In this post, I will take you through various ways one can make money blogging in Uganda. What I’m going to discuss here is not just theory, I have actually used these methods to earn money online in Uganda through my four blogs.
Uganda is considered the pearl of Africa with lots of money making opportunities, but whether these opportunities are equally shared among Ugandans is a question for another day. The government of Uganda and private sector offer jobs that are not enough for the unemployed youths in the country. Youth unemployment in Uganda is estimated at over 87%.
Many graduates are lingering on streets of Kampala without jobs. Some have turned into hardcore criminals and earn a living through criminality. It is very frustrating to live in Uganda especially if you’re jobless. I mean everything is expensive ranging from food to high cost of living.
The good news is that the internet technologies have now opened up new opportunities where Ugandan youths can now use internet in their free time to make some bucks online. One of the best ways to make money online in Uganda is through what is called blogging.
Read; How To Monetize A Blog (Website) In Uganda
What is blogging?
Blogging is the art of publishing and maintaining a blog site. Blogging is more than just writing articles as it involves publishing multimedia such as audio, photos, videos and other forms of multimedia. This social online money making platform is now enabling many Ugandans who were previously jobless to earn a dependable income.
Read: How To Start A Blog In Uganda And Make Money
Blogging is one of the most popular avenues to make money from the internet in Uganda. If you started a blog today on a topic you are passionate about, and pumped it regularly with high quality content, built traffic for it, trust me you will make some good money out of it after a given period of time.
There are bloggers in the world who make over $100,000 a month through their blogs. This sounds unbelievable but true. One such high profile bloggers is Jon Morrow of SmartBlogger.com, who is estimated to be making $110,000 monthly income from his blog. Morrow mostly makes his money from online courses and affiliate links.
However blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme. You should not join blogging with an expectation that you will make millions of money overnight. Joining blogging with this mindset is the first step to failing.
If you are starting a blog from scratch, it can take you several months or even years before you can actually start making money from it. Building and monetizing a blog is a part time job and should be viewed as a long term investment.
Many Ugandans have been told and believed a fake myth that you can make money from a blog while people use their MBs (internet data) to access it. That the money they spend on MBs is paid to the owner of the blog. Others have been made to believe that once you create a blog, all you need is to start posting on it and each time someone visits it, money begins flowing in your bank account. This is not only false but also impossible.
Earning from a blog takes a lot of hard work, commitment, patience and perseverance. One of the reasons Ugandan bloggers fail is their greed for money and expecting high returns in a short run.
Like the saying goes, “The city of Rome was not built in one day”, and therefore as a new blogger, you should not expect to mint profits from your blog in “One day”. Stay focused, blog about topics you are passionate about. Keep the blogging spirit alive and trust me, after some time, you will begin reaping profits from your blog.
Personally, I make most of my income through the internet, specifically through blogging. In fact blogging contributes about 80% of my total monthly income. In this guide, I will show you super proven ways to earn money from blogging in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania or elsewhere in the world.
Prior to writing this post, I had got so many messages from my friends on social media asking me the following questions;
- Ways to earn money online in Uganda?
- How to make money blogging in Uganda?
- How to make money online in Uganda?
- How a blog or website makes money?
- How to make extra money online in Uganda?
- Ways to make money on internet in Uganda?
Well to answer the above questions, below I have discussed legit ways through which one can use to make money from blogging in Uganda.
Legit Ways to Make Money blogging in Uganda
If you have been wondering how you make money with a blog, these are some legit ways you can earn a living through blogging.
1. Display Advertising
There are many ways to make money from blogging but Google AdSense remains the most popular method most Ugandan bloggers use to monetize their blogs. Google AdSense allows you to place advertisements on your blog and you will earn some commission every time people view or click on those advertisements. The amount money you earn totally depends on the quality and amount of traffic you get on your blog.
The major drawback with this method is your earnings largely depend on the volume of your traffic. For a starting that gets little traffic, generating earning from Google Adsense may not be as lucrative as such, thus you are advised to include other monetization methods to improve your earnings.
Below are some Adsense alternatives you can use on your blog. These alternatives will earn you some good money but not as much as you would earn with Adsense:
2. Sell Advert Space
If you can manage to attract good traffic on your blog, you can sell advertising space to corporate companies like MTN Uganda, Airtel Uganda etc by placing their advert banners on your blog. Most of these companies pay a minimum of UGX 1,000,000/- to have their advert run on your blog for a month. Note, for these companies to give you advertising deals, your blog should be generating traffic relevant to their target audience. If you have a blog and most of its traffic comes from India, Vodafone Uganda won’t probably advertise on your blog because its target audience is Ugandans not Indians.
3. Sell Products Online
Although this isn’t my specialty, you can make money from blogging Uganda by selling physical products online. This normally works better for a fashion niche. Start a fashion blog and display your products to your audience. If your products are appealing enough, trust me people will buy and you will make some cool cash. If your blog is running on WordPress, you can use a plugin called WooCommerce. This plugin will display your products in an organized manner and at the same time allows you to receive payments online.
Also read; How To Start An Online Store In Uganda
4. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is another way to make money from blogging in Uganda provided you attract the right audience. Affiliate marketing is a performance based form of marketing where an affiliate marketer earns a commission on every product or service sold through his affiliate links.
If someone buys a product through your affiliate link, you will earn commissions as per the agreements. For example you can earn between $85- $120 if you referred people to buy web hosting at A2 Hosting. If you can refer 10 clients to A2 Hosting in a month, you will be paid $850 (about UGX 3M). Can you easily find a job in Uganda that pays you this amount? Well that is a question for another day.
