The truth is, you can make money with a travel blog, but it takes a LOT of work to get off the ground. It’s like a rocket ship. Your travel blog requires a tremendous amount of effort just to get off the ground, but once you do get it off the ground, it gets easier and easier (and hopefully reaches orbit where it practically moves itself).
And once you have the traffic, it’s time to monetize your blog. But I must warn you: choosing the right mix of monetization techniques is more art than science. While some monetization methods work great for everyone – creating your own products, for example – others (like public speaking gigs) are more of a personal preference. So in this spirit, here i am write top Ways of Earning Money through Effective Blogging.
1. Create and Sell Your Own Products
I mention this first because it is without a doubt the BEST way for the average travel writer to make money. If you create an eBook, your only real cost is your time spent writing the damn thing. Now before you start writing it, take some time exploring what your market wants. Send your readers an email asking about what they’d most like to see, ask them in the comments section and like Brian Clark of Copy blogger says, build an audience, ask them what they’re willing to pay for and give it to them.
2. Direct Advertising
Working directly with advertisers will make you more money than Ad sense. However, it’s a more in-depth process than just slapping some code on your page you’ve got to put up an “Advertise with Us” page, set advertising rates and negotiates with advertisers. In other words: mo’ money, mo’ problems. I don’t really recommend using ads at all, but if you must run ads to keep the lights on, deal with advertisers directly.
3. Speaking Engagements
Businesses and conferences need speakers… and they’re willing to pay for your time. If you enjoy speaking, create a page offering your services as a speaker. Caz and Craig have a nice “About Page” here which you can model yours after.
4. Consulting
Once you’ve gotten your brand out there, consider offering one-on-one consultations. You don’t have to be Tim Leffel to get started: people will gladly pay you to solve a specific problem (e.g. set up WordPress, install plugins and themes, edit their writing, etc.).
Here’s how it works: you write a valuable piece of content. Either in the post itself or at the end you include a link to related products. For example, if you write a post about preparing for long term travel, you could include affiliate links to the gear you recommend packing.
Remember: you should NEVER promote an affiliate product you don’t believe in. If you wouldn’t hype it for free… don’t promote it.
