Turning a Blog into a Business: 7 Things I Did Right
When I started this blog back in 2010, I started it entirely as a hobby. I never expected anyone except my parents to read it, and I certainly never dreamed that one day I would make money from it. And that was perfectly fine with me – I just needed an outlet for my travel stories, and a blog seemed like as good an option as anything else.
But as time went by and my audience miraculously began (and then continued) growing, I was faced with a decision: Was my blog going to remain just a hobby, or was it time to start thinking about it as a business and eventually a career?
It's not a question anyone else could have answered for me as every blog/blogger's trajectory is different. And I didn't make a decision right away. I kept traveling. I kept working. I eventually went back to school with the goal of getting a job in tourism.
But after I finished grad school in 2013, I decided that I DID want to keep traveling and blogging and I DID want to work towards making a full-time living as a blogger/freelancer.
It was one thing to make that decision. It was another entirely to put it into practice.
After grad school, I traveled a bit more before finally settling down in Ohio and finding some contract work outside of the travel sphere to help bolster my bank account while I experimented with different ways to make money.
I wasn't ready to fully dive in and rely on just my blog and freelance work right away – I had tried that once while traveling, and it had been a massive failure. Instead I took my time and slowly found my way to viewing my blog as a business.
Throughout the long process of going from hobby blogger to professional blogger, I did many things wrong. But I also did quite a few things right and thought now would be as good a time as any to share them with you:
1. Teaching myself things along the way
I didn't go to school for marketing or to get a business degree. I studied journalism and then tourism management; I knew absolutely nothing about running a business when I started.
But I'm a curious type of person, and I'm always up for trying and learning new things. One major thing that I did right was being open to learning skills along the way. I taught myself about SEO and affiliate marketing. I learned how to leverage and grow my social media accounts. I did my research on how and where to find freelance gigs. And I was okay with the fact that I didn't already know it all.
The thing about this industry is that it's always changing and evolving, so the learning never stops.
2. Constantly trying new things
As with anything new that you're learning, you have to be flexible and open to trying new things. I started to monetize my blog back in 2011/12, when selling text links was the ideal way to make quick money. Most travel bloggers I knew did it, and back then it wasn't viewed as unfavorably as it is now.
As Google has updated its rules, though, selling text links for cash has fallen by the wayside; it's no longer a sustainable monetization method. This has meant that I've experimented a lot when it comes to ways to make money as a blogger. Some things have worked (like advertising and affiliate marketing), while others might not be for me (like selling products or running tours).
It can be exhausting always trying to come up with new ideas, especially when you're relying on those ideas for your income while still wanting to please an audience of travel lovers who really don't care if/how you're making money. But you can never find out what works without trying a lot of different things.
3. Diversifying my income
Trying new things year after year has helped me diversify my income streams. The number one question I get asked when I tell people that I'm a blogger is “How do you make money doing that?” And the answer, of course, is not a simple one.
I don't make money in just one way any more – but that's actually a really good thing. Having a series of income streams means that if I lose one, I won't go broke or have to stress too much about how I'll pay next month's mortgage.
These days, I make money the following ways:
- Advertising (I'm with Mediavine, which serves up all the in-content ads on this site)
- Affiliate marketing (I earn commissions when people buy/book things I recommend)
- Paid campaigns (when I'm hired by a brand or destination to create content about a tour or place)
- Branded content on my blog (i.e. a company pays me to write about a product, destination, etc.)
- Consulting (with other bloggers on things like affiliate marketing, and with destinations about influencer marketing)
- Influencer campaigns (usually on social media)
- Course sales (these ones!)
- Speaking (usually at blogger-focused conferences and events)
- Freelance writing (for other travel websites, though I don't do this very much any more)
My income still fluctuates month-to-month, but it's far steadier now than it ever used to be!
READ MORE: How I Make Money as a Travel Blogger
4. Not undervaluing what I have to offer
When I first started to monetize my blog, it was really difficult to know how much to charge for certain things. How much should a sponsored post be? What about a banner ad? Are you supposed to charge to do giveaways? Again, it was an educational process for me, and one that I'm STILL learning about. Thankfully my fellow travel bloggers have always been willing to help and offer guidance along the way.
