One of the most common responses that I get when I tell people what I do for a job is ”You make money doing that?”. It’s a funny question – I think if I had a more traditional job where I was working for a company, I wouldn’t get asked this question, however, it just goes to show that even in 2024, blogging is still a relatively new career path, and people are curious about how it works. The truth is, blogging is my dream career and I’m fortunate enough to do what I love full-time. I make more money than I have in previous mind-numbing jobs, and best of all- I’m my own boss!
Why Blogging As A Career Is Great
One of the best rewards of working for yourself is that you have much more freedom when it comes to how you spend your time. Don’t get me wrong- when I have deadlines, I have to work some crazy hours to get my work done- but I have more freedom when it comes to planning when I work. Plus, the earning potential is unlimited!
Before quitting my job to blog full time I worked in many different roles. I worked in retail management, communications, as an International Travel Agent, as a journalist and editor.
After eight months or so I’d grow bored of being told what to do, or working hard to make someone else a lot of money while I was struggling to pay my bills. Working for someone else limited me to how much I earned. When you work for someone else, your worth (what they pay you) is basically decided by your employer.
I’ve never liked the fact that how valuable my time and work is, was up to someone else. When I wanted to progress in my career, I would have to wait for an opportunity to come up, or leave my job and go somewhere else.
Some people like the security of having a job working for someone else (although, I could argue this is a moot point after what many experienced during the pandemic), and that’s absolutely fine. I believe the perfect job for everyone is doing something you’re passionate about, where you can use your education and skills, and make a positive difference to the world.
For me, blogging ticks all of these boxes. I absolutely love that people read my blog and feel inspired to go on an adventure- helping people make amazing memories is the core reason I do what I do. Travel has changed my life and given me so many awesome memories, and I want the same for others too.
Some folk also question the ethics of blogging too – and that’s totally fine, it’s good to question this stuff as there are some bloggers or influencers who are just in it for the free stuff. The bottom line is- to succeed as a travel blogger, you need to be authentic, have good morals and values, and genuinely want to help people.
In this blog post, I’m going to tell you all the ways I make money blogging. I might even convince you to try blogging too!
Blogging Is Hard Work Too
I’m not going to sugarcoat blogging as a career; I work extremely hard. Blogging is a lot of hard work, and the common saying is ”making money from blogging is a marathon, not a sprint.”
It took me three years to earn money from blogging. In hindsight, I wish I had just invested in a blogging course, but I started my blog as a hobby and didn’t envisage I’d make any money from it!
I cried when I made my first £10- I was so proud of myself! Now I earn more money from my blog than I have in any previous job role I’ve had.
Now that I’m a full-time blogger, I could never go back to the 9-5.
I can take days off whenever I want; I can work from bed if I want to. I also get to travel a lot, and sometimes my travel is even paid for. Every day is different, and I earn money while I sleep (passive income is great!)
Here are all the different ways that I make money as a travel blogger.
Want to start a professional travel blog? Read my guide to get started!
How I Make Money As A Travel Blogger
I love that exploring castles is part of my job description!
Scotland Travel Consultation
After travelling around Scotland for the last seven years, first as a tourist, and now as a local, I have an enormous amount of information in my brain about the best way to plan a trip here.
I dabbled with creating itineraries for clients and written itinerary reviews, however, I found the most valuable service for my clients is meeting face-to-face over Zoom.
My prices for a private Zoom consultation range from £125-£225, depending on the needs of each client. My clients can send me their itinerary beforehand so I can take a look and come to our meeting prepared with suggestions, or I can help a client design their itinerary from scratch based on their wants and needs.
I also map out their itinerary for them using map software and send a follow-up email with any links I mentioned throughout our call. They also get a recording of our Zoom call and my map of recommended pubs and restaurants throughout Scotland.
In total this takes me between 4-8 hours of work per client. It’s also great because I get to meet so many of my readers and chat about my favourite topic: Scotland!
Having ads on my blog
One of the main reasons I was able to quit my job and blog full-time is because of a wonderful company called Mediavine.
Mediavine is a full-service ad management company that is responsible for running ads on my website. Out of all the ad management companies, they’re the best. Why? They’ve won multiple awards for best workplace, they’re actively anti-racist and provide many valuable resources, and they also donate to a lot of charities.
