Did you know that the top travel bloggers are earning over $10,000 per month?
In 2022, I discovered Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and her successful blog Making Sense of Cents. Michelle makes six figures while traveling the world with her family. This story has completely changed my perspective on what’s possible as a blogger!
Like you, I dream of exploring stunning destinations with my husband and kids while building a sustainable income. The great thing is that you don’t need to be an influencer to earn money in this space.
Successful travel bloggers make money blogging through multiple revenue streams, including affiliate marketing, digital products, and sponsorships.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- How to start a travel blog from scratch
- Top monetization strategies that actually work! And how travel blogging can generate $10K+ monthly
- Ways to build an engaged audience
- Step-by-step guide to starting your blog
Top Travel Blogger Success Stories
Before we start going into the nitty gritty of how to become a travel blogger and make money, I wanted to share some stories of the top travel bloggers and how much money they make while exploring the world!
Johnny Ward (One Step 4Ward)
Johnny started his blog One Step 4Ward while teaching English in Asia. He started this blog with just $100! Now he makes over $1 million yearly while traveling the world and blogging about it!
His success comes from multiple travel websites he created and helping others start their own blogs. Johnny proves that with hard work, you can turn travel blogging into a real business.
Matt Kepnes (Nomadic Matt):
The Budget Travel Expert Matt started his blog Nomadic Matt with just $1,000 in savings. Today, his blog makes $750,000 each year. He earns money from multiple streams of income he created like books, online courses, and affiliate commissions (recommending travel products he uses).
His goal is to help people plan better trips without spending too much money, and he already helped more than 20 million people.
Kiersten Rich (The Blonde Abroad):
Corporate Worker to Travel Star Kiersten left her office job in 2012 to follow her dreams and built the successful travel blog The Blonde Abroad. Today, she makes about $1 M a year from several income strems – affiliate marketing, ads and digital products. Her content helps solve real travel problems and helps travelers plan their trips.
These success stories show what’s possible when you:
- Stay committed for several years
- Create really helpful content
- Build multiple ways to earn money
- Keep learning new skills
- Help solve people’s travel problems
Is Travel Blogging Still Profitable in 2026?
You can still start earning money as a travel blogger today however, you’ll have to find a specific travel niche to be unique with your content and get above the noise.
In your first year blogging and as a new blogger, you can expect to earn between $500 – $1000 a month (towards the end of the year). This income will mostly come from affiliate commissions and ads.
In your second – third-year travel blogging, if you stay consistent, posting around 1-2 posts a week, your blogging income can increase to $3,000 – $5,000 a month. These earnings can come from sponsored posts, brand deals, affiliate marketing and ads.
From your fourth year of blogging onward, and as your traffic grows tremendously, you’ll be able to make more money from each of the passive income streams above and also add new profitable income streams like selling your own course or a digital product. This is the step when you’ll be able to make at least $10k a month, and it is quite achievable.
How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money with a Travel Blog
Step 1 – Choose Your Niche
With the growing number of travel blogs these days, the ones who will be successful are the ones who specialize in a specific travel niche.
Popular Travel Niches That Work:
- Solo Female Travel: women who decide to travel the world by themselves, usually as part of personal growth.
- Luxury on a Budget: trips for people who want fancy experiences without breaking the bank
- Family Travel: these are trips designed specially for families
- Food Tourism: cooking classes, wine tasting, unique food experiences around the world
- Adventure Travel: physical adventures & challenges like Bungee jumping or mountain biking
- Sustainable Travel: also called eco-tourism, aims to reduce the impact of tourism on the environment
- Digital Nomad Lifestyle: using a laptop and an internet connection to work from anywhere in the world while traveling from one place to another.
Step 2 – Validate Your Travel Niche Idea
This is how you can make sure you’ll be able to make money from travel blogging with your niche idea:
- Check Search Volume
Use Google Trends to see if the interest in this niche is continuously growing.
Use a keyword research tool to check the monthly search volume on Google for your main keywords, and do keyword research for your niche to validate that people are searching for these topics. - Check Your Competitors
If there are a lot of competitors in your chosen niche, this is a good sign. I means that there is a lot of searches and that bloggers are making money with this niche. - Are there successful bloggers in this niche
If you know of other bloggers or YouTubers making significant money in this niche, this is a great sign that you can do it, too. - Are there enough products and services to promote in this niche?
