Blogging » From Travel Blog To Business: Tips, How I Earn A Living, And How Much Are We Talking?

From Travel Blog To Business: Tips, How I Earn A Living, And How Much Are We Talking?

Time to chart the evolution of Wanderlust Chloe the travel blog, to Wanderlust Chloe the business. And yep, I’ll be diving into a few of the all-important numbers, and giving you a few tips too!

It’s fair to say this blog has evolved over the last few years. For better, for worse, it’s gone from a lovely little passion project to errr, a full-time job. While I’ve never sat down and laid out any kind of business plan, I wanted to share a little of how I’ve transformed my travel blog into a business.

If you search for info on topics like this, you’ll find posts with titles like ‘make money travelling’ which, years ago, I would have thought were scams or get rich quick schemes! Surely you can’t enjoy one of life’s biggest perks (travelling) AND earn a decent living?

It turns out, you can.

There are other posts with steps on how to become a blogger, but very few reveal any of the numbers.  I know it’s a bit of a taboo, but I’ve often thought that a little more transparency in this industry would be beneficial. 

First up, a bit of background on how I ended up where I am today, then it’s onto some number crunching and tips!

The Passion Project: Starting A Travel Blog

Let me take you back to 2014 for a minute. That summer I quit my stressful job in the music industry and went backpacking around Central America, Mexico and Cuba. Three and a half months of ‘me time’. The clichéd ‘finding myself’ trip. Look what a happy traveller I was!  

Arriving in Costa Rica
Arriving in Costa Rica

Before I left I also set up a blog. A predecessor to this site. It was hosted on the easy-to-use Blogger platform, and was a place for me to share stories and photos from my trip. I had no idea it would become any more than that.

At the start of 2015, when I returned home, I got the travel blues. Big time! I started planning more trips, reluctantly found some freelance work in order to earn some money, and wondered what I could do next. I guess that was when I started learning that there were people who made a living from what was essentially my passion project.

Earning Experiences

I redesigned my blog on WordPress, spent every spare minute writing posts and working on ideas, and started contacting brands I loved to see if they’d be interested in working with me. I searched the Internet for email addresses, stalked people on social media, and eventually a few came back sounding interested. I met travel PRs, went to events and started to realise there was a huge business world around my passion. My site then looked very different… 
Wanderlust Chloe - old website theme

My blog was small, with only a fraction of the traffic I have today, so it was exciting to be offered my first press trips. I went on a big blogger trip to Greece where I met a few people who’d go on to be some of my best blogging pals today. I went on a foodie trip to Slovenia and ate more in four days than I usually eat over Christmas! I booked holidays to places I was dying to see for myself, like Istanbul and Cappadocia. I went sailing around Croatia with one of my best friends, in exchange for producing a video and a blog. I started to exchange my work for travel experiences.

Wanderlust Chloe Blogger Croatia
Always searching for the best deal…

The lifestyle was addictive. New experiences each month, seeing some of the world’s wonders, sharing special moments with friends. It felt a million miles from my previous world, and I felt a million times happier.

I continued to freelance for a production company, but as my excitement towards travel was ramping up, my enthusiasm towards that job was waning. We went our separate ways and I decided to ‘make a go’ of travel blogging.

Is It A Job When You’re Paid In Experiences?

But hang on a minute, is it a job when you’re paid in experiences rather than money? Ermm… well, it’s not a sustainable one!

I had dreams of being nomadic, going from sponsored trip to trip, and wondered if I could make something work with virtually no money coming in. I realised I had my head in the clouds, and while it may work for short periods of times, there’d be gaps. Gaps where I’d need to live at home as I couldn’t afford rent in London. There was a patch where I lived back home, dressed head-to-toe in Primark and couldn’t really afford to go out with friends. It was tough. 

It was time to make some money.

Perfect sunset in Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Perfect sunset in Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Learning How To Make Money From Blogging  

Over the last few years I’ve learned how to make money from travel blogging. I didn’t read a guide that taught me everything. It’s been a gradual process, figuring out what worked along the way. Oh and making plenty of mistakes and learning from them.

I’ve understood my value, what I can offer and where my skills lie. I’ve learned that reaching an audience like this one has a value. That my photography and videography (things I had no clue about when I started blogging!) are worth a few £, even if they’re not the polished works of many pros. 

I was blind to all of this when I started, but looking at what I do more objectively gave me some core business sense.

