Do You Want To Earn Money With Your Travel Blog / Website -While Traveling – (Even Sooner Than You Think)?
Disclaimer: The post was updated on Jan 2023 and first published in 2014.
If you are reading this article, it is probably because you have a travel blog or a website and want to know how to monetize it, right? Then read on because you’re in the right place!
Or perhaps you are already making money with your blog, but it’s not enough to pay the bills, and you are wondering how to improve and take your blog income to the next level.
If this is the case, you are in the right place, and for once, I want to start with the good news. Even if your blog doesn’t have a massive number of visitors, you can still take it to the next level and make some serious money in a legit way.
Or maybe you already have the traffic but don’t know how to convert it into a side income? This article can help you too!
First thing first: before you trust me enough to read what I have to say, I think it’s fair to tell you why I am entitled to write about how to monetize a travel blog. I’m no Neil Patel, after all 🙂
Why You Should Read This Post: “My Case Study”
I’ll be honest here. I’m a very lucky girl.
Only three months after monetizing my blog, I earn as much as an average of 9 to 5 jobs. And I’m here to help you achieve similar results. When I started my website, I had no idea how to make money with a blog. It was unprofessional, and I started working on it ten months ago.
Because of this slow start (and the fact that English is not my native language), I still have a lot of work to do, but despite this, I’m already in good shape, money-wise. So if I managed to succeed, you can too!
Below is a screenshot of my stats since I started blogging. It clearly shows you how taking your blog seriously and working hard will give you tangible traffic (and money) results.
I have to add that these great results came from super hard work and a little investment in 2 major things that truly changed my website from amatorial to professional:
1 | CHANGING MY HOSTING PROVIDER:
(God bless Siteground, no, really!)
After some major issues with my previous provider (an Italian company called Webhosting), I researched for months to see which was the most reliable.
I decided to go with Siteground and I’m still with them because since I made the switch, I saw a spike in traffic and an overall more reliable website performance. I’m just annoyed that I didn’t choose them from the beginning.
The new hosting also helped tremendously rank higher on Google, which means more traffic and conversions! I will write a separate post about why I love Siteground and their 24/7 live Customer Service (not sure the love is mutual poor people. I tend to keep them busy with every tiny detail, but they are always very patient!). I also started noticing that many of my colleagues were also using it. Not a coincidence 🙂
2| CHANGING MY OLD THEME TO “PRO.”
It took me one year to find it and when I did: Love at first sight!
Another small investment, but well worth the money! My theme is X Theme (now switched to Pro, same family, only better!). After I made the switch, I had so many people asking me about it, so if you want to see the features, you can look at it here. I can tell you that it took me almost ONE YEAR to choose it. Yep, that long.
I wanted to be 100% sure that once I got this one, that would be it. And, in fact ..it is! This theme is so versatile that I could still use it and have a completely different layout. I have a fresh example to show you how two websites can look very different using the X theme.
I recently created a secondary website about Sardinia from scratch and a third one about Beauty &lifestyle.
Click on the link and check for yourself: do they look similar to you? And the Theme is the same. I LOVE THIS! I won’t go into many details here, but having a professional theme makes a HUGE difference, and I saw it right away!
THE RESULTS!
How a few small changes made a massive difference!
I was featured in one of the most influential newspapers in my region, and I immediately started receiving many messages from people asking me how I did it. The most recurring questions were:
How can I start a website or blog from scratch?
What are the best ways to monetize a blog/website?
How long does it take to make money with my blog/website?
Did I wake up one morning and see the money rolling in? I wish It were that easy, but you already know that creating a good website and making money is a hell of a job. It takes time, patience, and hard work.
But it’s not all bad news. It’s all about finding out what works for your blog and following the three golden rules for any entrepreneur:
Do what you genuinely love. Do it with passion. Never give up.
In this post, I will focus on the top 3 strategies I used to monetize my travel blog to give you some tips and speed up your earning process.
Besides the conventional, direct ways to make money fast online, you can also have an income by using your website as a portfolio of your work to get some freelance assignments. There are various ways to be a freelancer with your travel blog (see the dedicated chapter below!)
MY TOP 3 STRATEGIES TO MONETIZE A TRAVEL BLOG
1| AFFILIATE MARKETING
Affiliate programs are a good option for many travel bloggers. The opinions on this model vary from ultimate hate to absolute love.
In my case, it was love at first sight. Besides CJ (in the picture), I have other affiliate programs that give me even better results: Booking.com and Affiliate Windows. I’m also experimenting with Amazon on my article about what to pack for your trip. I’m getting decent results with two specific pages on Travel & Photo gear and Travel beauty Products pages.
But before you run to your blog and start putting random links to affiliates everywhere, I want to share my experience with you and show you how to make it work.
What is affiliate marketing? If you are not familiar with affiliates, here is an explanation:
“A way for a company to sell its products by signing up individuals or companies known as”affiliates”who market the company’s products for a commission”
In a nutshell, I search for products/services that my readers might find useful (but most importantly, that I have tested myself and found reliable) and put laser-targeted deep links into my articles.
This approach has worked wonders for me for four reasons:
1| The articles rank very high on search engines.
They are among the top 3 results on Google for a few profitable keywords. The competition for my keywords is medium-low, and I also rank high with “long-tail keywords.”
2| The articles give added value to my readers.
They have a “personal touch,” show my expertise and give the readers precise answers to their needs. This leads to interaction(more comments) and conversions.
3| My affiliates have high conversion rates and/or good commissions.
4| The topic is in a profitable niche, and it’s targeted to a specific segment of my audience.
That said, the results with affiliates don’t come overnight and do not apply to all the posts.
What Approach Should You Take with Your Affiliate Programs
First: Focus on SEO
You have to make it to Google’s first page by implementing internal and external SEO strategies, which take up to 3-4 months. It usually takes less for blogs with higher PR and Domain Authority to rank higher on Google (if you do your homework properly).
Very Important: people don’t realize the importance of a good hosting provider.
As soon as I switched to my new one (Siteground) in 2014, my site started ranking higher for more keywords.
Why? I will write a separate chapter about this as there is so much to talk about, but for now, let’s say that the user experience has improved drastically, and Google noticed that. Super good for SEO (I wish I had discovered this sooner!)
Second: EXPERIMENT
Try at least 5-6 affiliate programs to see which ones work better with your audience. A trial and error phase can take up to 1-2 months.
Third: VALUE
Continue to give added value by replying to the comments in detail. Time-consuming but worth the investment. Your readers will see this as proof of authority and trust, which leads to high conversion rates. I made more than $250 in commission by replying to a comment several times. How? I linked to my affiliates in the comments as well. Not bad, huh?
A word of advice
Don’t obsess too much over Page Rank and Domain Authority. When my most profitable article made it to the first page, my blog was not even one year old and had DA 0.
CONTENT QUALITY:
Write good quality content, and it will pay off in your Google rankings. Having quality backlinks is still important, but in my case, they were not the main reason why I am making money today.
WHAT NOT TO DO WITH AFFILIATES (learn from my mistakes)
Don’t put random generic links everywhere:
Maybe with the hope that someone will click on them. It doesn’t work well and is counterproductive as the reader is not stupid and will find it annoying. Always place relevant, useful deep links. Banners don’t convert as well as links.
Don’t keep links that are not performing:
Remove the links when an affiliate is not performing after a month or two. They are just eating up space and distracting from your best-performing programs.
Don’t follow the crowd:
Don’t put an affiliate simply because other bloggers are making money. Your blog and audience might be different and not perform the same way.
Don’t get discouraged too soon:
You are already using affiliates, but you’re not seeing much monetary return. Have a deeper look at your best articles, and keep trying new affiliates. It took me a while to make it work, but when I finally found the right ones, they became a steady source of income.
2| Cooperations With Brands + Sponsored Posts
Cooperating with important brands can take many shapes and forms, one of them being via Sponsored posts, one of the most popular ways to earn good money with your travel blog. However, this monetizing model is somehow controversial.
- For Visibility: The advertisers pay an influential blogger to have more visibility and, consequentially, to increase their earnings and reinforce their brand image.
- For SEO: The advertisers who pay you to place a link or an article written by them for SEO purposes. They usually target websites with high PR and Domain Authority and request a “Do follow” link.
Even when I had Domain Authority 0, I received a few business proposals, and I turned them down because buying and selling links goes against Google’s policy. Like it or not, that’s the way it is, and I don’t want to risk months of hard work for a few bucks now.
Update: Now Google allows Sponsored posts usually with a No Follow link but it’s at your discretion if you truly trust the brand you can leave it Do Follow. I don’t get the panic of leaving a link Do Follow if you do believe the company is valid and you want to vouch for it.
Anyway, I digress 🙂 More importantly, Google is now asking you to add the “Rel=sponsored” to the link to signal that your content is sponsored.
How To Find Legitimate Opportunities for Sponsored Posts?
1| Direct:
Sometimes sponsors will find you and contact you directly. Some want exposure on social media, while others want to publish content on your website. The downside is that you need to wait for the sponsors to find you or pitch them and hope to get a positive response.
