I asked some of the internet’s top bloggers to share their most creative tips for making money through blogging. While I knew some of them already, I was blown away by their willingness to help out and share their experiences. Some of these folks get over 100,000 unique visitors a month. And Gary from Everything Everywhere was one of Time Magazine’s Top 25 Blogs of 2010. These are people you want to listen to. Stay tuned for the next post in this series where they also share tips on building traffic.
1. Travel bloggers often have a hard time monetizing their blogs because they haven’t figured out what problem they can provide a solution for. There’s nothing wrong with roaming the world and writing about it (I do that too), but ultimately, you won’t get paid for that. So instead of thinking about the travel, think about problem-solving. If you orient your perspective — and your blog — around that, monetization becomes much easier.
Chris Guillebeau, The Art of Non-Conformity
2. Monetization is putting the cart before the horse. You don’t monetize a blog, you monetize an audience and a following. If you don’t have that, you will pretty much just be selling links.
Gary Arndt, Everything Everywhere
3. By far, the easiest and most useful way to start monetizing a website is through affiliate marketing. That simply means selling other people’s products (that will be useful to your audience) in exchange for a commission. This is how I recommend people start because you can learn what your audience wants and how to sell things to them without having to create and support a full product.
Corbett Barr, Free Pursuits
4. I don’t think that bloggers should try to be too creative in their monetization methods – especially at first. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel.
The first and easiest way to monetize is by offering services. Find something you are good at and learn how to offer it in a way where it is a valuable investment to others. Coaching, consulting, editing, copywriting, etc… – this is by far the fastest source of income.
But my favorite – and more long-term strategy – is to create premium products based on your expertise, journey, or travels. I build a community by giving away valuable free content and primarily provide for my family by spending months crafting even more impactful products that I sell.
Both of these are extremely common – and there’s good reason for that! :-)
Adam Baker, Man vs Debt
5. Build your own products sooner rather than later
My most regular and instant income is from my own product. It is an eBook with cycling routes. The book took nearly a month to put together but since then I’ve sat back and watched the cash roll in every day. Your audience is building up trust with you and they want to see your own personal products more than something from someone else. Take the plunge and start writing your own eBook or creating your own product now. You won’t regret it.
Andreas Kambanis, London Cyclist
6. A creative and unique way? Well, I don’t think there is one special way.
Simply provide products and services that match your niche. If you give the people what they want, they will buy it. If you want to make money right away, the simplest and easiest way is to sell a bunch of text link ads.
Matt Kepnes, Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site
7. I think being unique is very, very difficult and perhaps a little stupid. The best thing to do is look at sites that are making money and follow their example. In travel, take a look at Lonely Planet and Rough Guides for information sites; take a look at Digital Photography School for your photo posts; look at niche sites like Art of Solo Travel where they sell digital resources based around a theme. Have a look at successful online publishing businesses and model yourself after them.
Craig Martin, Indie Travel Podcast
8. In order to monetize your blog, you’re going to have to build a following – a community of loyal fans. Worry about providing tremendous value to your readers first, and monetization will happen naturally later. Then and only then will you have the ability to create something that you know your audience wants and needs (instead of guessing what they want beforehand), and at that point no selling will be necessary, because they’ll be eager to pay you back by purchasing the products you create and/or the affiliate products you recommend.
Pat Flynn, The Smart Passive Income Blog
9. Sell products (e.g. ebooks, consulting, etc.) that solve problems your readers are likely to come across. Be useful and make their lives easier.
Anil Polat, foXnoMad
10. It depends upon what kind of stuff you blog about, but I’d really like to see a move towards paying for valuable content that only travel/lifestyle bloggers can provide. For example, foodie travel bloggers provide really useful information when they review restaurants & places to eat in specific destinations which can save other travelers the cost (and unpleasant experience) of going to the wrong places…wouldn’t it be cool if they got paid to provide that information in some kind of format?
