Start a website or blog in Kenya: Hire freelancers on Niabusiness to help you

To start a website or blog in Kenya is becoming more and more of a necessity to:

• businesses trying to have an online version of their shop, where their customers can reach them easily and make purchases from the comfort of their homes or offices.
• brands trying to get more exposure online in a centralized location (a place they can link to from other third party sites like Facebook pages, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest).
• individuals trying to have a place where they can host their portfolio – for example contractors using their sites to showcase their work to potential clients.
• institutions trying to create portals to connect the institutions with students and parents – for example private and public institutions (kindergartens, primary schools, high schools, colleges, polytechnics and universities).
• persons trying to create their own platforms to share their thoughts / views and to contribute to knowledge and awareness. You see this a lot with bloggers in Kenya writing on a variety of niche topics.

Why start a blog in Kenya / Why start a website in Kenya (does it make any business sense)?

Starting a blog / website makes a lot of business sense.

If you are prepared to not just spend money but to also work hard at making you site successful (tips below), then having a site can be a really good thing for you.

You can start a website / blog to:

• To have a place online where you can sell your products or services (without depending on third party platforms like Jumia Kenya online shopping or Jiji Kenya classifieds).
• To have a resource people interested in knowing more about your business can go to any time of the day. So your site can act as a place where prospects can learn more about you and even contact you if they need to.
• For branding purposes. I mean having a domain name that is similar to your own name (or business) is cool. For example, when I talk about this website, imagine how it feels when I tell someone to ‘just go to Niabusiness.com to find freelancers for hire in Kenya / place an ad for a task you want to outsource or browse the listings on the site to find online jobs you can do’. See how I just tied those two things to my site’s name?
• To make money obviously. And there are so many ways you can use websites and blogs to do so. You can sell products or a service. Or you can use display ads and affiliate marketing to monetize your content if you run a blog. There are lots of other things you can sell online on your website (ebooks, online courses, consulting, coaching, plugins & extensions, themes & templates among other things). You can even resell stuff on your own site. And build all sorts of sites to profit from (news sites, portals, niche affiliate sites, membership sites, classifieds, auction sites, directories, online forums, social networks, aggregators, online shops etc.)
• To just talk about a cause dear to you. It is one of the best ways to build your authority or expertise in an area. You can see what organizations like COFEK (The Consumers Federation of Kenya) are doing on their site. And you know how Ushahidi.com (popular with election monitoring) is big on surfacing relevant news in many countries in times of uncertainty / conflict. And then there is the Parents Africa site (associated with the Parents magazine). And other authoritative blogs in Kenya covering different topics.

What you need to start a website / blog in Kenya?

What is the cost of starting a website in Kenya? What is the cost of stating a blog in Kenya? You usually find people who are interested in having their own sites built ask these questions.

I am going to give you figures that only touch on the bare minimum you need to get your site up and running. So, I am not going to talk about web design fees, SEO fees, research fees, premium SSL (you can use free alternatives) etc.

So, to start, you will need:

• To register a domain name. So, something like Niabusiness.com. That is my domain name. You can pick a domain with a .com, .org, .co.ke, .net, .ke, .ac.ke (or use any of the many extensions out there). Other domain name examples: safaricom.co.ke, safaricom.com, gutenberg.org, wikiHow.com or wikipedia.org. Just pick a domain that is short, memorable and brandable. You can get a domain for less than 1000 Shillings for most extensions.
• Purchase web hosting. So, the place your site’s files will sit online. You can get a shared hosting plan for around 2500 Shillings per year (or even around KSh 250 per month).
  That is all. If you are just starting out, you can start your website or blog for under Kenyan Shillings 5000.

Note that at the time of writing this post:

• A .co.ke domain goes for KSh 399 for the first year (at Kenya Web Experts)
• A.com domain goes for KSh 790 per year (at Kenya Web Experts) and USD 7.99 (at Namesilo if you use the coupon code BP).
• A starter web hosting plan goes for KSh 2100 per year (at Kenya Web Experts).

Check the Niabusiness Tools & Resources page for more recommendations (ebooks, research tools, hosting plans, WP plugins and themes).

What website and blog creation tasks can freelancers for hire in Kenya help you with?

• Domain registration and hosting. So, registering a domain name for your business / organization and getting a hosting plan to go along with it. Both can be purchased from the same web hosting company (or from different hosts).
• Building the website / blog. So, logging in to cPanel, installing an SSL certificate, adding the software / CMS that will power the site, the right plugins / themes and configuring everything.
• Adding content to the website. So, the content you write (or hire them to write – as a separate service). The content can be pages, blog posts or product pages.
• Connecting other services to your site such as Google Analytics, social media platforms, email marketing services etc.

Other extra services you can get from freelancers in Kenya to start or grow your website / blog

• Content creation. For example, landing pages, sales pages, product pages and articles for the blog section on your site.
• Video creation. For example, videos of your products, or short tutorials you add to YouTube and embed on your site.
• Outreach, SEO and link building. For example, publishing guest posts to help you get more traffic and exposure.
• Lead magnet creation. For example, a guide or free online course to entice people to join your email list.
• E-commerce services. For example, adding an online shop component to your site.
• Ad management. For example, creating and managing ads on platforms like Facebook and Google Ads to drive traffic to your site.
• Graphics, design and logos. For example, offering web design services – customizing the look of your site.

The process of hiring freelancers in Kenya to help you build your website or start your blog

It starts by you figuring out what you need help with.

Once you do, you can check the ad listings in the various categories on Niabusiness.com homepage to find freelancers to outsource work to.

Check the following categories:

• Website / Blog Setup & Migration – to find freelancers that can help you build your site from scratch.
• WordPress Services for Blog & Websites – to find freelancers that focus more on building different kinds of sites using WordPress.
• WooCommerce Online Shop / E-commerce Services – to find freelancers that can help you with your online shop needs.

Once you narrow in on a few listings, just reply to the ads.

The freelancers will message you and from there you can go into more detail about what you need help with.

Take a look at their portfolio. Ask them about their experience. Generally gauge if they can deliver on your expectations.

If they are fine taking up your project, talk about how much you will pay them, agree on a deadline and let them get to work.

Once they are done, pay them for the job well done.

Note that for things like domain registration & hosting, you will have to pay for those yourself.

Go to the homepage to start your search.