How To Start a Blog in Kenya (and Monetizing It) in 2025

“Your first blog posts won’t be perfect, but you have to start somewhere and grow from there.” — Shane Barker, ShaneBarker.com

It is easy to start a blog; it takes only 5 minutes to register a domain name and less than an hour to customize it. But do you have what it takes to drive your blog from zero to profitability? If you’re looking for a definitive guide as a beginner to help you create your first Blog post in 2025, then this comprehensive article has everything you want to know. I have written this guide based on my own experiences to ensure that you succeed in your blogging career while avoiding the mistakes I made in the past.

The term blogging is new in Kenya, but blogging has been active in the country for the last 15 years or so. Blogging is still relevant today in Kenya, not only for individuals who are just doing it for their passion but also for businesses alike, as it is a powerful tool that can help companies succeed and improve their presence online. In fact, there is a report that shows businesses with blogs in their portfolio tend to generate 67% more leads than those who don’t, and marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to see a positive Return on Investment (ROI)

Word of Advice: If you want to start a blog in Kenya to make lots of pennies overnight, then trust me, you should Quit the idea and focus on something else (No Offense ). It takes lots of hard work and passion to grow a blog and even Monetize it to start seeing some revenue from your work.

Should you start a blog on Kenya’s Digital Economy?

Before what, who, and why? In recent years, I have met people who want to start blogs or maybe venture into article creation. The only stumbling block they face is the fear of blogging being a waste of time in Kenya as it is not profitable due to market competition. Secondly, you need a bachelor’s or diploma in journalism to land a high-paying role in the field.

Okay, it may sound true to your self-beliefs, but what if you are living in a bubble because, let’s face it, the world is changing? Education is an essential factor in employability, but skills matter the most when it comes to blogging or any online work in Kenya. When I went to university, I studied Mathematics and computer science, and for the roles I have landed so far as a content writer, I don’t recall being based on my education certifications; it’s all about do you have the Skills and any portfolio to showcase your experience.

Similarly, you may see blogging as unprofitable because you want to make huge bucks from it overnight, making your blog successful. However, it’s just like any other business: the more you invest in it, the more you start seeing results. So why Should you start a blog in Kenya? Below are 3 key reasons to consider it:

• Local Opportunities: The blogging space in Kenya is not well explored despite being competitive. Most blogs in Kenya are multi-topic and focus on many topics. In my experience, valuable blogs narrow down to a specific area of focus, giving you a chance to be an expert in that niche, which can lead to many opportunities and recognition.
• Global Relevance: With Kenya positioning itself as the Silicon Savannah of Africa, blogging presents an opportunity to make your voice heard locally and globally. A good example of a blog that has managed to pull this off is Techweez.com, a go-to platform for all things technology.
• Make money from your Blog: The best part of blogging is that it allows you to earn money while working from anywhere. As your blog grows, you can monetize it through various strategies, including ad revenue, brand partnerships, etc. I have covered all these in the article below.

How Do You Choose a Profitable Blogging Niche in 2025?

When you’re starting a blog website for the first time, one crucial factor is knowing what your blog will be talking about, not just today or tomorrow but also in the years to come. Choosing your niche should be done wisely because it will determine your blog’s long-term success, and it can also be what will break you in the long run.

Back in the early days of blogging, one could quickly start a website, focus on many topics, and perform better in the search results. But that is not the case today, especially in the age of generative intelligence and Google core updates. The game has been changed, and only those who niche down and show expertise in their area of focus win.

If you have an idea of what you already want your blog to focus on, good for you, but then if you are just new and feeling overwhelmed, below are five key questions that you must make sure to ask yourself to choose a profitable blogging niche in Kenya

Are you passionate enough in your area of focus?

The idea behind starting your blog is to make money from it, but this is where most people get it wrong, especially for those who want quick results. It takes time to nurture a blog. It’s like a baby. You can not expect a newborn to start running, skipping the crawling, and walking face. The best way to succeed in writing a blog is to be passionate about what you write daily. The only way to be sure of that is by choosing a niche you have a genuine interest in so that you can grow your business in the many years to come.

Is There a Paying Audience for This Blog Niche?

When it comes to selecting an area of focus, you also need to consider your audience and how they will engage with your work. A good niche has an audience willing to pay for your service whenever needed. For example, can your audience buy from you if you start offering affiliate marketing from Platforms such as Jumia, Kiliamal, etc.? If that’s the case for you, you are already on the path to winning.