Lea Woodward, Location Independent
11. It all starts with your reader. Who is that ideal reader? You need to understand them and then decide what things you can offer them of a premium value. There are a number of different web monetization models out there (advertising, affiliate marketing, etc.) but none of them work if you’re pitching things your audience doesn’t need, doesn’t want or isn’t interested in. Once you figure out things that would help them, then work on your approach. Website design is important, but classic marketing advice still applies here – the web may have changed the medium, but the foundations are the same, so if marketing is your weak point, go to your library and start reading.
Andy Hayes, Sharing Travel Experiences
12. Yes, blogs can get by with selling text link ads but these should be a supplement to an additional revenue stream. Google is fickle. What will you do if you get de-indexed or you are stripped of your page rank?
You’ll notice a growing trend in professional travel bloggers offering products and services. I am not saying go write an ebook for the sake of it, there are quite a few weak ones out there. If you look at the most successful bloggers you will notice one thing; unique selling point. You’ve also got to think of first mover advantage, some topics have just been done to death. If I asked you about how to monetize a travel blog you’d direct me to Nomadic Matt. Frequent Flier Miles? Chris Guillebeau, of course. You need a specialism.
Now this isn’t restricted to ebooks. For example, Hop and Jaunt are a successful graphic design duo. Christine Gilbert and Nomadic Matt recently set up a consulting service. Do you have a unique skill set or knowledge others don’t? Is this widely available on the net? Can you successfully develop and distribute a product or service at a profit?
My final tip: Strongly consider iPhones applications. The explosion in sales and growth in the market is a strong contender for monetization possibilities.
Amar Hussain, Gap Year Escape
13. The best advice, and it’s the advice I followed from my mentor, is to not worry about the money. The first thing you need to focus on is design and content. If you nail this, then the traffic will come and when the traffic comes the money opportunities will start opening up. From the moment you start your blog, you need to be focused on building your brand, and your authoritative voice, and you must start building relationships with people. It is from these things that opportunities will arise, such as partnerships with travel companies, which you never would have thought of in the beginning.
Craig and Caz Makepeace, Y Travel Blog
14. Content is king. I think the first thing to start monetizing is to write a lot and give it a creative spin. Do some research and see what sort of sites are in the market and which ones are doing well. Steer clear from convention and find a particular style or market you like – specialize in a country or a field of travel/lifestyle that not many engage in.
Nellie Huang, Wild Junket
15. This may sound superfluous but the first step to monetizing your blog is to treat your blog like a business. This entails thinking about:
A) A blog name and getting your own domain name (if you haven’t done so already).
B) The brand you’d like to create – from your writing style to topics and the look-and-feel of your blog. Think about what would differentiate your blog from the rest.
C) A business plan – your objective(s) with the blog, target audience and how to reach them, traffic-building and monetizing strategies, identifying your peers, medium- to long-term goals, etc…
D) Products and pricing – be it ads, ebooks or services, define your products and your rates.
E) Networking – join discussion forums, network via Twitter or facebook and attend blog events. Invest time in building your network as this will be your source of inspiration, information and opportunities. Have your business card ready at events!
Then pour your ‘heart and soul’ into your blog (by this, I mean dedication and discipline) without any high, short-term expectations. Last but not least, don’t forget to have FUN blogging! 
Keith Jenkins, Velvet Escape
16. Travel and lifestyle blogs are in a great position to take advantage of affiliate marketing, because there are so many travel affiliate programs like Expedia or Travelocity as well as niche affiliate programs that could fit into any type of lifestyle blog. Consider something like a Top 10 Extreme Travel Challenge Contest if there were 10 bloggers involved.
You could have each travel writer put together their most extreme travel itinerary and post about it, and then you could have a contest for readers to vote on the best trip, and this contest could be posted across all of the different blogs involved, with links back to each others extreme travel itinerary.
