Management System (CMS)Free – 5,000
Theme/TemplateFree – 10,000
Plugins/ExtensionsFree – 5,000
Website Design/Development10,000 – 50,000
Graphics/IllustrationsFree – 10,000
Photography (if applicable)Free – 10,000
Marketing/PromotionVaries
Total Estimated Range25,000 – 100,000+