Travel Blog Advice » Monetizing

How To Manage And Make More Money From Text Link Ads On Your Travel Blog

Anil P. — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:00:34 +0000

You may be seeing more requests and inquiries about text link ads on your travel blog, and now that you know how to handle requests and sales, you can dive into the nitty-gritty details of putting it all together. Text link ad requests come in different forms and advertisers are always looking for a leg up on bloggers who might not know what “normal” is.

There are several guidelines you can follow to make the most out of each text link ad you sell (if you sell them) and standardize how you process each request.

How Much To Charge?

You should have a set list of prices for your pages based on a combination of Google Pagerank, monthly page views, and unique traffic. You’ll save much time and be consistent with every advertiser by doing this.

There is a great guide of rates in Nomadic Matt‘s popular eBook, How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog. I’ve reviewed it several times across my blogs and think it’s well worth the $17 price.
Your rates should be monthly or yearly since you don’t benefit at all from selling permanent links.

Matt’s eBook breaks down prices by Pagerank and is a great guide to follow. Most advertisers will pay those rates – don’t be discouraged by the ones that walk. Become accustomed to many advertising options falling through. There are quality advertisers willing to pay for room on quality travel blogs so don’t low ball yourself for just any sale.

Add Incentives – Along with a rate sheet and pricing structure, it’s a good idea to build in a series of discounts for multiple link sales as well as long term sales as well. I’ve found that this helps those people who aren’t as comfortable with bargaining and also saves some time with much of the back and forth that goes on in negotiating.

Remember, don’t give away advertising for too little – you’ll get many more offers than sales in the long term and you can bet for each email you get, the same message has gone out to other blogs of similar size. Many advertisers are simply trying to get whatever they can for any price, whereas the quality companies will pay for quality sites.

Don’t Sell Too Many Ads Per Page

Many bloggers chase money so much that they over-sell on their blogs blatantly and don’t diversify ad placement. This hurts your travel blog and monetizing efforts in several ways.

You Jeopardize Your Pagerank – The higher the Pagerank on your homepage, individual pages, or posts, the more leverage you have with advertisers. Selling excessive links for next to nothing when your site is a common Pagerank 1, 2, or 3 hurts you in the long run.
Harder To Negotiate – As I mentioned above, when your Pagerank and traffic numbers are low, you’ve got more competition. There’s always some other travel blog that will sell links for less than you – so instead of chasing people down, think up. Less competition and higher rates if you are practice good SEO (I highly recommend DIY SEO Guide to learn a lot about search engine optimization).

You might not be aware though just how much space on your travel blog there is to sell text links. There is a lot of space to sell and advertisers will try and get more out of every sale unless you know how to leverage your site.

How To Diversify Your Selling Space

Let me be clear – selling links can violate Google’s policy on the matter, but if you do sell them you’ve got more space than you think. Using the plugin Widget Logic or Widget Context you can have your sidebar widgets appear only on specific pages or posts. This can not only help clean up your site but also lets you sell text links on your homepage without them appearing elsewhere.

Many of your blog posts and individual pages (i.e. category or blog pages) may have Pagerank. (You can check using the Search Status Firefox plugin.)

By having widgets for individual pages you can sell more total ads without having them clutter up any given page. Keep in mind that advertisers are generally concerned with Pagerank, so a spot on a single page is a single sale – you can still tack on additional pages though – a good way make use of your discount program and get more compound sales.

Understanding Contextual Links

These are links that sit within existing posts or can be hidden in new posts. Advertises go after these links for a number of SEO reasons and while you can’t charge much for them (depends on the Pagerank of that page) you’ve got many posts and pages to sell on. Contextual links are basically placed inconspicuously into posts and look natural in the text.

