Kenyan Blogs, Blogging Career and Money

Speaking to those who first joined this tumultuous industry, they are few and they will all tell you that it was not easy because political environment was hostile. People lost lives while trying to venture into the trade.

We had Robert Alai, Bogongo, Cyprian Nyakundi, Dikembe Disembe among a few more. The number was lean. In fact, countable.

Most of these techpreneures only wrote about politics. It was not easy for them because political class always viewed them as a career threat and, in that process, they were warned, attacked and some who could not be lucky were abducted and killed. Correct example is Bogongo who, until today, has never been found. He was kidnapped from his Nairobi home by men who vanished with him forever. It happened at midnight.

Alai, who is now a politician, has survived this journey despite his hard-hitting articles. Also, just like Nyakundi, he has survived with his investigative pieces that included exposing corrupt State officials and businessmen. He has, however, been sued several times.

Nyakundi has also suffered a similar fate. He has been sued for defamation by senior business owners as well as politicians. He has, however, won most of these court cases. He brags that he has lost none.

Alai has been running Kahawatungu.com news website which used to run hot gossip and exposes. It has since toned down. He no longer writes hot stuff. In fact, he has gone the media way by embracing normal news items. He has a handful of writers on board. Hardly do he write like he tweets, nowadays.

On the other hand, blogger Nyakundi is still in it full time. He runs his website from Nairobi office located in the CBD and has correspondents. He pays them(correspondents) well because most of them have been with him for years even after they graduated from school.

In that order, came other blogs in gossip and technology. Notable example is Techweez.com and Daily-post blog owned by Timothy Obare Rioba – a Jomo Kenyatta University JKUAT graduate. He has been around since 2013. He writes real original gossip and pure street propaganda. He has amassed massive readership across urban cities in Kenya. Young men follow his work closely because he, actually, writes and posts scintillating stories.

Rioba has made a lot of money from that single website. This success saw him vie for a senior political seat in his rural county of Nyamira. He didn’t win anyway but his ambitions are still alive.

Another successful blogger is Robert Mukami Ndungu of Kenyans.co.ke. His website which was launched in 2013, almost the same time, is great and runs full time with trained journalists on board. He has offices located along Waiyaki Way just opposite Safaricom headquarters.

Ndungu, a journalist by profession, has been consistent. His news website and which rivals mainstream establishments, makes him millions and ranks well on Google search. He earns from all revenue streams including direct corporate advertisements. He is lucky to have successfully broken into the corporate world just like Nigerian blogger Linda Ikeji. He rarely misses to have an advert from blue chip companies like Safaricom and banks like Cooperative Bank. He also owns news aggregator website Kenyamoja.com.

After this success, came new crop of bloggers including Chris Akali who owns Kenyawide.com and Pesatoday.com. He is doing so well due to his knowledge in writing. Described as ‘a versatile writer’. He is a trained creative journalist. He trained in the United Kingdom U.K schools and knows this trade so well. Word has it that he makes some good money from his websites. He has the required skill and consistency.

His websites which focuses on news, finance and business makes money from both Adsense and Sponsored posts. Readers say he works hard and writes well-researched stories.