Grow your travel blog and its revenue with our tips!
Do you love to travel? Are you always looking for new ways to see the world and explore new places? If so, then you may want to consider starting a travel blog. Not only is it a great way to share your adventures and experiences with the world, but you can earn some extra money from it!
Every day, there are more than 7.5 million new blog posts, and 77% of internet users read blogs. With such a large audience base, why not share with them your insights and memorable moments from all the trips you have gone on? Whether you’re just starting out or have been blogging for a while, read on to find out eight ways to make money while globetrotting!
1. Focus on search engine optimization (SEO)
To make money through travel blogging, you need a steady flow of content. The best way to do this is to improve your blog’s search engine optimization (SEO) performance. With good SEO strategies, your posts will achieve higher rankings in search engines, meaning that people will see your articles before other similar posts. Hence, your blog might get more traffic because people are more likely to click onto the results that show up first after a keyword search.
One of the strategies you can try out is to create at least three to five posts per week that have keywords or topics recently searched by people. To learn about the popular trends, you can go to Google Trends to see what people are searching on Google by region. Writing content that people want to read will help bring in new readers who are looking for related topics.
Yet, don’t forget that the success of your blog is dependent on how engaging your content is. So, just don’t focus on stuffing keywords into SEO-friendly articles; instead, make sure each post contains something new that will attract more people to browse around!
2. Sponsored posts
Sponsored posts are posts that are specifically paid for by a brand or company. These posts can be in the form of reviews, stories, or even listicles (a list-format article). Travel brands will often pay bloggers to write about their products or services in order to reach a larger audience. Sponsored posts can be a great way to earn money through your travel blog.
With sponsored posts, brands pay you a flat fee per participation (such as per post or per campaign). Some brands will pay you more than others, and some may even require that you purchase their products in order to write about them. Hence, it’s important to do your research and only work with brands that you’re truly passionate about and fit your niche. If you find the right brands, a sponsored post can be a great way to monetize your travel blog while growing a loyal following.
3. Affiliate marketing
Slightly different from sponsored posts, affiliate marketing is one of the most common ways to make money from a travel blog. Essentially, this involves promoting products or services on your blog and earning a commission for every sale that you generate. Unlike sponsored posts, to earn more commission, you will have to make more effort in strengthening your SEO performance, researching your competitors and promoting the products in a more appealing, genuine way.
As a travel blogger, you can sign up for affiliate programs with travel-related companies, given that your readers are likely to be travelers themselves and come to your blog for travel tips. For example, if you run a travel blog about budget travel, you could sign up for an affiliate program with a budget airline. You will earn a commission every time one of your readers books a flight through your affiliate link.
According to travel blogger Alexa Williams-Meisler, bloggers make US$2,000 to US$3,000 with Travelpayouts, an affiliate program platform in partnership with many travel brands. If you add links regularly to your articles, it might still take a few months before you see that amount of income. Although it takes some time and effort to build up a following big enough to increase the exposure of your affiliate links, it can still be a great way to monetize your travel blog.
4. Social media Influencer
With the rise of social media, many brands are now working with influencers to promote their products and services. Besides blogging, you can also make money through sponsored posts and affiliate marketing on your social media channels, like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, to boost your online presence.
5. Advertising
Besides working with brands, you can also monetize a blog through advertising. You can sell ad space on your blog by signing up on ad exchanges (where you can directly sell ad space to advertisers) or ad networks (an intermediary to connect advertisers to you), such as Google AdSense and Publift. You can place targeted ads on your website and earn money based on the traffic you generate.
The most common pricing method for digital advertising is the cost per mille (one thousand) model. Advertisers pay you a fixed charge per one thousand impressions their ads make on your blog. Other methods for advertisers to measure ad engagement include cost per click (CPC) and cost per acquisition (CPA), in which advertisers pay you per click on the ads and per purchase by your readers respectively.
6. Consultancy work
If you’ve been blogging about travel for long enough, you’ll likely develop a strong area of expertise. You can use this knowledge to your advantage by offering consulting services to brands and companies. For example, you could help a travel company plan an itinerary for their customers or advise them on the best places to visit in a certain destination.
7. Sell your photographs and videos online
If you’re talented enough to have some great shots or clips from your trips, you can upload them to stock photos marketplaces, like Flickr, Shutterstock or iStockPhoto. When someone buys them, you’ll earn a commission. It’s not a ton of money, but it can help offset the costs of running a travel blog. Plus, it’s a great way to share your photos with the world.
Additionally, you can also sell your photos or videos to businesses or brands directly. Travel-related businesses, like hotels, are always in need of high-quality photos.
8. Host travel-themed events
Another great way to monetize your blog is by hosting events. You can offer webinars, workshops or even just simple meet-ups for like-minded travelers. This not only helps you generate some extra income, but it also helps build a community of passionate travelers around your travel blog. In addition, hosting events is a great way to attract new readers and followers to your blog.
With a little creativity, you can find even more ways to earn an income from your passion for travel besides these eight tips. As more countries are lifting travel restrictions, seize the opportunity to explore the places you’ve been adding to your travel bucket list and fund your trips by travel blogging now!
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Header image courtesy of Freepik