Each reader votes and maybe one reader is chosen for a special prize, like a weekend getaway or something, or even the actual winning itinerary, if that could be afforded. The trick is then that for each itinerary, you incorporate travel affiliate programs to market airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, or whatever other types of travel services you use along the way to save money.
It would probably create good SEO for everybody around the terms Extreme Travel or whatever else you wanted to use, plus everybody would benefit from the affiliate marketing because of the extra traffic driven by reader exposure from each others blog.
Max, Maximizing Money
What are your strategies for making money with your blog? Looking for more advice? Post comments, questions below or in the Forum.
About Todd Wassel
Extremely helpful post, Todd.
Glad you liked the Inka!
Excellent tips Todd! Always learning something new everyday.
same here. Putting this post together and interacting with the bloggers was great opportunity to learn a lot of new things.
Good luck with the new site, I look forward to seeing how the 1000-1000 challenge goes.
Thanks Guys. I know you are already well ahead in the 1000-1000 challenge but I'd love to have you in the community as well. I can even come up with a harder gold medal version like the 2000-2000 or even 3000-3000 Challenge for you
Great new site, Todd! I enjoyed reading this post, and completely agree with those that talked about the content coming before the monetization. I look forward to reading more!
Even though I contributed to this post it's great to see what the other 15 bloggers came up with. Great post Todd!
Great to read what everyone else wrote. It certainly has me thinking things. Thanks for including us here Todd.
Todd,
I don't know where you find the time, my friend….but great idea. I will definitely promote this everywhere!
I just keep adding hours to the day
Maybe I should write an ebook about doing what you love so much that you don't have any down time! I find a way, and I'm hoping that this site become a true community site so that the pressure to succeed is on all of us. I hope that doesn't sound too lazy 
Lots of great tips for everyone there. Looking forward to more good stuff to come as the site develops.
I really like the inclusion of non-travel blogger quotes. I think sometimes we're all in a circle looking at each other when the interesting action is going on outside.
Great post. I just recently started writing about my travels, since I was going through a bit of workaholic-former-lawyer/writing withdrawals. Very reassuring to hear that it's okay, or even a good thing, that I just focus on content and design for a while. It's the writing, photography and travel I enjoy, after all.
Would sure be nice to figure out how to make a bit of money, though, so I don't have to return to the firm eventually with my tail between my legs! Thanks for posting such a thorough compilation of great tips to keep in mind.
Great post! This is just the info I've been looking for as I think about redesigning my site. Thanks so much!
Great list! I think I will bookmark it.
Thanks for putting this together!
I loved this list! As a fairly new blogger it's great to have some tips like this from some of the experienced and successful bloggers!
Got this bookmared to read and follow up on Todd. Sounds absolutely fantastic. Gotta hand it to you, you really are a livewire guy!
Thanks Jim. Although I'm not really sure what a livewire person is
Great post, great site!
Enjoyed getting a cross section of opinions.
I still don't think enough people in the travel industry realize how much bloggers contribute so why pay them? Most hotels & B&b's I stay in have no clue about bloggers. Companies offering interesting experiences have had little or no exposure to bloggers in my experience (dude ranches, train trips and scenic boat rides come to mind). You may not make money but you might get a hefty discount or a free experience for an objective blog about the said experience just by asking. I know that opens up another can of worms about writing an objective piece AND I know it's not putting money in your pocket but…
I enjoyed reading the different opinions! I think focussing on a specific niche is the basis for any successful monetization plan. I would not think about making money right at the beginning, first establish your niche, write good quality content, refine your blog/website design and find the right products that best suit your travel niche.
Great post Todd! As someone who is still fairly new to this, I love posts like these from people who are successful doing this. For me, someone who hasn't really monetized my site yet, I think patience is the biggest key. There has been many times I wanted to throw my hands up and quit, thinking that there's no way I could ever make my living doing this. But then I think about how I feel when I am writing and traveling, and it's truly when I'm most happy. If I have to sacrifice time and energy now to eventually be able to get paid to do this full time, everything will be worth it.
