7 Reasons Why I Would Not Start a Mpesa Agent Shop
While Mpesa has revolutionized financial transactions in Kenya and made many people millionaires,...
How would you like to start your own blog in 2021?
Hello, my name is Kenn Omollo and I’ve been blogging actively for almost two years now.
However, I like to convince myself that I have been long a blogger than I have been married. :-
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And that’s because as a teenager – in high school, I was already a writing enthusiast (blogger).
You would remember my name if you read Kenya’s daily – the Standard on 20th Oct 2007, that’s when my very first article was published in the newspaper. 🙂
Scratch through your archives to find an article on the feature section titled – Kiswahili Taking a Beating Nationally.
That was me.
Fast forward, I started my first blog on Monday, 4 April 2011 – check it out here. (when you have free time)
From the name and the description of this blog, you can tell that Toto Ryan’s Stories (my first blog) was meant to be a children’s stories blog but it turned out otherwise.
Try to take a closer look at the blog again. Or even read one post in it.
What’s your first impression?
A young man complaining about the slow economic development in his city -on- Racing through Kisumu.
My point?
Starting a blog is easy. I started my first without the help of anyone – in 2011. FREE.
Knowing how to maintain your blog, how to write compelling blog posts, how to keep on your blogging topic, and how to generally grow your blog is the difficult part.
I have been there, remember!
And it took me more than 7 years to get back, fix everything, and to actually start making money as a blogger.
I doubt you also want to waste 7 years trying to test and back-test designs to find a perfect blog, do you?
I thought so too.
To save you 7 years of struggle with the blogging processes, I will use this post to teach you how to start a blog that actually makes money.
But before we dive right in, let’s first cover some basics.
Let’s learn what a blog is before creating one.
Here’s the definition of a blog according to Wikipedia:
“A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informational diary-style text entries.”
According to Google,
“A blog is a regularly updated website or web page, typically run by an individual or small group that is written in an informal or conversational style.”
That’s right.
As you can see from both definitions, a blog must be
For example.
Now that you know what a blog is and how blogs look, let’s move to another basic yet very important point.
Why should you own a blog?
Starting a blog comes with a ton of advantages. Some of which include:
This goes especially to those who own businesses. You can start a blog for your business and start promoting your products and services with it.
These opportunities come in different forms, be it financial gains (as we will see next), new friends, or even personal development among other gains.
Blogging puts your personality out there. And you have no idea what’s waiting on the other side
That’s right; blogging done right will earn you enough money to afford your dream lifestyle. But first, you need to have a blog then monetize it with any of these money-making ideas.
These among others are the benefits of having a blog.
Step #1: Pick a niche.
Before you start building your blog, you first have to decide what you will be blogging about.
What topic will you be writing about?
This is the first and crucial step to building a successful blog especially if you plan to make money through it afterward.
For this reason, follow the following guidelines when picking your blogging niche:
Just because a certain blogger is having success with a certain niche doesn’t necessarily mean you should copy. Blogging has its ups and downs and when they strike, you’ll need more than motivation to keep going.
Are you a professional accountant or marketer?
Well, it turns out; you can turn that into a blog. For instance, if you have experience in accountancy, you can start a blog teaching people how to do their taxes among other financial topics.
What do I mean?
There are some topics on the internet that don’t last long. They are seasonal since they trend for some time. As a blog owner, you do not want to build a blog around such topics.
A good example: if you love football, for instance, it would be wrong to build a website around the world cup as a niche. It trends for a few months then forgotten for another four years.
If you pick only one thing from this article, pick this:
Choose a blog niche that you understand, know more about, or have an interest in.
First things first:
What’s a domain name?
A domain name is the address of your blog. It is where users find your blog.
For example, Joon.co.ke, is our domain name for this blog.
A domain name carries a lot of weight. That’s why you should put a lot of effort into picking the perfect name.
In summary, a domain name is the identity of your brand and everything associated with it.
For this reason, you should pick a name that is related to your chosen topic in step #1.
