13 Clever Ways To Boost Your Travel Blogging Income [Podcast Episode 23]
Want to boost your travel blogging income? Have you ever wondered how to actually travel and make money, or asked yourself how to become a paid travel blogger?
Then you’re in the right place, as that is exactly what we’ll be covering in this episode of The Profitable Travel Blogger Podcast.
Specifically, you’ll learn:
- How to earn money blogging — including the five main ways I monetize my website
- 13 additional smart strategies for making money from a blog
- 13 platforms that make it way easier to make money from a travel blog — or simply to make money online while traveling
- And more!
Basically, if you’re interested in learning how to become a blogger and make money this podcast episode has the answers you’re looking for.
13 Clever Ways To Boost Your Travel Blogging Income – Podcast Episode Audio
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Grow + Monetize Your Travel Blog With These Free Resources
To help you really jumpstart your blogging success, I’ve added 55+ blogging resources like printables, video tutorials, and workbooks into a FREE resource library for travel bloggers.
These resources are meant to help you grow your traffic, community, and income faster and with less overwhelm.
I’m all about implementation and I really want to make sure you don’t just listen to the episode and forget about it, but that you actually use what I share to make your blogging life easier. Inside the library, there are a number of printables and tutorials that will help you take what I share in this episode, and efficiently implement it.
How To Get Paid For Blogging – Episode Transcript
Starting a travel blog, growing a blog, building traffic, growing an email list by creating opt-in freebies, being active on social media, creating your blog business plan. Ultimately, all of these different actions have one common goal:
To boost your travel blogging income.
That’s why I think you’ll love this episode because I’m going to be sharing how to become a travel blogger that makes money — including specific platforms that can help you increase your blogging revenue quicker and easier.
How much do travel bloggers make?
To kick things off, let’s talk about what a travel blogger income looks like.
Honestly, it can vary anywhere from $0 to millions. It really depends on how many revenue streams you have, how well you promote these streams, and if you’re able to scale.
I think a realistic goal when starting out is to aim for $2,000-$4,000 per month and then work to scale to $10,000+ per month. In my opinion, this is very doable, especially if you have your own products or a lot of traffic you can drive to blog posts optimized for affiliates. Here are some creative ways to promote affiliate links.
Once you reach $10,000 you’ll likely have a good sense of what strategies work to scale beyond that.
Automated income streams — like running display ads or having evergreen funnels runnings — is a great way to go beyond the $10,000/month mark.
How do bloggers get paid?
Wondering how to become a travel blogger and make money?
To answer this, I’ll share the main revenue streams that allow me to make money from my travel blog. These include:
- Selling products and services — like my online blogging courses, my Travel Blog Prosperity membership community, and my NYC photo tours
- In terms of how to make money blogging, the above is one of my favorite strategies that is also one of the most underrated
- Want to increase sales? Try showcasing certain products in a tripwire marketing funnel!
- Working with brands and tourism boards on paid blog, email, and social media campaigns as well as paid press trips for travel bloggers
- Creating content that is optimized for affiliate partner sales, so I earn a referral commission; this can be things like:
- blog content (like writing a gift guide)
- product lists that promote Amazon affiliate links
- a free challenge that promotes an affiliate partner
- a resources page that promotes your top recommendations with affiliate links
- Running display ads on my website with Mediavine
- Selling a blog for profit
- Crafting content for brand platforms — for instance, I might write for a hotel’s online magazine or help an app fill up their content library with original lists and photos
So hopefully that gives you a quick and general idea of how to monetize a travel blog, and answers the question, “Do bloggers get paid?”
Now what I want to do is dive deeper to give you some very specific ideas for how to start a travel blog and get paid.
Just note that at the time of recording all of the platforms I’m about to mention — which are all also linked below, many with affiliate links — were live.
Of course, that could change, but the tactics still work in terms of helping you become a paid blogger.
This means if you listen to this episode in the future and one of the platforms I mention no longer exists, simply keep the strategy in mind but try to find an alternative platform.
On that note, here are 13 ideas for how to monetize your travel blog.
1. Earn money blogging by creating an email course with Highbrow.
Highbrow is an email course membership site that covers a wide range of topics from travel to writing to health & fitness to entrepreneurship and beyond.
If you have an interesting idea that they haven’t covered, you can create a 10-lesson email course for them, and earn commissions every time one of their paying members takes it.
It’s a really simple way to make some money, as you create the course once, it gets uploaded, and then you’re done and you can start earning an income.
Tip:
In terms of how to be a blogger and earn money, I recommend making the course relevant to your blog’s topic so that you can promote it right on your website.
2. Get paid to blog by creating an online course with Teachable.
In my opinion, this is one of the most profitable digital products you can sell as a blogger, especially if you follow a product launch marketing plan template to increase sales or pre-sell your online course to validate your idea.
