It’s been around six months since I monetized my travel blog. Since December 2010 when I earned my first dollar I have quietly earned a steady, consistent income with little effort. I’m a travel writer now, woo!
Show me the money
- Sales (January 1 – May 10, 2011): US$5,625.02
- Expenses (January 1 – May 10, 2011): US$676.00
- Total Profit (January 1 – May 10, 2011): US$4,949.02
- Daily Income: US$38
- Monthly Income: US$1,142.08
The “Work Hours”
According to a time tracking software I work an average of 22 hours per week. But most of that is spent on my other business which accounts for more than 80-85% of my income. If I were to estimate I probably work an average of 3 hours per week on my travel blog. This accounts for communication with advertisers, obtaining advertising leads, bookkeeping, assigning sponsored articles to my writers, and writing my own non-sponsored articles.
Last month I don’t recall writing any non-sponsored articles and the advertising dollars still came. I’d say this blog can run on autopilot with only sponsored content. I don’t want to do that of course.
While advertising alienates readers, from a business standpoint it should not effect the blog’s income. My blog does earn money not because its attracts readers but instead from an SEO perspective, for most advertisers. Sadly this probably means I won’t be getting any press trips in the near future. Still, SEO is better on many competing travel blogs but I am certain I outearn many of them because of my strategy for selling advertising. This is still a secret.
The Future
I could quit my real job and live in a developing country working 2 hours per week. Beat that, Tim Ferris! But that would be a silly thing to do. Rather, i’ll continue to think about my short term earning potential and monetize the crap out of this blog. You want to buy a text link from me? Sure Mr. Advertiser.
My sponsored articles, though written well and entertaining, are a nuisance to many readers who visit this blog for my perspective on travel and business. In the future-future i’d like to make money from not from my blog’s SEO, but my audience. That means thinking about writing more seriously and more often. I am starting to think more seriously about that because I can clearly see the money will keep coming and to be honest this could be a really fun and rewarding job.
But before this i’ll want to change up the blog with a new website design and better writing standards. In the meantime i’m going to begin posting articles on other blogs for greater exposure. But does any of that really matter when what I am doing is not unique. I can name dozens of travel bloggers living a very similar life as mine. It’s an interesting lifestyle and readers who appreciate what I do is nice. I will and have always published the same number of non-sponsored articles each month. But now with sponsored articles they may be a little more difficult to find. But I do this because while followers are nice, money is preferred.
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