How to Earn Money with your Travel Blog

Any blogger, especially a travel blogger, whose love for traveling surpasses everything, wouldn’t love to be able to earn money from their writing. The one thing that confuses people is ‘how to monetize what they wrote?’ How to make money with content? Don’t worry we got you covered! To earn money through your content one thing you need is Sponsored Blogging. When a company pays a blogger to talk about their product and its features.

But what if a person is new to travel blogging and does not know how to get these sponsorships. What are they supposed to do? Which company to approach? How to negotiate with them? How to write a sponsorship proposal? So many questions come to mind. Here is the answer to each one of these questions, starting with how to get a sponsorship.

• Portfolio: When starting a new, bloggers self-sponsor their trips for a couple of months to build an impressive portfolio on social media. The sponsors are interested in the footfall the blogger receives every day. Increasing the footfall for your blog helps get quicker sponsors and to increase your footfall, the blogger has to create a USP to make their blog stand out and increase your chances of a sponsorship.
• Realistic Expectations: When approaching a sponsor, a blogger should have realistic expectations. The blogger should make sure to keep their side of the agreement or it might harm their reputation. Be clear about your limits and terms and conditions before presenting them to the company. The blogger needs to be careful and negotiate what is and is not possible for them.
• Connections: Having personal connections with people associated with the industry or sponsors might help you in the long run. The blogger can take the help of their connections to receive sponsorship and later on turn it into a partnership. These connections can be people working in hotels, tourism boards, railways, government, and even other travel bloggers or a famous personality who might help you out.
• Barter: Bartering, here, means to contribute to the company to create mutual benefits. The blogger can promote them on their social media in exchange for sponsorship. The saying, ‘you scratch my back and I scratch yours’, seems to fit here. It’s a win-win situation for all.

But do you know who to approach? A blogger must know the right people to approach and the right way to go about the procedure. Here are a few examples of people/places to approach in case one needs sponsors:

• Newspapers/Magazines
• Radio stations
• Travel magazines
• Airlines
• Hotels/ resorts
• Tourism boards
• Different brands like mobile, soft drink, apparel, shoe, etc.
• Travel, and tourism companies
• You can follow other bloggers to know about the brands that might sponsor

How to approach the sponsors — done, who to apply for sponsorship — done. The next step after getting a deal is sending your proposal. But what if you don’t have a proposal and you don’t know how to create one? Here are a few tips to write the ideal proposal to strike that deal you have been waiting for.

• Introduction: Begin the letter with an introduction. Start with what you do and what is the style of your blogs etc. A brief introduction is sufficient. Make sure to highlight your USP to stand out.
• Reason to Approach: You need to be specific on the reason why you chose them specifically and what is it that you can offer. The company’s interests, mindset, and goals should sync with yours only then will the deal be finalized.
• Elaborate: Elaborate on what you can offer and how they supporting you will be beneficial for them. You need to provide proof of your target audience, the stats of your blog, and how mutual benefits will be received by both parties.
• Monetary Benefit: This is the most crucial part of the proposal and the whole point of sending the letter in the first place. You need to quote the precise cost/support you require for the trip and essentials and give them a rough estimation for further understanding.
• Follow-up: After sending the proposal to the company, make sure to follow up after a few days for the company might forget to revert back.

• Do’s and Don’ts: While writing the proposal, remember to follow these simple rules:
• Approach the sponsor only if your goals match.
• Make sure to have sufficient time before applying for the sponsorship.
• Don’t write long letters, only enough to pique their interests.

• Negotiations: After the proposal has been accepted, there will be price negotiations. You must remain patient and make sure to clear out your expectations. You can put forward alternatives for the company. To get your demands fulfilled, research the company and understand their needs and values and negotiate accordingly.

After you have had a successful sponsorship and an amazing trip, you need to create the content. You need to be careful with the content creation process to generate the required traffic for the website. This process is the most crucial part. Just stick to your style of writing and avoid imitation. But is that enough?

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): What you require is a knowledge of SEO practices to generate traffic. SEO is basically a tool to improve your search rank on the internet and relies on the quality of the content and the use of keywords. There are certain online tools that can be used for idea generation and keywords like Answerthepublic.com, Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, etc.
• Use of Social Media: Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, WordPress, Medium, etc. can be used to promote your blog. Using attractive titles and descriptions can help. Think like a viewer and understand what they need and how can you help them. The article can be enhanced by adding pictures and videos and other such links.
• Affiliate Marketing: The blogger pays a website to promote their brand and the sales generated from the promotion are given to the website. The affiliate sites pay per sale (Payment is made after the blogger invests in the seller’s product and the product is sold out), pay per lead (The affiliate needs to convince the consumer to avail the seller’s services to get paid), and pay per click (The affiliate prompts the consumer to click on the seller’s website to increase the seller’s traffic to get paid)
• Offer Membership/Subscriptions: Websites offer membership to customers to get access to exclusive content or services by creating accounts. This method can provide a steady income for the website.
• Offer Courses: Bloggers can offer courses related to what they do and how they generate money to encourage other people with a similar passion. They provide a certificate to authenticate the credibility of their course. Some blogging companies also offer unpaid internships.
• Freelance for Magazines/Newspapers: Some bloggers, apart from writing for their blogs, work with well-known newspapers/magazines in their travel section. It is a good way to monetize and promote your blog.

Travel blogging is a journey that has its own hardships. For those who want to turn their passion for travel into a career — it’s worth all the pain. Monetizing does require a certain skill set, but once you master it you can successfully overcome your hurdles and earn five to six-digit figures a month.

Content by : Aditi Pandit

Edited by : Bhavya Aggarwal

Graphics by : Anushka Balyan