how travel bloggers make money

13 Clever Ways To Boost Your Travel Blogging Income [Podcast Episode 23]

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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

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.

Table of Contents

13 Clever Ways To Boost Your Travel Blogging Income – Podcast Episode Audio

…or click the links below to tune in on your preferred audio platform:

Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts/iTunes

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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:

• 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
• 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.

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?

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

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Do you have any other tips on how to create a blog and make money?

Related posts:.

How to Make Money Travel Blogging (From a Travel Blogger Who Does, 2024)

This post may contain affiliate links.

I’m asked all the time so here are my best tips on how to make money travel blogging. Blogging funded our life, 2 adults, 2 kids now almost grown, full-time travel. Travel blogging and running this travel blog allowed us to see the world. We’re 100% legitimate and the money comes from the blog, not selling courses. We genuinely love travel and sharing the world with our readers, we’re going to continue to be travel bloggers, not course sellers. So here are some pointers and tips to help you make an income from your blog or website. We’ve included information about the devastating Google update of March 2024 (HCU), its effects on the industry, and recovery from that update. This site is recovering, I’ll share how.

How much travel bloggers earn varies enormously. New travel bloggers will earn nothing.

In your first year you could make a useful amount of money, but you’d need another income to support you.

Once a travel blog is earning well, let’s say in two years plus, travel bloggers can earn a living wage.

My travel blog earns enough to support a family.

However, not all travel blogs will succeed. You have to blog the right way.

You can download our new bloggers’ checklist here.

There are many right ways and many more wrong ways to make money from a travel blog.

I don’t usually publish income reports, but in a good month my travel blog can make five figures.

The amount of money a travel blogger earns is affected by time of year, business model, the blogger’s expertise, and how hard they work.

Their audience will affect income too.

Travel bloggers generally make the most money from a US audience or the other rich western, English-speaking countries.

In Asia we earn most from Malaysia and Singapore, of course, Dubai. Having readers in wealthy nations earns us more in advertising revenue.

These tips aren’t in any particular order and not in huge detail because I’m not writing a book here, but I hope you find them useful.

Our story is simple, we travelled for 1 year on savings, tasted freedom, and didn’t want to go home, so we worked like crazy to make our family lifestyle financially sustainable.

It was a lot of work, but we got there.

You can read about it in our eBook, The Seven Year Ditch. (not available right now, sorry)

Throughout this period we kept travelling, with some longer stays (what they call slow travel ) to focus on work, kids and sports.

My husband is a competing Ironman triathlete, our children were home educated and are wonderful teenagers now completing the high school years in an online international school.

We’ve been to every continent bar Antarctica, spent months living in Vietnam, Romania, England, Wales, Australia, we’ve been to Everest Base Camp and to Tibet and it has all (with a very few exceptions) been wonderful.

But this website is the heart of our mission.

Our travels are often planned with the information we need to get on here in mind.

All of our spare time we sank into creating this travel resource, for you to use.

Welcome to our site, it’s the 5 th member of the family. Just like a new baby, it didn’t come with instructions. We had to figure out what worked through trial and error plus intense data analysis.

Luckily, I love looking at data.

You’ll find a video above, if you let more play, watch them, turn the sound on, get to know us and what we do.

We were on the road for almost 6 years without once going “home”. We will continue to travel and will eventually, we hope, buy homes in the UK, Romania and Australia. 

But this post is about the travel blog.

You’ll find more on how to make money travel blogging in the blogging section of this website.

Please remember that no two bloggers make a living in the same way, there are many ways.

I just know that my way works.

How Do Travel Bloggers Make Money?

I am so sick of reading that making money from a travel blog is hard, it’s not, it’s actually pretty easy if you know what you’re doing.

The problem is, a lot of people don’t have a clue how it’s done and repeatedly bash their heads against a brick wall before giving up in a huff.

It’s not about writing, it’s not about stories, it’s about understanding the internet and how it works.

I’m not saying it doesn’t take a lot of work, you will put hours and hours into creating your income, it’s just not difficult and almost anyone can do it if they have the dedication and the time.

You also have to be prepared to get the know-how.

I have been known to say that once you know how it’s done you can basically print your own money. I stand by that, even today, in 2023, but you will need to put a lot of time and effort in.

Travel blogging is no get rich quick scheme.

Be Genuine and Love What You Do

I hate fakes and I’m sure you do too. Don’t be one. They’re too easy to spot and you’ll turn people off.

You have to love this game, it’s fun, it’s exciting and it’s addictive. If you find it a chore you’ll never put the hours in.

Be an Expert on Travel

If you’re going to write a complete guide to a destination then you’d better have spent several months there.

Nothing is worse than bloggers who don’t know their topic.

People do write posts about places they’ve never been, it’s common and it’s easy, but who wants to read that?

Plan your travels to give you the knowledge you need to write your posts.

Specialise in a particular place, know your facts and be a reliable source of information. Add personal stories to keep people reading, the longer your readers stay on page, the more money your travel blog will make.

Write all the posts anybody could ever need on that destination and interlink them, be a respected source.

Specialising like this is good for your site’s SEO and Google ranking, not just good for your readers.

Forget Niche and Audience, They’re Dead

Let me qualify that because that’s a strange thing to say.

Niche isn’t dead, of course, just don’t worry quite so much about it.

My niche is travel. Not travel with kids. That’s a very broad niche.

I also cover blogging, worldschooling, food, and homeschooling on this site.

So long as everything hangs together and your site structure makes sense it all seems to work just fine. I rank well for all of those topics.

Know that general travel sites like mine are a huge amount of work, a narrow niche site is easier to get off the ground and better suited for SEO.

People talk about “their audience” this whole concept is rubbish.

Through the power of the internet and good SEO you can reach anyone, anywhere. It’s not about followers at all for us.

I don’t know of many people who make a living through followers, some do, I just don’t know even one blogger who works that way.

If our traffic was dependent on our existing audience, our followers, I’d never have made anything approaching a decent income.

We have at least 50,000 followers if you combine the platforms, maybe more and they make us a tiny fraction of our income.

Your Facebook audience or your subscriber list are another matter, they like you to be a bit consistent, but Google search allows you to reach anyone, anywhere with a connection.

If you do it right.

Facebook and followers probably account for less than 5% of my traffic.

A 40 year old single male Himalayan trekker is as likely to visit my site as a young mum wanting to go on holiday in Thailand with her kids.

Write the posts, be the authority, get the authority and they will come.

Obviously, Google likes you to be an expert on a particular topic, but if that topic is say, Sri Lanka, you can reach almost anybody with an interest in that destination.

I’d recommend focusing on one topic, covering it fully (multiple keywords, multiple posts), and then moving on to another to cover in-depth. Add more from time to time to that original “basket” of content and keep updating.

You must always update in travel, your content has to be up to date and accurate. Things change, so you have to go back to the destinations you cover and see what’s happening on the ground.

Be a serial specialist, not a forever generalist.

If you don’t have kids of course you shouldn’t be writing about family travel (although obviously, you could take guest posts from parent bloggers) but there’s nothing to stop you targeting any audience you like.

Of course, if you want to be niche you can be, no problem at all, but remember you’re limiting your audience. If you want to start a niche travel blog, specialising in one destination, pick somewhere in the US. RPMs are so much higher for the US than any other part of the world.

Super niche sites often gain recognition and work with brands within that narrow sector when they are still relatively small. This could be another way for you to make money with your travel blog.

Niche sites can also build great authority and therefore good rankings on their field of expertise, fast. You can do it that way but it’s not my way.

I want to cover the whole world and every style of travel. We have a few “niche” sites too, none of them do as well as this one.

Other bloggers report that their niche destination or topic sites do better than their general sites. Both outcomes are possible and are dependent on many factors.

I make my money from the website, not through brand promotions. Niche sales sites (but that’s not what I’m talking about here) were hit by the last Google update, I don’t have data, but that was partly its intent.

Plenty seem to still be doing well, I actually own a few niche sites but my travel niche site on Romania never took off.

I moved all that Romania content to this big site where it does much better.

To Make Money Blogging Multiple Income Streams are Essential

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, create multiple income streams and get them set up as early as possible.

Install Adsense or Ezoic, join all the affiliate schemes you need, get some Amazon sales pages set up, get stuck into earning, early!

Be aware of legal requirements. You will need certain disclaimers, disclosures, and accessibility features.

How you make money travel blogging largely depends on how you want to do it.

I rely on advertising and affiliate sales, other travel bloggers prefer to be paid to promote destinations, hotels, attractions, and so on.

If you have great photographic skills, sell images, other bloggers are paid for public speaking. Some make YouTube videos, some go into podcasting. This could be podcasts about travel, interviews and discussions, or informational podcasts for bloggers and aspiring bloggers. You really can monetise most channels and if you do it well, with consistency, there is money to be made.

There are many ways to make money blogging.

Some bloggers sell articles to magazines or other publications and some sell e-books and courses. The choice is yours but I prefer to earn the money to pay for the travel I want to do.

I find sponsored stays too much work and too much hassle.

I love my freedom, so I conjure my income out of pixels rather than by actually working for somebody else.

My income is what people call “passive”. It’s not truly passive, websites need maintenance, updating, and content adding frequently, but at least while we’re travelling I’m able to relax and not be on duty at all, sometimes.

Passive income means I’m earning all day Christmas Day, every holiday, every weekend, every night.

A 24 hour, 52 weeks a year passive income soon adds up.

In Travel Blogging Which Affiliate Schemes Make Money?

If you’re looking for a good travel affiliate platform to join, start with Travel Payouts, this platform covers most of the big travel companies in one dashboard and is very easy to use. Join Travel Payouts here .

In no particular order, these are some of the affiliate schemes that make us money:

• Amazon (books, travel gear and more)
• Affilimate (more on this game-changer below)
• Booking.com.
• Hotels Combined
• Travel Insurance . Affiliate payouts are huge in insurance. Sign up for SafetyWing here.
• Animoto , the tool I use to make highly lucrative videos on this site.
• Tattoo Package
• Get Your Guide
• Discover Cars (this is a really good one, sign up using our link )
• Longtail Pro and/ or Keysearch
• Board Booster and/or Tailwind
• Themes – Studiopress is the one we recommend , it’s now owned by WP Engine.

Airbnb used to have a very lucrative affiliate scheme but they cancelled it out of the blue. This is why you won’t find travel bloggers recommending Airbnb these days.

The best affiliate schemes to join are those with high value products and long cookies. The percentage payouts do vary, depending on which platform you become an affiliate through. Many companies offer direct affiliate partnerships, others work through a third party affiliate platform such as Share-a-Sale or Awin . You should join these and browse their advertisers.

If you don’t recommend or use a product genuinely, don’t try to sell it. You will not sell any of these things without understanding SEO and getting a targeted audience to your site.

I would strongly recommend not putting all of your eggs in the Amazon basket. They have slashed their affiliate payment rates recently and this could continue.

Be sure to check what percentage each type of product on Amazon will pay. In some product areas, affiliate commission has been reduced more than in others.

Diversify, and find other routes to affiliate revenue. We found joining Awin was very helpful in that they have so many companies and products on their books internationally. Share-a-Sale is another very good affiliate platform you should join.

Another way to monetize that we’re testing right now on two of our sites is Sovrn /VigLink .

What happens here is every outgoing link on your site can potentially be converted into an affiliate link through this third party. It looks promising, but take a good look at the setting on this one.

We’ll update you on this more once we’ve run it for a few months.

How to Make More Money Travel Blogging With Affiliate Sales

People will often tell you that its pointless to put affiliate links randomly in posts or to add affiliate sale widgets to your sidebar or footer. I’d strongly agree with the latter.

Affiliate sale widgets have been useless for me.

The best way to increase the money you make blogging through affiliate sales is to add more links. These are best to put on a dedicated affiliate sales page, a buying guide, and they work best toward the top of a page. Most people do not scroll through a whole page.

Tou can use a heatmap tool or Affilimate to check this ( get a free trial of Affilimate here .)

However, if you have a high traffic page that a lot of people read, relevant affiliate text links can make you money too.

Stay 22 ads booking popups to your site, this is also a good one to join, it ads revenue with zero effort from the blogger.

People also recommend using buttons, in my experience text links in content work better.

Make More Money on Affiliate Sales using Affilimate

Affiliate sales are very lucrative for travel bloggers. I’ve made over $1000 in a single affiliate sale several times, so one of the key ways to make money blogging is in really focussing on, and increasing affiliate sales.

Using Affilimate more than doubled my blogging affiliate income in a month or two, the difference was immense. You can get a 14 day free trial of Affilimate right here if you use our link. No credit card is required and in those 14 days you’ll really see how to improve your affiliate sales game. This tool is simply awesome!

I have a lot of different affiliate platforms that I use currently. Affilimate brings them all to one dashboard, I can see at a glance which pages of my websites generate the most sales, which individual links people click, and which pages are giving me the highest RPMs.

I have several pages with RPMs of $200-$700. Compare that with typical advertising RPMs. My Mediavine RPMs are down in the $20 range right now, we blame the recession!

If you’re new, RPM is rate per mile, how much money you make per 1000 visits to that page. It’s similar to Ezoic’s EPMV, but not the same.

Affiliate sales are booming though and Affilimate is showing me where my affiliate sales efforts should go. This tool also gives you heatmaps, and they’re gold. And did I mention it finds broken Amazon links? Sign up for a free trial of Affilimate and see for yourself.

I make a lot more money blogging from affiliate sales than I do from Mediavine ads. The two income streams used to be about equal.

Now my affiliate income is much higher than ad revenue and a lot of that is down to the insights Affilimate gave me.

Making Money Blogging Through Adsense v Mediavine v Ezoic

You will need some way of displaying ads on your site to make an ad revenue income on your blog. Adsense is where most people start off. I still have several sites on Adsense.

Optimising Adsense revenue is quite a skill. Consider your ad placements carefully. I usually put an ad every 3 paragraphs.

Two of my sites are with Ezoic. I’ve read that Ezoic makes more money than Adsense, but so far this hasn’t happened.

Those sites are still pretty much earning the same as they were on Adsense with RPMs actually worse than some of my Google Adsense sites.

That said, it’s early days. I’ll give it a few more weeks.

Both Adsense and Ezoic slow down your site. I don’t see much difference between the two currently but my Ezoic site has far fewer total ads than any of my other sites.

The Mediavine site has the most, but this site is fast. It has passed CWV.

Mediavine now has an incredibly high traffic volume requirement before you can join, it’s 50,000 monthy sessions now I believe. That’s a huge amount of traffic for a new blogger to generate.

In my experience, Mediavine pay the best. This site is still with Mediavine.

As far as my experience goes, the way to make most money blogging is to get your traffic to Mediavine threshold, fast. Other ad networks like Mediavine exist, I haven’t tried them other than Ezoic and Adsense

Knowing SEO and KWR Before You Start is Essential and Things Have Changed

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Keyword Research (KWR) are probably the best ways to get eyes and credit cards onto your website.

Social media and email subscriber lists work too, but your Google search traffic is vital and you’ll only get that with good SEO, good KWR and targeting.

To use SEO effectively you’ll need a good keyword research too, I started with Longtail Pro and loved it, they also provide some good training. Now I’ve switched to the more expensive SEMRush, and likewise, I love it.

Don’t write a post until you understand the purpose of that post in terms of either pleasing and attracting subscribers (getting people reading), giving solid information to build your reputation and authority, making money or attracting people ready to spend.

There is a post on SEO for beginners here .

Recently there has been a huge shift in how Google search results work. Google Rank Brain has blown it all out of the water ( this is the best in-depth post I’ve seen on this).

Don’t focus solely on backlinks, DA and meta descriptions, it’s all about quality content and user satisfaction now. Rank brain has been great for me, it’s more human, write for humans.

Rank brain was quite a few years ago now, there have been dozens of updates from Google since. Always expect change.

A Blog That Makes Money is a Quality Site, Fast and Slick

Your site needs to be fast, mobile-friendly and have great SEO. This tends to come with good hosting , a premium theme, and good (often paid) plugins and tools .

You have to spend a little money to make more money.

If you’re the type to make a business plan as a blogger, you’ll need to factor in these expensive tools.

Don’t worry about looks, just make your site fast, efficient, and clear.

Also be aware of accessibility, you need good contrast of font to background.

People want information and they want to find it quickly and easily.

I would highly recommend investing in good hosting and a good, fast, secure theme like Studiopress and its Genesis framework.

Your theme needs to be mobile responsive and you DO need an SSL certificate.

Google has now introduced Core Web Vitals (CWV). Your site needs to pass certain speed tests, CLS and LCP. This means it has to be fast and give an outstanding user experience.

This site, using Mediavine Ads plus Mediavine’s Trellis theme, plus Agathon hosting has passed.

My Ezoic and Adsense sites have not passed despite the Ezoic site also running Trellis. Maybe it will in future.

Passing CWV did not seem to improve my traffic or rankings. So I don’t worry about it too much at the moment. They’re only failing fractionally, their speed isn’t poor.

If you can’t tick all of these quality and speed boxes you are likely sabotaging your own Google ranking.

Affiliate Income is About Targetted Traffic

How to make money from affiliate schemes?

Targeted traffic.

It’s 99% pointless to put some random affiliate links into posts or into your sidebar. The people reading those posts aren’t looking to buy whatever you want them to buy.

The skill lies in getting the people on the point of purchasing onto your pages. Get them there via Google search (SEO and KWR) or from social media.

Make Money Blogging By Sending Readers to Amazon

Amazon knows how to get people to buy. If you can get your reader to Amazon, you fought half the battle and won.

We have a post on making Amazon sales pages here . Because Amazon drops a cookie, anything your reader buys from Amazon for some time afterwards, will give you commission.

Remember that Amazon needs you to ad legal disclosures with exact wording to your site.

Content and Maximising Adsense Revenue

There is a skill to making as much money as possible from Google Adsense and it involves keeping eyes on pages longer and putting ads where eyes linger.

I had Adsense performing well. I’m with Mediavine now, which gives me an insanely good income, but you can’t join a premium advertising agency like that until you’ve got good traffic.

Beginners have to start with Adsense or similar.

Beginners may only make a dollar a day, maybe less. But that’s better than nothing, right? You can build on that day by day.

Keep people looking at your Adsense ads longer and draw their eyes and their time, to the places the ads are. Pictures, captions, videos, charts, tables, text boxes, anything mixed media that draws attention will keep eyes on the spot.

Work those features. Keep content long to allow more ads to display.

A super handy tip is to increase your font size. The longer the post, the more ads display.

Know that “above the fold” is premium ad space. It’s not rocket science. Aim to get your traffic up above 50K Sessions per month so that you can join Mediavine fast.

It’s an income game changer.

I jumped from around $600 per month to $1500 within weeks of changing.

Of course, keeping eyes on pages longer isn’t just good for your ad revenue, it’s also good for your Google ranking and your user satisfaction.

If your readers are staying on page because of the useful and engaging content you are providing, everyone is happy.

To Make Money Blogging Climb the Google Search Results as Fast as Possible

Grow your DA through legitimate link building, create quality, long, information-packed content, keep your readers on each page as long as possible, keep them on your site as long as possible, get plenty of social shares and get your on-site, technical, and on-page SEO right.

All these things will tell Google that your site is one they should be showing high in their search results.

Also, don’t target keywords you don’t have a chance of ranking for, try to find something a little obscure when you’re just starting out.

It’s usually better to have Google number 1s for low search volume posts than be on page 10 for high volume posts. You’ll soon learn that the correct answer to most blogging and SEO questions is, “It depends.”

This is why we study the data, to test and to find answers.

Remember that your DA is NOT in any way related to how highly Google will rank you, Google does not even consider your DA, so we’ve been told.

DA seemed to be the holy grail of SEO a couple of years ago but Google is way too smart for the fake backlink merchants now.

You can easily beat somebody with a higher DA than you if your content is better. DA is purely a measure of how many backlinks you have, it’s an indicator, but not something to pay too much attention to.

Keep an eye on your rankings in Search Console instead, if you’re climbing, all should be well.

Do not get involved in spammy sharing groups, link farms and link exchanges and assume that will make your site a success. It will come back to bite you, as they say.

Be genuine, be real, don’t try and cheat the system.

Link building is a thing, obviously, a huge industry and it can lift a new site off the ground way faster. People pay a lot of money for backlinks.

What I’m saying is, if your content isn’t good, if people don’t like it, no amount of backlinks will help you stay on top. The Google ranking reflect human reaction to your post.

If your content doesn’t satisfy users, it will never perform well under Google.

Get More Content Out, Faster. Get Help.

I have paid writers in the past to help me increase the volume of content I’m publishing.

The more content you can publish, and the quicker you can get it out, the more traffic you will receive.

The more traffic to your blog, the more money you make.

I have a new secret weapon in speeding up my content creation. AI, artificial intelligence, can now write your blog posts for you.

The technology is simply amazing and I can create maybe 6 posts a day using this tool. There is a free trial, use it well.

Your free trial should allow you to write multiple posts in no time.

Make More Money Blogging by Improving Your Old Content (How?)

Your old posts could be making you more money and helping your site rank more highly.

Go back and fix up each one in terms of usefulness, current information, speed, broken links, alt tags, and every aspect of SEO.

Wherever possible add something to your site to improve its rankings and bring you more traffic. More traffic equates to more money usually. Also add more affiliate links, make that old content work as hard as it possibly can.

Your old content can decrease your site’s overall SERP rankings if it’s bad. Get it fixed, if it’s really bad and beyond redemption, remove it and re-purpose it under a better URL.

You’ll likely need to redirect the old post to the new.

This is a last resort move but some of my old stuff was useless and embarrassing, it had to go.

Don’t worry too much about 404s and sometimes redirect. Another option is to tell Google not to index it.

But how to make money travel blogging? What are these income streams exactly?

More on that in this post on how to start a blog and make money , and this one on affiliate sales . That’s it for now, a quick 10-minute response because somebody asked the question. This is our truth about blogging and no 2 bloggers do it in exactly the same way.

I think the reality of the blogging industry is probably quite surprising to people who read blogs , they often assume it’s all about followers.

How to Become a Travel Blogger

You become a travel blogger by starting a travel blog. Just about anyone can start a travel blog, it’s cheap and fairly easy, no prior skills are really necessary.

Your domain (your travel blog name) should cost you about $10, your hosting, a similar monthly amount at basic level.

It doesn’t cost much to become a travel blogger. You don’t even need to have travelled extensively, you can become a travel blogger by researching travel online and creating content as you would an essay.

You don’t even need your own photos to become a travel blogger, many travel blogs use free or bought stock images. Of course, this isn’t the best way to begin.

The best way is to travel and to have a passion for travel, but if you haven’t even left the country yet, yes, you could start right now.

Read up on some of the basic skills of writing for SEO before you start, that’s the single most important tip for any new travel blogger.

What Skills Are Required To Be a Travel Blogger?

I had none when I started. I’ve learned as I’ve progressed. I’ve never bought a course nor paid for training.

You will need to be able to write in reasonable English (or another language) and be enthusiastic enough to want to learn the skills. You’ll learn to use WordPress or another blogging platform, about SEO, and social media marketing.

You can learn these skills for free on the internet, as I did. You will probably need to take a reasonable photo, you do not need to be a good photographer. I’m not, but if you are, that’s great.

Some bloggers just use stock images and create content about places they’ve never been. You will need to love your travel blog, without love, you likely won’t put the hours in.

What Equipment Do You Need to Be a Travel Blogger?

You will need a laptop and/or a phone plus power and wi-fi. That is all. If you’re serious about making videos and taking photos, start adding microphones, a gimbal, a drone and an underwater camera.

These items are in our Travel Essentials post.

How Much Money Do Travel Bloggers Make?

This varies. New bloggers or non-savvy bloggers make nothing. Travel blogger income rises over time as reach and audience grow.

I’ve made $500+ in a day often, and I’ve made $1000+ some days.

Daily income varies and depends on your skills and the hours you put in, but it is daily, with no stops for weekends or holidays, you earn as you sleep, 24/7.

The top travel bloggers can make in excess of 6 figures per year, over 5 figures per month. I was in that bracket before the pandemic and it will come back. A few make much more.

Some “travel blogs” aren’t owned by individual bloggers, some are run by big businesses with millions invested. These blogs are likely making huge sums but are paying a big team.

Do Travel Bloggers Travel For Free?

Sometimes, yes, travel bloggers can travel for free . If this is your reason for wanting to be a travel blogger, it’s not a good one. “Free” travel actually involves a lot of work.

The blogger will be working for the destination, hotel, or attraction and there will be required deliverables. On this site, we choose not to do “free” travel, or at least do it very rarely. We find it more enjoyable working for ourselves or on passion projects.

Is a Travel Influencer a Travel Blogger?

No, not usually. Influencers and bloggers are not necessarily the same thing, but a blogger can also be an influencer. Being an influencer requires a lot of dedication, as does being a travel blogger.

I know there wouldn’t be enough hours in the day for me to do both well. If a blogger with a successful travel blog also finds success as a vlogger or Instagrammer, I’m impressed. Each of those things can be a full-time job. Bloggers often employ virtual assistants (VAs) or other employees to take on some of these roles.

Recovery From the March 2024 Google Update (HCU)

Most bloggers were decimated by the March 2024 Google Update. This update was a part of the HCU (Helpful Content Update) which destroyed a lot of sites in September 2023. This site (World Travel Family) wasn’t affected in September 2023, but in March 2024 we were smashed. Nobody has recovered from the September update, it was a site-wide destroyer. I’m hopeful that this site is recovering from the March update. As shown in the graph (from SEMRush) above.

If this blog were our only income, we’d be destitute right now. Google removed livelihoods from hundreds of thousands of legitimate publishers, not spam sites, not AI sites, real humans like me who have sunk decades into building passion sites that are helpful to real humans. People thank me all the time for the work I’ve put into this site (and my other sites). All of my sites are completely legit, but Google doesn’t like the little guys making a living, it seems.

The HCU is far from helpful and I’m sure you’re finding the new Google’s results frustrating to use. Just scroll on past the endless Reddit results, the real sites are still there, just pages in.

Most bloggers I know, and their families, have ditched Google for Bing, Duck Duck Go, or any other search engine. I’m enjoying using Bing, it’s good, and they give credit to their sources in their AI results. You’ll notice that their AI results are mostly useless, factually inaccurate garbage, but at least they give credit. Just scroll on past.

This site has recovered somewhat from this update. How have I done that? I fixed a lot of errors and updated a lot of content. I’m the only blogger I know who has recovered some of their traffic. I have another site that is up, significantly, since the update. The graph for that one is below. It’s very similar to this one, it shows display ads. It’s on Ezoic, this site is on Mediavine. Ads do not cause the penalties, that can’t be true.

I know one blogger who wasn’t affected by the latest update, I watch his traffic daily in SEMRush. I have no clue why he wasn’t knocked down by Google. His site and mine are very similar, we’re both legitimate, human “old school” travel bloggers. It seems to be a lot of luck, there’s no reason to it. I’m still working on solid answers.

If you want to follow and find out how much I can recover, sign up for the “bloggers only” email list you’ll see on this page. I’ll keep you posted. Obviously, with something this big, the answers won’t be free. I’m waiting and testing and helping another blogger recover, until I can give solid answers on how to get your traffic back.

If you found this post useful go to our eBooks listings (this page is under maintenance today as we work on this site, but it will be back soon). There you will find a couple of eBooks that could be helpful to you. The Seven Year Ditch explains how we managed to travel for seven years off the back of a travel blog, the other, The New Blogger’s Checklist, could be just the thing you need if you’re a very new to lower intermediate blogger wondering how to kick start your traffic and income.

I’ll add more tips on making money blogging as I think of them this post is genuine and, I hope, helpful.  We used to offer coaching and support in a private, personal group, we may bring that back soon if there is enough interest. There is a formula, blogging – which is actually website creation –  is a science, not an art. I hope I can help you with that. Leave me a comment if you have questions or head back to the World Travel Family home page to check out the sort of content we produce.

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Alyson Long

Ipoh malaysia, with family and kids, australian food, 65 thoughts on “how to make money travel blogging (from a travel blogger who does, 2024)”.

Monetize your travel content by posting it on Postsdrop. You’ll earn revenue when users click on boosted posts below your content. Very simple…Thank me later 😊

“Helpful! This travel blogger talks openly about how much money you can make, different ways to make money, and why being good at what you do and making great stuff is so important. Great advice for new travel bloggers trying to succeed.As someone passionate about starting a business as a travel Blogger Our company – Xeni, provides a platform where Travel influencers travel Agents and Travel bloggers can build their travel brands with custom domain and language options. Also, it allows agents to easily create and sell their customized travel packages for their clients. Hope these insights are helpful to your readers.

Awesome article, really cuts through to the realness. I used this article in conjunction with the book “How to Transcend the Money Matrix” to get my business idea up and running. Check it out if you’re stuck on coming up with an idea and want to do it the spiritual way.

Thanks for the book suggestion. I’ll check it out.

Really enjoyed reading your post, Alyson. Your article offers awesome growth insights. I’m also a travel creator and I love to learn how people are finding ways to make money doing what they love. Keep it up! And in case you’re looking for new tool to monetize content, check out our sellable travel map tool tailored to travel bloggers at NanoWhat.

This is probably the best post I’ve seen on this topic. Thank you for sharing!!

WOW……

I’m only just beginning.

Whilst reading this one post, I have been inspired to open a further 12 pages. I have taken a page of notes to address and I’m excited.

Thankyou, I do enjoy learning new things.

The prospect of monetising my blog has festered into an internal conflict and complete brain meltdown over the past month. Should I leave my little blog alone, to take the next step. I then had a word to myself, and said…

“Self, why are you so worried about this conundrum? You have been looking for an alternative income stream now for a long time. You have wanted to sell your own travel photos on your own blog. So what is the difference between that and having an affiliate stream with advertising?”

After thanking myself for my candour, I started to research (google) around this topic and was lucky enough to find your site/blog/guidebook/bible.

Thankyou again. My future has now begun, today.

I have nothing set up yet, but please have a look at my little site if you are interested.

I did look Les. You have a lot of work to do. But why not monetise? I can’t see any sense in putting time, effort, and your own cash into creating something of value with nothing in return. Not to mention the gazillions we spent on the travel itself to get the knowledge and photos. Plus gear. This site probably costs me several hundred $ (US) per month in running costs. Plus my time for the last 10 years. This site (and several others) have been my full-time job for years. There are almost 1000 pages to this site, some of them would have taken me a week to create. Why not get paid? It keeps a roof over our heads and food on the table. Best of luck to you, it’s a fun and cut-throat word, the blogging industry. But you have to love it.

I really enjoyed this post. Thanks for sharing this information for free and paving the way for newer bloggers such as myself.

My pleasure Nini. Best of luck.

Fantastic read! Thank you so much

You’re welcome

I found this very useful and honest, finally an article that doesnt just share some generalized tips but actual practical advice. Thank you!

My pleasure Lucia, and best of luck. Best tip – don’t buy courses.

Thank you sir for this valuable knowledge.I appreciate it. keep sharing. loved this. to know more about click Best Website Development companies

I really appreciate this article thanks for sharing. very helpful to. keep sharing and to know more click future of blogging

I love this post! You wrote this so honestly and it makes so much sense! I often thought these things in the back of my mind but would get sidetracked by the countless other blogs saying to work hard on your list or social media! Thanks for confirming what I thought should work!

Cheers Rachael and best of luck to you with your blogging income. There’s room for us all.

Thank you so much for all of this information! I am following your list for bloggers to do and I appreciate that very much. I am a single mother of 4 children, so this really helps out a lot not having the money to pay for every little thing that I need to know and do!

No worries Tiffany and the very best of luck to you. Blogging is so wonderfully rewarding, not least financially, if you can get it right. But it can also be incredibly frustrating. I’ve been up, literally, all night, trying to fix something. Stick with it. It’ll be hard with 4 kids. Mine are grown now and my time is my own but when they were small I had to get really creative!

We have always blogged just for fun and we are still using the a free platform but realise we would have to move to paid to give monetising a try. As our kids grow up, I am becoming far more curious about the idea of making money from a blog or writing a book. Love your straight forward approach Alyson 🙂 Hope our paths cross in person one day.

Affiliate marketing hasn’t been a BIG money maker for me. I get a little income from it, but think Amazon doesn’t always pay out. They make way more than we do making the recommendations. Always looking for more ways to bring in an income. Love the idea of understanding the analytics and seo to help boost your search ranking. Tons of good tips here!

