How To Make Money Online In Kenya, 2010

August 6, 2010 by 30 Comments

Facebook.com is currently valued at $15 BILLION! That makes the young founder, mark Zuckerberg an extremely wealthy man at such a young age. What about you? How are your finances doing? You could seethe with envy at Mark, or you could try your own hand at making money online!


Last year, we wrote one of the most popular articles on this website: How to make money online in Kenya. The gist of that article was that advertising as a source of online income may not be the best way to go….that was way back in 2009, though. This is 2010! How does one make money online in Kenya?

This time, we’re going to do it a little different: since last year, we’ve come across countless numbers of Kenyan who are already making money online! So this article will talk about how those people are doing it in hopes of inspiring you to start making money online in Kenya!

1.How we make money online in Kenya

We run www.likechapaa.com and a number of other websites. Of course one of the main goals of running all these sites is for us to make money online. How do we do it?

  • Advertisements – Like Chapaa has these adverts on the side (you see them?). They make us peanuts. Honestly.
  • Consulting – as it happens, a lot of the people who read Like Chapaa tend to email us asking for help in setting up online. We make a tidy some from this. How can you do this? It is not a hard concept: just pick out a topic that you are interested in and know a lot about then start a website to talk about that topic and set yourself up as a “consultant”. It works, trust us.
  • E-commerce – this is unbelievable even to us. DESPITE not having an online shop yet, we do sell a few books from our site Jua More. The lesson here seems to be if you have a website talking about a certain product that people want, then you can probably sell this product to those people. Jua More is a book review site which is still very small yet it already makes some money. Can you replicate this with a site of your own and another product? I bet you can! Just pick out something you have passion talking about (and marketing). I’m thinking things like movies and music, clothing and other such stuff can do pretty well! We even built DukaPress for you so this is super easy to do with no technical skills whatsoever!
  • Web Design – Wambere, one of the founders of Like Chapaa, also runs Nickel Pro which is a web design and development company. Like Chapaa drives a whole lot of customers her way. How can you do this? This is all about marketing, if you offer a service and want to make money online from it, you need to find somewhere (online) where the people who would buy your service hang out and then talk to these people and subtly showcase your skills and experience. They’ll buy.
  • Referrals (Affiliate income) – incidentally, most of the things we recommend you use – akina Freelancer.com, AlertPay, etc – have affiliate programs. This means that if you sign up to those sites after reading about it on Like Chapaa, we get paid. How to do this: this is pretty easy, in my view. You shouldn’t start the process by looking for companies that offer affiliate programs. Instead, look for what interests you. If you love shoes and want to start a website about shoes, you will come to find there are tons of sites out there that will pay you good money to drive people to them. Affiliate programs exist for almost everything under the sun – just find something you love, start a blog/site around it, and voila!

Also see: How to make Money With A Blog.

2. How Other People make Money Online

We realise that we aren’t the only Kenyans making money online (hehe) and so this section is dedicated to everyone else that we have come across this past year.

A. Advertising
Like Chapaa sucks at making money from advertising but these sites do it amazingly well:

  1. Career Point Kenya – this is one of the most visited sites in Kenya and, rightly so, they make a lot of money from Google’s Adsense program. This means that whenever any of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Career Point Kenya every day click on the Google Ads, the guys running that site get paid. Sweet! To replicate this you just need to build a website that gets huge, HUGE, numbers of visitors and you’ll get paid like you won’t believe. This is not as easy as it sounds, though, and I would caution against betting on advertising as your sole means of earning online.
  2. Bankelele – the ever popular Kenyan blog. I think this is one of the oldest blogs in Kenya. It has only survived this long because the guy who runs it is a master at what he does. Unlike Career Point Kenya, Bankele makes advertising money by selling his own ads at his own price (you get this luxury when you have a site as good as his). Here’s how to do this on your own site!

B. Selling Stuff
Jua More, mentioned above, is just a lucky occurrence. If you want to really make money by selling something tangible (or digital), then you need to look at, and learn from, the guys below:

  • Mama Mikes – Mama Mikes is one of the first e-commerce sites to serve Kenyans. It is a site that excels at selling Kenyan stuff to Kenyans who do not live in Kenya. For example, you can pay power bills for your family in Kenya while living in Spain – or buy them gifts and groceries. Brilliant idea, eh? I think so too. Mama Mikes found a niche market very early on in the game and took it over.
  • Fab Guru – a fascinating business run by a lady off her Nairobi apartment. This is the face of “make money from home”. Fab Guru sells ladies shoes, bags and other items. She particularly excels at marketing her wares on Facebook where she has a large following of “fans”. Fab Guru makes quite a lot and the ingredients seem to be: a)find something to sell (preferably something that you love) and b)find a group of people who love what you have to offer (in this case, Fab Guru didn’t find those people, she built a place for them to come to).
  • Career Point Kenya – these guys have written a book that resonates well with the people who visit their site. I’m not sure of the sales figures, but I’d bet they do very well.

