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How do travel bloggers make money?

Some people think that all travel bloggers travel around the world for free, while this might be true for a small number of travel bloggers, you will be surprised to know that almost 98% of travel bloggers pay for their holidays. So, how exactly do travel bloggers make money?

There are about 10 ways travel bloggers make money.

Here is a quick list of ways travel bloggers make money:

1. Affiliate Partnership
2. Advertisements
3. Brand Ambassador
4. Sponsored campaign
5. Press Trips
6. Freelancer Writing
7. Social Media promotion
8. Photography and Videography
9. Digital Products
10. Local Website Design and SEO service

Affiliate Partnership

What is a travel blogger paid as an affiliate partner? Travel Bloggers have the opportunity to work with various Affiliate networks and earn passive income while sharing their passion for travel. The most popular Affiliate network that offers a variety of travel brands that travel bloggers can write travel posts on is Awin.

Awin is a global partnership network that connects small publishers (travel bloggers) with advertisers (brands). They provide win-win situations for both publishers and advertisers by driving growth. With Awin, travel bloggers have the opportunity to work with the best brands that their readers need and value. As a travel blogger, you are not limited to just travel brands. If you love fashion, you can sign up with fashion brands and if you are more into travel finance, you can sign up for that as well.

Travel bloggers are paid between £5 to £5,000 as affiliate partners. This amount largely depends on your audience, traffic and influence.

Best affiliate programs for Travel blogs on Awin

There are several Affiliate brands for travel blogs on Awin. This is a list of the tried and tested Affiliate brands that are worth exploring.

1. Jet2 Holidays – They are hugely popular with UK holidaymakers.
2. LastMinute.com – The lastminute.com is great for all types of travellers especially your DIY travellers.
3. Exodus Travel – Exodus Travel organises the best adventure holidays and they are popular with adventure travellers.
4. Travel Insurance 4 Medical – Travel insurance brand offers the best rate for affiliates.
5. Travelsphere – Travelsphere organises escorted tours and guided holiday tours.

Advertisements

What is a travel blogger paid when they work with advertisers? Travel bloggers have opportunities to be paid through advertising networks displaying adverts on their site. The more audience a travel blogger has, the more they are paid. The most popular advertising network for travel bloggers is Google Ads. The requirement to monetise your site can be achieved easily. The other advertising network used by travel bloggers to monetise their sites are:

1. Mediavine – you will need to have 50,000 sessions consistently to qualify.
2. Ezoic – you will need a 10,000 visit a month to qualify.
3. Media.net – This is run by bing and yahoo network.

Travel bloggers are paid between £1 to £3,000 per month for advertisements on their website. This amount largely depends on your traffic, audience and which advertiser you are working with.

Brand Ambassador

What is a travel blogger paid as a brand ambassador? Travel bloggers are paid as Brand Ambassador when they work with travel brands. To become a brand ambassador for travel, you can register with companies who will do the job of negotiating with brands for you. If you want to go alone, you need a media kit and a partnership proposal.

A media kit is a summary of what you can offer to a travel brand. A good media kit will explain your niche, your audience size and their interests. You want your media kit to be relevant to the brand you wish to work with and you will need to fine-tune your media kit to the brand’s requirement.

A partnership proposal should explain three aspects of your travel brand.

1. What you are going to do for the brand.
2. How it will be of value to the brand.
3. How much it will cost the brand.

To get started as a travel brand ambassador, create a list of the brands you wish to work with. After that, research the brand thoroughly and identify what they are doing, who they are currently working with. You also want to know their marketing strategies for the coming year.

The more you know what a travel brand is doing, the more empowered you are to approach the brand to sell your self. Search for other travel bloggers working with brands already and follow their social media pages.

The next step to working with brands is to reach out to these brands by sending a pitch through email. To get the right person to receive the email, you need to search Linkedin for the marketing department details.

It is also great to follow them on all their social media outlets and network with them regularly.

The last step to working with a brand once you have sent your details and a communication channel has been open is to ask them for their marketing strategies and how you can be of help. Brand Ambassadorship does not happen overnight but with good networking and the right attitude, it is possible to make money as a Brand Ambassador.

Travel bloggers are paid between £200 to £10,000 per brand ambassadorship.

Sponsored Post

What is a travel blogger paid for Sponsored posts? Sponsored posts are marketing partnership between you (travel blogger) and another company to make their products or services to known to your audience. Sponsored posts are paid contents written for the travel company or brand showcasing honest reviews on their products and services.

Sponsored posts could be in the blog posts, social media campaigns, email marketing, video, Facebook live, paid advertising and many more. The best part of the sored post is the reach you already have with your travel blog, the trust from your audience and your email subscribers. Sponsored posts are good ways to earn free products, get more creative and earn money for what you are already doing regularly.

To find sponsorship for your travel blog, go through competitors sites, influencer networks, cold search, outreach or inbound emails. For example, to write sponsored posts for hotels, you can sign up for their email list and interact with them when they send out deals. Another way is to set up an advertising page on your travel blog with what you offer.

