How Travel Bloggers Make Money: 17 Proven Strategies from a 6-Figure Blogger
WONDERING HOW DOES A TRAVEL BLOGGER MAKE MONEY?
As a profitable travel blogger — I made $272,569 from blogging in 2022 🤯 — this article shines a light on how to make money as a travel blogger.
The most well-known ways of making money online include affiliate marketing, advertisements, and press trips.
👩💻 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.
Still, in an increasingly content-driven society, there are more ways to make money through travel blogging popping up every day. So, if you are wondering how to make money from a travel blog, you are in the right place.
Here are 17 of the most common ways to make money travel blogging, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box and get creative within the business of travel blogging.
17 Ways Travel Bloggers Make Money
1. Creating Quality Content — A LOT of It
Quality content is essential for a successful travel blog.
As the saying goes, “content is king 👑,” and travel bloggers understand the importance of this like no other.
If you are wondering how to start travel blog and make money, this is where you should start.
🤔 how to generate page traffic
Travel bloggers who make a lot of money understand search intent, keyword research, and SEO optimizationpe to ensure their content reaches the right audience and generates traffic.
Without traffic, there is no monetization. So when it comes to how much money can you make from a travel blog, the more quality content you have, the more potential money you can earn.
To create quality content that will bring in the most revenue, travel bloggers should learn the ins and outs of keyword research, SEO optimization, and email marketing to connect with their niche audience.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
2. Ad Networks
After creating lots of content, how do travel bloggers get paid?
One of the most common ways to make money through travel blogging is by joining an ad network.
Ad networks act as a middleman between the advertiser and the publisher (the travel blogger).
By signing up with an ad network, travel bloggers can easily place ads on their travel blogging websites. How much do travel bloggers get paid depends partially on each pageview.
🏆 popular ad networks
Three of the most well-known Ad Networks are Mediavine, Adthrive, and SheMedia, but these higher-paying ad networks have a minimum traffic requirement to be accepted into the program. For example;
- Adthrive – 100,000 monthly pageviews
- Mediavine – 50,000 monthly sessions
- SheMedia – 20,000 monthly pageviews
If you are a smaller travel blogger, there are other ad networks, Google Adsense and Ezoic, that don’t require a minimum amount of traffic, but you will find the ePMV (pay per 1000 pageviews) is much lower.
Now, it was a lot of hard work, and I invested in travel blogging courses so I could get on these ad networks. (The best course I took was Scale Your Travel Blog to Six Figures — and yes, I have scaled to multiple six figures.)
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when a travel blogger promotes another company’s products or services and receives a commission every time someone purchases the product/service through their link.
It’s one of the most lucrative strategies for how to get paid as a travel blogger, and the highest-paid travel bloggers usually credit this as their most profitable income stream.
Many travel companies like DiscoverCars, Booking.com, SafetyWing, Expedia, Get Your Guide, and Viator have excellent affiliate programs.
👩🏻💻 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.
Once accepted into an affiliate program, bloggers place links in their blog posts leading back to products/services.
These links have cookies 🍪 that follow the user to the company’s website, and the blogger receives a commission if the user purchases something on the website.
These cookies can last anywhere from one session to one year.
For those wondering how to become a successful travel blogger, how to monetize a travel blog, or how to become a travel blogger with no money, affiliate marketing is often the quickest and most lucrative method for how to get paid to travel blog.
🤔 How much do I make with affiliate marketing?
A lot — Using a combination of the companies listed above, my affiliate income in 2022 was $163,706.
💡 Note: Affiliate marketing is based on trust, so it’s essential only to promote products and services you have personally used or would recommend anyway. Your audience is WAY more likely to purchase the product or service if they trust you.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
4. Paid Press Trips
Paid Press trips are another typical result when googling how to earn money from travel blog.
A paid press trip is when a travel company or destination pays a blogger to visit a location and create content around it.
This arrangement usually involves posting on social media multiple times throughout the trip and writing a blog post about the experience upon returning.
🤔 How do TO get press trips for travel bloggers?
Typically, when you go on a press trip, you’ll receive free accommodation, meals, activities, and transportation costs in return for your services. You can also receive monetary compensation on top of that.
