Robyn and Gavin, high school and junior high teachers by day, have a secret passion. And no, not for vampire romance novels or rare Furbies, but for slow travel.
Robyn’s chronic illnesses made it difficult to bounce around from city to city, the way travel is often portrayed online. But that didn’t dull the couple’s wanderlust one bit. Together, the couple discovered the beauty of gentler, more deliberate experiences. Their blog, Two Empty Passports, is more than just a travel journal they monetize via affiliate marketing. It’s a platform to inspire others with silent disabilities to embrace the world.
Here is their story, as told by Robyn:
What do we tell pain? Not today.
Two Empty Passports has a unique origin story.
I live with several chronic illnesses, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, POTS, and tachycardia. These conditions significantly impact my daily life and have forever changed how I travel.
I realized long ago that I could never find helpful travel information for someone with hidden disabilities like me. My pain and fatigue impact where, how, and when I can travel, so planning trips based on other travelers’ tips is often frustrating.
But through this frustration, Gavin and I discovered slow travel. For us, it means spending more time in each location we visit and taking the time to absorb each sight and sound. This more immersive experience was exactly the travel style we needed, which is how Two Empty Passports got started. We wanted to make it easier for those with pain, fatigue, or limited mobility to plan a successful trip that matched their travel style so they could explore their dream destinations.
Inside our Two Empty Passports
This blog is truly a family endeavor. We pick and write the content ourselves and are currently focusing on five countries. Keyword research helps us determine the best topics to write about, and we also analyze the SERPs, check the volume for each keyword, and create a detailed outline before any writing begins.
Our primary source of traffic is Google, followed by our email subscribers. While our blog wasn’t affected by the Google updates, many other blogs were, which taught us a valuable lesson: traffic diversification and growing an email list are crucial because Google can change the rules anytime.
We also promote our blog posts on Instagram. Moving forward, we will be looking to promote more on Facebook and Pinterest.
Article popularity fluctuates throughout the year, but we’ve noticed that our top performers are posts that are well-written and easy to read, provide valuable information, and share first-hand tips to help my readers plan a great trip.
Here is a sample of our best work:
- Best Restaurants in Malta
- 13 Best Malta Towns
- How to Get to Malta
- 2 Weeks in the Netherlands
- Netherlands and Belgium Itinerary
How Travelpayouts accelerated our affiliate journey
We wanted to monetize early on but didn’t know where to start. About six months after launching our blog, however, we signed up for a life-changing blogging course that taught us about affiliate marketing. That is where we learned about Travelpayouts.
Travelpayouts has honestly been a game-changer. Its dashboard is simple, clean, and easy to follow, with everything you need to know about each partner program (cookie lifetime, reward rate, etc.). You can sign up for multiple programs and keep track of all your income in one place. It is also easier to hit the minimum payout threshold because the platform combines all your income into one payment.
Join the Travelpayouts Partnership Platform
Access exclusive tools and the best travel partner programs, including flights, hotels, car rental, insurance, tours, and activities, all in one place.
Join TodaySome programs we work with via Travelpayouts:
Our average monthly income from affiliate marketing is around $375. That’s not much, but it’s certainly a start! Our blog is growing in traffic and income, so we are excited to see where this journey takes us.
I would definitely recommend Travelpayouts to any affiliate, if only because of its streamlined dashboard and the ability to simplify your affiliate marketing strategy by having all your programs in one place.
Our monetization strategy
As we stated already, 100% of our blogging income comes from affiliate marketing. Early on, we included affiliate links within the text and then learned to utilize CTA boxes to promote specific tours or hotels to our readers.
We typically place affiliate links within the text of our blog post (first image) or in a CTA box (second image).
We find this works best for us and our readers. Our itinerary posts tend to bring in the most revenue. But to be fair, we don’t have many dedicated affiliate posts, and that’s something we’re currently working on.
Remember: nothing is impossible
It took time to accept my physical limitations, embrace them, and learn to work with them, but they haven’t stopped me. My dream is to visit 50 countries by 50, and even if Gavin and I have had to adjust our travel style to accommodate my hidden disabilities, I’m close to achieving it: as of today, we’ve traveled to 44 countries on five continents, and we’re excited to continue sharing our passion, knowledge, and expertise with others.
If you are new to blogging, here is one piece of advice: invest in a blogging course to learn about SEO. The course we took was a turning point for us because it helped us understand writing, affiliate marketing, email marketing, hosting, and, of course, the right way to set up your blog
And wherever you are in your journey, remember there’s always a way to keep moving forward.