They are great places to connect influencers (bloggers) with sponsors quickly and easily. Unfortunately, many of these websites still accept advertisers looking for “Do follow” links, with the risk of getting penalized by Google.
Sometimes they offer me good money to advertise or mention products that have nothing to do with me or with travel and even if the idea of earning 200, sometimes 400$ is tempting don’t fall for it.
One time I was offered more than 5000$ for a product, and I had to decline… no kidding! I said no, as I couldn’t see myself promoting something I didn’t find exciting or at least useful for my readers.
The product itself wasn’t bad at all. But a good partnership with an advertiser is when you believe in the service/product and try it yourself, even without being paid.
So my advice here is: By all means, sign up to these marketplaces but on your profile make sure to clarify what your website is about so that they will send you only relevant sponsors. A win-win situation for everyone!
How Much Money Can You Make with Sponsored Posts?
Sponsored posts have a huge potential in terms of profit, and your earnings depend on a few factors:
1|Your blogging schedule:
You can easily squeeze in a sponsored post if you write at least twice weekly. It is not ideal to only write sponsored posts, so the more you write, the better you can make them work for your website.
2|How your audience reacts to sponsored posts:
Make sure to publish only content with added value for your readers: sponsored or not. It shouldn’t make any difference to them. After all, I’m suggesting a product or service that I would use myself with the affiliates. Sponsored posts take a different approach, but the concept is the same.
3| How much can you charge for a sponsored post:
It mainly depends on your influence. The more your audience is engaged, the more you can charge (from $50 to $500 or more).
I love this monetizing model as it helps me diversify my income. Relying on affiliate marketing is a risk, and it’s best to always implement different ways of making money to be safe.
3| Free Lance Assignements:
Besides the conventional, direct ways to make money online, you can also have an income by using your website as a portfolio of your work to get some freelance assignments. There are various ways to be a freelancer with your travel blog.
Below is the list of what I did to earn some more money during my trips:
- Free-lance photographer for hotels and hostels (I got paid and received free accommodation)
- Writing assignments in Italian and English for online magazines
- English-Italian translator for online and printed publications
- Paid consulting for people who needed to plan a trip to Sardinia.
These are all good ways to use your blog to earn money indirectly. If you know a second language or have specialized skills, you should put them in your media kit and try to find people interested. It’s easier than you think.
3+1 Final Tips To Find Freelance Jobs Through Your Blog
1| Business cards:
Always bring a few business cards with you, even if you are going to a beach party. You never know who you are going to meet. I got a few assignments during random social events. Handing out your business card is a sign of professionalism that gives you more chances to be considered.
2| Be proactive:
I scored my first paid photoshoot when I saw a flyer attached to a hostel door saying, “Searching for Professional Photographer.” I am not a professional, but I asked to talk to the manager, handed over my business card, and showed her my blog. She liked it and decided to hire me, as I was less expensive than a professional. It was a win-win situation.
3| Attend blogger/travel industry events:
Very important. So important that I wrote an article/guide after attending the WTM (World Travel Market) in London last year. You can find many useful tips in it, so check it out!
4| Think outside the box:
This is the most important advice I can give you. You are probably thinking, “Ok, but how exactly”? I know a blogger who partnered with a local travel agency, and she now promotes the destination in exchange for a % of the sales.
Some bloggers organize tailored trips, cooperate on consulting websites or create their products/services. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
Get creative, be patient and work hard.
Trust me, the results will arrive sooner than you think!
Comments
I have a travel blog too and would love to monetize it, so I will follow your advice!
Best of luck Heather! It’s not always easy but possible for sure!
An informative blog. The tips will help in monetizing. Thank you soo much for writing this blog.
Thank you so much for sharing such a piece of important information on how tomake money with a travel blog, it was very useful, especially the affiliate part!
That was a wonderful article on making money as a travel blogger .
Thanks for the information and the images presented.
Really very much pleased by reading this blog. Gained some knowledge about writing some Good Blogs. How to achieve Success by writing blogs and Tips to become a Successful Blogger. I personally suggest following the Tips while writing the Blogs will definitely Help us to write. Thanks for posting such a desirable Blog.
Aw, I wish I had found this blog earlier.
Anyway, Thanks Celia for this awesome article!
I’m still new to blogging, and I hope I can attract more visitors with Your tips!
Thanks a lot!
Thanks Ryan!
Great tips thank you for sharing .
How can I do travel blogging and earn from it as well?
Greetings, thank you very much for sharing your ideas. I consider that your blog is totally interesting content.
Great tips. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate your effort in writing this long form of content.
Thanks Clelia for the useful tips about how to get passive income from written articles – the advise you gave about sponsored posts and affiliate sales is definitely worth to take into consideration! Great article!
Thank you! Your website is a portfolio of yours try experimenting with various choices and find out which one works best for you. I have spoken to numerous clients who claimed that their website’s numbers weren’t sufficient.
Sometimes it does not matter much at all. It’s dependent on how profitable is a niche or topic and you don’t need to rank at the top of the list for all content on your site. Some articles might be able to help.
Well done Clelia.
Three top strategies. Yeah, I always have a business card with me as you never know who you may meet.
For me, I’m still trying to find the right vendors on CJ.com, commissions are rolling slowly, but that’s fine as I’m still building my audience.
It sounds great Meri! ven if it’s going slowly, as you said, you’re building your audience, working on your website so give it some time and good luck!
Wow!
What a great strategy to run affiliate program successfully. It is impressive as well as motivational.
Glad you found this useful!
Great blog!! The information you provided is very useful and thanks for sharing.
amazing blog mate ! love your blogs keep uploading more cheers
what an awesome article it is, I was badly finding a way to monetize my blog. Thank god at least now I found your article i’m looking forward to following this and earn some money
this method is really effective during these lock down days to earn some money i am also planning to start a blog of Dubai desert safari deals.
Sounds interesting! Good luck 🙂
Nice blog !! Thank you for providing excellent information.
These are such great tips! I really liked the section about affiliate marketing, and suggesting to experiment with a couple different programs is a great idea. How did you decide what programs worked best for you and your readers?
Thanks for providing such wonderful information on this post. It’s really appreciated. your post is so motivating that anyone can start blogging after reading this.
And the most important thing is to be patient. dont lose hope too early.
Again thanks for this. It will keep motivating me for sure.
Hi Clelia!!
Amazing post as always. I found it too late but it’s ok.
a lot of resources, tips, and information here that we can’t find it elsewhere. Thank you for sharing and I appreciate it.
Thanks for sharing this article. It is very useful for all the people who want to start blogging. If you are about to start blogging then you need to know that you can be a great writer but if you do not use the keywords that your audience is searching for in your blogs then your website will not rank on SERP sooner. That’s why you need to have an SEO & content strategy for your blogs & use an SEO Tool that gives you the best results.
Wow this is an awesome article, I was badly finding a way to monetize my blog. Thank god at least now I found your article 😉 I’m looking forward to following this and earn some money
Affiliate marketing is the best way to make money from blogging. Without that, Adsense is another way to easily earn money. Your blog content was good. Thank you very much.
Thanks Stefan, I agree, if done properly and with integrity (meaning by promoting only products you use and would truly recommend) it’s a very good and honest way to make money with a blog! Another way that I have to add is to create your own products but it’s more challenging for sure. Thanks for stopping by!
Admiring the time and effort you put into your site and the in-depth information you provide.
It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed information. Great read! I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Amazing Post I like your way of writing you describe it clear and easy to understand what you want to say great blogger keep it up.
Thanks!
Great blog right here! Additionally your site
lots up very fast! What web host are you the use of?
Can I am getting your associate link to your host?
I desire my web site loaded up as quickly as yours lol
Hey! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you
know how to make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when viewing from my iphone4.
I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to
fix this issue. If you have any recommendations, please share.
Thank you!
A good paid theme will do it for you automatically. Cheers
Very good information for traveler.
Running a sightseeing online journal may appear to be simple however it requires part of exertion to fabricated a decent touring blog. I made one which portrays my nations travel and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Individuals are enjoying it, and a week ago I adapted my blog. We should perceive how it goes
Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts. Worth reading
Thank you for Great tips. I will trying to make money from bolg
Great tips how to make money, but if you have great facebook page and groups get more visit and make more money.
Great post, you have pointed out some superb points, I
besides believe this is a very excellent website.
Great tips for how to start a blog and make a profit off of it! Really interesting information that I would have never thought of. Overall great article, thanks for posting!
wow thats great tips how to make money . but if you have great fb page and groups get more visit and make more money .
Hey Sophia, Thanks for your insights. Yes it might be true that with social media nowadays you can make money if you have a massive following or people are super engaged, but that takes a lot of time and effort as well so if you have that kind of time bu all means I also recommend it. But in here we are entering the grey area in between being a Blogger/entrepreneur and an influencer. You can be all of the above for sure but the work involved is A LOT. As long as you are aware of it and don’t think that having followers will bring you instant and easy money, it’s a good piece of advice.
Same here! High-five!
