Income Reports: Blog Monetization – 11 Travel Blogs Bare It All

Let’s face it, no matter who you are at some point in your blogging life you’ll want to do some kind of blog monetization. Either directly or indirectly. Unless you are just blogging for the fun of it. And yes, people do that :-).

In the Internet Marketing (making money online) genre there are some bloggers such as Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income blog who talks about how he earns his living in details; lots of details. For me, it helps to put my ideas into perspective and sees what works and what does not. Plus its pure inspiration since I know the guy personally. And its still insane to see how much he makes on a monthly basis. Last month (April 2015), he made $123,853.51. No, not last year, last month! Now before you start going crazy about it all, he’s worked very hard at it and took years to build his traffic and always gives to this readers. I hope you are taking notes.

The things to learn from Pat are the following:

1. Have multiple streams of income – he makes money from several ventures, the most of which is from hosting as everyone wants to be like Pat. Our readers want our lifestyle, so figure out how you can get them to live it.
2. It takes money to make money – In April, it cost him $37,000+ to make $183,000+. That’s not small change, but when you are starting out this is a monumental sum. So don’t think you can make all this work immediately.
3. You must have an email list – Since October 2009, my list is currently at 9,194 subscribers and growing. Pat’s over 100,000; this is where he gives, gives and then gives some more. It’s also where he can send offers to his readers as applicable. It’s the key to his business. How many are on your list? Do you have a list?
   Here’s a book I wrote to help you do just this. It’s a small price to pay based on what the book will teach you about building a list for your travel blog business. Yes, I said business as it is a business.

Sadly, not many travel bloggers talk about their monetary aspect of the business, but of course most want to know about it. This is why I try to broach the subject in forums around Facebook and when I meet bloggers in person. For some reason, it’s always uncomfortable talking about money, but the reality is that we need it to maintain our lifestyle. So why not talk about it?

I’ve met bloggers who are not that known that are killing it; they are making a living and living comfortably. Kudos!

I started a lame attempt at talking about my income, but realized that it takes a long time to get the report together so there’s not been one in ages. I’m working on getting it together and hopefully you’ll start seeing them monthly very soon. What I did realize though is that it really helps to do it as you see what’s working and what’s not. It also helped me to get a proper accounting system together. I’m using Wave. What are you using?

But there are a few bloggers who are kicking it and actually telling you about it on a monthly basis. Here they are:

1. Bryan from Wandering Gourmand –  Generates most of his income from freelance writing
2. Hannah Finch and Dan Cortazio, from StoryV.com –  This Australian and Brazilian combo makes their tally from direct advertisement to the blog. It was fun reading their report as I actually recognized some of the places they mentioned in Brazil.
3. Kirsty Henderson from Nerdy Nomad – This Canadian travel blogger makes most of her earnings currently from selling maps of Kigali. I needed a map to tell me that Kigali was in Rwanda.
4. Samantha Wei and Yeison at Mytanfeet – This couple based in Costa Rica makes most of their income from affiliating with local tour companies.
5. Sebastian from Travel Work Live – Looks like he makes it from Affiliate Marketing and a coaching program [newly added]
6. Susan Gourlay from Digital Nomad Wannabe – Makes most from advertising and affiliates.
7. Will Tang Travel Blog Breakthrough – Varies, but looks like freelance writing although he tries a few different things from month to month.

If you know of anymore, let me know and I’ll keep updating this list.

And here are five blogs that used to do it but have stopped, but you can still find good information about how they monetized that may still be valid:

1. Gadi and Tun from Being in Awe – stopped in April 2014
2. Dave and Vicky from A Couple Travelers – stopped in January 2014
3. Jacqueline from Escape Normal – stopped in January 2013
4. Sabrina Iovino from Just One Way Ticket.com – It’s not really a monthly income report, but she wrote a post in January 2014 that documents several months and talks about how she makes money
5. Tish from Travel Tish) – stopped in October 2014

How do you monetize your blog? Please leave a note below and let me know.

PS: Internet Marketer Joel Comm has just updated his Adsense Secrets book and the Kindle version is free on Amazon until June 7, 2015. Get it here.