Whatever Amazon chooses to pay, we have no control. But we make a very nice living from Amazon affiliates plus a million other travel affiliate programmes. Plus other affiliate links on our non-travel websites. If you get it right it’s pretty easy to earn money from home this way.

I love your contrarian view on blogging! Sometimes when you hear the same advice over and over again, you think it’s true. But in actual fact, there are so many ways to do it and there really isn’t a specific strategy you have to take as long as you understand the mechanics behind growing a blog.

I actually grappled a lot about the “niche” my travel blog should go into for our site and after a while, I realised that our niche is basically.. us – our unique take on things, our travel style and how we travel. So, thank you for expressing your genuine views on it! I think a lot of bloggers and SEO industry experts go with the cookie-cutter advice because they think it’s what people want to hear.

I’m just starting out with my travel blog with my partner and we’re actually still 10 months into our round the world trip but we’re already really excited to be putting out content that’s uniquely interesting to us first before it’s interesting to anyone else. But of course, it needs to be keyword research and people need to be looking for it 😉

I don’t want to pour water on your bonfire Kan, but nobody visits a website from Google because of ” us” it’s all about the information the user is searching for. Best of luck. I’m coming up to 10 years blogging now and it’s been my whole family’s income for several years. It gets harder and harder with every change at Google. A general travel blog is a huge amount of work. I’d strongly recommend going into a commercial niche site instead ( ” best screwdrivers for left-handed mermaids” etc. ) That is if you’re serious about income and not just doing it for the joy of it.

This is wonderful! I have been following countless travel bloggers for years and even bought into the Paradise Pack a few years back to only be disappointed in the majority of the content that I bought into. I love your direct and to-the-point posts on every aspect of making money as a blogger. Thank you! Thank you! I totally agree with wanting to help others by sharing the knowledge I have without having to build a course to sell to them. I do have one question re: how much of a niche the blog should be. We are a family of five who already sold the house back in 2012, traveled in parts of the US in an RV then bought a house again and now travel around half of the year. Since 2015 our travels all revolve around rock climbing destinations. We have always been homeschoolers (12+ years) and so we worldschool at each location as well. Would you recommend that we focus our blog on our travel adventures as a rock climbing family or make it more general since we do other activities like boating, surfing, etc…?

A niche site is something like ” Best toys for brown gerbils”. A general travel site is a nightmare if you want to make money. If I was starting over I’d make a niche travel site on one destination ( and have, it’s in creation). People are not interested in you, your family or your travels ( very few anyway) and your site doesn’t have to be about you. It can be on any topic you can research. But if you’re just doing it for fun, do whatever makes you happy. If you want to cover worldschooling, make a site about worldschooling. But there’s very little traffic in it, I know as I’m Google number 1 for worldschooling. Best of all – start a recipes site or craft – loads of traffic in those!

Hi! This is so useful for new bloggers like me who’s struggling with content, traffic and initial budget. Thank you so much.

Thank you for this content! My husband and I are moving abroad later this year, and while I am getting my TEFL certification to teach English online at first, I am hoping to be able to make income from travel blogging, especially since this would give me more flexibility to travel even more often. You’re right, most sites try to suck you into courses for a couple thousand bucks a piece, and I appreciate that your advice is upfront and your motives are clear. Best of luck to you and your family in the future!

Cool, but I would strongly suggest not building a general travel site. Pick a region, country or destination and just cover one place to death. Way, way easier than doing it my way! Best of luck.

thanks for sharing wonderful info…that is a great way to bring in traffic…..

Thanks for posting this! We are not traveling full time but I am always looking for ideas for things I can do from home to earn a little extra money. There are always some ways to earn money while traveling.

Hey Alyson. Greetings from NZ! After reading dozens of blogging “how to’s” and managing not to get sucked in to doing any courses while also listening to innumerable podcasts, I very much appreciate your straight up advice. Must be the Aussie in you coming out. It seems you have found your true voice. At 56, soon to be 57 years of age I’m keen to put myself out there in a literary sense and with more than a bit of luck, perhaps derive a little income. I see you have spent some serious time in Vietnam, more particularly Hoi Anh which is how I found your blog while researching our trip. I’m going with my wife and teenage daughters and my mother in law. I’m hoping it will be an experience worth writing about but if it isn’t, well I’m going to write about it anyway! It seems I’m running out of space so here is my question. We want to avoid long bus or train trips and instead,enjoy some places in between cities around Hanoi, Hoi Anh, Na Trang, perhaps Sapa and Hue. Can you suggest anywhere not thick with tourists that may be worth visiting and maybe writing about? At this stage no one will be reading anything I’ve written so there will be no danger of the hoards descending on a small town due to my blog! Alrighty then, thankyou again for your sage advice and your research. So very much appreciated and all for free!

We were there just 3 weeks ago … Phong Nha. I’m yet to write it up but it was wonderful. If you go from Hue, by bus it’s I think 4 hours, Otr you can head there via Khe San and the DMZ and do them en route. We only had 3 days there, loved it. Will be back soon. But it’s inland, near Laos, not on the coast. Hue was great too had a week there, did loads of cool stuff. I’ll write it up soon but right now we’re battling the monster Google updates of November 8th and 9th and also Oct 24th and September. 2 of our sites are smashed. This one is OK thankfully. Working round the clock to find a fix. And thanks, best of luck. I’m not Australian, I’m British

Love this article. Every other article I’ve read has gone on about building an email list so this is like a breathe of fresh air! Can’t wait to read more on your blog. Your writing is clear and to the point and I think I can learn a lot from it. Thank you for providing so much information for free!

You’re very welcome mags. Best of luck.

Hi Alyson As someone who hopes to travel with family, i’m naturally interested in earning some cash along the way. I think I could learn all this stuff, with time and effort, but I’m a little concerned about basically making money through advertising products or services which I don not support from an ethical point of view. Do you have any control at all over what is advertised on your pages? thanks

You mean the Mediavine Ads? Everyone will see something different, they’re selected for each person based on their browsing history, so I have no clue what people are seeing. If you feel strongly about a particular company you can block them. But to get onto Mediavine you need over, I think 30,000 unique users per month, so it will take you a good few years to get on there probably. And no, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Of course you can try and make it without adverts and just go for gold on affiliate sales instead, in which case you’d be going for lower volume, more targetted traffic, people on the point of buying, in which case your traffic volume would be too low to make decent money through advertising, also the on-page ads detract from sales, you notice I don’t run them on sales pages quite often. I find making sales pages really boring so I mostly go for traffic volume instead. At current traffic volume, roughly 10,000 page views per day, those ads make me roughly $200 a day. Rising as traffic rises and depending on how long people stay on page, ie. do they read or skim. If you’re just going travelling for a year – forget it. Blogging is a long term game, plus the volume of in-depth knowledge you need takes years to acquire but people do, of course, write posts about places they’ve never been. There are a few on this site, not many because I’m a one man band. But most huge sites ( and we are very big) have a team of writers pumping out content. I had writers for a while but I just couldn’t keep up with that volume of publishing and Pinterest work. I need a team, but I don’t want to have to manage a team, so we’re semi crippled by just how many hours I have in a working day.

Hi, I read your article very informative and inspirational, creating a second income online as a newbie is daunting to say the least but haven’t said that I found an 8 figure super affiliate offering free training in the affiliate marketing niche you can read all about it in my blog .

That’s just a pyramid scheme Des.

Very nicely written. Jumping to your SEO for beginner post

Thanks! Glad to be useful

Hello Love the inspirational list! Envious of these bloggers. Would love to start my own soon, I am going to take a look at these one by one. Hoping for some great content. Thanks for compiling your list I really love the way you approach this topic, especially because your blog is not about how people can make money from a blog, but your article is still very instructive for anybody who is trying to make a living from a blog.

Thanks for sharing your experience! Really great.

Love the inspirational list! Envious of these bloggers. Would love to start my own soon! I am going to take a look at these one by one. Hoping for some great content. Thanks for compiling your list How do you suggest getting better at SEO and keyword research to attract and please readers and subscribers?

Great read, thank you. Really helpful and practical advice.

Thanks for giving this wonderful information you explained clearly how to start making money from blog. I hope I will get also Adsense approval on my travel blog . Thank you!

Hey fellas!.

Great piece of work I must say. . . Undoubtedly we all need to get some break from work to go for traveling !!! Especially with family….. Scientists have proved that few days break from work actually spans life…Atleast for our family’s sake we can search for Best Flights and hotels 🙂

Thank you for this post. True to your SEO ninja-ness, this was one of the first posts I found when I searched how to make money as a travel blogger. I’m just now coming to terms with my high levels of wanderlust. I want to travel, but I’m also not wealthy. Nice to know it is possible.

I actually don’t SEO ninja any of the travel blogging related stuff. I just create this stuff for the people I help, they ask questions, I answer those Qs. So good it’s rising natuarally, glad you found it. Best of luck with it Tracy. We were also not wealthy. We fixed it.

Brilliant post, thank you for all the useful info. I know it will be difficult for you to answer this but I’d like to get opinion on a plan I have for my travel blog. Writing indepth post on cities (Asian cities to start), best streetfood and the vendors, markets, parks, unknown sights and activities, best waterfalls on specific islands, and every post will accompanied with awesome 4k videos. If I work really really really hard at it, could that be a recipe for success?

Sure. But where will these 4K videos be? As you can see the videos on our site are super compressed. File size / site speed means everything has to be reduced.

Hi, the article was straight to the point with no intentions to please the viewer… I loved it… I have just started with my travel blog… and I need an review or a feedback for the same before I post more content. It would be great if you could just take a look at my website and give a small feedback,.. Thank you. All the best.

Sorry, I just don’t have the time Vish. If you understand SEO and write for SEO, all will be fine.

This is an awesome post, especially for newbie bloggers like me!

Can you please share 1 tip for local travel/ expat bloggers?

Local, travel, expat, it makes no difference really, the basic principals are the same. I’m an expat, so I touch on that sometimes. We do local travel in that we were based in London, Romania, Queensland. Making stuff all gel together can be hard sometimes but the bigger your site becomes the easier it gets. Get your tags and categories sensibly organised is a very big tip. At one point I had over 800 tags, stupid ones, I’m slowly getting them structured properly, I’m down to 300 now and my tag and category pages are ranking and getting traffic. Don’t go above a manageable number! I’m aiming for 20 max.

As always, you wear the crown for queen of the bloggers. This post is so,so helpful and you are a star for offering your endless support to all those interested in listening. Well done you x

Thanks for this article. It is a great summary of where to focus my energy in order to monetise.. It is easy to get disheartened by the number of travel blogs out there. I’m off to re-write some old content!

Excellent article!

I really love the way you approach this topic, especially because your blog is not about how people can make money from a blog, but your article is still very instructive for anybody who is trying to make a living from a blog.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Thank you! So many posts exist out there “claiming” to offer insight into this topic but they end up just trying to sell you something.

I really appreciate your time and effort in this post as well as your whole site. Well done and keep inspiring!

re: “trying to sell you something” – if someone has put a massive amount of time, energy/effort, and money into acquiring knowledge and skill, why should they not be paid for teaching others those skills? Why does anyone expect to be taught for free without giving anything of value (i.e. money) to the teacher in return?

Because some of us, like me, are happy to help and point people in the right direction. This way people keep their money in their pockets and can learn anything they like for free. That is empowerment. That is smashing the system that keeps people down. It’s doing away with the idea that knowledge is poured into empty heads by a ” teacher”. It’s showing people that anything is possible. Most course sellers sell courses to line their pockets. Setting prices relative to what they want to earn, not what they are offerring. If they need to sell courses they generally aren’t making enough money at what they claim to be good at, so… why teach people to do that thing that doesn’t make them enough money? Human beings do not need a teacher, anyone can learn what they want from the internet or books . Some, still, feel they do need to part with cash to ever be good enough, or educated enough. It’s a shame, but they do. Unfortunately the people buying courses are often those least able to afford it and sadly, simultaneousy, those least likely to follow through with what they learn and therefore waste their money while making somebody else richer. I know you didn’t ask me. I don’t even know what Denea said, but that, to me, is what’s wrong with it. A lot is wrong with it. It’s corrupt.

Thanks for this blog! I’m really excited about starting a blog with my husband to try to travel more as a family.. Do you have any Pinterest tips? I’ve heard that’s a great way to bring in traffic. Have you ever worked with or know someone who has used AdThrive?

Yes there is a Pinterest post in the blogging section. I used to be a Pinterest ninja, up to 1000 clicks per day from there, but now I get almost nothing maybe 200 clicks per day. Pinterest has just totally stopped working for me as it used to. There is also a post on that in this section. But that said, it’s still my biggest source of social media traffic. I’m with Mediavine and I’m very happy with that, I think Adthrive is similar, don’t know if one or the other is definitively better or if they have different traffic thresholds before you can join.

Great post! How do you suggest getting better at SEO and keyword research to attract and please readers and subscribers?

You have the whole internet at your fingertips, everything you need to know is available for free online. Just start reading and study your stats, Google Analytics and Google Search Console will give you so much information if you use to read your own data and find the search terms that are actually working for you. Or you could ask me 😉

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How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money (An Honest Guide)

By: Author Taylor Lorenz

Posted on Last updated: 02/28/2023

So you want to start a travel blog and make money to live like the fabulous do on Instagram? Lucky for you, it’s not too late to learn how to become a travel blogger and create a travel blog from scratch.

And guess what? You can be widely successful too. I’ve seen new travel bloggers come out of nowhere and have themselves on top 50 travel blog lists, beating other very well established bloggers (though blogging is not a competition, it’s a community).

I’ve been blogging since 2015 and was able to create a blog that is now about 95% percent passive income which means that I don’t actually have to work to make money. Yes, you read that right, the money appears in my account and I continue travelling.

That money didn’t just come out of nowhere though, there was a lot of hard work behind the screen, hours spent agonizing over what to focus on next that would take me to the next level and a ton of behind the scenes action that no one sees (that includes me crying tears of frustration, wanting to give up and trying to convince myself that I wasn’t good enough).

I once read that a new travel blog is created every 6 seconds. 6 seconds! The majority of those don’t survive past one year. Why? People don’t realize that travel blogging is not easy. I mean, if it was easy literally everyone would be doing it.

Travel blogging is tough . It takes hard work, hours of preparation to get to the level of having enough income that’s passive to be able to travel so much, days of research, too much time behind a computer screen and an insane amount of self-discipline.

Travel blogging is the dream job and dreams don’t just appear. If you’re ready to make money with a travel blog then you need to be ready to invest time and money. You are about to start a business and treating it like a business from the get-go will put you miles ahead.

I’m not trying to scare you from starting a travel blog, I’m just being brutally honest because I wish I had someone to tell me these things when I first started.

If you’re serious about creating a lifestyle that will allow you to travel the world, sip cocktails on the beach daily or take time off to climb mountains then travel blogging is for you. Welcome to the beginning of your journey, I’m so excited for you.

Let’s dive into some travel blogging for beginners and learn how to start your own blog step by step.

Table of Contents

1. Pick the Perfect Blog Name

Before we get into how to start a blog, an obvious first step is picking the right name for your blog. And yes, it does have to be perfect because this name is going to represent your brand forever. These tips will help you decide what you should take into consideration before picking a blog name.

Be Original and Stand Out

Even if you think you’re being clever and original try typing in whatever word you want to use in your blog name and see if it comes up on blogs already. You don’t want your blog name to be similar to other blogs, you want your name to stand out so that people will easily remember it.

So no, don’t go Google travel blog name ideas. Get creative! Brainstorm! What is unique about you?

For your own benefit avoid names such as Nomadic [insert name], [insert name] Travel’s, Backpacking [insert name], etc. And please avoid using your hair colour in your blog name, there are so many blonde, brunette, redhead names already out there.

There are already bloggers with names like these that are widely popular. People are going to remember the famous blogger over you.

Make It Easy to Remember

Personally, I’m a fan of blog names that include the persons name, hence why I chose Taylor’s Tracks. It’s easy to remember because it’s sweet and simple. If you have a name that is not easy to remember or spell I don’t recommend using it.

Start thinking about words that will describe your blog and go from there. If none are clicking then use a thesaurus to get some ideas.

Be Professional

Remember, you want to treat your blog like a business from the beginning. If you choose a blog name such as ‘The Hungry Partier’ how many brands do you think are going to want to work with you? The blogger who chose that name has now rebranded and is way more successful.

Think Long Term

Just because a name may be perfect for you right now doesn’t mean it will fit your brand in the future so you have to be strategic. Pick a name that you can grow into. I chose Taylor’s Tracks because it suggests that I’m on a journey, whether it is about travel or whatever else I discover as I grow older is up to me.

Avoid using your age or specific destinations or regions in your name unless you’re 100% sure you’re only going to write about that region forever. I mean, who’s going to look for info about Europe on a blog that’s named Alyssa in Asia?

Don’t make it difficult for yourself to grow in the future.

Don’t Over Complicate It

Avoid making your name complicated with awkward spellings that people won’t remember. Keep out any hyphens and numbers too, people will seriously not remember if there’s a hyphen between two words!

Check to See if .com is Available

While this won’t be the worst thing if you do it, it’s still useful to see if the blog name you decide on is available with as a .com. Sites that use .net, .ca or .org are still great but most people will only remember your blog name when you tell them and not whatever comes after the dot.

Check Out Social Media

To make your life as easy as possible hop on social media and see if the blog name you’ve chosen is available on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

It starts to get complicated when you tell people your blog name, then tell them something different for Facebook and something else for Instagram. People. Will. Not. Remember.

My blog name is Taylor’s Tracks and all people have to do on any social media is search Taylor’s Tracks and BAM , my account is the first one because I secured those names and now have it super easy when I tell people how to find me.

2. Set Up Hosting for Your Blog

If you have no idea what I’m talking don’t stress. I had no clue what hosting was when I first started blogging either but luckily setting up a travel blog is relatively easy.

Hosting is essentially a space that you rent on a computer from a hosting company. You need hosting for a blog, consider it your blogs home!

There are a lot of hosting companies out there and you could easily spend hours searching for the perfect one. I’ll make it simple for you and let you know that I recommend Bluehost . Start doing research and I can guarantee that most bloggers will also recommend Bluehost.

Why? The plans are affordable ( plans start at just $3.95/month , discounted from $7.99), they provide support 24/7 and they make things super simple. Plus, you get to register your domain (the url of your site) for free.

Maybe you’re shaking at your keyboard, nervous to take the first step for creating your dream life (I know I was hella nervous). I’ll guide you through the whole process to make it super simple.

First, head to Bluehost , this is the page you’ll see:

Go ahead and click on the green ‘Get Started’ button. You’ll be brought to a page to pick your plan (like below). The basic plan is ideal if you’re just starting out but if you’re serious about blogging and want more resources go for the Plus, Choice Plus or Pro plan. Keep in mind that you can upgrade your plan at any time as your blog grows.

Click on the plan that you’d like to purchase and you’ll be taken to the next step, creating your domain. Go ahead and type in the blog name you’ve picked in the box on the left (unless you have already registered a domain then write in the box on the right).

Before you click next double check the spelling. Now check again. Seriously how mad would you be if you spelled your blog name wrong!

Fill out your account information.

Fill out your package information. It’s most popular to opt for the 3-year plan (I recommend this) as it will save you money in the long haul and give you the motivation to keep your blog going getting over that 1-year blogging hump. Remember , your blog is a business and you need to make invests in a business.

Review your payment information.

You’ve got a blog!

Now just create a password.

You’re done! Jk, not quite yet. But you have a domain name and hosting and it’s time to get to work.

3. Install WordPress

WordPress is the software that allows you to design your site and create posts. It’s where to start a blog and is by far the most popular option when it comes to blogging software. You may have heard of Blogger, Wix or Blogspot but WordPress is the king.

You want a self-hosted WordPress account which means that the software’s home is on your hosting provider’s servers and not on WordPress’ free account. You want self-hosted because it will give you full control of your site, you can advertise on your site and use Google Analytics (which is a necessity).

Once you signed up for Bluehost you have to do nothing, WordPress is already installed! Just pick a password and then pick a theme. Don’t overthink picking a theme, you can always change it later.

Once you’ve picked your theme you’ll see this screen, it’s time to start building!

First, pick whether your site is personal or business. If you’re serious about making money from a blog, choose business.

Here is what your WordPress and Bluehost integration page looks like:

It’s on this screen that you can start creating pages, blog posts and add plugins.

Next, fill in your name and slogan, again, don’t stress, your slogan can be changed at any time.

Take a minute to congratulate yourself, you now have a travel blog! Now onto how the hell you actually blog.

4. Learn How to Use WordPress

You can login to your site by going to http://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin and typing in your username and password.

Once you login you’ll be taken to your dashboard. From here you control everything for your blog.

I’m no expert in teaching people WordPress so here are a few resources that will help you learn how to work in WordPress:

• WordPress Lessons
• WP Beginner

Familiarize yourself with WordPress before you start writing. This is an essential part when learning how to create a travel blog. Thank me later, learn now and you won’t be cursing at your computer when you’re trying to write a post and have no idea what’s happening in WordPress.

5. Download a Sweet (But Professional) Theme

A big part of learning how to start a successful blog is how your site looks. A theme is the design of your site and what makes it look pretty and appealing to your readers. You want your theme be professional looking so that people will buy from you but it can still be fun.

WordPress comes with some free themes (which I used in the beginning) but they are not the best-looking themes.

Popular places to look for themes are Elegant Themes , Theme Forest and Theme Trust . A professional theme should cost you between $50-100 and will allow you to customize your site with a ton of options.

6. Start Developing Your Brand

I think it’s very important to start developing your brand right from the start. This involves things like choosing colours, making a logo, a header and coming up with a slogan.

As you can see it’s clear what colours I’ve chosen (blue and green), my logo is clear and emphasizes that my blog is about travel because it looks like a globe and my slogan make it obvious what my blog is about.

I wanted my brand to be fun and trustworthy, hence why I picked colours that pop, are gender neutral and trustworthy (why do you think Facebook and Twitter use the colour blue? It’s the most trusting colour!).

I purposefully didn’t use purple (my favourite colour) because I didn’t want guys to be turned off of my site when they landed on it.

I did some colour research before I chose my colours and then designed my logo myself in photoshop. If you don’t have photoshop you can use the ridiculously easy to use tool, Canva .

You could also hire someone to design a logo for you on a site such as Upwork or Fiverr .

Think hard about what you what your brand to represent, what your niche is and what you want people to feel when they come to your site.

Things can be changed later if you’ve made a mistake or want to change things up but rebranding later on is a major task so do your best to nail it all down now.

7. Download Essential Plugins

Plugins add extra features to your blog. You can download plugins through the plugin tab on WordPress. The majority of them are free but some are paid (personally I’ve only ever used free ones).

Here are a few to get you started:

• Akismet: This stops spammy comments and gets rid of them so you don’t have to see or deal with them. Seriously, this plugin will save you so much time.
• Yoast SEO: This plugin helps you rank on Google. Download it now, you absolutely need it.
• Smush : Smush makes the file size of your pictures smaller so that your site will load faster, which is very important.

8. Why You Need to Consider a Blogging Course

Like I’ve mentioned many times previously in this article, your blog, if you want to make money, is a business and you will 100% need to make investments in your business.

One of my biggest regrets when it comes to blogging is not investing more. Instead, I tried to do things as cheaply as possible and it took me 3 years to start making enough money that I could actually live off of my blog. 3 years! Who has that long to wait for a regular income?

The good news is that I’ve seen and know people who have achieved what I have in less time. I’m talking a year or less .

The difference was that they treated their blog as a business from the beginning and realized when they needed help and used it.

You will need to learn about SEO, how to build an audience, how to market, how to use social media…the list goes on. Let me tell you, you need help as a beginner.

There are a ton of free blogging courses out there but they absolutely do not have the same value as paid courses.

One course I highly recommend is actually a membership, called Travel Blog Prosperity . What’s so great about this membership is that it’s only ideal for beginner bloggers, but for bloggers at all levels. This membership truly grows with bloggers as new content is added every month with experts from all kinds of niches and specialties.

Everything from SEO to hosting retreats, social media to email marketing, how to work with brands to podcasting is included. I could go on as there’s so much. My favourite thing about Travel Blog Prosperity is that it’s not like a course that you have to follow step by step. You pick what you need, work on that, and then move on to what is needed for your blog next.

Not to mention the goal setting sessions every month, a community where you can ask questions whenever you need, monthly live coaching calls, and VIP opportunities delivered to your inbox every Monday. I can’t recommend Travel Blog Prosperity enough. Even as a well-established blogger I’m still learning from it!

You can get this course for $9 for your first month to check it out and see if you like it, just use the code TAYLORSTRACKS.

And if you’re not sure about investing in a course right now, try this free blogging course to get you started!

9. Your First Steps

The technical stuff is over (for now). Time to start creating! Here are a few steps you’re going to want to take to make your blog great.

Write an About Page

Tell people who you are! Explaining your story will help you seem more real and thus trustworthy for readers. It’s here that you want to convince people why they should follow your journey, continue coming back to your blog and connect to them. Let your personality show through your writing, be creative, be weird, be you .

Install Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an absolute necessity. It will help you keep track of your progress, tell you where your traffic is coming from (Pinterest, Facebook, Google, etc) shows proof to companies how well you’re doing and give you in-depth information on what’s working (or not working) on your blog. Just download the Google Analytics plugin.

Start Networking

The single most important thing to know about travel blogging is that it’s a community. Blogging is not a race and it is not a competition. There is room for everyone and it is very much a give and take.

You can start networking in blogging groups on Facebook. Here are a few of my favourites to get you started:

• Female Travel Bloggers
• DNW – Making Money Blogging
• We Travel We Blog

Set Up Social Media

Get your brand on all social media channels, create professional-looking headers that have your blog name, logo and use your brands’ colours.

10. How to Make Money as a Travel Blogger

This is an entire blog post (actually many blog posts) itself so I’m not going to go into too much detail. But I will break down the different ways that you can make money as a travel blogger.

• Ads: You can add ads to your site as soon as it’s live. Not all ad networks allow small blogs to join but from the get-go, you can sign up and start earning money through Adsense right away. Once your site has enough pageviews I highly recommend applying for Mediavine . It changed the game for me and added a big chunk of income from the start.
• Affiliates: Affiliates are links to products or services that you make a commission from when a reader makes a purchase. Some examples of affiliates that you can use for travel blogs are hotels ( Booking.com ,), travel insurance ( World Nomads, SafetyWing ), flights ( Skyscanner ), travel gear ( Amazon ), travel activities ( Get Your Guide ), the list goes on.
• Sell a product or service: While creating a product can take time and I don’t really suggest it for beginners, it still is an option. If you know about something really well you could write a simple ebook (or super detailed) and sell it. Or you can use your blog as a portfolio for your writing and do some freelance writing work.
• Sell photography: You do not have to be an established blogger to sell your pictures, they just have to be good and you can use your blog as a platform to showcase your work.

11. Learn How to Write a Travel Blog

You could be bursting with ideas of what to write or you could be totally overwhelmed with where to start.

All you can do is start experimenting and then figure out what is working for you.

When writing a travel blog you want your articles to reflect your personality through your writing style, give people useful information or tell a story. Not all travel blogs are about things to do and where to stay, many travel writers craft stories around experiences on the road or inspirational pieces for new travellers.

My best advice when it comes to choosing what to write about is to start with one topic. For example, opt to focus on one country, area, city that you know well and write multiple articles about that place. You can then interlink the articles and it shows Google that you’re an expert on that topic.

Aim to make each article at least 1000 words (Google loves long articles) and write with keywords in mind. Keywords are what people are searching for on Google. You want keywords in your article so that it will show in the search results on Google which means traffic!

Getting into keywords is another post in itself but if you want to get ahead of the game, sign up for Keysearch , a keyword research tool that is the best investment I ever made for my blog. And here’s an awesome resource for learning how to use Keysearch.

Frequently Asked Questions About Starting a Travel Blog

I bet your head is bursting with questions, I tackle a few.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Travel Blog?

Honestly, not much! The only costs you have to start an actual travel blog are purchasing your domain (which is free with Bluehost ) and hosting which is as little as $3.95 a month.

I recommend purchasing a theme, which are typically $50 but even that’s not necessary.

Some additional costs could come up such as tools for social media like Buffer for Twitter/Instagram/Facebook or Lightroom for editing your pictures. But none of these are absolutely necessary (they just improve what you’re doing) and some even have free options, purchasing is just upgrading.

Hosting: $142.20 (if you sign up with Bluehost for 3 years) Domain: Free Theme: $50 Total: $192.20

Yes, it can be more but really starting a business for under $200 is pretty difficult to do but blogging makes it possible.

Is it Too Late to Start a Travel Blog?

Absolutely not. Travel blogging is constantly evolving which means that it gives opportunities for new people to join in and make their mark at any time. Even well-established blogs have to stay on their toes, updating content and keeping up with all the new trends, social media and more.

Don’t let it discourage you that there are so many people doing it already, be you and you can be successful.

What Tools Do I need to Start a Travel Blog?

Technically the only tool you need to start a travel blog is WordPress, however, here are a few tools that are excellent tips for starting a blog that will help you get going and make blogging and sharing things on social media a breeze.

Keysearch:  I consider this tool an absolute must. It will help you find what keywords to use in your articles and blog titles so that you can rank on Google so that people will find what you’ve written! Use the code KSDISC when you sign-up to receive 20% off.

MailerLite : Start collecting emails right away! MailerLite is easy to use for email automation and is what I personally use. I started with Mailchimp but MailerLite is better for beginners in my opinion, easier to use, and cheaper.

How Much Can You Make from a Travel Blog?

This really depends. What I can tell you is that some bloggers make $10,000 a month or over $100,000 a year. It’s possible to live well off of a travel blog and it’s possible to make less and still travel a lot. I’ve personally made over $60,000 (CAD) with minimal expenses with my blog continuing to grow each year.

When starting a blog to make money know that you won’t be earning instantly, it takes time to build and it will test your patience but it can work out. I’m proof of that!

Andddd that’s it! Just kidding, there is a ton more information that you can learn and that will help you become successful. This is just the beginning and all that I’m including in this article as to not overwhelm you, though I’m sure you’re pretty overwhelmed already!

By the way, congratulations, you’re now a travel blogger!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links which I earn a small commission from and are at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure policy for details. Thank you for supporting my small business!

Disclaimer: Taylor’s Tracks is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.Com and affiliated sites.

How to Make Money with a Travel Blog: My Top 10 Tips

11/17/2020 by Kristin Addis 67 Comments

When I first got into travel blogging, the way to make money was by selling links and having 40-50 niche websites with Google adwords ads. Press trips didn’t exist for bloggers and getting paid for our work was tough.

Then came the dawn of the influencer. The industry blossomed in opportunity and things were going pretty well until BOOM, the cooties hit.

So now that the game has changed drastically again, how is it possible to make money with a travel blog going into 2021?

I’m here to tell you it’s still totally possible to thrive in this role, provided you’re ready to put in the hard work and most importantly, passion.

These are the ways to make it happen in 2021 and beyond:

Table of Contents

1. Use your blog as a resume to get freelance writing work

My biggest source of income during the first couple years of my blog was freelance writing roles. At first they won’t pay all that well but you’ll be establishing yourself and in time you can charge more commensurate with your experience (and influence).

It’s helpful when a publication can see that you have some reach yourself to help share the article and get more views, and the more you grow the easier it will be to get opportunities that pay better.

Writing articles not only helps with your bank account, but it gets you back links as well which is great for SEO! You can find a listing of resources here:

• 1 5 Goldmines for freelance Writing jobs
• 20 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs as a Beginner

2. Work as a virtual assistant for other blogs

Working for a more established blogger will help you understand how to become more effective with your own blog. These jobs mostly come from in-person networking, but since that’s off the table for now, I recommend finding online resources.

Facebook groups can give you insight into the kind of help people are looking for. You can also use a VA matchmaking service like Satiated Artists .

When possible again, I think it’s great to attend industry events like TravelCon , and Women in Travel Summit, if for no other reason than to network with other bloggers, to market your VA services, and to become aware of opportunities.

