We all know how big Amazon is with niche site publishers; how Amazon Associates (the Amazon affiliate program) has inspired countless niche sites on the web.

And how almost every category / department in Amazon.com (US), Amazon UK, Amazon CA, Amazon IN and others have lead to this big industry – where people are making good money (with affiliate marketing) to the point where they are able to outsource some of the work to freelancers online – writing especially.

If you have ever searched for ways to make passive income online, ways to make money online, you have come across many resources telling you how starting an affiliate marketing site reviewing products on Amazon is a great way for beginners to start making money online.

And then knowing how writing can be a little hard, the creators of these resources sometimes recommend their readers outsource the writing process to writers on UpWork and other marketplaces.

For those who can’t afford writers, they are told to write the initial batch of articles and figure out a way to make money – so they can outsource content writing and focus most of their attention on link building.

And many do succeed. Some fail, actually most don’t get impressive results on their first try. But a lot of people seem to persist. They stay the course and try to figure things out.

And many have been doing so successfully over the years – to the point where some categories / niches targeted by creators of Amazon affiliate niche sites are so saturated.

Getting in some lucrative niches and trying to rank now seems to be taking longer and longer. But again you know how the Amazon affiliate program is structured: you get commissions even on products unrelated to the link that took a buyer from your site to Amazon. So, people still try to build sites even in these niches.

So, what if you just want to play with niche sites and affiliate marketing without worrying too much about the competition?

Well, back home here in Kenya we have one of the biggest online shopping sites targeted at just people living in Kenya – that is Jumia Kenya.

A look at some of the categories on the site already show that Kenyans are comfortable buying and paying for expensive items – running in the tens of thousands of Shillings.

They are buying fridges online, various electronics, appliances, clothes, tablets, smartphones, exercise equipment, solar home kits, game consoles, accessories and many other things.

So, you may decide to create a niche site targeted at just the Kenyan consumer, linking back to Jumia whenever you can, using your affiliate link. Yes, Jumia Kenya has an affiliate program of their own – and you can join for free and use it to start making money for each successful referral.

Affiliate marketing in Kenya: On blogs and websites monetizing their content with affiliate links

I know of Kenyan blogs and websites in the consumer electronics space using mostly Jumia affiliate links to monetize their content.

Then there are fashion blogs and food blogs that occasionally link to Jumia using affiliate links.

So, the idea here is if you want to start a niche site and probably hire writers to craft some of the posts, don’t hesitate thinking your site won’t do well.

1. Even though the affiliate market in Kenya is smaller, there is evidence that there are many publishers making good money with the Jumia Kenya affiliate program.
2. You can easily get freelancers on Niabusiness.com willing to write product reviews targeting some of the items sold online on Jumia Kenya.
3. You can outsource your niche building process affordably – once you figure out what you want to promote as an affiliate, do some keyword research, create a simple WordPress site and start uploading content.

What to do if you want to hire a writer for product review content for your new affiliate niche site

Start with research. Find a niche to get into. Or two, or three or four or even five niche areas you can start a site in.

Check the keywords people type on Google Search related to the topics / niches you come up with above.

Hop onto Google.com and type your niche topic + Jumia Kenya. See what comes up in the search results pages.

Scroll down to the bottom of page one on Google Search to find search terms related to your query. You will often find gems down there.

All this while, be taking notes. Use a note taking app. Or pen and paper.

Go to jumia.co.ke and check the products related to the topics you come up with.

Use the search bar on Jumia.

Check their bestseller lists.

Check the specific product categories the items you are interested in reviewing (having review articles created on) fall under.

Check the pricing of the items.

Check the popular brands.

Check any reviews left there by customers with verified purchases. Check the customers who viewed this also viewed the following section.

Check how many third party sellers on Jumia have similar products you might be interested in having reviews for. Check how they craft the copy on their product pages (and check how many sales they have made vs their pricing). Just go deep in researching as many products as you can.

Keyword research for product review articles

Then hop onto keyword research tools you can find – paid or free ones. Check keyword volume. Check keyword difficulty. Check the score of Jumia Kenya pages ranking for similar keywords.

Pick the keywords / search terms you come up with above and run them through tools such as SmallSEOTools / Google Keyword Planner / Ahrefs to find even more keyword suggestions, link opportunities, content ideas – everything you can to help the content you finally publish on the internet stand out.

Then it is time to brainstorm titles for your initial batch of articles. Avoid anything fancy. Most times a title with terms such as price in Kenya, review in Kenya, buy in Kenya, features in Kenya work well.

Again use the research you did above on Google (checking the content ranking highly in your specific niche) to help you come up with well-optimized headlines.

Hiring a freelance writer to create the content

Then just go through the listings on Niabusiness Freelance Writer / Content Creators to find a contractor to outsource work to.

Give them a title to work with, a general idea of how they should format the articles, links to products on Jumia you want to be included in the review, word count you have in mind and a deadline that is reasonable. Then just let them do the work.

If you don’t find a writer that meets your specific needs, place an ad with details of what you want. Placing an ad on Niabusiness.com is free.

How much you pay the writer is up to you two to decide. Rates and pricing, that is something you two will have to agree on.

The idea when working with freelance writers is to just pay well for good work. Usually most writers are comfortable getting paid after delivering work.

So, just pay the people you work with well. Don’t pay peanuts while rushing for the gold – this is one line that guides most freelance clients looking to hire writers for review articles.