Sponsored Posts - Before you read on, be sure you’re not giving away free advertising by reading the post, Dealing With Corporate Guest Posts. Many bloggers earn quite a bit of money by using services like ReviewMe or allowing advertisers to submit posts with several links in the body. The pay is usually much higher than for traditional text link ads but sponsored posts aren’t usually the best written or very interesting to your readers. On top of that, the advertiser typically inserts 3-4 links in a post for a one-time fee (which amounts to selling a few permanent links). Personally, I don’t think the trade is worth it for these primary reasons but a decision many are happy with.
Contextual Option - You can always offer to sell contextual links in place of sponsored posts. The advertiser gets the same “link juice” and pays less (but by month or year). Start with your ranked pages and give advertisers the option of non-ranked (but much cheaper) contextual spots.

Part of the way your travel blog will build an audience and Pagerank is by having people read and link back to your stories. Most people won’t read or link back to sponsored posts so it can hurt your site if you overdo it.

Keep Track Of It All

One mistake people make in the beginning is focusing on the monetary numbers but not tracking where they place ads – and more importantly don’t note when they expire! Keep a spreadsheet or use a calendar program that will email you 10 days before an ad is to expire. Then you can email the advertiser to see if they’re interested in renewing and update your rates based on any new traffic or higher Pagerank.

Much of this post had text link ads in mind but a lot of it can apply to banner ads as well. It’s important to be firm and standardize your rates and policies – updating them internally if you feel something isn’t working. Don’t change how much you charge based on one lost advertiser, but rather stick to something for at least 3 months and connect with your peers to evaluate your policies from time to time. You can also supplement your private sales with these 4 simple ways to earn and make money with your travel blog.

[photos by: padraic (man juggling), Hkkuchera (text), jimmiehomesschoolmom (unfolding book), Steve Kay (camouflage), duncan (phew)]

How To Handle Text Link Requests And Sales On Your Travel Blog

Anil P. — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:00:20 +0000

There is quite a bit of confusion over the topic of text link ads, what they are, how much to sell them for, and what Google says about them. I’ve received quite a few questions about it lately and decided to give you some basic guidelines so you know how to handle those requests and make sales if you wish.

What Are Text Links?

Text links (or text link ads) are basically links to keywords people want to buy from your [Google] ranked pages. They’re not looking to convert sales from the link and any they do is a bonus to them. Websites want to rank highly for certain keywords in search engine results. Typically on travel websites those keywords look like “travel to Mexico” or something along those lines.

Google PageRank is an important aspect of text link sales. Advertisers want text links on pages of your with high PageRank like your homepage and perhaps some of your individual blog posts.
You can easily check the PageRank of any webpage using the Search Status Firefox plugin.
There are sites like Text Link Ads where companies come to you – this post isn’t about those sites. It’s about individual offers you may receive.

You links page won’t cut it for most people willing to pay for text links unless that links page has earned some Google PageRank, read last week’s post (The Benefits Of Having A Links Page) to find out how you might be able to do that.

Important Things To Know About Text Links

Certain types of paid links violate Google’s policy on the matter. As far as I know Google doesn’t set up stings or traps to catch those who are selling text links but if you sell too many links they’ll likely penalize you with a lower PageRank.

Don’t bother with links irrelevant to your blog topic, spammy links, or ones that just don’t “feel right” or legitimate.
Don’t sell too many text links (4-8) on a single page.
Don’t sacrifice the look of your travel blog for text links.

Also, be careful with corporate guest posts, people demanding to be on your sidebar (as opposed to links page), or product review offers with link stipulations attached. Companies often look for free ways to get keyword text links – look out for them. Counter these offers by letting them know you have text link advertising opportunities available if you do.

Pricing And Valuable Resources

Typically text link offers pop up in your inbox unannounced and often right after a Google PageRank update. Be prepared with rates when these offers come. It will save you time, help you maintain consistency, and give you a reference point for bargaining. When you’re coming up with your pricing consider where you can sell text links, below are a few options.

Sidebar – Probably the most valuable place since it appears on your homepage (highest PageRank usually) and all the pages on your travel blog. You can charge the most for sidebar slots.
Contextual - In or below a single post that may have PageRank or be at the top of search engine results for a particular set of keywords. Often not worth as much depending on the page’s rank and popularity but you’ve got many more pages to sell on.

