Thinking how to monetize your passion for travel? Do you have a travel blog that you seek to monetize? How will you go about it? Here are excellent tips on how to monetize a travel blog that you can pick.

How to Monetize a Travel Blog

Blogging is one of the easiest ways to make unlimited genuine money online. Now, coupled with the exploding travel industry that reaches more than $1.2 trillion a year, making a travel blog is certainly the way to go.

In 2021, online sales for the global travel industry hit an all-time high of 65%. This shows us just how people have embraced the internet when it comes to planning for travel. In addition, it shows that so many people will be searching for travel information, tips, and hacks. 

That’s where travel blogs, travel agents’ websites, etc., come in.

Generally, people are minting thousands of dollars every month from travel blogs. And, if you want to join this league, this is certainly the best time.

Whether you are a travel enthusiast who wants to share your experiences, or a travel agency looking to make more money, we have the best tips for you.We will show you how to monetize a travel blog in a few simple steps.

First, though;

What is a Travel Blog?

Before getting into how to monetize a travel blog, understanding what a travel blog is might be the best place to start. Luckily, it’s nothing complicated.

A blog simply means a website or webpage with content. The website is regularly updated with information about a specific topic or various topics. This will depend on the owner’s specialization or preference.

A travel blog is not any different. It is a website that’s regularly updated with travel information to equip travellers with adequate travel data.

Travel enthusiasts share their travel experiences as they tour various parts of the world. This gives interested travellers a way to find out what different travel destinations have to offer. In addition, they get to learn how to get to these places and how much it might cost.

Travel agencies also have their blogs. Here, they share about various travel destinations as well as how they can help you get there. Travellers will always use these blogs to compare different places in terms of offerings and cost.

You can simply follow this step by step guide to start a blog today. It’s easy to get started and launch your travel blog.

Affiliate Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If someone makes a purchase through affiliate links, I may earn a small compensation. For more, please read on to privacy policy and disclosure.

How to Become a Travel Blogger

Becoming a great travel blogger isn’t all hard. But, it’s also not easy.Just because you love traveling and know how to write doesn’t guarantee success in travel blogging. While these are two of the most important qualities, you need more. Here are our best tips on becoming the next Matt Kepnes of Nomadic Matt travel blog. I know earning $50k or more per month is quite appealing!

#1. Read Widely

Even as you travel and experience the places first hand, reading gives you more information and knowledge. In addition, reading helps you understand how to manage your blog, including what to write and what not to.

One thing that should first click into your mind is that creating a successful blog is similar to growing a business. It, therefore, means that you need strategies, goals, and objectives to get you where you want. Reading more grows your skills both in managing the blog and writing.

This way, you can reach more interested travellers.

#2. Be Unique

The travel industry is saturated with thousands of blogs. So, how do you outrank them and appear at the top of the travelers’ search list? Well, by not being like everybody else!

That’s right. Don’t write or create content that everybody else has. While the details might be similar, how you package your information is what matters.

Find your own way of doing things, which you know your readers will love. For instance, let your blogs be fun to read. Make the destinations feel so real.

And don’t forget to offer only what matters (don’t overdo anything).

#3. Invest in your Travel Blog

Creating and growing a blog is hard work. You’ll not only need to invest your time but also your resources. Remember, before you learn how to monetize a travel blog, you need to know how to grow it first.

If you avoid spending time and money on your blog, you can be sure that the results will be devastating. For instance, you might think that hiring a website designer is too expensive. But, your poor website design skills might cost you even more. Therefore, learn to spend on your website. And do it wisely.

Learn to outsource and pay for skills if you need success. Hire that designer, SEO auditor, copy editor, and even buy the best tools for your blog.

This article includes 20 tools and resources to invest in your blog. These are some essential tools to run a successful blogging website.

#4. Be Persistent

Don’t rush, and don’t give up. As we said earlier, creating a successful blog is hard work. So, do just that.Your travel blog won’t start giving you money overnight. Meaning you need to be patient and persist in what you are doing. With time, the fruits will start to manifest.

For this, you need to create great blog posts consistently. The more you do this; the more people want to continue visiting your blog. Eventually, your blog’s traffic will be significant enough to be monetized and make you good money.

Also, remember that this is a learning process. Your blogs might not be great at first, and not many people will even love them. But, as you grow in this field, all that will change. Each step made in the right direction is a positive move.

How much Money do Travel Bloggers Make?

Now, here is where things get juicy. The truth is travel bloggers are making quite good money from their blogs. And if you are not sure if blogging can sustain a decent lifestyle, just look at how much money these blogs earn.

• Nomadic Matt – with over 780k visitors a month, earning around $50k monthly.
• OneStep4Ward.com – between $20k and $25k monthly, with over 89k visitors a month.
• The Travel Hack – $10k per month, with 56k monthly visitors
• Goats On The Road – up to $12k monthly for traffic of 276k monthly.
• Mantripping – up to $6k monthly income with 129k monthly visitors.