In the end, I settled on the sorts of income streams that I felt comfortable with, and then had to consider how much each of those was worth based on the time/effort involved on my part, the size of my audience, etc. The toughest part has been not undervaluing myself.
When I went on my first paid campaign for a destination, I WAY underpriced myself simply because I had no benchmark to set my price against.
The thing I have to keep reminding myself is that access to my audience is valuable (and closely protected!), my content is strong, and I 100% deserve to be paid for the hard work I pour into every project.
As a female entrepreneur, it's far too easy to feel apologetic about wanting to make money – but we all need to get over this!
5. Learning when to say no
Especially when you're first starting out, it can be really tempting to say yes to everything – every press trip, every text link, every offer of a free product to try out. But you have to learn when to say no.
Like no, I will not place a link to your spammy online gambling site even if you are willing to pay me $800. Or no, I am not interested in writing a sponsored post about a destination I've never visited, no matter how easy it would be. Or no, sorry, that super luxury food-focused press trip just isn't quite the right fit for my audience.
Even though it would be great to say yes to everything (and potentially make quite a bit more money), you do have to decide where to draw the line and then stick to it. It's not always easy, but is so important to running a healthy blog-as-a-business.
As time has worn on, I also sometimes just have to say no for my mental health and well-being. I don't want to always be on the road, and need to force some balance into my life at times by saying no to trips and projects that I'm just not super excited about.
6. Investing in my website
I was just as cheap as every other travel blogger out there when I was first starting out. I got the cheapest web hosting possible, was using a free WordPress theme, and was reluctant to shell out any money that I didn't think I could immediately make back. Why? Well because I wasn't *making* much money, of course, and so it was difficult to justify spending any.
But I've learned what every business owner at some point learns: you have to spend money to make money.
It starts out slow: maybe purchasing better web hosting, a new theme, an online course or ebook, productivity tools, etc. And eventually it will turn into spending money on team members and premium services to help you work smarter instead of harder.
And of course I spend more money on traveling, too, which is equally as important for a website that's all about traveling!
7. Staying true to my voice (even as it has evolved)
Lastly, through all the experimenting and learning and monetizing, I've tried really hard to stay true to my voice and ever-evolving travel style.
When I was strictly a backpacker traveling around Europe, I wasn't accepting super luxury press trips or hotel stays. Now that I'm a bit older and enjoy more comforts when I travel, I still focus on realistic travel – meaning I go to destinations and book tours and stay in accommodation that the average reader of my site can still afford and enjoy.
And I always keep my readers in mind when accepting anything sponsored on this site. If I'm going on a free trip, you'd better believe it's going to be one I would 100% pay for myself. If I'm going to write a branded post, I'm going to write it my way, in my voice, and in a way that (I hope) my readers will still enjoy.
I try to stay real – hopefully it comes across!
Want to read more about the business of blogging? Check out these posts:
- The Business of Blogging: What I’ve Learned After 10 Years
- How Blogging Has Changed the Way I Travel
- How I Make Money as a Travel Blogger
And don't forget that I run my own blogging courses, too! I have courses on working with brands and getting started with affiliate marketing – you can check those out here.
Do you have questions about turning a blog into a business? Leave them in the comments below!
Amanda Williams is the award-winning blogger behind A Dangerous Business Travel Blog. She has traveled to more than 60 countries on 6 continents from her home base in Ohio, specializing in experiential and thoughtful travel through the US, Europe, and rest of the world. Amanda only shares tips based on her personal experiences and places she's actually traveled!
This is a really great overview and a good insight on what it’s really like to run a business. Starting a new business is a big task that requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but the results are often so worthwhile! Nicely put! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Thanks for reading, Morgan! It’s funny because I never in a million years thought I’d ever start a business – but that’s exactly what I’ve done without even realizing it!
Hi Amanda,
Thank you so much or the article! I’ve been working on my blog now for 6 months and it’s hard getting it off the ground and I start to lose motivation for it some days. I love reading your write ups and it inspirers me to keep going and hopefully one day make it into a full-time business!