What To Base Your Pricing On

Start with your PageRank and add on a bit for page views, search engine results, and other criteria you think it valuable for a perspective advertiser. Remember the higher the PageRank, the more room you have to negotiate and charge since you’ve got less competition.

You can learn how to increase your PageRank and learn about the fine details of SEO by reading the DIY SEO Guide (my review).
Feel free to say “no” if you think a price is too low. There are lots of people looking for text links and you’re site is unique, isn’t it?

Remember that any text link offer you receive was probably sent to other travel blogs with similar rankings so reply quickly and be sure to know who else is in your niche. It doesn’t hurt to talk to other travel bloggers you know to find out what they might charge, although many may not wish to disclose the information.

Price References

It’s difficult to set prices in stone since every negotiation is different. You are often at an advantage if you decide to contact a potential advertiser or have a high number of readers. You can also provide discounts for multiple purchases. Below are some of the best resources for learning about and sharing text link rates with your fellow travel bloggers.

How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog by Matt Kepnes – You want my thoughts? I’ve reviewed it here and here and yes – I still think Nomadic Matt’s eBook is worth the price.
Travel Blog Success (My review)- The forum alone is worth the price of admission.
Other Travel Bloggers - Who do you know well? Ask them.

I could list a set of prices here but that wouldn’t help much since others may take them only to low ball you out of a sale. The resources above are excellent and are great guides. If you have specific questions though you can email me.

Not Only Text Links

They aren’t the only way to make money with your travel blog and there are other simple ways to earn revenue from your travel blog. It’s true that more than banners or other forms of advertising, text link offers are probably the most common you’ll encounter. They also tend to pay the most. If you decide you’ll be selling text links, come up with rates, a short policy, and make sure you’ve got a Paypal account and factor in any Paypal fees you’ll incur in your prices.

[photos by: japi14 (sale sign), Crystal Jingsr (prohibited sign), sharpstick's photos (price tag)]

How To Manage And Make More Money From Text Link Ads On Your Travel Blog

Is Nomadic Matt’s Making Money eBook Worth It?

Anil P. — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:00:23 +0000

That’s a question I hear on a regular basis, partially because I have the affiliate ads up on Travel Blog Advice and foXnoMad, have written two reviews, and interviewed Matt about it. People email me once or twice a month asking this question and having read and sold more than a few copies decided this would be a good forum to answer – is Nomadic Matt‘s eBook worth it?

The Short Answer

Do I think Nomadic Matt’s eBook is worth $17? Yes I do, assuming you use it correctly and depending on what you want to make out of your travel blog.

The Longer Answer

Nomadic Matt’s book, How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog has good information about monetizing your travel blog but is really about creating a network of sites to help fund your travels. The principles in the book are sound and can help you generate a decent income on the road, but it takes a lot of effort upfront, a level most people won’t or won’t be able to put it.

It’s difficult to say a dollar amount is worth something. Personally if I learn from a book and it help my travel blogs, generally it’s “worth” it for me. In terms of money, will you make back that $17 from travel blogging? Probably, but how long that takes depends on you.

I also don’t make a habit of reviewing products I don’t believe in or like. For the most part, if I don’t like something I don’t write about it. Products like the DIY SEO Guide and Travel Blog Success will improve your travel blog and it’s in your best interest to read as much as you can. It’s difficult to draw a direct correlation between purchasing one thing and seeing results on your blog.

For $17?

It’s important to invest in your travel blog if you want to seriously want to monetize. The book was originally $27, a bit on the expensive side, but I still thought it a worthwhile read. All businesses have operating expenses and I think it’s important to spend and get your hands on good information when you’re starting out and trying to grow your audience and revenue. The more you learn the more selective you can be down the road.

If you’re interested in monetizing your travel blog, I’d also recommend Business In A Backpack ($20).
For a more detailed explanation of SEO, how it works, and how to use it I recommend the DIY SEO Guide.
New travel bloggers should strongly consider Travel Blog Success, the advice in the forums are worth the price of admission.

