Do you think successful bloggers start doing things right from the start and their projects quickly attract lots of dedicated readers and lots of money? This is not true.
In this post, we share insights and seven challenges travel bloggers face. These are the stories from the TBEX Asia 2022 conference where we asked bloggers to share tips with novice travel bloggers who are just starting their way of making money.
Tracy Collins: You Can’t Do Everything
About Travel Projects
Tracy Collins is a teacher and travel writer who has devoted more than 50 years to living and working in different parts of the world. On her blog Tracy’s Travels in Time she talks about culture, history and her travel experiences to amazing countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. With her husband, Tracy started her second blog, UK Travel Planning, to help people plan their first trip. The combined traffic of the two websites to the UK is more than 80,000 views per month.
Additionally, Tracy manages her Instagram pages and Facebook groups while hosting a podcast. She guests provide travel tips and share their most inspiring adventures, she.
The Biggest Challenge in Blogging
The biggest blogging challenge for Tracy is time. He cannot do everything. According to Tracy, bloggers should focus on the few that are perfect.
“I’m currently ignoring TikTok, for example, and a lot of people have mentioned it. I’m really new to Instagram because I focus on other things. Because you don’t have enough time, so you can do everything potentially bad or a few things really well.
Monetization Strategy
Tracy monetizes her websites through contextual advertising and affiliate marketing. She adds affiliate links from brands like Booking.com, GetYourGuide, DiscoverCars, and others to many of her articles.
In Tracy’s experience, the most profitable partner categories are hotels, tours and car rentals. But he has a little professional secret:
“I also actually started working with chauffeur-driven tour guides for my job. UK Travel Planning. So I actually work specifically with individual companies, and it’s going really well.”
Three Tips for Travel Blog Beginners by Tracy
- Don’t try to do everything, because you can’t. Maybe pick your website and maybe one or two social media platforms and just focus on them instead of trying to do everything.
- Understand user intent. If you’re writing an article, know exactly why users are coming to your website. Instead of writing a post to add affiliate links, you really need to think about exactly what users hope to gain from your content.
- Choose the right platform to monetize your blog right from the start. Do lots of research, look around and find out what other people are using and doing. I think it’s easier now. When I started in 2016, I had no connections. Listen, learn, and then find what works for you.
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Guillaume Schaer: Don’t Try To Do Things Well In The Beginning, Just Do It
About Travel Projects
Guillaume Schaer is president of travel affiliate consulting firm EYFARI and founder of MilesAddict. It helps the biggest travel and lifestyle YouTubers monetize their audiences through affiliate marketing.
Guillaume’s main idea Mile Addict is to help people improve their travels. On this site, visitors can find information about bonus miles, tips and tricks for hotel booking, and tools for travel hackers. This Mile Addict crew helps travelers find the best flights while saving money and time.
The Biggest Challenge in Blogging
Guillaume is somewhat of a perfectionist. So his biggest challenge was to admit that it might not be a perfect project, especially in the beginning:
“You won’t be good at first, but don’t compare yourself to big YouTubers, big bloggers. Go back to their first posts, their first videos. You’ll see it’s not that good. But they don’t care, because they started.”
Guillaume offers advice to help new bloggers overcome their perfectionism:
“Even if you don’t think it’s good enough, even if it’s bad, put something out there. Just put it there. You will see that he has an audience. If anyone is interested in this content, you will eventually leave.”
Monetization Strategy
Guillaume has been working with Moyens I/O for nearly five years and monetizes his project through affiliate marketing. She chooses to work with the affiliate platform as it aptly combines various travel brands (both big and small).
Guillaume thinks it’s crucial to understand your audience’s needs. With the diversity of brands on Moyens I/O, everyone is sure to find advertisers that fit their target audience.
Amanda Mouttaki: Have a Specific Focus on a Blog to Make Money
About the Travel Project
Amanda Mouttaki is the owner of MarocMama, a blog for travelers who want to experience the culture, food and adventures of Morocco. MoroccoMama inspires you to make the most of a trip to this vibrant country. The blog encourages travelers to discover Morocco’s hidden gems and enjoy an unforgettable journey.
More than 82,000 users visit the website each month and nearly 48,000 follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
The Biggest Challenge in Blogging
Amanda has three children and another job. Therefore, the biggest challenge for him is time management.
Monetization Strategy
MoroccoMama It uses a combination of affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and advertising to monetize its content. The blog also has an online store where readers can purchase products and services from local Moroccan vendors. In conclusion, MoroccoMama earns substantial income from accommodation and excursion joint programs.
Amanda believes the main reason for her success is how focused her blog is. Earning income is more difficult because there is so much to focus on the right.
“If you’re known for something and you do it really well, people will know you, trust you, and respect your opinions. As a result, it becomes easier for them to buy.”
Two Tips from Amanda for Travel Blog Beginners
- If you’re just starting out, don’t get too carried away, spend your time learning. how to do a few things really well. There are so many moving parts and the process can be really overwhelming, so it’s better to do a few things really well than try to do everything.
- Look for things that really suit you because this is really important.
Raksha Nagaraj: Understand the Basics of SEO
About the Travel Project
Raksha is a blogger supporting women’s solo travel through Solopassport. Her blog encourages women to brave the world of solo travel with the help of guides, hotel and travel product reviews, practical tips and other expert information.
His website gets over 5,000 views each month and over 13,000 travelers follow him on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.
The Biggest Challenge in Blogging
Blogging is hard work. Sometimes you need to keep track of your steps as you learn new techniques. For example, in 2015 Raksha created the content on her site without knowing the basics of SEO. He then had to redo everything. He created a blog based on SEO and completed other technical aspects that were not initially considered.
Raksha’s top advice for travel blogging beginners:
“Start thinking about SEO from day one. And consider making money with affiliate programs from day one. Even if you’re not doing this, at least have such a mindset that to be monetize your blog.”
To help you avoid mistakes at the very beginning of your blogging journey, we asked bloggers to share their experiences and advice. After reading this article, we recommend that you take a look at the success stories of other bloggers on our blog.
Monetization Strategy
“Advertising has worked very well for me, given the traffic I’m getting. So I switched from Google AdSense to Mediavine. The second is affiliate marketing.”
Raksha recently started working with Moyens I/O and is currently in the testing phase, but already loves the platform for its extensive statistics. He talked about how the dashboards are easy to read and clearly show what’s going on with your partner programs and income. Also, Raksha likes the variety of brands on the Moyens I/O platform and how easy it is to join and start working with them. Most of Raksha’s member revenue comes from the Booking.com and Viator partner programs.
As you can see, travel blog journeys are rarely simple. No one knows when success will come, but this is definitely not the day after you start your blog. You have to be ready to learn a lot, redo some elements, choose the best monetization strategy, change your mindset and even change your lifestyle. Still, the result is incredibly rewarding!
Share the challenges you faced at the beginning of your blogging journey in the comments. Together with our experts, we will try to help you overcome all these challenges.