How Many People Are Searching in Your Blog Niche?

Even if you are sure that the niche you have in mind is just the best thing for you, it will be zero work if you focus on it if it is not relevant to your audience. That’s why it is crucial to research and understand the level of public interest in what you want to blog about. How can you do that? Today, there are many free tools, such as Google Trends, that you can use to see if a topic is worth investing in.

Other relevant paid tools that provide you with complete data on a topic, including competitor checks, SEO analysis, and so on, include Ahrefs, Uberusgest, Semrush, and so on

Is This Niche Likely to Be Around for Years to Come?

Considering the longevity of your blog is another vital area to focus on. Therefore, when setting up your business for a long-term commitment, select a niche that’s not based on what’s trending but rather a niche that can stand the test of time. Niches around agriculture and, technology, Lifestyle continue to evolve, and they can ensure your content remains relevant as you keep updating them with new information

Does Your Niche Suit Evergreen Content?

If you were to do a competitor analysis today for leading websites in Kenya, such as Tuko.coke, you would realize that this website attracts millions of readers each month, but most of its traffic does not come from the news articles it features but from producing evergreen content.

This should be the case when selecting a niche. Avoid going for something that trends for a day, but instead, focus on evergreen topics that offer solutions to your audience. That way, they can continue bringing traffic to your blog without you worrying about what is trending or not.

Some of the best niches to consider in Kenya include:

1. Agri-tech and Sustainable Farming
2. Personal Finance for Youth
3. Health Tech and Wellness
4. E-commerce and Side Hustles
5. African Travel and Cultural Storytelling

Building a Professional Blog (Technical Setup)

When you have a niche of choice, you must start planning how your ideas will come to life and be seen by your audience online. For this to be possible, you need to understand the technical aspects of starting a blog in a very professional manner. Luckily, you don’t have to have taken any coding classes. Below, I have explained every step easily to ensure you have what it takes.

Step 1: Choosing A Domain Name

A domain name, also a blog name, is like a map that guides web visitors from the internet directly to your website homepage. A blog without a domain name is like trying to find something in the dark without any lights on. Therefore, it is essential that when you start a blog website, you ideally have a unique name that people can refer to. For example, mawese.com is the domain name of my blog.

Hosting companies provide domain names, which must be unique and not used anywhere online. You can use various domain name checker tools to determine if your name has been taken or not

When it comes to appending domain name extensions, you have a wide range to choose from, such as (.co.ke, best for blogs targeting Kenya audience only, and .com, best for blogs targeting global audiences ).necessary. Some popular domain name extensions in Kenya are:

• .ke – Best for: All entities (individuals, businesses, organizations, personal projects)
• .co.ke – Best for: Commercial entities (businesses and companies)
• .or.ke – Best for: Non-profit organizations (NGOs, charities, community groups)
• .ac.ke – Best for: Academic institutions (schools, colleges, universities)
• .go.ke – Best for: Government institutions (departments and agencies)
• .ne.ke – Best for: Network-related organizations (ISPs, telecom companies)

Step 2: Choosing A Reliable Web Hosting Company

Now that you have chosen your blog’s domain name, it is time to secure it so no one else can use it by registering it and ensuring it can be accessed on the World Wide Web. This process involves choosing a reliable web hosting register because it is the web hosting company that stores all your blog’s files and makes them accessible to the user whenever requested.

I would not want to go into the detailed specifics of how to choose a reliable web hosting company in Kenya. Still, in my years of experience as a writer, Hostpinnacle has been my go-to resource for hosting websites for my clients as a software developer and even my websites as a blogger. You are of free will to go with whichever company works best for you, but my reasons for recommending Hostpinnacle are the following:

• Depending on your hosting plan, they offer Free .co.ke/.com/.org domains.
• They offer a one-click WordPress installation.
• They have a beneficial customer service support team through web chat or phone calls.
• Their servers support or allow data to be stored in Raid arrays, meaning your site will never go offline, guaranteeing you 9.9% Uptime.
• They use NVMe SSDs, which are 900% FASTER than Traditional SATA Drives and 200% FASTER than the latest SSD Drives. As if that’s not enough, they do not use the powerful Litespeed webserver, which offers up to 300% faster website loading speeds.

