On social platforms we often see people who seemingly travel the world all year and can obviously afford to do so. Unfolding the power of the Internet and its reach, they even fill up their pockets on their way. Sounds like a good way of living? Then you should check out the main ways of how travel bloggers make money nowadays.
1. Freelancers
Many travel bloggers are working as freelancers which means that they offer their skills for individual jobs. Most commonly, freelancers do copywriting, designing or programming but they also edit or reach languages. The big advantages of this are the simple handling and the direct payment. At the beginning you need nothing more than your laptop, a suitable program for your work and an email address. For every completed order you will immediately receive your payment. Especially in the starting phase this gives you security and makes it easier for you to start your life as a travel blogger, being a major way of how travel bloggers make money.
2. Virtual Assistant
The assistant role also exists in the digital world. Many travel bloggers start their new lives with this model as they often have all the necessary skills (computer skills, organisation, online skills). As a virtual assistant, you work for a boss and take over everyday tasks such as email processing, appointment coordination, travel planning, etc. However, the tasks can also be more comprehensive and include the creation of presentations. The exact activities always depend on the respective agreement.
3. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a trading model for which you do not need your own warehouse or logistics. You choose a manufacturer for your product and let him produce your goods while he keeps them in his warehouse. If you now sell a product via your website (or via Amazon etc.), the manufacturer gets a message and will send the product directly to the buyer. Since most producers are located in Asia, shipping takes a little longer. For this kind of business, a very good business relationship with the manufacturer or supplier is necessary. Since you have no access to the goods, you must be able to trust in the product’s quality.
4. Digital Products
Digital products have the advantage that they do not require a warehouse or logistics and are therefore kind of “made” for travel bloggers. The range of digital products is very wide. From a normal eBook to a guide for building niche pages to a coding class, the possibilities are endless. What they all have in common is that they can be scaled after being created once. Since the products are not stored classically, you don’t need any extra space if you have more customers. The entire payment and shipping process can be handled on digital marketplaces.
5. Affiliate Marketing
An affiliate earns money by recommending products from others and receives a commission for it, being one a main way of how travel bloggers make money. This can take various forms. The classic in affiliate marketing is the creation of niche websites. You create a page on a topic and recommend suitable products there, for example for flower pots. In a blog you can also mention some interesting facts, e.g. the best flowers to be put into the flower pot. Then link to different flower pots via an affiliate program. If your reader clicks on the link and buys the product, you receive a commission without your reader paying more. The same works with digital products, of course.
Advanced affiliate marketers rely more on sophisticated sales funnels than on niche websites. For such a funnel the email address of a prospective customer is won. This happens for example when a prospective customer downloads something in exchange for its email address. This email address is then transferred into a process in which the prospective customer receives a sequence of emails with offers for one or more products. However, these are not pure advertising mails, but tailored precisely to the interest of the reader. If the reader then buys via a link in an email, the sender receives a commission.
6. Coaching
Trainers and coaches are becoming more and more common in the digital space. Through modern communication via Skype or similar systems, the consultation of people can take place from anywhere in the world. For instance, people do business coaching, which helps you to improve your business. But also personality, fitness or language training can be done online. Depending on the design, as a coach you arrange appointments with your customers and then advise them online. Over time, as a coach you can also offer additional information products that support your clients even further in their development.
7. Sponsored Posts
Sponsored Posts are also advertisements in the classical sense. The difference is that they are mostly editorial articles and not “just advertising”. Nevertheless, they must be marked as sponsored so that the visitor recognizes that they are advertising. Bloggers often even have the option of designing the content themselves under certain customer specifications. This ultimately means win-win for both sides: The companies receive an authentic, valuable text that is guaranteed to bring them more readers than if they were integrating a flat ad the bloggers earn money.
Traveling can be expensive (but does not have to be). In any case, you need some money for it and finding short-term work in the country you are traveling in is often not very easy. With the Internet, everyone can basically work for anyone from anywhere and if you ever wondered how travel bloggers make money when they “just go around the world”, we hope that you now know more about ways to earn a bit while you’re seeing the most exciting places.