Or, try to just offer your services to a blogger you love. My full-time assistant reached out several years ago and asked if she could intern for me. Over the years, she’s become an essential part of my team. You would be surprised how many bloggers need help but don’t know where to look. Also consider the Facebook groups and industry events:

• The Business of Blogging
• Superstar Blogging’s Facebook Group ( Requires Course purchase )
• Traverse Mingle events

3. Get into affiliate marketing

It’s never too early to start with affiliate marketing. Even if you’re just starting out, having affiliates in mind and recommending products you love builds trust and paying opportunities. This is a long game, and you may not see the results from the fruits of your labor for a year or two, but it can become incredibly worthwhile.

For example, I wrote about what to pack for Southeast Asia four months into my blogging career and now it’s one of my most successful affiliate pages. It took a bit of time but it paid off. This is always true for me. I never really know how a post I write will do until much later, so I just keep trying!

You can become an affiliate for almost anything these days, so think outside the box. Here are a few great networks that I use:

• GetYourGuide
• Whichever hotel booking and clothing sites you regularly use.
• Whichever travel insurance you use.

The key is to only promote products that you truly love and use yourself. To successfully market products to your audience, their trust always has to come first. Check out this post for info on how to write a good affiliate post.

4. Place ads

Ad revenue is based on traffic and these days, the biggest networks require at least 50k visits per month.

Yes, it does make your site a bit uglier, but I believe that most readers don’t mind them (I haven’t had any complaints) and that your loyal fans will be happy to see you making money. I personally use Mediavine .

In April of 2020, my ads revenues took a dive like everyone else’s, however they’ve rebounded now in Q4 of 2020 with my focus on expanding content that was already performing.

5. Sell your photos

Photography is a big part of travel blogging. What better way could there be to inspire people to see the beautiful places you share? Having a visually appealing website is important, and since Instagram is useful marketing tool, it’s a great way to get paid work. Most of my paid work actually comes to me through my Instagram !

I’m always looking for ways to push myself and get better. These days, photography is a huge priority when I travel.

You can also sell stock photos online . Some people make a decent passive income this way. The rules are strict around what you can have in your photo, but if you are traveling and have a backlog anyway, it could be worth it. I can’t personally recommend it as I haven’t tried it, but if you have please let me know in the comments below if it works for you (or if not, tell us why!)

6. Monetize videos

Plenty of bloggers make videos here and there but I don’t see much crossover between blogs and YouTube . People seem to be very dedicated to one or the other but not both.

If you make great videos and are consistent, building up an audience on YouTube and putting ads on them is a great way to develop an income stream. This is also a long-game approach, like most of what I suggest on here, but if you build up a strong and consistent audience you’ll have yet another passive income stream.

7. Paid Brand and Destination Campaigns

Eventually, when you have built up your audience and social media channels, you may have paid opportunities come your way. It might include product partnerships or destinations (like mine with Kyrgyzstan ), wherein you agree to deliverables in exchange for an all expenses paid trip and some cash.

This sounds like the dream, and it is, but it only makes sense if the destination and the campaign make sense with your brand, and if you are capable of delivering everything that you promise.

As for how to get these opportunities, there’s no secret formula other than to, as Steve Martin famously said, “be so good they can’t ignore you.”

If you have a well-chosen niche, create great content, you form real bonds with your followers and readers, and consistently put out valuable resources, that is the magic formula. Differentiate, build your audience, build historical data to prove that you are worth spending money on, and the work will follow.

Though, yes, there isn’t as much opportunity in 2020 as there was in 2018, there are still plenty of partnership options if you can innovate. Which industries are growing? Can you expand into any of them? Can you insert some lifestyle into the travel content?

Want some guidance? I recently put together a 5-day course (it’s free!) to walk you through thriving into 2021:

8. Develop Your Own Products

The most successful entrepreneurs in this industry have their own products for sale.

It could be a course , a book or several, tours , or a whole host of other options. The more creative you can get the better!

It’s important to have a minimum viable audience before jumping in and creating a product. There is the danger that you will spend all this time on product creation and not have any buyers.

How’s your affiliate income? Do you get heartfelt emails from readers? Are they actually asking for this from you, or have you asked them what they want?

There are not many travel bloggers who have a podcast, but this is another great way to make money and contribute something meaningful that is not already incredibly saturated.

Podcast popularity is skyrocketing, especially when people are at home more and have more time to listen.

I believe this is actually a huge opportunity and if you can come up with something of quality that has not already been thought of, you can strike while the iron is hot. While I haven’t reviewed it, I fully trust Pat Flynn and would take his course on podcasting if I were to start one myself.

10. Become a public speaker

Public speaking is a great way to make money while also spreading awareness and establishing yourself as an authority. Like the previous few suggestions, this is something that will make sense to pursue after you have established yourself.

Even in 2021, these opportunities still exist – just in a virtual format.

Live interactions can be powerful, and getting good at going live is a skill very worth having.

Once conferences can meet IRL again, you’ll have already established yourself as a great speaker, which adds credibility to your brand, spreads the word, and exposes you to new audiences.

These are a few of my favorite ways to earn from a travel blog. They’re all about the long game, based on providing something to people that is honest and of real value, and can help you build a lasting business that survives the test of time.

Most of all, innovate. Stay on top of the curve, keep working hard, and come up with new and exciting ideas. Put your energy into the things that you can do better than anyone else, and the money will follow.

Happy blogging!

About Kristin Addis

Kristin Addis is the founder and CEO of Be My Travel Muse, a resource for female travelers all around the world since 2012. She's traveled solo to over 65 countries and has brought over 150 women on her all-female adventure tours from Botswana to the Alaskan tundra.

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Michelle | Lights Camera Travel says

09/04/2014 at 5:45 pm

Thank you for the series! Now just to put it into practice…

02/16/2020 at 8:00 am

Please explain the Process and work Involved. Thanks and best regards. Raaj

Ahadjibran says

12/01/2020 at 8:20 pm

I am from Pakistan Northern area and I would like to make a blog for people who don’t know places in Gilgit Baltistan. I’m 12 years old and your tips are great.

09/04/2014 at 11:57 pm

Thanks for the encouraging words and advice. I have just started myself and find information like this invaluable! Great blog btw.

Kristin says

09/05/2014 at 9:41 am

Glad to help.

The Guy says

09/05/2014 at 3:08 am

This is a good honest insight Kristin. I’m about to hit my 2 year anniversary and I’m still trying to build my audience. It is still a long way short of where I’d like it to be. It is also too small to see any benefits yet from affiliate links.

At times it is disheartening to see “new kids” on the block become so quick at obtaining a sizeable audience when you know you put in just as many hours as they do. You’ve just got to pick yourself up in those dark moments and keep pushing on.

09/05/2014 at 9:40 am

There’s so much that goes into it that I couldn’t even cover in a 5-part series. As you know, it’s all about finding what works for you but yes, I have those dark moments too. I am sure we all do regardless of industry.

Rika | Cubicle Throwdown says

09/05/2014 at 11:34 am

This series has been a great read Kristin, and answered a lot of questions!! Thanks for putting it together so thoughtfully!

09/09/2014 at 6:57 am

Glad it was helpful!

Kemkem says

09/06/2014 at 10:46 am

Thank you so much for this series. I’ve been blogging for about eight months and still learning, trying to find my voice. This will definitely help my journey.

I posted 2-3 times per week in the beginning but have since had to go down to more like 1 due to other obligations. The quality is what matters most so focus on that and on living!

09/09/2014 at 2:13 pm

This is arguably the most common question asked in the travel blogging community: how can I make some money from this? It’s certainly not easy, and I’d advise anyone getting into blogging that they shouldn’t do it for the money – because you might not get any for a long, long time.

For me, though, travel blogging has been great for my career as a journalist – because I now know how to write for SEO and know the ins and outs of social media. As a result, I can now command more of a salary than I would be able to if I hadn’t taken up blogging.

09/09/2014 at 4:03 pm

My point exactly. You won’t make tons from your blog, most likely, but it can open a lot of doors.

Kirsten(@AmericanTravelProject) says

09/10/2014 at 5:14 am

Thanks for this advice. I have been blogging for less than a year, and slowly finding my way. I never intended to do it to make money, more as a fun way to share my travel experiences and passion for finding great travel deals. I am leaning so much now about how the business of blogging works & I really had no idea! I like the advice to keep traveling though because the content really should be the focus & the inspiration behind it all. Thanks:)

09/10/2014 at 7:35 am

Definitely. It’s about the content at the beginning and end of the day. I think true love for the subject matter shines through and it’s the only thing that will really keep you going.

Kristin from MN says

10/02/2014 at 1:11 pm

I’m a huge fan of your blog! I’m in the planning stages of starting my own travel blog. Do you use mailchimp or aweber, or which do you recommend?

10/03/2014 at 3:03 am

Thanks! I use mailchimp. No experience with anything else.

11/03/2014 at 5:47 am

I’ve just finished ready all 5 posts and found them really helpful! Especially when you have given links in the first few posts. I started reading your blog early this year after a travelling friend told me about it and all your South East Asia posts really helped me research for my trip which I did earlier this year 🙂

11/03/2014 at 6:00 am

I’m so happy to hear that you found out about my blog from a friend. Personal recommendations are awesome! Glad you have found the posts helpful and happy blogging and travels.

Sigurdur Bjorgvinsson @theRedHeadExplorer says

12/10/2014 at 2:10 pm

Thanks for the great advice,

I have just started my own travel blog and right it is growing but slowly, I am trying to make only quality content but it can be hard for someone like me who is a crappy writer. I don’t expect to make any money at all until after maybe one year or more but I hope one day that I can travel the world living on the money I make from my blog.

Thanks for all the posts with great advice.

12/12/2014 at 1:42 am

I think the most important thing is not to focus on making money, but to improve your writing at this point. If you really believe you’re a crappy writer, why should others read it and why would it generate money? I’d suggest taking a writing course, reading more, really honing your skills or maybe focusing on something else, like photography, if that’s more your thing.

Damien says

12/15/2014 at 2:26 pm

Finally got to sit down and read this entire series, great information here. Next step for me is to come up with a name for my own blog 🙂

12/16/2014 at 1:59 am

That can be the fun part. I think originality is best!

12/16/2014 at 4:11 pm

I had a sort of idea but unless people know their ancient Greek stories, they wouldn’t get what it means!

01/29/2015 at 9:53 am

I just re-read this post for probably the hundredth time and something leaped out at me that I hadn’t really noticed before – specifically the advice from your friend Will. It just occurred to me that worry more about the blog and not really getting into my travels has been exactly what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks. And I now realize that it’s why I’ve had this feeling that something isn’t quite right, that I haven’t really done anything etc.

So thanks for yet another bit of inspiration and guidance. You are definitely my travel muse :).

01/30/2015 at 6:02 am

It’s so hard to balance work and play, especially with bad wifi connections, so much stimulation away from the computer, and so on. I’m glad that I got two years of almost exclusive travel and not too much work, but find it hard now to buckle down when there are adventures to be had.

Stuart says

09/06/2015 at 10:41 am

I have decided to take your advice and post a comment 🙂

Thank you for this guide and the many useful tips and links. (my reading list continues to grow and grow)

My website is still under construction so I have no real content.. yet.

My thinking in the very early stages was just to keep a travel diary for myself, friends and family but, I really want to become nomadic/location independent.

I am currently working my 9-5 (ugh), as much overtime as I can physically handle and in what little time I have left, I am researching everything from travel gear to social media marketing and lots in between. My head is swimming but I am learning So much each day.

I realise I might be taking on a lot but my flight to Bangkok departs in six weeks!!!

Thanks again. I really enjoy your writing style and this guide is a gentler introduction to some of the really heavy reading (in the aforementioned reading list) that seemed so daunting at first glance.

Sorry this is quite long..

09/10/2015 at 2:34 pm

Hey Stuart, so glad that you find this helpful and an easy introduction. I’ve considered publishing my entire business plan as a free ebook (since I write down all of my inspiration and the steps I’ve taken – what has worked and what hasn’t – along the way). Perhaps that’s something I’ll do in 2016 or 17, for those who want some heavier reading 😉 Best of luck and would love to see your site when it’s live!

09/19/2016 at 2:49 am

Yes, I’m also just chucking away at it. Trying to get good content out there. It seems to take forever. How long, in general, would you say it takes to grow a good audience (all else being good)? 3 years or so? Is there a point where you just get some momentum and it’s not moving at the pace of molasses?

I agree with your point about having the passion for this. I’ve been trying to take ourblog to the next level now for the past few months and I feel like I just want to do a million things. I kinda wish there was 5 of me!! Anywhere we go, anything we do, I’ve got my the blog on my mind. I don’t want any days off! 🙂

chrislouis says

08/25/2017 at 9:15 am

Now making money through traveling become so much easier than before. people can easily do vlogging with a camera and post it on youtube and this way they can earn huge money.

Stefan Ciancio says

09/01/2017 at 1:53 am

Great Tips! Such a great information.

I agree with you that ”the few travel bloggers who make a solid living off of their blogs have been at it for years.” I have always been facing problems with How to make money and was trying to hire someone to help me.

I will tweet your post. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Thanks a lot!

Ankita says

09/19/2017 at 5:04 am

Hello, Thank you for sharing your experience with us. It will help for new bloggers.

01/18/2018 at 8:45 am

Thanks for these tips, they are invaluable. I have a quick question. I don’t plan on starting a blog now, but have been encouraged to start one, but maybe after retirement one day. This isn’t about making money per se, but blogging in general. How do you put yourself out there but at the same time maintain some level of privacy and safety? I often worry myself when interacting with others on-line (both ways, giving too much info on my end or asking too much info). Thanks for your advice or if you have a link to where I can get more info on this, let me know. Maybe I can use this info in the future. Any blog I have in mind if I ever went that way would take any proceeds from it and give to some charity.

01/19/2018 at 6:19 am

Hard to say, I guess it just comes down to personal preference. I just do what I find comfortable!

01/19/2018 at 2:51 am

Such great tips and ideas! Thanks so much for the inspiration 🙂

01/19/2018 at 11:04 am

Another fab blog! You’re really rocking it! My saved to read soon blogs are mostly full of your stuff! 😉 I first came across you because you were one of the few people I could find who had also been to the blue lava in java. We loved it there, killed my camera like, but got a few good shots before it died. Keep being awesome 😉 Emma

01/21/2018 at 3:31 am

Many thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

Jessica says

07/12/2018 at 4:51 am

Nice and Informative. WOW, I like the photographs. Thanks for sharing.

Sasha Brown says

09/25/2018 at 3:40 am

I considered affiliate marketing for my travel blog, but someone told me that it might be too early as I have just started out. However you say that it’s never too early for affiliate marketing, who should I believe?

09/25/2018 at 5:12 pm

Do what feels right to you!

Sandeep says

10/05/2018 at 5:05 am

Thanks for sharing such a great piece of information and I do agree with all your points, but I liked most your last point i.e. “Become a public speaker”

01/08/2019 at 2:38 am

It would be interesting to see how or if this content has changed now in 2019 with the over-saturation of travel blogs, companies cracking down on “influencers” staying at their accommodations for free, and other changes in both the industry and its interaction with social media.

01/08/2019 at 5:36 pm

This article isn’t about becoming an overnight influencer or trying to get free hotel stays. Though I do have thoughts: https://www.bemytravelmuse.com/is-instagram-ruining-travel/

02/09/2019 at 2:51 am

Hey Kristin,

Great post about making money through travel blogging. The point you make about earning huge amount of money through travel blogging resonates well, because it details that bloggers can earn profit in their travels through advertisement, photography, content writing, and even public speaking.

Kunal Vaghasiya says

05/06/2019 at 2:03 am

Lisa daniel says

05/09/2019 at 12:15 am

Hi, Kristin, Your post is great it gives a new way of making money through travel blogging, I think to start a travel blog but I only know that make money through ads but you told many more ways now I’m full of inspiration and gonna more work on my travel blog but I also focus on Instagram marketing it will help me to build more audience.

jordan fields says

06/26/2019 at 7:07 am

Awesome advice! I have had my blog for about 6 months, but the last month I have really thrown my energy into it. (It takes time to figure out what you want.. ha!!) Anyway, I really appreciate these tips. Have always loved your blog xo!

06/26/2019 at 12:55 pm

kisan Guled says

07/12/2019 at 11:51 pm

how to work as travel blogger ? that related any jobs for me ?

11/30/2019 at 10:40 pm

So i didn’t understand the first step… can you explain me please?

I work on some kind of freelance job where I need to write something for travelers. After I finish, I have to give my unique work to the customer. And after that … copy and publish this work on my website? Is this all about? If not, can you explain?

12/01/2019 at 9:56 am

I’m suggesting that you write and publish work on your own website and when you apply for freelance jobs, you’ll have an example of your work online that you can point to.

Natalie Portman says

01/15/2020 at 12:40 pm

Hello! Definitely. It’s about the content at the beginning and end of the day. I think true love for the subject matter shines through and it’s the only thing that will really keep you going.

Anita Jacobi says

03/01/2020 at 10:58 pm

Hello Kristin, The article was really great and motivated. I think, now making money through Travelling blogs and Travelling Youtube channels create become so much easier than before. Because Now everyone loves travel blogs and I also like Travelling. I love these tips #Sell your photos, #Monetize videos, #Develop your own products. Thank you for sharing this valuable article.??

Anita Jacobi Contributor, Careeriz Careeriz

Xavier says

04/15/2020 at 12:03 am

I am also starting my own blog. I have bought hosting and all, your blog literally helped me in understanding where to start. Will update more here, well done for the effort.

04/16/2020 at 8:41 am

04/20/2020 at 12:27 am

I will be starting my new blog, just got hostnoc hosting, will soon be applying what you mentioned in this write up, will update you here in the comments.

Malaika says

09/28/2020 at 5:34 pm

Thank you for this, it was a great post and very motivating! Started our blog a year ago, but didn’t spend as much time building it. We are trying to build it and hopefully get it to where we want it to be. Thank you for the motivation!

10/10/2020 at 10:28 am

Glad you like it!

beSIRIOus says

10/04/2020 at 2:15 am

Hey there, thanks for the great insight! I tried a lot of these methods myself, but I like the aspect that you are combining it with travel!

I think one thing that also should be mentioned is that there are passive ways to earn income and active once. Of course everybody wants passive income, but you gotta put the work in and be patient! So if you really need money, you gotta look for other ways like freelancing. I believe when starting out a mixture is the best.

green out says

11/14/2020 at 1:34 pm

That’s wonderful. Many things to learn, thanks for sharing. green out

Mrutyunjay says

11/30/2020 at 3:52 am

Thank you for the article and it was really helpful. You are an inspiration to us all.

Kevin Reuschel says

01/14/2021 at 7:41 pm

Great blog and thorough insight. Thank you for sharing your story and advice, Kristin.

Just an FYI, the link to your tutorial titled “5 days to Success” embedded in the page of the article I am commenting on, does not work!

I was curious about the tutorial and tried to connect to the “linked” page, but to no avail. You might want to check it out and fix it…but it could be a problem on my end too.

Anyway, keep up the good work, Kristin. Congrats, travel safe and we’ll see you on the road!

Best for 2021,

01/15/2021 at 8:27 am

Oh bummer! Thanks for letting me know I’m fixing it now. Here’s the link for you https://bemytravelmuse.ck.page/73348774df

Melanie Newdick says

03/22/2021 at 12:59 pm

What a handy article. It’s been tough setting up a travel blog during Covid19 and haven’t been sure about how to pitch and write articles for others so thanks for sharing some tips and links that are useful. Practical information always much appreciated!

03/22/2021 at 2:51 pm

Stella says

06/11/2021 at 1:27 am

Ok. I loved this. I see a few hundred comments above me so wonder if mine will break through. I’m in year three of travel blogging and infinitley patient that it will pay off one day. Thank you for the advice, I plan to take you up on lots of it.

How to Make Money with a Travel Blog

Sharing is caring:

I get a lot of questions about how to make money with a travel blog, so I thought I’d share the ways I personally make money as a travel blogger to give you a better idea of how it all works.

A lot of people hear “travel blogger” and think that must be the easiest job in the world. You just start a travel blog and then get paid to travel and write about it, right? Well, not exactly.

Running a successful travel blog takes a lot of hard work and commitment. I took me well over a year to get to the point where I was even earning a consistent $1,000 a month from my travel blog.

Here’s a look at a bunch of different ways you can make money with a travel blog.

Want to start your own travel blog and make money blogging? Be sure to read this detailed step-by-step guide: How to Start a Travel Blog for Beginners.

Or sign up for my FREE email challenge below to get your blog up and running in five days:

The first and easiest way I make money with my travel blog is through advertising.  As a blogger, you can join an ad network and they will place ads on your blog. You then get paid based on RPM, or revenue per one thousand impressions that your ads receive.

While ads are not the most aesthetically pleasing thing, they are a great way to make money because they’re so passive. As long as people read your blog, you’ll make money. Of course, you do need to be getting a significant amount of traffic to your blog to make ads a lucrative source of income.

There are some ad networks you can join without having much traffic (like Google AdSense) but the pay is so bad you might literally earn pennies a day from the ads. This is why I recommend that newer bloggers stay away from ads until they have enough traffic to get into a better ad network.

I’m with Mediavine and they are one of the best ad networks out there for bloggers. Mediavine requires 25,000 monthly sessions to apply. Another option is Monumetric (which is the ad network I was with before Mediavine) and they require 10,000 monthly pageviews to apply.

Both of these ad networks are good options and offer competitive RPMs.

Affiliate Marketing

Another quite passive way I make money from my travel blog is through affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is promoting products you already use and love, then earning a small commission each time someone purchases something by clicking on your unique affiliate link.

Here are some of my top-earning affiliates on Wander her Way:

• Amazon (I recommend travel-related products from Amazon all the time in my blog posts; for example, my Disne y World packing list contains links to Amazon)
• Booking.com (these are the affiliate programs I use for recommending hotels)
• Leisure Pass (I wrote detailed reviews about the New York Pass and the London Pass )
• Blogging affiliates (I recommend blogging-related products like web hosting and WordPress themes; for example look at my guide on how to start a travel blog )
• Skyscanner (this is a flight booking engine that I frequently recommend on my blog)

Any time someone clicks on one of my affiliate links and makes a purchase, I earn a percentage commission on the sale. (This can be anywhere from 1% to 40% depending on the product.)

This is an online course from Michelle, a blogger who makes $50,000 per month from affiliate marketing and she shares all her best tips and strategies for making money.

Sponsored Posts

Another way I make money with my travel blog is through sponsored posts.

Occasionally, I will partner with a travel brand to publish sponsored content on my blog. I get paid for the post, usually a couple hundred dollars.

I don’t actively seek out sponsored posts, and I will only do one if a brand approaches me first.

However, it’s possible to make really good money from sponsored posts (some bloggers earn thousands from them every month), especially if you are proactive and pitch to brands yourself. You can also join influencer networks and find sponsored post opportunities to apply for.

Sponsored posts can consist of blog posts or social media posts (especially on Instagram.)

I don’t use Instagram for my travel blog, but I know of many bloggers/Instagram influencers who make really good money from working with brands.

Freelance Services

The final way I make money from my travel blog is by offering freelance services.

I work with a couple of other travel bloggers to help them with blogging-related tasks, including:

• Designing and uploading pins to their Pinterest account
• Writing and scheduling posts for social media
• Researching and writing content for their blog/newsletter
• Creating quizzes they can use to grow their email list

This is a great way to earn some additional money indirectly from your travel blog.

The way I was able to find my freelance jobs is by simply commenting or emailing other travel bloggers I follow when they mentioned they were looking to hire someone to help them.

Other Ways to Make Money with a Travel Blog

I shared the four ways I make money with my travel blog, but there are quite a few other ways you can make money blogging.

Here are some additional ways you can monetize your travel blog. I haven’t tried any of these (yet) but they are all good options for making money with a travel blog:

Sponsored Travel

Some travel bloggers work with travel brands or tourism boards on sponsored travel.

This can come in the form of a press trip or other campaign. Some of these are unpaid (but all travel expenses are paid for) in exchange for coverage by the blogger. However, many bloggers also negotiate an additional paid rate for sponsored travel projects.

Selling Products

Selling your own products is a great way to make money blogging.

For example, Kiersten from The Blonde Abroad sells various Lightroom photo editing presets so you can edit your travel photos just like hers.

Digital products like Lightroom presets, ebooks, online courses, etc are very popular.

Some bloggers also sell physical products, like travel accessories or print books.

Tours and Retreats

One really unique way to monetize your travel blog is by running tours or retreats.

Some examples of travel bloggers with retreats are Alex in Wanderland’s Wander Women Retreats and We Are Travel Girls’ Travel Girls Getaways.

Freelance Writing

Many travel bloggers also do freelance travel writing for some additional income.

The great thing about having a travel blog is that you can use it as a portfolio to show off your writing for potential freelance opportunities. You can find freelance writing gigs either by searching for writing job boards or pitching directly to publications yourself.

So these are the best ways to make money with a travel blog.

As you can see, there are a lot of different potential streams of income you can have as a blogger.

I recommend focusing on just a couple of these income streams at the beginning, then adding more as you begin to grow your blog and business.

Want to read my own travel blog income repor t?

Travel Blog Prosperity

If you want to make money with your travel blog, I highly recommend joining Travel Blog Prosperity .

It’s a monthly membership for travel bloggers created by Jessie Festa from Jessie on a Journey.

Normally, the membership is $49/month, but when you sign up using the discount code  WANDER9   you will get your first month of Travel Blog Prosperity for just $9!

When you join the membership, you’ll get immediate access to the following:

• 30+ trainings and lessons for bloggers, with new ones added monthly
• Workbooks and checklists to go along with each lesson
• Twice monthly live group coaching calls with Jessie
• Weekly VIP Opportunities Newsletter with paid opportunities, press trips, and more!
• Private Member’s Lounge group where you can get your questions answered

And much more!

You can see everything offered inside the Travel Blog Prosperity membership .

And don’t forget to use the discount code  WANDER9  to get your first month for just $9! There’s no minimum monthly commitment and you can cancel at any time.

How to Start a Travel Blog

Haven’t started a travel blog yet? Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on how to get started!

These are the exact steps I took to start Wander Her Way. You can follow this tutorial and have your own travel blog up and running in less than one hour!

Step 1: Choose a domain name

The first step to starting a travel blog is choosing a name for it. Your blog name will be the first impression that you have on people, so it’s important to pick a good one!

If you need some help coming up with a name for your blog, be sure to read this guide: Travel Blog Names: How to Choose One + Ideas.

To see if the name you want is available, you can use this free domain name checker tool:

Step 2: Get hosting

Once you have chosen a name for your travel blog, you will need to register it and get web hosting.

If you buy your domain name through an outside company, you can expect to pay $15 to $20 for it.

However, if you sign up for web hosting through Bluehost , you can get your domain name for free.

I highly recommend Bluehost for web hosting, and they are the company I (and many other bloggers) use. They have some of the cheapest hosting plans out there, while still having an extremely reliable service and great customer support.

Bluehost has been generous enough to offer readers of Wander Her Way web hosting starting at $3.95 a month (normally $7.99 a month) along with a free domain name.

Here are the detailed steps to set up web hosting with Bluehost:

1. Click the “Get Started” button

2. Select your hosting plan

Which plan to choose: I recommend the basic plan for new bloggers.

I’m personally on the plus plan, but that’s only because I run multiple blogs. Otherwise, I would probably choose the basic plan!

3. Put in your domain name

This is where you’ll put in the domain name that you decided on earlier.

What if I haven’t decided on a name yet?  If you haven’t decided on a domain name for your travel blog yet, wait a couple of minutes and this offer will pop up on your page:

Select this option and you can go ahead and start setting your blog up, then use the free credit to buy your domain name later.

4. Create your account

5. Select your package and pay

Here’s where you’ll select your hosting plan. The 36-month plan is the best deal at $3.95 a month, but you can also pick a 12-month plan at $5.95 a month for an overall lower cost.

What about package extras? You have the options to add on extras like site backups or site security.

I personally don’t recommend any of these because there are free WordPress plugins you can install that do the same thing (which I’ll cover in the next section of this guide.)

6. Congrats, you’re done!

Once you check out, you’ll be redirected to your Bluehost dashboard. This is where you can log in to your blog for the first time and start setting everything up.

Your blog will be run on the WordPress platform. Bluehost installs WordPress automatically for you, so you don’t have to do anything on your end.

Step 3: Designing your blog

Your blog will come with the default WordPress theme installed. You will definitely want to change this, which means it’s time to pick a theme for your blog!

When it comes to designing your blog, you have a couple of options: you can hire a web designer, or you can install a theme on your own. I recommend installing a theme on your own because it’s MUCH cheaper and easier.

There are plenty of free themes out there, but I don’t recommend them because they look very plain, don’t have many customization options, and don’t include customer support.

A premium theme is a much better investment and will make your blog stand out from the crowd.

If you need help finding the perfect theme for your travel blog, make sure to check out my list of the 5 Best WordPress Themes for Travel Blogs.

Step 4: Install plugins

WordPress plugins add extra functionality to your blog. There are thousands of plugins out there, but the ones I recommend most for new bloggers are:

• Yoast SEO:  Yoast helps you write blog posts that are SEO-friendly. SEO, or search engine optimization, is what gets your blog posts ranked in Google. Yoast will tell you exactly what you need to do for each blog post you write to improve your SEO.
• Akismet:   This plug-in filters out spam comments on your blog.
• WordFence Security:  Great security plug-in to protect your site.
• MonsterInsights:  MonsterInsights lets you view analytics like page views and your most popular posts. You will need to install Google Analytics on your blog first.
• UpdraftPlus:   This plug-in makes regular backups of your site so you never lose anything!
• Social Warfare: Add social sharing icons to your blog posts.

All of these plug-ins are 100% free to use.

Step 5: Start posting!

By now, you should have purchased a domain name and hosting through Bluehost, installed a WordPress theme ( these are my favorites ), and customized your blog with plug-ins.

Now all that’s left is to start posting!

Need some inspiration on what to write about on your travel blog?

• 50 Awesome Travel Blog Post Ideas
• How to Write 13 Travel Blog Posts from One Trip

More Travel Blogging Tips

This post is part of my ongoing series about travel blogging. For more tips on travel blogging, be sure to read the following blog posts…

• Travel Blog Names: How to Choose One + Ideas
• How to Start a Travel Blog for Beginners
• 6 Best WordPress Themes for Travel Blogs
• Travel Blog Income Report Roundup

About Denise Cruz

Denise is a marketing executive who escaped corporate to travel the world… twice. A Brazilian native living in the U.S., she’s lived in 4 countries and visited 35+ others. After side-hustling her way to financial independence, she curates solo destination guides, slow travel tips, and travel blogging advice on Wander Her Way. When she’s not on the road, you can find her in Miami with her dog Finnegan.

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What’s the Average Travel Blogger Salary? (+ Income Reports)

How much do travel bloggers make? Let’s take a look shall we? I’ve used my experience and insider intel to work out the average travel blogger salary across the board…

I’m being nosy and have some rare time on my hands so I thought I’d try and work out the average travel blogger salary, just for… research .

To be a paid blogger is now one of the most popular career goals for kids (and adults) in these crazy online times, but how  much can you actually even earn as a travel blogger, really ?

How much does a travel blogger make?

– Be nice to have a strong enough travel blogger salary to get up to the mountains every year, hey?

It’s hard to guess by appearances – if you take Instagram accounts and blog posts as gospel. Sure, holidays, new clothes, cocktails and fancy dinners would usually mean a person was raking it in, but y’know travel bloggers get a lot of this stuff in return for coverage on their blog.

Many holidays are sponsored, clothes are gifted (or ‘borrowed’) and some travel bloggers don’t actually have homes to keep up while they go off gallivanting around the world. 

I’m talking like I’m not one of these travel bloggers, like I’m writing a study of them, but actually, I’m one too. Have been for over nine years now.

Wanna know how much I earn? 

In a minute. Let me guess at the other travel blogger salaries first.

Typical Travel Blogger Jobs

Aka, how does a travel blogger make money?

– I love nosing on travel blogger income reports!

The travel bloggers who make the most have many income streams , I can say that for certain. You can’t just write a travel blog about your thoughts and feelings in a destination and expect the cash to magically come rolling in.

You need to use every ounce of entrepreneurialism you have, every skill, and every bit of knowledge to make travel blogging make money for you. Here are some of the typical ways travel bloggers make money so they can travel the world and get paid for it. 

This is how travel bloggers get their income.