Here is how you can register and quickly set up your blog post to make sure it appears online for everyone:

• Visit Hostpinnacle at https://www.hostpinnacle.co.ke/ and search for your domain name on the main homepage.
• If the domain name is available, you will see an orange-red button marked “register now.” Click on it and proceed to add the domain to the Cart.
• Next, Proceed to click on check. On the next page ( Domain Configuration), you must select a hosting plan that will enable Hostpinnacle to give you a space on their servers. Also, Tick the Box on ID protection and click Add to Cart.
  • NB: Hostpianncle Pricing for domains is affordable, ranging from Ksh 500 for .co.ke domains to Ksh 1,700 per year for .com domains. Since you are a new blogger, I recommend you proceed with the Starter package, which usually costs Ksh 3,500 annually. So, when you add the starter package price and Domain price in Kenya, it Costs Ksh 4,00o to set up a website online.
• Now, back to the registration page. You are still on the same domain configuration page. Please scroll down and leave the Nameservers as they are unless you are using a domain name hosted by another web hosting company. You can change them. If not, leave them as they are and Proceed to continue.
• Proceed with the rest of the prompts until you reach the checkout page. There, you must Fill out your billing details and create your account password on the registration page.
• Fill in personal information as required, including your email and phone number. In the payment details section, select the options from Paypal, including credit card systems, etc. However, since we are in Kenya, using M-Pesa is easier since it takes less than a second for your payments to proceed and everything to be processed. When done, press on Complete Order.

Step 3: WordPress Installation

Once everything is set up, you have paid the invoice sent to your email. You need to wait for less than an hour, and you will get another email confirming your account is set up, including your account’s access credentials both for the server and the Hostpinnacle website.

When everything is set up, log in to your account and choose the platform on which your blog will be available. To save you time and money, I recommend proceeding with WordPress installation since it’s the best CMS I Know that gives you a range of features, from plugins to the ability to customize your website to suit your needs.

When you have logged in to the Hostpiancle website on your Dashboard, look for the CPANEL login and click on it. You will be taken to another page where you will be presented with many CPANEL tools. Ignore everything in there and focus on WordPress Manager by Softaculous, located in the left navigation panel, as shown in the image below

Pay attention: While working with WordPress, there are two primary flavors that you should not be confused with. One is WordPress.com, which is usually free and accessible separately, but it has many limitations, such as restricted customization. Lastly, WordPress.org provides complete control over your blog, allowing you to install themes and plugins and modify your site’s functionality to suit your needs. Luckily enough, this is what Hostpinnacle provides you with by default.

Now, let us continue with WordPress installation: On the redirected page, Hostpinnacle has made it easier for anyone to install WordPress by guiding them through the onscreen instructions. Again, in this stage, don’t be confused by the many links you see on the left navigation bar; focus solely on what is at the center of your dashboard (WordPress Management).

Proceed to click on install and select your domain for the software setup from the drop-down menu. Click on Site Settings and give a name to your WordPress blog, a Site description, etc. The most important thing here is to make sure that you set up the Admin username and password, as you will be using this in the future to access the website. When choosing usernames, I recommend not using generic terms like Admin or your names. Use something that will make it impossible for hackers to guess the same case for passwords.

When everything is set up, scroll down to the bottom of our dashboard and click on the Install button to set your website as shown in the screenshot below:

If you have reached this point, it’s time for a mini celebration: congratulations on creating your first WordPress blog website.

Step 4: Designing Your Website

Now, it’s time to manage your blog’s various design layouts, making sure that they appeal to the eyes of every visitor who comes across your blog content. After successfully installing WordPress from the previous step, you can log in to your blog dashboard using the WordPress default WP admin URL: https://blogpost.com/wp-admin/.

Replace blogpost.com with your actual blog domain and log in to your website dashboard. I meditate. You log in. WordPress provides quite a few useful features that are accessible from the left panel. You can take your time to go through each of them to understand what they mean. We are currently interested in the design aspect of your blog, in which you can make changes by navigating to the Appearance section, selecting themes, and then adding new themes to install various WordPress themes.

For new bloggers, I recommend starting with Astra, which is best for SEO optimization and customization. It’s lightweight, loads fast, and works well with page builders like Elementor. However, you can buy a customized WordPress theme from Themeforest Marketplace.

After installing your theme of choice, you can open your website homepage in another window. When it fully loads on the top bar, click on Customization to start defining the layouts of your website. These include setting your Site identity, Menus, widgets, and more.