Do you see a trend here? If you want to make money online by selling things, then you need to first find a good product (or products) – something you love working with and which is likely to have a market large enough to support you. Then you need to find, or build, a place where people who would be willing to buy your product(s) can be found. If you manage to do that, you’ll be home free!

C. Freelancing
Of all the ways people make money online, this is the one way used by most of the people we have come across. Quite simply, this is nothing but being a hired hand. That is, being paid to do something for someone because of your expertise, experience or both. Here are examples of Kenyans who are already doing this: Wuogard, Linda Cherotich, Maria Maina and our very own Crystal.

How do you do this? Well, first off you need to be able to do something better than most people can do it. It can be anything, from writing to art, to web design.

Next, you need to build out your portfolio and then try your hand at finding jobs/gigs at some of the more popular freelancer sites such as Freelancer.com.

To put it in a way that it is more easy to relate to, I’ll give the example of Kenyan Freelancer. She’s a brilliant writer. She set up to do business online the smart way: she set up Smurt Notes which is her ‘business profile’ used to ‘seal the deal’ – but that’s not all – she also has a somewhat less formal site, Kenyan Freelancer, which I would say does more of the ‘marketing’. A nice little one-two punch to get her clients.

Seems very do-able, eh? Good luck!

See also: Interviews with Maria Maina, Kenyan Freelancer, and Crystal.

Conclusion
In my personal experience, and as seen and proven above, you can make money online in Kenya by:

  1. Selling adverts on your site
  2. Consulting
  3. Selling other people’s stuff (affiliate marketing)
  4. E-commerce (selling your own things)
  5. Freelancing

I am sure there are more ways through which people are actually making money in Kenya, but the above are what I have actually seen proven. What about you? Are you making money online? No? Need help?

Good luck, and God bless you!

Photo by timbrauhn.

Filed Under: Blogging, Case Study, Cool Sites, Internet Culture, Interviews, Make Money, Online Jobs, Small Business, Tips Hacking and Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

People Are Doing It!

May 16, 2010 by 2 Comments

I’m a happy guy today! 😀

See, I just got an unexpected income. It is not much, but it is income all the same. Online income. The real story, is how I got this income. The only way I could have got this income is if one of you clicked on one of the Freelancer.com links found here and then went on to successfully do a job on Freelancer.com and get paid.

What does this mean? Well, it means that other Like Chapaa readers just like you are making money online! Making money online is just as easy/hard as it is anywhere else – you just need a sound plan and hard work. I know you have a plan of some sorts, but have you done anything with it? Why not?

No one ever succeeded by doing nothing. Do something, anything!

Filed Under: Make Money, Online Jobs Tagged With:

How To Make 30,000 A Month Online

September 29, 2009 by 8 Comments

Lately, we’ve been talking to people about online freelancing. A lot of the people seem to think that the life of an online freelancer is chaotic at best with low pay and long hours. This doesn’t have to be the case and to prove that, here’s a plan on how to make at least Kshs 30,000/- per month from online freelancing.

1. Belief – Have you ever heard the song, “it is all about belief”? Well, it is. You have to convince yourself that you can do this; you can make 30,000 a month working in your underwear. The easiest way to bring about belief is to break down the target (30,000) and make it seem more achievable. So, 30,000 a month is 7,500 a week which is about $100 a week. Achievable? On sites like getafreelancer.com, the lowest that you can be paid for one freelance job is $30. Do three of those and you have your $100 a week.

2. Pay Yourself – The biggest mistake freelancers make is undercharging. You’re so desperate to take a job that you’ll do it at any price. This is wrong – do not underpay yourself. Ensure that your time and energy are well compensated.

3. Target a Niche Market – contrary to popular belief, the people who will buy your services are not “the whole world”. Only a specific group of people with specific characteristics/needs will be interested. Find this group of people, and target them. This makes your advertising and marketing job pretty straight forward. Be warned that some niches are not worth it. All good niches have the following:

  • Your target market is able to afford your charges
  • There is a good number of potential customers in the chosen niche
  • Your market is not going to disappear overnight

4. Marketing Plan – Who is your target market? What do they want/need? Where can you find them? Is the market seasonal? You don’t need a 30 page document, but you need a marketing plan.

