Become a blogger

Another unique small business idea for Ugandans is to become a blogger. We need to borrow a leaf from our counterparts in countries like India who are reaping big from this opportunity. The internet offers a lot of opportunities which Ugandans can exploit to make earn a living and blogging is one of them.

A blog is a semi web site, it actually has most features of a web site and they is little difference between a blog and a website. You do not need to be with extensive knowledge in web design to start a blog. This is because blog hosts offer already designed templates from which you can make a head start. Most common blog hosts include Google with the BlogSpot domain and Wordpress. Hosting your blog is free on these sites and one can have more than one blog to his name. However, there is also an option for a paid blog hosting service. One can open up a BlogSpot blog using a Gmail account.

To become a blogger, one has to have extensive knowledge in a particular field from which he would provide useful and original information to his readership. You just have to utilize you knowledge in your area of competence and begin sharing your knowledge. With that you are bound to attract loyal followers to your blog posts. Effort has to be made on timely updating of your site so that it does not bore your followers. However, effort has to be put in your selection of keywords in your posts as these are crucial in generating traffic from search engines. The higher the traffic generated to your site the higher you are likely to earn. All this can be achieved with very little money involved, making it one of the cheapest unique small business ideas for Ugandans to start.

When your blog is already set and you have about 50 posts published on the internet, then you can start looking for an advertising program to join. You can apply to join the Google Adsense program and become one of their publishers. However this program has very strict guidelines which have to followed like having your blog about 6 months old and having original content though it is the highest paying of all pay-per-click advertising programs. There are other programs though they are not very relevant in our African setting unlike Google Adsense.

Alternatively, you can talk to local companies directly to let you advertise for them on your blog. This will earn you money depending on your negotiating ability with the companies. The advantage is that you can advertise for more than one company on your site. Many people are earning money from blogging for example www.greatugandajobs.blogspot.com and www.ugandanewspicks.com . All you need is a computer, a modem, your knowledge, time, commitment and patience to take up this unique small business idea for Ugandans.

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Survival techniques for small business owners

You can make your small business in Uganda survive its first year with a few survival techniques.

Stick to quality for your goods and services
One of the most important ways which can make a small business survive its first anniversary is to maintain quality. One sure way of retaining and winning new customers is to be appreciated for quality of your goods and services. This is one means of leading you to be the market leader in your line of business if people associate you with quality. In whatever unique small business idea you are involved in try.

Separate your business from your personal life
Those in the formal sector appreciate the fact that a business is a separate entity from the owner. However this is lacking for those involved in small businesses. It is essential that business dealings be separated form personal issues for the good of the business. For example prevent unnecessary personal expenditures which are a loss to the business but may not easily be detected by the owner of the business.

Strict credit control
A strong mechanism has to be put in place to control credit within the business. You need to strong guidelines concerning debtors of the business and creditors. For example a strict period of time has to be put in place for payment of business debts in order to remain in good books of the business creditors.

Avoid underemployment of business assets
It is not good to keep assets which you no longer use in the business. If you have an asset you have taken quite sometime without using in the business, it is better to dispose it off. This is because the longer you keep holding it without utilizing it , the more it depreciates. Thus it is better you dispose it off and get some money which you can re-invest in the business.

Take breakfast at home
Endeavour to first have breakfast before you depart for your workplace, this way you will be saving on the amount for buying it at your work place. Breakfast usually costs not less than 2500 depending on where your place of work is. However you can save a sizeable amount if you leave home after taking breakfast.

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