In this article, I finally talk to you about a topic that many of you have been waiting for: how to make money with a travel blog.
A few years ago a blog was simply a platform where people shared private stories, a kind of personal diary, and it was unthinkable to make money.
Even now many believe that it is impossible make money with a travel blog and they don't see blogging as a real job.
The problem is that many people don't have a clue how blogging can work. It's not just about writing, you need to first understand how the internet works.
Blogging is a full-fledged profession and to do it you need to be prepared and work hard.
So if you are wondering if it is really possible to make money with a travel blog, the answer is absolutely yes!
There are many ways to earn thanks to your passions and in this guide we will see exactly all the strategies for living and traveling thanks to the blog.
How To Make Money With A Travel Blog
Copywriting Freelance
If you have decided to start a travel blog, you probably have two passions: traveling and writing.
Here, the latter can become a great source of income. Thanks to the blog you can in fact make yourself known as copywriting and work as freelance writers on behalf of other sites, blogs or newspapers. In practice, the blog must become an advertising showcase and a sort of personal curriculum.
In this way you will have several advantages:
- First you can immediately earn and create a basic income;
- You will also have the opportunity to become more authoritative and grow your travel blog, thus opening yourself up to more income opportunities.
Affiliations
Affiliate or affiliate marketing is a major source of income for a travel blog. They are the tool that I use the most.
Affiliate marketing is the promotion of third party products or services, on which you will earn commissions. In practice it is a kind of 2.0 commercial agent.
The great advantage of affiliations is that it is a passive income, that is, the type of income that is not tied to time and does not require constant work.
The franchisee's work, if done properly, is a win-win strategy, because everyone gains from it:
- The company: thanks to the blogger will have more income;
- The Blogger: receives commissions on the sale;
- Users: the reader will get the information they seek to purchase the best service or product.
Thanks to the affiliations you can promote anything, just subscribe to the programs of the companies or the affiliate networks that collect offers and campaigns.
Among the best known and in my opinion simplest affiliate programs for newbies there is certainly Amazon, through which you could, for example, recommend a travel backpack, a camera, a universal adapter or a drone and earn on sales.
Or you can promote services such as: hotels, travel insurance, car rental, airline tickets, etc.
What you blogger has to do is increase traffic to the site and build trust with your audience.
Important: always remember that the price the user will pay is never increased, they will always pay the same amount even if you receive a commission! Win-win!
Council: think about the products or services you use on your travels; there will most likely be an affiliate program to promote them!
Compared to other sources of income with affiliations it is not necessary to have many visits, obviously you need traffic, but if you study the product, the market and the target well you could earn even thanks to a single post.
Advertisements
Inserting banner ads is another way to profit from your travel blog. You are probably familiar with this type of promotion, browsing the various sites you will surely have seen the many advertisements.
Unlike Affiliations, however, to earn thanks to banner ads, you need a lot of traffic on your blog. This is why it is not the best option for those who have recently opened a travel blog, also because a minimum of monthly visitors is often required.
Until now I have preferred not to advertise on my travel blog, because I don't particularly like sites full of banners; at the same time I believe that, if inserted in moderation, they do not disturb the reader too much.
In any case, if you reach a high number of views (at least 25.000 pages per month) then you can evaluate this source of income. In particular, I recommend Adsense, the Google advertising network that allows you to publish ads on your portal.
I've heard of other services like Mediavine, Ezoic or AdThrive, but I don't know them personally.
Sale of digital products
Do you have special skills or could you teach your readers something? Perhaps it would be appropriate to create your own digital product, be it an e-book, a guide or an online course.
An example is my guide Save Flight, where I explain how to find airline tickets at the lowest price.
Creating your own digital product will allow you to have a passive revenue stream with the highest profit margin compared to other strategies.
Before making the product, however, it is important to have a certain following, otherwise you only risk wasting time in creating the product without actually having customers.
So the first step is the creation of quality content, to increase traffic and visits to the blog. You will then have to use channels such as social media or the email list to promote the content.
Once the audience has been built and thanks to analysis tools, such as Analytics, you will be able to study and know the interests of your users.
In this way you will be able to understand what they are looking for and what are the problems they have to solve. In this way it will be possible to create an ad hoc info product for your target and it will be easier to sell it.
You will be able to understand if there really is a market for your product.
You will also be an expert on a particular topic and increase the relationship of trust with your audience.
Selling Physical Products
Within your travel blog you could insert an online shop section with physical products. For example, you could create merchandising and design graphics related to your niche. There are several platforms that you can use to build your shop and sell t-shirts, mugs, bags, etc.