How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog is straightforward, contains a lot of useful information, and may also give you access to advertisers (ask Matt) that can help you make more money with your existing blog and potentially a lot more money if you branch out. It has helped me a believe it can do the same for you. So yes, I do think How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog is worth “it”.

Have you purchased the eBook? What were your thoughts? Please share them in the comments below. Did you think it was worth the $17 (or $27) you spent on it?

Travel Bloggers (Including Myself) Set Their Goals For 2010

Anil P. — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:00:29 +0000

Yesterday on foXnoMad I took a look back on 2009 with other travel bloggers sharing their best posts of 2009. Today I’d like to take a look ahead to the year to come and the goals you’ve set for your travel blogs as well as some of my own.

Your Travel Blogging Goals For 2010

Stephanie (Twenty-Something Travel): Monetization is the biggest one; I’ve been blogging for about six months now and I think it’s time to get that ball rolling. Also, I really want to figure out how Stumbleupon works and how to use it to my advantage. Right now the whole thing just perplexes me.
Chris (Amateur Traveler): I intend to build a business around the Amateur Traveler this year. As I announced recently I am leaving my day job in a few weeks so this is the big experiment.
Sarah (She’s In Love With The World): My biggest goal is really just to keep up with my blog and get it off the ground and running. I want to maintain it while on the road and increase my readership, even though it just launched less than a month ago.

Carol Margolis has a good set of 5 specific goals for 2010 and Dave (GoBackpacking) entices use with the launch of his first digital product coming out in the first 3 months of 2010. That’s about the time Travels With Adam will begin his RTW trip.

Chris (The Aussie Nomad): The goal for my little blog is to gather a few readers and share the experience with them. Money and all the like is nice but really I’d just love to share the adventure and maybe meet a few fellow bloggers along the way.

My Personal Travel Blogging Goals For 2010

I break down my blogging and professional goals into 3 month segments with 2-3 longer 6 month goals so my first set of milestones will be this March. These are just a few of my goals for the upcoming year.

Continuing my blogging schedule. That’s 5 per week on foXnoMad, once per week for Travel Blog Advice and the Tech Guide For Travel, and once a month for How To Travel With Pets. I’ve been pretty good about this over the past year and hope to continue it through the next 3 months. After then I’ll consider expanding and updating some of the weekly sites more frequently.
Write another eBook. Creating my first eBook, Overcoming the 7 Major Obstacles To Traveling the World, was one of my proudest accomplishments. I write all the time but for some reason organizing and putting it into book format was very gratifying and I think it provided to be very useful content for people who want to travel the world (and overcome most fears for that matter). I hope to release my second eBook sometime by June.
More meet ups. I’m a bit shy and don’t take the opportunity to meet other travelers in person enough. I’ve enjoyed meeting other travelers on the road recently and hope to harness the power of the tweet up more in the coming year.
The usual suspects. I’ve got very specific RSS, page view, Google Pagerank, and the other common goals as well. I’m rather superstitious and don’t like to talk about details (until I’ve accomplished them). Overall I’d like to increase the numbers (who doesn’t) and have closer to 100% of my income come from my websites. (A goal I’m not too far off of on.)

Why Goals Are Important

Next week I’ll be talking more about how to set achievable goals for your travel blog. Well defined goals are critical for maintaining a travel blog for the long haul. I appreciate all of you sharing your goals for 2010 and wish you the best of luck. Hopefully Travel Blog Advice can be a part of that in the coming year.

[photos by: keylosa, brtsergio]

4 Simple Ways To Earn A Bit Of Money With Your Travel Blog

Anil P. — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:00:14 +0000

Making money with your travel blog is easy – how much you make is a different story. I’ve previously covered how to make money with your travel blog and reviewed Nomadic Matt’s ebook of the same name but wanted to focus on some of the effortless ways to have a few cents roll in every month.

How you leverage and scale these offerings varies and with a single blog you’re unlikely to be rolling in the dough. You can however monetize what you already have with relatively little effort using these technologies.