Travel Blogging

A crucial part for me? That if Wanderlust Chloe was transforming into a business, I still wanted to keep my passion for travel. While some elements might feel like work, I still wanted to keep my wanderlust – the reason I started this whole thing!

So, you’ve heard my back story… now you want to know how I earn a living? Well, after a few days of number crunching as I tackled the annual arduous job of submitting my tax return, I think I have a pretty good idea!


How Do I Make Money Travel Blogging

Sponsored travel campaigns

The main way I earn money is through sponsored travel campaigns. I scored my first big campaigns in the summer of 2015 (six months after returning from backpacking) with Busabout and Travel Talk Tours – tour companies I felt were a great fit with my blog. I made video content, wrote blogs and shared my experiences on social media. 

Over the last few years I’ve been lucky enough to work on sponsored travel campaigns with Visit England, Visit Florida, Trek America, Visit London, German National Tourism Organisation, Travel Alberta and Visit The USA, to name a few.

There has also been some great brand work, for example producing video and photo content for Lonely Planet about Seville and Turin. Just over a year ago I was named a Lonely Planet Trailblazer (one of their top-tier ambassadors). If you haven’t joined their Pathfinders program, it’s a great way to get on the team’s radar. 

Over the last few years, fees for sponsored travel campaigns have ranged from £400 to over £5,000.
Chickpeas and spinach at Casa Ricardo, Seville
Chickpeas and spinach at Casa Ricardo, Seville

Sponsored Blog Posts And Social Media Posts

My blog has a scattering of sponsored posts, which you might spot from time to time. This is basically a post that has been commissioned by a client, to raise awareness of their brand. I’ve worked with clients such as Flight Centre, Intrepid Travel, Tempur and Monzo on content like this.

Occasionally I’ll be asked to do a sponsored social media post, usually on Instagram or Instagram Stories, where I’ll feature a brand in the photo. For example, I recently worked with House Of Marley, an ethical brand, which makes cool headphones and speakers on this post.

Apps like Tribe and Takumi give you access to a range of sponsored post opportunities. I’ve found a few things on there, but I haven’t looked in about 6 months!

Over the last few years, fees for sponsored posts have ranged from £30 to over £1000.

One thing I feel is SO important, is that any sponsored content I create fits with my brand. I did one post on Instagram last year which I still feel a bit sad about. I saw dollar signs rather than judging whether the campaign would be a good fit for me. It was a really hard post to get right, as a result it flopped and I felt angry at myself for not listening to my gut and turning it down. As I said earlier – I’m learning as I go! 

Affiliates

This has been a relatively new revenue stream for me. In brief, I earn a small commission (at no extra cost to the user) when someone clicks through from my blog to certain sites I have a relationship with e.g. Amazon, Booking.com and Get Your Guide.

For example, if you read my post on hiking Mount Batur, you might want to book a tour to follow in my footsteps. If you do, I earn a small commission.

In terms of money, this changes month to month, but I’m finding it really adds up, and is something I’m hoping to increase this year. On Booking.com alone, I average 30 hotel bookings per month, with my commission per booking ranging from 1.25 EUR to 46 EUR. Meanwhile, one of my top blogs brings in over 200 USD alone, all from one tour recommendation (it was a realllly good tour!)

Affiliate Earnings Affiliate Earnings Booking.com Affiliate Earnings GYG

Advertising

When I started blogging, I quickly installed Google Adsense. I used to earn pennies each day. It was painfully slow to build, and not much of a money earner.

If you’re a blogger, you might have heard of Mediavine – an ad management company that can apply ads to your site. You need to have a minimum of 25,000 monthly sessions in order to apply, but after that it’s very straightforward. I joined over a year and a half ago and earned 77 USD in my first month.

The more traffic you have, the more you’ll earn, so it’s certainly spurred me on to improve my SEO and increase my traffic.

I know bloggers earning in excess of 5,000 USD per month on Mediavine! WOW! 

Mediavine Ads

Travel Video Presenting

Some of my favourite and most memorable jobs have been at a little tangent from blogging. I’ve done two video presenting jobs. One was for Royal Caribbean’s tour company GoBe, and involved 10 days in Hawaii. I presented a few videos, showing some of the adventure activities you can go on in Hawaii. It was an incredible experience.

I also presented a video for Lonely Planet all about the food scene in New Orleans. This was another fab experience, and a chance to work with really talented creative people from around the world.