Thanks so much for the great post, and thanks to all the successful bloggers who contributed. That's another thing I love about this business and community. Nearly everyone is so forthright and helpful with their information. It's a great thing to be a part of.
Glad it could help Adam. I knew some of the bloggers already, but was amazed at how open those I didn't know were to helping. Great that you have the passion to do this full time. Hopefully the 1000-1000 Challenge can help
This write up is amazing! Glad I found it in the Twitter world! I am gaining a whole new world with social media, branding, etc and I found this content very useful!
Great job Todd!
Hey Sang, thanks for stopping by. I think the thanks should go to the great bloggers and their tips, I'm just the host this time
Great post. Wonderful tips. Useful information.
wow! what a fantastic post and great site idea todd! so much for this relative newbie to grow into, but good starting points too. fantastic!
Wonderful post Todd, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this little "experiment"of yours goes. The very best of luck, but with your talent and dedication, it's not likely you need too much luck!
These are great tips that are very helpful to any blogger in any niche. Will definitely re-read.
nice diversity of viewpoints in this post, Todd, thanks. look forward to reading more at this new site you’ve begun. all the best with it.
This is so helpful! Thanks for getting these bloggers together and providing a forum for them to share their advice.
There are some tried and trusted tips here – I agree that you have to start with the passion, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the money will automatically come your way as the blog grows – you have to work hard at that with your business brain rather than the creative brain that may drive your blog.
If you start following some of the internet marketeers out there outside the travel sphere you’ll get lots of helpful advice too.
Hey Heather,
Agreed, there is a ton of information around the internet about how to monetize. I think one of the challenges is finding the best ways to apply the information to the travel niche, and finding the best models to match our blogging styles.
Todd, thank you for this. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately and my head is spinning. I definitely need a sense of direction with this. Right now, it’s a lot of information and it seems like a very daunting task. I manage my blog, write for another site, and work full time with a family at home. Sometimes I burn the candle at both ends and have suffered for it this year.
Like Adam I really enjoy this process and love writing. I feel like such a small fish in a big pond and it is so easy to get frustrated and want to quit. I don’t know how all of you do it and am trying to get my head above water trying to learn all of this stuff. But the Travel Blog Challenge and links like this are encouraging.
I hope I can still afloat!
Todd,
Nice site and I really enjoyed this post on monetizing. If I ever get serious about blogging for income, there are some great suggestions here.
Jason
Hey Jason,
I would consider it. I know you are using your blog to build a platform for you book. I started the same way and realized early on that all the things I was doing to help with building traffic could be applied to earning an income from the blog as well. We just have a fine balance between not annoying readers and earning money.
Great tips and I love the concept of the site. I’ll be joining the challenge soon!
Great Kyle! Looking forward to it.
Great great tips!!!
Nice collaboration. Thanks for putting the time into creating this post!
Christy @ Ordinary Traveler recently posted..Photo of the Week- Post Storm Surf Session 2
Great post as always! I particularly like the tips from Pat Flynn and Craig and Caz Makepeace: concentrate on content at first, then spend more time promoting your blog through social media and building relationships, and then hopefully monetization follows on from that.
Amazing ideas, thank you!
Tai Yuni recently posted..Eat Shop Milan
A very intresting post and many useful comments. My website is run for the love of travelling, I guess most people started the same way?
I think in the past people started travel blogs and websites out of a passion for traveling and then they grew into something more. However, as more info becomes available on running websites, and as it becomes easier to be your own digital publisher, there is a growing number of sites that start off initially as a business. Of course this is often born out of a love of traveling, or at least I hope it is
I agree that the reader is everything; know your reader, understand why she/he reads your blog and what she hopes to get out of it, then go that extra mile to provide it. Yes, your musings on Quito are fun to write, but maybe what she really needs to know is where it’s safe to go hiking alone, or where to find a great meal for under $10. Share your wisdom; it’s worth a great deal.