• – Translation
• – Affiliate income
• – Running tours
• – Selling products
• – Running courses
• – Writing courses
• – Presenting
• – Social media management
• – Freelance writing
• – Writing books
• – Marketing

Some of the best travel blogger income reports

One of the best ways to work out how much travel bloggers are earning, is to look at the open and honest income reports around the web. I love how people put this stuff online…

• It’s a Lovely Life March 2018 Income Report – $208,558.17
• Heleneinbetween October 2017 Income Report – $12,026.78
• Living the Dream April 2018 Income Report – $3,984
• WhereverWriter February 2018 Income Report – $3,575.05
• So between $3500 and $209k per month? Niiiice?!

Just to note though, a lot of travel bloggers have an invested interest in leading you to believe they earn more than they actually do. Whether that’s because they’re selling a travel blogging course, a lifestyle, a product or something else.

So just bear that in mind – definitely not saying the travel bloggers responsible for the income reports above do – just, y’know, some people .

Not all travel bloggers earn even close to that much though.

Let’s look at some of the top travel blogger salaries. 

Top earning travel bloggers

Like many industries, in travel blogging there are a few people at the top earning a small fortune, while there are many at the bottom earning just a few dollars a month.

If you’re a travel blogger with a successful course, with affiliates promoting it, a long standing blog, get to work with brands and have over 100k page views a month – the money could be rolling in. 

If you want to know which travel bloggers are earning the most money, check out my friend Kach’s guide over at Two Monkeys Travel.

They’ve compiled a list of the top earning travel bloggers as revealed by the travel bloggers themselves. They’ve listed the top travel bloggers’ income for all to see.

READ MORE: 30+ TRAVEL BLOGGERS EARNING OVER 5,000 USD / MONTH & HOW THEY MONETIZE THEIR BLOGS

– The travel blogger income of some of the top travel bloggers in the world

I think the only British person on that list is Monica from The Travel Hack, apart from the Monkeys, so well done her . She definitely should’ve bought the beers in Finland last month !

These are the kind of travel blogger salary figures you want to emulate hey?

Best travel bloggers earning money

If you want to read more about the top earning travel bloggers, all earning over six figures a year, you can read some of their secrets below.  I scoured some of the top travel blogs for evidence of their finances.

Let’s look at the travel bloggers income reports.

– Caz & Craig make over 6 figures a year over at the super popular family travel blog yTravelBlog.com. – Goats on the Road make over $100,000 / year.  – Johnny Ward is a travel blogger millionaire  and earns $30,000 A MONTH .  – Nomadic Matt makes over $750,000 PER YEAR .

* Just to note, the bloggers have above have entire teams behind them, so they have a lot of spends too. Here’s Matt’s Team for example.

My guesses at travel blogger salaries

So, how much does a travel blogger make per year?

First rule of getting a salary in England is that we don’t discuss the salary. I know what a few of my friends earn, the journalist ones-ish, but even some of my besties I wouldn’t have a clue.

None of my business apparently. 

– How much money can you make as a blogger?

These travel blogger salary guesstimates are based on my own experiences, an insider knowledge of the industry and from what I’ve heard.

1. Started travel blogging in the last three years, a few sources of income and some outside brand presence, at least 100 blog posts = £20,000 2. Travel blogging for a few years, focuses on blog for at least 5 sources of income, works with brands, does it full time = £40,000 3. Travel blogging for a few years, focuses on blog for at least 5 sources of income, plus some sort of successful course or product, does it full time and won’t do anything for free or in return = £60,000 4. Travel blogging since the start, super successful Instagram and / or YouTube presence, numerous sources of income, well known = £90,000 5. Travel blogging since the start, super successful Instagram and / or YouTube presence, numerous sources of income, well known, and American = £100,000+

Practical Wanderlust made $22,000 travel blogging in her first full year , although just $65.07 in her first six months. 

Travel blogger income

The ‘average blogger salary’ is kind of a ridiculous and unmeasurable calculation.. It’d be like saying ‘what does the average singer earn’?

In blogging you have the likes of Zoella reeling in the millions, and then the millions of bloggers worldwide not making a penny. The spectrum of salary has very different ends. 

As for me, with my delightful travel blog? In and around number 2, give or take 10%. I’m British, I can’t talk about my travel blogger salary – my fingertips literally won’t type to reveal the exact amount!

Earning potential of travel bloggers

Travel blogging isn’t like beauty blogging, food blogging or fitness blogging – for most people travel isn’t something they do daily. It’s something they may spend a year or two on, and then it’s back to the once to three times a year when families, jobs and finances get in the way.

This means that travel bloggers sell less through their blogs, but when they do, the value will be higher. They’re more of an information source than other types of bloggers, making it difficult to predict what they earn.

Many travel bloggers work on an affiliate basis, where they will get some sort of kickback if they manage to sell a product through their site, but travel bloggers are inspiration. Even if we do inspire or persuade someone to travel in our footsteps, it might be a year or two until they actually do it. And by then any reference to the fact that it was you who inspired them to go will be erased or forgotten.

Travel bloggers also have to invest a lot to start off, in our travels , before we start making any back. All things to consider if you’re looking at the finances of becoming a travel blogger as a career choice. A travel blogger salary is one thing, but travel blogger expenses are a whole other kettle of fish!

On the flipside though, the earning potential of a travel blogger is totally uncapped .

This excites me greatly.

How much do travel bloggers make?

The harder you work, the more creative you are, the more you think about it, the more you do – the more you can earn. 

Typical travel blogger rates

This is difficult to talk about without naming exact campaigns, bloggers, their audience sizes, and prices – but just to give you an idea…

– Travel blogger earnings totally vary from blogger to blogger

– A friend of mine with around 20k Instagram followers recently went to the launch of a new travel themed food item and was paid £800 to attend and to create an Instagram post on it.  – I’ve worked with different tourist boards for (on average) a week to create social media content, a video and multiple blog posts and been paid between £1000-£2000 a time.  – It’s normal for a travel blogger with an audience size of around 50,000 U/Vs to be paid £500 to do a product review on their blog and receive the product for free. – Travel bloggers can be paid upwards of £200 to takeover a company’s Instagram Stories for the day. – Many bloggers I know wouldn’t even consider going to a destination for a week unless they were paid at least £1000 in return for the content they produce.

But, also, they’re asked, expected and have done, loads of stuff for free.

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 

One of the most annoying aspects of trying to earn money as a travel blogger, is that you will constantly and repeatedly be asked to work for free. It really is infuriating. 

– Most travel bloggers will plough their earnings back into their travels

7 steps to earning a good travel blogger salary

Many bloggers earning good money from their travel blogs are in that lucky position because they started early, obviously . Their blogs and sites have gained traction from years of hard work and attention online. They deserve their place on the top earning travel bloggers score board.  When it comes to the question of how much do travel bloggers make, they’re making the top dollar.

Don’t let their rich history put you off though, there are still ways to make money as a travel blogger if you start your blog now…

1. Invest your time

You’ll need to be  willing to invest your time , for no financial return. For at least two years I ran my blog as a labour of love and to practice what I was learning at work.

2. Do a highly regarded course

Get ahead and learn as much as possible. It might seem silly to pay when you can get the information online for free, but at least this way it’ll be set out in an easy to follow way, and you can just do the steps.

3. Stand out

There are so many travel bloggers now that it’s no longer enough to just be ‘a travel blogger’, you need to have a niche and some sort of direction. Think of a way to stand out from the crowd to make you the go to person for that topic.

4. Skill up

Be reeeeally good at one thing – photography, writing, Facebook, videomaking etc – and then keep working on everything else. Back up there ^ somewhere, I said how the highest earning travel bloggers have multiple income streams – remember that.

You need to be always learning, always thinking and always executing.

5.  Do cool stuff

The world does not need another  guide to Barcelona , trust me. Have some sort of gimmick, or do cool things, or go to awesome places and do cool things in those places, that no one else does, to really try and stand out.

Do something to write home about. 

6.  Have a business mind

Many travel bloggers are creative, but to make money they need to be business minded too. If you’re serious about making a lot of money from travel blogging then every decision you make needs to be business minded, even if the decision you make for your business isn’t to be business minded to look like some carefree traveller.

Read books, read well written sites, and learn about the professional side of travel blogging to give yourself the best chance.

7. Celebrate the small wins

Congratulate yourself on the small wins. As a travel blogger every day you are working towards building something bigger. You cannot expect to be the highest earning travel blogger in a few months – Nomadic Matt has been working at it for over 13 years, me, nine.

As you slowly build your empire, remember to congratulate yourself when things go right and keep your eye on the bigger picture.

Is it easy to become a travel blogger?

I 100% believe that with hard work, knowledge and enthusiasm you can come and join us mid-earning travel bloggers , earning a decent salary, working from home and travelling for a career.

Once you’ve got that nailed, then you can start thinking about bringing in those glorious six figures. 

How soon will I start earning money from travel blogging?

Anybody else happily accepting that they’re NOT going to make an income from ‘travel blogging’? Regardless of all the inspirational memes you see saying otherwise! ? #traveltribe — Steve Biggs (@biggsytravels) February 17, 2020

I started earning money after about six months – we’re talking a few quid though, not much. It took about three years – could’ve been two but I was reluctant to give up my job – for me to start making a basic full time income of it. My travel blogger salary soon eclipsed what I was earning in my job, and I knew it was time to leave so I could reap the benefits of all the travel I was being offered.

Since then I’ve travelled the world for three years and managed to top up my savings to buy a house by myself through what I’ve earned from my travel blog.

I started my blog in February 2012, back when no one really knew what they were doing and we were just muddling through. Now there are so many courses on how to make money travel blogging, and so much information and many opportunities out there, that with some hard work and a bit of luck you could be earning quicker than I did.

Or, you could set it all up, all gung ho, and then slowly drift away from it once you realise how much hard work it is to maintain. Up to you.

“Most travel blogs will be lucky if they last longer than a year”. –  Expert Vagabond

It’s impossible to say how soon you’ll start earning money from travel blogging, it depends how much work you put in, how much you know and how lucky you are. A travel blogger jobs salary is difficult to pinpoint.

Questions about travel blogger income 

1. What is the salary of a travel blogger? 

A travel blogger income varies from a big fat zero, to over a million a year. The highest earning travel bloggers I know are Nomadic Matt, The Blonde Abroad and Two Monkeys Travel. They’re all earning a blummin fortune! 

2. How do travel bloggers get paid?

Travel bloggers get paid through affiliates, brand partnerships, freelancing in writing or photography and advertising. They can also charge appearance fees, social media fees, and develop courses and speaking fees too. 

3. Can you get paid for travelling? 

Yes, as a travel blogger you can get paid to travel. I am living proof.  

4. Can anybody be a travel blogger? 

No, unfortunately not. No matter what those ads on Facebook tell you. To be a paid travel blogger you need to be resilient, hard working, good at writing and SEO, and have some sort of funds to travel in the first place. 

It takes a lot of hard work to be a travel blogger. 

5. Can you believe travel blog income reports?

I love reading travel blog income reports, but that’s just because I’m super nosey. Seeing how much travel bloggers get paid is very interesting to me, and can also give ideas of how you yourself can earn more in different markets too. I do tend to take travel blog income reports with a pinch of salt though – years in the travel blogger business has taught me you can’t believe everything you read!

Travel blogger salary

Good luck with it all. I hope one day I’ll be writing about you as one of the highest paid travel bloggers in the world. Let me know if you have any questions, and how you get on!

Pin this post on travel blogger salaries for later

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Hi, I'm Vicky! I wrote this. You can find me on all the social media @VickyFlipFlop. I love a bit of adventure, will try anything once, and have a strong passion for the local food and drink, whatever it may be. I'm here to help inspire you to travel to places a little out of your comfort zone, or at least to explore the usual destinations in a different way. Stay, have a look around, and if you have any questions – let me know below.

18 Comments

very inspiring, I’m finally making some income after blog post number 47 YAY!

Really interesting post. I remember reading about a travel blogger once who claimed to be earning a certain figure, turns out she had like you said 5 different avenues and another blog which was getting more hits! I’d like to think that one day I’d be earning enough to make a living. I’ve just started it full time so the next year will tell.

Oh good luck! I hope you’ve been ok during this difficult time. To be honest, I take everything I read with a pinch of salt as there’s a lot of exaggeration! I think this year is difficult for us all.

Nice to read and gain more knowledge – no blog yet but thinking about it – and the information helps. Really great for all the pointers

Hi VickyFlipFlopTravels, this content is an encouragement to future bloggers. It is very informative. Thanks for this.

No worries. Interesting to see hey?! I’m happy to say my income has gone up since I wrote this post but it’s been a long road!

Hi Vicky, this article is an encouragement to future bloggers. It is very informative. Thanks

Oh I hope it’s helped inspire you! As we know travel blogging isn’t all about the money, but you’ve got to be able to pay for your flights somehow!

• Pingback: Ways to Earn Money Traveling - CleverLeverage.com

Thank you, very informative. Even though you don’t want to share exact numbers, maybe you could share a range of how much earning you’ve reached at Y+1, Y+2, … ?

You’ve done your research and posted huge amount of travel blogger contents. I’m really a fan of your writing these days. Would you mind if i share this article to my students?

Hello Michel, if it’s just IRL then yeah, sure, share away! If you’re sharing online it’d be great to know where exactly you were sharing it to. Thanks!

Sorry I hadn’t replied earlier Steve, don’t know how I missed that. Are you happy with what you’ve earned? I think there are a lot of people earning a little pocket money from their blogs, which is great. Helps with the costs. I guess it’s only if you plan to pursue it as a full time job that you need to start thinking about how to bring in the big bucks, if you’ve got your main job then there’s no need to put so much pressure on yourself to perform. Just enjoy it!

No worries, I’m glad you found it helpful. So interesting to see what people are actually earning from travel blogging isn’t it?

This is so insightful and pretty thought-provoking! It’s mad to think some bloggers are earning such huge amounts from their sites and videos etc. I think like you say, it’s good to remember they will have started small and done a lot for free!I’m starting to get lots of local attractions for free and glamping stay which I find super exciting!

Oh that IS exciting! I think it makes sense that people are earning so much, when they have such big audiences. Some bloggers’ audiences are bigger than magazines. I think as people have moved to getting their information online the blogger were ahead of the curve. It’s all interesting to watch and observe – I guess we’ll see!

This post is packed with some really fascinating insights. Thanks a lot for writing this!

Let’s start with a low bar 🙂 I’ve been travel blogging purely as an enjoyable sideline to my FT salaried digital analytics career job since the start of 2016. Blog earnings to date = £800. Directly £500 for a video I posted on Jukin Media and £75 for a sponsored blog post … & then indirectly £150 discount off a Stockholm hotel rate and a £75 free tour in Paris (both of which I was going to pay full price for anyway). £0 so far from my Amazon affiliate links.

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Travel blogger salary – 28 Ways travel bloggers make money

In this article you will read about a travel blogger’s salary and how bloggers have successfully turned they travel blogging job into full-time careers where they not only make enough to backpack around Southeast Asia, but also to live in some of the world’s most expensive cities like Singapore, Sydney or San Francisco. 

We will delve into how travel bloggers make money, not just into how I make money, and look at a reasonable travel blogger salary.

You will also find a handy travel blogger income calculator that should help you gauge how much you could make if you started a travel blog .

This post is not about how influencers make money, that is a pretty straightforward discussion which we will discuss later, but about how travel bloggers make money.

HINT : There is no one size fits all approach, and you can make money travel blogging in many different ways.

I will venture to say that this is the most comprehensive and exhaustive post about ways travel bloggers make money I have found and it is full of tips and advice from peers who are succeeding at monetising their travel blog in a variety of ways. I hope you find a new revenue stream you didn’t think of.

JUMP directly to How travel bloggers make money

Can you make money travel blogging? Some considerations

Before we get started, two pieces of advice.

Diversification is king.

Making money from a travel blog is perfectly possible and lots of people do it successfully, many in the six digit range annually (that is a minimum of USD8,000 a month).

But the most successful ones have diversified their portfolio significantly. 

Contrary to regular jobs where one employer will pay your salary, being in the digital world and trying to make a living off a digital property like a blog requires you to diversify tremendously because most of the revenue streams are unpredictable and constantly changing.

They also *could* largely depend on someone else’s business decisions (aka Google, Pinterest, etc.)

For example, if your income is mostly coming from ads and, suddenly, the platform which serves ads on your website decides to change its policy your income could go down to zero .

If you rely exclusively on selling Amazon products and suddenly Amazon stops working with the third party seller that you were advertising, your income could go down to zero.

You get the gist.

Depending on one revenue source in a world that is rapidly evolving is not a good idea. You need to hustle and you need to diversify. Most people will have their toes dipped in at least 4-5 different areas to guarantee a minimum income every month.

Secondly, and slightly related to the above, most bloggers have variable monthly income .

This is related to the fact that the industry is in constant flow, that is affected by seasonality and where some revenue streams are campaign-driven and one-off.

This is the scariest part of taking the leap and becoming a full time travel blogger: Not knowing how much you will make every month .

Dispelling the myths of a travel blogger job

Thanks to the overhyped media coverage of the influencers’ and travel bloggers’ life, everyone has an idea about what a travel blogger job looks like and that image is almost always incorrect.

It is important to go into this industry with a full understanding of what it entails. So here are a few myths about a travel blogger job that we need to dispel.

Most of the work happens on a computer not by the beach

Every single travel blogger will tell you this: Don’t be tricked into believing that bloggers are living a life of constant travel and no work .

Working online is tough and it requires an incredible level of commitment and very long hours . You actually (surprise surprise) need to work, probably longer hours than with a regular job for someone else, because you need to generate an income. 

And this is especially true at the beginning, when you are starting out and have no baseline passive income to live off.

Don’t assume that because you see a new photo every day from a blogger where he or she is having fun somewhere that this is how they spent their days.

Heck, most times, the photo may have been taken at another point and when you see it posted the person is probably behind a laptop typing away somewhere far less fashionable.

Let me reveal a dirty little secret about a travel blogger’s job .

We may travel for 3 days then be home for two weeks just working non-stop, 15h days, in front of a computer.

In the 3 days, we collected enough material to last us the two weeks, so our online persona is traveling for two weeks. 

And let me add, this is not because we like to create an illusion, but because posting all the materials we collect in a day at once would bombard our feed and followers, so it is best to spread it out a little. Also, because when we are traveling, we try to enjoy the moment and spend time trying to create the content we will share. The editing and posting happens after we return to the office.

When I held a full time job at Google I wrote about how I spent about 40% of my time on the road . But that did not mean that my days were spent by the pool sipping a margarita, primarily because you cannot work on a laptop in the sun, it overheats in no time!

You rarely disconnect

Another side effect of having a digital, always-on life is that I rarely disconnect from it.

When I had a full time job at Google, weekends were my most productive time on the blog.

I was fresh and I could focus on the blog entirely. When I was at my day job at Google, I was usually disconnected from the blog. Now that the blog is my full time job, because of the nature of the job, I  almost never switch off from the many social media channels I have.

This only ever happens when I visit a country that has no internet.

Keeping up with three email addresses, an Instagram account ( OIALJ ), a Facebook page ( OIALJ ), one Twitter  profile, one Flipboard , one YouTube , one Pinterest and many other smaller networks such as Quora means everyone expects me to be online all the time.

Clients are in all time zones, other peers too, and the messages and emails come in at all times of day and night, 7 days a week.

The time fallacy

When I started to pay attention to my income report I focused on “value for time” and on fostering the passive income streams as opposed to the active ones.

The travel blogging income you can generate is directly correlated to the time you can invest plus the passive income you have been able to build.

To make more money you can either generate active income more efficiently (charging more or woking faster) or increase your passive income streams.

Because the objective of any travel blogger is not to work more but to work less, passive income is the key to success.

How much travel bloggers make

The salary of a travel blogger can vary dramatically from blog to blog and depends on how many revenue streams you play with and how successful you are with each.

The following sections are split into Passive income and Active income.

For the purposes of this blog, passive income is the one that is generated even when you are not working. If you take a holiday for a week, your passive income will continue to bring in a salary.

Active income is the income you generate when you work on a campaign or do something for a client. 

So let’s take a look at all the possible components of a travel blogger’s salary.

Travel bloggers passive income

As discussed, passive income is the ideal revenue source .

You want it to have as much weight in your overall income as possible.

Sadly, this is also the hardest to master and to grow . If it was so easy, everyone would do it.

But don’t get discouraged, it’s not that hard. 

By being a travel blogger you can generate passive income through your blog (obviously) and also, by using the assets and skills you have developed to generate income in other ways. For example, by selling your travel photography.

I call them passive, but the reality is that if you truly left your blog untouched, these revenue streams would eventually die out too so they are passive because you do not have to do anything to make them happen but they do rely on a successful and updated blog .

And this is more and more relevant because the industry is becoming more competitive every year so it takes a shorter amount of time of a blog to become obsolete if left untouched.

Display advertising (USD200 – USD1,000+)

This is the most obvious salary source for almost every travel blogger.

Display ads are those banner images that you find everywhere online which advertise a given brand, product or offer. Just check the ads on this blog post.

A lot of bloggers will proudly say that they do not like ads and that they have decided not to “clutter” their side bars with ads.

However, I would argue that we are all so used to ads being everywhere that we are not bothered by them. As long as you do not overdo it, you should be fine.

When setting up ads on your site you need to consider a few things :

• Will you use an ad serving platform or get in touch with direct advertisers ?
• What ad serving platform you will sign up for?
• How many ads would you want to show?
• Do you show them on desktop or also on mobile ?

Let me answer them all one by one.

Some people decide to have ads they have directly negotiated themselves with the advertiser . For example, if they are running a sponsored post for a hotel chain, they may also include a banner ad for that hotel for a month after the article is up.

These are not really passive income streams per se as you need to constantly find new advertisers and renegotiate contracts , but they may generate higher income than if you just use a third party ad serving platform.

Talking of which. Ad serving platforms are those which broker the relationship between advertisers willing to advertise their product or service and publishers (aka the bloggers) who are willing to take ads and show them to their readers. The most commonly known platform is AdSense , from Google.

AdSense is easy to set up and you get approved almost immediately after applying it if your blog is at least six months old. After you are approved, you need to include the ads on your site by copying and pasting a small piece of code on your articles or side bars. A very easy thing to do, even I can do it.

After that, Google will show ads to your visitors depending on who they are and their preferences. AdSense shares a percentage of their revenue from advertisers with you , usually based on the amount of people who click on the ads shown on your site. For every click, you will get a commission. In my case, with about 60,000 page views I used to generate about USD150-200 from Adsense every month.

If your blog is large enough there are higher end ad serving platforms that will offer more commission and which may work on impressions (number of people who see the ads) as opposed to clicks.

MediaVine is a well-established one which a lot of people use and are happy with, including myself.

They offer much higher commissions and returns because they are more targeted. As soon as I moved to Mediavine my ad revenue increased 10 fold overnight.

You can see the monthly evolution in my Income Reports section so you get the most updated values and how it evolved since I moved over from AdSense to Mediavine. Within the first month, my ad revenues were up four-fold .

To get on Mediavine, you need to have a minimum of 25,000 monthly sessions so as soon as you start a blog, this should be the objective.

How much you make from ads this way can vary from $10 to $40 per 1,000 sessions depending on your niche and on the location of your audience.

US/UK/Australia audiences pay higher RPM (revenue per 1,000 sessions). That mens that if you hit 25,000 sessions and they are all US-based you could be up to making $1,000 from ads .

Sell online (USD50 – USD10,000+)

A major revenue stream for some people are online product sales, for example, merchandising or packing lists with the things to take on a trip.

You may have seen that a lot of blogs have online stores .

Usually, the blogger is not sitting at home packing and shipping your orders but rather a third party company is. Here are some of the types of things you can sell on your blog.

1. Own products

Selling your own products online is a good idea if you have a specific skill or product that is unique . Doing it through your blog is a means to monetise the traffic that you are already generating.

If you decide to setup an online store page on your blog, you have three options:

• Do the end-to-end fulfilment yourself
• Outsource it to companies like Amazon who would receive your stock, keep it in consignment and then shipping it every time there is an order
• Or use third party fulfilment companies without any stock

If you do the end to end fulfillments yourself then you would have to keep stock at home, setup all the shipping and customer care functions and take the order.

This is unpractical if you are a travel blogger.

It would also not make it a passive income stream because you would be tied to the business 24/7.

If you do not do that yourself, you can either create the product and have Amazon do the selling for you – this is how all sellers on Amazon do it, or you could use a third party to manufacture the items every time there is a sale.

If you sell via Amazon, you need to make sure you take care of the manufacturing and give Amazon enough inventory at all times but they do all the end-to-end fulfilment of each other and even handle customer service.

If you use a third party fulfilment company then you don’t hold stock anywhere.

For example, Jodi from Legal Nomads , generates most of her income this way. She has been selling her own designs on t-shirts, bags and posters through her Shopify store. She designed the prints and got a friend to hand draw them beautifully.

Her designs are related to food and travel, her niche, so they perfectly align with her audience and she is able to monetise the visitors to her blog this way.

What is more, Jodi draws additional income from her Gluten-free cards which she sells on Gumroad because Shopify does not let you sell digital products.

She designed the cards herself and got them properly translated into other languages to help Celiacs on the road eat safely .  

To replicate Jody’s model, you can use Shopify to create the online front store (they charge USD20 per month) and then use third party companies like Printful , Merchify or CafePress to manufacture the item with your artwork every time a customer places an order.

These third party companies fulfill your sales and print to order so there is not stock maintained and you do not have to worry about shipping or handling orders.

This formula allows you to sell standard products like phone covers, t-shirts, posters, mugs, etc. with your own artworks so they are unique and aligned to your niche.

The downside here is that you will have to manage the customer service part and if there are issues with the address or returns, the printing company will only take responsibility for faulty products and not for wrong orders, etc. so you need to make sure your T&Cs are specific.

2. Third party products as an affiliate

A lot of people have gone the Amazon way via the Amazon Influencer store.

The difference between selling third party products and having your own store is that when you resell third party products you are basically only getting a commission whereas with your store you get the margin you decide based on what the printer gets and your selling price.

Setting up a third party store is possible through Amazon because they give you the tools to create an entire store on your blog that looks like it is yours but is in fact powered by Amazon .

Your job here would be to curate a selection of products that you would recommend to your visitors and then place them on your online store following Amazon’s guidelines.

Every time someone orders from your Amazon store you get a 4-6% commission.

The effort is much lower but so is the return.

You don’t do anything else here so, once the store is setup, you just need to ensure your Amazon sellers and products are not discontinued and let Amazon do the rest.

A good example is Mapping Megan . She set up her Amazon store selling adventure gear and products . This is directly aligned to her Adventure Travel Blog motto and helps her visitors locate products she likes.

Even though the store is new, she is already able to make USD50 a month this way, totally passively, except for keeping an eye on broken links if a product she is promoting is discontinued on Amazon.

Despite having a full blown store, Megan is more successful at monetising the contextual links because her articles are heavily promoted and rank high on Google Search results, as opposed to her Store page which is visited by her regular loyal audience.

3. Merchandising

This is a bit like Jodi above in the sense that you can use the same channels and tools to make it happen but, instead of promoting a destination or artwork, you promote your brand. It is a common revenue stream for celebrities.

Take Doug the Pug .

Not a travel blogger. For one, he is a dog, but I completely love him and since the girl who owns the dog must have struggled to find ways to monetise her close to 10 million followers across Instagram and Facebook, and the dog is such a personality, merchandising makes sense for her. If your brand is such that you can monetise it, then this can be a great revenue stream that also builds free advertising for you .

Affiliate marketing (USD100 – USD10,000+)

Affiliate marketing is basically the same as referral marketing, it’s the way to monetise word of mouth .

When someone comes to your blog and clicks on an affiliate link to a website you are referring, you will get a commission if the reader buys something. This is perhaps the panacea for most bloggers, the true passive income.

Affiliate revenues apply to almost every online blogging industry and make up for the entire travel blogging salary of many people.

You can make thousands every month through affiliate.

For example, I have been following Matthew Woodward ever since he started and it has been impressive to see him go for USD2,000 a month to over USD20,000, a month.

His blog is a great example of how an open-affiliate-links and honest approach can work well . He reviews digital services and tools for hosting, email marketing, outreach, etc. extensively, tells you all the goods and the bads and then clearly explains how he makes money if you buy it through his referral link.

His reviews are honest and have all been fully tried, many with A/B tests over several months, so he adds real value. Therefore, you are happy to use his referral code.

In fact, I have learned so much from him that I always go to his site to find his referral codes when I am buying a tool I know he must have reviewed, it is my way of paying him for sharing his knowledge for free.

On the flipside, there are plenty of people who will recommend a product just because of the affiliate revenue they get, even if it’s a product they do not use and would never recommend to a friend.

Everyone needs to make their decision here.

These are some of the most common affiliate programs used by travel bloggers to generate an income.

1. Accommodation booking

Hotel booking engines are one of the easiest and most convenient affiliate programs there are.

Almost every blogger generates some income from hotel booking sites.

The most commonly used are:

• HotelsCombine which is a meta search engine, that is, they show you the prices on all the booking sites and then you click to book directly on that site. You can make money per lead (ie. every time someone clicks on a HC link on your site, or per booking made by those who click.
• Booking.com as the largest hotel booking site is a very popular choice. The downside is that they don’t have a cookie, that is, your reader has to read your article, click and book for you to earn. During th same transaction.
• Agoda is a popular booking affiliate used for those with a lot of content from Asia because it has high recognition there.
• Airbnb pays a referral fee like it does to any regular person but it is known to limit that to $5,000 at which point you will stop earning and may have to create a new account (you never heard that from us). You don’t get cash out here but Airbnb credit so you need to be a user of the site to benefit

2. Amazon affiliates

Similar to the stores I mentioned in the previous point but instead of setting up a separate front end store, you just sell products in your posts . There are two strategies here: contextual links, adding them when talking about a product in an article, or full-blown stores.

Contextual links are the most common. A good example is packing guides where you can include links to products on Amazon you are recommending to take on a trip. This may work well if you have an engaged audience and a specific niche.

A lot of blogs make significant revenue streams from having very optimised sites that review products.

Foe example, you could write a very optimised post that reviews all the best travel scarfs and recommends the best. Those that land on your page are looking to buy one so they have purchase intent.

Some bloggers set up specific Niche Sites that are primarily optimised just for affiliate sales of Amazon products, for example sites that are focused on camping equipment, or kayaks.

The advantage with Amazon is that they will give you a commission on anything your reader purchases after arriving at the store through your link, whether that was a product you recommended or not.

It is easy to get lost down the rabbit hole on Amazon because the site is so optimised to make a sale that you get bombarded with other things you didn’t know you needed and end up making a purchase. At which point,

You will get a commission.

There are also a few downsides to Amazon too.

If you do not have your audience in one of the main Amazon countries you may experience issues with the products you want to recommend not being shipped there.

This happens to me in Singapore where there is no local Amazon store and a lot of the sellers on Amazon do not ship to Singapore. Even though Amazon is global, you will need to set up a different account in each of the countries you want to advertise from.

In my case, I have UK, US and Spain because these are three countries where Amazon and my audience coincide. Amazon is only in Spain, UK, US, Mexico, India, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, China and Brazil.

Lastly, Amazon only makes payment via bank wire if you have a bank account in the country where the store is. So if your audience is from the US but you do not have a bank account there, the only way for you to get paid is with a cheque or using TransferWise account.

There are other sites that work similarly to Amazon like Lazada in Asia or eBay, but Amazon is the best known.

3. Travel Insurance

Another great affiliate program for travel bloggers or nomadic people in general is World Nomads .

They have a great rapport and customer reviews and I personally know a lot of bloggers who use them and have successfully and painlessly submitted and received claims.

They are highly recommended and have a very generous affiliate program, so hat makes them a great affiliate.

4. Affiliate portals and aggregators

Although I usually prefer to sign up directly with the affiliate program of the company I want to promote, there are aggregator portals for affiliate programs.

Some of the most popular ones are Share a Sale , Awin  (previously Affiliate Window) and Commission Junction (CJ).

A lot of individual companies don’t set up heir own programs instead using the services of one of these aggregators.

They work like Amazon in that they will provide you with the links to be added as contextual links and you can also include banner ads to go with it. They collect payment from the brands, aggregate them, and pay you.

The advantage of using an aggregator is that a lot of individual programs will have either geographical constraints or require commissions to reach a minimum thresholds to make payment (eg. $100 or $500).

