Archives for December 2009

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How to Make Money With a Travel Blog (Without Selling Your Soul)

Travel Blogger Academy - Get PaidLet’s make one thing clear:

There is nothing wrong with making money.

Money pays for hosting. It pays for time. And it pays for your effort.

So if you’re a travel blogger, don’t hesitate to make money with your travel blog. It’s a good idea.

Money pays for your bills… which frees up your time to work full-time on your blog. And once you’ve got extra revenue, reinvest your profits to grow your blog further.

For example, hire a virtual assistant to handle boring day-to-day tasks. Or pay for a redesign. Or iPhone app. Whatever it is… money is what makes it happen.

But beware: bad monetization alienates readers and kills your blog.

Never monetize at the expense of your readers. Sure, paid links might seem like a good idea (or getting paid peanuts for travel guides) but ask yourself: are you building your brand? Are you building a business? And are you proud of your work?

Monetization is the final puzzle piece, and it’s where many travel bloggers get hung up.

So before you monetize your site, read the articles under the “Money” menu…

And to learn more about building profitable travel blogs (what to do and what not to do) sign up for my free 24 part course by dropping your email in the form.

Building success is based on successful relationships. That’s why I’ll never share your email with anyone, ever.

Filed Under: Money
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How We Got 8,000+ Pageviews To Our Brand-New Travel Blog On The First Week (And How You Can, Too)

Travel Blogger Academy - Grow TrafficWanna learn how to drive *more traffic* to your travel blog using free (or low-cost) ways?

How to build relationships with top travel bloggers, without looking like a sleazeball?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

Many bloggers struggle just to get their writing out there, and once they do… they figure traffic will come knocking on their door.

But we both know that’s not the case, right?

After all, you can be the greatest writer in the world, but without traffic, you’ll never get the comments, social shares and status that comes from having a wildly popular travel blog.

Traffic helps pay the bills.

So read the articles under the “Traffic” menu to learn how to growing your travel blog and how my wife Darcie and I launched Trekity.com and received over 8,000 pageviews its first week!

Was it luck? A “viral” post?

Hell no! We worked our asses off to coordinate a killer launch sequence.

And if you want to learn more in-depth methods for growing your travel blog, grab the free 24 part series.

Don’t worry about spam: I hate it more than anyone you’ll ever meet (seriously, my inbox is flooded with it at the moment) and promise to never, ever share your email with anyone. Pinky-swear.

Filed Under: Traffic
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The Simple Secret to Build Powerful, Profitable Relationships With Top Bloggers

Travel Blogger Academy - Build Relationships

Five years ago “content was king.”

Not anymore.

Now, you can build an incredible travel blog… chock full of juicy insider tips and world-class photography… but… if no one knows about your blog, it’ll never get off the ground.

So like politicians, Mafia members and scum-sucking lawyers, you need connections to succeed.

But unlike these cyber weasels, you can build long-standing, profitable relationships with bloggers and provide MORE value - and make more money - than ever before.

Picture it: you write a new DYNAMITE post.

It’s brilliant. Poetry.

Instead of letting it die on the vine, you contact three close friends (who happen to run their own blogs) and then, overnight, they promote your post for you…

… and the traffic flows to you without you lifting a finger.

Want to learn how? Read the articles under the “Relationships” menu to help you find and network with top travel bloggers:

And if you’d like to learn more about building relationships with other travel bloggers, sign up for our free 24 part series on building, launching and promoting a successful travel blog.

Drop your email in the box and we’ll take care of the rest.

Filed Under: Networking
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Travel Bloggers: Use Tools To Build Blogs, Traffic and Profits

Travel Blogger Academy - Use ToolsBlogging is good. Blogging is great.

But blogging can steal hours (and day/weeks/months) without actually doing anything.

Use the right tools to save time and get more done (so you can travel more!).

Just don’t get stuck chasing productivity tools.

At some point you actually have to do work.

Under the “Tools” menu are a list of all the tools I use, why I use them and (most importantly) why you should use them, too.

They are designed to help you get more done, which frees up time to focus on the fun parts of travel blogging… exploring new places and cultures.

Filed Under: Tools
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How to Create World-Class Travel Content

Travel Blogger Academy - Create ContentPop quiz:

What’s the most important part of your travel blog?

Yep - the content.

Even if you have award-winning photography and world-class web design… it’s the content that keeps people coming back for more.

So it pays to write well.

The articles under the “Content” menu will help you write better and faster than you ever imagined possible!

And if you’d like to learn more about crafting mouth-watering content your readers will love, sign up for our free course: Travel Blogging 101 by filling out the short form at the top of the page.

Filed Under: Content