Latest / Influencer Confidential / Is Travel Blogging Still Profitable in 2026? Jessie Festa Spills the Truth [Creator Currency Ep. 22]

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Is Travel Blogging Still Profitable in 2026? Jessie Festa Spills the Truth [Creator Currency Ep. 22] · Influencer Confidential

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey everyone, and welcome back to Influencer Confidential. I'm really
0:03
Speaker 1: excited about this week's guest because for a long time,
0:07
Speaker 1: the creators in my community have been wanting to learn
0:09
Speaker 1: about how to set up a blog, specifically when it
0:12
Speaker 1: comes to travel blogging. I was the keynote speaker at
0:16
Speaker 1: a big travel conference this year called t BEX, and
0:19
Speaker 1: I got to meet another creator and business owner, and
0:22
Speaker 1: one thing led to another, and I knew I needed
0:24
Speaker 1: to have her on the podcast to really talk about monetization,
0:28
Speaker 1: specifically around travel blogging. So I'm so excited to introduce
0:32
Speaker 1: to you guys all, Jesse Festa. She is the founder
0:35
Speaker 1: of Jesse on a Journey. She also has her own podcasts,
0:39
Speaker 1: and I think what we're going to dive really deep
0:40
Speaker 1: in today's episode to get you guys excited is the
0:43
Speaker 1: things that you need to know to build a profitable
0:46
Speaker 1: travel blog. Jesse has two travel blogs and is also
0:50
Speaker 1: a trusted resource for travelers and creators alike. Her work
0:54
Speaker 1: has been featured in places like USA Today, CNN, Business Insider, Thrills,
1:00
Speaker 1: and many more. And again, if you were someone who
1:02
Speaker 1: is ready to dive into the world of travel blogging,
1:05
Speaker 1: this episode is for you. Hi, Jesse, Welcome, Welcome to
1:08
Speaker 1: Influencer Confidential. We're so happy that you're here with us today.
1:11
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for having me.
1:12
Speaker 1: You guys. It's really funny because I recently met Jesse
1:16
Speaker 1: at a creator conference. We were both at TVX, and
1:19
Speaker 1: so many people came up to me being like, you
1:21
Speaker 1: should meet Jesse. I felt like we were destined to
1:24
Speaker 1: have this conversation because we were in such similar spaces
1:28
Speaker 1: and often rolling I feel like with very similar people
1:31
Speaker 1: and friends, and there's so much overlap. I know you
1:33
Speaker 1: have a podcast, there's so many synergies and also what
1:36
Speaker 1: we do but differences, and I'm excited for the sidewalker
1:39
Speaker 1: community to get to know you. So if we could
1:42
Speaker 1: just start at the beginning, Jesse, because you may be
1:45
Speaker 1: new to some of the people in our community, and
1:46
Speaker 1: I know you're so multifaceted and you do it all,
1:49
Speaker 1: but maybe you could just kind of start us at
1:50
Speaker 1: the beginning, tell us a little bit about yourself and
1:54
Speaker 1: what you're really focusing on nowadays. Yeah.
1:56
Speaker 3: So I started back in twenty eleven with my first
2:00
Speaker 3: travel blog, my solo female travel blog, Jesse on a Journey,
2:03
Speaker 3: eventually launched Epicure and Culture, which is essentially a travel blog,
2:07
Speaker 3: but I bill it a little bit more as a
2:10
Speaker 3: digital magazine, and then kind of just listening to my
2:12
Speaker 3: audience over the years led me to launch some other brands.
2:16
Speaker 3: Travel blog Prosperity is my membership community for travel bloggers
2:20
Speaker 3: who want to grow their traffic, email, ast and income.
2:22
Speaker 3: And then I also have NYC Photo Journeys, which is
2:25
Speaker 3: my NYC photo tour and custom travel planning site. So
2:30
Speaker 3: everything is centered around travel, but I've kind of like
2:33
Speaker 3: branched out and grown in different ways over the years
2:36
Speaker 3: as you kind of learn what people want, or you
2:39
Speaker 3: dive into your own interests a little bit more things
2:41
Speaker 3: like that.
2:41
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting because I feel like so many
2:43
Speaker 1: of us can relate. You're like, I have a photo
2:45
Speaker 1: tour element of my bez, and I also have a
2:48
Speaker 1: membership side, and I actually love to travel on my
2:51
Speaker 1: own and do my own sorts of pieces of content
2:54
Speaker 1: that fulfill you, you know, where you have travel creators, so
2:57
Speaker 1: you have your hands in a lot of pots. And
2:59
Speaker 1: I think think a lot of people listening feel that
3:03
Speaker 1: this pressure to have to pick, like do I have
3:06
Speaker 1: to pick, you know, or go all in on something,
3:08
Speaker 1: but it seems that you've been able to kind of
3:10
Speaker 1: manage having the photo tours, the blog, the membership, any
3:15
Speaker 1: sort of thoughts around not having to pigeon your hole
3:18
Speaker 1: yourself for those listening in that are so multifaceted, like
3:21
Speaker 1: you that love doing a lot of different styles of
3:24
Speaker 1: businesses and not feeling this need that you have to
3:26
Speaker 1: pick one, you know, because I feel like there's a
3:28
Speaker 1: lot of pressure like pick one and just go all
3:30
Speaker 1: in on that, and it feels like you're just doing
3:33
Speaker 1: it really seamlessly.
3:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of like pros
3:37
Speaker 3: and cons because I feel like this comes up a
3:39
Speaker 3: lot of like can I put it all in one place?
3:42
Speaker 3: I do feel like it's more work to separate it
3:45
Speaker 3: all out, but I do feel like it's.
3:47
Speaker 2: Easier to grow in that way.
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Speaker 3: For example, I have all of my blogging stuff and
3:51
Speaker 3: my solo travel stuff on one site, and I kind
3:53
Speaker 3: of have figured out how to separate it out. If
3:56
Speaker 3: I could go back, I would have separated it out
3:59
Speaker 3: a bit more. So that's like my tip. I'm sure
4:02
Speaker 3: other people might have a different opinion, but like, for example,
4:05
Speaker 3: when I launched NYC Photo Journeys as its own separate thing.
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Speaker 2: That was so much.
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Speaker 3: Easier to grow because that blog is all about New
4:12
Speaker 3: York City. Every product I create is all about New
4:15
Speaker 3: York City. The people visiting that website all want to
4:17
Speaker 3: visit New York City. So I do feel like it's
4:20
Speaker 3: fulfilling to explore these different avenues. But I have seen
4:24
Speaker 3: more ease and success with kind of building separate brands
4:27
Speaker 3: alongside of each other and then I cross promote them.
4:30
Speaker 2: So if that like it's refreshing.
4:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, if I'm writing about New York City on Jesse
4:36
Speaker 3: on a Journey or Epicure and culture, I am one
4:38
Speaker 3: hundred percent going to mention my photo tours and my
4:41
Speaker 3: custom travel planning, so I cross promote a ton as well.
4:45
Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting because there is this focus
4:48
Speaker 1: on like build a founder first business, like you are
4:50
Speaker 1: the biz you know, and build your but you're talking
4:53
Speaker 1: to different people, Like a part of your business is
4:56
Speaker 1: talking to people that are interested in NYC photo tours,
4:58
Speaker 1: a part of your business is talking to you know,
5:00
Speaker 1: solo female travel potentially a part of your business. And
5:03
Speaker 1: it feels confusing right for the reader. So I appreciate
5:07
Speaker 1: hearing you actually separate so that you can grow. I
5:11
Speaker 1: think it's a really interesting perspective and it just goes
5:14
Speaker 1: to show that, like one thing I tell a lot
5:16
Speaker 1: of the creators in my community, you will be successful
5:18
Speaker 1: literally whatever you do as long as like you commit
5:21
Speaker 1: to your vision, you know, and kind of stick stick
5:24
Speaker 1: with what you started. Because there's so many opinions and
5:26
Speaker 1: so many people that can tell you to do different things.
5:28
Speaker 1: And I think that it's really that you've been able
5:30
Speaker 1: to kind of manage all of that. So in terms
5:33
Speaker 1: of like all the hats that you're juggling right now,
5:36
Speaker 1: what would you say is like a big focus for
5:38
Speaker 1: you or a big area business that you are really
5:41
Speaker 1: focused on in terms of like your mission or I
5:44
Speaker 1: know you have resources for travelers and creators. How do
5:48
Speaker 1: you kind of decide the type of content or the
5:51
Speaker 1: focus that you want to put on each of these businesses.
5:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a little bit of both.
5:55
Speaker 3: I'm always thinking of the biggest monetization streams first though,
5:58
Speaker 3: so my travelog person membership and my my NYC photo
6:02
Speaker 3: tours and photoshoots, they're my big money makers, So definitely
6:06
Speaker 3: focusing on those first and foremost. But I also do
6:09
Speaker 3: really well on jesse Ona Journey with ads and affiliates,
6:12
Speaker 3: so I'm also creating that content. I'd say Epicurrent Culture
6:16
Speaker 3: is sort of a little bit more of a passion project.
6:18
Speaker 3: It's definitely monetized with affiliates and ads, so it's still profitable.
6:22
Speaker 3: But if I had to order everything, that would be
6:26
Speaker 3: towards the bottom. But it is still profitable, so I
6:29
Speaker 3: am needing to find time for each of these things
6:32
Speaker 3: each month. I'd also say I am an email first,
6:37
Speaker 3: so if I had to pick the content creation platforms,
6:40
Speaker 3: my email list is my you know, my VIPs, I
6:44
Speaker 3: focus on that first and foremost. I will never skip
6:46
Speaker 3: a newsletter like that is going out first and foremost, Whereas, Okay,
6:49
Speaker 3: if I didn't get that Instagram post up, I'm not
6:51
Speaker 3: going to sweat it. That's not like my main main focus.
6:54
Speaker 3: And I think it's important to to like, there's so
6:57
Speaker 3: many different platforms. To try to do everything one hundred
7:01
Speaker 3: percent is really challenging, especially if you think about like
7:04
Speaker 3: long form YouTube reels, emails, blog posts. But I do
7:08
Speaker 3: really love email because I feel like you own your email.