With an aggregator you can achieve the minimum payment amount faster because you can accumulate sales from several companies, and they may offer a wider range of payment methods like Paypal or international bank transfers.

Additionally, their reports are usually much more detailed as this is their bread and butter, and focused on helping you optimise your links.

The downside?

Some of these programs are constantly removing and adding new companies so you may have added all the links from CJ in your article only for the company to leave CJ.

This has happened to me and it is incredibly frustrating so make sure that the links you add are from long standing companies.

Also, if you do not reach a minimum number of sales they may drop you from the program which is even more frustrating.

Lastly, make sure that the geographical reach of the program matches that of your audience’s (going back to my previous comment on the Amazon stores) so that you don’t waste your audience’s time by referring them to a site where they cannot buy what you told them was so great.

5. Teaching English abroad

Teaching English as a foreign language is great if you want to work and travel the world. 

A good way to leverage this experience and create a passive revenue stream is through affiliate sales of the companies who offer courses to become a certified English teacher abroad.

Alice from  Teacake Travels , has several articles on her blog about  teaching English abroad  including five articles on each of the countries she has taught English in and also a comprehensive guide to getting started.

She also helps people who email her directly with tips and advise. Every time somebody decides to purchase the course from MyTEFL she used and recommends, she earns a $35 commission.

The commission is usually higher than what you will get from other affiliate programs and once the guides are set up correctly and rank with the right keywords, they should convert better as well.

Donations and tip jar

This may sound either obvious or strange but you are providing a value to your audience, for free, and you are trying to make a living of all the possible ways except from the people who get value from your site.

Why not ask them to contribute?

For example, The Guardian does that at the end of each and every article and with a pop-up.

If what you are providing is unique, not easily and freely available elsewhere and you offer a genuine value your audience appreciates, implementing such donation boxes may help with paying the bills.

Like The Guardian, you may choose to appeal to people’s honesty and integrity and simply ask them to support you with or without a stipulated fee or recurrence in payment.

A lot of people think this is begging, tacky or cheap but you could also see it as a way to let people who enjoy your content support you. I have never seen a problem in asking for what you are worth.

Another interesting idea in this realm is what Jean from Traveling Honeybird does just that on her Patreon page . Patreon allows her to set different levels of contribution and she offers to send the subscribers her posts first and also to send postcards from her travels. She makes around USD100 a month this way.

Subscription services

Nowadays we are not used to paying for anything that comes from the online world but the word Freemium or Paywall still rings a bell for many companies who offer a range of online services for free and then have a subscription-based area only for members who may pay a small fee.

This is usually the case for newspapers and online magazines like The New York Times but may also include members-only reviews, offers, in-depth content or value that cannot be found elsewhere for free.

This is not an easy revenue model to master which is why it is not a typical element of a travel blogger salary, but there are some successful cases.

Here are the variants of this model:

• Membership – Where access to a reserved area is only accessible to monthly paying customers
• Freemium – Where a part of the content is free and part is paid for
• Micro-payments – Where you pay per piece

Selling photography

A lot of travel writers started off with strong photography backgrounds . Others, had to learn the hard way.

Travel writing is closely linked to appealing visual images and videos so it is logical that a lot of bloggers generate an income from selling them online.

Often, the photos that sell best online are not those which are more stunning. A bowl of apples or a landscape can sometimes do best.

A popular site tos ell your images is Shutterstock . As a photographer, you get a commission every time someone downloads your image.

The amounts are low, USD0.25 per photo downloaded, but this is basically a long-term passive income stream that will survive whether your blog is active or not.

The good news is that the more you sell the higher the individual payout per photo you will earn.

To join Shutterstock you will first need to apply by submitting your first 10 images and then wait for them to be approved before you can upload an unlimited amount. Every photo uploaded is approved by their staff so it may take some time but their tagging capabilities are intelligent and allow you to tag away quite quickly.

Bear in mind that photos need to be a minimum of 20 MG and that models in the shots need to sign release forms for the photo to be on sale – without the release form the photo will be rejected. Shutterstock also has a referral program (<- this is my link) where you earn USD0.04 per photo your referral sells for the first two years.  

Publish a book

Most bloggers are good at one thing: writing. Unless you are a social media maverick or a photographer/videographer, words are still the strongest weapon for most of us. Communicating a thought, conveying a message or telling a story is what we do best so it comes as no surprise that a lot of us have decided to put pen to paper in a real book in order to monetise our writing skills.

When it comes to writing a book there are two types of topics: related to the blog or unrelated to the blog. There are also two ways of selling it: on the blog or on third party stores.

If you are writing about a topic that is directly related to your blog, you will most likely consider marketing it to your audience through your channels.

If you are writing about a topic that is not directly related to your blog audience’s interests, you may choose to sell it primarily via third party stores. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Writing about a topic that is in your domain makes it easier to market it and it gives you an additional revenue stream to monetise the eyeballs on your site. However, when you write about a topic that is not related to your blog you are opening doors to new audiences.

Most bloggers will use a combination of own channels and third party distributors , harnessing the power of Amazon and other publishing networks’ reach with the engaged audience and higher profit of a direct sale.

What needs to be considered is that your publishing and marketing strategies will be different depending on the channel.

If you are thinking of self-publishing on Amazon , CreateSpace will be a useful resource to help you edit the book, design the cover, convert to a kindle-friendly version and create the paperback.

What is more, CreateSpace will also print the paperback version on demand so you do not need the budget to make a print run and pay for storage, a copy will be printed every time someone orders the book.

To illustrate, I wanted to share two different approaches to self-publishing books: a food travel guide series and a prolific, bite-sized writer.

Amber, from With Husband in Tow , wrote and published a book on Emilia Romagna’s food which she sees sales of every day. As her blog is primarily aimed at food and travel, this is a topic that is very much on point. To publish and review the book, she used PressBooks. She had used them before for her guide to Myanmar and is happy enough that she will use them again. Her book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iBooks.

On the other hand, Ryan from Blogging from Paradise , has published over 120 books on blogging life and coaching on three storefronts: Amazon, Selz and iTunes.

His books are also available in audible version and are concise and specific. Instead of publishing in-depth books, Ryan focuses on getting out short, topic-based ebooks with a specific objective in mind, like helping you write your first ebook or overcoming writer’s block. He uses ACX to create and distribute the audibles for iTunes and Amazon.

They shared their experience writing and publishing ebooks with me.

For Amber, the process was not easy as it required an in-depth understanding of the region and detailed research on the ground . Her and her husband Eric spent six weeks in Emilia Romagna in an 18 month period, talking to local producers, restaurants and business owners, which they complemented with talks with the tourism board.

Ryan has taken the opposite approach. He focuses on creating short, 6,000-word ebooks that can be written and published quickly , even within the day. Over the years, Ryan has focused on honing his writing skills and is able to produce thousands of words per day. Depending on which type of book you are looking to write, your approach may be more like that of Amber or like Ryan’s.

But regardless of how you get to the final product, the promotion is what will determine whether you succeed or fail at creating a passive revenue stream. Amber and Eric agree that publishing an ebook is not a fully passive income stream as promotion is a time-consuming always-on effort. They leverage their social media reach as well as the local and national tourism boards looking to promote the area to reach relevant audiences. And are constantly promoting the book.

Ryan believes that the secret is to build the relationship with your readers through valuable free content on the blog so they keep coming back and are ready to buy your product when you have one. He uses his mailing list and social media channels to promote the ebooks.

I also decided to embark on publishing a book: 100 tri ps of a Lifetime . My first ebook was a compilation of my best trips of a lifetime most of which I have never taken as this was my curated travel wishlist.

I decided to self-publish it as a PDF sold on Gumroad on my website. My biggest learning is that writing a book is going to take much longer than expected . I also learned that books which contain formatting (tables, lists, etc.) as well as high quality images, are not suitable for Kindle so if you plan to sell mostly books through that channel, make sure your ebook is text based.

Update : I have also completed my second ebook to date which is titled  30 Proven Ways to Make Money Online with or without a Blog   and is a comprehensive look at how anyone can make money from the internet. It’s basically a more in-depth and detailed version of this article. So if you’re enjoying this post and you want a more structured way of making money online, give my new book a try. Get it on Amazon here .

Podcast or audio books

Like with books, podcasts are a good revenue stream you can monetise by selling them online or through your blog.

Although there are lots of free audiobooks and podcasts available, creating something engaging and unique could warrant a revenue stream . The advantage of a podcast is that the editing is minimal, significantly lower than with a book or a video so they are low cost to produce and distribute as they are light.

You can sell your podcasts on iTunes as well as on Amazon. Who knows, you may create the next Serial .

Active Income generation

This section includes the bread and butter of a blogger, the 9-5 part of the blogging job , even if that is only a couple of hours a day in the case of part-time bloggers. This is the part that does not get done if you are on holidays because it requires active involvement and effort.

Just like with passive income, you may generate active income from the blog or from other sources.

Destination Marketing (USD500+)

Directly promoting a destination , instead of a property or hotel, is called destination marketing. A destination can be promoted via:

• Group set trips: These can also be called Press Trip and are usually organised by either the Tourism Board or a Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) who represents them. They tend to come on set dates and with listed deliverables and include a group of influencers, sometimes both from online and traditional print media
• Individual trips : Where the campaign is tailored-made for the blogger

Although most trips organised by tourism boards and the DMOs who represent them tend to be free, they rarely include daily fees or payment for the services. However, if you pitch your idea and are a good fit, you might be able to command a marketing fee for the work.

The Crowded Planet draws most of their income from destination marketing campaigns charging anything from USD1,000 for a weekend trip to USD5,000 with photography and videography deliverables. A good example is their Stopover Finland campaign with Finnair and Visit Finland. These campaigns are usually integrated and cross-channel and may include photography, videography and articles as well as social media.

Marketing campaigns for brands

As opposed to a destination, when a campaign is made for a specific brand, they are the focus. A destination may also be included as part of the campaign, but the main promotional effort is devoted to the brand.

Marketing campaigns for brands are specific to the blog’s audience, focus and the brand’s objectives . They may include anything from articles reviewing the property to social media campaigns or even the sale of photography or videography services. In this case, bloggers will define their fees based on either daily rates or detailed rack rates per service. The preference is entirely personal.

I prefer to charge daily rates including a type of coverage because I will price the inclusions per day depending on my equivalent daily rate. My rates can be anything from USD300 to USD700 depending on what is included in the package. I may then price additional services like photography or video editing on top as additional costs.

My friend Scott Eddy makes a full time living with this . He promotes luxury hotels, airlines, wineries and destinations on fully comped extended trips including a daily rate. Most of his coverage will be on social media where he has a combined 1,4 million followers with the biggest portion coming from Twitter where he has 1,1 million. He has been named one of the most influential people on travel on the platform and so he can command high daily rates reaching up to USD1,500.

Looking through his feed you can easily see the campaigns he works on. I particularly like the Star Alliance Round the World campaign where he went on a wine and luxury themed round the world trip with the Star Alliance airline partners.

Influencer Events

Like celebrities, some bloggers also make money from making appearances at events .

Although this is not a very common revenue stream , it is possible in cases of people who promote specific destinations and are based there. For nomadic travelers with global audiences, this is more difficult. I have been invited to numerous events in Singapore because of my Singapore-focused blog, Singapore n Beyond .

If you are a highly regarded and very engaged influencer with an audience that truly listens to your opinions you may be able to command a fee to attend certain events. I have been told that Lady Iron Chef, from Singapore, will do so. He (it is actually a man) has one of the most highly engaged audiences I have ever seen and so when they promote a place the business feels it straightaway and people come queueing.

Brand ambassadorship (The sky’s the limit!)

Brand ambassadorships are a more comprehensive form of influencer marketing . The ambassador represents the brand in several fronts and may also provide content for the brand to reuse. Each ambassadorship is different and will include some elements or other.

Cacinda, from Points and Travel , has acted as ambassador to several brands such as Travelocity , Yahoo Travel, Delsey Luggage , Rocky Mountaineer , TripAdvisor , Club Carlson or FlipBoard .

You can click on the links for an example of the work she does. She tells me that each contract varies significantly based on what the brand wants.

S ometimes, she provides content for the brand including photography or write-ups for their sites. Other times, she has represented them at events.

Because the conditions and the work varies significantly, so does the pay. From some she gets free products whereas others can pay up to USD40,000 annually and include other perks.

Brand ambassadorships are a relatively new income stream for bloggers and a very nascent strategy for brands looking to tap into the potential of influencer marketing without the hefty tag of a celebrity.

Finding them is not easy as there aren’t established channels for this. Cacinda has found hers though Facebook forums, Craigslist, and Classified Ads but the largest source is word of mouth. Once her status started to become more visible, it was easier to find and successfully win the contracts.

Social media campaigns (USD150+)

Social media campaigns are the most widely spread of all the online marketing campaigns . They have existed for some time and even the social media platforms have finally added tools and ways to make these collaborations smooth (even if that often means that you will have to advertise a campaign to get any reach).

Once your presence and vanity numbers reach a certain level , you will start receiving offers from brands. The certain level may vary depending on the niche you are in and the fit with the brand. If you are a perfect fit, have a small but engaged audience and a very specific segment, you may be able to monetise your channel early.

Lots of large social media celebrities make a full time living off this even without any other online presence. There are several tools to calculate your approximate fees based on reach and engagement but, ultimately, it will come down to your ability to negotiate.

If you are looking to proactively reach out to brands or to expand your outreach efforts beyond the offers you receive, there are dozens of influencer marketing platforms which aim to do just that: connecting brands with influencers.

There, brands are able to post offers and get influencers to apply or directly shortlist influencers they are interested to work with and send them a personalised offer. I have made the most money from these platforms.

1. Social media sponsored posts (USD100+)

Social media sponsored posts are the most basic of all the brand collaborations .

A brand wants you to promote them with a video or a photo on your channels and will pay you to do so. Some brands will also include a budget for advertising so they reach more of your audience. The post may be provided by the brands (like this campaign I did with Avoya ) or they may give you the chance to come up with the post yourself in keeping with your personality, brand and tone.

2. Twitter chats (USD250+)

Some bloggers with large Twitter reach make money hosting twitter chats. If you have a good following and you co-host it with another Twitter user you could be making it a weekly or monthly activity that you get a new sponsor to pay for. Twitter chats are usually themed, they have a maximum of 10 questions which are numbered (and so are the answers) and a hashtag you can follow.

Some of the longest running and largest Twitter chats you can have a look at for reference are:

• #TTOT (Travel Talk on Twitter) which uses the hashtag #ttot hosted by Travel Dudes (270k+ followers) and Roni Weiss (founder of TravFest and other travel companies) on Tuesday at 9:30am/pm GMT
• #RTWChat hosted by BootsnAll on Tuesday at 3:30pm PST
• #TL_Chat hosted by Travel + Leisure on Tuesday at 2pm ET

3. Product placements (USD150+)

Mostly common for platforms like Instagram or Pinterest , which are more visual, product placements are the online world version of the TV product placement of your childhood.

Some Instagram influencers can charge up to USD1,000 just for one photo (celebrities like the Kardashians charge more than USD200k for a photo!) where the product in question is mentioned . The fees vary vastly depending on your reach but someone with 20,000 followers could easily command USD150-250 per photo and much more if it is a video.

Barbara, from Jet-Settera , has thousands of followers on Instagram and occasionally posts photos for brand collaborations. She started to work with brands when she reached 25k followers and the work has kept coming. In order to determine her prices she uses Influencer Marketing Hub’s Instagram calculator . To find opportunities she signed up to influencer marketing sites.

Like Barbara, you should remember to indicate when a post is sponsored – i.e. someone paid you do it. If it is something you genuinely love and recommend, studies prove that you will get the reach and engagement anyway so play fair.

4. Social media take overs (USD150+)

Another way of monetising your online influence is by taking over social media channels of other brands.

As a brand, it is difficult to keep generating new and original content . Some brands resort to reporting the content from their customers and some of them have started to engage with influencers to let them take over their online social media channels and publish their own content.

Usually, the take overs will also include cross-promotion on their personal channels so the brand gets both the content, the endorsement and the reach out to the blogger’s social media followers.

Social media take overs usually involve little extra effort on top of the regular coverage you would provide on a given campaign so they are a great added revenue.

On the downside , the administrative part of it may require defining the details as the brand is unlikely going to give the login details to their social media channels so you either get a phone they provide that is logged in already or send your posts and hashtags to a contact person who posts them as if he or she was you, in the case of Instagram or Twitter.

Social media take overs are usually charged on a daily fee based on deliverables specifying the number and angle of each post. If you include sharing on your own channels as well then you should adjust your fee based on your social media promotion rates as well.

5. Contests on social media (USD150+)

Another way in which you can monetise your reach is by hosting a giveaway with a brand willing to reach your audience.

Giveaways differ from direct promotion in that there is something in it for the audience too. People are very used to giveaways and the noise makes it hard to get traction unless what you are giving away is of very high value, very relevant to your audience and they have a high chance of winning.

Giveaways are usually charged in bulk with a list of services which detail the number of posts for promotion, the costs of running the giveaway (I always use WooBox) and whether there are any associated articles on the blog linked to it.

Advertorial posts (USD100 – USD1,000)

This is perhaps the most traditional way of advertising.

Advertorial posts are the online version of the print magazines and newspapers’ ads . Typically, advertorials will include a write up about a brand along with a review and relevant information.

Most bloggers provide advertorial services that can start at USD50 depending on the size, reach and audience of the blog. 

Advertorial posts help brands with awareness. As a blogger, you should not be expected to endorse the service or product and can openly describe it, or you can test the product or service and provide an honest and open review of its pros and cons. I do some of these and charge USD450 per post including social media and full disclosure to my readers. 

As these are sponsored posts that a brand paid for, the links must be marked “No follow” in the HTML code. This is so that it aligns with Google’s guidelines for SEO and Search results. By marking them “No Follow” you are telling Google that you have been paid to write the post.

This is important, as Expedia found out when Google penalised it and it disappeared from the search results . However, brands will insist that they want “Do follow” links because this is one of the main reasons they are paying for a sponsored post. This is an ongoing battle in the online publishing world. If you decide to leave the links “Do follow” and take the risk because it is the prerequisite for the brand, do so understanding the risks.

Link building (USD100 – USD1,000)

I make a point to differentiate the sponsored posts from the pure link building strategy, especially when talking to brands about their Influencer Marketing efforts, because the objectives are very different.

Link building is perhaps the most talked about concept in online marketing , together with SEO, which is closely related.

Everything in the digital world starts with driving traffic to your blog. Once you have the traffic, it is easier to monetise a blog. The best way to grow the traffic to your site is through organic ways. That is, by appearing top on the Google search results page when somebody is looking for information.

As Google is very customer oriented, it shows search results based on what it believes will give you the best answer to your question. And this accuracy and relevance is determined by millions of aspects in Google’s algorithm among which is how knowledgeable you are on the topic, something which we call Authority.

For example, if your website talks exclusively about how to boil an egg in New York City it will likely have a lot of people linking to it when they talk about boiling eggs. Because it is exclusively devoted to the subject and a lot of external websites have linked to it, every time somebody living in NYC searches “How to boil an egg” the chances of the egg boiling site appearing at the top of the search results page are high because Google will consider you an authority on egg boiling.

In order to tell Google that you are an authority on your subject , your site needs to be about the topic being searched for and you need to have a lot of inbound links (links to other articles on your site) because that is considered an endorsement by Google. A lot of endorsements means higher authority.

By now you realised why brands would pay to have links pointing to their websites and this is what they are paying for when they are buying a link. Sometimes they do not really care where the link is and they might be happy to include it in an existing post, but they will be keen to decide the text where the link is placed. In this case, the only value of a link is in the endorsement hence the link will be “Do follow”. A “No Follow” link is of no value, so wanting to disclose this is probably a deal-breaker for them.

Email marketing (USD500+)

In my opinion, Email marketing is making a comeback .

After years of near-death, email marketing seems to be reviving into one of the higher return rates there is. However, building a marketing list is tough , takes time and a lot of consistency and perseverance. Once you have it, if it is an engaged and targeted audience, it can be a source of income both as an advertising channel, like social media, or as a way to upsell and promote your products or services further.

Those with a valuable audience will be able to monetise this in very high figures given the low return that other social media channels produce as a result of their algorithms. But be careful not to alienate your audience with newsletters filled with ads or irrelevant content or they may unsubscribe.

Some good examples of monetisation of this channel can be found in the traditional media publications which had a relevant base of subscribers and are now monetising it by sending them email offers. Conde Nast will send you daily emails where they promote new and old content and regularly send sponsored newsletters. So will DestinAsian.

Travel planning services (USD50+ per session)

I have decided to include this in the section that is related to a blog, but you could also offer this service standalone. However, having a front store that shows your knowledge on a destination is the best business card you can have.

One of the most common things travel bloggers get asked for (after how do you make money!) is help with organising a trip . As a result, some bloggers have started offering trip planning services for the destinations they know well or live in. There have also been a number of startups that focused on brokering this service.

Backpacker Banter set up two travel booking services: Epic Gap Year focused on surf, dive, snow and adventure and RTW Backpackers, focused on travel in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Southeast Asia.

Freelance remote work

Most bloggers will utilise their skills in a variety of ways to freelance, these are some of the most common freelance opportunities.

1. Article writing (USD50 – USD800)

Article writing can take the shape of a ghostwriting assignment or a submission as a contributing author to well-established sites who pay writers for their work.

I have written for BBC Travel before and they pay anything from USD400 to USD800 per piece and you do get authorship . They are very strict in their editing though, so for the first few times you will spend a lot of time revisiting the piece.

There are a number of sites that provide writing opportunities. The most common ones are:

• Upwork – a freelancing website with all manners of jobs not just writing. The issue here is that competition is fierce so price becomes the decision factor as there are people willing to do it for less and the jobs are assigned based on bidding
• Fiverr – everything for USD5 but you can also list jobs for more than that, the rates are set by you and you can choose to list a 100 word post for USD5
• CopyPress – a well known and used writing site which will send you jobs after you have been approved. To be approved you must pass a test. They are known to pay late
• ProBlogger – its job board is full of remote jobs including writing and other
• BloggerPro Jobs – which is a job board, also has other opportunities beyond writing
• Freelance writing jobs – consolidates job opportunities from other sites like Indeed and Craigslist plus adds its own
• Guru – specializes in, well, gurus, so you need to pass a test and interviews on the skill you want to offer services in then you get paid better rates
• Matador network Marketplace is always open to submissions that are short and listicle format so they are quick to write. However, they pay a flat fee of SGD50 so unless you can write one an hour it is not such good pay. You need to be a student of one of their programs to have access to these opportunities. This is also a great place to find other writing opportunities for travel media companies that pay well

Some bloggers make several thousands of dollars a month from writing. It is all about having the right content and contacts with the publishers who pay the best and then making sure to minimise the editing loops after that. If you are able to score writing opportunities at USD250 for a 1,000 word post (that is USD0.25 per word), then you need to produce one a day to make USD5,000 a month.

2. Translation work

Some bilingual bloggers have sites on two languages and sell their translation services online. Some of the sites listed above also advertise translation jobs. Guru, for example, will offer good rates for experienced translators. 

3. Copyediting and proofreading (USD15+ for 500 words)

The same as above. Most of the writing sites also offer copywriting services as this is a very similar skill. Copyediting is usually low priced quick work, unless the writing is terrible, in which case you might have to get very involved in correcting it.

Before I hired a full time content manager for the site I used a company to do the copyediting for me and I paid a monthly fee to review all the articles that I was publishing.

The best way to find such opportunities is to go directly to the publishers because intermediaries are a sure way to reduce prices. Most companies needing copywriting will need it on an ongoing basis (like me) so aiming for that ensures a regular revenue stream with the added flexibility of being able to do your work whenever and wherever.

4. Video and Photo editing (USD1-10 per photo)

Many of the freelancer sites will also sell photo and video editing services . I have in the past used Fiverr for photo editing. The good thing in this case is that you can showcase your skill easily if you already have a blog with a photography portfolio.

If you are a videographer you can easily charge anything upwards of USD250 for a 1min video editing job. Your contact list is a better way of selling this service as the skill is even more relevant than with photography so referrals and business colleagues (or other bloggers) who may be looking for such services will be more inclined to go with someone whose work they like and follow. Freelancing sites are a good place to list your services.

5. Graphic design (USD500+ for a logo)

A lot of bloggers were graphic designers in a past life and still make a living from offering this service to others.

Although there are a lot of sites (namely the ones in point 1 above) who also list graphic design jobs, the best way to get opportunities is to network in the Blogosphere as a lot of bloggers will eventually need this service and referrals are the best way to grow in these circles.

If you go to Fiverr there are hundreds of them offering anything for SGD5 so it is not a good place to make a decent living.

Content Creation (USD120+)

Another way of utilizing your skills is to create content for destination marketing organization (DMOs) and companies.

This goes beyond just the written word and may include image and video. To maintain a travel blog, you always need fresh content which means you are creating material all the time. You can then use these enhanced content creation skills to generate material for other people.

Inma from A World to Travel says that once you have developed your own style, understand the workflow and are ready to keep learning and in the know; you might as well create content for others. As you are traveling to a destination or using some products already, it could be beneficial to pitch some content to be published through other companies.

There are a variety of factors determining what you can charge for these services , such as your experience, the hours you will be putting in, the equipment you might need to make it happen, the deadline and the actual value you are providing.

Inma charges upward of USD120 per day, but this will grow depending on the factors mentioned above. The most important part of content creation is the quality that you provide. As the content will be broadcast somewhere else than your website and social media networks, your quality needs to be top notch if you’d like to generate content frequently. If the content you produce has good quality, no matter how big your blog is, you can make a significant amount of money if you put yourself out there.

Here’s a video A World to Travel did for Aptece  in  2014 for a great example.

Mentoring of other bloggers (USD50 per hour)

Some bloggers get asked for help planning trips. Others, like me, get asked for coaching on the business of blogging .

Consulting services in the wide sense of the word, are a great revenue stream, especially once you have developed the base materials and knowledge from where to pick and choose the areas that each client needs the most help on.

It will take time to set it up the first time around, but then the additional production cost with every new client will be marginally lower and you will learn and improve the materials with every consultation.

If you are good at what you do and you have done it successfully you are the best banner sales ad for yourself . A lot of people ask me about tips for success and I offer such support on an hourly fee basis.

There are weeks when I spend 2-3h with different people sharing things that worked for me, other weeks I spend no time as I am traveling and have no time. I do not proactively market this so people approach me in an organic manner. Many are interested in juggling a corporate job with a profitable blog. I had a full time job and my two blogs for 3,5 years before going full time in February 2018 so I have a lot of experience in trial and error.

Some bloggers have formalised this, like Trisha from PS I’m On My Way who offers travel coaching services .

She covers areas like digital nomad life, volunteering, itinerary planning and professional blogging and charges hourly rates between USD50 and USD175. Her services are so popular that all the slots she makes available every week are quickly filled up. Her success is the result of building a strong relationship with her readers, who she interacts with on a regular basis and constantly offers value for free. When they need her, she is there.

Ryan, from Blogging from Paradise , has also branched into live blogging coaching. He offers one-on-one hour-long sessions for USD200 or an 8-week package including eight sessions of one hour and unlimited email support. If you are only interested in the advice part but already know your way around, Ryan offers a comprehensive report to help customers build their blog successfully for USD1,000.

Your hourly rates can be anything you set it up for, going back to my initial statement, so be sure to charge what makes sense to you. Something to consider is the local timezone of your audience and that of your own, as these coaching sessions tend to be in real-time.

Blogging retreats (USD1,000+)

For those looking to offer this coaching in a more structured manner , the idea of a blogging retreat may be appealing.

Here, the teaching happens in a group environment in a physical location and for a duration so learning is more intense and concentrated. There are lots of retreats that are educationally focused and some have sprung up to offer blogging coaching either to those looking to start up or to those looking to take their businesses to the next level.

Digital Marketing Agencies – Consulting to brands (USD1,000+)

The same way you can coach bloggers you can consult companies in digital marketing. The type of consulting is different because their objectives are different but a lot of hospitality brands have not yet fully landed in the digital world and need a lot of help, sometimes just to start up.

Consulting to brands tends to be focused on social media where a blogger is strongest and has proven success but it can also be more integrated and look into online or influencer marketing and its various aspects. At the core, a consulting project will answer a problem that a brand has so you just need to decide where your expertise is and where you can help.

Some topics that I have engaged with brands on which will hopefully stir your imagination:

• Startups looking to launch their social media presence and needing help to set off
• Brands looking to work with influencers and not knowing where to start
• Improving social media presence and driving more traffic
• Content strategy: how to generate, promote and convert content
• Designing and implementing marketing campaigns
• Strategies to target a specific audience (i.e. Millennials)
• Improving visibility and SEO

I consult to brands on a regular basis. Sometimes, this is as a follow up to a campaign, sometimes it is the starter for a campaign. After you have showed you know what social media and influencer marketing is, a brand will be keen to test out your knowledge and expertise with your audience , if you fall in their segment.

Consulting services can be charged at varying prices because they are normally tailor-made for the client. Usually, the project is scoped for focus and duration, then priced based on team and daily rates.

I was a management consultant for eight years (this is how I got to travel the world on a weekly basis) so I have extensive experience in consulting.

Consulting fees are usually charged either by the day or by the hour . More senior people or experts who may only come for the project at certain times are charged by the hour whereas the core project team is charged by the day. The more senior a consultant, the higher the daily rate he/she commands.

As projects bloggers work on are sometimes part-time and with a very narrow scope, the price can be set based on deliverables instead , although you will be calculating your effective hourly rate in the background to make sure it is a profitable project for you without a high opportunity cost – i.e. you could not be using your time to do something with a higher hourly rate instead. Either way, your consulting proposal should have a problem statement and a suggested approach and end with credentials and fees.

Sarah, from Deep Blue Digital Marketing , quit her job to travel the world and shared her experiences at Gluten-free Travellers while continuing to freelance as a digital marketing expert through sites like Upwork.

She realised there was a large opportunity to offer these services in a structured manner so she set up her digital marketing agency to offer copywriting, web design and development, SEO, social media, content creation, influencer marketing, email marketing, Facebook ads/lead generation and Google Adwords among other.

Sarah charges a monthly fee starting at AUD1,000 and including some of the services above which she delivers through a roster of freelancers who are experts in their domain. She takes care of content writing for Rad Season, Instagram marketing for Go Real Escapes, SEO work for Scuba Shane Diving and digital marketing strategy for One Life Adventures. She has found her clients via SEO, Facebook ads, email marketing, networking, word of mouth, referrals and LinkedIn.

Speaking arrangements (USD500+)

Some bloggers have made a name for themselves in a specific area and are able to command a speaking fee at conferences . In the travel world, most conferences are unpaid. But there are opportunities to speak about your niche if you have managed to create a public persona who has a unique skill others will be interested to hear about. The best way to get these opportunities is to start practising at conferences which may be free. Once you have a few under your belt choose a topic that you can be an expert in and pitch to get paid for conferences.

A good example is Scott Eddy who has built a strong social media brand, especially on Twitter, and is regularly speaking about this. Here is a sample of his speaking. For those looking to offer this coaching in a more structured manner, the idea of a blogging retreat may be appealing. Here, the teaching happens in a group environment in a physical location and for a duration so learning is more intense and concentrated. There are lots of retreats that are educationally focused and some have sprung up to offer blogging coaching either to those looking to start up or to those looking to take their businesses to the next level.

Leading or hosting tours (USD5,000+)

A few of the large travel bloggers have moved to the real world by leading tours to some of their favorite places. One that I love is Wandering Earl , one of the best known and longest traveling bloggers. He has been offering tours since 2013 as a response to his audience asking for it . In 2017 he will offer 10 trips. He also offers private planning, though I’m not sure he would be leading those. Although his travel style is that of budget, his trips are not cheap, they start at USD 2,100 and above for places like India or Romania.

Shane from The Travel Camel , has also started to lead tours with the help of local travel agencies . He would design the itinerary in conjunction with a tour company and market it via his channels. Traveling with him means exploring a country he has been to before with the extra knowledge and anecdotes of someone as well-traveled as he is.

I have been approached by several brands to lead tours as well. If you have the right audience and niche, this can be a very successful revenue stream. You get to travel to a destination for free, all expenses paid, make additional revenue from the commission on each customer and the brand gets your endorsement and your marketing power.

