Tips for turning your passion into a profession
Travel blogging is a great way for people to
fund their trip around the world. Making money from your blog is hard
work. It takes a lot of work, but once you do, it’s a great way to earn
an income and not worry about money. After you build your travel site and get it running,
Here are some ways to earn money from your site:
Google Adsense
Most
people start monetizing their blogs with Google Adsense before anything
else. It’s popular because it’s easy and simple. All you have to do is
sign up, put the code on your site, and watch the money roll in. Right?
Wrong. Adsense is awful for blogs. Most people don’t make any money with
Adsense, and I’m sure most people wonder how anyone ever makes money with Adsense. Adsense isn’t the problem, though. The problem is with how people use it.
In order to make money with Adsense, a few basic rules must be followed:
1.) Make sure you have one post on your page. That way the keywords are more targeted.
2.)
Make sure the site/page you are putting Adsense on has a high degree of
traffic from Google. Search engine traffic is the easiest traffic to
monetize.
3.)
Put a 300x250 Adsense box in the upper left corner of the page. This
step is important. Statistics show that people just like clicking ads
here and this is where you will make the most money. You should never
put Adsense in the sidebar, because hardly anyone ever clicks on it.
Text Link Sales
This
is probably one of the easiest but most misunderstood ways to monetize
your website. Let’s be clear: selling text links on your site violates
Google’s policy. They don’t like it and it is easy to see why. Since
links still count a lot, buying a lot of them will artificially push you
up in the search engines. You can get to the top of search engine
results right away if you just buy all your links.
Most
bloggers are scared of Google and don’t want to sell text links. They
tend to be afraid that Google will deindex their site from search
results. In reality, text links are the best way for most of you to
monetize your blog. Text link sales took one fellow blogger to
Australia. Text link sales let me quit my job and focus on this full
time. You can do it and not get caught.
Most
bloggers aren’t trying to do SEO and internet marketing, you just want
to be a blogger who makes a little money. You are there for the
community, so at the end of the day if Google only makes you a PR3
instead of a PR5 or keeps you at #9 instead of #6 in the search engine,
it really won’t affect you that much. It certainly won’t affect your
ability to build a community site. So, what’s more important? Do you
want to fund your travels or do you want to be scared of Google?
Affiliate Sales
Affiliate sales, like Adsense, are best for targeted traffic. You
can sign up with a company like Commission Junction, Linkshare, or
ClixGalore and put ads from companies like Lonely Planet, Expedia, and
STA Travel on your web site. Amazon has an affiliate program, which
allows you to put up banners and links on your site.
Additionally, you can join company affiliate programs, such as World Nomads, Hostelbookers, and Airtreks.
Ad Networks
For
those with high traffic levels, targeted traffic, or those who just
want the option, there are three major advertiser networks where you can
sell banner ads. These networks are split between self-service
advertising networks and managed advertising networks.
Self-service
networks are managed by you. The ad networks allows you to put your
blog up on their site, set your rates, set the number of ads you want,
and tag your relevant categories. These networks just take a small cut
for your listing.
Managed networks
are private ad networks in which you must meet a set of criteria in
order to be eligible for inclusion. These networks are great if your
website has high or targeted traffic and a lot of backlinks. If
your website is reviewed and accepted into these programs, everything
is taken care of for you. You simply put a piece of code into your
Wordpress files and the companies do the rest. Ads will appear on your
websites automatically.
These are the four easiest ways to make money with your blog,
though you can find plenty of other (although more complicated) ways to
monetize your blog. Even if you never strike it rich with your website,
you can at least find ways for it to bring in some money to help pay
for flights and drinks while traveling.Behind the Backpack
J has been traveling around the world for the past zero years.About WorldNomads.com
WorldNomads.com keeps
you travelling safely. Whether you’re off for a long weekend, looking
for the ultimate adventure or living the nomadic dream, you’ll stay safe
with Travel Insurance you can buy online, anytime, and the latest travel safety advice. We’ll also help you share your journey with a free travel blog, flirt in over 25 languages with our free language guides, have an experience of a lifetime on a travel scholarship and donate to a local community development project through our Footprints program.
WorldNomads.com - an essential part of every adventurous traveller's journey.
