How I Started My Blogging Journey
I’ve always loved traveling and photography, and after visiting Hawaii for my honeymoon, I decided to create an Instagram page to share my photos. As I grew my page, I met a ton of other creators who had quit their jobs to travel, and I was inspired to take that same path. So, in 2018, I quit my job and created Findloveandtravel.com, where I would blog about my adventures.
In the back of my mind, I always thought it’d be cool if I could actually do this for a living, but I wasn’t sure it was possible. After getting into a car accident that kept me from going back to work, I took time to learn more about blogging as a business.
By 2019, I was making some money, but it wasn’t until 2021 that I really started to earn a decent amount. Today, I can proudly call myself a full-time content creator and blogger.
How I Built Findloveandtravel.com
One of the key things I’ve learned as a content creator is that blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. It generally takes time to build up your income.
I promote my blog through social media and write posts with SEO in mind. I do this by performing keyword research with tools like KeySearch to assess search volume. Keyword research is also how I tend to generate ideas. Otherwise, I try to think of topics I believe would be helpful to a traveler.
Although I sometimes have assistance with my blog, I publish all the content, which is always based on my own experiences – having a personal touch always goes a long way with audiences.
My favorite kind of content to write is travel tips – they’re always something I look up before I travel to any destination.
Where My Income Comes From
I monetize my blog using ads and affiliate marketing. I got into the latter with Amazon affiliates at the end of 2018, but ads continue to make up the majority of my income.
Of course, I’m also a Travelpayouts partner. The platform’s focus on travel is why I like it so much – it makes monetizing my articles so much easier. Travelpayouts gives you a lot of brands to choose from, and its relatively low barrier to entry means you can start making an income right away.
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Join TodayI’d also recommend having multiple traffic sources. Like many bloggers, I was affected by the recent Google updates, which caused my organic to drop below its usual levels. This taught me the value of having a backup source, which, for me, is Pinterest.
Growing Your Blog With Pinterest
If you want to get started with the platform, which I encourage, my biggest piece of advice would be to get familiar with its features to see which could benefit you. For example, Pinterest has a pin scheduler – I have pins scheduled to go out daily and pin them in intervals to go to a new related board weekly.
Here are some other helpful tips that’ll help you get started:
- Be consistent – Posting pins consistently will help you grow your account. Try to post a couple of new vertical pins a day.
- Experiment with different pins – I post vertical text overlay pins and regular vertical image pins.
- Try overlay pins to boost traffic – These pins bring in the most traffic for me.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
As I’ve mentioned, I sometimes work with virtual assistants (VAs) .I know many travel bloggers need help but don’t know where to find it or how to start. And of course, there may be budget issues or the hesitation to let go of your work. But once your blog has some momentum and your revenue allows it, hiring a VA can be a wise move.
I use Trello with my VA to organize tasks. I sort ones that I don’t need to do or that I find tedious, which I then pass on to my VA. This allows me to focus my efforts on writing the best possible content for my audience.
If you think you might be ready to take on a helper, the best thing to do is ask travel bloggers in your network for referrals (I’d try on Instagram and Facebook). Travel bloggers are a pretty close community, and most are very open to helping others.