7:10
Speaker 2: List, So that's always a huge, huge.
7:13
Speaker 3: Focus for me, and I send out a blogging weekly
7:16
Speaker 3: newsletter and a travel related weekly newsletter.
7:19
Speaker 1: Let's talk emails, because I'm team email too. I try
7:22
Speaker 1: to drill it into our community so much the importance
7:26
Speaker 1: of like again TikTok band, something happens, We've had it happen,
7:29
Speaker 1: our Instagram shutdown, whatever. You know, having your email list
7:33
Speaker 1: is like having their phone numbers. It's such a connection.
7:36
Speaker 1: When did you have that realization? Was like early on
7:38
Speaker 1: in your business that you realize like, I'm going all
7:40
Speaker 1: in and any sort of tips for those people that
7:44
Speaker 1: are listening in that want to get started and actually
7:47
Speaker 1: maybe use next year as like the year to go
7:49
Speaker 1: all in on their emails.
7:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was probably like halfway.
7:53
Speaker 3: And I mean I started in twenty eleven when I
7:55
Speaker 3: honestly didn't really know what I was doing.
7:57
Speaker 2: I'm like, I want to.
7:58
Speaker 3: Write about my travels and hopefully make money, and I
8:00
Speaker 3: didn't have like a really clear vision at that point.
8:03
Speaker 3: I just wanted to travel more really, So I didn't
8:05
Speaker 3: start it then, even though mentors I had were very
8:09
Speaker 3: much like you should have an email list. So it
8:10
Speaker 3: did take me a bit, but I probably started my
8:13
Speaker 3: list really seriously, I'd say in twenty eighteen, or twenty nineteen,
8:16
Speaker 3: so I've had a few years with it, and it's
8:19
Speaker 3: like when people say something is a game changer for me,
8:21
Speaker 3: that was a game changer, Like, wow, I can send
8:23
Speaker 3: an email to people and that open rate, that click,
8:26
Speaker 3: the rate is going to be good, Whereas I feel
8:29
Speaker 3: like on social media sometimes I'm like, why did I
8:31
Speaker 3: spend so much time on this post that like, what
8:33
Speaker 3: did it really get me? And I use email too
8:35
Speaker 3: for promoting blog posts, so traffic to content that has
8:39
Speaker 3: ads and affiliate links in it to promote my products,
8:42
Speaker 3: to share affiliates directly, so it works really really well
8:45
Speaker 3: for me. I would probably say weekly emails over sporadic.
8:50
Speaker 3: You know, you really want to stay front of mine
8:52
Speaker 3: for your audience, and when in doubt, share tips. I'd
8:55
Speaker 3: also say I used to do for travel, specifically this
8:58
Speaker 3: big newsletter with so many different sections, and it was
9:01
Speaker 3: super long, took me hours to write, super unnecessary. I've
9:05
Speaker 3: streamlined to each email share some kind of tip or strategy,
9:09
Speaker 3: how to save money on flights, how to stay safe
9:11
Speaker 3: while traveling solo, that type of thing, and then I'll
9:14
Speaker 3: have a section where it has my three most recent
9:16
Speaker 3: blog posts, and then a footer where it has my
9:18
Speaker 3: you know, traveling soon here the products. I wouldn't leave
9:22
Speaker 3: home without type of thing for some affiliates. But don't
9:25
Speaker 3: feel like your email has to take you hours to
9:27
Speaker 3: write and be, you know, a two thousand plus word article,
9:31
Speaker 3: because the thing with that also is if you have
9:33
Speaker 3: too many things going on in there, it's going to
9:35
Speaker 3: be hard to drive people to any specific piece of
9:38
Speaker 3: content or link that you may be trying to drive
9:40
Speaker 3: traffic to. Also with sponsorships, when I was doing that
9:43
Speaker 3: big long newsletter, it was really hard for me to
9:45
Speaker 3: pitch the value there because it's like, well, yeah, I'm
9:47
Speaker 3: going to put you in this newsletter, but there's also
9:49
Speaker 3: like twenty thousand other things happening in there. Whereas now
9:52
Speaker 3: if it's okay, I'm teaching sharing three tips in this
9:55
Speaker 3: newsletter and you're going to be one of them, it's
9:57
Speaker 3: a lot clearer and it's an easier sell.
9:59
Speaker 2: On this sponsorship front.
10:00
Speaker 1: Of things, our brand sponsors love that, like I swear,
10:04
Speaker 1: that's what tips him over the edge. Like when I'm like,
10:06
Speaker 1: you're going to get a dedicated email or an integrated email,
10:09
Speaker 1: like for creators listening in if you are doing partnerships,
10:12
Speaker 1: like this is a really beautiful upsell. I love how
10:14
Speaker 1: Jesse like mentioned that. And also something Jesse mentioned that
10:16
Speaker 1: I think is such an interesting and easy way to
10:19
Speaker 1: kind of wrap your mind, you guys around emails is
10:21
Speaker 1: like she she's saying, she's using it kind of as
10:24
Speaker 1: a microphone. She already wrote this blog post and the
10:26
Speaker 1: emails just announcing it. So it's not like an extra burden.
