What you need to know about making money online

‘Do you want to make money online? Ask me how.’

Most if not all Kenyans have encountered this statement at one point while browsing the internet. The reaction is always the same, ‘These are just scammers.’

That’s the effect that network marketing has had in the country making it difficult for anyone in Kenya to believe that they can actually make money online. You should however, note that making money online does not only conform to network marketing.

There are many ways one can make money online. In this digital era, making money online has several approaches and with calculated steps, you can make more than regular office employees.

Ways of making money online.

From blogging to digital marketing, there are various ways to make money online in Kenya. Actually, network marketing should be your last resort to making money online. All one needs is to understand the hacks of getting access to many people online and they will make a lot of cash via the internet.

Blogs, vlogs and podcasts

Blogging and Vlogging is the most explored option of making money online in Kenya, after network marketing of course. Blogs and YouTube channels have been very famous in the country over the past year with almost everyone having either or both of the platforms.

With blogging and vlogging, people mainly make money through advertising. The hack is to develop content that will bring a huge following to your platform. It is the amount of traffic your platform brings that will give you bargaining power with advertisers.

The same principle applies to those who own podcasts.

E-Commerce

Commerce is simply the buying and selling of goods. Consequently, e-commerce is the buying and selling of goods online.

The benefit of e-commerce, in comparison with normal commerce, is that you can reach a larger customer base. Normally, people would have to physically visit your shop to buy anything but when selling online people can buy without necessarily coming to your premises.

E-commerce has been on the rise in the country especially during the coronavirus pandemic. The virus outbreak has restricted people’s movements setting the stage for e-commerce growth.

We have witnessed the growth of platforms like Jumia, Uber Eats, Masoko, Jiji and many others.

However, the catch with e-commerce is gaining your customers’ trust. Someone needs to trust you to purchase a product they have not seen physically and can hardly gauge its quality.

Social media marketing

In social media marketing, there are people who earn millions every month. This is what has had many Kenyans wanting to be influencers.

A few weeks ago, the rate card of famous tiktoker Aziad Nasenya was leaked. Kenyans went absolutely bananas when they learnt the amount of money the influencer charges for a simple tweet.

The tiktoker charges Sh100,000 for TikTok video, while for a Live session she charges Sh50,000. For an Instagram post she charges Sh100,000, Insta-story Sh50,000 and Live goes for Sh50,000. This rates also apply to her other social media Pages; Twitter (Sh50,000) Facebook and YouTube (Sh50,000 and Sh100,000).  

If you are a frequent visitor of her pages you will notice that she gets these advertisement deals on a daily basis. Do the math and find out what she earns in a month.

Making money online is not only conformed to network marketing. However, you can also make money from network marketing depending on how you approach it.

Challenges of making money online

1. Hackers

The dangers of making money online are similar to the challenges facing the digital era as a whole. In Kenya, website managers and bloggers are in constant warfare against hackers.

This is the biggest danger of making money online. Influencers with a big following are the number targets for hackers. We have had cases of an influencer losing all their followers and having to start from scratch, hence losing their source of money.

To avoid being hacked, you need to hire the best web developer and constantly carry out regular website management procedures.

2. Investment in time and money

Making money online also requires huge investments in terms of time and money. Developing your online platforms to get a huge following is a tedious and long process. It requires patience and resilience.

Some people might easily get the following at a go, while others will have to develop content that will attract the masses.

3. Gaining trust with customers

This applies to e-commerce platforms. It takes time for the general public to recognize a given e-commerce platform as a shopping source. The trends around online buying has shown many that in most instances the product delivered to you is barely of the same quality as the product you ordered.

Gaining the trust of your customers can be difficult especially if you are not the producer of the goods you are looking to sell.

However, once you have surpassed all these challenges, making money online is probably the easiest and best way of earning a respectable living.

Dr Pesa is Kevin Namunwa of Cytonn Investments.

Sokuoro@standardmedia.co.ke