In addition to selecting the right theme, I recommend exploring essential plugins that enhance the design of your theme and improve your website’s general accessibility. Plugins can be accessed via the Plugin section on the left Sidebar when you have logged in to your blog’s dashboard. Some of the must-have plugins for bloggers include:

1. Rank Math – This is for SEO optimization and ranking higher on search engines.
2. WP Rocket – For website speed improvement and caching.
3. Akismet Anti-Spam – This filters out spam comments and protects your blog.
4. Elementor – This is for easily designing and customizing blog pages.
5. UpdraftPlus – This is for automatic website backups and quick restoration.
6. WPForms – This is for creating contact forms, surveys, and lead generation forms.
7. MonsterInsights – This tracks website traffic and visitor insights via Google Analytics.
8. Smush – This is for compressing images and improving page load speed.
9. Sucuri Security – This is for protecting your blog from malware and hacking attempts.
10. Social Snap – This is for adding social media sharing buttons and increasing engagement.

How To Create Your First Blog Post

Now that everything is set up, it’s time to figure out how to make some revenue from your blog post. But hold on before that process arrives. There are a series of steps to follow that will ensure your blog becomes recognized, and this part is involved with creating your first Blog post.

I wouldn’t want to teach you how to write a perfect article, but when creating your first article, you need to understand your targeted audience and the primary objective of your blog post. Your article must be clear, use an engaging headline, be well structured, Optimized for SEO, Readable, and Visually appealing, and you can do all this with the WordPress editor

So, how do you publish your first Blog on WordPress? Below is the process to follow:

• Login to your Blog, navigate the left menu, and click “Posts.”
• Click the “Add New Post” link to write a new post.

When you follow these two steps, you will be taken to your WordPress post editor, where you can begin writing your first post, as shown in the screenshot below:

Before you Publish your Post, do this:

• Make sure to proofread your work to ensure it is error-free.
• On the left side panel, you can set the featured image, the primary image your website will see when they visit your blog post.
• On the same side panel, you can set your blog categories and tags that match what your article is talking about
• If you have a plugin like Yoast SEO installed on your blog, scroll to the end of the article and set the Yoast Keyphrase when editing your work. It should be the primary term of your article, and the meta description should be set. The Yoast SEO plugin also has features you can personalize, explore what makes sense in your article, and adjust accordingly.

Should you use AI to write content?

When publishing your first blog post, chances are you have come across AI generative tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and many others. As a new blogger, you may be tempted to use them; however, if you aim to publish content that ranks on the web, you may want to familiarize yourself with the quality ranking and spam policies

Google is the main search engine, with many Kenyans using it daily to search for various information. As a blogger, you will rely on it to ensure your website is visible online. However, for the blog to perform well in the search, you must be aware of Google’s algorithm updates, which recently haven’t favored websites that produce AI-generated content.

If you want to use AI tools to produce content, I encourage you to proceed with caution and ensure that you edit your content to give it a human touch before publishing it, but I would advise you only to use AI tools for Research, generating blog post ideas. and Draft outlines only but not actual writing

How to submit a blog post to the Google Search Console

Immediately after publishing your first blog post, the best way to earn revenue from it is to know how to grow your search traffic, and the best and easiest way to do so is by ensuring that your website is accessible on the Google search engine.

This is done by adding your website to the Google Search Console (GSC), a tool that helps Google discover easily new content published on your website while at the same time permitting you to monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results.

This step requires you to make sure your Website sitemap is accessible. In most cases, WordPress websites are accessible by using the link https://blog.com/sitemap.xml, where blog.com is your site’s domain. Take note of your Blogs Sitemap and copy and save it, as I will show you where to add it later.

Now, to add your Blog to Google search engine flow, these small steps:

• Visit Google Search Console using the link https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome
• Under the URL prefix, copy your blog URL in the format https://blog.com/, paste it, and click on continue.
• Wait for the verification process, then verify your website using an appropriate method. Forme personally finds it by uploading an HTML file to your website’s root folder.
• When done, click verify, and you will be redirected to your GSC dashboard.

On your GSC dashboard, proceed to Submit your blog sitemap ( the one I told you to copy and save earlier) by navigating under Indexing on the left side panel and then selecting Sitemap. as illustrated in the image below:

Building a Loyal Audience

While Submitting your Blog post to GSC is the first step to ensuring that your website ranks for various search terms and even attracts organic traffic, there are a few other sites that you can carry out to ensure your website reaches the targeted audience who will keep on coming back tour blog every time as loyal readers. Below are some of the strategies you can consider:

Use Social Media Tactics

According to Statista, the total number of Kenyans active on social media is estimated to be over 17 million. This means one thing to any serious blogger: You can use various social media platforms to grow your website. The best Social media platforms that convert bloggers in Kenya are X(formerly Twitter ), Facebook, and WhatsApp. So long as you have a substantial following on these platforms, you can use them to direct your followers to get to know your blog and even share it with others. Alternatively, you can use WordPress plugins such as WP Buffer to automatically schedule your published posts on various social media platforms at different times of the day, week, etc.