10:28
Speaker 1: It's just an amplifier. And that's really how we use
10:31
Speaker 1: our newsletter too. We're like, hey, we did this video,
10:34
Speaker 1: Hey we did this podcast. Like, it's not like extra burden.
10:37
Speaker 1: Some work. And it made me laugh when you said
10:40
Speaker 1: so many of your mentors in the beginning told you
10:42
Speaker 1: focus on your email, like mine too, and I remember
10:45
Speaker 1: hearing it just being like them and being like, listen,
10:47
Speaker 1: focus on your email, and same thing. I'm so glad
10:50
Speaker 1: I did. Like it has been for us a game
10:53
Speaker 1: changer too. And you don't need a lot of subscribers.
10:55
Speaker 1: It's it really ties into that theory of a thousand fans, right,
10:58
Speaker 1: Like if you just have a thousand people in the
11:01
Speaker 1: world but like love what you do and are so
11:03
Speaker 1: invested in you, you don't need millions and millions to
11:07
Speaker 1: find success with your email. So I'm really glad that
11:10
Speaker 1: you kind of shared the importance around that. I did
11:12
Speaker 1: want to talk to you.
11:13
Speaker 3: I actually have a quick story. Yeah, I have a
11:16
Speaker 3: girl in this woman in my membership. She launched this
11:20
Speaker 3: was like a month or two ago. She launched a
11:22
Speaker 3: brand new digital product. She had forty email subscribers and
11:25
Speaker 3: she made three sales.
11:27
Speaker 1: That's amazing, Yes, exactly, and forty email subscribers we use
11:32
Speaker 1: that word subscriber. But again, me and you both know
11:34
Speaker 1: forty people in your living room. That's a lot of
11:37
Speaker 1: cheeseboards we'd have to make, right, So, like, forty people
11:40
Speaker 1: is a forty people, you know, and people forget that,
11:43
Speaker 1: and especially with emails so much more intimate, Like how
11:45
Speaker 1: many newsletters on I own like five or six seven,
11:48
Speaker 1: And those are my top people I'm obsessed with. So
11:50
Speaker 1: people that are giving you permission to talk to them weekly,
11:53
Speaker 1: they love you already. They're attached to you in a
11:56
Speaker 1: way that you can't be on TikTok or Instagram with
11:58
Speaker 1: that quick scroll. You know, I'm really excited that you're
12:01
Speaker 1: like bringing this up and center. I did want to
12:03
Speaker 1: talk about blogging though, and I think this is something
12:06
Speaker 1: you can share so much on because I feel like
12:09
Speaker 1: I work in my community. I always ask for the
12:12
Speaker 1: bloggers and there's always a few raising their hands. But
12:15
Speaker 1: we often feel or hear sentiments like blogging is, you know,
12:22
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, a twenty fifteen sport. Things are changing, And
12:25
Speaker 1: then every now and then I'll talk to bloggers that
12:27
Speaker 1: they're like, no, like, my blog is my bread and butter.
12:30
Speaker 1: This is how I It's the majority of my income.
12:32
Speaker 1: You know, Google update who blogs are killing it? I
12:36
Speaker 1: would love to hear from you directly, as someone who's
12:39
Speaker 1: been in this industry on the blogging side for so long,
12:42
Speaker 1: tell us like our blogs still relevant? Is it something
12:45
Speaker 1: that someone who does not have a blog should they
12:47
Speaker 1: invest their time setting one up if they love to
12:50
Speaker 1: write and if they love to share content. Do you
12:52
Speaker 1: still think it's like a very powerful asset because I'm
12:55
Speaker 1: sure you've seen all the changes happen throughout the years.
12:58
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts how blogging can fit into the
13:01
Speaker 1: creator ecosystem.
13:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, the thing I love about blogging is that is
13:06
Speaker 3: long form content that people can find for years to come.
13:10
Speaker 3: I'm not going to say that AI changes and Google
13:13
Speaker 3: updates haven't really drastically hit bloggers. It absolutely has. But
13:17
Speaker 3: for me, I mean, social media is very secondary for me.
13:20
Speaker 3: I really make my money, get my bookings my clients
13:23
Speaker 3: through my blog and then email. And keep in mind,
13:26
Speaker 3: Google isn't the only search engine, right, so I'm also
13:29
Speaker 3: getting traffic straight from Chat, Gibt, Yahoo, bing, all the
13:33
Speaker 3: different search engines, as well as Pinterest, collaborations with other creators,
13:38
Speaker 3: my newsletter directly some people. I'm not great a flipboard,
13:41
Speaker 3: but some bloggers are killing it on Flipboard if you
13:44
Speaker 3: really focus on that too. Facebook pages people are seeing
13:46
Speaker 3: great results with. So Google is not the only option
13:49
Speaker 3: for traffic. But as I'm saying this, Google actually is
13:52
Speaker 3: still my number one traffic driver.
13:54
Speaker 2: So that's sending.
13:55
Speaker 3: People to these articles that are positioning me as an expert,
13:58
Speaker 3: that have affiliate links in there that are monetized passively
14:01
Speaker 3: with ads as well, and they're going to come to
14:04
Speaker 3: my website and see, you know, my shop, my different products.
