Myths Vs. Realities of Being a Travel Blogger · Knowledge of WordPress Basic Search Engine...
Transcript of Myths Vs. Realities of Being a Travel Blogger · Knowledge of WordPress Basic Search Engine...
Myths Vs. Realities of Being
a Travel Blogger
Laurel Robbins
LaurelRobbins.com
Monkeys and Mountains | Adventure Travel Blog
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Myths & Realities of Being a
Travel Blogger
4 Myths vs. Realities
Still want to be a travel blogger? How to do it?
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Myth #1:
You Get Free
Travel
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Reality of Free Travel?
.
Yes, you can get your expenses paid, but….
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Reality of Free Travel: It’s
Anything But Free
Likely be held to a strict itinerary with frequently
long days
While you are on your free trip you will be:
Constantly promoting the destination/activity on your
social media accounts
Editing photos
Writing blog posts about the trip (usually happens after
the trip)
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Reality of Free Travel
Free travel is not a
vacation, it’s an
exchange of services
Myth #2: Running a
Travel
Blog is
Easy…Anyone Can
Do It
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Reality of Running a Travel
Blog
Yes, anyone can
create a travel blog
and call
themselves a
travel blogger,
but…
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Reality of Running a
Travel Blog
To run a successful travel blog you need to have the following skills: Writing
Photography and photo editing Social media know-how across multi-platforms
Knowledge of WordPress
Basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) knowledge
Creative thinker
Ability to pitch and sell yourself to DMOs/tour companies/hotels
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Reality of Running a Travel
Blog
And time. Travel Blogging is very time
consuming
When you’re starting out you should be posting at least 3-
4 times a week on your own blog and writing 1-2 guest
posts a week for other popular blogs.
In addition to writing the posts there’s also the
photography and promoting the posts via social media
and SEO research required for each post.
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Reality #3: You Can Work
From the Beach….But You
Probably Won’t
Myth #4: You Can
Earn a Living From
Travel Blogging
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Reality of Making a Living
From Travel Blogging
Yes, but very few people do.
If making money is your key objective, there are
5 billion easier ways to make it other than from
travel blogging
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Reality of Making a Living
From Your Travel Blog
Making Money Directly From Your Blog
Corporate sponsorship
Affiliate marketing (works best when site is
very niche specific)
Advertising
But there is another way….the best way in my
opinion…
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Realities of Earning a Living
From Your Travel Blog
The best way to make money from your travel blog?
Use your blog as a platform to showcase your other related skills: Photography
Writing
Social media
Graphic/web design
SEO
Paid speaking gigs
Endless possibilities
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Realities of Earning a Living
From Your Travel Blog
Why is using your blog as a platform to
showcase your other skills the best way to
earn money from your travel blog?
Because in a sea of thousands of travel
bloggers, it allows you to stand out, to
become known for something, to be
unique, to showcase your own style.
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Case Studies: Laurel Robbins,
Michael Turtle, Nienke Krook,
Laurence Noah Write an e-book
We each wrote a series of
three books, published by
Travel Bloggers United
(TBU)
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Case Study: Laurence Noah,
Finding the Universe
Laurence Noah, along with two
other bloggers, formed Lightmoves
Creative, a photography collective
focused on helping our clients
create unique images for their
campaigns…
“Like everything, it’s a question of
identifying your individual
strengths, and packaging that in a
way that fills a need in a
professional and attractive way.”
Laurence Noah
Image courtesy of: Laurence Noah
Case Study: Gillian Duffy, One
Giant Step Gillian capitalized on her love of reading and created The
Global Bookshelf, a website that sells travel books.
She receives a commission every time she sells a book.
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Case Study: Abhishek Behl
Wild Navigator
Abhishek uses his site as a platform for his consulting service
in responsible tourism & wildlife conservation. In the coming
weeks it will become a responsible travel operator.
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Case Study: Laurel Robbins,
Monkeys and Mountains I turned my strengths of Twitter know-how and social media time
optimization into an online consulting and training company:
LaurelRobbins.com which shows clients how to:
Turn Conversations into Customers in Just 10 Minutes a Day
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Getting Started: Quick Tips
Define your niche. How will your site be different than all the others?
Write engaging content that serves a purpose and include photos that take readers to the place you’re describing.
Choose a revenue generating model: Be patient, it takes time to earn money from travel blogging
Don’t be afraid to experiment
Invest in your self: Writing, photography, social media, SEO.
Connect with other travel bloggers, bloggers outside of traveling and industry. Ask lots of questions.
Invest in building your following. It’s a long, slow process but worth it.
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Thank you
Happy Travels
Questions?
Laurel Robbins
LaurelRobbins.com
Monkeys and Mountains
Twitter:@Laurel_Robbins
©LaurelRobbins.com MonkeysandMountains.com Twitter.com/Laurel_Robbins