These opportunities can be hard to find if you’re a new blogger. They are generally reserved for more famous travel bloggers, as companies prefer to work with bloggers with a large social media following and lots of website page views.
To get started with press trips, connect with tourism boards or local businesses in the area you wish to visit. You should also create a media kit that details your blog’s statistics and potential reach when making a pitch.
So, if you are wondering: how to get free trips as a travel blogger, then press trips are definitely the way to go. But remember, it’s work too, so make sure the exchange is fair
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
5. Ambassadorship
Ambassadorship programs are when companies give travel bloggers free products or services in exchange for promoting them. This benefit could be anything from a free hotel stay to free travel gear or clothes.
In exchange, bloggers usually need to post about the brand or product on their social media channels and their blog – every agreement is different.
To become a brand ambassador, research companies that fit your niche and contact them directly.
📝 Pro Tip: Create content around a specific brand before contacting the company. This content will show the brand that you are serious and will give them an example of the quality content they would get by working with you.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
6. Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are articles a travel blogger (or another person/company) writes about a particular product, experience, or service in exchange for payment.
These deals involve either the blogger or a third-party person writing an honest and unbiased review of the item/experience while providing their opinion, usually in favor, and a personal recommendation to readers.
How much do travel blogs make from sponsorships? It depends.
Companies typically pay bloggers per post or negotiate a monthly rate based on website traffic.
To get started with sponsored posts, you’ll want to create a media kit and outreach to brands in your niche. You can also join influencer networks such as TapInfluence (IZEA) to promote your services.
📝 Note: If you do a sponsored blog post, it’s essential for SEO to mark it as a sponsored post on the back end of your website and check that all links are no-follow.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
7. Sponsored Links
Sponsored links are a type of affiliate marketing, but instead of getting paid for clicks or purchases, you get paid for each link you place on your website.
Initially, this is hard to do, but if you have any popular blogs that make money, these deals are relatively easy to score.
Bloggers can use banner ads and hyperlinks or include the links in their email marketing campaigns.
🤔 how bloggers make money from sponsored links
Generally, brands will reach out to bloggers ranking for keywords for which their company meets the demand.
So, if you are ranking for the keyword “Renting a Car in Miami,” car rental agencies may reach out and ask if they could pay to place a link to their company within your post.
You can also contact those companies directly and ask if they would be interested in promoting their business on your blog post.
Note: Again, for any sponsored links, it is very important that this like is marked No-follow and Sponsored. Make this clear when agreeing to sponsored links.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
8. Organizing & Hosting Trips
Organizing and hosting trips for your readers is an excellent way to nail down how to be a travel blogger and make money on your travel blog.
This monetization method involves researching destinations, choosing accommodations, planning activities, and setting up travel itineraries to places you have been and are familiar with.
Some bloggers simply set up itineraries and help people plan their trips, but others will host the holiday themselves.
People love this because they get to travel with an expert who knows all the best tips and tricks for enjoying a destination to its fullest.
✈️ how to organize trips
The best way to find people interested in traveling with you is through your email list. These people already like you, trust you, and have taken action on your blog in the past.
You can charge a fee that covers the cost of their trip, a portion of your trip, and compensation for your time. You can also use your affiliate links to make bookings for the group and receive extra commission.
⚠️ Remember to always make sure all your attendees have travel insurance!
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
9. Selling Travel Photos or Videos
If you’re a talented photographer or videographer, another strategy for how to make money travel blogging is by selling your travel photos or videos.
It’s possible to work directly with companies for their marketing campaigns, but an easier way to break into selling travel photos is with stock images.
📷 where travel bloggers Can contribute images
You can become a contributor on stock image websites like Shutterstock, iStock, and Foap. Other people can purchase and use your image royalty-free, and then you earn a commission for each image sold/downloaded.
Or, you can also start your own online store to sell digital downloads of pictures, video clips, and even physical prints that people can buy directly from your website.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
10. Monetize Your Social Media
A website is usually the most significant income stream, but how do travel bloggers make money on social media? If you have a large social media following, you can absolutely use it to make money.
It usually involves ambassadorships and sponsored content. We have already touched on this, but creating content specifically for brands or companies and getting paid to post it on your social media channels is a great way to make money.