A big part of validating your niche is checking your monetization options upfront. Plan the products you will promote and check their commissions. - It is also good to love this niche.
Remember, you will be traveling and writing all this content. If the niche doesn’t spark interest in you, it is better to find another niche you’ll enjoy exploring and writing about.
Step 3 – Pick the Perfect Travel Blog Name
Your blog name is your brand name. I thought long before deciding on my blog name.
A catchy blog name will attract the right audience, stand out in search results, and even help you get more brand deals.
Here are some tips for finding the perfect travel blog name:
- Think about your unique twist first, then combine it with a travel word
- Try to keep it short (2-3 words are best)
- Make it clear but broad enough so you are not limiting yourself in the future.
- Keep it simple
- Easy to spell
- Don’t include any hyphens or numbers
Check Domain Availability Before You Choose:
- Check if the .com option is available for the name you chose. The .com option is always the best for your new blog!
- Look for matching social media handles – you can use tools like namechk or namecheckr.
- Search the domain on one of the Domain Registerers.
You can get Bluehost hosting for cheap + a FREE domain using this exclusive link.
Step 4 – How to Start a Blog – Technical Setup
Many travel bloggers fail because they choose the wrong platform for their blog or invest too much money in tools they don’t really need. Here is exactly what you’ll need to start your travel blog:
1. Cheapest Best Options for Blog Hosting
At the beginning of your blog, there is absolutely no need to pay for an expensive hosting plan. Here are the best hosting options for beginners, including everything you need to start your blog, including a free domain for your first year:
- Bluehost – use this link to get a special discount + a free domain – Perfect for new bloggers, 24/7 support
- Hostgator – use this link to get 73% discount + a free domain
2. Choose the right platform for you
The best option to start is a self-hosted WordPress website (here is a step-by-step guide on how to start a WordPress blog from start to finish).
WordPress:
WordPress is better for SEO and your Google rankings. It gives you complete control over your site and endless design options, and it is overall a better platform for making money online with a blog.
If you choose Bluehost for your hosting, you can use the Bluehost AI Site Creator for free and build your blog with a few clicks!
⇒Check my step-by-step guide – How to Start a Blog With AI! Create a Blog in Less Than 1 Hour!
Wix
Wix is easier to use, however, you will be limited in terms of features and options for making money. This is not a self-hosted website (it’s more like renting a house), and the monthly costs are higher than with WordPress.
Are you planning to sell your own products once you establish your brand? If you want to start an e-commerce shop for your products, there is no reason to start with WordPress and then make the switch.
Switching from one platform to another is complicated and takes a lot of time. You can start your blog on a Shopify platform and add your products as they are ready.
3. Choose a theme for your blog:
If you choose to start a WordPress blog, then your design options are endless. There are plenty of companies that specialize in creating absolutely stunning WordPress themes for travel blogs.
Travel Blog WordPress Themes
Here are some beautiful & professional options for you to check –
How to choose a WordPress theme – 3 tips
- Find a theme designed especially for travel bloggers (it will feature your photos better, and the whole layout and theme colors will work perfectly with your niche).
- Mobile first approach: Check how this theme looks on mobile. Remember that most searches are made from mobile, so the theme MUST look great on all small screens. Check how the menus, the photos, and the text look when you look at it on your phone.
- Does the company offer support for installing your theme? Or, even better, does it offer a service to install the theme for you?
Remember that you need to complete this step as soon as possible so you can start creating content and generating income.
Step 5 – Add Mandatory Legal Pages to Your Blog
This step is crucial, and it is better to get it out of the way as soon as possible to legally comply with all the laws, prevent legal risks, and avoid lawsuits and loss of money.
I chose to purchase these legal templates as it was quick and so much cheaper than hiring a lawyer.
⇒Here is how I legally protected my blog with minimal investment in a few hours.
Here are some of the must-have legal pages you need on your blog: a Privacy Policy, a Website Disclaimer, Terms & Conditions, and an AI content disclaimer.
Not protecting your blog legally is one of the most common blogging mistakes that can cost you a fortune to fix.
Step 6 – Purchase Travel Insurance
This is another layer of financial protection for you and your new blogging business. Protecting yourself is just as important as covering your travel expenses! As a travel blogger, you’ll carry expensive camera gear and laptops while exploring new places.