Localised tour sales

Some travel bloggers are static. They have chosen a locale and have specialised in that destination . As a result, they are able to forge close ties with local travel companies and broker bookings of their tours or services. My Tan Feet is a good example of that. They have a discount page where you can book a lot of the local Costa Rican tours and they get a commission from that. Their readers also get a discount so it is win-win for everyone.

This is only possible if you know a place so well that you can develop these relationships as a lot of them might require manual booking in the back end rather than directly connecting to the booking sites of the local tour companies. On the flip side, your commission on these tends to be higher than with any other passive income stream like Amazon or affiliate marketing because you are able to negotiate them directly with companies who don’t have access to affiliates.

Online courses or webinars (USD100+)

I talked about the fact that passive income is the ultimate objective to most.

The second most important objective is that of scalable revenue . That is, revenue that you can make with low additional marginal cost. Passive and scalable revenue streams are the panacea for any blogger.

Webinars and online courses are some of those. Once you have created the materials, you only need to tweak them minimally to re-sell them again. There are different types of online courses :

The best ones are those on demand because you do not need to be there for them to happen. Revenues come in passively. However, live courses tend to be the most successful ones because the audience has the chance to ask questions.

Having social reach and a mailing list is the starting point to marketing these courses.  But you can also promote these courses without any reach if you are good at getting the word out there and you have enough referrals and endorsements. Some of the largest online marketers will have such courses. In the travel blogging world, some of the most popular courses are related to starting a travel blogging business or taking yours to the next level.

Nomadic Matt , the internet’s largest travel blog, started the Super Star Blogging online school for bloggers . He has courses on starting a blog, photography, videography and taking your blog to the next level.

But you don’t have to be the largest travel blog to make a living out of this revenue stream. Lots of smaller bloggers have done so with niche and segmented approaches. If you are good at a specific skill, you can create webinars or courses on that one specifically. If you want some experience and also practice, you can offer a free webinar on Travel Massive’s platform and test the waters for your content then move it in-house and sell it to your audience.

There are also bloggers who have created online conferences. Meg and Tom from Food, Fun, Travel did that with their Travel Blog Summit where they aired the summit over two days with speakers from all domains and then put the course online for anyone to buy it. In their case, the content wasn’t even their own but created by the speakers they hired, in a true conference style.

Host or presenter

Some bloggers make a full time living out of hosting travel shows for brands .

On a campaign with Accor and Scoot I met Boy Eats World mum and kid. Raffles, the boy, is a TV host for Accor hotels in-room TV travel channel and has a crew following him on his trips and recording the episodes. Talk about being a celebrity. Of course, he has a personality that is incredible for a kid his age, but there are other bloggers like Fly with Maggie who have also done it. She hosts her own Chinese travel show and is a bilingual vlogger having also hosted programs on other channels.

Influencer Marketing or Blogger outreach (USD20+ per link placed)

Similar to consulting services, some bloggers have started offering outreach and influencer marketing services to brands .

It probably started with a conversation with a brand they approached who was keen to getting more bloggers come stay with them. Thanks to the connections and the tight knit community of bloggers, sourcing others for brand campaigns is easy.

A blogger may not have the tools and data that an influencer marketing company has, but the accumulated knowledge based on experience, pedigree and professionalism observed through hours reading threads and seeing people behave are hard to codify in an algorithm.

In this case, outreach campaigns can be for sponsored posts or contextual links where the blogger takes a cut for sourcing other sites willing to host the links.

You may wonder “Why don’t brands do that themselves?” From years of interacting with brands you realise that most don’t even know where to start and that, what may seem trivial and obvious to a blogger, is an opaque world to brands.

This revenue stream can be unofficial and informal or it can evolve into a full fledged social media management company.

Social media management (USD150 – USD1,000)

If the blogger outreach efforts work and you start to devote more and more time to this you may find yourself getting wider scope requests from clients and offering social media management services may make sense. This is the case for many bloggers who take care of social media accounts of other brands formally or informally, and may or may not couple this with integrated online marketing companies.

For example, Love and Road have been managing social media accounts of hotels and brands for a few years. The work here may come from previous campaigns with brands or from directly pitching to those who may benefit the most from professional help. They change monthly fees including a certain number of posts and social media channels and get the content from the brands themselves.

Transitioning out of the blogging life

Although many bloggers go from regular jobs to a digital nomadic life, a few are also going back .

This is the case for Mark Anthony and Camille, both from the Philippines, who embarked on an 18-month honeymoon they documented at 365 Travel Dates only to return to the Philippines and put all their experience to work by building a tented glamping camp in Palawan .

The Birdhouse El Nido is where they set up shop and settled down. However, the learnings and experiences they gathered traveling across the world and talking to hoteliers has helped them make sure their beautiful home is permanently fully booked with happy guests.

Because a life on the road is not always a permanent solution but an adventure we embark on to finally find ourselves.

Are you a digital nomad or blogger? Do you have experience on any of the above revenue streams or perhaps a different one? Share it with us!

Read further : You might also be interested in my 2019 Professional Content Creator Survey which shows exactly what a content creator does and how they work, busted the myth that they are all sipping cocktails on the beach.  

Pin this 28 ways to make money travel blogging post to your #digitalnomad Pinterest boards. It’s going to help you a bunch!

• Check if you need a visa, get help processing it at iVisa .
• Never ever leave without travel insurance. Get affordable coverage from World Nomads or long term insurance from Safety Wing .
• I find all of my flights on KAYAK . Check their Deals section too.
• Search for all your transportation between destinations on the trusted travel booking platform Bookaway .
• I book all my day trips and tours via GetYourGuide , they are the best and their tours are refundable up to 24h in advance.
• Get USD35 off your first booking with Airbnb .
• Compare hotels EVERYWHERE at HotelsCombined and book with Booking.com .
• Compare car rental prices at Rentalcars.com

How Much Do Travel Bloggers Make: Income Report Roundup

How much do travel bloggers make with their blogs? As this question is often on the minds of aspiring bloggers and marketers, we’ve gathered a roundup of 12 income reports from small to top-earning travel blogs. Keep reading to learn about the most efficient ways to make money from your travel blog and understand how much time you need to dedicate before you start seeing results.

How Much Does a Travel Blogger Make?

Blogging is becoming so popular because it offers unlimited earning potential. Some travel bloggers are known to make six and seven figure incomes every month. Naturally, it takes a lot of time to grow such a revenue stream, but even newbies can start making money after a few months of dedicated work.

In fact, the income potential of a blog depends on several factors, such as your niche and topic, the number of blog posts, content quality, monetization strategies, and more. However, some bloggers do not think about ways to make money with a travel blog when starting out, so it takes them longer to receive their first earnings.

In this post, we will look at the income reports of renowned bloggers, discuss how long it takes to start making money with a blog, and share tips on how to earn a decent revenue faster.

Travel Blogger Income Reports

Below, we have gathered 12 income reports from travel bloggers from all walks of life. You can see their monthly income, blog age, and niche to understand the full scope of earning opportunities.

How Long Does It Take To Start Earning Money From Travel Blogging?

Research indicates that, on average, bloggers start earning money after 24 months of work and are able to convert their blog into a full-time income stream within four to five years. The exact time you need to spend blogging before generating your first earnings depends on many factors, including your niche, traffic sources , the offers you promote, and more.

Notably, your niche is not often the main factor that determines your success. While there is research that compiles the most and least profitable blogging topics, you can find ways to make money in each and every niche, as long as you share valuable content and monetize it correctly.

If you want to start making money quickly, you need to dedicate enough time to your blog, but also spend that time efficiently. Blogging for 10 hours per week can bring you more earnings than blogging for one hour per week; however, what you do during these hours is no less important.

There are several monetization strategies that you can use to monetize your blog . To learn about the most profitable strategies, watch this video from Travelpayouts Academy.

Earning Potential of Travel Bloggers

How much do travel bloggers make on average? The graph below presents the typical monthly income based on each blog’s age. You may expect to earn about $1,000 per month after one year of blogging. However, some bloggers start earning within the first six months of work and turn blogging into a full-time career within two years.

Fortunately, you don’t always need to spend 10 years blogging before you start earning $3,000 per month. Amy Fillinger earns over $4,000 per month, but only started her blog four years ago. Adam Enfroy is one of the greatest examples of how to make money online, as he earns over $200,000 per month. You can find more inspiring income reports from top travel bloggers at this link .

Tips on How to Earn a Decent Travel Blogger Salary

Blogging is a great way to earn money online. You can start a blog as a side hustle or try to grow your blog into a full-time venture. In any case, you will benefit from developing a particular skillset that will help you stand out in the blogging niche and build a loyal community around your website. Below, you will find a few crucial factors that are behind the success of almost every blog.

Invest Your Time

It is only common sense that the more time you dedicate to blogging, the more results you can achieve. Time plus hard work and discipline will help you create an awesome blog.

The necessary time varies according to many factors, but consistent posting will surely draw in an audience faster. Readers will know that they always have new posts to look forward to when they visit your blog and, if the materials are trustworthy, you will grow your authority in your niche. Regular SEO and marketing efforts will also help grow your blog much faster than occasional promotions.

You should also invest time into analyzing your audience . Try to understand who your ideal reader is, what interests and pain points they have, and how you can bring value to them. This will help you develop an efficient content marketing strategy .

If you want to grow a large community around your blog, you need to learn how to stand out from the crowd. Make sure to reflect upon your personal qualities to develop a unique product. For example, you may be a very dedicated person for whom it will be easy to create a blog with in-depth materials on your topic. Or you may be very sociable, in which case, networking can be to your advantage in contrast to other aspiring bloggers.

To better understand the market, be sure to analyze your competitors and research your niche. This will allow you to notice content gaps and find better ways to target your audience. Then, try to develop an approach based on your unique personality, interests, and the existing market demand.

Learn New Skills

Blogging is one of those fields that is changing all the time, so to stay afloat, you will need to remain up-to-date on the blogging field and beyond. Networking will help you share experiences and learn from other bloggers, while finding opportunities for cross-promotion and growth.

SEO is of utmost importance for every blogger these days. Search is one of the most reliable and sought-after traffic sources. So, to grow a blog, you will need to master search engine optimization.

Other important skills for every blogger include writing and editing, marketing, analytical skills, as well as design and photo/video editing. Don’t worry if you are inexperienced, you will you’re your expertise along your blogging journey. To master some of these skills, join Travelpayouts Academy to take free courses from niche experts on SEO, marketing, and other important aspects of blogging.

Learn Financial & Business Skills

Every business needs accountability to stay afloat, so developing a financial skillset is highly beneficial and can prevent you from making unreasonable decisions and investments.

For example, to set achievable goals, you need to plan your budget and understand what opportunities are available to you. Earning money from a travel blog also requires proper accounting, as you will have to pay taxes on your earnings. To widen their reach, many bloggers leverage advertising. If you choose to take this route, you will also need to calculate how much budget you can dedicate to generating paid traffic .

Can Anybody Become a Travel Blogger?

Travel blogging is a multi-million dollar industry that you can join from anywhere in the world. It’s not rocket science. Passion, discipline, and a well-developed roadmap will allow you to reap major benefits. So, yes, anybody can become a travel blogger if they are ready to dedicate time and effort. But you do need a good strategy and support along the way. To gain access to some of the best travel brands, promotional tools, and expert advice, join Travelpayouts and start earning with travel affiliate programs today!

Project Untethered is reader-supported. When you buy using our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more .

10 Travel Blogs That Make Money (And Their Secret to Doing It)

By: Author Mitch Glass

Posted on Last updated: March 22, 2023

Ahhh travel blogging…

A lucky few make MAJOR money with their blogs.

The rest of us pour major time into blogging…without much to show for it.

Is it possible for ordinary mortal folk to make money travel blogging?

The answer is yes.

Here are 10 examples of travel blogs that make money. And more importantly…the secret sauce they use to make it rain.

Table of Contents

How much money can you make from a travel blog?

How do travel bloggers make money, #1.) two wandering soles, #2.) the professional hobo, #3.) adventure in you, #4.) practical wanderlust, #5.) it’s a lovely life, #6.) a dangerous business, #7.) one step 4ward, #8.) helene in between, #9.) local adventurer, #10.) living the dream rtw, can you make money from traveling blogging, free travel blogging courses for beginners.

Blogging is one of the best digital nomads jobs (at least for the few who “crack the code” to success).

Not only do you get to work on a travel hobby you’re passionate about . But you can make a pretty penny from it.

There is essentially no income cap .

The only real limitation is your imagination and how hard you’re willing to work (ok ok, I know that sounded cheesy—but stick with me). 

Some travel bloggers scrape by earning pennies. Others rake in tens of thousands per month.

Let’s take a look at what makes the difference.

Blogging isn’t the only way to earn money traveling—here’s over 100 other awesome travel jobs to choose from.

Successful travel bloggers almost always have several income streams. These can include:

• Memberships
• Paid services
• Affiliate marketing
• Sponsored content
• Digital product sales
• Physical product sales
• Patreon and other donations

If you play your cards right, travel blogging comes with even more perks—“free” luxury safari stay in Africa, anyone? 

That said, travel blogging has fierce competition and is tough to break into (speaking from experience here!).

Everyone wants to become a digital nomad and explore the world, and social media (*cough* Instagram) is packed with thousands of images of the exact same destinations. 

To succeed, you need to have a unique angle and stand out from the crowd. “Me too” blogs won’t cut it.

To speed up the process, here are some of the best blogging courses: ▶ Travel Blog Prosperity – Designed specifically for travel bloggers. Her free course alone will put you ahead of most of your competition. ▶ Fat Stacks – Fat Stacks teaches a blogging strategy to explode your traffic in any niche (see my full Fat Stacks review ). He has a gold-nugget packed free course as well.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to blog about travel. You can start a lifestyle blog in any number of niches and make a good living.

10 awesome travel blogs that make money (and how they do it)

This is by no means a complete list of travel blogs that make money, but it should give you inspiration and ideas to earn more with your travel blog.

( Note : Since travel basically shut down in 2020-21, most income data is from 2019. That said, many of these blogs found ways to grow even more during the pandemic.)

Katie and Ben are based in the U.S. and are a great example of how to make money through your travel blog. Originally from Minnesota, they started Two Wandering Soles back in 2014 after quitting their 9-to-5s to travel around South America.

Since then, their travel blog has exploded. They focus mainly on eco-friendly, responsible travel, van life, and leaving a smaller footprint on our beautiful planet. Basically, they’re all about the importance of sustainable tourism .

They also have a great free blogging email course for beginners. 

Income sources : ▶ Advertising ▶ Affiliate marketing ▶ Partnerships ▶ Sponsored content (e.g., reviews for services like hotels and restaurants in exchange for free accommodation or food during their stays). ▶ Digital products – Van Life Build course

All this racks up a hefty income. They earned $73,367 in Q4 of 2019 . This was a couple years ago, and they have since launched their online course, so you can bet their income has grown even more.

Takeaway: If you poke around their site, you’ll immediately notice (1) their content is super in-depth and top notch and (2) they have a lot of content. This goes to show that one way to stand out in the competitive travel space is to not cut corners so you can blow the competition out of the water.

Nora Dunn is a long-term traveler who’s been exploring the world for over 15 years. She’s a former Financial Planner and currently runs The Professional Hobo blog, which focuses on financially sustainable travel. This is a concept that combines her corporate experience and financial expertise with her love of travel. She teaches people to earn, spend, and save money sensibly while on the road.

Over the years, she’s built up a sizable following of people who are interested in living their own nomadic adventures.

In 2019, her income from her travel blog came in at $50,922 . Here’s how that income was broken up.

Income sources : ▶ Affiliate sales ($23,337) ▶ Advertising ($17,543) ▶ Freelance writing ($7,253) ▶ Book sales ($2,209) ▶ Miscellaneous earnings ($580)

Takeaway: Nora is known for writing mega in-depth guides on important topics that most travel bloggers aren’t willing to tackle. She’s also a big proponent of using freelance writing as a tool to supplement blog income. If your blog isn’t yet earning as much as you’d like, find a freelance writing client !

You may have already heard of Adventure in You as they advertise their blogging courses all over Facebook. However, you may not know that their income for 6 months in 2018—just three short years after starting their blogging journey—hit a whopping $83,290 in profit . 

Income Sources: ▶ Ads ▶ Affiliate marketing ▶ Sponsored posts and partnerships ▶ Digital product sales

The Filipino-Welsh duo, Tom and Anna, are one of the cutest travel blogging couples you’ll ever meet. They met while (separately) exploring in Vietnam and have been traveling the world together ever since. Adventure in You was born in 2015. 

Their blog focuses on adventure travel and aims to help people live their lives to the fullest. But, they’ve also branched out into blog coaching and have taught thousands of aspiring travel bloggers how to make money online.

They have a free course on how to start and monetize a blog, plus a paid course, The Blogging Fast Lane , which generates a fair portion of their extraordinary income.

Takeaway: Unless you’ve reached a certain level of success blogging, creating a blogging course isn’t a good idea. However, you can take a page from Tom and Anna’s affiliate marketing playbook. If you check out their Gear section, you’ll see they have TONS of articles reviewing very specific types of gear. Instead of writing articles that everyone writes about (e.g. best travel backpacks), look for more obscure topics (e.g. best travel water bottles).

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Practical Wanderlust is a wonderful example of how to take a bad experience and flip it on its head. Lia created the travel website in 2016 as a hobby blog to document her wonderful year-long honeymoon with her new husband Jeremy. 

Little did she know that the honeymoon would be a disaster, but Practical Wanderlust would blossom into her full-time passion and career.

Since it began, the blog has been providing practical (it’s not in the name for nothing), detailed, and realistic guides for couples or solo travelers wanting to travel the world. They are a hilarious pair, and their blog is bound to make you chuckle.

It’s also one of the top earning travel blogs. 

Just two years after starting, their blog was bringing in over $10k per month . 

Income Sources: ▶ Ads ▶ Affiliate income ▶ Freelance writing ▶ Press trips ▶ Digital product sales (social media courses)

Fast forward to 2021 (three years after the income report above) and Practical Wanderlust is now earning a multiple six-figure income . Because of her success, Lia also offers blog coaching calls to help aspiring travel bloggers follow in her footsteps.

Takeaway: New bloggers often complain that the top-earning blogs are just lucky because they started way back when there was no competition. Lia and Jeremy’s quick path to success proves that this is just an excuse. They stand out because they are FUNNY. Unlike most dry content online, they’re posts are entertaining to read and make you want to keep coming back for more.

Heather and Pete from It’s a Lovely Life are two of the highest-paid travel bloggers on this list. They launched their luxury family travel site in 2014. That same year, the pair developed It’s a Lovely Life into a six-figure blog…all while traveling the world for 150 days and being excellent parents to their three children.

In 2019, earnings from their blog hit $2,233,236 . 

Incomes Sources: ▶ Online courses ▶ Training program sales ▶ Affiliate commission ▶ Sponsored posts

The concept behind their blog is simple: to help other families satisfy their travel bug by teaching them to make a living from their laptops as digital nomads . 

Although they are adventurers at heart, they also have a family home in California where they spend their time (and hard-earned cash) when they’re not exploring the world.

Takeaway: Heather and Pete earn about half their income selling multiple courses on how to blog and make money online. They also offer multiple “tiers” of courses that contribute to their impressive income—including an entry-level blogging course and a next-level blogging mastermind. A percentage of students who buy their beginner courses will go on to purchase the advanced training as well. This isn’t a viable plan unless you’ve built trust with an audience who believes you know what you’re talking about. Maybe you’re not a high-earning blogger yet, but are you an expert in anything else that you could teach (photography, video editing, social media, etc.)? 

Former travel journalist, Amanda, is a little different from her fellow travel bloggers. She didn’t quit her job to travel the world. Yet, since 2005, she’s still managed to visit over 60 countries and 6 out of 7 continents. 

Her blog, A Dangerous Business, was born in 2010. The award-winning website focuses on helping people fit travel into the lifestyle they already have.

Since starting her blog, she’s been either working full-time, in full-time education, or working from her home in Ohio—all while pulling in a steady $10,000+ per month from her blog.

She’s an inspiration to anyone wanting to create a successful travel blog around a full-time job—it is possible, people!

In November and December 2020, she raked in a total of $19,746 from A Dangerous Business. 

Income Sources: ▶ Ads ▶ Affiliates ▶ Photography work ▶ Speaking gigs  ▶ Online courses (not included in income report)

She also has another website, Cleveland Traveler, which focuses on local travel in her hometown. The site launched in 2019 and brought in $1284 over the last two months of 2020.

Takeaway: One of the keys to Amanda’s success is looking for underserved niches. Millions of people love to travel but don’t want to have to quit their jobs to do it. Amanda focuses on helping them.

One Step 4Ward tells the story of Johnny Ward’s incredible quest to travel to all 197 countries in the world. He left his hometown in Ireland in 2006 and started his travel blog in 2010.

Within 6 months, he was making $500 per month from his blog.

Not long after that, $500 became $1000, and $1000 became $30,000. 

Fast forward 10 years and Johnny now owns three websites, has accomplished his goal of visiting all 197 countries, and became a millionaire travel blogger in the process. 

One month he generated nearly $60,000 from his sites—more than the average American makes in a year!

One Step4Ward focuses on destination guides, travel, and adventure tips from (literally) all over the world. His other websites, Find A Tutor and Step4WardMedia, focus on virtual tutoring and online marketing respectively.

Takeaway: During his journey, Johnny kept his living expenses low so he could reinvest his earnings in starting and purchasing a portfolio of websites. He then hired a team of workers around the world to help him manage those sites. This goes to show what you can accomplish if you’re willing to risk investing in your business (instead of trying to do everything by yourself).

Helene in Between was created by Helene and her husband Michael. She moved from Dallas to Germany in 2016 and started her blog for fun after a rock-climbing accident. Since then, it’s become her entire life.

Helene in Between is an inspiring collection of travel experiences, tips, and tricks for getting the most out of your adventures. Her guides talk about destinations from all over the world, from Italy to Aruba, and she has some wonderful stories to tell. 

She also teaches strategies to create a successful blog and manage social media (and real-life).

Her blog has earned over $15k per month while traveling full-time. 

Income Sources: ▶ Affiliate sales (mostly Siteground and Genius Blogger’s Toolkit) ▶ Sponsored work ▶ Digital products (Lightroom presets, Instagram eBook)

Takeaway: Helene boosted her income by contributing a digital product to the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit, then promoting it as an affiliate. This is a toolkit of 100+ blogging-related courses and tools bundled together and sold super cheap. As a contributor, you earn a higher percentage as an affiliate. So, think of something you could contribute, and then promote the toolkit like crazy!

Local Adventurer is a popular travel blog that earns money using an interesting twist. 

Esther and Jacob immerse themselves in one new city every year. So far, they have lived like locals in Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, New York, and are currently in Las Vegas.

They are great at finding adventure in the everyday, stepping outside their comfort zone, and staying flexible in whatever crazy situation they find themselves in.

Since Esther and Jacob started Local Adventurer in 2013, they’ve managed to earn significantly more than the average travel blogger salary. 

In 2019, Local Adventurer brought in a staggering $302.9K . 

Income Sources: ▶ Affiliate marketing ▶ Brand partnerships ▶ Sponsored posts 

Takeaway: Unlike every other travel blog on this list, Local Adventurer earns the bulk of their income from sponsored posts. It just goes to show that you don’t have to follow the crowd to succeed. When everyone is zigs, sometimes it pays (literally) to zag. 

Angie and Jeremy are the faces behind Living the Dream RTW, a lifestyle design blog with a travel twist. 

They quit the 9-5 life to explore the world over 12 years ago, were named one of the USA’s top 10 travel couples back in 2014, and are known for telling it like it is (no sugarcoating). 

Angie and Jeremy do their income report a bit differently. Instead of writing a new post each month, they simply update the old one. They also run another blog called Discover the Burgh, a local Pittsburgh travel blog, which they combine into their income report.

In March 2021, their two travel sites earned in $8,200 . 

This only includes ad revenue ($6,150) and affiliate commissions ($2,050) for their two sites. It does not include extra income from SEO consulting services or income from their other affiliate site projects. 

Takeaway: If you have a general worldwide travel blog without a specific niche, it may be useful to complement it with a local travel blog focused on your hometown (especially if your hometown is a big city). Not only is it easier to be an expert in one city than to be an expert of the entire world, but you’ll also have plenty to write about when you’re not traveling (or stuck at home in a pandemic).

You can make money from travel blogging—even if you’re starting from scratch today. Yes, the competition is fierce compared to 10 years ago, but travel is also cheaper and more accessible, which makes the pie bigger. If you niche down, you can still stand out. 

Here are some other keys to success:

Find a teammate. You may have noticed that most travel blogs that make money on this list are backed by a dynamic DUO. While it’s certainly possible to build a successful travel blog by yourself, teamwork makes the dreamwork. Give it time. Blogging success doesn’t happen overnight. Most blogs on this list have been at it for at least five years. Yes, some grew impressively fast, but with today’s competition, expect things to take longer. Have an alternative income (or savings cushion). It will take at least a year or two for most people to earn livable wages from their blog. That means you need a Plan B to support yourself in the meantime. This might be a normal full-time job at home, or it could be other travel-friendly jobs like freelancing and teaching English. Study and get inspired from others. Follow all the bloggers on this list, read their income reports—including the struggles they overcame to get to where they are today—and keep your inspiration tank full. Never forget your WHY. It’s easy to get lost in your neverending To-Do List, lose sight of your end goal, and feel discouraged. To avoid this, write out the ultimate lifestyle you’re trying to achieve, and post it somewhere you’ll see it everyday. Work smarter, not harder. Blogging takes a TON of time. The more efficient you can be, the better. My Work from Anywhere Toolkit reveals hundreds of free (and super cheap) tools that help you automate your business and finish more work in less time.

Several of the blogs on this list offer some sort of free travel blogging training—I recommend checking them all out.

Two of my other favorite blogging courses are Travel Blog Prosperity and Fat Stacks. They each have their own free intro courses that are extremely valuable as well.

▶️ Travel Blog Prosperity free mini-course ▶️ Fat Stacks free mini-course

Mitch is your typical nomadic backpacker. Or at least, he was . But after stopping in Colombia to take “one week” of salsa lessons, his life took a sharp left turn. He met a cute Colombian girl in dance class, fell in love, and got married. Over half a decade has passed since he left his career to travel the world as a digital nomad, and he’s never looked back.

Nowadays, he’s the blogger behind Project Untethered — where he runs an awesome email newsletter and Youtube channel teaching adventure-craved wanderlusters how to escape the rat race, earn money from anywhere, and build an “untethered life”.

His advice has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, Yahoo, MSN, Reader’s Digest, Condé Nast Traveler, and more.

Mitch's Travel Recommendations: Travel Planning Resources - Everything you need to plan your trip on one convenient page. Going Cheap Flights Newsletter - Get flight deals from your airport up to 90% off sent straight to your inbox. Safetywing Insurance - This cheap travel insurance has saved me over $15,000 in medical bills. Booking.com - Book accommodation without adding your credit card (in case you need to cancel). Trusted House Sitters - Take care of pets in exchange for free (sometimes luxury) accommodation. Flexjobs - Find remote jobs without having to sift through crappy ones. Skillshare - Free trial to take unlimited classes that teach digital nomad skills. Wise - Send and receive money abroad cheaply (great for freelancers).

Tuesday 11th of May 2021

what an information. Inspired by your travel blog I hope i will soon make my personal travel blog. keep writing such more wonderful blogs.

Wednesday 12th of May 2021

I'm glad you enjoyed it - best of luck to you!

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How to Become a Travel Blogger and Make Money in 2024

Wondering how travel bloggers make money?

As a profitable travel blogger — I made $272,175 from blogging in 2022 — this article shines a light on how to make money as a travel blogger.

There are 10 common ways to make money travel blogging, but the most successful travel bloggers also think outside the box.

👩‍💻 If you’re serious about making money from a travel blog, I highly recommend taking a course! Head here for info on the best travel blogging courses . If you want to read a full review about the best one I’ve done, head here .

But, Isn’t blogging dead? That’s something I see come up a lot, and a question you may have as well.

I am personally making over $40K+ per month ( click here to see how) , and I know plenty of other travel bloggers making that and even more — so if blogging is dead, we didn’t get the memo 🤷‍♀️ 

Now, plenty of travel bloggers don’t have a monetization plan for their blog, and therefore, don’t make money.

Unfortunately, this is the vast majority of travel bloggers. In short, if you don’t have a plan to use proven strategies to make money blogging, you likely won’t. 

Ready to discover how to make money as a travel blogger? Let’s get to it!

How to Become a Travel Blogger and Make Money

How to become a travel blogger.

Wondering, How to start travel blogging?

The first question to consider is: Do you want to make money with your travel blog, or will this be a hobby blog?

If you have no interest in making money, starting a new travel blog is easy! If you want to make money blogging, that’s more involved.

How to Start a Travel Blog

Easy — You can start a blog from home with a free Blogger account right now!

All you need is a travel blog name (you’ll also want to take the corresponding handles on any social media channels you use). Next, start sharing your best travel tips, epic stories and more — and you have a travel blog.

How to Start a Money-Making Blog

Like most things, I believe there’s a right way , and a wrong way to start becoming a travel blogger.

If you want to make your own travel blog to start earning money, I highly suggest investing in a travel blogging course with step-by-step instructions, so you start it off right.

The best blogging course I’ve done is 👉 Scale Your Travel Blog to Six Figures — and I’ve been in quite a few courses .

There is a system to travel blogging success, and either know the system, or you don’t.

You’re either writing SEO-optimized content with high volume, low competition keywords that will rank on Page 1 of Google, or no one will ever see your content. In fact, stats say only 25% of users even go to Page 2 of Google.

Through travel blogging courses, I learned that I need to write the articles you want to read, and not just the articles I want to write.

I learned how to get my content on Page 1 of Google with search engine optimization (SEO) — in fact, that’s likely how you found this article!

The way I see it, you can spend time, or you can spend money.

You can either spend your time trying to find good free content, which could take years and still not pan out, or you can pay a professional to learn what they’re doing, so you can simply replicate their success.

Ready to invest in a travel blogging course? 👉 Head here to see the best ones!

How to Make Money From a Travel Blog

If you’re wondering how to make money with a travel blog , there are really countless ways.

You can pursue the ones that work best for your blog and your ideal audience, but whatever income streams you go after, know that multiple income streams are essential for success.

Below, I will show you 10 common ways to make money from a travel blog — but they by no means represent the only ways to make money blogging about travel.

1. Ads On Your Site

Did you notice the advertising on my site? Those ads account for 45% of my income right now.

The coolest thing about them is they are completely passive income, meaning as I sleep, I still earn money from the ads simply being on my site.

Yep: I do nothing, and collect money. There are few better feelings in the world than this!

To have ads on your site, you’ll need to sign on with an ad management company. Below, I will compare the six companies that can place ads on your site.

1. Mediavine

Among bloggers, many consider Mediavine and AdThrive (#2 on the list) the best because they pay the most and have great customer service.

To apply for Mediavine, you need 50,000 sessions per month (50K people visiting your site in a 30 day period), which is a lot.

🤑 How much I make on Mediavine: About $9,000+ USD per month with 250,000 monthly page views and mostly U.S. traffic (U.S. traffic pays the most).

When you first start out travel blogging, 50,000 seems impossible. As a new blogger, I also thought it was impossible, but eventually, I got there!

Now, it was a lot of hard work, and I invested in travel blogging courses so I could get on Mediavine fast.

On a personal note, before I was on Mediavine, I was with SHE Media (#3 on the list).

The month I switched, I 6X’ed my ad income going from SHE Media to Mediavine — though from what I hear, most bloggers only double or triple their ad revenue doing the same.

2. AdThrive

Besides Mediavine, other top-level travel blogs that make money are on AdThrive .

To apply, you’ll need 100,000 page views in a 30 day period. This means that in total, the visitors to your site have visited a total of 100,000 separate pages on your site.

3. SHE Media

For bloggers with less traffic, there’s SHE Media . They say you need 20,000 monthly sessions to apply, though some bloggers get approved with less.

The thing many dislike about SHE is they require you sign a one-year contract, something no other company asks for.

I was with SHE Media for about four months in late-2021. If you read other reviews of SHE Media, you’ll see that most bloggers say their payments are good, but their customer service is hit or miss.