5. Prepare Your Marketing Material – first things first, get a website. Today, right now. If you do not have a website you won’t make much money. Can you do e-commerce if you are not online? No. Can potential customers who hear about you check you out later on the internet if you do not have a website? No again. Can current customers find out what your new offerings are if you lack a website? Not easily. Get a website! Nickel Pro offers a sweet deal on websites for freelancers.

Apart from a website, you probably also need business cards, a cover/introductory letter and samples of previous work done.

6. Execute – Many, many, many freelancers give up before they get anywhere. I never said freelancing is easy in any way but it can be sweet. Once your name is out there and jobs are coming in regularly, life gets to be very good. It is similar to climbing a hill: the climb is difficult and tiring but once you’re at the top…well, you’re at the TOP. Do not give up, just do your thing until you make it.

A very practical example, Maria, joined Biashara 30 being totally green. She wanted to get an online job but had a little problem: she didn’t even know what she could do for money as a freelancer let alone how to get an online job. But she’s a hard worker – she kept at it and kept learning and trying. About a month ago and after applying for numerous online jobs, she finally got one paying $30 to write some articles. Her online freelancing career thus took off and she is now doing pretty well for herself if I say so myself.

What about you? Do you want to make 30,000/- a month online?

Filed Under: Make Money, Online Jobs Tagged With:

Do You Want An Online Job?

September 14, 2009 by 1 Comment

More Freelance Jobs

PHP/MYSQL Developer – We are in need of an experienced PHP/MySQL developer to build or modify an import/data transport mechanism for www.maneno.org, a blogging platform for Africa. This should be about a one week, self-contained project for a single developer and it is expected for any candidate to base work on other open source models freely available, but deliverables will have to be originally sourced code. Minor front end coding is a plus. Knowledge of multilingual issues and solutions also greatly favored.

Ghost Writer – We are a leading, interactive marketing company specializing in web 2.0 design, seo, social media, online advertising, and web analytics. We are seeking a U.S. based ghost writer to develop compelling, up-to-date blog entries for our corporate blog. You must have a deep knowledge of the latest internet marketing trends including: popular web design trends, social media tactics (think facebook/twitter), seo tactics and new findings, video optimization, etc.

Experienced bloggers – We are a new network about to launch sometime in October looking for experienced bloggers and social networkers to fill each position in the following hot topics:
– Celebrities and Entertainment (TV, Movie, Theater)
– Sports
– Music
– Fashion
– Political/Influential Leaders
We are looking for experienced bloggers who will share relevant stories and experiences in the topic that they are passionate about.

Technology blogger (printer industry) – Are you a journalist with experience writing about technology? Do you find printers interesting? Would you like to take a deep dive into the world of consumer and office printers? If so, please apply for this unique opportunity.

Freelance designer – We are looking for a Freelance Web Designer to work with us and our clients over the next few months. We are offering the right candidate 2-3 projects per month for the next 3 months. The Candidate must possess a keen eye for detail, a high level of creativity, and be able to show they can deliver on time and work to specific deadlines.

Web designer, logo designer, graphic artist needed – We’re an established Canadian sport-art site who recently lost a key graphic designer. We need to finish what’s been done and get our site ready for the upcoming season. Our site is an exploration of the intersection of sport, art and culture through the use of poetry, articles, numbers and short stories. We focus on the Montreal Canadiens and navigate the iconography of this storied franchise.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


Need help?
How to get an online job.
How to avoid online scams.

This post is a weekly feature – we post a list of online, work-from-anywhere, jobs every single week. Be sure not to miss the next list of jobs. Subscribe to Like Chapaa today, or sign up to receive free email updates.

Filed Under: Online Jobs Tagged With: , ,

More Online Jobs

September 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

More Freelance Jobs

Project Manager – PSD to eCommerce is looking for a talented project manager to handle all the client communication and project management for the company. You will be required to be somewhat knowledgeable with how the PSD to HTML slicing industry works, and how the pricing works. It is a bonus if you understand the eCommerce industry to (Magento, Shopify, wp-ecommerce), but it is not required, you must be willing to learn though.

Mobile phone programmer – Butterfly Works is interested to find someone who can program and test a game to work on mobile phones in East Africa. We will design the game and send you the specs, it needs to work on all phones with a color screen from different manufacturers. We wish to find someone with experience in programming who also knows the mobile phone usage in East Africa specifically Kenya. The game is about peace keeping and is aimed at young people. If you are interested please contact us with your bio and previous experience, thanks!

