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Monetization of travel blog. Any ideas?

Idea threads

eagleye101

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Hi,

I have a travel blog about Greece which was created somehow by mistake.

Let me explain.

Back in 2015, I wrote (actually outsourced) a travel Kindle book about Greece since the country receives millions of tourists each year. The book itself was not really a success but one of the ideas I had to promote this book, was to create a Facebook Group.

Somehow disappointed for the little book sales, I didn't pay much attention to the group but I noticed that people were joining.

Looking for domains, in 2018, I bid for a very strong domain about traveling in Greece (SEO-wise) and actually won it. My immediate reaction was to create a website and sell it and include the group as a bonus.

For reasons that are out of the scope of this conversation, I didn't sell it (even if I was offered up to $3000) and I decided to improve the website and maybe sell it later in a higher price.

Right now, the website is growing almost on autopilot (I outsource some articles and there are others writing guest posts for backlinks). Instagram is going crazy, Facebook not so much, yet it has some activities.

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

Thank you
 
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Pratik_ITpro

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Hi,

I have a travel blog about Greece which was created somehow by mistake.

Let me explain.

Back in 2015, I wrote (actually outsourced) a travel Kindle book about Greece since the country receives millions of tourists each year. The book itself was not really a success but one of the ideas I had to promote this book, was to create a Facebook Group.

Somehow disappointed for the little book sales, I didn't pay much attention to the group but I noticed that people were joining.

Looking for domains, in 2018, I bid for a very strong domain about traveling in Greece (SEO-wise) and actually won it. My immediate reaction was to create a website and sell it and include the group as a bonus.

For reasons that are out of the scope of this conversation, I didn't sell it (even if I was offered up to $3000) and I decided to improve the website and maybe sell it later in a higher price.

Right now, the website is growing almost on autopilot (I outsource some articles and there are others writing guest posts for backlinks). Instagram is going crazy, Facebook not so much, yet it has some activities.

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

Thank you

This is something interesting and I believe there will be huge audience at your blog and would have a great daily visits.

Google Ads are the most common & popular way to get money from your blog, however there are other ways too...

  1. Monetize with CPC or CPM Ads. One of the most common ways bloggers make money is through placing ads on their site.
  2. Sell Private Ads.
  3. Include Affiliate Links in Your Content.
  4. Sell Digital Products relavent to your niche.
  5. Use it as a Content Marketing Tool for Your Parllel Business.
  6. Sell Memberships or plans for Industry.
Etc...

Hopefully, this will help...
 

Kid

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@Pratik_ITpro wrote most of them.

I'd suggest Direct affiliate links to travel companies that offer Greece tourism.

You could ask them for special coupon available only to your visitors
(or on instagram) and track sales by use of it.

Harder but more unique - you might leverage your local presence
and talk to local travel bureau to offer special package or trip.
Something that most US travel blogs don't offer on their sites.

Your site seems to be mostly about places that can be visited
and not about trips that can be bought. You could change that as well.


O/T: lot of successful authors say that 90% of a success of a book is marketing.
Maybe your first book wasn't exposed to hungry crowd.
 

Mass

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Hey Mate.

I'm a travel agent in the UK and there is a market for things like this. We use similar websites as a reference for other parts of the world but yours needs a good overhaul.

Why don't you double down and get as much info on your site as possible. Eg. Climate charts, ferry routes, Multicente ideas etc.

How much profit does your site make and where from?
 

Bekit

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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).
And then, design a journey that you will take that vacationer on, from the beginning of their plan to the day they're unpacking after their trip. Create this journey to be so robust and flexible that no matter where someone is at when their googling causes them to land on you, they can pick up right there and not have to visit any other source.

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?
 

Twiizlar

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In terms of your blog, I think you are severely overvaluing it.

  • It relatively has little content for a blog and doesn't rank in the top 30 for any keywords.
  • Your domain isn't that high value (it is a .info)
  • You only have 7 backlinks pointing to your website which means that the SEO value is nothing
  • 1500 Facebook likes is relatively small
  • 1800 instagram followers is relatively small

Not trying to be mean but you're basically starting from the bottom. Just being honest here.

Worry about creating GREAT content and start ranking for keywords. Worry about monitization after you start getting significant traffic.
 
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