To land sponsorships, you will need to do the following.

1. Have a professional-looking blog and media kit.
2. Have an ‘advertise with us’ page and an easy to contact method.
3. Apply to travel brands that fit your niche.
4. Figure out what the companies needs are.
5. Be confident and put yourself out there.

Travel bloggers are paid between £50 t0 £500 per sponsored post.

Press Trips

What is a travel blogger paid for Press Trips? Press Trips are the holy grail for most travel bloggers. While some press trips are all-expense-paid trips with no further payments to the travel blogger, others are fully paid press trips. If you aim to get on a press trip, you will need to:

1. Ask Tourism Agencies to add you to their list.
2. Read weekly newsletters from tourism boards.
3. Have an active social media presence.
4. Attend Travel Shows.

Travel Bloggers are paid between £0 and £10,000 per press trip.

Freelancing Writing

What is a travel blogger paid for freelance writing? Another way to get paid as a travel blogger is through for freelance writing. You can offer your writing skills to other bloggers. To get started as a freelance writer, sign up for Fiverr.

Here are the steps to be successful on Fiverr.

1. Create your profile.
2. Explain the Gig you will offer.
3. Create your Gig image.
4. Add a reference to your blog.
5. Use keywords and tags to be seen.

Travel bloggers are paid between £20 to £500 per article.

Social Media Promotion

Photography and Videography

Digital Products

What is a travel blogger paid for digital products?

1. What is the biggest problem I can help you with?
2. What is the biggest challenge you are trying to overcome?
3. Use tools like SurveyMonkey and Qualaroo.
4. Ask people within the travel niche too,
5. Ask at least 30 people.

Once you know what you want to create, you need to build something you are proud of and will be useful for a long time. The best selling digital products are products that:

1. People finish within 3 months and not quicker than a month. This is because there are huge refunds for short courses.
2. You have created in the video format, audio files and are worksheet based. They have more value than text-based articles and PDFs.
3. Do not overwhelm people with too much information. They rather focus on actionable advice.
4. You create a membership portal for rather than emails.

Travel bloggers can make between £200 to £50,000 per month for their digital product. It depends on the price of the course, the marketing of the course and the number of people who sign up for the course.

Local Website Design and SEO service

What is a travel blogger paid for Website design and SEO services?

Tools to help you succeed as a travel blogger

1. Wealthy Affiliate
2. Jaaxy
3. GetResponse
4. iPage
5. Logo Design
6. Canva
7. Fiverr
8. Etsy

Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate is a community of bloggers, online entrepreneurs, expert marketers that gives you the most advanced skills to be successful online. The training starts with the basics of blogging and moves on to teach you all about launching a successful online business. You don’t just learn how to blog, you learn how to create a profitable online business if you put in the work. There are no fake promises or get rich quick scam.

Wealthy Affiliate also offers one of the best affiliate programs in the world with a high recurring payment. Wealthy Affiliate has over 500,000 active members and that means that you have a community of like-minded people to ask questions, support each other and grow together. Many members of Wealthy Affiliate are 6 figure earners and have thriving live online businesses.

What will you learn at Wealthy Affiliate?

Wealthy Affiliate’s basic course is broken down into 5 certification courses, each designed to guide you through learning the basics of building a website and driving traffic to the website. Here is the breakdown:

• Level 1: Online Entrepreneur Certification – Level 1 course is a 10-lesson course that works you through the steps to creating a successful online business that generates income.  
• Level 2: Building Your Own Traffic Producing Website – Level 2 course is a 10 lesson training that teaches you the technique of building a high traffic website at no cost to you. Level 2 teaches you all you need to know about SEO, the tricks SEO gurus use and how to rank every time on search engines. 
• Level 3: Making Money – Level 3 course is all about how you can make money online with proven strategies that current community members are using. The 1o training lessons gives clear tools and ways your site can earn money. It beautifully explains the high ticket verse low ticket online money generator. 
• Level 4: Mastery of Social Engagement – Level 4 course is dedicated to all aspects of social media and how to successfully use social media to your strengths. It teaches social media marketing and challenges you on ways to make money through social media. 
• Level 5: Achieving Maximum Success Through Content Creation – Level 5 is the last stage of the basic online entrepreneur certification. It is 10 training lessons on creating high engagement through your content, effective techniques for boosting conversions, and scaling your content through proper goal setting and outsourcing. 

Wealthy Affiliate is the total package for anyone looking for online success. It helps you think of ways to diversify your income and make success the skills you have already.

Jaaxy

Jaaxy is an online keyword finder that helps you rank on search engines’ first 5 pages every time. Jaaxy helps you find high traffic, low competition keywords and it is absolutely free to use the keyword tool. Here is what you will get with Jaaxy.