14:07
Speaker 3: I also promote an opt in freebee to get people
14:09
Speaker 3: into my list in every single blog posts that I have.
14:11
Speaker 2: And again I love that I'm writing this article.
14:14
Speaker 3: I'm putting my effort into this now and then it
14:17
Speaker 3: can be found for years to come. Something that doesn't rank,
14:19
Speaker 3: you know, this month might rank in six months too.
14:22
Speaker 3: So and you can always update things like, Okay, maybe
14:25
Speaker 3: this article will do better if I make it more actionable.
14:28
Speaker 3: I add some maps, some directions to places I'm thinking
14:31
Speaker 3: of travel right now, like adding some maps, some directions
14:35
Speaker 3: to places, a packing list, like you can make it
14:37
Speaker 3: more actionable and try to kind of write things that
14:41
Speaker 3: AI can't so that your articles stand out. So yeah,
14:44
Speaker 3: I'm still seeing great results with blogging. I know many
14:46
Speaker 3: people that still are. And I will also say, with
14:49
Speaker 3: especially NYC Photo Journeys, almost all of my bookings from
14:53
Speaker 3: that come from my blog posts.
14:55
Speaker 1: Oh that's so, that's that's really exciting. And I know
14:58
Speaker 1: you have tons of resource versus you have a whole
15:01
Speaker 1: thing on your website, your travel blogging hub. So we'll
15:03
Speaker 1: make sure to like include that, because I do know
15:05
Speaker 1: a lot of people want to start a travel blog,
15:07
Speaker 1: like they're like, is it too late? Can I should I?
15:11
Speaker 1: And it seems like you're really giving us that permission
15:14
Speaker 1: that blogging is still here and it's still here to stay,
15:18
Speaker 1: and especially for those who are new you know, to
15:22
Speaker 1: kind of understand, though there may be changes, it's still
15:26
Speaker 1: long form content and people just connect with long form
15:29
Speaker 1: in a way that short form. It's just a different beast.
15:31
Speaker 1: I can speak on the YouTube side. One thing I'll
15:34
Speaker 1: share for those listening in some advice, Like I used
15:37
Speaker 1: to take our blog articles and use them as my
15:39
Speaker 1: YouTube scripts. So if you are trying to do like
15:42
Speaker 1: a double dip, you know, using these articles or using
15:46
Speaker 1: your blog to help with you know, there's so many
15:48
Speaker 1: ways to use your blog strategically to help you advance.
15:56
Speaker 1: Like I would literally just get onto my YouTube and
15:58
Speaker 1: use them as my base.
15:59
Speaker 3: You know.
16:00
Speaker 1: In terms of like blogging, I guess do you feel
16:03
Speaker 1: like I know you you do have a lot of
16:04
Speaker 1: resources for the beginner travel blogger. Do you find that
16:09
Speaker 1: for someone who's maybe overwhelmed, they don't they like don't
16:11
Speaker 1: even understand things like SEO or you know, does my
16:17
Speaker 1: content need to be a certain length or how many
16:20
Speaker 1: keywords should I be sprinkling in? Are there simple steps
16:24
Speaker 1: or strategies for the beginner that you can share to
16:28
Speaker 1: help them with search maybe or getting their blog posts
16:32
Speaker 1: a little bit more notice?
16:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I would say too, those like super like
16:37
Speaker 3: lengths and how many keywords. I haven't thought about that
16:40
Speaker 3: kind of stuff for years. I mean even like variations
16:42
Speaker 3: of keywords like Google at this point knows that you
16:45
Speaker 3: know this word is also these similarities. I feel like
16:48
Speaker 3: it used to be like you need every single variation
16:50
Speaker 3: of this keyword. I would just basic, you're creating a
16:54
Speaker 3: great user experience and who are you trying to reach?
16:57
Speaker 3: So that the problem specifically with travel bloggers that I
16:59
Speaker 3: think we run into a lot. We're traveling all over
17:01
Speaker 3: and we're going to a national park, and then we're
17:04
Speaker 3: going with our family here, and then we're traveling solo
17:06
Speaker 3: through Europe, so people want to cover it all. I
17:08
Speaker 3: do think there is a benefit to saying, Okay, you
17:11
Speaker 3: know what, I really want to help this audience and
17:13
Speaker 3: create this type of content.
17:14
Speaker 2: I'm traveling in an RV.
17:16
Speaker 3: I'm going to help people, you know, choose their RV,
17:18
Speaker 3: give them tips for seeing success with this lifestyle, and
17:21
Speaker 3: then you can have your destination.
17:23
Speaker 1: Guys.
17:23
Speaker 3: But I would try to have some type of mission
17:25
Speaker 3: of like who you help and how and have your
17:28
Speaker 3: content be an extension of that.
17:30
Speaker 2: I would also say.
17:33
Speaker 3: Try to think of one, two, three, I would say
17:36
Speaker 3: one to start what they're called content pillars, your main
17:39
Speaker 3: topics that all of your articles are going to funnel through.