In a nutshell, when people visit my website and scroll past ads (or click on them and make purchases) I get anything from a couple of cents to a couple of dollars. This may not sound like much – but trust me, it all adds up. I currently make enough money from ads on my website to pay for our mortgage!
Some people may find ads annoying, but I like to think of it this way: I am providing helpful, free content on my blog, and the reason I can provide this content for free is because I am able to monetise by having ads on my site.
All ads are tailored to your search history and online activity, and I do not run ads on my website that include gambling, spam, politics and religion etc.
Affiliate sales
Another way I make passive income is by recommending products, services and experiences I use and love.
Most businesses have an affiliate programme you can join. They’ll give you a special link so they can track any purchases made through that link. If anyone clicks and purchases something using one of my affiliate links, I get a small kickback at no extra cost to the buyer.
Some of my favourite affiliates include Booking.com, Get Your Guide, Auto Europe, Awin and Amazon.
Working on campaigns with tourism brands
I often work with tourism brands in Scotland and beyond to promote their tour, accommodation or service.
I create bespoke packages for brands (each business or brand is different, so they have different requirements) and offer things such as social media promotion, a blog post for my website or theirs, photography, videography, and graphic design.
I only work with businesses and brands that I would personally recommend to friends and family; eco-friendliness, high-quality service and excellent value are always something I look for in a business when deciding to work with them. I am quite picky when it comes to working with businesses- but so far I have been lucky to work with some fantastic brands!
Read more: The Pinterest Marketing Strategy that I use
Website design
While I no longer offer website design, this was a key source of income for me when I was starting out as a travel blogger. Having a blog has taught me many skills I’ve been able to make money from, and website design is one of them.
I’ve designed and created over 30 websites for business owners and other bloggers since I taught myself how.
Website design allowed me to get by when I was travelling and freelancing before I earned enough money from my blog to go full-time.
Read more: 5 common misconceptions about travel bloggers
Online products
Creating digital products is a great way to help your readers by giving them shortcuts to planning their travel. I currently sell my Ultimate Scotland Travel Planning Bundle which includes an ebook, a digital planner, and cheat sheets which provide the need-to-know information about visiting the most popular destinations.
I also have a Scotland Food and Drink Guide with all my recommendations for eating out in Scotland.
Lots of bloggers have success with writing ebooks about the travel destinations they blog about. I am someone that is willing to pay for the information I need (I’m all about saving time!)
Physical Products
I don’t have many physical products for sale (I find dealing with postage to different countries and constantly visiting the post office mentally draining) but I have done this in the past with some success.
I thought I would mention it here anyway, because you may not dread the post office as much as I do! You can get really creative when deciding what products to sell on your blog- I’ve known one blogger to knit scarves inspired by her favourite country, and they were very popular!
Courses and Workshops
I have a Planning A Trip To Scotland course that I created with my friend and fellow travel blogger, Kay from The Chaotic Scot. We blended both our skills and knowledge to come up with the ultimate resource to help people plan their trip to Scotland- and our readers absolutely love it!
We filmed over 70 videos that cover every aspect of planning a trip to Scotland, and people can work through the course in their own time.
Something that I absolutely love doing is destination-specific planning workshops. Every two months I host an online workshop about planning a trip to a different area in Scotland. We do a deep dive into that area, and I give all my personal recommendations about visiting. My customers love these workshops- and it makes planning all the more fun!
Summary
I hope this explains how I make money as a travel blogger in more detail. It is absolutely possible to quit your job and turn blogging into a career- I am living proof of that.
You do need to work hard, and love the subject that you’re writing about. My job doesn’t feel like work to me, because I truly love it. If you’re thinking about starting a blog- I say do it! Just keep going with it- there will be times when you feel like quitting, but I truly believe if you stay curious, continue to educate yourself on all things blogging, and build an audience that love what you do, you can turn blogging into a career.
If you’re interested in more ways to make money while travelling, here is a great list of some of the best travel jobs by fellow blogger Project Untethered.
Got a question about making money from blogging? Drop it below and I’ll do my best to answer ☺️
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