1. Keyword Research – Jaaxy helps you research the keyword you intend to use for all your content including content for your blog posts, YouTube videos, Pinterest pins. Jaaxy’s keyword research is like no other research tool out there, it helps your brainstorm other keywords and lets you know how great or bad a keyword will be. If you intend to make money through freelance writing and sponsored posts, Jaaxy is a must for you.
2. Alphabet Soup – Jaaxy has a fantastic tool called Alphabet Soups which gives you a combination of the keywords to use. You just need to type in the keyword into the search bar and it comes up with different keywords you can use for each alphabet.
3. Saved Lists – Jaaxy helps you bulk create keywords which can be saved on Jaaxy. This helps you save time and get on with other tasks. With Jaaxy’s saved list, you can plan out your content for months.
4. Search History – You can find the history of your searches on Jaaxy. This is particularly useful for you if you keep having ideas on what to write while you are searching for another keyword.
5. Search Analysis – Jaaxy’s search analysis tool is brilliant in helping you search in-depth about the keyword you intend to write about. It will show you the websites already ranking for the same or similar keyword, it shows you the word count, the number of backlinks and the links on that site.
6. Affiliate Programs – If you are writing a blog post and you need to add affiliate links to that post, search on Jaaxy and it will let you know the available affiliate brand for that keyword and the commission that they offer. For example, if you type in travel as a keyword in Jaaxy’s search bar, you will find the affiliate network to sign up for, the product website and the commission offered by the product company.
7. Site Rank – Jaaxy helps you know where you rank for each keyword on search engines. It shows the three biggest site engines – Google, Bing and Yahoo. You will need to type in your keyword and your website and it shows your number on the site engines.
8. Jaaxy’s Affiliate Program – Jaaxy helps you earn money as an affiliate when you refer people to Jaaxy. It offers $40 monthly payment for enterprise package.

Jaaxy is a tool that will accelerate your chances to earn as a travel blogger while providing you with the simplest, most advanced tool for success.

GetResponse

GetResponse is an email marketing tool that helps you inform your audience on the latest offerings on your website. It is an all in marketing solution that incorporates webinar features too. It helps you create a mailing list and has several powerful newsletter templates that can be sent to your subscribers through the use of autoresponders. You can also view and analyse statistics like the open rate, the click-throughs, the forwards and the next action. There is also an e-commerce feature for when you start selling your products. It is a product that you should try. Click here for a free trial.

iPage

As a travel blogger, you need to have a reliable hosting service that is affordable to use. iPage is a very affordable hosting service with the basic package starting as low as £1.99 per month. The features you will get includes a reliable 24/7 live chat, phone and email service, unlimited storage and no hard bandwidth caps. You can sign up for iPage here.

The Logo Company

Having a distinct logo as a travel blogger makes your website look professional. Your logo design is key to your brand. With many logo designs companies out there, it is difficult to decide which one is the best to go with. I suggest you have a look at the logo company.  They provide a 3-day turnaround of designs period that means that you can unravel your logo quickly. The best part is the 90-day guarantee.

Canva 

If you are a travel blogger, you need to be using Canva.  Canva has a collection of specific, professional templates which you can use for a range of services. These templates are arranged into categories and subcategories for the d content outlet. if you are looking to create a Pin for Pinterest, Canva has the exact template you will need.  Canva will help you create professional-looking media kits, social media posts, infographics, business logo, and many more that will make your travel blogging journey easier. Canva also has a collection of free images that you can use if the quality of your photos is not great for your blog post.

Fiverr

Fiverr is the world largest marketplace for digital services and since almost every part of the world relies on digital services, you can outsource various parts of your business on Fiverr. Save time and focus on what will bring in the best opportunities.  You can outsource various parts of your business on Fiverr from blog posts to hiring a virtual assistant to getting a photographer to getting voice-overs and many more. Consider the services you can outsource and get on Fiverr. If you actually want to offer these services to other travel bloggers, why don’t you open an account today?

Etsy

Esty is an online marketplace where you can sell your unique travel products. there is a wide range of categories that fits the travel niche. you can sell your travel pictures, travel prints, travel printables, travel theme products like name cards, t-shirts, luggage tags, badges, personalised travel bags, handmade packing cubes and many more. To get started on Etsy, create an Etsy account here, use keywords to describe your product accurately, use your best image first, use social media to drive traffic especially Pinterest and Instagram, work with influencers in your niche to get new audience base.

Esty is a tool to make extra money with, take advantage of this and open your Etsy shop today.

What is a travel blogger paid – Final thoughts

Travel blogging can be a successful career. What travel bloggers are paid will vary between countries, skills and timing. The results will differ for travel bloggers and while some travel bloggers begin to make money through affiliate within a month of starting, some travel bloggers become successful after 3 years of consistently working on all the ways to make money.

This post covers 10 ways travel bloggers make money and 5 tools that will make you successful as a blogger. With the right tools and mindset, you can be successful as a travel blogger. Get out there, be confident and you will be successful.

Let me know in the comments if you are using any of the ways mentioned to make money with your blog or if you are using other tools to help you succeed and earn a steady income from travel blogging.