17:42
Speaker 3: And then within your main pillars, you want to have
17:45
Speaker 3: content clusters or topic clusters.
17:48
Speaker 2: So maybe you.
17:49
Speaker 3: Are doing a cluster around yo Semite National Park, camping
17:53
Speaker 3: and hiking, so you're going to create a bunch of
17:56
Speaker 3: different blog posts around that topic that are really going
17:59
Speaker 3: to help your reader plan the best trip possible to Yosemite,
18:03
Speaker 3: and those articles are going to interlink to each other.
18:06
Speaker 3: This is also going to help people stay on your websites.
18:08
Speaker 3: Writing about like we're at a camp in Yosemite, you could
18:11
Speaker 3: easily link to you know, the best hiking trails in
18:14
Speaker 3: Yosemite from that article? What are people going to want
18:17
Speaker 3: to know next? So I would just think about it
18:19
Speaker 3: that way and always be trying to showcase your expertise.
18:22
Speaker 3: Why should people listen to you? Show them that this
18:25
Speaker 3: is not an AI generated article, because that's a huge
18:28
Speaker 3: problem nowadays. Someone just says write an article about Yosemite
18:30
Speaker 3: National Bark to CHADGBT and it spit something else. People
18:33
Speaker 3: want to hear from you, So put photos of yourself.
18:36
Speaker 3: If you have a YouTube video that is going to
18:38
Speaker 3: work super well in your favor. It's great for SEO,
18:41
Speaker 3: it's going to help keep people on your site. It's
18:44
Speaker 3: going to help people trust you. Share experiences. Don't just
18:47
Speaker 3: say xyz campsite is the best. Share why it is,
18:50
Speaker 3: what happened to you? Share a story of camping there.
18:52
Speaker 3: That type of thing really make it clear why people
18:55
Speaker 3: should be listening to you, and that you are someone
18:57
Speaker 3: who has experience on the topic you're sharing about.
19:00
Speaker 1: I love that it's so great this idea around clusters,
19:02
Speaker 1: and I think we can use that what Jesse's sharing.
19:05
Speaker 1: We can use that no matter what space we're in,
19:07
Speaker 1: whether it's blogging or we're on YouTube, or we're on
19:10
Speaker 1: social People that want to see what to do and
19:13
Speaker 1: you'll sebenty are interested in where to say, where to eat,
19:15
Speaker 1: we're to sleep, 're to do? What a trail? So
19:17
Speaker 1: this binge able content, what Jesse's talking about, you guys,
19:21
Speaker 1: seems to be helpful in all areas. And I really
19:24
Speaker 1: love that. One thing that I think that I was
19:25
Speaker 1: reading on your website too, you mentioned somewhere this idea
19:28
Speaker 1: of like evergreen search your traffic, Like a lot of
19:31
Speaker 1: your blog posts tend to be like they last forever.
19:34
Speaker 1: And I'm sure this is intentional. So are you for
19:37
Speaker 1: the beginner blogger looking to start, you know, are we
19:40
Speaker 1: trying to do things that are timeless, you know, versus
19:46
Speaker 1: trending new style content? What are your thoughts on, like
19:50
Speaker 1: how to shoot? Like when it comes to content. Maybe
19:52
Speaker 1: some of our bloggers here, they're like, what's ever green content?
19:55
Speaker 1: Like they may not even know these sort of terms.
19:57
Speaker 1: You know, I would say a mix.
19:58
Speaker 3: So, yes, you're ever green is going to help keep
20:00
Speaker 3: your content study. But those seasonal posts, they are going
20:03
Speaker 3: to perform really well on Pinterest and you're gonna have
20:05
Speaker 3: those really nice seasonal bumps. So like six years ago,
20:08
Speaker 3: I wrote an article on Thanksgiving getaways from New York City.
20:12
Speaker 3: It's one of my top posts every year around Thanksgiving.
20:14
Speaker 3: Each of the hotels that I mention also has an
20:17
Speaker 3: affiliate link, so it's a big money maker for me.
20:19
Speaker 3: Once Thanksgiving is over, that post is gonna be like flatlining.
20:22
Speaker 3: But I know next year I'm gonna of course, leading
20:25
Speaker 3: up to the time that it's gonna get popular.
20:27
Speaker 2: I look at it, I see, Okay, this needs to
20:29
Speaker 2: be updated.
20:29
Speaker 3: This is inaccurate. Maybe something has to be replaced. You
20:32
Speaker 3: want to make sure it's updated in time for the
20:34
Speaker 3: seasonal spike. But those can be great too. So I
20:36
Speaker 3: would say when you're planning out, like those individual topic clusters,
20:40
Speaker 3: you want to have some evergreen posts, you want to
20:42
Speaker 3: have a few seasonal posts, and you want to have
20:45
Speaker 3: some buyer intent posts too. So what are topics people
20:48
Speaker 3: will search when they have their credit card in hand
20:51
Speaker 3: ready to buy. So that will be like best hotels
20:54
Speaker 3: in the best walking tours in. Maybe it's a hotel
20:56
Speaker 3: review something people are searching when they're looking to like
20:59
Speaker 3: book it to our book hotel. Again, I'm talking about
21:01
Speaker 3: travel now, but does just think about it in your
21:03
Speaker 3: niche top ten curling irons.