I completely agree with the majority of this — that overall SHE wasn’t terrible, and they also weren’t great.

🤑 How much I made on SHE Media: About $800 USD per month with 30,000 monthly page views and mostly U.S. traffic (U.S. traffic pays the most).

4. Monumetric

For bloggers with less traffic, Monumetric only requires 10,000 monthly sessions.

The thing many dislike about Monumetric is they require a $100 USD set up fee to put the ads on your site, something no other company asks for.

Before SHE Media, I was on Ezoic . At the time, they required 10,000 monthly sessions, but now have no traffic requirement — so you can join Ezoic with basically no traffic.

Now, the more traffic you get, the more you make, so don’t expect much of a payout with low traffic.

While all ads on your site will slow down your website speed, Ezoic is known as the worst with this.

They have tried to make strides in this area with their Leap tool, but if you look through travel blogging forums, you’ll see a generally anti-Ezoic sentiment.

I was on Ezoic for about four months in early-2021, and have nothing good to say about this company. They offered basically nothing in the way of service, and it took me a few weeks to figure out (on my own) how to get ads set up.

🤑 How much I made on Ezoic: About $185 USD per month with 10,000 monthly page views and mostly U.S. traffic (U.S. traffic pays the most).

6. Google AdSense

Like Ezoic, there is no traffic requirement with Google AdSense . From what I understand, you make a few dollars a day, at most.

If you’re considering Ezoic vs AdSense, it seems you’d definitely make more with Ezoic — though I in no way recommend them.

2. Affiliate Marketing

First off, What is affiliate marketing? If you’ve ever recommended a product, restaurant, great book, or anything to another person, you’ve actually done affiliate marketing without knowing it. 

Affiliate marketing is when I recommend hotels, tours, rental car companies, travel gear, etc., on my website.

I’ll then insert what are called affiliate links that go to these products, places or services, and when someone buys anything through my affiliate link, I make a commission.

You can learn more about all this in my How to Find Affiliate Marketing Keywords Class .

🏆 Best Affiliate Marketing Networks

Most travel bloggers are signed up with a few affiliate networks that make sense for your niche. Head here for a list of the 50+ best affiliate marketing networks for travel bloggers .

Since my blog only covers Mexico, you’ll find Mexico tours, Mexico hotels, Mexico rental cars and products for traveling to Mexico.

• Best Car Rental Affiliate: Discover Cars
• Best Travel Insurance Affiliates: SafetyWing (I used to recommend World Nomads, but no longer do)
• Best Hotels Affiliate: Booking.com , Expedia and Hotels.com
• Best Home Rental Affiliate: VRBO (Airbnb doesn’t have an affiliate program)
• Best Tours Affiliate: Viator and Get Your Guide
• Best Affiliate for Physical Products: Amazon

Using a combination of the companies listed above, my affiliate marketing income in 2022 was $162,871 . In 2021, I made $5,217 total from affiliate income all year — so 31X more money in just one year.

I attribute a lot of my current success to working one-on-one blog coaching with Laura of Scale Your Travel Blog to Six Figures . But make no mistake, I am successful because I worked hard, and I worked smart.

3. Selling Digital Products

With affiliate marketing , you’ll only get a commission or a percentage of the sale. When you sell your own products, you get all the profits (minus some fees).

For this reason, many bloggers create digital products like eBooks, printable travel planners, travel guides and more.

You can list the products on your website, or work on building up your email list, so you have direct access to those who have an interest in your content.

Digital products are a great way to make money as a blogger because you create them once, and sell them forever!

Many bloggers will use a site like Canva to create a digital product. There is a free version, but the paid version is well worth the $13 USD per month. ▶︎ Sign up for Canva here .

To sell the products, sites like Gumroad or ThriveCart are both great options.

4. Paid Press Trips

On a press trip, you’ll essentially be paid to travel! How cool, right? Well, sort of.

Personally, I find these too time consuming to arrange, and when I travel, I want to enjoy it; not work. However, many travel bloggers make money while traveling with press trips.

To secure paid press trips, you’ll contact tourism boards (sometimes called a national tourism office) or local travel-related companies.

There’s often a lot of back and forth hammering out the details, and contracts everyone will sign, before the actual trip.

✈️ How do you get press trips for travel bloggers?

Let’s say you want to get paid to travel to Morocco. You’ll first contact the Morocco tourism board, and see if they’d pay you to come to Morocco and create content for them.

If so, you’ll both come to an agreement, then you’d take the trip and blog about it afterwards.

Is it really that easy? That depends.

If you have a large social media following, high-traffic blog, or blog with a completely focused niche (if you have a Morocco blog, the Morocco tourism board is more likely to say yes), getting paid press trips is actually easy.

With a Mexico niche site, I do get tour companies and hotels that contact me for free travel — so this is just one reason to have a niche blog, which is a travel blog with just one focus.

In truth, most bloggers just starting out will get a lot more no’s than yes’s for paid trips. 

5. Sponsored Posts

Another way you can make money travel blogging is with sponsored posts.

This is when a company pays you to write a review of their tour company, or a hotel review, or review of a great travel product, or even just write about the company itself.

They are basically just paying you to promote them on your site, but they want it in your voice — the one that resonates with your audience.

If you think about it, no one knows better how to speak to your audience than you, so companies usually give you creative control.

You can reach out to companies yourself and offer to write a post to promote their products or services.

In some cases, they will contact you, especially if you have a Contact page or Work With Me page on your website (like this one ) that connects to your email address.

6. Sponsored Links

Some companies will also pay you to put a link to their site in one of your existing posts.

Say you have a post ranking in spot #1 on Page 1 of Google titled “Best shoes for travel.” A shoe company might see your post, and offer you money to link to their website.

As it only takes 30 seconds to insert a link in a post, these will earn you far less than a full blog post dedicated to one specific place or thing.

How much you charge depends on a lot of factors, but you can expect $50-100 USD for a link, though some bloggers charge more.

7. Networking With Other Travel Bloggers

Another one of the best ways to make money blogging, is through leads from other bloggers about paid opportunities.

This might not be a direct payout at first, but the best travel bloggers have a large network of colleagues, who will send jobs their way from time to time.

👯‍♀️ Private Facebook Groups

One benefit to all the travel blog courses I’ve taken is access to a private Facebook group.

In these, you can both ask the teacher or mentor questions you have about the course material, and also network with your fellow classmates, who just so happen to be travel bloggers!

I am in a few, and can attest that the quality of information you get in private Facebook groups for travel bloggers is much better than what you get in public groups.

People also tend to be nicer since the teacher has a presence in the group, and no one wants to get in trouble.

👯‍♂️ Best Free Facebook Groups

If you want to check out some free blogging travel groups, there’s Affiliate Marketing for Travel Bloggers , which is my group, and SEO For Travel Bloggers , which is my friend Nina Clapperton’s group.

Looking for the best SEO course for travel bloggers? Check out Nina’s SEO Roadmap , which I can’t recommend enough.

There’s also Women Travel Bloggers , Women Travel Creators and Digital Nomad Wannabe , and all five of these are some of best and most active Facebook travel blogging groups out there.

As with most Facebook groups, you’ll want to take all the info you get with a grain of salt.

✈️ Best Travel Blogging Conferences

I started this travel blog during Covid in 2020, so all blogger conferences have been on hold.

Now that the world has opened back up fully, I plan to attend some travel blog conferences like Travel Blogging Summit (where I was a speaker in 2022), TBEX , Women In Travel Summit , and TravelCon .

Note: Sadly, TravelCon from Nomadic Matt has been canceled indefinitely after the May 2022 conference.

8. Monetize Your YouTube Channel

There are many travel vloggers, like Hey Nadine and The Bucket List Family , who make great money off their YouTube travel videos.

To apply for the YouTube Partner Program and monetize your channel, you’ll need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year.

Note: I don’t have a YouTube channel.

9. Monetize Your Travel Podcast

I had a podcast called Dream To Destination , for one year from 2020-2021. It was a lot of fun, but definitely a lot of work. However, many travel podcasters do make great money podcasting.

I only had the podcast as a hobby, and still made a bit of money from it because it was monetized with ads.

I wrote a detailed guide, How to Start a Travel Podcast for Free (Like I Did) , and if you want a deep dive into this topic, please check it out.

10. Work as a VA for Another Travel Blogger

VA stands for virtual assistant, and it means you can work virtually from anywhere. This is a great entryway into the digital nomad lifestyle or location independence so many want from being a travel blogger.

You can sign up to UpWork or Fiverr to find virtual assistant jobs with travel bloggers, or join some free Facebook blogging groups and offer your services.

As someone who’s in quite a few of these Facebook groups, I always see successful bloggers to hire a VA.

What’s the average travel blogging salary? 

When it comes to making money travel blogging, there’s no average amount. It’s much like asking how much the average singer makes — obviously Adele makes much more than a wedding singer.

Similarly, there’s no answer to how much does a travel blogger make?

🤑 Here are My Stats

• I made $ 272,175 USD in 2022.
• I made $40,106 USD from blogging in December 2022 — $24,151 from affiliate marketing, $9,382 from ads on my site, and $6,572 selling my own products, like this Affiliate Marketing course .
• My main website (this one) received 205,000+ page views in December 2022, and more than 2.6 million page views in 2022.
• Want to know how I did it? Join my email list where I share weekly tips on how I make such a crazy amount of money after just 2.5 years of blogging.

There are some travel blogger salary articles out there, so we know The Blonde Abroad and One Step 4 Ward , both have $1 million+ per year blogs.

In 2017, Nomadic Matt was making multiple-six figures, but I’d assume he too has a $1 million+ travel blog these days.

By contrast, some bloggers make $0.

When I got serious about monetizing my blog, I decided I will absolutely hit seven figures one day, and I started taking steps to do so — like investing in the best travel blogging courses I could find.

I mean, if The Blonde Abroad can, so can I!

What’s the earning potential of travel bloggers?

This really is a better question to ask than How much do travel bloggers make? , or Do bloggers make good money?

I look at this blog (and my other blogs, Travel To Merida , Travel To Oaxaca , Tulum Travel Secrets ) as small businesses, and with your own blog business, the sky’s the limit on how much you earn.

For me, I only want to work 20 hours a week. If I were working a full time 40 hour workweek, I could make a lot more money than I am right now.

In short, when you’re a small business owner (yes — bloggers are! ) you set your own ceiling on earnings.

Travel Blogging: Frequently Asked Questions

What is a travel blog?

A travel blog is a website with information on traveling — like this one!

There are many niches, or sub-genres of travel blogs. Mine is focused on Mexico travel, while some travel blogs focus on Paris travel or, or camping travel, or cruises, or solo travel; the list goes on and on.

What is a travel blogger?

A travel blogger is the person who’s running the travel blog, or someone who writes travel blogs for other people’s blogs. I am actually a multiple six-figure travel blogger who makes a full time income from my blogs.

If you’re a woman, you’ll usually be called a female travel blogger; though the term male travel blogger is pretty much never used.

If you’re unsure how to be a travel blogger, it’s quite simple! In fact, all you need to do is start a travel blog website, then write some travel blog posts.

If you only want to document your travels, this will suffice; if you want to make money, consider a travel blogging course . The one I always recommend is Scale Your Travel Blog to Six Figures — which I have done!

How to Start a Travel Blog Without Traveling

When we all lost the ability to travel freely in 2020, many travel bloggers still thrived. How? , you might be wondering — By blogging about where they live.

While the place you live is familiar to you, it’s a full-fledged travel destination for the people who don’t live there. 

Is it Worth Starting a Travel Blog in 2024?

As someone who makes a full-time income from my travel blog, works only about 20 hours per week, from any location on Earth I want to — FU+K YES it is!

However, setting up a Wordpress blog and learning how to blog properly takes time. Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint.

My blog did nothing in year one; it was basically a place to hear crickets.

In year two, I invested in the best travel blogging courses I could find, and made $7,762.22 dollars ($2,435.18 in December 2021 alone).

Now, in year three, I made $ 272,175 USD in 2022.

While my numbers may seem impressive if you’re making $0 from a blog, I’m still a small time blogger. (OK, maybe a “medium time” blogger 🤣).

There are so many bloggers who make more than me, but since I know blogging is a marathon, not a sprint , it’s only a matter of time before I get there too.

Final Thoughts: How to Become Travel Blogger and Make Money

There are many ways to make money blogging, and the top travel bloggers are doing many of them in tandem.

The one thing to always keep in mind about travel blogging and any blogging is that it will take time to get there. 

The highest paid travel bloggers who make more than $1 million have been blogging for a decade or more before they saw numbers like that.

To really make money as a travel blogger, you need to be in it for the long haul.

From my personal experience, I didn’t start seeing any income for more than one year. When money started finally coming in, it was not much — but I kept at it.

This year, 2024, is my fifth year blogging, and I made $ 272,175 USD in 2022 . My goal for 2022 was $250,000 USD, but I surpassed that.

For the record: I’m not special . I think anyone can be a successful travel blogger, if you have a solid plan.

I learned a lot of what I know from the Scale Your Travel Blog to Six Figures course. (👩‍💻 Read my honest review of the course here .) However, even with the best course, know that blogging takes time.

Ready to invest in a travel blogging course? 👉 Sign up for the FREE live webinar to meet my coach Laura, who helped me grow my blog fast!

Is Travel Blogging Worth It? (An Honest Look Into What Blogging is Like in 2023)

If you’ve made your way onto this post, chances are that you’re either tired of working that 9-5 job or want to make some extra cash for traveling.

I totally get it, I’ve been there, which is why I’m here right now, writing this blog post for you to read.

You’ve likely stumbled across a list of ways to earn money from home and have found the words “become a travel blogger” super appealing.

Well, good news, I’m here to tell you that it is super appealing , and there are so many reasons why you should stop asking yourself, is travel blogging worth it?

In this post, I’ll go over why travel blogging is such a great job and why it’s worth all of the hard work that goes into it.

Are You Ready to Become a Full-Time Travel Blogger?

Check out this FREE webinar to see what it takes to become a full-time blogger (without having to learn social media)! 😆

Who I Am and Why You Can Trust Me

Hey there! I’m Kassidy, and you may be wondering who the heck I am and why you should trust me as I tell you a little about travel blogging.

Well, I’m just another normal person like you, who had a big dream of quitting my 9-5 and traveling the world.

That’s where I learned about travel blogging, took the plunge, bought a domain name, and started writing about “what would I take with me to a deserted island” and “updates on my road trip!”

Aka posts that no one actually cares about, besides maybe my mom and my grandma.

This was back in May of 2020, right after the world shut down, and I quickly learned that I loved staying at home for work and didn’t want to work a traditional 9-5.

So I started to do some research and was asking myself this exact question… is starting a travel blog worth it?

But then, I found Mike and Laura of Mike and Laura Travel in September of 2021 and invested in their Scale Your Travel Blog course.

This course has taken both of my blogs to new heights and has helped me learn everything that I need to know to be successful as a blogger.

I’ve learned that blogging is so worth the time and effort that goes into it because I’ve gotten to have so many amazing experiences with my blog.

Not only have I learned more about my home state, but I’ve been inspired to travel more around it, have gotten to work with great people, and have earned money from my website.

If you’re ready to jump right in and want to learn more about what it takes to be a travel blogger, sign up for Laura’s FREE training to help you get started. 👇

Sign Up for the FREE WEBINAR to Learn More Here! ➽

What is a Travel Blog?

Some people think of a travel blog as a website where people publish updates about their travels for their friends and family to read.

While this is the case for some people (and is how my blog started!), it’s typically not true for most blogs.

A travel blog is a website that contains useful posts and information about locations, tips, flying, foods to eat, and anything else that has to do with travel.

Many blogs are niched down into more specific topics such as vegan travel, family travel, Minnesota travel (that’s me!), etc.

If you’ve ever searched something online such as “ best hikes on the north shore, MN “, it’s very likely that those first few results are from travel bloggers!

So even if you don’t think you’ve ever read a blog, it’s very likely that you have!

Is Travel Blogging Worth It?

This can be a huge question and concern for people trying to jump into the world of travel blogging.

There’s a lot more to learn about creating a profitable blog than most people are aware of, and it certainly isn’t a way to get rich fast.

Starting a blog and turning it into a profitable business can be really tough and can take a long time to accomplish.

You’ll need to invest in yourself and really switch your mindset to show yourself that if they can do it, so can you!

In saying that, if you have the desire to succeed and want to change your life and live it how you want, then yes, travel blogging is absolutely worth it. 🙌

While there can be really hard patches and you will have to work hard, travel blogging is a great job (yes, it’s a real job, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!).

It can give you some pretty epic experiences such as paid trips, allow you to meet some awesome people, and write about the best places ever.

Plus, you’re able to have location independence and you can continue to grow your earnings as high as you want because the sky is the limit when you have your own business! 💰

But, if you don’t know what you’re doing, blogging can be pointless and can get you a whole lotta nowhere. So learn what it takes to be a great blogger with this FREE WEBINAR.

Pros of Travel Blogging

There are tons of positives that come along with being a travel blogger, and I want to highlight a few of the best here.

✅ You Get to Travel for Work

Of course, one of the top reasons that everyone wants to be a travel blogger is that you get to travel for work.

Yes, it’s true, there will be times when you might get to have a sponsored trip and you will get paid to travel.

You also are getting paid in ad money for writing about the places that you’ve been to and sharing them with the world.

This is a huge perk and is one of the main reasons that bloggers get into the travel space.

But be sure to read my cons below and how it isn’t always just fun and games, and there is a lot of hard work with those vacations.

✅ You Get to Help Others Travel

With a travel blog, you get to share your message with the world and help others travel to the beautiful places that you’ve been.

Whether that’s sharing locals’ insight into your hometown or giving your readers an itinerary for a trip that you took, you’ll get to share that with others.

I love being able to share my love for Minnesota with my readers on Kassidy’s Journey and help others plan their visit here.

Travel bloggers are some of the top people who help people plan trips.

Think of the last time you searched something such as ‘best restaurants in X,’ or ‘best places to hike in Y.’

Many of the results that you say when you hit ‘search’ were likely travel bloggers!

✅ You Have Location Independence

One of my absolute favorite parts about being a travel blogger is that I get to have location independence.

I don’t have to stay home to work, and I certainly don’t have to go into an office to work!

I can take my laptop with me wherever I go, as long as I have a wifi signal!

This makes it really easy to plan trips without having to take off work and go home to visit my family whenever I want.

✅ The Sky is the Limit

As your own boss, the sky is the limit for everything that you do and everything that you make.

If you have a dream to create something, there isn’t anyone else that’s going to tell you that you can’t do it, because you’re the boss.

You’ll also be able to increase how much you make based on how hard you work and what you put into it because there really is no limit to earnings.

✅ You Make Your Own Schedule

Another huge perk of being a travel blogger and being your own boss is that you get to make your schedule for the day!

That means if you want to be done with work by noon, you totally can.

And if you want to take a break during the middle of the day to go to the beach, you also can do that!

You won’t have to miss family gatherings, you can always go to your kid’s sports games, and you can take a sick day whenever you want.

Sure, there are some deadlines thrown in there such as publishing posts, contributing guest posts, or working with brands.

But for the most part, you get to create your schedule every day!

✅ Possibilities to Work With Great People/Brands

Another plus of being a travel blogger is the possibility to work with brands and people that you love.

For example, you could be invited on a paid stay somewhere or a sponsored trip somewhere that you’ve been wanting to go.

Or maybe a brand that you absolutely love reaches out to you and asks you to test out its new product.

Or you reached out to them and they accepted the offer to work with them!

There are a lot of great experiences to be had as a blogger.

✅ You Don’t Have to Understand Social Media

A huge worry for me becoming a travel blogger was that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when it came to social media (and I still don’t!).

But the good thing is that to be a successful blogger, you don’t even have to use social media!

That’s how powerful SEO is and having a good understanding of it can really help you scale your travel blog without even having to post once on Instagram or Facebook.

Cons of Travel Blogging

And of course, as with anything, there are certainly cons when it comes to travel blogging, which we’ll take a look at below.

❌ You Aren’t Actually on Vacation All the Time

Contrary to what people often think, travel bloggers aren’t just on vacation all the time.

Sure, they may take their work with them somewhere cooler than their hometown, but they’re still going to sit down and work, even if there’s a beach chair calling their name.

So if you’re looking for a job where it’s all play and no hard work, then, unfortunately, travel blogging isn’t for you.

❌ Judgements From Others

I’ve heard it many times, and I’m sure I’ll hear it again. Judgment from others who don’t understand that this is a business, and not a hobby.

It can be really tough to explain to others what you do if it doesn’t fit the mold of what is supposed to happen after you graduate high school.

But that’s okay if they don’t get it, it doesn’t matter, because it’s not their job and they really don’t need to understand.

If they don’t believe you, show them your bank account. 😆

❌ Unpredictability

One of the hardest parts about blogging is that it isn’t as predictable as a job that is salaried is.

There is no hourly rate or yearly salary that bloggers receive, and every month is typically different.

Seasons can affect how much you make, algorithm changes and updates from Google can affect it, and more.

It’s just something that you have to learn to roll with and know how to educate yourself on what’s happening over here on the web.

How to Start a Travel Blog

There is a lot that goes into starting a blog, and I couldn’t possibly fit it all into this post.

But I’ll give you a quick rundown of what it takes to start a blog so that you can have a better idea of the work that goes into it.

• Brainstorm your niche and a name for your blog/domain name.
• Choose a self-hosted company such as Bluehost to host your website online, and a blogging platform such as WordPress.org to create your blog.
• Choose a theme (I recommend Kadence from WordPress!) and start designing your website and start getting it ready to publish content.
• Create a Google Analytics and Google Search Console account to track your stats.
• Learn SEO and have an understanding of keyword research through a course, such as Scale Your Travel Blog .
• Start writing content and publishing well-written, SEO-optimized articles that target low-competition keywords.
• Build backlinks to your blog and blog posts.
• Start earning money through affiliate marketing by writing affiliate posts.
• Grow your traffic and apply to an ad network.

Now as I mentioned above, there is a lot of stuff that goes into starting a blog, so this is a pretty basic list.

But these are the basic steps that bloggers take to start up their blogs and start earning a full-time income.

Best Travel Blogging Course

If you’re ready to start jumping into the travel blogging world (which is so awesome because it’s such an epic job!), then I really recommend that you invest in a coach early on.

I wasted an entire year blogging about nonsense when I could have been making money, just because I didn’t know what I was doing.

That was until I invested in myself, my future, and my dreams , by signing up for a blogging course and coach.

Scale Your Travel Blog

Laura from Mike and Laura Travel is a well-known coach in the travel blogging world, who took her blog from pennies to over 6 figures in 2020.

Yes, you read that right, she actually knows what she’s doing right now , unlike a lot of the other bloggers who monetized their blogs way back in 2010.

I’ve been able to learn everything that I need to know about monetizing my travel blog from Laura, and I’ve been able to take it to new heights.

She’s helped me feel confident in my blog, has helped me begin to monetize, and actually cares about her students and how they’re doing.

If you’re considering if starting a travel blog is worth it, sign up for the free webinar below to learn more about how to start as a blogger, right now!

Sign Up for Laura’s FREE TRAVEL BLOGGING WEBINAR here! ➽

Can You Make a Living With a Travel Blog?

The short answer is absolutely , yes you can make a living with a travel blog!

There are a few key ways that bloggers earn money from their websites; ad revenue, affiliate marketing, and paid products.

Of course, there are many other ways, but these are the top 3 ways bloggers earn income.

Now, remember, blogging isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, it can take months to years to create a successful business for yourself.

But once you’ve got the knowledge down that they teach in Scale Your Travel Blog , you could be earning income in a much shorter time.

Is Travel Blogging Easy?

Although it may be tough for some people to believe, travel blogging is not an easy jo b , and it’s certainly not a get-rich-quick scheme.

Travel bloggers often work for years without getting paid anything before they start earning a full-time income on their blog.

Sure, it can go much faster, if you know what you’re actually doing, but most people don’t for a long time, and waste time just writing about whatever they want.

That was where I was at with my blog, because I thought that blogging was an easy, rich market to come into, and I would have loads of cash in weeks.

Clearly, that’s not the case. And you have to work for your income and success, but with a course and coach who knows what they’re doing, that success can come a lot faster.

Watch Laura’s free training to learn the best strategies for making your blog into a business a whole lot faster. 👇

Is Travel Blogging Too Saturated?

One of the biggest concerns that bloggers have before committing to their business is that the travel blogging space is too saturated.

And while it is true that there are thousands of other travel bloggers out there, it’s been that way for many years, and people continue to break through.

Think about it this way; there are tens of thousands of nurses out there that are all searching for the same job in the same field.

But that wouldn’t stop you from going to school to get a degree to chase your dreams of becoming a nurse, would it?

So why should you let other people who have decided to become travel bloggers affect your decision to become one too?

Are Travel Blogs Profitable?

Yes, blogging can be a very profitable business that you can earn a lot of money from!

Some of the top bloggers earn 7 figures, while thousands of others earn 6 figures each year!

Even if you’re just looking for a way to earn some extra money on the side, having a profitable travel blog can be a great way to bring in that extra cash!

FAQs: Travel Blogging

The amount of money that travel bloggers make ranges greatly, depending on the niche, how much work they put in, and how long they’ve been blogging. Some of the best and highest-paid bloggers make 7 figures every year. Others make 6 figures, and some who choose to use it as a side hustle, rather than a full-time gig, may make just a few thousand a year. Other bloggers make $0 per year, but these are the people who don’t have the knowledge or mindset that they need to succeed.

While you can certainly choose just “travel” as your niche, it’s going to be a lot easier to grow your blog with a more focused niche. Think smaller such as a specific location or a certain activity. Or, a type of travel such as vegan travel, travel with kids, Disney travel, etc. For example, this blog, Kassidy’s Journey, is only about Minnesota, so my niche is Minnesota travel.

You can start making money almost immediately on a blog with affiliate marketing, as long as you do it the right way. Running ads on your site is the other big way to earn an income, but to do so, you typically need quite a bit of traffic to your site.

No , it is not too late to start a blog, and travel blogging is not dead. Jumping into the travel blogging space without a niche can be really tough, but if you have a specific niche, it’s a lot easier to gain traction. If you know how to use SEO and affiliate marketing (which you can learn how to do both in the Scale Your Travel Blog Course !), you can earn money blogging.

The best way to get your travel blog “noticed” and start gaining traffic is to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO is a powerful tool that is the best way to earn income from your blog. You’ll be able to gain traffic through your posts that are ranking highly on Google, therefore allowing you to apply for an ad network.

How long it takes to start earning from a blog varies from person to person. But if you fully understand SEO and are well-versed in it, you could start seeing income in the first few months with affiliate marketing! Joining an ad network typically takes longer and could take a year or more.

Wrap-Up: Is it Worth it to Start a Travel Blog?

So now that we’ve gone through all of the pros and cons, ways to start, and more about starting a blog, is travel blogging worth it?

Yes, it is worth it, and for so many reasons like getting paid to travel, having experiences that others don’t have, and being location-independent.

There are so many great reasons to start a travel blog, so use what you’ve learned and get started today!

Kassidy Olson is a Minnesota native that loves spending her time exploring her home state. She writes for Kassidy's Journey to showcase that Minnesota isn't just a flyover state. She's here to give her personal recommendations, insights, tips, and more to help you plan your trip to Minnesota, or help locals enjoy their home state more.

10 Highest Paid Travel Bloggers: The Elite Earners of 2024

WHAT ARE THE TOP EARNING TRAVEL BLOGS?

If you are eager to know what travel bloggers are making and how you can become one too, you are in the right place, as in this article we are talking all about the 10 highest-paid bloggers.

Since the early 2000s, travelers have been sharing their stories on the internet. And now, they’re making more money than ever 🤑. 

👩‍💻  To help you with your travel blog, I highly recommend taking a course . Head here for info on the  best travel blogging courses . If you want to read a full review about the best one I’ve done,  head here .

These previous 9-5ers took the plunge and are now the highest-paid bloggers in the travel industry. And before you think, well, they probably started years ago, think again. 

Yes, some of them have spent almost 20 years travel blogging. But others started just a few years ago. If they can do it, then you can do it too.  

So how much do travel bloggers make? Let’s look at some travel blogs that make money.

The Highest Paid Travel Bloggers

I want to travel the world and get paid! That’s what the owners of these top-earning travel blogs said before setting out to make their dreams a reality.

Then they figured out how do you get paid for a blog and made it happen. So let’s take a look at the top 10 highest paid travel bloggers.

1. Matt Kepnes from Nomadic Matt

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Matt Kepnes | Nomadic Matt (@nomadicmatt)

💰 Estimated Annual Revenue: $1,000,000+

When it comes to travel blogging, Nomadic Matt is a name that many aspire to emulate. His travel nomads blog and New York Times Best Selling Books have been a go-to resource for travel enthusiasts around the world.

But beyond being an authority in the travel world, Nomadic Matt has managed to turn his passion into a lucrative career with one of the highest paid blogging sites on the internet .

🤑 Sources of Income: 

In 2018, it was reported that his travel blogger salary was up to $750 000 per year 🤯.

With even more income streams available through affiliate marketing, display advertising, courses, and products, his income as one of the travel blogs that make the most money has only continued to grow. 

It’s easy to guess that Nomadic Matt is one of the richest travel bloggers around. All thanks to Matt’s travel tips.

One interesting note about Matt’s nomad travel website income is that neither he nor his team of writers gets paid to travel the world — everything they write about comes from their personal plans and travel experiences. 

While the thought of making that amount of money may seem out of reach to some, his success serves as a reminder that with consistency and dedication, anything is possible in the travel blogging industry. 

2. Kiersten Rich, The Blonde Abroad 

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kiki | The Blonde Abroad | Travel Blogger (@theblondeabroad)

If you’ve searched for travel tips on the internet in the last decade, you’ve likely heard of one of Kiersten Rich AKA The Blonde Abroad .

Kiersten is a female travel icon who has managed to turn her love of solo travel into a seven-figure business. 

What sets her apart from the rest? With multiple income streams, she has managed to turn her blog into a business that was generating a travel blog salary of around $1 million dollars per year by 2019 🤯. 

The Blonde Abroad is not just one of the most popular travel bloggers and entrepreneurs around. She’s also a strong, solo traveling female inspiring women all over the globe to leave footprints in the sand of the travel blogging world. 

From brand partnerships to ad income and affiliate marketing to digital products, Kiersten has leveraged every monetization opportunity available. 

But she didn’t stop there. Kiersten has also created unique income streams by consulting and running her well-known, all-female travel tours. 

3. Johnny Ward of OneStep4Ward.com

View this post on Instagram A post shared by JOHNNY WARD (@onestep4ward)

Meet Johnny Ward , a previous 9-5er who quit his job to become one of the internet’s bloggers who make the most money.

Okay, so he didn’t actually make a travel blog business plan to do that, but it is what happened. He’s been a full time travel blogger ever since.  

In 2006, Johnny went on to pursue his passion for travel and blogging. According to his Money I’ve Made from Blogging calculator on his website, that leap of faith has paid off big time — three million dollars big 🤑, so far.

Despite facing challenges along the way, Johnny’s online blogger salary is likely over $100,000 per month now, earning him a spot as one of the most successful travel bloggers on the internet. 

🤑 Sources of Income:

In addition to affiliate marketing and ad income, Ward monetizes his experiences through public speaking and group trips. He has also purchased over 250 websites over the years and has monetized them as well. 

4. Alex Jimenez, Travel Fashion Girl 

View this post on Instagram A post shared by alex | Travel Fashion Girl (@travelfashiongirl)

Alex Jimenez was tired of feeling frumpy and not like her fashionista self when she started traveling full-time in 2008. Come 2012, she found a solution and started her empire at Travel Fashion Girl . 

It wasn’t long until Alex was generating a travel blogger salary per year of seven figures 🤑. Proving again that travel blog money is no joke when you put your mind to it. 

By blending her previous fashion industry background with her around-the-world journeys, Jimenez has created a brand dedicated to helping women pack smart and travel chic. 

Travel Fashion Girl’s seven-figure income was largely through AdThrive and affiliates, particularly from online retailers like Amazon and LTK. She also sells digital products, including packing ebooks to teach her audience how to pack like a pro. 

Alex has also launched her own product line, Compass Rose Travel Accessories, and acquired Women’s Travel Fest, an annual conference that aims to empower women through travel, community, and connection. She also has used her travel blogging money to grow her real estate portfolio.