Note: Before incorporating any advertising into your main travel blog spend the time to make it blend well with your site. Don’t just throw ad banners and links up at will without considering design. Otherwise you’ll end up detracting from your content which is your travel blogs most important offering.

1. Google Adsense

Most travel bloggers begin their monetizing efforts using Google’s Adsense program. Setting up an account is painless and Google lets you run 3 banner (text, image, and video) ads per page as well as a set of links. Basically whenever anyone clicks an ad you get a bit of money and more money if people buy anything from those sponsors. The content for the ads are determined by the content on a given page.

Adsense Advice:

If you put ads in your sidebar, make sure they line up. Having gaps or uneven borders looks bad and hurts your blog.
Use Google’s Adsense heat map for blogs and place your ads where they’re most likely to be clicked.
To avoid violating them, you’ll need to read Google’s terms of service (TOS).

2. Chitika

Chitika works like Adsense, advertisements based on search terms and you get paid per click. The only difference is that the ads only appear to people who find your blog through a search engine. This means Chitika won’t be visible to your regular readers. Chitika also doesn’t interfere with Adsense or violate any of the Google TOS.

Chitika Tips:

In my experience the largest Chitika ads placed above post titles worked the best.
Unlike Adsense, Chitika sends payments once a month no matter the amount earned. (Google pays per $100 you earn.)

3. Infolinks/Kontera

There are many in-text ad services but Infolinks and Kontera are both good companies with fair offerings. In-text ads pop up when the mouse hovers over them and like Adsense and Chitika you get paid per click. Both Kontera and Infolinks also let you restrict how many ads pop up on a given page and tweak the ad colors and look.

4. Traveler Affiliate Programs

There are a number of affiliate programs for products and services for travelers by travelers. You don’t usually get paid per click but rather a percentage of the revenue earned from a product or service sale. I’m only listing a select few below so please add some of your favorites that I’ve missed in the comments.

World Nomads – Travel insurance banner ads, links, and more.
Matador U – Find out more on getting approved into the program and becoming an affiliate for Matador’s travel writing courses.
How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog – Matt’s book is very popular and recently went on sale. Join his affiliate program and earn 50% of each sale from your site.
Commission Junction – There are many travel-related affiliate programs you can sign up for on Commission Junction.
Overcoming the 7 Major Obstacles to Traveling the World – I run an affiliate program for my recent ebook. You’ll get 50% of each sale from your site and I’ve found the most successful affiliates to be those who reviewed the book on their sites.

A Little Bit Of Change For Your Travels

In the coming weeks I’ll be talking more about moving on to the next stages of monetizing and sharing some of my personal experiences with my travel blogs and websites. Although these methods listed above probably won’t get you an airplane ticket anytime soon they might by you a beer every now and again without taking much of your effort.

[photos by: alancleaver_2000]

How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog

How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog

Anil P. — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:00:48 +0000

There are a number of benefits of maintaining a travel blog and you can add making money to the list by incorporating some of the following methods. The amount you can earn varies and is based on a number of factors but you can ensure even few extra dollars a month which you can use to save or spend on your upcoming travels.

It’s a matter of building useful links into a well thought out travel blog and considering turning some of your travel knowledge into services.

1. Focus On Your Content

Your primary focus should be the quality of the content you are posting on your travel blog. You can’t make every post perfect or great but you want to have a product that people will find useful and want to read. The more people you attract the better your ad revenue is likely to be, but more importantly you don’t want to turn away your audience in the pursuit of making a few bucks here and there.

By maintaining a consistently and well written travel blog you’ll establish a trust with your readers. They’ll be more inclined check out the services and links you have on your site if you can show they’ll provide value.

2. Google Adsense

Probably the most popular and easiest way to monetize your blog is to join Google’s Adsense program. Set up an account and paste the code into your blog posts on in the sidebar and Google will custom tailor the adverts to match the content on the pages they are displayed. Each time someone clicks on an ad you’ll earn a small amount of money and Google will send you a check (or Paypal deposit) for every $100.

