Skip to Content

Travel Blogging Tips – How to Make a Successful Travel Blog

I get asked an awful lot about how to create a successful travel blog. I’ll periodically add some tips to this page, but in the meantime, check out my Pinterest board exclusively featuring the best articles, news and information about how to make a successful travel blog. I’ve included tips on SEO, online marketing, tourism marketing, social media, content strategy, and blogging.

View the Pinterest board here: Travel Blogging Tips on Pinterest

As always, feel free to contact me if you have questions. And if you’re curious to see my media kit, it’s available here. You can also follow my business Twitter account here: @agroffman

You can find more of my blogging tips on this website’s Frequently Asked Questions page

How to Make Money with a Travel Blog

You can make money online any number of ways. But if you’re thinking of a travel blog, as in a blog where you simply write about your own travels and share photos, then it could be challenging. That would mean building a brand, getting a (good) reputation and working with travel partners.

  • AFFILIATE
    You can also make money with affiliate advertising, through major hotel and airline booking sites, or Amazon affiliates. You would need either a huge amount of traffic or very targeted traffic (which means you need to learn SEO) to successfully achieve a passive income through affiliate advertising though. I like Booking.com for affiliate revenue related to hotel/accommodation recommendations. Another important aspect in making money through affiliates is the strong amount of trust you have to get from your blog readers. Only recommend the brands you know and use.
  • SPONSORSHIP
    As blogging becomes more and more serious, you’ll find bloggers are often approached about sponsorship opportunities. These range from one-time trip sponsorship, with paid stipends for travel (perhaps anywhere from $100 to $600 per day), or annual sponsorship which could be in the tens of thousands from major travel/tourism companies. This is obviously limited to top bloggers or those that can sell themselves the best. Networking and attending travel events is crucial to gaining sponsorship opportunities.
  • ONLINE ADVERTISING
    Google Adsense is a popular way to make money online, but like affiliates, typically performs better with either large amounts of traffic, or targeted search traffic—both which can be difficult to achieve with a “traditional” travel blog. More popular in the travel niche is in-content advertising with sponsored links and branded content.
  • BLOG CONSULTING
    Many travel bloggers seem to make a living out of telling other travel bloggers how to make a living. It’s a silly catch-22 but it seems to work well for them. You can easily fake a large online following of a blog, build up an influence and then with the right amount of PR-savvy, convince others to pay you for consulting on how to set up a successful travel blog. NOT RECOMMENDED.