Marketing campaigns: getting paid to travel
How many of you dream of getting paid to travel? Surely the most fascinating aspect of a travel blog is the possibility of traveling and at the same time receiving compensation, the maximum!
But let's try to better understand how to make money traveling.
In practice, tourism organizations, hotels or travel agencies may pay you to promote certain destinations, hotels, events or activities.
Obviously also in this case it must be one win-win collaboration, so if you are not authoritative enough, if you don't have a well-known brand, it will be very difficult to get paid to travel.
Everything always depends on the audience you are able to reach thanks to your blog and social networks.
In the beginning, you may probably get unpaid and swap your work for flights, accommodation, or activities. However, this phase is important to make yourself known by companies and to increase your authority.
Warning, this may sound funny but remember that it is always work and you will have to put in a lot of effort to promote the campaigns.
A few years ago I collaborated with a local agency in Tanzania and I must say it was a wonderful experience, and above all I think I did a good job of promotion.
Personally, however, I always prefer to focus on passive income, such as affiliations or information products.
Important: always be clear and transparent immediately with the company you work with and only promote what you consider reliable.
Brand Ambassador
When a blogger collaborates on a long-term basis with a brand to promote its services or products, it is defined as a brand ambassador.
Generally these are partnerships that can last for months or even years. During this time the blogger must use their own channels to sponsor the brand through videos, posts, email marketing or even participate in events.
To be able to achieve long-term collaboration with major brands, you need to have a strong presence on social media and high engagement. Obviously it is important to have a large audience but often the target audience matters more, if it is particularly suitable for the brand then you have a great chance of becoming a brand ambassador.
If you work as an affiliate for a brand, since you already promote that service or product you may in the future offer the company a continuous collaboration as a “brand ambassador”.
Consultations
Another activity you can do through your travel blog is consulting, or coaching.
The system is the same as we have seen for digital products, in practice you make your skills available to others.
So think about your abilities and how you can help other people.
For example, if you are a skilled copywriter you could offer advice to those who decide to learn creative writing techniques. Or if your blog has grown a lot thanks to social media, why not offer a social media marketing coaching service?
Group Travel Coordinator
Always remember one thing: your travel blog can be a powerful promotional showcase. Through your site and social networks you could make yourself known and become, as an experienced traveler, group travel coordinator.
There are many tour operators that organize group travel and are looking for travelers who can accompany people who have purchased particular packages.
Travel planning services
Basically what a travel blogger does is create content that can help people plan a trip.
As your blog grows and people begin to know and trust you, you will receive tons of inquiries and advice on how to plan your trip to a particular destination.
In my opinion it is essential to respond as much as possible to requests and offer free help, obviously respecting your time.
The next step is to offer a more comprehensive travel planning service, and that's what a travel planner does. You can then create a tailor-made itinerary based on your preferences, help them choose the hotel, plan their trips or activities.
However, remember that if you are not a travel agent you cannot finalize the reservations, you can only offer a consultancy or planning service.
It will be the customer, after the consultation, to take care of the actual bookings.
If you are an expert on a specific destination, if you know every aspect of a place, this could be a great way to make money from blogging.
You will therefore have to set a fee for your consultation which will be your earnings and which depends on the complexity of the trip.
Council: to increase your earnings you could take advantage of the affiliations, which we have seen previously. For example, if you are affiliated with booking and recommend some hotels, once the customer books, you will earn a commission.
Making money with the travel blog: Frequently Asked Questions
Is it easy to make money as a travel blogger?
Earning through a travel blog is not difficult, but it takes time, you need to invest in training right away, learn how to use the tools and resources available and above all approach everything as a real business, not as a hobby.
How Long Does It Take To Start Making Money With Travel Blogging?
There is no exact answer to this question. It really depends on the type of strategies you choose, the content you develop and the niche. The more specific the niche, the easier it will be to make money.
In any case, keep in mind that in the beginning it will be all content production work, you may start to see the first gains after 1 or 2 months or even after 6 months. The important thing is to never give up, you will see that by working hard you will reach your goals.
How much do you earn with a Travel Blog
There is no earning limit, there are bloggers who earn thousands of dollars and bloggers who earn nothing. It all depends on you and the audience you build around the blog.
Final considerations
In this guide I wanted to share with you what I believe are the best ways to make money with a travel blog.
Now you have to be the one to evaluate which ones you think are best suited to you and your niche.
In fact, there is no better strategy than the other, it depends on your strengths, what is valid for one person may not work for another.
In any case, what you have to do at the beginning is to grow your audience, generate traffic and establish a relationship of trust with those who follow you, everything else will come with time.
