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Aloha! So You Want to Make Money Blogging While Travelling?

Picture this. You’re sipping a flat white in a cute café in Lisbon, the salty breeze of the Atlantic on your face, and your laptop gently hums as royalty payments ping into your PayPal. Sounds dreamy, right? As someone who’s been living out of a backpack (and an awkward number of tote bags) for the past few years, trust me – making money blogging while travelling isn’t reserved for unicorns or social media celebs with a million followers. You just need a plan, a bit of grit, and a cheeky sense of humour.

1. Nail the Basics: Hosting, Domain and Niche

Before you can start collecting digital coins, you need a home base online. That means a domain name and solid hosting. I recommend BlueHost. It’s affordable, beginner-friendly and offers one-click WordPress installs. Seriously, if I can handle it from a hostel dorm room with dodgy Wi-Fi, you can too.

1. Choose a niche you actually care about. Whether it’s budget backpacking, luxury hideaways, or vegan street food, pick something you can write about every day without nodding off.
2. Grab your domain. Keep it short, memorable and relevant.
3. Sign up for hosting. My two cents: go for a Basic plan on BlueHost, then upgrade once you’ve got traction.

2. Craft Content That Clicks

Readers and search engines both love fresh, valuable content. And no, slapping up 300 words with a photo of your feet in sand won’t cut it. Aim for deep-dives (sorry, won’t say “delve”) into travel guides, itineraries, gear reviews or personal tales – as long as they answer real questions.

• Use your city or region name plus a keyword like “make money blogging while travelling” in your headlines.
• Format with subheadings, bullet points and images (optimise alt text!).
• Drop personal anecdotes. People want authenticity, not a press release.

3. SEO Isn’t a Four-Letter Word

Search engine optimisation might sound scary, but small tweaks go a long way.

– Include your target keyword “make money blogging while travelling” in the title, URL slug and a couple of times in the body.
– Write meta descriptions that tease the content, not bore it to death.
– Link internally to other relevant posts (helps keep people on your site).
– Get backlinks by guest posting or offering to write for travel blogs. Yes, it’s a bit of effort, but those links = credibility + traffic.

4. Affiliate Marketing: Coffee for Your Keyboard

Affiliate links are one of the easiest ways to monetise. You recommend a product or service you love, your reader clicks and buys, and cha-ching – you earn a commission. Simple.

• Hosting: as mentioned, BlueHost is my go-to. I even have readers DMing me thanking me for the tip.
• Travel Gear: I’ll link to the backpack I swear by on Amazon AU.
• Tours and Activities: Drop in links to GetYourGuide or Viator when you review day trips.
• Accommodation: Mention Hostelworld for budget stays or Booking.com for splurges.

The trick is to weave these in naturally. Don’t force it. If you’re writing about “how to score a cosy granny flat in Melbourne,” slip in your preferred booking site as a resource, not a hard sell.

5. Diversify Your Income Streams

Relying on affiliates alone is like going to a party and only talking to one person. Spread the love – and the risk.

• Display ads: Google AdSense or Mediavine once you hit the traffic threshold.
• Sponsored content: Brands will pay you for honest reviews or collaborations. Just don’t review toothpaste if you hate mint.
• Digital products: E-books, presets, printables, or online courses. I once sold a mini-guide to “Eating Your Way Through Southeast Asia” and made a few hundred dollars in a week.
• Freelance writing: Use your blog as a portfolio to score paid gigs for travel magazines or websites.

6. Time Management on the Road

Travel + blogging = a recipe for perpetual FOMO. You’ll want to see every sunset and write every sunrise. My pro tip is batching: set aside one morning to shoot photos, one afternoon to write drafts, and another block to edit and schedule posts. Then give yourself a rule: no laptop after 6pm. This way you actually explore, instead of staring at a screen in Bali for eight hours.

7. Tools and Apps to Keep You Sane

Life on the road gets messy. These are the apps I’ve tested between hostels, homestays and hammocks.

• Airalo: Grab an eSIM so you’re not hunting for Wi-Fi like it’s the Holy Grail Airalo.
• SafetyWing: Travel insurance that understands digital nomads. Great for long haul stints SafetyWing.
• World Nomads: More in-depth trip coverage if you’re doing crazy stuff like volcano ascents World Nomads.
• Trello or Notion: For content planning (I try not to lose my ideas in Google Docs black hole).
• Grammarly: Because typos are the enemy of credibility.

8. Grow Your Audience (Without Begging for Follows)

Whether you love it or hate it, social media helps drive traffic. Instagram Stories, Pinterest pins, TikTok snippets – pick one or two to focus on.

• Pinterest: Treat it like a search engine. Create vertical pins for your blog posts, add keyword-rich descriptions, and pin regularly.
• Email list: Build a newsletter. Offer a freebie (like “5 Budget Hacks for European Backpackers”) to entice subscribers.
• Collaborations: Team up with fellow travel bloggers for joint webinars or social media takeovers.

9. Real Talk: Patience and Persistence

If your goal is to quit your day job and move to Bali within a month, you’re setting yourself up for heartbreak. Building authority, SEO juice, and loyal followers takes time. Celebrate small wins – landing your first affiliate sale, hitting 1,000 unique visitors a month, or getting a brand inquiry. Those tiny victories are proof you’re on the right track.

10. Staying Inspired (and Sane)

Burnout is real. When my brain feels like porridge, I hit pause on blogging and treat myself to a few days of pure travel – no laptop, no word counts. Sometimes that reset is exactly what you need to come back motivated. Stay curious. Read other travel blogs (for inspiration, not imitation), chat to locals, and remember why you started in the first place.

Wrapping Up

Making money blogging while travelling isn’t a fairy tale. It’s a grind, sure. You’ll write posts at 3am in a freezing hostel dorm, you’ll wrestle with SEO plugins, and you might cry into your third flat white of the day if analytics go wonky. But when your bank account pings for that first affiliate commission, it’s a feeling like no other. And that’s how you know it’s worth it.

So get your domain sorted on BlueHost, pick your niche, and start sharing your adventures with the world. Your future self – sipping chai in a mountain lodge – will thank you.

Safe travels and happy blogging!
Mikki x