While I still ended up writing blogs and posting social media, I was being paid to host the videos – a very different kind of project to my usual sponsored travel campaigns. In some ways, it was refreshing to take the pressure off capturing so much myself, and let the pros do their thing instead!

Freelance Writing

Occasionally I write for other people. Over the last few years I’ve written several articles for Metro, a few for Skyscanner, a piece for The Telegraph and a mammoth feature for an in-flight magazine. It’s been great experience, and good for my portfolio too. However, this is not where the big bucks are!

Over the last few years, payments have ranged from £20 to £300. I told you it wasn’t where the money was!

Other Random Money Earners 

I’ve done a bit of public speaking, including a presentation to the Chile Tourist Board all about my travels there. It was super nerve wracking standing up in front of a room of 100 travel professionals, but a great achievement! 

I have around 100 photos available on Shutterstock. It’s not particularly lucrative (often just a few dollars per month) but now they’re on the system, I don’t have to do anything.


Tips To Help You Move From Blog To Business

Build Your Blog Traffic

Instagram numbers might be great for getting a sponsored post on that platform. Your Facebook page might spark great conversations. But, in order to truly move your blog to a business, you’ll need to reach people constantly and develop a passive income stream.

Start learning about SEO, how to get your posts seen on the first page of Google, understand backlinks and why they’re important. If you write about a destination, find the PR contact and see if they can share your post on social media. Improve your presence on Pinterest (one of my top referrers).

More traffic will help increase your value for sponsored travel campaigns, sponsored posts and hopefully up your affiliate and advertising revenues. Not sure where to start? I’ve found the Make Traffic Happen and DNW – Making Money From Blogging groups on Facebook particularly helpful. 

Sign Up To Affiliate Programs

Most programs are easy to sign up to. These are the ones I use regularly:

Booking.com – I used Hotels.com to start with but I’ve found Booking.com a lot more lucrative. It’s also the one I use to book my hotels when I’m away, so I prefer to recommend what I trust!

Get Your Guide – Only joined GYG last year but it’s a great affiliate earner if you blog about tours and activities. Along with links, there are interactive widgets you can embed in your posts. 

AWIN My main revenue through AWIN comes from Viator, but I used to use it for Hotels.com too. Once you’re registered, select the companies you’re interested in recommending, wait for them to accept you, then start accessing the links and ads.

CJ Affiliate I barely use this one, but I link to a few Contiki tours on some old posts and that brings in a random lump sum a few times a year. In fact, I checked yesterday and someone booked a £2,000 tour last week, earning me just over £100. 

RewardStyle and Shopstyle If you feature fashion on your blog, then definitely look into these two. With RewardStyle you earn per sale, while Shopstyle is per click. I’ve dabbled in both, but ultimately I don’t feature enough fashion to really spend much time on them. Be aware that RewardStyle can be a bit fussy when you apply. I was accepted on my second attempt.

Shutterstock Not an affiliate program, but if you want to earn some passive income by selling photos that are sat on your hard drive doing nothing, definitely look into signing up to Shutterstock. 

It’s also worthwhile seeing if any brands you partner with have their own affiliate programs.

Shout About Your Strengths

What are you really good at? Can you make a great video? Are you a great writer? Do you get lots of replies to your  Instagram Stories? Are you an expert in one area of the world? Don’t be afraid to shout about it! The blogging community is very supportive, and there’s room for everyone to do their own thing! 

Take this to the next level and make a media kit to send to clients. I started doing this around 8 months after setting up my blog. I didn’t have much to ‘shout about’ at that point, but I still found things! It reminds me of the time I wrote my first CV at school and said I was an excellent babysitter! My media kit is quite long as I show lots of examples, but I’ve also got a snappy one-pager available on my work with me page. 

Learn From Others

Finally, if you’re reading this post, then you must be keen learn more about developing your blog. I’m the same and find myself constantly learning from my fellow bloggers and content creators. We have Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups and catch up at blogging events, sharing ideas, contacts and discussing dilemmas. It’s really helped! Connect with other bloggers, join some blogging groups on Facebook and build a community. 

A few other posts that you might find useful:

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From travel blog to business

With a passion for food, fun and adventure, Chloe is the content creator behind one of the UK's top travel blogs Wanderlust Chloe. From volcano boarding in Nicaragua, to sailing around Sicily and eating her way around Japan, her travels have taken her to some of the coolest spots on the planet. Named Travel Influencer of the Year in 2022, Chloe regularly works with a number of tourism boards, producing inspirational travel content across multiple platforms. Find out more about Chloe here.

