Blog to Travel

I had recently asked Kirsty of Nerdy Nomad a few questions about how I could better monetize my travel blog. She went above and beyond by writing up a full review (pro bono)! As I read her feedback, I realized how much perspective I had lost on a web site I work on every day.

One of her tips has already paid off to the tune of $55 in the past 24 hours. I joined the Digital Point Forum which is dedicated to internet marketing and search engine optimization. I jumped straight to the sub-forum dedicated to the buying and selling of text links, and performed a search for “travel.” I found quite a few results, and send out about 8 private messages to potential buyers. In less than 24 hours I had received $55 (via PayPal) for two different text link ads on my travel blog (1 month duration).

Despite my quick success with opening a new revenue stream via the text link marketplace in this forum, it is not my preference. Here’s a quick breakdown as I see it:

Pros’s

• Publisher receives 95-100% of sale price
• Greater flexibility with pricing (to suit individual buyers’ needs)
• Relationship building can lead to bigger sales in the future

Con’s

• If advertisers aren’t contacting you, then it’s work to go find them
• Manually managing short term ad buys takes time and good organizational skills

I consider myself lucky to be receiving the occasional ad inquiries through my site. The line from Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will come” can ring true online. Being proactive from time to time in soliciting ad sales will be a nice compliment to the dependable and automated marketplace of Text Link Ads.

A few months ago I began to use Google Spreadsheets when I realized it would allow me to easily access and edit my ‘Round the World Trip Plan while on the road. The editing functions and charts are a bit rudimentary, however it’s still a Beta service, and Google appears committed to making regular improvements.

More recently, I began to track my web earnings and expenses via this service. As much as I don’t like to think about it, I will have to report my earnings on my 2007 income taxes, and having the information at my fingertips will make it easier to file online from anywhere in the world (I hope).

Also, it is a great way to share Word and Excel files online, without the need for visitors to own Microsoft Word or Excel.

Back in April, I wrote about my experience getting started with Text Link Ads on my GoBackpacking blog. The post was called Text Link Ads - Create Recurring Revenue With Ease. To my surprise, it was read by quite a lot of bloggers, and received mentions in the context of some very informative articles about the value of text link ads to advertisers and publishers. Below are a few of the more authoritative pieces which were kind enough to highlight my personal experience.

YoungGoGetter.com - Do Text Link Ads Really Work

Travelhapphy.info - Make Money While You Travel With A Travel Blog

WebProNews.com - Paid Links Economy

My association with Text Link Ads continues to pay off month after month, and I’m happy to sing their praises. I project them to be my biggest earner for 2007. Sign up today and see for yourself!

I bought my first domain, GoBackpacking.com, in 1999, and I hadn’t bought another until last week (the one you’re on now). So far, I’ve been happy with the domain and hosting costs through GoDaddy.com, so I figured why not pay another $9 for a third domain name. $9 buys me the rights to the domain for an entire 12 months! I have two others in mind, however I do not want to get too ahead of myself.

I have less than 3 months to focus on growing these new domains and any others I buy before I’ll want and need to put them in auto-pilot mode. By auto-pilot mode, I mean the site design and affiliate/advertising placement is established, enough inbound links are created to build traffic, and the only work is to post new content.

Posting new content from the road should be easy enough to do from internet cafes and the occasional couchsurfer’s residence (for free!). Any money spent at the internet cafes will be an investment recouped through future web earnings. If I want to be savvy, I could even write the costs off on my federal taxes.

For those just starting out, I would recommend picking one killer domain, and investing your time and energy in building a blog or website around it. Once you learn about the various steps involved in developing an audience, and begin to earn a little money (by subscribing to this blog), you’ll find it’s easier and faster to develop additional ventures.