Teachable is what I use to create and host my online courses and membership. That link gets you a two-week free trial, no credit card required!
I’m a huge fan of their platform, as it really has everything you need to run a professional and secure online school.
They have tons of features, so I won’t list them all, but a few I love include:
- built-in discussion forums
- secure payments
- the option to add quizzes or award certificates
- student and school progress reports
- coupon functionality
- affiliate tracking and payouts
- conversion pixel tracking so you can see, for example, if your Facebook Ads are working
- the ability to add and create custom school pages beyond the sales page, curriculum, and checkout page and just a really user-friendly interface
They even have an app so your students can do your course modules right on their phone.
Keep in mind, as a blogger you’re already educating your audience on a topic. Therefore it makes a lot of sense to package your knowledge into a course that further helps them.
3. Become a paid blogger by creating an online Udemy course.
As you’re probably starting to see, when it comes to blogging for money creating courses can be a smart option.
Now personally I prefer Teachable to Udemy because with Teachable I have 100% full control over my content, pricing, and sales.
I also am able to get the email addresses of my students and pitch them to opt in to my email list when they checkout.
In my opinion, with Udemy you do give up quite a bit of control. You have to follow their course creation guidelines and they often run sales that I think devalue the work of the course creator.
That being said, their platform works like a search engine. So if you are at a point where you just want to test out course creation or you don’t want to put 100% of the promotion in your own hands, Udemy can be a good option that also allows you to get started quickly.
I just personally think if you really want to maximize your earning potential, Teachable can be the better option, or even Thinkific, which is also really good. I just prefer the user experience and aesthetic of Teachable.
4. Become a paid travel blogger by joining Perlu and applying for brand campaigns.
There are so many influencer networks out there, but they certainly aren’t all created equal. I’m an advisor for Perlu, and it is one of my favorite influencer networks for a few reasons.
For one, you can collaborate with other bloggers and content creators in groups, or what Perlu calls Packs, to help each other grow.
Moreover, you can simply click into their Collabs section to find paying blogger opportunities to apply for. No waiting around necessary.
By the way, I created a free list of influencer networks here. The list offers 31 networks that make it easier to make money traveling by working with brands as a blogger. They make it easier to land your first brand collaboration!
Additionally, you can join my Perlu Collaborative Posts Pack here.
5. Optimize your website for affiliate links with Skimlinks.
If you’re wondering how to become a blogger and earn money the easiest way possible, you’ll love this idea.
Skimlinks is a set-it-and-forget-it affiliate marketing option for bloggers.
Instead of manually creating affiliate links and adding them to your content, you place Skimlinks’ code into your website. From there, Skimlinks will automatically turn your non-affiliate links into affiliate links — helping you to increase your passive blogging income.
If you’re wondering how to monetize a WordPress blog, installing Skimlinks is a wise idea.
Just note that for this service Skimlinks does keep a portion of the earnings, though I personally still find this platform extremely beneficial and love the true additional passive income each month.
Besides Skimlinks, another option is joining white label affiliate programs, which can also help you automate your affiliate efforts!
6. Become an Ultimate Bundles affiliate and contributor.
Want to know how to be a travel blogger and get paid?
Strategic travel affiliate marketing!
You should absolutely be making sure that a portion of your travel blog post ideas include affiliate-optimized posts promoting partners you love.
Like Ultimate Bundles.
Ultimate Bundles is a company that sells limited-time themed bundles, typically with bonuses, at incredible price points. You may have heard of the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit, for example, which typically sells for 95%-98% off.
No matter what your blogging niche is, it’s likely you’ll find a bundle that you can promote. They have bundles on everything from blogging to travel to self-care to creativity to meal-planning and beyond.
As an affiliate, you earn 40% per sale, and because their bundles are sold at wildly discounted prices the bundles can be quite easy to sell.
Additionally, you can create a product to put into a bundle to increase your affiliate income to 70% — plus you get a contributor bonus.
The other benefit is their bundles are extremely popular. This means even if you don’t make a ton of sales you’ll be bringing loads of new people into the community as they gain access to your bundle product.
You can click here to join their affiliate program.
7. Sell a tour using PeekPro.
Wondering how to be a travel blogger that earns a sustainable income?
As a travel blogger, selling tours — either local or abroad — is a natural fit. Consider the travel style, interests, and budget of your audience, and go from there.
I recommend adding in some VIP options; as in, experiences that make the tour more valuable. This doesn’t need to be going behind some velvet rope at a club. It can be as simple as getting to go behind the bar at a coffee shop to see how they make the perfect cappuccino.
By the way, if you’re wondering how to start a tour company I’ve linked a free cheat sheet that can help.
In terms of set up, I use PeekPro to sell my tours, which you can connect to your blog.