If you have a big community on Social Networks, a lot of followers, you can easily make money just by publishing Sponsor Post
Thanks for your input Mathew, I prefer the “passive income” method more to be honest. Relying just on sponsored posts it’s quite limiting and if you do it professionally is also time-consuming. But it’s a way to diversify the income for sure. I’d rather just put in the mix sponsored content rather than giving the advice to use that as a sole way to monetize your website. No matter how big your community is. But in my opinion each person has to find his/her own plan with ways to monetize the blog that suits their lifestyle, taste and business plan (long term especially)
Cheers
Clelia
Good one. I really enjoyed it
Thanks Patrick!
When you think to make money from blogging., You should make a niche relevant blog site. You need to choose faster web hosting for your website. Because traffic prefer to visit a site again and again , if the site is faster and informative .Also fast loading site impact on SEO.
The work of a lifetime! I’m always trying to improve but it’s not always related to the hosting. I was just running a speed test and the pages that are slower than normal are the ones where I use a page builder, are super long posts with many many images (optimized). I will find a way to get around that too one day, but thanks for the tips! Actually, since I switched to Siteground and my new theme my traffic Skyrocket (as you can see on the graphic I provided). Cheers!
Nice article…
Thank you!
English is not my native language, but I’m trying to make huge portal with all hotels of the world. I have 10 years of experience in internet-marketing and good technical skills, but…
Can’t register at marketplaces you wrote about. First says “php error”, second – something the same. Do they actual today or You can suggest something else?
And maybe you will create post about guest’s posts exchange in future?
Thanks for pointing the errors out, I will have to check as some of them might have changed the URL. I will write about blogging again in the future but not about guest post exchange as it’s something that in 6 years I did probably 2 times 🙂 It is a good way to gain traffic and followers but gladly, I didn’t desperately need it to grow my website and I am a terribly slow writer so I have to focus on publishing content on my own website first.
very nice and helpful post for a new blogger
Thanks Eorius!
What a brilliant article, I wish more people would write blogs like this that are actually helpful to read. Thank you so much for posting such a very informative post.
Thanks! Glad you found the article useful!
Thanks for such an informative article. It look I need to work hard seems not easy. Your monetization tips are really good.
Thanks Emily, yes you are right… to get good results and money you first need to work quite hard, but I can assure you that as soon as you see your first payments on your bank account you will want to work even harder! 🙂
Many thanks for sharing this, this will surely help me on monetizing my new travel blog.
Regards,
Manisha
Thanks Manisha, glad it helped you!
I am very thankful to you for sharing this informative article with us. thanks.
Glad you find the article useful!
Thank you for good resource. I’m trying to make money from my website and looking for some resources like this.
Glad I could help! I am about to review this article with some very interesting new info, as with the years I’ve been experimenting a lot with affiliates and other ways to make money blogging and I think the results can be very interesting for my readers!
Cheers
Clelia
Very insightful article. Helps me narrow down the monetisation strategies that would be a fit for me.
Glad I could help NSIM!
If you would like to increase your knowledge
only keep visiting this site and be updated with the most recent information posted here.
Much obliged to you again for all the information you distribute, Good post. I was extremely keen on the article, it’s entirely motivating I ought to concede. I like going to you site since I generally go over fascinating articles like this one.
Very inspirational and motivating article for newbie and established bloggers out there.
I’m a travel blogger relatively very new 2months into this..take a peek at my blog http://www.traveltounwind.com and leave your valuable suggestions and feedback.
Loved your affiliate marketing programs and other ways of monetizing (CJ,themidgame etc)..Thanks for being authentic and clear Clelia..way to go.
Ciao Clelia!
Sto pensando di aprire anch’io un blog sui viaggi e dopo aver letto questo articolo vorrei farti una domanda che riguarda l’aspetto fiscale/legale. Come ti comporti per quanto riguarda la tassazione di questi guadagni? Hai la partita iva o cosa? Ho provato a cercare informazioni al riguardo, ma le opinioni sono molto contrastanti e decisamente non chiare.
Grazie in anticipo se vorrai rispondermi e aiutarmi a capirci qualcosa in più.
Buona fortuna con il tuo blog!
Federica
Ciao Federica, in super ritardo ma eccomi qui!
Sulla tua domanda io non posso rispondere perche’ non sono piu’ residente in Italia da parecchi anni (almeno 10, da quando mi sono trasferita per lavoro a Londra). Per cui ti consiglio di rivolgerti ai gruppi Facebook dove trovi bloggers Italiani che vivono in Italia e hanno la partita Iva! So che al momento e’ difficile destreggiarsi con il fisco, soprattutto quello Italiano, ma so anche di persone che hanno dei blog popolari e che quindi hanno aperto la partita Iva. Non conosco pero’ come funzionano le leggi Italiane in materia, mi pare ci sia uno sgravo fiscale a seconda della tua eta’ ma non prendermi in parola perche’ come ti dicevo io non rientro nella legislazione Italiana, anche volendo perchè non resto abbastanza in Italia e non ho niente a nome mio qui, nemmeno più la macchina che ho venduto proprio quando mi sono trasferita.
In bocca al lupo!!
Clelia
Federica, I was looking at your blog. And your photo below – you are very very beautiful girl 😉
Loved your post with such details. I have been working on some of them that you have mentioned, and I got some more things to try from your post! Thanks for sharing!
Glad I could help Reshma!
Hi Clelia,
Thanks for the great article. I had a few bad experiences with affiliate programs that weren’t really relevant to my niche so I didn’t view them as worth while. But after reading this I am definitely going to take another look.
Also, it’s amazing you have replied to all of the comments. I used to be so good at that, then my comment plugin started playing up and I just couldn’t be bothered to fix it.
Love your blog 🙂
Rachel
Thanks! Glad you find it useful 🙂 Regarding the comments, don’t give up when you have IT issues! Heck, I have them basically every week and I always spend an insane amount of time trying to fix them, but it is worth it in the end. Connecting with your audience is the n.1 factor to be successful with affiliates so I strongly recommend you try to change plugin or simply use the normal WordPress comment system, is very straightforward and efficient!
Good luck with your website!
Cheers
Clelia
Hey there! I hope I am not too late to reply to your article. Thank you so much for sharing all these tips, totally awesome!
Thanks again for stopping by 🙂
I have learned several excellent stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting.
I wonder how so much effort you set to create this kind of excellent
informative website.
A lot of effort…there are no shortcuts in here 😉
Much of marketing is building a relationship between the brand name and also the customer.
Indeed this is a part of the marketing strategy. And has to be done with integrity to be profitable.
wow I am happy I found your article, it is really helpful! I have just looked you up on IG too haha
I have just started working on my IG account as everybody told me all the time that I should do it, but only now I felt I am ready for the challenge ((:
most likely I will add a blog to it too, and your summary is a treasure on the www, so thanks a lot!
Hey Rita, glad you found the article useful!
I actually had a chuckle as I did the opposite compared to what you are doing. I first launched the website and only registered with Instagram a few years after that because I HAD to (I used to hate the guts out of Instagram).
It really depends on what type of blog/business you want to set up. It is truly important that you have at least a plan, the more detailed it is, the better. I didn’t have a plan and because of that, it took me way longer than some of my colleagues to get where I am now.
So my advice is to not push something (Instagram or anything else) unless you know what your goals are first.Do you want to become an influencer on Instagram and have the blog as a side gig? Do you want to truly create a business with your website? based on what type of marketing strategy? These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself before working on Instagram and the other social media.
It’s not super easy right now, the market is super saturated and to stand out you need a good strategy and tons of patience and hard work.
But I’m not in any way discouraging you! 🙂 I’m just warning you that it might be more difficult than what people think.
Not a coincidence that even my friends back at home are convinced that all I do to sustain myself is post a few pictures on Instagram, maybe a blog post from time to time and boom, money will start to fall from the sky. I don’t get angry anymore but it’s annoying as in the beginning I had to learn everything from scratch so I studied A LOT and now I have so much to do to manage my business that I almost never take a real vacation, glued to my mobile to check out at least the emails in case there is something important.
This is a full-time job, a great one, that’s for sure, but hard work and patience are still required. Good luck with your journey!!
Cheers
Clelia
Hello again, you just hit the nail on the head! I started a fashion blog two years ago and and learnt everything from scratch. My fashion blog led to my travel blog because I was doing travel and fashion and I realized I was more travel…but I had go through the fashion thing to discover this about me. So much hard work, so much perseverance and so much patience! You have to work with complete non-attachment to the fruits of action! Because this takes time – there is no substitute for hard work! and there are no shortcuts to success :))
Thanks for sharing your experience, totally true, there are no shortcuts to success, you either work super hard and be patient or you won’t see many results.
I’m late to reading your article Clelia and wonder how you are faring some years after writing it with affiliates?
Hey Carl, after years of trials, I have learned a lot but the main principles of my article remain and the main source of income for me to are still the affiliate programs. I revisited all my articles and optimized them, changed the layout to make it more appealing and other minor adjustments.
Thanks for the info on TheMidGame. I was not familiar with them, but will definitely be looking into them for a couple of the blogs I own.
There are some other nice tips too. Really helpful. Thanks!
Thanks Leo, always happy to help 🙂
I have recently started monetizing my blog.