Whenever you post sponsored content, it’s essential to be transparent. Mark the post as sponsored and if you can use hashtags like sponsored or ad, so everyone knows the brand paid for the content.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
11. Monetizing a YouTube Channel
Another way to make money as a professional travel blogger is by starting a YouTube channel and vlogging (video blogging) about your experiences.
I don’t personally have a YouTube channel, but I know a ton of travel vloggers who make a living from their travel videos. It’s a great way to earn income if you’re wondering how to make a travel blog and make money.
📷 how bloggers can make money on YouTube
Travel blogs that make money on YouTube do so through sponsorships and allowing ads to play in their videos.
The catch is you must be a part of the Youtube Partner Program to begin monetizing your channel, which requires at least 500 subscribers and either 3,000 watch hours in the previous 365 days or 3 million shorts views over the previous 90 days.
At least three public uploads in the last 90 days are also required.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
12. Monetizing a Travel Podcast
Podcasting is hard work. I know firsthand from when I started travel blogging podcasting with my podcast, Dream To Destination, in 2020.
But I also learned one of the best travel blogger tips: podcasts help your reach and domain authority. Plus you can make money with a travel podcast.
Podcasts have become extremely popular over the last few years for many reasons. People love to listen to their favorite hosts talk about their experiences and discuss the world of travel with experts from various fields.
I wrote a detailed guide, How to Start a Travel Podcast for Free (Like I Did), so if you want a deep dive into this topic, you can check it out.
You can monetize your podcast similarly to how you monetize travel blogs, including advertisements and leaving affiliate links & promo codes in the description.
Then, if your podcast is successful enough, you may find sponsorships from travel companies who want to feature their products or services on your show.
If you don’t mind public speaking, this is an excellent option, but it also has one of the highest upfront costs since most people need to buy recording equipment before they can begin.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
13. Selling Digital Projects
Selling digital products is an excellent way for travel bloggers to monetize their content.
By creating digital products such as eBooks, printable travel planners, travel guides with travel tips, courses, and calendars, bloggers can earn a steady passive income stream from the sales of these items.
You can feature these products on your site, but highlighting them in your email list can be much more profitable. That’s because you already have a grasp on what your audience enjoys.
Digital products are great because you create them once, and then you can set up systems to sell them passively with hardly any additional work or product creation (although updating/optimizing these products regularly will increase sales)
Many bloggers use platforms like Canva to create their digital products quickly and easily; although the free version may be sufficient for some, the paid version is well worth the $13 USD per month. ▶︎ Sign up for Canva here.
Then for processing the sale of the product, I love using Gumroad and ThriveCart.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
14. Selling Merch
Selling merchandise is another strategy to get income from and have travel blog success.
You could sell anything from t-shirts and hats with your logo to reusable water bottles and notebooks. You can also create custom artwork with your logo or quotes from your blog to put on stickers or patches.
Bloggers also use their merchandise in giveaways to help build their email list or social media following.
While dipping your toes into selling physical products is a big step, there are ways to do it these days that require very little overhead with services like Printful, which will handle the printing and shipping for you.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
15. Developing Travel-Related Products
If you’ve been blogging for a while and have become a successful travel blogger, you can consider creating your own product or service.
You could create an online course teaching people how to start their own travel blog or how to be a travel blogger on Instagram. You could even design custom itineraries for clients with specific interests. Be creative with it!
It’s important to understand that creating your own product or service requires more effort than other ways of making money as a travel blogger, but it can be very rewarding to provide personal coaching or travel planning for your audience.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
16. Offer VA Services
If you’re comfortable working with clients, becoming a virtual assistant (VA) is another great option for monetizing your travel blog.
It’s also a great way to continue growing your blogging skills since you will be working in close quarters with bloggers who are already successful.
VAs are in high demand and provide services like social media management, website maintenance, content writing/editing, email marketing, and more.
The great thing about this approach is that it allows you to be flexible with your schedule and work from anywhere. You can also choose which clients to take on, your working hours, and your location.
Rates vary depending on your experience and the client’s needs, but if you have been running your own blog for a couple of years, you probably have all the necessary skills to be a great VA.