As with any business venture, it takes time! I know it’s tough not to get discouraged sometimes, but just stick with it! The first year is always the hardest.
Amanda,
Thanks for sharing tips on how you grew your blog. I love hearing stories about individuals who started blogging, for example, as a hobby, but it turned into a business. I really liked how much research and brand-building you did for your blog. Learning about SEO isn’t easy, but you took the time to make sure your blog would be as successful as possible.
Thanks for telling your story,
Dennis
And I’m still learning new things each and every week!
Great post. I think when we don’t try knew things, we slow ourselves down. A little failure, a little trial and error never hurt anybody (too bad). 🙂
It’s very true! If you don’t try, you can’t fail – but you’ll also never succeed!
Really useful and helpful points specially new bloggers like me. Thanks for posting.
Glad you found it helpful! 🙂
Interesting read, Amanda! I use my blog not only as a creative outlet, but a way to promote my teaching resources too. I would love to research more on how to make my blog really grow and generate more of an income for me – just enough to pay the blogging fees would even be nice 🙂
There are lots of ways to make money from a blog, but of course different approaches work for some people and not for others. The first thing I would look into are affiliate programs – I make a nice chunk of money each month (more than enough to pay my rent) just from affiliate sales!
I think learning to say no is one of the hardest parts. Sometimes it’s easy, like when someone asks you to put a link in a post that doesn’t make sense for $7 but other times it’s a bit harder. I love all of your points here! They are some great learning curves that I think every blogger has experienced at least once.
Yes, sometimes it’s really hard! I’ve turned down really good money and cool press trips before simply because they weren’t a good fit. Did I feel great doing it? Of course not! But in the end it’s always the right decision.
Great insights, Amanda! I can relate to so many of these myself. Thanks for sharing.
I love reading about peoples successes with blogging! I love how you didn’t even intend on making a career at first then it ended up being on anyway 🙂 Very encouraging, Thanks for the tips.
I think it sometimes works out better when you start something purely as a passion and then it grows into a business – it’s much more natural that way, and you aren’t stuck doing something you don’t really love.
If you have blog content an image or a logo that lends itself to being printed on mugs, T-shirts, and mouse pads, or other items, you should consider selling branded merchandise from your blog. Not only is it extremely fun to see your brand printed on all sorts of swag, but it will help you with promotions and can earn you some extra money.
That’s a good suggestion! I personally don’t think I have enough readers who would buy branded products like that, but it certainly would work for bigger blogs/websites.
Hello Amanda!
thanks for the useful information. just out of curiosity, if you don’t mind , on point 2 of your list you mention “when selling text links was the ideal way to make quick money.”
what does it mean?
thanks a lot
happy travel
Isabella
It basically means what it sounds like – you would sell links in blog posts to companies who wanted to buy them (since it used to be ideal to get as many backlinks as possible, companies would often pay to place them on blogs and websites). Google frowns upon this, though, and cracked down on the practice a few years ago.
I think numbers 4 and 5 are SO important. Great read, as always. Thanks for sharing, Amanda!
Happy travels 🙂
Thanks for reading, Lauren! There are plenty of other things I’ve learned, too, but I figured starting with 7 was good enough. 🙂
I really admire people who can turn a hobby into a business as I’m sure it’s not all fun and games!
BTW – I did go to school for Marketing and I have TWO business degrees – they aren’t much help in this arena anyways, so you’re not at too much of a disadvantage there 🙂 (Perhaps had I graduated in this century, the curriculum would have been more relevant – email was pretty new to the world when I was in undergrad!)
Definitely not just all fun and games! But I really wouldn’t trade it for anything.
This really useful information, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Glad you found it useful!
Thanks for the insight into your own blog’s trajectory! I think the most important thing is to be passionate about what you do. For me, blogging has turned out to be a great hobby, and I’ve enjoyed learning so many new things just by a trial-and-error approach.
Definitely! Blogging would never be my career right now if I wasn’t passionate about it.