It’s not easy but your articles help me lot to get monetization tips and apply them on my blog.
Glad I could help a bit in the process Ruhul!
Thank You for this post 🙂 This helps a lot
You’re welcome Mark!
Thank you for the informative site and just as informative comment replies! I just stood up a basic word press site last night as the first step in heading down the road to monetizing my passions for traveling, photography, and sharing my adventures with others. I am so happy with your comments that say content is key as I have pictures and experiences I could write about forever but am worried about getting caught in a click scam where someone else is making money off my content because I don’t know how to set up my sight correctly. Will be back for more as I wrap my head around and implement the concepts you share above… Thanks again!
Hey Mark, I hear you… the beginning can be truly overwhelming! I will write more about the topic in the future, especially for people who are just starting out with no help. I hope you’ll be around to read it as I will try to lay down the basics in a very easy way (I wish I had found these kinds of articles when I was starting out). Don’t get too worried, start slowly, don’t rush too much and read as much as you can. But most importantly… be patient! I wish you all the best for your new adventure! Any doubts, just shoot me a new comment!
Cheers
Clelia
I like your 2nd strategy the most. You are the wonderful travel blogger.
Thanks Aditi, glad you find the article useful!
How To Monetize a Travel Blog: 3 Easy Strategies That Really Work!
This is Very Helpful For My New Business Thank u For Sharing This Post
mmmhhh not sure how I could help your erotic nights with my post but glad I could help 😀
Wow, this became very complete and well concept out, high-quality activity. i exploit my web page on the whole as a portfolio, but now that my numbers are manageable, I’m beginning to observe exceptional revenue streams, thank you for explaining the affiliate component, wasn’t equipped to make a number of study on this but the legitimate backed post and branding campaigns are what I’m starting to awareness on in the mean time. honestly enjoyed your thorough put up.
Thanks Tanya, I will have to add some more details to this article as it has been written a few years ago when I was just starting out and now I have an even better understanding of the whole monetization process!
Thanks for the informative article!
Is there a problem earning money from a company that is not from your country of origin? I’m an American living in Thailand, and would like to use the 12Go Affiliate Program, which facilitates train, ferry, and bus ticket purchasing in SE Asia and is based in Bangkok. I’m wondering if that causes a problem at tax time, for example, or any other issue related to an American earning money from a Thai company.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
Hey Stacey, sorry I completely missed your comment, not sure if you subscribed for updates or not but I’ll reply just in case you happen to read it and also to help other people who might have similar questions.
So, let’s go straight to your questions!
1)Is there a problem earning money from a company that is not from your country of origin? I think it depends on how the taxation works in the US. Unfortunately being from Europe (and having the residence not even in my home country) I can’t give you an answer that would be 100% correct.
What I do know by talking about these kinds of questions with my American colleagues, I gathered that they indeed work with companies outside of the US, that’s for sure! What I don’t know is how they manage the taxation part of it. I think they have to declare all the income (no matter where they are earning money or from which country) and still are obliged to pay the taxes in the US on their net Income.
I suggest you contact some of the big American bloggers (maybe privately) and ask them if they can refer you to a trustworthy source or tell you how they manage all this.
The US taxation for bloggers is actually much more clear compared to other countries where this profession is still relatively new and we don’t have a clear legislation on the matter.
I wish you the best of luck in your online business. Bureaucracy and taxation can be a real headache sometimes!
Cheers
Clelia
Nice article! Thanks for sharing so many great tips on monetizing a travel blog.
Thanks Anthony, glad I could help!
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Hey Clelia,
Love this post, no idea that changing a theme could have such a big effect on traffic 😉
Anyway, before I head off and share this bad boi on Twitter, I wanted to share something…
We just launched a tool that enables bloggers to turn website traffic into new pay per minute consulting clients simply adding a line of code/Wordpress widget to their site.
And hence pick up new consulting clients when they otherwise would have missed out
(And the best part? It’s free ;))
Would love any feedback you have 🙂
Talk soon,
Tom
P.S.
Check your inbox, just sent you over an interesting proposal!
Thanks! I will check it out (Inbox pretty full as usual!)
I love traveling <3
Who doesn’t 🙂
Ciao Clelia, this article is amazing!
People usually don’t share this information and they keep all the secrets for themselves.
It is the first article I read concerning a travel blog. I really appreciate your suggestions and I will follow some of your points for my next project.
Grazie mille e continua così 😉
Grazie Serena!! 🙂
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Alright, after three months of studying how to set up a blog I bought both domain with siteground and X theme, which seems to be the best out there. Thanks for introducing me to it, its versatility will be useful to find the best layout at the beginning. I’m just starting to play with it!
Great article, I saved it and I think in few months I’ll read it again. Thanks Clelia!
Stefano
Thanks for your feedback Stefano, I’m glad you got X and Siteground they are both very valid products (I’m not planning on changing them anytime soon). You can have fun with X! There is so much to learn, I don’t know how much are you familiar with designing a website but even I was able to do it by myself and with a little help you can achieve whatever you want and have a design that it’s unique! Good luck with your new website 🙂
Clelia
Thank you.Very helpful article for me. )
Thanks Maa, glad you found this useful
Hi Clelia
Thanks for giving such a great post on money making strategies but I think there are other ways too for monetization……..
Hey Neha, if course there are other ways! I just stated the ones that worked better for me so far 🙂
Running a travel blog might seem easy but it takes lot of effort to built a good travel blog. I made one which describes my countries travel and more. People are liking it, and last week I monetized my blog. Let’s see how it goes
You can Say that Lara! Running a travel blog is not easy, especially if you want to create a career out of it, but it’s not as impossible as some bloggers want you to believe. It takes time and a lot of effort, granted, but it’s feasible. I wish you the best of luck with yours. Don’t give up!
Hi Clelia Mattana
When I read your article relate to affiliate marketing. I’ve started building websites, at first very hard because a lot of work to do. But gradually become more stable.
Again thank you.
Thanks Nancy, yes it’s a lot of work for sure, but if done properly, the rewards are worth the effort. Good luck to you!
Hi! Your way of writing is great! Thanks for the tips! It gave me more energy to rebirth my website from scratch to something.
Glad you found it useful Franz, best of luck!
Hi Clelia Mattana,
Very information post, its really good blog for information about blogging thanks for sharing it..
Thanks Simran!
Hi clelia. Thanks for your very informative post. I just recently started a travel blog and had runs about 7 months with now about 50 uniques per day
May i know which one is better for monetizing your blog? I have try pay per sale (expedia) and pay per lead (tripadvisor)
From your point of view and your website’s audience, which one works better? (Higher result)
Such a difficult question as depending on your audience the result might vary a lot. I tried Expedia with no results but I know of people with different audiences that did well. I would work on traffic first (at least 200 uniques per day) and try out several affiliates and see which one works best for you!
Hey Clelia,
This is a super informative article about blog monetization. I really like the tip about not putting random generic links everywhere.
Clelia’s note: I delete the links as it’s again the policy, thanks for your understanding!
Thanks Mark!
What’s up thіѕ is kind of off topic Ьut І was wondering if blogs usee WYSIWYG
editors оr іf you Һave tо manually code it HTML.
I’m starting ɑ blog soon but haνe no coding knowledge so I
wantеd to get advice fгom ѕomeone with experience.
Any help would be enormously appreciated!
If you use WordPress you won’t necessarily need to know HTML. I don’t and still run my blog without any problem.
Cheers.
There are certainly a couple more details to take into account, yet thank you for sharing this info.
For sure, I couldn’t cover ALL the monetizing strategies in here otherwise I could have written an ebook! 🙂 But now I am in the process of review this article by adding a few more tips I have learned during the years.
Hi Clelia,
Awesome post. I also use AFFILIATE MARKETING and recommend it to other bloggers as it really works and helps us making the living via blogging.
Yes Affiliate marketing is a very good way to monetize a website, it’s not exactly easy at first but if you study the best ways to make it work it’s amazing!
your life is amazing
Not always, but I don’t complain 🙂
very informative article …hoping to start a blogg…but its not about traveling like you…..how do i go about doing that if i am a not a traveller…..
Hi Terry, it doesn’t matter if you are not a travel blogger. The main rules apply to any topic, as long as 1) you don’t start it exclusively for the money 2) You write about something you are really passionate about (otherwise it’s difficult to make it work in the long run) 3) You might have many passions to write about, try to chose one which is a bit easier to monetize. For the rest, the blogging world has very similar rules, good luck 🙂
This Blog is very informative! I hope it’s helpful for anybody..
Thanks Raj, many people wrote me to thank me so I guess it helped 🙂
Make money anywhere ain’t easy it requires dedication and patience. After 2 months of travel blogging i finally broke into the $200 mark last month ( i have been blogging on another niche topic since 10months which gave me the experience and taught lot of things) Was a lucky streak though, this month is halfgone and i am still on $50.
I feel the key lies in publishing good quality articles and not overdoing things from the start. One should start at a pace at which they can commit to even if it is 2 quality posts a month and hold onto to it for long. I am still an amateur writer so i limit my articles to 600 words which is good enough to communicate the story my readers.