5. Glo Atanmo, The Blog Abroad

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Glo Atanmo | Love & Lifestyle Tips (@glographics)

This solo-female travel entrepreneur has been making seven figures since 2020 . 

With a massive Instagram following of 259k, plus her website and a YouTube channel, she is proof that you can achieve incredible success with the right mindset and a solid understanding of how to make passive income work for you. 

It’s also an answer to the question: how much do Instagram travel bloggers make. Evidently, a lot as Glo is one of the highest paid travel bloggers on Instagram.

How did she achieve this dream-worthy feat of travel blogging? Wondering how travel bloggers earn seven figures? With multiple streams of income .

Glo Atanmo , now generating income from seven to eight different streams, has become a master of selling sustainable passive income streams — academies, masterminds, affiliate income, digital products, and more. 

6. Dave & Deb of The Planet D

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dave & Deb🔹ThePlanetD (@theplanetd)

💰 Estimated Annual Revenue: $800,000-$900,000

This power couple at The Planet D has undoubtedly cracked the code when it comes to brand building and creating one of the highest earning blogs.

Since creating their website to share and monetize their travels in 2008, they have steadily built up a following of over one million monthly readers 🤯 and counting. 

With a combination of savvy monetization strategies (diversification is key — the best travel bloggers in the world all know that!), this couple earns a high six-figure income annually 🤑. 

According to their blog income reports , these top-paid bloggers affiliate marketing earnings of $20,000-$40,000/month , display travel blog earnings coming in at $30,000-$35,000/month , and campaigns and brand partnerships reaching up to $50,000/campaign . 

In addition to these power income streams, The Planet D adventure travel blog also monetizes a loyal email list, digital products, public speaking, and YouTube (they’re travel vloggers too!). Now you know the answer to the question: how much do travel bloggers make on YouTube 🤯.

7. Shelley Marmour of TravelMexicoSolo.com

💰 Estimated Annual Income: $600,000+

Introducing the Affiliate Marketing Queen, Shelley Marmour — that’s me! After making just $8,490 in the entire 2021 year as a travel Mexpert , I grew my blog to earn multiple six figures by the end of 2022, including a $52,000 month !

If you want to learn how to earn money as a travel blogger, I can help you through my affiliate keyword and blogging courses . 

🤑 Sources of income: 

With almost 300k sessions , I’ve leveraged my affiliate marketing knowledge to earn an impressive $20k- 30k per month 🤯 through affiliate marketing alone. 

But I didn’t stop there. My local travel blog about Mexico also brings in $8k-$10k per month with display advertising , while digital products like my ebook and email list contribute additional income as well. 

I have expanded my affiliate marketing empire by starting multiple niche sites. All of my sites generate both affiliate and ad income, making me one of the most successful travel bloggers in a short period of time. 

8. Dariece and Nick from Goats on the Roads

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dariece & Nick|GoatsOnTheRoad (@goatsontheroad)

💰 Estimated Annual Income: $200,000-$400,000

In 2012, Dariece and Nick set off with a goal of earning $1,500/month to travel and live abroad  — not just for a few weeks a year, but forever. As of 2022 , these two Goats on the Road make $15k-$30k/month travel blogging 🤯.  

This savvy pair has figured out a way to make a living and travel the globe for over a decade now. With a tagline Turn travel into a lifestyle , they are now experts in earning remote income and helping you do the same. 

Can you get paid to travel the world? They’ve proved the answer is yes.

Whether it’s through blogging, online jobs, freelancing, or any other means possible, Dariece and Nick have proved time and time again just how attainable traveling the world can be. 

Dariece and Nick have monetized their blogs with affiliate marketing , ads , and partnerships. However, that monthly income doesn’t include all of their income sources.

They now share their knowledge through 3 travel bloggers’ courses and an impressive email list from their freebie opt-in 101 Ways to Earn Money and Pay for Travel.  

9. Lia & Jeremy from Practical Wanderlust

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lia & Jeremy | Travel Bloggers (@practicalwanderlust)

💰 Estimated Annual Income: $300,000-$500,000

This dynamic travel blogging duo left their desk jobs in 2016 to explore the world. While they shared monthly income reports back in 2018, they’ve stopped doing that in recent years. 

But, they are transparent about their ability to now live off of and make multiple six figures from their blog. life

In 2018, Practical Wanderlust’s 100k monthly sessions were bringing in $11,000 in their highest earning month. Now, their traffic has more than doubled, and so has their income. That’s just the life of a travel blogger. 

Their income streams come from a combination of display advertising, affiliate income, paid press, sponsored posts, and sponsored content, product and course sales, affiliate link placements (no-follow, of course), and even some freelance writing on the side. 

10. Katie and Ben from Two Wandering Soles

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Katie & Ben | Travel Family (@twowanderingsoles)

💰 Estimated Annual Income: $350,000-$500,000

These two wandering soles started their blog in 2014 and haven’t slowed down since. While they stopped doing their income reports in 2019, they were making a whopping $25k/month from their blog. 

This once van-life/budget/nomadic travel blog has turned into an eco-friendly, sustainable travel blog for every type of traveler, from families to digital nomads and van-lifers to scuba divers.

Their reports, although already impressive, only include their affiliate and advertising income.

A few years later, they have tripled their sources of income to include digital products, brand partnerships, email marketing, and courses like their Blogging Bootcamp and Van Conversion Academy.  

Three Ways to Make Money Travel Blogging

So now that we’ve covered the blog travel writers that earn the most money, let’s quickly cover how YOU can start earning money with your blog.

These are just a few tips on how travel bloggers make money. The opportunities are endless — you can dive into a more in-depth article on How to Become a Travel Blogger and Make Money . 

It has some of the best travel blogging tips around, so you won’t be wondering “how much do travel bloggers make” much longer. You’ll also learn about the best paid travel blogger jobs.

You’ll learn how to get paid for travel blogging in no time. Keep in mind that the biggest travel bloggers don’t just use one of these methods — they use almost all of them. 

So, ready to learn how to become a travel blogger and get paid? Try out these top three favorite blogging money makers. 

1. Advertising

Get paid for your content. Display advertising in an effective way to monetize your blog through ad networks. Mediavine , AdThrive, and SheMedia and some of the most talked about ad networks in the blogging industry. 

However, these popular ad networks have minimum traffic requirements, so you’ll have to put in some work before placing ads on your site. 

Depending on your niche (like luxury travel or a family travel blog) and your country, advertising can become a lucrative form of income on your blog.

So how does a travel blogger make money with ads? The more content and traffic you create, the bigger your earnings. 

2. Affiliate Marketing

Unlike advertising, affiliate marketing allows you to start making money with a travel blog even faster.

No need to wait for a specific amount of traffic to make your first dollar. This makes it one of the most popular travel blog monetization methods available. 

My favorite part of affiliate marketing — the sky’s the limit. I make over half of my income from affiliates. 

👩🏻‍💻 I teach bloggers how to find keywords with big potential to earn affiliate income in my  How to Find Affiliate Marketing Keywords Class . You can read more about my class in this  Best Courses for Travel Bloggers  article.

You can gain access to countless affiliate networks, like Viator and Booking.com , that can help you monetize your site like those of this list of travel bloggers do. 

From booking tours to promoting products, earning money through affiliate marketing is as easy as pie, and best of all, it’s all passive. 

So how do travel bloggers make money with affiliate marketing ? Promote products with affiliate links, and you get a commission when readers use them to buy things! It can even be part of your social media management strategy.

3. Products (Digital & Physical)

While affiliate commissions are a great way to start earning, you’re only getting a portion of those profits.

That’s where products come in! E-books , printables, photo presents, and courses are just a few of the ways you can monetize your travel blog with products. 

With a bit of upfront work, you can create products that will keep earning you money long after you’ve hit publish. 

Not only can digital products give you another consistent travel blog income stream, but they allow you to share your knowledge and expertise with your audience.

Plus, you have complete control over the pricing, branding, and distribution of your products. If you want to learn how to make money from a travel blog from day one, digital products are a great option. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to learn more, I’ve written a more in-depth article about all of this → How to Become a Travel Blogger and Make Money .

Frequently Asked Questions: Highest Paid Travel Bloggers

Now that you know all about these highest-paid and most famous travel bloggers, here are some FAQs about how to make money as a travel influencer. 

How much do top travel bloggers make?

Many of the top travel bloggers earn seven figures annually , with money coming from a variety of income streams. Their primary sources of income include affiliate marketing, advertising, product sales, and building a loyal email list of readers that can be monetized.

By building a brand and creating inspiring content, travel bloggers can build large audiences to leverage these monetization strategies, generating significant income from their passions. 

Is it hard to make money as a travel blogger?

With persistence and determination, it is not hard to make money as a travel blogger — especially if you know how to get your travel blog noticed. Establish yourself as an expert in your niche and satisfy your reader’s needs. 

From there, by promoting affiliate products, displaying ads, and partnering with brands, you can turn your travel blog into a money maker. With hard work and the right strategies, how to get paid to blog about travel is achievable.

Can you make a living with a travel blog?

Yes — you can make a living with a travel blog. Many people make a full-time living and impressive income from their travel blogging salary.

The beauty of a travel blog is that you have complete control over how much money do travel bloggers make. 

A professional blogger salary can range from $1 to $1 million per year 🤯. While it takes time to build a successful blog (nothing happens overnight), the only limit to how much does a travel blogger make is the one you set for yourself.  

Can a blogger become a millionaire?

Yes — a blogger can become a millionaire. Not only is it possible for a blogger to become a millionaire, but it has been done time and time again over the last two decades of travel blogging. 

With hard work and dedication, bloggers have continued to reach new heights by monetizing their travels and expertise.

How competitive is travel blogging?

With tens of millions of travel blogging websites on the internet, it is certainly a competitive market. But not all of those millions are travel blog companies that make money. 

By standing out as an expert in your specific niche, you can set yourself apart from the masses and find success as a blogging traveler as a career. 

Industries are always changing, and travel blogging is no different. No matter your passion, there’s an audience waiting for your unique perspective. Don’t be afraid to experiment and stand out from the crowd on your way to the top.  

Final Thoughts: Highest Paid Travel Bloggers

What does a travel blogger do? They travel, write about their experiences, and make money! Isn’t that a job?

This is a small list of the most successful travel blogs and the highest-paid travel bloggers in the industry — for example, I didn’t even get the chance to mention Two Monkeys Travel Group! But, it shows just how lucrative and profitable travel blogging can be. 

There are millions of travel bloggers making a living from their blogs — you can earn money travel blogging too.

If you’re wondering how to travel blog and make money, look no further than these 10 bloggers changing the industry one trip at a time. 

Ready to invest in a travel blogging course? 👉 Sign up for the FREE live webinar to meet my coach Laura, who has helped me grow my blog fast!

7 Ways to Start A Travel Blog And Make Money On a Budget

O ne of the questions I get asked the most frequently is “how do you afford to travel so much?” For the most part, when I travel these days its for brand deals/ I have comp’d hotels – but it wasn’t always this way! When I was first starting, I was traveling without any sponsorship. I am a firm believer that anyone, regardless of their ability to afford luxury travel, can start a travel blog and make money, if they have a passion and drive to do so!

Many aspiring travel bloggers believe that travel is too expensive to pursue their dreams. The truth is that you don’t need a huge budget to start a travel blog and embark on exciting adventures. With strategic thinking and cost-effective tools, you can start a travel blog and make money quickly, create impressive travel content and connect with others. Here are seven practical tips to help you run a successful travel blog on a budget, making your travel dreams a reality.

1. Specialize in Local Adventures

When starting your travel blog, focus on exploring and showcasing the hidden gems in your local area. Specializing in local adventures sets you apart from others and allows you to offer unique insights and experiences.

I live in the New York/ Philly area – so I have created TONS of content centered around the “best of” these areas and have worked with local photographers to get some great images right in my hometown!

As you grow, you can expand your reach to cover your state or even your country, supporting local businesses and contributing to the economic growth of your region.

2. Use Your Smartphone for Photography

You don’t need an expensive camera to capture stunning travel photos. Modern smartphones offer impressive photography capabilities.

The majority of my photos that grew my Instagram were national park photos I took on my iPhon. Apps like Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop Express can enhance your smartphone photography skills.

3. Travel to Less Expensive Destinations

Stretch your travel budget by choosing less expensive destinations. Look for budget-friendly options (hostels!), research affordable flights, accommodation, and  off-peak travel seasons to save money while still enjoying enriching experiences.  (I spent a lot of days in the desert in PEAK heat seasons, aka, slow seasons – when prices were considerably less than they are during the fall/winter).

We went to Zion in the heart of the summer – it was HOT, but hotels were cheap!

4. Look for Web Domain Deals to Start A Travel Blog

While starting on social media is an option,  having a website with a proper domain gives you more control over your content.  Look for discounted deals from top web domain service providers to save money when purchasing a domain.  Keep an eye out for discounts offered by creators with sponsorships and partnerships on platforms like YouTube.

Here is  a  discount code for Bluehost, the webhost I use!  I signed up when I saw a discount code another blogger posted.

Bluehost is one of the most established and well-known hosting brands on the internet. They host over 2 million WordPress sites and are excellent for beginners and starting websites because their platform is easy to use.  Click here to sign up for as little as $2.95/month  (this discount deal is only available to my readers through my blog!).

5. Use Social Media Wisely:

Utilize social media platforms to connect with potential readers and promote your travel blog. Choose platforms that align with your target audience and focus on building a presence on one or two networks to maximize your efforts. Experiment, remain consistent, and learn from your experiences to grow your social media following organically.

6. Show Your Readers How to Travel on a Budget:

This is a great one! If I was starting over, this is what I would do. Position yourself as a budget travel expert by sharing tips and insights on how to travel affordably. Cover topics such as staying in hostels, finding local eateries, and experiencing destinations like a local. Offer practical advice and unique recommendations to engage your audience and provide value.

7. Put Together a Saving Plan for Future Trips:

Dream big and plan for bigger trips in the future. Set aside money specifically for your bucket list destinations and consider ways to increase your income, such as negotiating a pay raise or taking on higher-paying freelance clients. Utilize savings features offered by mobile banking apps to help you reach your travel goals.

Running a successful travel blog doesn’t have to be expensive. Anyone can start a travel blog and make money pretty quickly! By specializing in local adventures, using your smartphone for photography, choosing affordable destinations, leveraging social media wisely, providing budget travel tips, and planning for future trips, you can create a thriving travel blog on a budget.

Don’t let financial limitations hold you back from pursuing your passion for travel.  Start your blog  today and embark on exciting adventures while inspiring others to do the same.

Do you want to start turning your posts into profit?

Not sure how to start  getting paid  for your posts? Where to start?  What to say to brands?

Sign up here to receive FREE customizable email templates where I share the simple strategies to get gigs!

Personal Finance

How to travel on a budget: 12 tips from our expert.

Our evaluations and opinions are not influenced by our advertising relationships, but we may earn a commission from our partners’ links. This content is created independently from TIME’s editorial staff. Learn more about it.

Most people want to travel. Too few people pull the trigger—often because they assume that their bucket list dreamcation is too pricey.

The truth is that Instagram influencers have ruined the idea of travel. You don’t have to stay in an overwater villa with a two-story water slide to have a fulfilling trip. Abide by a few practical tricks, and you can travel without spending a small fortune. Let’s look at 12 ways to travel on a budget.

Start taking control of your finances with Simplifi by Quicken

Disclosures:, 12 best money-saving travel tips, 1. let the deals guide you.

Did you know that tools exist to help you find the cheapest travel to anywhere from your home airport? If you don’t have a firm destination in mind, sites such as Google Flights and Skyscanner allow you to leave your destination airport blank. You can then sort your search results by the cheapest fares and choose a destination that fits your budget. You’ll be surprised how far you can get for a ticket under $50 each way.

2. Book airfare from hubs when traveling internationally

If your travel aspirations lie outside the U.S., your best tactic to save money is searching for flights from major U.S. gateways to your destination—instead of from your home airport.

For example, if you live in Punta Gorda, Florida, you’re less likely to find a screaming deal to Europe from your home airport of Punta Gorda (PGD) than from Miami (MIA) or Orlando (MCO). Driving the 2.5 hours to either of these airports could save you $500+ per ticket. It could even be worth flying to a hub airport just to catch the cheaper transatlantic flight.

Similarly, try to be flexible with your destination airport. If you’d like to visit Paris, take a look at other European airports, such as Frankfurt (FRA), Dublin (DUB), Madrid (MAD), etc. If you find a fare several hundred dollars cheaper, you can book an inexpensive hop from that city to Paris fand save some serious money.

3. Earn a credit card welcome bonus

It’s the golden age of credit cards intro offers. There are currently many welcome bonuses that reward you with potentially more than $1,000 in travel after meeting minimum spending requirements.

For example, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card currently offers 75,000 miles if you spend $4,000 in the first three months after you open the account. They are worth $750 when you book travel through Capital One’s travel portal—and potentially more through using its convert-rewards option with partners. Check the airfare and other prices to be sure you’re getting the best value.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening. You can cash out these points for a $600 check, or you can redeem them through Chase Travel at a rate of 1.25 cents each toward airfare, hotels, cruises, and more (a value of $750). You can also transfer these points to airline and hotel programs for an even greater value. Read the TIME Stamped guide to Chase transfer partners for more details.

Compare these two cards here.

4. Eat like a local

If your idea of vacation is lounging on a beach chair with a bottomless tequila sour cup in your hand, you’re probably going to spend a lot of money. But if you can pull yourself away from the large resort properties that pride themselves on sequestering guests from local culture, you’ll save money and eat better food.

Whether you’re traveling domestically or internationally, try to eat where the locals eat. You’ll find cheaper prices and deliciously authentic food.

5. Book an Airbnb (or even a hostel)

Nowadays, it’s hard to find a room at a hotel—a respectable one, anyway—for under $100 per night. You can do significantly better than this by booking an Airbnb, particularly for extended stays. Many hosts offer steep discounts for bookings of at least a week. And if for some reason you’re staying a month or more, you’ll sometimes find whopping 50% discounts.

Depending on your travel style, you may also consider staying with a host family. Airbnb offers the option to rent a room in someone’s house instead of the entire home. This can be incredibly cheap, and also gives you a chance to better understand the local culture.

Another alternative to hotels is hostelling. It gets sort of a bad rap for being a bit seedy and communal, but there are some excellent hostels out there that you can reserve for a fraction of the price of even an Airbnb. If you’re willing to pay slightly more, you can even reserve your own room instead of the standard dormitory setup.

6. Buy your own alcohol when staying at a resort

Alcohol can be a crippling expense at resorts—sometimes as much as $30 per mixed drink, depending on the class of property you visit. If you expect alcohol to be a meaningful expense during your trip, pop over to the local supermarket or liquor store and buy your own stash. You’ll likely be able to get a full 750ml bottle for the price of a single drink from the overpriced bar.

True, it won’t be quite as magical as ordering the property’s signature drinks, but isn’t it worth saving potentially hundreds of dollars during your stay?

7. Book a room with a kitchen

Whether you rent a hotel room, an Airbnb, or otherwise, you can save big by choosing a space with a kitchen. Extended-stay properties like Home2 Suites by Hilton, Hyatt House, or Candlewood Suites have full kitchens that you can use to buy groceries and cook your own meals as opposed to eating out every single day. Not only is it cost-effective, but you’ll probably end up eating healthier.

8. Hold (and use) the right credit card

Airline and hotel credit cards often come with benefits that can lower your out-of-pocket in a powerful way.

For example, airline credit cards such as the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card offer a free checked bag for you and other travelers on your reservation. Because checked bags typically cost $35 each way, this could save you and a travel buddy $140 during a single trip. If you travel with a large family, you’ll save even more.

Many hotel credit cards, such as the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card , confer automatic Gold Status that comes with benefits like breakfast privileges during your stay. This benefit alone can save you hundreds of dollars during a stay, depending on the hotel.

Also, some premium travel rewards credit cards, like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card , offer complimentary airport lounge access to over 1,400 lounges worldwide. You’ll often find free food and alcohol inside a lounge, saving you from having to pay exorbitant airport restaurant food prices.

Just note that many travel credit cards incur annual fees, so be sure to examine all benefits of the card to decide if it’s worth the investment.

9. Book a destination where your dollar goes further

If you’re looking to save money during your travels, don’t pick a location like St. Barths or Monaco. Find a place where the U.S. dollar is strong.

Southeast Asia is a perfect example where, as long as you stay away from tourist traps, you can find great food and accommodation for a small fraction of what you’d pay for a domestic trip. If you can spring for the flight to a country like Thailand or the Philippines, you’ll be astonished at the favorable exchange rate.

10. Avoid tour groups

There are innumerable benefits to traveling solo as opposed to booking a tour group. Yes, you’ll forfeit a few interesting tidbits about the area relayed by a tour guide. But you’ll gain complete freedom over your schedule and by extension, the ability to avoid massive crowds.

And, of course, you’ll be able to eat where you want instead of inevitably being shepherded into a random gift shop/diner in the middle of nowhere with outrageous prices.

11. Stay inland

The beach is the quintessential “vacation,” and hotels capitalize on that. Plan a vacation away from the beach, or at least stay a mile or two away from the sand to avoid the surcharge that comes with the privilege of a 10-second walk to the ocean.

12. Choose areas that are rich in scenery

The best budget vacations are those that involve the outdoors. Hiking, swimming, even strolling through stunning scenery is often completely free (or reasonably priced, if a park pass is required). The prettier your destination, the less you’ll spend to entertain yourself.

TIME Stamp: Being flexible will save you big on your next trip

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. But using a handful of these strategies can take potentially thousands of dollars off your travel bill.

Most important is flexibility. Stay open minded enough to follow the cheap deals—though you may end up in a place you wouldn’t have otherwise chosen, you may discover your new favorite destination.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is a reasonable travel budget.

A reasonable travel budget is impossible to pinpoint, as everyone’s idea of “budget” is different. That said, many experts recommend sticking to between 5% and 10% of your annual income for your travels.

How much money do you realistically need to travel?

The amount you need to travel depends on many factors, such as whether you’re flying, where you’re going, the size of your party, the length of your stay, and the quality of your accommodations. But no matter your budget, you can craft a vacation that fits your financial restraints. Just try not to go into debt for it.

How can I travel for little money?

Collecting airline miles and hotel points through credit card welcome bonuses and everyday spending is the best way to travel for little money. With a single intro bonus, you could earn enough rewards for a week’s stay at a hotel or a round-trip flight to Europe.

What is the most cost effective way to travel?

Staying at hostels or with host families during your trip is an excellent way to travel for little money. Also keep an eye on travel deals that pop up and allow them to dictate your destination.

The information presented here is created independently from the TIME editorial staff. To learn more, see our About page.

Money blog: US fast food chain to open 60 restaurants in UK - with dish you have to sign waiver to eat

Welcome to the Money blog, your place for personal finance and consumer news and tips. Leave a comment or your Money Problem/consumer dispute (don't forget to leave a contact number/email) in the box below.

Wednesday 10 July 2024 00:27, UK

• Which is cheapest supermarket once you include Clubcard and Nectar?
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Move out the way Chick-fil-A, another viral American fast food chain is about to launch in the UK. 

Dave's Hot Chicken has announced it will open restaurants in 60 locations across the UK and Ireland, with the first coming early next year. 

The social media sensation is known for its jumbo chicken sliders, sliders and bites. 

They can each be ordered in seven different spice levels from no spice to reaper, which is so hot you have to sign a waiver to eat it. 

"We know there is an opportunity to make Dave's Hot Chicken one of the iconic restaurant brands, and we do that by partnering with incredible operators, like Azzurri Group," said Bill Phelps, CEO of Dave's Hot Chicken.

"The flavour of Dave's Hot Chicken resonates across borders, and we're looking forward to the first UK store getting open soon." 

The chain is coming to the UK after it signed an agreement with Azzurri Group - one of the country's biggest hospitality investment platforms.

The group already operates Italian restaurants Zizzi, Ask Italian, and Coco di Mama as well as the fast casual Mexican restaurant Boojum. 

Dave's Hot Chicken was originally founded by three friends Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganesyan and Tommy Rubenyan, who spent $900 to launch in a car park in 2017. 

Since then, it has grown rapidly with more than 200 restaurants now open across the US. 

It has also garnered the attention of famous investors like singers Drake and Usher, and actor Samuel L Jackson. 

The move to the UK comes after a recent expansion by Popeyes and an upcoming launch by Chick-fil-A. 

EE has launched a subscription service designed to protect users from nuisance calls and scams.

Called Scam Guard, the system will use AI to spot likely spam calls and alert users to them.

It will also notify the owner if their personal information has been found on the dark web, and offer tips on how to secure any in-danger accounts. 

Anti-virus and malware protection for two devices and tools for stronger password creation can be included as well.

The mobile operator is offering the service to pay-monthly phone customers, starting from £1 a month. 

EE, which is part of the BT Group, said it hoped the system would eliminate the stress of cybersecurity and educate users on the subject. 

It comes after government research published earlier this year showed 40% of crime committed across the UK was fraud-based, and almost all phone users experienced nuisance calls on a regular basis.

"We have always prioritised the protection of our customers and our investment in Scam Guard is something we are all incredibly proud of," said Helen Burrows, policy director for BT. 

"This is something we take seriously, and while we already block an impressive number of scams, there is always more that we can do. Scam Guard covers all bases, so customers can feel safer on our network."

Aldi will open 10 new stores across the UK this summer.

The German supermarket chain has already opened stores in Skelmersdale in Lancashire, Newport in Wales, Castle Gresley in Derbyshire, Goole in Yorkshire and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire this year.

And it is now set to open sites in Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, and Olney Park in Milton Keynes, in the next month.

Towns such as Aberdare in Wales, Broughty Ferry in Dundee and Leytonstone in London are also set to open new stores.

In total, the UK's fourth-largest supermarket is on track to open 35 new stores this year, with each creating around 40 new jobs on average.

The openings form part of Aldi's long-term target of 1,500 stores in the UK.

Jonathan Neale, real estate managing director at Aldi UK, said the store wanted to "ensure that high quality yet affordable food is available to everyone" and that was why the chain would "expand across the UK".

Where will the new branches be opening?

• Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire
• Olney Park, Milton Keynes
• Aberdare, Wales
• Broughty Ferry, Dundee
• Leytonstone, London
• Beckton, London
• Middleton, Leeds
• Rugeley, Staffordshire
• Gosforth, Tyne and Wear
• Holloway Road, London
• Shepshed, Leicester 

Over half a million pensioners are still paying off their mortgages, research shows.

In its survey of 2,000 people over 50, the financial services firm SunLife found that retired mortgage holders still owed more than £30,000 on average.

Data found that of the 68% that were homeowners, 23% were still paying off their mortgage.

And while 87% of those with outstanding mortgages were still working, the research showed that 13% of those still paying off their mortgages were retired.

This means that of all retirees in the UK,  7% - the equivalent of just over 500,000 older people - may still be paying monthly mortgage payments.

On average, these retired mortgage holders still owe £33,627.

The data follows a recent Bank of England report which revealed nearly half of all mortgages issued in the last three months of 2023 were for 30 years or longer.

Last month, worried homeowners told the Money team they would have to work longer and later in life to pay their mortgages.

You can read more here ...

Crisis-hit Thames Water has warned its cash remains on track to run dry by the end of May next year due to a lack of new investment, forcing it to prepare a plan for its lenders.

The country's biggest water company, which serves almost a quarter of the population, previously said it had £2.4bn of liquidity as of the end of March.

The company said on Tuesday that the sum had fallen to £1.8bn by the end of June.

Cash-strapped Thames Water has been struggling to secure fresh funds from existing shareholders after they withdrew promised investment of £500m amid a funding row with the industry regulator.

Read more from our business news reporter James Sillars below... 

The UK's largest hotel brand has had to change its marketing after a complaint to the advertising regulator - removing claims which said buying early means getting the best price.

The complaint against Premier Inn was "informally resolved" by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), meaning the hotel chain agreed to amend the communication and details of the issue were not made public.

No formal ruling was published but the ASA told Sky News a complaint had challenged Premier Inn's claim that booking early gave the best deals on the basis the statement was misleading and could not be substantiated.

The ad in question said: "Book early to secure your choice of hotel and dates for the best price!"

Read more from our business news reporter Sarah Taafe-Maguire here... 

Card spending fell last month for the first time in more than three years, according to Barclays.

It's the first time there's been a drop in card spending values since February 2021, the bank's June data showed.

The figures cover nearly 40% of the nation's credit and debit card transactions and combine it with consumer research.

It's due to a combination of prices rising less than before, as inflation weakened, and wet weather dampening clothes, pub and garden centre sales early in the month.

Read more...

Dyson has revealed plans for 1,000 job losses in the UK.

The manufacturer of innovative vacuum cleaners and other products said the cuts, which amount to more than a quarter of its UK workforce, followed a review of its global workforce needs.

It is understood that the redundancies are not linked to the general election as the process had begun beforehand.

The company's founder Sir James Dyson had previously been  critical of the Conservative government 's approach to economic growth and science.

Follow this breaking story here ...

Is it an infringement of hygiene regulations, or just a drop in the ocean?

Well, those who are caught relieving themselves in the sea in Marbella could seemingly be fined a hefty €750 (£634).

In new plans to help clean up the Costa del Sol, fines could be levied on beach-goers who are found guilty of "physiological evacuation in the sea and on the beach".

The wording of the by-law has given rise to ridicule in Spain, with many questioning just how it would be policed.

A spokesperson for the city council has since moved to clarify the proposals, saying they referred to the fact people might urinate into the sea from the shore.

"The by-law does not impose a sanction for peeing in the sea," they said in an  email to The Guardian . 

"It will not be applicable. The by-law regulates possible antisocial infractions on the beach, just as any such acts are regulated in any public space such as on the city's streets."

The rules have been approved by Malaga's council but need to pass a public consultation before becoming law.

Taking in 25 different beaches in the Malaga municipality, the rules aim to bring a halt to a practice dubbed "an infringement of hygiene and sanitary regulations".

Under the rules, repeat offenders caught more than once in the space of a year could face a fine of up to €1,500 (£1,270).

Things have just started looking up, inflation is under control, an interest rate cut could come next month, but tea leaf production in India is about to throw a spanner in the works. 

The price of a cuppa could be about to rise after harvests in places across the country were drastically reduced by extreme weather events - including floods and heatwaves. 

As a result, it's predicted average tea prices this year could be 16% to 20% higher than in 2023.

In the last week of June, the typical price of Indian tea leaves rose to more than £2 per kg - a near 20% increase, according to the Tea Board. 

A government ban on 20 pesticides has also had an impact. 

More than half of India's total tea production is plucked during July to October.

"Extreme weather events are hurting tea production. Excessive heat in May, followed by ongoing flooding in Assam, are reducing output," said Prabhat Bezboruah, a senior tea planter and former chairman of India's Tea Board.

The country produced a record 1.394 billion kg of tea in 2023, but in 2024 production could fall by around 100 million kg, he warned.

India's tea production in May plunged more than 30% from a year earlier to 90.92 million kg - its lowest for that month in more than a decade. 

In June, production improved slightly thanks to good rainfall, but flooding in July limited plucking in many districts of Assam. 

The region accounts for more than half the country's tea output, and the UK is India's top export destination. 

And, we are a nation of tea drinkers - consuming around 100 million cups a day. 

The average price of a packet of 80 tea bags costs £2.64 - up from £2.38 last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Of course, the extent of the price increases depends on a variety of factors, including how much manufacturers and retailers will absorb and if tea supply contracts are due to expire. 

By James Sillars , business news reporter

The FTSE 100 is in positive territory on Tuesday morning despite a hefty drag from BP.

The index was trading 0.2% higher at 8,212, with miners among the sectors leading the way.

BP was down by more than 2% after it warned of a hit to second quarter profits due to weaker refining margins and oil trading.

Among wider fallers in London was Indivior.

Its shares plunged by more than a third. The drugmaker revealed at 7am that it had lowered its annual profit forecast, not aided by the fact it would discontinue the sale of its schizophrenia drug Perseris.

Global share performance today may well depend on remarks in Washington DC.

Investors are eagerly awaiting evidence to a Senate committee by chair of the Federal Reserve Jay Powell this afternoon.

Any hint that the central bank has moved closer to a US interest rate cut will be seen positively.

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