The best thing about affiliate marketing is you do not need thousands of page views to generate income. You just need to build a loyal audience that actually buys. If you have a reputable blog with reputable content, you will earn trust from your followers or audience and they will definitely believe in your recommendations.
Affiliate marketing can generate you more income compared to advertising income if you choose the right networks and do it the correct way. In fact, most of the income I earn from this blog comes from affiliate links.
Jumia Uganda has an affiliates program where you can place their products on your blog and they will pay you a commission every time someone buys their products through your affiliate links
Some of the popular affiliate networks Ugandans use include:
- Web Hosting affiliate networks like Bluehost, Hostgator, Godaddy etc
- Amazon
- Commission Junction
- Shareasale
- Clickbank
- Ebay Partner Network etc
Affiliate marketing works better if you own website or blog to display products and services. However do not expect immediate results, it might take some good time before you can actually start earning, but it is worth the investment.
5. Freelance writing
Freelancing is another popular way of making money online. The good thing with freelancing is you can do your work from anywhere in the world. It can be in your sofa set or bed. All you need is to have an active internet connection from your place of comfort.
Below are some freelancing sites you can join and start making bucks:
If you think you can make money online in Uganda by writing, then freelance writing may just be the thing for you. Go for one freelance network that suits your skills and start making money.
6. Sell eBooks
If you have in-depth understanding of a topic in your niche, you can create an electronic book (e-book) and sell it to your audience. In Uganda, this is known as Information Marketing. Most Ugandans nowadays look for good information before venturing into anything.
7. Sell online course
In a similar way, creating an online course on your blog will actually sell more than eBooks. I have created about 7 courses and new students subscribe every month at a fee. You too can make it. Use your skills and expertise to make money.
8. Offer Consulting Services
Your audience will want to know the story behind your success. They will want to consult from you to get tips on how you made it. Charge them a consultation fee. I offer consultation services in different IT fields, if you want to meet me for a one on one talk for one hour, I will charge you UGX 200,000/-. Yes, that is it! Knowledge doesn’t come at a zero cost.
9. Link Building
Link building, also known as Linkbuilding, is the practice of promoting someone’s website by placing their website’s links (hyperlinks) on one of your website’s pages ie an article. When your blog audience grows, people will begin contacting you, asking you to include their links in your articles.
If your blog has good traffic and high page rank in Google, you could charge them anywhere between UGX 100,000/- to UGX 500,000/- for link inclusion. Link building is one of the many ways big Ugandan bloggers make money. Of course I do the same here. I charge whoever wants their blog links included in my blog.
However some bloggers will exchange backlinks for free content. This is commonly known us Guest Posting. A guest author gives you a free original article and you give them a free backlink. This is also good way of growing your blog content.
10. Public Speaking
Owning an active, professional and authentic blog will get people to notice you. I have on several occasions been invited to speak at youth events but I always turn down the invitations due to my busy schedule. If you’re a good speaker, this will present an opportunity for you to make extra money. Remember you won’t speak for free, you will get paid for it. Frank Gashumba of Sisimuka Uganda is one of the few Ugandans who are making money from their public speaking skills.
11. Sponsored Posts and Reviews
This just another way bloggers in Uganda make money. You could review people’s products and they will pay you in return. You can charge anywhere between UGX 100,000/- to UGX 300,000/- per sponsored post or review. This is a lucrative way top blogs in Uganda generate revenues.
12. Start a membership program
If you have expertise in any field, you can create an online membership club and start offering premium content to your readers. You could for example mastermind a group where members get exclusive information on hot money making opportunities and methods. This information would help them to maximize their business revenues in the process.
You could charge members a fixed monthly subscription fee. The fee can range anywhere from UGX 20,000 and above.
However, in order to earn people’s trust in your service, you should have the capacity to provide firsthand information never seen anywhere before. If you cannot produce high quality content yourself, you can outsource from experts.
13. Sell services Online
There are so many services you can sell online in Uganda. You only need to have a laptop and an internet connection, then you can do everything right from the comfort of your home. Some of the popular services you can off include:
- Writing and translations
- Graphics design
- Wed design and development
- Advertising
- Business plans
14. Use your blog to promote your business
Many Ugandans are now using blogs to promote their businesses. For example local web design companies in Uganda write blogs on their company websites in order to network and engage with their potential clients. Local freelancers also maintain blogs as a way of establishing themselves as experts through providing information to internet users.
Benefits of blogging for business
- Improve your website’s search engines ranking
- Provides a forum where you can engage with your clients
- Creates opportunities for sharing your content
- A blog helps to answer commonly asked questions about your business
- Writing blogs on your website improve your organic traffic
15. Accept Donations On Your Blog
Another way you can make money from your blog is by accepting donations. This is something uncommon in Uganda but it is a good way of earning some free cash from your blog. There will always be some people out there who will fall in love with your blog and will want to wholeheartedly reward you for your good work. You can install the WooCommerce mobile plugin and accept both local and international donations direct to your MTN Uganda mobile money number. If you need help in installing this plugin, feel free to Contact Me Here.
Conclusion
I hope this guide has given you an insight on how to make money blogging in Uganda. This may sound easy but it is not all that simple. Blogging requires a lot of hard work, patience and investment to be able to start earning money. Please note that blogging is not a quick money investment. Do not get frustrated and give up if you do not see results early enough. If you are ready to start blogging, I can help you setup your blog for free. Read about the Free Blog Setup Offer Here.
thanks for your support to bloggers in Uganda