I do share my articles a lot on social media and that keeps the traffic coming. Lets see where this approach takes me to.
Your approach is quite right Sumil! Always focus on quality rather than quantity! I wish you the best of luck with your blog!
Thanks for being very open on how you are trying to earn money online.
Thanks Saurabh! I think that being open helps more than just say “yes, I earn money with my blog” without giving any specifics 🙂
Great and honest article! Thanks for sharing! I’m only in my third month of blogging, so nowhere near of trying to monetize it, but it’s my goal in a year’s time! Thanks for the tips! It’s so very amazing.
Thank s Olea! I’m happy that I could help! I wish you all the best with your blog. Don’t give up!!
Your blog is very informative! I am a travel enthusiast, I had started blogging a couple of years back but then couldn’t continue on it. I have now started putting time into it, catching up with posts about the previous journeys , though I have got to work to make a substantial footfall. Do you think I should wait for some time before I start on Monetization? Also, I have a blogger account , I read at many places that it poses limits and one should better have a website of their own if they want to make it big in blogging. What is your opinion on that?
Sorry, I completely missed your comment… Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the emails, comments and messages I receive constantly. I’m only human unfortunately!
Thanks a lot! Your tips are really valuable. I am a travel enthusiast, mostly in family travel niche in India. I had started a blog couple of years back but couldn’t actively continue then. Now I have started investing time into it and I am writing posts, catching up with old trip memories before the new ones follow. I am just starting off and have to work towards making a considerable footfall. Do you think I can go for the monetization right away or I should wait to make a little presence via other social media and all?
Also, I have a blogger account, I have read at many places that it is very limiting and one should better have a website of their own. What is your opinion on that?
See my comment above, sorry!
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Thanks for sharing a different way to earn online. i will give a try and see it shows some value or not. i hope you help me out with my plans for this new idea.
Thanks for your comment, Anna. There are many ways you could make money online, of course, this is my way (even if the article is more than 1-year-old, it’s still valid), the keyword is experimenting, providing good quality articles and… be patient (I see far too many people giving up too soon). Good luck!
How inspiring! I’m a traveller myself and have been trying to convert my website into a blog. However, never been getting time to update it regularly. Any suggestions how you planned your posts for upcoming days in advance while you were working as well?
thanks
Prasad, don’t drop your head but I’m the worst person to ask this question to! 🙂 I don’t plan my blog posts…I usually go with the flow unless I have some sort of deadline, so I usually don’t post more than once per month. My record was I think 4 times per month before my 2 months African trip, as I had to catch up with a few articles.
But I usually write a lot (around 2000/4000 words per post, sometimes even more), so It really counts as I write 4 times per month or more 😀
Thanks for the great advice and inspiration! I am a beginner, but nurtured the idea of travel blogging for a while…
Quick question about CJ please, if you have time to answer.
Do they provide the same link possible to use for various countries? How does it work if someone from Asia wants to buy a tour from my link? or you just use the one for US?
Thanks in advance!
Hey,
with CJ it really depends on which program you are joining. I use them mostly for the Tripadvisor campaign and no, I don’t have to use different links for different countries but it may be possible that for other programs they have special rules. My suggestion is to carefully read the terms & condition of each program you are joining and if you have any doubt you can contact them. I did it and they were quite quick in replying!
Hope this helps!
Cheers
Clelia
I am not earning enough through my site and want to monetize now. I am going to implement your instructions. You wrote very nice post here.
Thanks DP, the key word here is patience and hard work… nothing new I know, but it really is that simple! Best of luck with your blog!
Hi Clelia Mattana,
I am not a travel blogger but your post has inspired me.
Maybe one i will be.
Thanks Vidya, it’s not an easy job but a rewarding one for sure 🙂
Great tips! Thanks for taking the time to write. It can be hard to stand out in the sea of millions of travel bloggers.
Yes Neil, VERY Hard, but if you love what you do and you try and stay authentic your voice will be heard eventually. Thanks for your comment!
Thanks Clelia for this useful article, am a newbie in blogging and I have been read a lot articles that could make me grow and succeed as others but at the end of the day i found my self down… but now after reading ur article, i will rise as it was supposed to be.
Thank u.
Thanks, Francis! I know sometimes is easy to get discouraged especially when you are at the beginning of your blogging journey. I don’t deny (and never will) that being a full-time blogger is a hard job, not all roses, flowers and cocktails on the beach as people imagine.
No one can give us the guarantee that we are going to succeed, but after almost 4 years in the business, I noticed that people who somehow still manage to go ahead and make a living out of it are those who are flexible and resilient. Be one of them, believe in your passions and there is a good chance that you will achieve something good! If anything, a great life experience, but don’t give up too soon 🙂
Cheers
Clelia
Great post, kudos.
I learnt so much from this article, but mainly what I learnt is to not give up soon. We all know this, but tend to not follow it.
Got extra motivation from your post. Thanks! 🙂
Thanks Anurao, you said it right…NEVER GIVE UP! 🙂
Hi I am also running a new travel blog about my hometown. I was just wondering why you never mentioned about PPC sites like Adsense? I have been searching and reading around the net and seems like more than 80% in my searches told me to get approved in Adsense as one way to make money with a travel blog. In you case, how was it ?
In my case I simply made the decision to not use Adsense & Co. I don’t like to fill my website with banners to be honest. So, for now, I leave this out of the equation. I might change my mind one day, never say never but I realized that when people see too many banners it’s annoying. At least it is for me as a reader!
But I also know of people that make money with that, so I guess it’s a matter of choices and it’s also subjective depending on the audience!
I’m glad you find other ways to monetize your blog. As a reader of many blogs, I agree it’s annoying. Thank you!
Thanks Tracy, I guess you are referring to the annoying advertising pop ups (AdSense & co)? It’s been a while since I wrote this and I still haven’t changed my mind on that. I still find it very annoying 🙂
merci bcp
🙂
Hi Clelia,
Thanks for a very comprehensive article. It’s a lot of good information in there. My biggest problem before even starting to use the links, etc. is to bring my traffic numbers to the next level. You mentioned in the beginning that you started a professional approach and your numbers went up. Can you please tell a bit more about what you did to make that happen? Apart from good SEO and good content.
Hi Lena,
Actually, good SEO and good content were the most important things I did in my case (first good content actually, as I started to learn about SEO later). Social media helped a bit but I found it to be quite unpredictable and, especially with the affiliates, social media traffic doesn’t convert at all, so I dedicated most of my attention to learning about SEO techniques and they surely pay off in the long run.
When I’m traveling I don’t have to worry about producing content and promoting on social media because with the right SEO I get continuous traffic from Google even if I don’t update the website for a few months. It’s definitely worth it.
If you are just looking for traffic, then social media might be one of the ways to get it, but unless an article gets viral it needs constant work..
There would be so much more to say about traffic but I’ll have to write a totally new article 🙂 Anyway, the most important thing for me always remain the same: patience and the willingness to never give up and NEVER under any circumstances compare my results with others.
I hope these tips will help you!
Cheers
Clelia
Thank you so much for the tips. I am just getting started and I especially appreciate the part about not making the same mistakes you did. It’s hard to find those nuggets of wisdom.
Glad you found the article useful! Learning from other people’s mistake is a good way to start!
Wow, Clelia! Great information about monetizing your blog! OMG, I feel so curious about declining 3k for a post.
I’m starting to monetize my blog, we’ve been writing for 4 months and the information is very useful. At the beginning the best way, I think is offering your services like free lance and we are doing this.
Thanks for this information
Ruben
Thanks for your kind words Ruben! And yes, I’m not lying… I really turned down such an offer (crying a bit ok ahahah). Freelance is definitely a way, but the key is always the same, especially at the beginning: NEVER GIVE UP, even when you are struggling. Unless of course you need some financial security because of family&kids, then I suggest to keep a “normal” job until things start to get off, but my advice remains the same. Never get discouraged.
Good luck!!
Clelia
Hey Clelia,
Thanks for that great article, just finishing up building our travel blog and your post was really helpful in giving us some perspective on what to do next 🙂
Thank you guys! I’m really glad to hear that my post was helpful, I wish you the best of luck with yours!
Cheers
Clelia
Hi Clelia Mattana,
I’m Srimanta, a travel blogger. Excellent and very informative post for all travel bloggers those who want to make money with their travel blog from affiliate marketing, specially CJ. I have learned very useful strategies what you have said!!
Thanks for your 3 great resources. 🙂
Srimanta
Thanks Srimanta, glad my article helped you!
Cheers
Clelia
Love the tips. Bookmarked your blog for more as I embark on my journey with my new travel blog – I would need all the help and reading professional travel blogs, like yours is definitely on top of my list.
Also, will join “themidgame” at a later point when my blog starts getting traction. Thanks for the great resource.
Thanks for your kind words Jo, and obviously… best of luck with your blog! 😉
Hi Clelia! Very nice tips! I’ll apply these on my blog. Your blog is awesome!! Greetings from Brazil.
Thanks Fernando! Best of luck with your blog!
Hi Clelia,
My name is Anna. I’d like to ask you about CPA or affiliates… They’re sending me the offers to place their banners with dofollow link and to earn money for the successful deal on their website. But I afraid that it won’t be good for me as my readers may click on link but not necessary will buy something. So it just takes my place and time…
What do you think?
