“Really? How do you earn money from your travel blog?”
“How to make money as a blogger or a freelance writer?”
These are the common questions that I am getting and the same questions I need to answer every time my friends find out that I just got x amount of money from my travel blog. Most of them are surprised and at the same time amazed on the idea of monetarily earning from what was originally your hobby only – Blogging.
I am not a full-time blogger. I have my own 9 to 5 job and I think I am kicking it. Travel blogging has used to be my hobby; one thing that I do during my free time and has served as my stress reliever ever since. I am running my travel blog, http://www.chasingphilippines.com for more or less 6 years now. It was exactly March of 2010 when I launched it; and after a year or so, my travel blog, my past time, served more than its original purpose. It started getting offers and sponsorships, hence, began monetizing.
Since I am not blogging as frequent as full-time bloggers (digital nomads as what they call themselves) do, I may not earning as much as they do but hey, I can share some tips on how to start doing it while keeping your regular jobs.
The Secret
Stick with your niche
Monetizing the blog could be the pitfall for some or I must say, for most of the bloggers. When blogs start monetizing, bloggers tend to forget their niche and start blogging about anything as long as the price is right. This sometimes draw away the readers and worst, the blogger himself, since they can no longer see the blog that they used to love. If yours is a travel blog, then, be it! Stay as a travel blog.
Maintain a user-slash-reader-friendly-site
Make sure to study how you want your site to look like. Analyze the things you want to be included on your blog interface and how it should be arranged. Yes, in short, spend time in befriending html and xml codes.
Build your value
Establish your credibility. Nowadays, it is very easy for some to simply copy-paste which is a big NO. Search and experience yourself what you are about to blog. If you were able to successfully build your value, you will attract a number of readers; you will have your own set of audience.
How to Make Money as a Travel Blogger
Earning from your travel blog does not happen overnight. Bloggers invest huge of their time and effort to make it happen and to maintain it. The key is commitment.
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts could be written by the advertiser or the blogger himself. Most often than not, advertisers set for the minimum number of words. Advertisers buy a word or set the required keyword that would have the link to the website of their product, travel agency, airline, and/or company. Additional tip: Check the links, it should not be directed to any of the pornographic and gambling sites. Google hates that!
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a passive income and happens when bloggers partner with companies and receive commissions. There would be a lot of offers for affiliate marketing, make sure to filter them. Aside from considering the commission percentage share, companies that you should be promoting should also have credibility – this is to ensure that your audience will really be clicking and using them and would not be an additional clutter on the blog’s sidebar. For example, if what you are running is a travel blog, doing an affiliate marketing with Agoda, Travel Book, and Deal Grocer is exactly what you are looking for.
Product Review
Companies send bloggers their products for review. Depending on the agreement and contract, review could be in exchange of the product only or in exchange of product plus a certain amount of money. Same thing goes for Hotel/Resort Reviews, these could be in exchange of a free trip and accommodation or a free stay/trip plus an x amount of money too. The latter offer is always much better.
Paid Marketing Campaigns
These are in forms of videos, banners, text links, and/or even social media posts.
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