You can then start to look for clients through job boards like Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr, but the best way to find gigs is to join Facebook blogging groups and offer your services.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
17. Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is one of the most popular travel blogger jobs for anyone who is at the beginning of their blogging journey.
It involves ghostwriting for other bloggers and businesses who are trying to publish a lot of content on their websites (typically more than they have time to write themselves).
You will need to write from the perspective and in the voice of your client, as well as know how to write an SEO-optimized blog post to be a great freelance writer.
👩🏻💻 freelance writing enhances your skills
The best part is that if you’re a current blogger, you already write a travel blog and therefore have a resume for freelance writing.
A travel blogger who sees and loves your blog is likely to hire you over another candidate because they want you to do the same for them.
Writing is one of the most popular ways travel bloggers make money before their own blog has an income high enough to sustain themselves.
You can find freelance writing jobs on job boards such as ProBlogger, Fiver, and Contently, or you can also contact bloggers directly and ask if they have any writing projects available.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
How much can you earn from a travel blog?
The sky’s the limit when it comes to making money through travel blogging. There is no set travel blogger salary. It’s similar to asking how much artists make – while some may become millionaires, others are content with a small Etsy shop.
Successful travel bloggers achieve a high income by taking the proper steps toward monetizing their blogs. This travel blogger success often comes through coaching and courses that specialize in becoming a successful travel blogger.
Making money from a travel blog is a lot of work, so successful bloggers regularly invest in learning to optimize their blog for SEO, learn affiliate marketing, and use their skills as leverage to score partnerships & freelancing opportunities.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
What’s the average travel blogging salary?
Some bloggers have provided yearly income reports of over 1 million dollars, while others only make a couple hundred dollars each year.
Since most bloggers do not disclose their travel blog salary, it’s hard to know the average travel blogging salary.
🏆 Here are My Blogging 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 (not 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 tips on how I make such a crazy amount of money after just 2.5 years of blogging.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
How to Become a Travel Blogger
Like most things, I believe there’s a right and wrong strategy for how to start a travel blog and make money.
If you want to learn how to become a travel blogger and make 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 done quite a few courses.
There is a system to travel blogging success, and you 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 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 how to become a travel blogger and get paid means I need to write the articles that people want to read, 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 Travel Bloggers Make Money: FAQs
Ready to make money blogging? Here are some frequently asked questions about how much does a travel blogger make and how to earn money from travel blog. Ready?
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
How much money can you make as a travel blogger?
There is no ceiling to how much money you can earn. Travel bloggers can make anywhere between zero and seven figures, depending on their monthly traffic, the products/services they recommend, and how well their affiliate links convert to customers.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
Do travel blogs really make money?
Yes — travel blogs really do make money through various sources like affiliate marketing, joining ad travel blogger networks, selling digital products, and paid sponsorships.
It takes dedication and hard work to build up an audience and monetize your blog, but it can make you a lot of money over time.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
Who is the highest-paid travel blogger?
It’s hard to know who the highest paid travel bloggers are, but some of the top travel bloggers like Matt Kepnes (Nomadic Matt), Dave & Deb (The Planet D), Kiersten (The Blonde Abroad) likely make upwards of $100 000 per month from their travel blog and services.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
Is it hard to make money as a travel blogger?
Making money as a travel blogger is hard work. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it often takes a couple of years before you have an established travel blog making a lot of money.
However, with the right strategy, it is absolutely possible. The best way to speed up the process is by hiring an experienced blogging coach like me — I offer 1 on 1 coaching services.
How Travel Bloggers Make Money
Is it too late to start a travel blog?
No — It’s never too late to start a travel blog. The travel space is constantly evolving, and there are always new opportunities for aspiring bloggers.
Established blogs are better positioned for gaining traffic and making money from their blog, but there are millions of keyword opportunities, and new bloggers rank #1 on Google every day!
Final Thoughts: How Travel Bloggers Make Money
And there you go. Those are the most common strategies travel bloggers use to make money! Now you know how travel bloggers earn money and that there is no limit on the question, how much money do travel bloggers make?
Whether you are in travel blogging for beginners or an expert looking for more travel blogging tips, there are many different ways to monetize a travel blog.
In the end, don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Ready to make money from travel blog? Good luck!
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!