When you look at some of these monthly incomes, you’ll notice that only the sky is the limit. The more traffic you attract every month, the higher your chances are of making more money.

Travel Blog Tips for Beginners

If you are starting your first travel blog, these incredible tips will make the journey easier for you.

1. Choose a Niche

Don’t write or blog about everything in the travel industry. This might not fetch you good traffic easily as many other people are doing it. Therefore, choose something unique and focus on it.

Your niche should be guided by your passion and goals for creating the blog. For example, you can create a travel blog about outdoor camping, RV travel, affordable travel, etc.

2. Learn your Audience and Know What They Want

Before you start your travel blog, it’s good to have a target audience. This might include various categories such as vegan travellers, youths, millennials, religious travellers, etc.

From here, research widely about your audience. Learn what they might be looking for, where they like traveling to, and anything else that might appeal to them.With this, appealing to their needs will be easy, and you will create content that’s specific to them.

3. Make Use of SEO

Optimize your blog for the search engines. By doing so, you ensure that your content will be displayed when people search online.You can achieve this by creating great content optimized with specific keywords that people search for. Luckily, there are several platforms to help you with this, including:

• Ahrefs
• Semrush
• Ubersuggest (free)
• Google Keyword planner (free), etc.

Also, do off-page SEO, including backlinks, posting on social media platforms, etc.

4. Provide Great Content

When it comes to content, it must be credible, well-researched, and fun to read. Ensure that you have the right information packaged in the best way. With this, outranking your competitors will be easy.

5. Be Consistent

Growing a successful blog isn’t easy and requires you to keep posting frequently. If you are not consistent, or your readers don’t find enough information when they visit your blog, you’ll certainly lose.

Therefore, have a plan.

Create a content calendar to ensure that you don’t fail to post. Subsequently, your audience base will keep growing as time passes.

How to Monetize a Travel Blog? 5 Ways To Make Money With Travel Blogging

By now, you already know how to create and grow a successful travel blog. Now, the next step is to know how to make money out of your blog. How do you monetize your travel blog? Here are your best options:

#1. Contextual Advertising

With huge traffic, contextual ads platforms like Google ads can earn you good money. These networks connect the sites’ owners with advertisers and webmasters. When ads are placed on your site, you earn part of the money paid by the advertiser.

While the blog owner doesn’t get the biggest share, those with large traffic can make attractive amounts of money. The only thing you need is to register with these networks and leave the rest to them. Meaning, it’s a passive source of income.

These are some best ad networks for bloggers to join.

#2. Selling Ads Space (Direct Advertising)

This involves allowing direct advertisers to place ads on your site. Since you are dealing with direct clients, the pay here can be quite attractive. However, before you reach here, your site must be well recognized. Usually, your traffic will be the one to get you these deals. Direct advertising will include placing ads on your site, mostly those that align with your content.

So, if your blog is about affordable travel, ads about travel credit cards, among others, might fit best.

#3. Affiliate Marketing

With affiliate marketing, you earn money through affiliate links. For instance, many hotels, travel booking sites, online stores, and car rental companies have affiliate programs that allow bloggers to make money. All you need is to register with some of these programs and earn when a traveler buys any product or service through your unique affiliate link.

Some good examples of such platforms and companies offering these affiliate programs include:

• GetYourGuide
• Booking.com
• Amazon
• Hotels, such as Hilton, etc.

Join these programs now and start making money.

Do check out this list of 40+ high paying affiliate marketing programs.

#4. Sponsored Posts

When learning how to monetize a travel blog, sponsored posts are also an excellent way of doing it. With a well-known blog, other bloggers will want to use it to improve their blogs’ ratings. This way, some are ready to pay for sponsored posts and guest posts.

Sponsored posts can earn you good money if your site has a high domain authority. Unlike affiliate marketing and ads, the cost of sponsored posts will depend on your site’s domain authority. This makes the option ideal for those bloggers whose websites have earned a name for themselves.

#5. Selling Products or Services

For the above-mentioned options, you earn without a product or service. But, there’s also a great opportunity to make money on your blog, selling products and services. If you have anything to offer to your readers or audience, then you can take advantage of your blog in that manner. For example, you can sell:

• Branded products
• Merch designs
• Consultancy services
• Souvenirs from your travel expeditions, etc.

The larger the audience you have, the better your chances of making real money will be.

About Guest Author;

Kyle Kroeger is a travel blogger for his site ViaTravelers.com. ViaTravelers is a modern travel blog providing the best tips, hacks, and itineraries to ensure you have an amazing adventure. Follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube to get our latest travel updates in real-time.