Whether you’re going to be blogging about traveling destinations or money tips, you will need a domain name that depicts that.
For instance, if you picked web design as your blogging niche, your domain name should look something like WebDesignPro.com, DesignIdeas.com, or WebDeveloper.com, etc.
This way, when someone looks at your domain name, they immediately get the idea of what to expect.
To help you out with picking a domain name;
Follow these tips to come up with a name for your new blog.
Moving on:
Once you pick a name, you will need to purchase it so no one else can claim it.
You see, there are thousands of blogs started every minute, which means, thousands of people are constantly looking for domain names.
Delaying for a second might cost you a domain name that resonates with your business.
Purchase your website name now to be safe.
You can buy your preferred domain name from a hosting service provider. For example, TrueHost Kenya sells all sorts of domains.
Other domain names also available in TrueHost include: – .mobi, .us, .academy, .agency,.today, .associates, .bargain, .bid, .boutique, .builders.
Literally, Truehost has a dot something domain for almost everything.
TrueHost allows you to purchase your domain name and then link it with the hosting company of your choice.
And some domain names go for as much as Ksh. 9,000.
Not to worry though, there is a way you can get your preferred domain name for FREE.
Get your domain name as well as hosting services from BlueHost.
BlueHost is one of the most reputable web hosting sites in the world, with thousands of happy customers stamping their reliability.
Interestingly, they are currently running a promotion where you get a free domain name for the first year, if you purchase 12 months and above of web hosting services.
That’s right.
Why pay for a domain name somewhere else, when you can get it for free through BlueHost?
Here’s why I recommend Bluehost for all blogging beginners: –
If you are interested, use this link to sign up for BlueHost. And in the following steps, I will show you how to set up your new blog.
Once you’ve secured your blog domain name, now it is time to get it up and ready. This is the point where you take your website from just a dream to a reality.
To do this, you will need a hosting site as mentioned previously.
A hosting site is where your website’s content; users and files will be housed and protected.
Getting a hosting account has been made simple with BlueHost and you can set it up with just a few mouse clicks.
BlueHost offers four hosting packages you can choose from depending on your budget. These packages are:
For those starting, I recommend you go with either Basic or Plus packages.
They are pocket-friendly and offer you all the features you will need to start a blog.
And of course, as your blog grow, you can shift to these other higher hosting plans. But for now, stick to what you need.
Now, all you have to do is click ‘get started’ under the hosting plan of your choice.
And boom! You’re done.
Wait for a purchase confirmation email from BlueHost where you will be asked to create a new password.
Create your password then login to install WordPress.
I know you’ve been waiting for this part. Actually, this is the part where things take shape.
And if you are looking to start a WordPress blog on BlueHost, this is the part.
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) designed to help you organize and manage your blog content.
WordPress gives you the power to customize your new blog with thousands of beautiful themes to choose from.
But do not get confused, there two types of WordPress out there.
Lucky for you, I am also going to share their differences.
As you can guess, people always pick WordPress.org.
When paired with BlueHost, you get a blogging powerhouse.
Once you create your password, BlueHost will provide you with the exact steps to take to start a blog.
In the field next to the domain, you can enter a subfolder such as ‘blog’ or leave it blank if you want the site’s main page to be the blog.
Remember they are free too and some premium ones.
Congratulations! You have a new website. Start publishing content.
Now that you have your blog up and ready, let’s cover best practices for choosing a blogging theme.
The truth is, there are hundreds if not thousands of other blog owners who’ve used this theme. Look at what they have to say to give you an idea of what to expect.
Since we’ve covered the themes part, I want to show you some of the popular and must-have plug-ins on your blog.
In computing, a plug-in is a software component that adds a specific feature to an existing computer program e.g themes.
You can use plugins to add functionalities such as sharing options, to conveniently place related posts among other things.
It is now up to you to share content that your readers will want to read.
Engage with them to build a community around your new blog.
And remember, blogging isn’t as easy as it sounds. You will need patience, consistency, and hard work. But the fruits are worth every drop of sweat, I promise.
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