What Your Travel Insurance Should Cover:
- Medical Emergency Coverage (minimum $100,000)
- Trip Cancellation
- Equipment Protection
- Cameras
- Laptops
- Phones
- Emergency evacuation ($250,000 minimum) is especially important if you travel to remote areas.
- Lost/Stolen Baggage
- COVID-19 Coverage
It’s important to note that many basic travel insurance plans don’t cover expensive gear, so it’s recommended you always check the fine print about electronics coverage.
Step 7 – Creating Content That Ranks
If you want to make money from a travel blog, you need content that ranks on Google. Otherwise, no one will read about your travel experience or click your affiliate links.
Here’s how to create posts that actually rank on Google:
Do Keyword Research and Find Topics People Search For
- Use Google’s suggestions
- Check “People also ask” boxes
- Use free tools like AnswerThePublic
- Use a keyword research tool for every blg post you write (Keysearch is one of the most popular keyword tools for beginners)
- Create your content plan
Types of content to create:
- Informational – “Best time to visit Paris” / “How to plan a one-day trip in New York”
- Commercial – “Best hotels in Bali.”
- Navigational – “How to get from JFK airport to city.”
Comprehensive and up-to-date guides work best. Here is what to include in your content:
- Destination Guides
- Include costs, times, and transport
- Add original photos
- Add detailed itineraries
- Include maps
- Add time estimates
- Practical Travel Tips
- Problem-solving posts
- Safety information
- Money-saving travel advice
- Optimize your travel photos for the web using an image optimizer plugin (I use ShortPixel).
Step 8 – Building Your Audience
Building your audience is the best method to bring traffic to your blog and increase engagement with your content.
If you only rely on the Google algorithm to bring you traffic, you will only make a bit of money from your blog. If you want to scale and start making a consistent income, then building an audience for your blogging business is the right way.
Build an Email List
- Offer a free travel guide to get people to sign up
- Send helpful tips or a new video every week
- Share special deals you find
- I use the Kit email platform, and you can use it for free with this link.
Post on Instagram Daily
- Instagram is one of the best social media platforms for travel bloggers to share their photos and short videos using Instagram Reels.
- Try to stay consistent and post on Instagram daily
- Share quick stories about your trips, not just pretty pictures
- Answer new comments within a day your audience engaged
Get Traffic from Pinterest
- Pinterest is the best social media platform to bring traffic to your blog
- Create pins from your travel photos and add catchy titles on your pins like “10 Best Paris Coffee Shops”
- Pin new pins every day and add a link to your blog
Build Audience on TikTok
- Make 30-second videos showing cool travel spots & restaurants
- Use popular music in your videos
- Post 3-4 times each week
Step 9 – Make Money Travel Blogging
How do Travel Bloggers Make Money? 4 ways to make money blogging:
1. Affiliate Marketing (Recommend Products)
- Only recommend things you’ve actually used and love! This will increase your conversion and will build trust with your audience.
- Join Amazon Associates to recommend travel gear you use.
- Booking (.com), TripAdvisor, and Skyscanner are some of the best affiliate programs for travel bloggers.
2. Put Ads on Your Blog
- Apply to Mediavine Journey when you reach 10,000 monthly visitors
- Don’t waste your time on Google AdSense (it will only pay you pennies)
- As your monthly traffic increases, your earnings from ads will increase as well, and you can generate a few thousand dollars a month.
3. Creating Your Own Products
- Write e-books about your favorite destinations
- Make travel planning worksheets
- Create photo editing presets
- Offer one-on-one trip planning help
- Most bloggers start this after their first year
4. Working with Brands
- It’s best to start reaching out to small brands when you reach a few thousand followers.
- Create a simple media kit to show your blog’s traffic and your social media followers.
- You can charge around $200-$500 for your first sponsored post/ YouTube video.
- it is worth learning the skill of negotiating with brands by taking a course. It will be the difference between earning a $100 and making thousands of dollars a month from sponsored posts. I took the Making Sense of Sponsored Posts course, and it was so worth it.
- Don’t forget to be transparent and tell your audience when a brand sponsors a post.
5. First steps to make money while traveling:
- Your first step is to start bringing traffic to your blog
- The second step is to apply to affiliate programs and add your affiliate links to your blog posts
- Third step: focus on increasing your traffic consistently.