Adsense Tips:

Configure the ads to match the background, color, and font of your travel blog.
Place the ads in prominent positions across your blog but don’t ruin your design to do so. Here are Google’s recommendations for Adsense placement in blogs.
Make sure not to ask people to click your ads or click them yourself since Google may suspend you account. Read their terms of service carefully.

3. In-Text Advertising

There are several services that offer in-text advertising such as Infolinks and Kontera. Personally I’ve found Infolinks to be less obtrusive and offer higher payments per click. I’d recommend that you try both however and see which works for you. Set up is free and easy and both services allow you to customize how the links will look and the number that appear on each given page.

4. Affiliate Sales

You can sign up for programs like Amazon’s Associates or Commission Junction to develop banners and links for travel related products. Anytime someone follows one of these links and purchases a product or service you’ll get a little bit of money for it. Never advertise products you wouldn’t buy yourself (jeopardizing the relationship you have with your readers) and place a disclaimer (here’s the Travel Blog Advice disclaimer) somewhere visible on your blog letting people know you make use of affiliate links.

5. Blog Contests

Contest Beat and Contest Blogger post a number of free contests with cash and gift prizes everyday. Most are asking for essays or interesting photos, two things your travel blog is already filled with. Even if you don’t win a prize you’ll at least have a post or two for your travel blog. I also run a number of contests on my other travel blog foXnoMad and if you’d like to get the latest news about the next one consider subscribing to my bi-monthly newsletter.

6. Paid Reviews

Some travel bloggers have had some success writing paid reviews of products and services using Pay Per Post and Review Me. Based on the popularity of your blog you’ll get paid a few bucks for 100-400 word reviews you post on your travel blog. You can choose to disclosure whether or not a review is sponsored (which I strongly recommend) some services like Review Me don’t force you to always write positive reviews so be honest. Your readers will appreciate it.

7. Be An Expert Of A Destination or Travel Service

Being a frequent traveler or an expat can make your specific knowledge of a place or specific aspect of traveling a valuable tool for others. Consider offering your services by converting your knowledge into tours or setting up holiday arrangements for others. You can also try your hand doing some travel writing by offering your services on site like eLance or by submitting some travel posts to Matador.

Stay Focused and Realistic

I’ll emphasize again that it’s important to make quality content your primary focus but not be discouraged from making a little bit of side money from your travel blog as well. It’s just a matter of prioritizing them. For those of you who want to expand your travel blog into a network of sites you can leverage to increase your earnings and a more detailed account of how to increase your earnings, I’d recommend you check out Matt Kepnes’ eBook, How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog.

[photo by: on2wheelz]

Review of Matt Kepnes’ eBook: How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog

Anil P. — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:00:03 +0000

Matt Kepnes’ eBook, How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog, is one of the best resources budding travel bloggers can find on making, marketing, and monetizing their travel blogs. The eBook is short and to the point and covers the topic of search engine optimization (SEO) well. A topic that’s essential you be familiar with if you want to maximize the earning potential of your blog.

Building Your Travel Blog

Kepnes’ eBook is ideally read before you even start a travel blog and runs down the basics on choosing a hosting provider, blogging platform, and selecting a good design. How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog teaches you how to make the most out of SEO before you even choose a domain name. Most travel bloggers learn about SEO and try to maximize their reach much later in the game so you’ll be at an advantage if you follow Kepnes’ tips from the get-go.

Marketing Your Travel Blog

This is where Kepnes’ website, Nomadic Matt has been so incredibly successful. Marketing online is an essential part of getting people to read your travel blog. Of course, having useful, relevant, and interesting material is important but Kepnes shows you how to build links back to your blog, leverage social networks, and create additional travel blogs to increase your earnings.

To The Point

How To Make Money With Your Travel blog gets right to the important points of what it takes to start making money with your travel blogs (you need more than one) from a digital nomad who’s actually living off of his travel blogs. While everything in How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog isn’t new news (especially if you’ve been blogging for sometime) it is a good read and may cover some things you’ve missed.

How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog is available for download for $27 and recommended for all travel bloggers looking to monetize their sites.