Travel Blogging As An Online Business ?

It seems like everyone who goes on a trip starts a blog. But make money from it? How could that even be?

If you've ever dreamed of traveling the world and working part time online, then travel blogging might be a good option. Despite all the naysayers out there, Brendan van Son says it's entirely possible - he's been doing it for more than three years.

Brendan van Son is a traveling entrepreneur, blogger/photographer and adventurer. Learn about Brendan van Son. Brendan runs a successful online business: Brendan's Adventures. In this interview we discuss travel blogging as an online business.

Bryan Haines: You've been traveling for 3 years. How do you support yourself?

Brendan van Son: I support myself through my travel website

Brendan's Adventures. I also do a little bit of work doing some social media consulting for travel companies, and sell some photos as well. I also have started a travel magazine called Vagabundo Magazine which hasn't really supported me yet, but hopefully it will help soon.

Bryan Haines: Making a living off a travel blog is the dream of many travelers and expats. Realistic or not? What advice would you give to new travel bloggers?

Brendan van Son: Absolutely realistic. The two obstacles, however, are that one people don't know how to earn from a blog, and two they aren't willing to put in the hundreds of hours of free work needed before one can start earning from it. My advice to newbies is to ask questions, don't just go along and expect to start making money. Seek out people who have made money doing so and ask for their advice. There is a blueprint for earning money from a website that most of us have figured out. Lots of people blog about it, write eBooks about it, and even have courses in it. If you want to do it the right way, seek out help don't just go it alone.

Bryan Haines: How important is social media in your travel blog?

Brendan van Son: It's completely necessary. I generate about 50% of my traffic from social media streams. However, at the beginning it was nearly 100% before google started helping me out. Social media is an advertising source in many ways. The difference is that instead of spending money, you spend time on social media. In deciding which are most effective you have to look at the old adage of time equals money and treat it as such. You want to invest the most time into the networks that give you the best value for your time. Personally, I find that I get the best returns from facebook and twitter. However, streams like reddit and pintrest also have the potential to send your work viral. That being said, I tend to stick to facebook and twitter because they are more consistent in their returns.

Bryan Haines: What are the most common revenue streams for bloggers?

Brendan van Son:Most bloggers earn from selling advertising space on their websites. I'd be lying if I didn't say that the majority of that wasn't through text link advertising because it is. That's by far the type of advertising advertisers are most interested in buying. Sure some bloggers make money selling eBooks and such, but I'd say that 80-90% earn the majority of their bank from text links, although few will admit it.

Bryan Haines: What monetization attempts have failed horribly for you?

Brendan van Son: Affiliate advertising. I hate it. I despise the returns that I get and how they fluctuate so wildly. I think that if you had a niche site, for example a travel insurance site selling affiliate travel insurance, then you could do well. However, few people visit my site looking to buy something via an affiliate so they fail for me. Putting up an affiliate banner on a site, in my opinion, is the greatest scheme in advertising history. The site owner only gets money via direct sales and zero value is given to the amount of exposure that a company gets just from having their banner hit the eyes of a reader. If I see the banner of a travel insurance company all over the internet I might not click a banner, but next time I need travel insurance I'll likely check them out on my own. Thus, those who are running ads for that company are selling themselves short.

Bryan Haines: What type of traffic is needed to generate income from a travel blog?

Brendan van Son: It varies pretty wildly. Basically, as soon as I post an update I'll get a flurry of a couple hundred views. If you include the pages I have created for each blog on the list as well I'd say that I average about 400-500 pageviews to top100 related pages. However, in the week following the update that can be as high as 1000-1500 at times and often more.

Bryan Haines: You created the Top 100 list for travel blogs which has become somewhat of an authoritative list of top travel bloggers worldwide. Is this primarily a labor of love and/or does this help generate inbound links/traffic?

Brendan van Son: I started the list out of annoyance with all the other lists that were out there. There were about 10 other listings of top blogs and none of them were accepting new sites, and they were only using computer metrics. I wanted to compile something that was ongoing and that put in a little bit of human touch. I started the list 100% for the reason that I thought that there should be a proper representation of those sites out there. It is a lot of work and certainly a labour of love. However, I have benefited from it as well. Not only have many people linked into it, and it has generated lots of traffic, but many people have come to my site looking for the list and then getting hooked on the photos and my articles. It's those new eyes to my work generate by the list that has be the list's greatest gift back to me.

Bryan Haines: What projects do you have on the go? What's next for you?

Brendan van Son: I'm always into a load of projects. I have recently started a travel eZine called Vagabundo Magazine which published both a blog and a quarterly magazine. We are in the process of putting together the second issue of the eZine and we're really excited about the growth it has seen. I am also working to start incorporating some video into my work load. I'm starting Vagabundo Television at the moment and hope to get the first episode out there for the world to see later this month some time.

Personally, I am in Europe at the moment making my way towards Africa. I am ready for a new challenge and I'm going to be trying to visit every country in Africa while travelling "the right way". I imagine that my trip around Africa will take about 2 to 2 and half years. It should be a fun ride!