Check my free guide: 5 Best Free Traffic Sources for Affiliate Marketing - Keep track of affiliate programs that convert better than others and double down on those.
- The fourth step is to apply to ad companies when you are eligible.
Most successful blogs make money from several different sources. Start with affiliate marketing and add more income sources as you grow!
Essential Tools and Resources
Here are some basic tools to make your blog look professional right of the bat:
Taking Photos
- When you just start, taking photos with your phone can work great
- As your blog grows, you can look into purchasing a basic DSLR camera. A DSLR camera will give you a sharp photo because of its high resolution.
- Get a lightweight tripod for steady shots
JOBY GorillaPod 5K Kit, Flexible Professional Tripod with BallHead, for DSLR Camera and CSC/Mirrorless with Lens.
Amazon’s Choice
- Use a clip-on phone lens kit for wide-angle photos
Orphek Coral Lens, Kit for All Smartphones – 4 Lens Included: Macro, CPL 37mm Polarized, 15,000k Orange, 20,000k Yellow – Universal Phone Clip, Lens Made of Glass: for Better Photography.
#1 Top Rated
Making Your Photos Look Amazing
Get the Lightroom app (by Adobe) to edit your photos (about $10 a month)
SEO Tools – Get Traffic to Your Travel Blog
- Use Semrush as an all-in-one SEO tool (the lifetime deal is very cost-effective) or Keysearch if you only want to do keyword research.
- Install the free Yoast SEO plugin on your blog – great to optimize your content for SEO (the free version of Yoast is enough)
- Use AnswerThePublic to see what other questions people are asking
- Connect your blog to Google Analytics and Google Search Console to get data about your traffic, broken links, and indexing issues.
- Optimize your post for SEO using an AI SEO optimization tool (this is the one I use).
⇒Check – How I rank my posts fast on Google using Neuornwriter.
Schedule Your Posts in Advance
- Use a social media scheduler to post all your Instagram posts and Pinterest pins (I use Metricool, and you can use their forever-free plan if you want).
- Why use a social media scheduler? Saves you a lot of time scheduling each post (you can do everything in bulk and schedule all your content for the week) + the tool knows the best time to post on each day so you don’t need to guess and you’ll get the most engagement for every new content you publish.
- This is one of the most important lessons you will learn in a Pinterest course, as efficiency can make or break your blogging business!
There is so much to do in your travel blog that you will never be able to scale your business if you don’t learn how to automate things and save time.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Here are some common mistakes travel bloggers make that you want to avoid so you’ll be on the path to scaling your blog to six figures:
The Shiny Object Syndrome
- Making money with a blog takes time. It can take 6 months to even a year until you start seeing significant results (check How I made $3530 on my first year blogging)
- Giving up too soon and starting another business instead is a huge mistake.
- Dedicate your time to starting your blogging business the right way and make an effort to be consistent and improve along the way. Be patient – the results WILL come!
Promoting products You Don’t Believe in
- Readers can tell when you’re not being honest!
- Only promote products you believe in and are using yourself.
- When you use the product you promote, you can share much more helpful information about the product to help your audience. The chances of your readers clicking your affiliate link and purchasing this product are much higher than if you would just recommend products you hardly know.
Writing About Yourself
- I learned this from Sophia Lee’s blogging course (she dedicated a whole lesson to that topic).
- As Sophia is saying – ‘no one cares about you, they only care about themselves.’
- That means 2 things –
- Writing about topics and questions that interest your audience
- Write the post from your audience’s perspective and what will benefit them the most instead of writing it from your lenses.
How to start a travel blog and make money- Conclusion
If you want to become a successful travel blogger, here’s what you need to succeed:
- Pick one niche in travel that is highly searched for on Google and that also interests you.
- Plan your blog monetization options before you start
- Build a simple but professional-looking blog
- Write helpful posts about your best travel tips and add photos you took yourself
- Share your adventures on Instagram or Pinterest
- Be patient as your blog grows
Remember: The most successful bloggers kept going when others gave up. Stay focused and bring a lot of value to your audience, and your travel blog will grow into something amazing!
Don’t expect overnight success. Most bloggers take 12-18 months before seeing steady income, but those who stick with it can build profitable businesses.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through one of my links at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting the Busy Mom Side Hustle blog. For more information, visit my disclaimer page.