22 thoughts on “From Travel Blog To Business: Tips, How I Earn A Living, And How Much Are We Talking?”

  1. I found this post so helpful!

    I want to take my blog to the next level this year, so will be really working on some of the things you mentioned.

    Reply
  2. Nicely laid out and honest 🙂 I’m currently playing with 1, Amazon affiliates CPA (targetting specific travel related products), 2, Google Adsense CPM and CPC advertising (although my blog has far too little traffic to earn much – if anything – from that) and 3, Booking.com affiliates CPA to highlight hotels in locations I’m writing about. I reckon Booking.com will work out the winner with its 25% commission rates. Let’s see 🙂

    Reply
    • Thanks Steve! That sounds really good as a plan. I’m finding booking.com one of the best out of mine, but definitely be prepared for about 30% cancellation rate. It’s so easy to book and then cancel that I see a fair few bookings disappear. Thanks for taking time to read and comment! Cx

      Reply
  3. Great post Chloe, I’ve read lots of “how to turn your blog into a business” post but most people skim over a lot and aren’t as honest (it seems that way anyway) I’m very new to blogging but trying to take every opportunity to learn more, thank you!

    Reply
  4. So refreshing to read such an honest post. It’s definitely going to motivate me to get my blog making some money too. Thank you!

    Reply
  5. Thanks for sharing all these tips! So helpful! One follow up question though… Im signed up to a few affiliates on AWIN too, but apart from adding links into the text of my posts, what do you actually do with all the banners and ads? Are you putting them in the sidebar/footer of your post? Your whole site? And if you have many, how do you decide where to put them? And isn’t manually adding and removing them (lots of the ones I get sent are for special offers) isn’t that very time consuming? Thanks for the post!

    Reply
    • Hi Bella! Thanks for your comment. I only use a few text links in my posts for AWIN, mainly linking to specific tours on Viator. If you go to Links >> Link Builder, then create a deep link to a specific tour, I’ve found that can work well. I agree about the ads etc, I avoid those! I’m using Get Your Guide more now. Their widgets are easy to pop together and are specific to what you’re writing about. Hope that helps!

      Reply
  6. It’s been so inspiring to read this post. I started out blogging recently and want to turn it into a business eventually. So many people has turned down my dream and told me it’s not possible, but you (and a few others) have proven that it’s possible. And I now know where to start, so thank you so much for that! ❤️

    Reply
    • Thank you SOOO much for your lovely words. It’s really nice to hear that you’re inspired to start out too. I hope it goes well and let me know if you have any Qs along the way!

      Reply
  7. Thank you for the transparency of your blogging business! As someone who aspires to be paid for her writing, I’m so thankful for your guidance. I appreciate your generous advice!

    Reply
  8. Thanks for the post! I’ve just started a blog up and it will be ready to go live very soon. I’ll definitely be referring back to this.

    Reply
  9. This is a great article – thank you for sharing – I’m not a blogger but I have always wondered how it works. I’m a pretty clue-y guy – I know how marketing works and can spot a sales pitch a mile away – but 2 marketing endeavors that I could not resist – buying “Fierce” by Abercrombie & Fitch when it was pumped into the aircon of the store – and last week booking a Mt Batur hike after reading your blog on it. As a solo traveler your blog made me feel safe to book through this company and it was amazing and I am so glad I did it. You have a way with words that builds trust and can tell you only work with brands you trust too. Awesome work!!

    Reply
    • Hi David, I wanted to say thank you for leaving such a lovely comment. This is exactly why I love blogging and inspiring people to travel! I’m so pleased you loved Mt Batur – isn’t it an incredible experience?

      Reply
  10. Hi Chloe,

    After many many years of people telling me on FB, ‘Why on earth don’t you do a travel blog’ ,I finally am wondering, why I haven’t ??!
    So here I am, totally new to everything that goes with being a blogger, let alone wondering if my little travels and eats across the world would earn me a penny or more?!! Lol!!

    So I asked Google, and your / site has been the most transparent, concise and a feel of genuine foundation to getting started. You have already educated me immensely, and taking note of all you have mentioned, I will ‘start at the very beginning’ !!
    Many thanks Chloe, and fingers crossed I can too mix business with a lovely travel life ?

    Reply

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