21:06
Speaker 2: I don't know why. I just thought, I don't people people.
21:09
Speaker 1: Yeah no, a lot of my people are travel No,
21:11
Speaker 1: a lot of my people are travel creators. Like they
21:13
Speaker 1: want to start a travel blog or you know they're there.
21:16
Speaker 1: They want to get into it. So feel free to
21:18
Speaker 1: use all the travel examples. You know, I know that
21:20
Speaker 1: you support it. Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, that's super helpful.
21:24
Speaker 1: And I think this is a wake up call that again,
21:28
Speaker 1: wherever you guys create content, like whatever is joyful if
21:31
Speaker 1: you want to get into if you love to write,
21:32
Speaker 1: if you love to share, like blogging is a space
21:35
Speaker 1: to do that. Before we talk about like other things
21:37
Speaker 1: that you're working on, because I know a lot of
21:39
Speaker 1: what you share in your membership, your travel blog, prosperity.
21:44
Speaker 1: I know you talk about the business side a lot.
21:47
Speaker 1: And one thing that we talk about just regularly in
21:50
Speaker 1: the influencer world is like going into analytics and making
21:53
Speaker 1: sure we're making databased decisions. Is it similar in the
21:57
Speaker 1: blog space, Like how often are you kind of setting
21:59
Speaker 1: going in here Google analytics or what are some key
22:02
Speaker 1: metrics that you're looking at, Like what is a sign
22:05
Speaker 1: that it's doing well? Because people will be like is
22:07
Speaker 1: this a lot like or is this not good? Like
22:09
Speaker 1: do you have some sort of I don't know a
22:12
Speaker 1: way to vet or any tips around metrics when it
22:14
Speaker 1: comes to measuring success like hey, this is doing well
22:18
Speaker 1: or this this didn't do so well? You know.
22:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, So there's two key platforms you're gonna set up
22:23
Speaker 3: when you start a blog. You're gonna look at Google
22:25
Speaker 3: Search Console where you're looking how things are performing in
22:28
Speaker 3: Google being also has being Webmaster tools. So there's some
22:32
Speaker 3: other ones, but the two big ones, Google Search Console
22:34
Speaker 3: and then Google Analytics for. That's gonna give your full
22:37
Speaker 3: website health. So like, if I'm looking at Google Analytics for,
22:40
Speaker 3: I can see how many page views I'm getting per month.
22:43
Speaker 3: I can look at each piece of content and see
22:45
Speaker 3: how much traffic it's getting for you could set it
22:48
Speaker 3: to whatever, thirty days ninety days custom time frame. You
22:51
Speaker 3: can also look at which platforms are bringing you the
22:54
Speaker 3: most traffic. So that's for example, one that I look
22:57
Speaker 3: at a lot is Okay, Wow, I'm getting a lot
22:59
Speaker 3: of traffic from Facebook, or I'm not getting as much
23:03
Speaker 3: traffic from Pinterest as I wanted.
23:04
Speaker 2: What can I do to improve that?
23:05
Speaker 3: And then you could also see what piece of content
23:08
Speaker 3: are popular, how much time people are spending on those
23:10
Speaker 3: pieces of content? Are they just going there and clicking away?
23:14
Speaker 3: You know that type of information canna be helpful. But
23:16
Speaker 3: you'll also see like, wow, I had this many page views?
23:19
Speaker 2: Is that growing? Is it not?
23:21
Speaker 3: If it went down? Is that because of a seasonal spike?
23:23
Speaker 3: Like do you have a lot of winter posts Thanksgiving
23:27
Speaker 3: in New York City, Christmas in New York City, visiting
23:29
Speaker 3: New York City in winter and you're getting a ton
23:31
Speaker 3: of traffic, and then you don't really have anything to
23:34
Speaker 3: fill in for January, you know, through.
23:37
Speaker 2: October whatever that might be.
23:38
Speaker 3: So you have that data there, but then in Google
23:41
Speaker 3: Search Console, you'll be able to see actually how much
23:44
Speaker 3: traffic you're getting from Google, specifically how individual pages are performing.
23:49
Speaker 3: You could see positions in Google. So one thing that
23:52
Speaker 3: you might look at is like, going back to my
23:54
Speaker 3: Thanksgiving post, when did that become popular last year? Did
23:59
Speaker 3: it perform as well this year as last year? Is
24:01
Speaker 3: it in the same position did it go down? If
24:03
Speaker 3: something is moving in position down, like maybe it was
24:06
Speaker 3: in position two and now it's in fifteen, why might
24:09
Speaker 3: that be?
24:09
Speaker 2: Is there anything you can do to help with that.
24:11
Speaker 3: You can also find keywords that people are searching to
24:16
Speaker 3: find your content, which is really helpful. And one little
24:19
Speaker 3: trick that I like to do is look for keywords
24:23
Speaker 3: that people are searching, especially that are highly searched, that
24:26
Speaker 3: maybe you didn't write about, so there might be some
24:29
Speaker 3: missed opportunities for you there. And you already know that
24:32
Speaker 3: term is bringing people to your website. So if you
24:34
Speaker 3: can either add a section to an existing post or
24:37
Speaker 3: maybe it deserves to be its own blog post.