Copywriter wanted – Seeking a freelance copywriter for a small web site job. Please send url, examples and your rates to apply or contact me for further info. Preference for those based in Australia.

Content Writer – Need a writer to produce 5-10 fairly extensive articles / blog posts (1,500-2,000 words) on the topic of birthday parties for kids. There may also be ongoing blog work available, but the initial work is for 5-10 posts. We have a template structure for the posts that you’ll be able to follow. Need to be able to do extensive research – link to quality / relevant content. And potentially do some social media marketing as well.

Blogger needed – DigMyDrive is a new Website that allows members to ‘give their take’ on topics in specific driving categories. We are looking for bloggers to take on each category, posting 3-5 blogs per week on newsworthy topics or topics relevant to category members.

Experienced Flash Developer – Digital Aisle, the leader in interactive touch screen applications, is seeking an experienced Flash Developer.

Interface design – We are looking to build a music sharing website and need an excellent designer. We only require the HTML / CSS / PSD deliverable. You must love design, and be obsessed by perfection in design. Please send a long copies of your previous work and expected pay.

Freelance web designer and developer – We are a new social venture (not for profit) looking for a designer and web developer to develop an on-line marketplace.

Weekly newsletter article writer – Generation X Finance is an established personal finance blog that targets readers in the 25-45 age demographic. Topics generally include investing, saving for retirement, banking, taxes, and tips on saving money. In addition to the regular blog posts Generation X Finance has an email newsletter that goes out weekly. Each newsletter will generally feature a short 250-500 word original article covering some relevant topic. In addition to the short article there are links to three of the most recent blog posts with a brief introduction.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


Need help?
How to get an online job.
How to avoid online scams.

This post is a weekly feature – we post a list of online, work-from-anywhere, jobs every single week. Be sure not to miss the next list of jobs. Subscribe to Like Chapaa today, or sign up to receive free email updates.

Filed Under: Online Jobs Tagged With: , , , , ,

Online Jobs!

August 31, 2009 by Leave a Comment

More Freelance Jobs

Blog writer – We’re looking for several talented blog writers to join our team of writers at www.webdesignerdepot.com, a popular blog dealing with web design. Compensation for each article accepted varies depends on length and complexity (average $150) and the position is available on a freelance basis only. Articles must be about web design topics as well as tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator and others.

Web design – We are looking for someone to create a clean/corporate website design for a dedicated server/colocation hosting company. We also have a custom panel in development, that we would like to get skinned. Please contact us for any additional details about this project.

Mobile phone programmer – Butterfly Works is interested to find someone who can program and test a game to work on mobile phones in East Africa. We will design the game and send you the specs, it needs to work on all phones with a color screen from different manufacturers. We wish to find someone with experience in programming who also knows the mobile phone usage in East Africa specifically Kenya. The game is about peace keeping and is aimed at young people. If you are interested please contact us with your bio and previous experience, thanks!

Abode Air Developer – We are currently looking for a Adobe Air Developer or Desktop App Specialist for an upcoming contract job. We are seeking candidates with extensive experience developing desktop apps that are compatible on both MAC and PC platforms. The app is going to be used in conjunction with a upcoming global entertainment-based online initiative.

Google Wave Development – Intellum is looking for an experienced Rails and Java programmer, who has an interest in OpenSocial and Google Wave development. The job would be for an initial consulting engagement of 3 months with an opportunity for transitioning to a full-time position.

AppAfrica Hiring – Appfrica.net is a blog that wants to be Africa’s leading source for news related technology, culture and development when it grows up. =)Right now we’re looking for a savvy writer who wants to reach a broad audience covering social media, African startups and technology, as well as offer personal insight and opinions to the blog’s community.

Tech & Gadget blogger – Are you a talented blogger? Do you like tech and gadgets? Have you been dying to share your thoughts on many of the great gadgets, websites and mobile applications currently on the market? If you answered yes to these questions, we want to hear from you! Yulmedia is currently looking for passionate writers to write blog posts for a major Canadian Tech and Gadget blog (www.sync-blog.com). You will be asked to write posts at least two times per week, and your posts should have an average of 250 words.

Portfolio site design – Are you an aspiring designer? Good with types? Want a cool site in your portfolio? This project might be for you. The project is simple: build a clean portfolio site based on WordPress. You would have complete creative freedom, as long as the site used a dark background and supported video embedding.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


Need help?
How to get an online job.
How to avoid online scams.

This post is a weekly feature – we post a list of online, work-from-anywhere, jobs every single week. Be sure not to miss the next list of jobs. Subscribe to Like Chapaa today, or sign up to receive free email updates.