Their software has a ton of embedded features for upselling and bundling tours, and they even have an abandoned cart feature that automatically emails potential customers who didn’t complete the checkout process.
While PeekPro is free, they do charge a setup fee; however, they have a referral program where current PeekPro users — like myself — can refer others to help them get their software set up for free or at a steep discount.
If interested, please send me an email to jessie (at) jessieonajourney (dot) com.
By the way, I also recently interviewed Kelly Lewis, the founder of Damesly, about how to start a multi-day tour company. This is another great strategy for increasing your income as a travel blogger!
8. Become a travel blogger and get through doing an apparel campaign with Bonfire.
Bonfire shirts are super high-quality. No joke, I had to hide mine because my fiance kept stealing it.
Anyway, what I love about Bonfire is you can design your own shirt for free and then they’ll ship your products directly to your buyers.
You keep the profits — basically the price of your shirt minus the base costs.
You can run the sale as a limited-time campaign, or even open your own store and promote it on your blog.
9. Sell your creations on Creative Market.
If you’re curious how to make money traveling, here is an idea for the creatives:
Creative Market is an online marketplace for design assets like fonts, graphics, themes, social media templates, mock-ups, and more.
I’ve made loads of purchases from this site over the years — honestly, their resources have helped me feel creative and remember how to enjoy social media — though along with using it as a buyer you can also use it as a seller if you’ve got some design skills.
This can be a great way to earn extra money, and you can promote your Creative Market shop on your own website.
10. Create and sell a subscription box through CrateJoy.
Like Creative Market, CrateJoy is a marketplace where you can choose to buy or sell, though their focus is subscription boxes.
They have subscription boxes related to everything from travel to beauty to art to gaming and beyond.
As a seller, you’ll benefit from using their platform from a tech perspective as well as from their traffic — they get 4 million page views per month — and their popularity, as they see about 30,000+ monthly sales.
11. Get paid to travel blog by creating an online shop for relevant products using Sellfy.
The secret to how to blog and make money doing it:
Selling products that help your audience.
Sellfy is an alternative to the well-known platform Shopify, though it’s more budget-friendly, allowing you to create an online store and connect it to your blog without spending a fortune. They even offer a 14-day trial.
If you’re not sure what to sell, consider your blog’s mission. Who do you help and how? What product could further help your audience beyond your free content?
Pro tip:
Keep a spreadsheet of all the questions people ask you via email, DM, and in blog comments. This offers good insight into what people want from you.
Also, remember that products don’t need to be complicated. It can be as simple as a well-thought-out printable that helps your audience solve a problem.
12. Host a workshop on WebinarJam.
WebinarJam is a webinar hosting software that can also help you grow your income.
Let me share two ways to go about this:
First of all, if you want to make money with free webinars you can create a free workshop that’s relevant to your paid product, and then pitch your paid product at the end. This works well, as the free workshop allows you to attract the people who would benefit from your paid offer.
It also allows you to show off your teaching style and empower your audience who may have previously thought they weren’t skilled enough to benefit from your paid offer.
For instance, if you have a course on making professional travel videos, you might use the first module as your webinar to get people started and get them excited to learn even more.
Keep in mind, you can also charge for webinars. Just note if you go this route it’s recommended to make it extra special since many people are used to free webinars. Really make sure the content is premium and potentially limited in terms of how many people can attend and how many sessions there will be.
Click here for a free trial of WebinarJam.
By the way, if you need help with your webinar strategy check out this video:
13. Find remote work on FlexJobs.
If you’re a blogger looking for remote work opportunities that pay well while you build up your business, FlexJobs is your answer.
Their subscription service is reasonably-priced and lists loads of interesting work-from-anywhere job opportunities and gigs that pay.
Many of them also include travel as an additional perk. I’ve also seen loads of writing and content creation jobs on their site.
Now I hope you enjoyed this episode on how to make money blogging.
I hope you feel inspired and empowered to start monetizing your blog.
Don’t forget to grab access to the free travel blogging resource library. There are a ton of resources in there on increasing your blogging income.
And of course, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes sharing these bite-sized strategies for bloggers who want to turn their blogs into profitable full-time blogging businesses.
Happy blogging!
Increase Your Travel Blogging Income With These Helpful Past Episodes:
How To Grow Your Travel Blogging Income With A Tripwire Funnel
Create A Challenge That Grows Your Email List & Business Income
How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing As A Blogger
Monetize Your Email List With 4 Smart Strategies
Create A Profitable Automated Email Sequence (With Template!)
Press Trips 101: How To Get Paid To Travel As A Blogger
How To Create & Monetize A Blog Series
How To Grow Your Blog Fast With 12 Clever Strategies
How To Create A Gift Guide For Your Blog
How To Host & Promote Your Blog Giveaway
How To Write Better Emails With Email Storytelling
Connect With The Profitable Travel Blogger Podcast
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