Hey Anna
For the Affiliates, I only choose the ones I have used myself and trust 100%. People will only click because they will know your advice is genuine. As for the CPA & co, I am not a huge fan of it but I have tried to implement a few ones (not many) and most of the time, especially with Adsense, they try to keep it relevant to your content so you won’t (hopefully) have banners for things that are totally unrelated. In my case, I’m not making tons of money with that because I didn’t plaster my website with it, but it’s still passive income and doesn’t hurt, given that the ads are somehow relevant.
So my advice is, check out the affiliate that you use and recommend them and also, if you haven’t already, sign up for AdSense. I was already signed up for ages before I started to use it as it depends on the traffic you have. I didn’t see the point of it before reaching at least 400/500 visitors per day, and even at that point, it wasn’t that much money at all. Your choice I guess 🙂
Good luck!!
same here, English is not my native tongue language but I managed fine, your blog is awesome, I can’t wait to explore more on your con, seems you know what you are doing and I love learning from each day.thank you. do u mind your nationality pl, I am filipino.
Thanks for your kind words Mary! And by the way… I LOVE the Philippines, amazing country!
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Some solid advice here. One thing I’d like to point out as well in relation to your point about not following the crowd: “Don’t put an affiliate simply because other bloggers are making money with it. Your blog and your audience might be different and it might not perform in the same way.” True, AND, just because you see other blogs pushing an affiliate, doesn’t mean it necessarily converted well for them either.
Just do what works well for yourself and your audience is excellent advice. Don’t be afraid to test, but don’t be afraid to move on if you feel like something just isn’t working.
Exactly! So many people follow what the others are doing. To me, find your uniqueness and using it to your advantage is the key!
Cheers
Good stuff Clelia! Affiliate marketing and selling my own book is the main way I earn online. It’s amazing what one can earn if they just establish their platform online!
Ever come to San Francisco? If so, happy to buy you a drink!
Sam
With pleasure! I always wanted to visit San Francisco and now that I’m based in Mexico I might arrange a trip some day, thanks 🙂
Wow. This is like a mini encyclopedia on its own! And I read your “about” section as well. Loved your blog 🙂 Glad I stumbled upon this when I was looking for something. Thanks for the tips, Clelia. Wish you all the very best for your future endeavors. I’m sure you will achieve lot more 🙂
Spreading more positivity,
Anu
Thank you so much for your kind words! Best of luck to you! 🙂
Ciao Clelia!
Questo post mi ha ispirato moltissimo, ti ringrazio davvero di cuore!
Sto seriamente pensando di provare qualcosa di simile anche io, mi piacerebbe tanto, però leggendo in giro mi assale una paura: la partita iva è necessaria? 🙁
Saluti!
Ciao scusami!! Io che rispondo dopo un anno, ma non si sa mai! Per quanto riguarda la questione fiscale io non sono residente in Italia da una vita (per mia fortuna), so che ad un certo punto serve la partita Iva se sei in Italia ma non sono esperta nel campo e credo sia meglio tu chieda a qualche blogger Italiano che e’ residente in italia. C’e un sito che potresti trovare utile a riguardo, si chiama nomadi fiscali, facci un salto, di sicuro trovi le info che ti servono anche li.
In bocca al lupo!
Hi Clelia,
for me, it’s a combination of selling ads, sponsored posts and affiliate marketing.
Plus, I also have clients for my services of freelance writing and social media marketing.
I’m creating my product, at this time.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing your experience, creating your own product is also a stellar advice! I will get there one day too!
Wow!
What a great strategy to run affiliate program successfully. It is impressive as well as motivational.
Thanks Darren!
Much appreciated Clelia,
your article is extremely motivating and I can hardly wait to begin putting every one of my endeavors to make my site fruitful!
Thanks Sania!
Hi there,
I’ve really enjoyed reading all of your tips on travel blogging! My website is etravelerbudget.com! If you would not mind shooting me an email..I would love to update you to where I am at on my website as I do need a mentor in the industry!
Hey Shane, as much as I would love to offer mentorships options, i wouldn’t have the time right now! I hope you found a good one in the meantime. Best of luck!
Hi Clelia,
just bumped into your post today and totally enjoyed.
About your screenshot, how would you define “non-professional” approach?
Thanks for your awesome work and for sharing it.
Hi Claudio, glad you enjoyed the post!
As for the “non professional approach” on my picture, I was simply taking it as a pure hobby, no deadlines, no marketing strategies, no schedule or even an attempt on monetizing it. When I started taking it seriously each post I published had my readers in mind first. That was the main difference during the switch.
Hope it makes sense 🙂
Hi,
I am contacting you on behalf of AdsCluster, an advertising network with main presence in US, UK, CA & AU because we are interested in monetizing your remnant traffic through banners and video ads.
Please contact me if you are interested in my offer.
Best Regards.
Cecilia Diez
Business Developer
Hi Cecilia, I usually reply to these offers by email, you can find it on my contact page.
Cheers
Nice article for traveller that want to make money with their travel experience.
Thanks! It’s good for all kind of blogs actually..
Stumbled on your wonderful post…trying to juggle a blog and managing a small experiential travel company can be a bit (a lot) overwhelming and your post has helped me really focus on what would work for us (or not)! Thank you and would love to connect with you in Sri Lanka. Will get in touch through your ‘work with me’ link.
Thank you! Glad it could help you 🙂
This is BY FAR, the most descriptive and helpful post I’ve found on affiliate marketing! I am bookmarking. Thank you for being up front. I feel like many of the top affiliate marketers don’t want to give away their “secrets.” I appreciated this!
Thanks Bobbi!
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Very helpful post! I’m just starting out but this definitely prompted me in the right direction. Thanks for sharing these tips!
Thanks Liz! It takes time but don’t give up, you’ll see the results in the long run.Best of luck to you!
Nice post!
You should first work on your content before going in the monetizing method…..
More Power
Thanks Mac, you’re right…first work on the content, and do it for passion. The monetizing part will come, almost naturally!
Very good post! We will be linking to this particularly great article on our site.
Keep up the great writing.
Thanks!
Nice post, I’ve been (unsuccessfully) trying to monetize my blog. Thanks for the info. Nice website. 🙂
Thanks james! Be patient and keep trying…the results will come!
Very Good Stuff …. I’m currently doing research into a travel business as a early retirement gig.
Thanks Traci, good luck with your research 🙂
Hello,
Just wanted to stop by and say these are great tips! Definitely a great read. I will definitely be sharing on Facebook! I currently run a similar travel site based in Los Angeles, check it out if you have a chance: http://www.visitla4less.com
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Jay!
Thank you to share this with us, Clelia! In Brazil we don’t have good information about affiliate programs and get money with blogs. You just open my eyes for this market.
Thanks for the lovely comment Michael, I’m glad you found my post useful!
Till now, Google Adsense is most popular for monetized blog or website though it has some rude rule to band account and they do not reply if you ask for the reason for banding your account.
I honestly don’t know much about Google Adsense as for me it’s not a good way to monetize and I don’t like the spammy look it gives to the website but this is my personal opinion of course.
Great post and advice. It is easy to get discouraged, but I love the monetisation tips you provided to give bloggers like myself more inspiration. 🙂
Thanks Dave! Glad I could encourage you. It’s not easy as I said, but totally doable! 🙂
Great post !
Thanks for posting …
Thanks Shoba!
Hi Cle!
I have read first 2 items; Thanks for sharing your experience.
I signed up in themidgame but it seems their website is out of service because I received this error:
Error 404
Unable to resolve the request “socialaction/opportunities”.
Do you have this issue too?
Hey Omid, I just checked and it works on my end.Maybe it was a temporary issue with the server? Try again now, it should work!(by the way…the website is not mine, just guessing!)
Cheers
Cle
Thanks for the useful and informative post. You have given us a lot of good tips to use on our new website. Hopefully one day we will be as successful as you.
Keep up the great work,
Dale @ TimetoGetAway.
Thanks Dale! I’m currently writing a whole e-book on how to use the affiliates for travel bloggers, stay tuned as it will give you so many detailed tips! I wish you all the best with your blog!
Cheers!
Clelia
great post Clelia.thanks for sharing ur experience
Thanks Niloy!
Hi Clelia,
This is a very informative post. Thanks for sharing your monetisation tips. I also use Booking but have only just recently started using it this year. I’m not registered under CJ though, as they closed my account after 6 months due to my inactivity in promoting products. I believe they will close your account after 6 months if you haven’t made any commissions.
Fortunately, Booking approached me to sign up with their affiliate programme and got accepted after 24 hours. I heard Booking takes a long time to approve and they often decline new bloggers. But I was very lucky despite of being new.
I also signed up with TripAdvisor late last year but I actually haven’t started promoting them. I’ve read through once about their TOS and how they pay but it seems quite vague. I still don’t know if TripAdvisor is profitable. What do you think?
Which ones are your favourites between the two (Tripadvisor and Booking)? Also, I’m very impressed by the amount of commissions you earned through CJ. May I ask what other products / companies you promote from CJ that are quite profitable in your blog?
