Bekit
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- Aug 13, 2018
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Hi,
I decided to improve the website and maybe sell it later in a higher price.
...
The thing is that I don't have too much experience with travel blogs. I show google ads but the earnings are almost zero.
Any ideas on how to monetize a travel blog?
Here's the website: Welcome - Visit Greece
@Pratik_ITpro gave you a good list, but let's back up a second.
How does anyone monetize anything?
By providing + skewing value.
How does your blog provide value?
Start here...
Why don't you double down and get as much info on your site as possible. Eg. Climate charts, ferry routes, Multicente ideas etc.
Here's a thought experiment you can conduct...
Put yourself in the shoes of a person who is about to visit Greece. They've never been there, and they have only a rudimentary plan so far. Let's say they want to visit Athens and Corfu. They realize they won't understand the language and that they might have some extra challenges because they don't even read the alphabet. So there are a lot of unanswered questions in their heads about the trip, and they're going to Google to get the answers.
Freeze the scene right there.
Enter into the mind of a person about to make a vacation itinerary.
Predict all the questions they are going to ask themselves.
- Where am I going to stay? Hotel? Bed & Breakfast? Countryside cottage? etc.
- How am I going to get around? Transportation options, timetables, routes, etc.
- What do I need to do about security? Areas to avoid, things not to do, etc.
- What are some gems off the beaten path? (Things only a local tour guide could tell you)
- What am I going to eat? How do I know I'm not missing out on eating at the places that would have been my very favorite?
- What about accessibility?
- Etc etc etc. (use a mainstream travel website to guide you into all the typical topics, and then use your creativity and imagination to go even deeper).
They've found the mother lode now.
Google is out the window, because your site provides everything they need. You've thought of every question. It's actually uncanny, because you've organized the journey so effectively that as each next question arises in the heads of your researching vacationers, your site offers an answer to that question.
You take them by the hand and lead them into the most magical version of their trip possible. You blow their minds with how much more helpful this site is than everywhere else on the internet. You provide chatty, helpful tidbits of information along the way, items that they couldn't find anywhere else.
They see the difference in your site immediately. They know they can trust the quality of your information, because it was recently published and it comes from authoritative sources.
And the journey is so effortless, so delightful, so engaging all along the way, that they end up getting sucked into spending hours more than they intended on your site, simply because of the sheer enjoyment of it all.
OK, now THAT is a site that is going to rake in money.
No offense, but the current site is just a hodge-podge of disjointed articles about Greece, thrown together into a hopper and stirred around.
There's no narrative, no arc, no path for the visitor to follow.
And if one of your articles DOES have the good fortune to rank on Google for the topic in question (say, your glossary of Greek restaurant names comes up in a search for "What is Psistaria"), they're certainly not going to feel that they've arrived at their one-stop shop for making their entire trip better.
So go after the ideal version of the site.
If you know SEO, you know that your site has to exceed other sites on the internet in expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness in order to rank well. Establish that authority in Google's eyes. Make yourself the PubMed or the Mayo Clinic of visiting Greece.
Begin with the end in mind. Start with a vision for the kind of site that people will spend LOTS of time on — because they WANT to, because it's so beguiling and inviting and interesting, with so many juicy tidbits that they can't get anywhere else.
Then create a plan for the entire set of articles you want to eventually include.
Then start to create those articles with the utmost care, quality, precision, and attention to detail. What if you interviewed a few real Greek travel agents that speak great English and asked them key questions that they would answer in detail? Then you pass the transcript of the interview over to a writer, who turns it into an epic content piece with details that only a local would know.
All of a sudden, your site is attracting viewers and traffic and repeat visitors. Everyone who goes to Greece stumbles across your site at some point in their planning phase. Your metrics are going through the roof.
Now — THIS is when your site becomes an insanely interesting place for advertisers. All the big hotel brands are outbidding each other, courting you for the best ad placement sites on your pages. Sponsorship offers and requests for ad space start dropping into your lap. You say, "Why yes, thank you for asking! Here's my price list and available ad plans." You set your rates and the money is yours. And the flood of visitors to your site ensures a steady stream of impressions, clicks, and conversions that you can charge for.
Is it a lot of work? Yeah.
But then again, isn't any worthwhile fastlane business a lot of work?