Filed Under: Online Jobs Tagged With: , , ,

How To Make Money Playing Games

August 25, 2009 by 1 Comment

“Not long ago, a 43-year-old Wonder Bread deliveryman named John Dugger logged on to eBay and, as people sometimes do these days, bought himself a house. Not a shabby one, either. Nine rooms, three stories, rooftop patio, walls of solid stonework – it wasn’t quite a castle, but it put to shame the modest redbrick ranch house Dugger came home to every weeknight after a long day stocking the supermarket shelves of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Excellent location, too; nestled at the foot of a quiet coastal hillside, the house was just a hike away from a quaint seaside village and a quick commute from two bustling cosmopolitan cities. It was perfect, in short, except for one detail: The house was imaginary.” – Wired.

Yet, there is nothing particularly unusual about this transaction – people buy and sell imaginary items everyday and it is already a billion dollar industry. Crazy, eh? Welcome to the world of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games! As an online gamer, I’ve experienced first hand the potential of making money from MMOs and in this post, I’ll share four main ways you can make money playing online games. The beautiful thing is that I know many, many excellent gamers in Kenya and so it is not hard to imagine that many people can earn money from MMOs right here.

Sale of In-Game Items
In almost all games, there is a game ‘currency’ (this goes by many names depending on what game you are playing and can be something like gold, gil, wood etc) which you can use to purchase other in-game items such as potions, weapons etc. Every player of every game needs these items. One way to get ‘game money’ is to grind it out and do things inside the game to collect the ‘money’. These things are often repetitive and, well, boring. Another, easier and faster, way to earn ‘game money’ is to buy it using real world cash. Therfore, if you can collect huge amounts of ‘game money’, you can sell it at a profit to people who do not want to go through the boring process of collecting their own ‘game money’. This is called ‘gold farming’.

Similarly, you can sell game items such as potions, clothing, amour, weapons and, in the case of , John Dugger, even houses! So how do you do it? You collect the in-game virtual items and sell them for real money, mostly to people in the West who are willing to pay high amounts for such goods.

Undead Warlock - World of Warcraft

Undead Warlock - World of Warcraft

Power Leveling
In MMO games, the characters usually progress through a series of levels, from the lowest one to the highest one – with each level increasing the character’s abilities. ‘Leveling up’ a character is usually time consuming and, well, boring. Therefore, another way to make money from MMOs is to offer ‘power leveling’ services where clients give you access to their accounts, and some money, and you play for them and increase the levels of their characters – you have to be really good and fast so that you do it in a fraction of the amount of time the client would have done it alone.

Do note, however, that there is significant competition from China on the two methods mentioned above.

Account Renting
In most MMOs, there are usually servers which represent different realms in the game. This is to mean that a player in server A has no access to server B, even though it is the same game. This presents a problem to gold farmers – what if you have 20 farming accounts in server A and only 2 in server B yet there is huge demand for gold in server B? This is the reason why many gold farmers rent accounts. They look for respectable accounts in different servers to use to farm their gold. If there is a gold shortage in one server, they can rent more accounts in that server and so be able to supply the needed gold.

How do you make money? You provide the rented accounts. You can earn a steady $10 a day for renting out a single account. The more accounts you have, the more you earn. What if you had 10 accounts rented out earning you $10 a day, each? That’s Kshs 7,000 a day jameni!

Account Selling
In my opinion, this is where the really good money is. In every game online, the characters you play are tied to one account. That means that if the character has really good experience points or other in-game perks, the character is valuable. It takes a lot of time and effort to create a good character in any game and they are people willing to just buy an already established game character. The value of these accounts ranges from $50 to $1,000 or even more. Imagine that!

What do you need to do? You need to play hard to create a properly leveled character and then find people willing to buy that character. Such people are in no short supply, fortunately. 🙂

Where Can You Start?
Okay so you know how money can be made from playing online games. But where and how do you start?

First of all, you have to find a marketplace where you know you can sell your stuff. I recommend MD although many other marketplaces exist. Some others are: MMObay, Accountbar, accountsbay, and livegamer.

Next, find a game that interests you and start playing, or working, as the case may be.

Can This Be Done In Kenya?
Of course. I know very many people who are excellent gamers and who, incidentally, have a lot of time on their hands. I bet you know such people too. Well, such people can make good money doing what they love.

In China, making money from MMOs is huge business. People don’t just do it individually, whole businesses are built for this purpose. Do you own a cyber cafe? Why not hire some of the neighborhood teens to play for pay during the night? Just think about it. Read this.

Filed Under: Make Money, Online Jobs Tagged With: ,