I look forward to your reply.
Thank you.
Hey, My favorite at the moment is (still) booking .com but don’t take it as the wholy grail as each blog is different and has different results. For example I’m not doing much with Amazon while some of my colleagues are having great results!
Great post! I was checking out this article and I am truly impressed, so detailed and well written.
Very helpful and valuable info, particularly the affiliate marketing part 🙂 I was looking for a detailed post on the topic for a long time. Thank you and good luck with your website. I really love it.
Thanks Change,
Glad I could help!
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Nice write up Clelia, lots of useful tips, I’m using affiliate Window, might have to check out CJ too. I’m new to Midgame at the moment, had a few gigs so far, but seems rather slow, I have to agree, it’s a fantastic idea and I only hope it grows and becomes more frequently used by companies wanting to work with bloggers in the future.
Hey Dave,
Thanks for stopping by! Glad you found the article interesting. As for the guest post opportunities, I’m sure the site will grow further, as right now there are a few very good opportunities. CJ has been very good for me, and I highly recommend it, but as always, it depends on how you use your tools! Good luck with your blog and if you need any suggestion, shoot me an email 🙂
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Awesome blog! Congratulations on the great work and valued travel content, with good and useful news.
Take care.
Roberto
Thanks Roberto, glad you found it useful!
Thanks Clelia,
your article is very inspiring and I can’t wait to start putting all my efforts to make my blog successful!
Glad you found it useful Diana, hang in there and work hard, you’ll see the results!
Thank you so much for writing this post. I have several blogs and I really like it and I’v been thinking lately to take this blogging to a higher level, wich also means maybe getting some income out of it. This post will help me a lot along the way. And I love your travel stories! Keep up the good work!
Thanks to you Natalia for commenting. I wish you all the best for your blogs, don’t give up and you’ll see the results, guaranteed!
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Hi Cle,
Thanks for sharing your experiences and what is working for you. I totally agree with how once you changed your approach to your blog things have really taken off. I loved your blog when I first saw it over a year ago, yet it has come on so much since then. Kudos to you 🙂
Thanks for sharing your income earning experiences. I really need to re-think my affiliate link strategy since it has overwhelmingly failed for me so far. I need to focus more on testing and playing with the strategy. I also need to look more into deep linking and seeing if that will work.
Thanks for the suggestions of sites to use. I recently found out that even with only selective paid do follow links you can fall foul of Google so I have to now rule out the little amount of income I received from that.
As for being creative I have one little tale to tell. I wrote an article about music festivals a few months ago. I didn’t have any personal photos to support the article and didn’t want to pay for any (remember I don’t really make any money from my blog). So I approached via the website one of the local summer music festivals near me. I explained what article I was going to write and gave them some visitor stats. I then asked if they’d be interested in supplying me with some of their photos to use and I would acknowledge them in the article. They were more than too happy to oblige. They then approached me and offered me press tickets to this year’s festival! (I never expected this.) I was very grateful for their offer. Unfortunately I already had plans for that weekend but I was quite surprised at how happy they were to voluntarily offer them to me.
Hey The Guy, thanks so much for your comment.
You already know that I really appreciate your work too and I’m sure that with the right strategy you will be able to make money with the affiliates. I reiterate my advice here, you need to find the right affiliates for you but most importantly : deep links are the key.
Many people just put some banners here and there hoping for their audience to click on them. It simply doesn’t work this way. I read other blogs (mainly marketing ones) and honestly? when I see a banner I literally ignore it. It’s just annoying to me. It screams ” advertising”. But if the author of a well written comprehensive post links to a useful resource I’m more interested in checking that link out.
Same applies for my readers. When they land on my Sardinian article (where i placed most of the deep links), it is obvious to them that I am passionate about the topic and that they can rely on me, so they are more inclined to follow my advice. It is really that simple. I’m sure you have plenty of good articles to use for this purpose.
Regarding your tale on creativity, very well played! That’s exactly the spirit. the best offers come from reaching out and asking for a co-operation. The same happened to me with the Midgame. I reached for them but not asking them to give me any paid work. I only explained who I was and after they featured me on their website I received a few offers.
So keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll see the results. I also support your choice to avoid the Do Follow paid links. They are really not worth the risk with Google. Also, I really think that this strategy won’t last forever. Luckily for us, the companies that want to work with bloggers are starting to realize that the Page Rank is not really a huge factor to rank high on Google.
I do better than some of the biggest websites out there for a few articles and I only have PR1 so I know what I’m talking about.
If you need any help with the affiliates, just let me know and I’ll try to help (I’m not an expert but experience taught me a few things..)
Many thanks Cle for some very wise words, as always 🙂
I’ll probably take you up at some point on that offer of help.
Best wishes.
Great Article! It is really useful and has helped me to understand this better.
I have just started my own website and I am trying to find ways how I can make money of it. Right now I don’t think I have enough readers who will click on the ads.
I just have one question, how many monthly readers do you need to make enough money so you can quit your day time job and focus only on your website?
thanks again, well written and excellent article.
Hey Sigurdur,
Thanks for your nice words, glad that I could help you!
Regarding your question, there is no straight answer here. My advice is to keep your day time job until you see that your website is “taking off”.
But what does it means exactly? it’s not just about how many people visit your website. That is surely nice but it doesn’t guarantee an income.
I know of blogs that have more page views than mine and are not making any money out of it (yet).
You mainly need a strategy, you need to know about all the ways available to monetize your blog and try them to see how your audience reacts. But most importantly, your visitors must be engaged (comments, shares on social media and emails asking for advice are usually a good sign).
Take your time and don’t rush things. Don’t compare your website to the most successful ones out there. For 90% of these website it took more than a few years of hard work to get where they are. Some people get there sooner but it’s more the exception to the rule. So be aware that being able to earn money will take time. In the meantime work hard and try to produce some good content.
Without the quality content it’s going to be very difficult to get where you want. Also don’t worry if in the beginning just few people will read your blog posts. Make sure to have some “evergreen” posts that you can re-share when your audience is growing.
I personally just started using Adsense but I’m still not putting much effort in it as I don’t see it a very viable way to make good money. You would need a massive traffic to see good result with that method.
I started taking my website more seriously when I had more than 150 views per day, but it’s totally subjective.
Last advice: read, read a lot of good travel blogs and marketing blogs and see what they are doing right. But don’t try to copy their success, find your own voice and stick to it, be genuine and you’ll see the results on the long run.
Best of luck for your new website!
Congrats on a job well done! I am now motivated to give it all a go 🙂
Thanks SJ! Always stay motivated, no matter what, that0s the key 😉
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I had read other articles on the matter but this one is written very well. I’ve only just begun blogging and I’m finding all this a bit confusing. I subscibed to booking.com two weeks ago and they still have to reply.
I went to the CJ website and I read the policies. It seems they charge you if you don’t get traffic or activity, so I suppose it’s not suitable for budding blogs.
Having said that, my blog is growing in content little by little, and I’d be honoured to publish your interviews.
Sincerely
Sara
http://www.myfutureproject.com/
https://www.facebook.com/myfutureproject1?ref=hl
Hi Sara
When you say that you subscribed to booking.com you mean you applied for their affiliate program? Sometimes it takes a bit for them to reply, if they still didn’t get back to you, I suggest to write to their customer service. They are usually very nice.
For CJ, I’m pretty sure they don’t charge anything. Where is the piece where they say they charge you? I applied to their program and didn’t use it for months but they never charged me of anything. On the opposite, they are very precise with payments and I love their reports and customer service (note that I don’t get any money by publicizing them this way…it’s just an honest review based on my experience).
Sometimes when a blog is new, and you apply for a program, the company might reject your application. It happened to me a few times. All you have to do (if you really want to work with them) is wait for your blog to gain some traffic and try again by writing directly to the company. It usually works.
Regarding the interviews, I’m finally starting to work again on my blog and I’ll send you all the material as soon as I can!
Cheers
Clelia
Even though my blog is not a travel blog, I like to read how people go about monetizing their blogs and you have given what sounds like excellent advise.
You have a great command of the English language and I would never have known that it is your second language!
My blog is still new, but I would like to monetize it in the future. I will take the advise you gave about sponsored posts and affiliate sales on board for sure.
Great post and I hope your blog continues to thrive!
Thanks for your message Debbie!
You are right, the suggestions on this blog post can be applied to any type of blog really.
I wish you all the best for your new website and if you need any help just shoot me an email!
Cheers
Clelia
Hey Clelia, pretty rad tips you have on here! I’ve been meaning to now turn my blog into my career path slowly, and some of these methods I’ve tried. I have always made a decent amount with Sponsored Posts, being that I only accept in British Pound as well since a lot of the companies are based in UK. But, affiliate links is something I’ve always wanted to take the time to do and just haven’t gotten around to it unfortunately. Much appreciated for the guide and I’ll try to implement some while back in the US!
Hey Ryan,
you should definitely give affiliate programs a try. They usually don’t give immediate results but when they do, ah well… it’s nice to see the money coming your way 🙂 If you need help just let me know! and good luck with your great blog, love it! 🙂
Hi Clelia,
I found your post in a G+ community I’m in and decided to click it and I’m glad that I did. This is a great post.
