Our ancestors were travelers who moved from one place to another in search of greener pastures. Over time, mankind gave up on the nomadic lifestyle and adopted an agricultural approach. As we have taken to a mode sedentary lifestyle, travel has taken a backseat and assumed the form of a hobby for most people.
However, it is indeed possible to make a lot of money off this passion and be a full-time travel blogger. With proper planning, a decent business sense, and a knack for strategy, you can get paid for telling your travel stories. Merely loving to travel will not suffice and you need to own up the responsibilities of all the other aspects of this business.
These include knowing your audience and their expectations, designing and maintaining your website and promoting yourself on social media. If you feel that all of this looks too overwhelming, and you are unsure of where to begin, then there is no reason for you to worry. In this article, we provide a detailed 5 step guide to making money off your travel hobby.
Find Your Niche
The present age is one of multi-specialization, and merely wanting to tell your travel tales will not suffice. Sit back and introspect on what you love the most about traveling. This may be exploring wildlife, mingling with natives, trying out local delicacies, unraveling the history of the land, or anything else. Understand that a writer’s passion for a subject is evident in any blog.
Sticking to a particular niche will help you maintain the enthusiasm and motivation to get going. It will also make it easier for you to establish your industry dominance. To make money from travel blogging, you need to start to establish yourself in the industry. Finding a niche that you are passionate about and staying true to it is the first step in this regard.
Understand Your Audience
Before you get down to travel marketing, you need to identify your audience. This will help you have a clear idea of the type of topics they expect and the social media platforms where they are more likely to be active.
To start, ask yourself a lot of questions on the age of your audience, their sex, the topics that interest them the most, etc. If you are new to travel blogging, look up some of your competitors, and browse through the comments in their blogs or videos. Since you will be catering to the same audience, such research will help you understand your audience and give them what they expect.
As your pool of satisfied viewers continues to grow, other businesses will reach out to you with money-making opportunities. Understand that in the world of travel blogging, your viewers are the real asset, and keeping them content is your primary goal.
Stay True to Yourself
One of the most important rules to blogging success is to stay true to yourself. As a traveler, you will not be exploring everything about a place. While some people avoid camping, others prefer not to waste their time exploring museums.
Understand that you cannot get your audience to like you for being someone you are not. If you do not go camping but write on them, the writing will lack depth, and readers will be able to see through that. You don’t need to know everything about a place you cover. What is important is that you stay true to yourself and speak from the heart while penning your blog.
Also, even if you do see everything about a place, you may not like it all. Be honest in your reviews, and do not hesitate to call a spade a spade. While not everyone may like it, your genuine followers will respect you for warning them of unpleasant things, and that will improve your brand’s popularity, thereby paving the way for better financial gains.
Have Images and Videos in Your Blog
Travel is all about visual appeal, and having images or videos from your travel will help give credibility to your blog. The readers will be able to picturise the things you are describing, and that will help them relate better. Uploading unedited videos in your blog gives an amateurish appeal and is discouraged.
Rather, you can consider using InVideo or any other editing tool to crop out unnecessarily long footage, adjust the color scheme, and add some background music. Appropriate music improves the overall appeal of the video, thereby prompting your viewers to spend more time on your page. Work on the SEO optimization of the video title and description to increase its online visibility. Including subtitles or closed captioning is also encouraged.
Over time, you may be approached by brands for paid video collaborations. While these are quick ways of making money, agree to such collaborations only if you use their products. Unless you are confident of the quality of products in question, do not endorse any brand. Promoting a poor-quality item may cause a loyal follower to lose faith in you, and that will hamper your blog’s popularity in the long run.
Encourage Ad Placement in Your Blog
As your blog gains popularity, you will find brands approaching you for ads. Pass them through a two-stage screening process wherein you first evaluate if the core values of the brand are in sync with that of yours. Next, think if the advertisement hurts the sentiments of any section of your viewers.
If not, feel free to accept money and place the ad in a suitable position. Understand that the average viewer today is used to paid promotions and YouTube end screen invoking CTAs and would not mind you making some extra money off it. You can check this guide to learn more on how you can use YouTube endscreen for leverage.
The key to generating income from travel blogging lies in being patient. In this field, you cannot expect overnight success, and you need to be ready to make lifestyle compromises in the initial days. However, as your popularity grows, there will be no looking back, and you will live a fulfilling life knowing you are making money off your passion for traveling.