Using Email marketing

The best way to grow a loyal audience for your blog is to have your readers subscribe to your email list. In WordPress, you can use the Contact Form plugin to set up a newsletter form with which your audience can interact. You can then use tools like ConvertKit and Mailchimp to automate your email campaigns by notifying your site’s visitors of published posts. Alternatively, the benefit of allowing users to register their emails on your website is that you can use them for email marketing purposes, i.e., you can offer to sell free and paid resources like selling ebooks and offering free services to see what works best for you.

Set up a comment section

A comment section is a powerful communication medium, and you should ensure it is enabled by default on your blog post articles. It allows you to have a conversation directly with your audience, and in doing so, it establishes a mutual connection between you and them. As with any business model, a satisfied client will always return for more and even refer others to your business.

Reach out to other bloggers.

The best way to grow as a blogger in Kenya is to reach out to other bloggers you know and even offer to write for them. By doing so, you will make your voice known in the industry and give yourself a chance to be recognized and respected by other community members.

How to Monetize your blog & make money

If you have implemented the above strategies we have talked about so far in the article, then you are not very far from knowing how blogs make money in Kenya, and this step will show you how. But before monetizing your blog, you should know that making money from a blog website doesn’t happen overnight. Honestly, I can’t stress this enough: you must be prepared to invest in the long term to earn decently from it.

It took about 2 Years for me to start making money from Adsense, while a friend of mine I know it took only 6 months. How long it takes for a blog to make money varies from one website to another, and ultimately, it all narrows down to you as the blogger, but even many bloggers make money within their first 3 months. Below are some Key methods you can consider to monetize your blog in Kenya:

Advertising Revenue

Advertising revenue is earned by lending space on your website to advertisers to bid on various ads. You are paid when a user clicks on those ads. This is the most common method that almost all bloggers globally use as a first method of making money from their blogs. Some platforms used include Google AdSense, which pays per view when an ad is viewed or clicked on your website after you have gone through their approval process. Alternatively, other platforms, such as Ezoic, work the same way as Adsense. However, the secret to earning big through advertising revenue is ensuring constant traffic flow on your website.

Brand partnerships

The best thing about blogging is that there are many ways that you can always earn extra cash, especially when your business keeps on growing and is known by many people. A good example of this is through brand partnerships. Various brands in Kenya, including Phone companies and Telkom houses such as Safaricom, Airtel Kenya, etc, are known for working with bloggers and paying them handsomely whenever they want you to promote a product on your platform.

Affiliate marketing

Another popular way to earn money from your blog is through affiliate marketing. This practice allows you to promote a product by telling your readers, “Hey, if you buy this product by using this link I have provided, you will help me earn some commission whenever you make a purchase. “

Do you remember somewhere in the article above when I told you they might give me cash if you sign up using the Hostpinnacle link? Yes, this is affiliate marketing in action. By the way, sign up with Hostpinnacle using this link to help me make money to continue producing such free resources for you.

Premium services and Memberships

It is much easier to sell any product you have in mind so long as you have a lot of following from your audience. For example, I love blogging, but this is not my profession. When I am not here, you will likely find me developing awesome software and websites. Since I am trying to grow this blog website, my vision is that when it grows, I’ll be able to sell some of my services directly to my website Visitors. The same applies to you so long as your audience is willing to buy from you and can sell to them any product you have.

Challenges you will face as a Blogger and how to overcome them

There is a reason that I had to include this section: truth be told, I would not want to sugarcoat things but tell you open blank that yes, it is easy to start a blog and be successful from it, but as a new blogger, you need to understand that there are many obstacles you will face, not one or two. Still, they will come to you, and how you handle them will determine the chances of success rate in the industry. While there are many challenges below, I have only highlighted the common three and what you can do to find solutions.

Conclusion

Honestly, if you have reached this conclusion, I salute you. I wrote the article to help anyone who wants to start blogging but does not know where to start. I believe everything explained has been very helpful to you, but if a section needs emphasis, please comment below, and I will be there to guide you. Remember, all you need to be good at blogging does not have to do with being good at it; believe me, you must believe in yourself. So what do you think? Will you start your blogging journey in 2025?