I love the way you broke down each of the methods you could use to make money and the amount of detail that you put into each one.
Affiliate marketing really is one of the best ways to make money with any king of site. But the thing with affiliate marketing is that in order to be really successful, you have to promote something that you know or have used yourself. At least that’s what I think.
Lastly, in order to make money on ANY blog, you have to build and establish trust. Nobody is going to buy anything from you unless they trust you. So that’s important to note.
Great post once again.
Have a great weekend.
– Andrew
Hey Andrew
Thanks a lot for your message and glad you found the article useful! Of course i totally agree with you on the affiliate tactics. There is no point in suggesting something you didn’t try or trust. People will notice and it won’t give you any benefit in the long run.
Trust is the most important thing you can work on in order to be successful.
I’d never click on a link and buy anything if I don’t trust the source.
Thanks again for stopping by and good luck with your own business!
Great article Clelia. I really liked how you clarified that monetizing your blog can be alot of hard work – which is the hard truth (normally).
Keep up the great work, I look forward to reading more.
Thanks for your nice message Johannes!
Really a great article!! I must follow your suggestions!!
Thanks Fabio 🙂
I know I have way more traffic than other blogs who are making way more money than with me, and it’s kinda frustrating :/ I haven’t tried affiliates and never even really considered it – but now I’m going to give it a whirl. Thanks!
Hey David, if you already have the traffic then the affiliates, if well placed can really make the difference. Find your best content and try a few ones for 1-2 months. i know it can be frustrating but it’s worth the wait.
Good luck with your blog!
Very informative. I will be definitely signing up for the midgame. I am happy to hear that you also found the job as a photographer for hotels. This is something I will try to do once I will get to New Zealand. Once again! Thanks for the tips!
Marta, if you have a good portfolio on your blog you should definitely try to score some photo shoot. There are many hotels/hostels looking to renew their websites image.
Good luck! 🙂
wow…thanks for the tips 🙂 My first time here 🙂
I will take note of your blogging advice
Thanks Rich, glad i could help 🙂
Hi! Your blog has taught me a lot. I just started my travel blog a month ago and I would really appreciate it if you visit so you can check out the Philippines and its tourist destinations. Plus you can also give me suggestions if that’s not too much to ask. Thanks for this article! 🙂
Hey Faye,
Thanks for your comment and glad I could help! Everyone knows how much I love the Philippines and even if I stayed in there for 4 months I still have a lot to discover, s I will be checking out your blog for sure..
My suggestion for now is: focus on writing good useful content for your readers and always remain honest when writing your blog posts…everything will fall in place if you stick to it and you’re patient enough to see the results.
it might take a while, but as you saw on my post, don’t get discouraged in the beginning. Hard work always pays off!
I wish you all the best for your blog!:)
Cheers
Clelia
Wow!
This is an amazing post for beginners like me. I bet I still need more time to focus on my blog given that there are far more unlimited opportunities outhere.
I have just created mine last month and still doing some works slowly on my blog.
If it’s not too much with you, do you know some forums where I could join in for travel bloggers so I could also be guided accordingly by creating my blog? I can’t afford for someone to do it for me 🙁 (I think I still have more things to do)
Huge Thanks Clelia!
Ferna Here
Hey Ferna,
I’m always happy to read comments like yours as my aim is to also help people who are just starting out with their blogs! regarding the forums,unfortunately I don’t know many. What I did in the beginning was reading e-books from famous travel bloggers and download free guides for beginners. They helped me a lot!
Besides that, check out the Facebook groups for bloggers, there are many and can be very helpful. My advice is to interact as much as you can (even if you think your question is “stupid”). There will be many kind people willing to help you.
Doing everything by yourself can be overwhelming (tell me about it!!) but in the end it will give you an even greater satisfaction.
Hang in there, study, try and make mistakes. They will give you invaluable lessons, trust me on that.
Good luck Ferna!
That is awesome!
Thanks Clelia! Hope to see you around more..
Awesome post! I guess, I can’t just be sitting around now that I have a free time to do more work on my blog(since I quit my job) I might be joining the league by seriously monetizing it. 🙂
Hey Lyndsay,
If you have more time,I’d say YES, go for it!(Just make sure to have a clear goal, that really helps you to focus and achieve what you want)
I started working on my blog seriously when I was in Thailand and I had to go to school in the mornings. I decided to quit and focus only on my website….It took me a while, but it’s definitely worth it.
Good luck and keep me posted!
Definitely, When i’m in the Philippines again! can’t wait 🙂
Thanks for being very open on how you are trying to earn money online. I did that strategy before and would like to do it again so others may learn and eventually be free to ^_^
You’re welcome Grasya! I seriously don’t understand why people are so private when it comes to salaries and money. I’m not a millionaire anyway. And being open is much better than just write about a subject without backing up the info with concrete proofs.
Sharing my numbers and stats gives more credibility to what I have to say..
But we are not the same, so I understand if others are not so open.
You should do what you feel is right for you. At all times.
Good luck 🙂
This is super helpful! Just signed up for themidgame thanks to you! 🙂
Thanks Lindsay. If you need extra help, just shoot me an email!
Brava, Clelia!!!
Another key to become a successful blogger is by sharing your knowledge for free and writing highly valuable posts, what you just did. Great job!
I reached my highest income last month (June) earning €2000 from my travel blog, mostly through advertising, partnerships and affiliates. I tweaked some of my Google Adsense Banner and suddenly my income more than doubled, I made almost €250 only from Google Adsense (and I had less visitors than ever!) And the funny part is, I didn’t even publish a single post in tis month, lol.
Another way to make money as a blogger is through Social Media. I make more and more money these days by promoting products through Facebook and Twitter and charging around €100 – €250 per share/tweet, depending on the client and how often. It definitely pays to build followers in Twitter&co.
I’m impressed by your numbers on CJ, I can only dream of those. Who brings you the most money on CJ?
Thanks for this awesome post! When will I see you again?
Sab,you already know that you were one of my inspirational figures when it comes to blogging (and monetizing it). I also remember my comment on your website when you posted your article on the topic. I decided to give it a try soon after reading your post.
I knew I had to take a different approach with my website as we don’t have the same numbers or the same audience. That’s my main point:everyone can make it if they know their audience and are willing to try different monetizing models.
Example: I just started with Adsense but I’m still not putting any effort in optimizing the links as I don’t think I’ll make much money with it at the moment.
For me CJ worked wonders because I put many useful targeted links from TripAdvisor on my Sardinia article and people went crazy(TripAdvisor is the N.1 for me on CJ), but these numbers are nothing compared to what I get from the other 2 affiliates. I just love the affiliates because even when I am not writing any post for weeks (just like you with Adsense) I see the money coming without much effort.
Ps…if you are still in Chang Mai by Sept-October we might become neighbours 😉
Ciao bella!
Aloha Clelia,
Wow, this was very comprehensive and well thought out, great job. I use my site primarily as a portfolio, but now that my numbers are workable, I’m starting to look at different revenue streams, thanks for explaining the affiliate portion, wasn’t ready to make a lot of study on this but the legit sponsored post and branding campaigns are what I’m starting to focus on at the moment. Really enjoyed your thorough post, bravo
Thanks Noel!
Since your website is a portfolio for you, just experiment different options and see what it works better for you. I talked to many people saying that their number were not high enough.
Sometimes this doesn’t matter at all. It depends on how profitable is a topic/niche, and you don’t have to score on the top for all the articles in your website. A few ones might do the trick.
Good luck to you, I’m sure you’re already doing great with your photography!
We really enjoyed reading Micki Kosman’s related post. And yours make us even more convinced to sign up to the midgame. Love the fact you’re so open about your blogging.
Yes I read it (after I wrote mine actually!) and they also give great tips. It is very interesting to see how bloggers take different approaches depending on many factors.
Yes you should absolutely sign up for Themidgame, and not because they sponsored this post (who knows me well, is aware that I’d never recommend anything I don’t really believe in).I just love the concept behind their website and I think this is the way everyone should work when it comes to sponsored posts.
Great and honest article! Thanks for sharing! I’m only in my third month of blogging, so nowhere near of trying to monetize it, but it’s my goal in a year’s time! Thanks for the tips!
Glad you found it useful Els, and don’t get discouraged.
I know of people who started monetizing their blog very early with good results. For now I’d say to stay focused and create good content as much as you can. In my experience this is what really pays off in the long run.
Good luck and keep me posted!
Well done Clelia.
Three top strategies. Yeah, I always have a business card with me as you never know who you may meet.
For me, I’m still trying to find the right vendors on CJ.com, commissions are rolling slowly, but that’s fine as I’m still building my audience.
Thanks for sharing this.
Hey Kerwin,
Good that you always have your business card. I love that strategy!
regarding CJ, keep trying you might find the right one for you or maybe you will find it outside of CJ..
My advice is to find the ones that work better for each article you have (and they might not be the same, depending on the topic), but there is a lot of potential in the affiliates.
Don’t give up 😉