24:39
Speaker 2: That can be helpful.
24:40
Speaker 3: So, for example, I have an article that does well
24:43
Speaker 3: on boozy brunch spots in New York City, and I
24:45
Speaker 3: noticed a lot of people were specifically searching weekday boozy
24:49
Speaker 3: brunch spots. I probably mentioned it once in that article,
24:51
Speaker 3: but it wasn't really a main focus. So I actually
24:54
Speaker 3: wrote a second article on weekday boozy brunch spots specifically,
24:58
Speaker 3: And now both of those articles bring traffic.
25:02
Speaker 1: You're linking like stuff together, like doing what you were saying.
25:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, linking them.
25:06
Speaker 3: But the one thing to be aware of is you
25:08
Speaker 3: don't want to, like it's called cannibalizing. You don't want
25:11
Speaker 3: to write the same article just with a different keyword
25:14
Speaker 3: that's really the same. I like, is someone searching If
25:16
Speaker 3: you've read an article on things to do in New
25:18
Speaker 3: York City and you see people are searching what to
25:19
Speaker 3: do in New York City, this's the same exact thing.
25:22
Speaker 3: So only do it if it's actually a separate article
25:24
Speaker 3: that you feel like. You know the information is going
25:26
Speaker 3: to be unique and different and help.
25:27
Speaker 1: So are you putting like a content plan together and
25:30
Speaker 1: like you have some sort of excelf spreadsheet that has hey,
25:32
Speaker 1: these are the keywords I want to hit or the
25:34
Speaker 1: topics I want to write about, and are you kind
25:36
Speaker 1: of planning ahead batching? Is it just like a weekly
25:40
Speaker 1: rhythm that you're in where you're like, oh, well, I know,
25:42
Speaker 1: I got to get this out or is it like, hey,
25:43
Speaker 1: let me write five articles at once or what's kind
25:46
Speaker 1: of your flow? Because I think a lot of bloggers
25:48
Speaker 1: want to understand Okay, I'm ready to do this. I'm convinced.
25:51
Speaker 1: How do I actually put the grease you know, and start,
25:54
Speaker 1: I know in social media or like batch or do
25:56
Speaker 1: this any sort of systems or things you have set
25:59
Speaker 1: up that you could share for the creator who wants
26:01
Speaker 1: to jump into the travel blog.
26:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say, I mean I do batch like
26:07
Speaker 3: keyword research and planning, but I honestly will write individual
26:11
Speaker 3: posts one at a time. I just find that easier.
26:13
Speaker 3: I know there are people, like in my membership, some
26:15
Speaker 3: people will write all their drafts one week, photos one week.
26:19
Speaker 3: So you kind of have to figure out what works
26:21
Speaker 3: for you. But I will say having a content plan
26:24
Speaker 3: that keeps seasonality seasonality in mind and also lets you
26:30
Speaker 3: build out one topic cluster at a time will be helpful. So,
26:34
Speaker 3: for example, if you want to do like a holiday
26:36
Speaker 3: gift guide, like I do like a solo travel holiday
26:39
Speaker 3: gift guide. Every year, I just update the one that
26:42
Speaker 3: I already have. I don't read publish a new one
26:44
Speaker 3: every year, if that makes sense. Like I don't have
26:46
Speaker 3: Holiday Gift Guide twenty eighteen, Holiday Gift Goide twenty nineteen.
26:49
Speaker 3: I just update that same one. But I don't want
26:51
Speaker 3: to publish that December fifteenth. I've missed out on so
26:54
Speaker 3: much traffic. And if it's a new blog post, you
26:56
Speaker 3: need to give it time to rank. So just try
26:59
Speaker 3: to do things. I would say at least ninety days
27:01
Speaker 3: in advance of when you want things to show up.
27:03
Speaker 3: That goes for Google and Pinterest, So it would be
27:06
Speaker 3: my recommendation. And keep in mind you don't have to like,
27:10
Speaker 3: like if you're doing a seasonal romantic places to Stay
27:12
Speaker 3: in New York City and you want that to be.
27:14
Speaker 2: Hot for February, you could publish.
27:15
Speaker 3: It in October and then promote it in February on
27:18
Speaker 3: got It?
27:19
Speaker 1: So you keep mentioning Pinterest? So is pinterest like a
27:22
Speaker 1: really great amplifier? Like are a lot of bloggers you
27:25
Speaker 1: know in bed with Pinterest as a way to pin
27:28
Speaker 1: the blog to generate traffic. Do you see Pinterest as
27:31
Speaker 1: a good generator for you, like just in terms when
27:33
Speaker 1: you look at your numbers, So those that are going
27:35
Speaker 1: to get into the travel blogging world to also consider,
27:38
Speaker 1: you know, linking on Pinterest that for those extra eyeballs.
27:42
Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, I would say after organic search, I would
27:45
Speaker 3: say for most people, Pinterest is that second big traffic driver.
27:49
Speaker 2: And it again, like.
27:50
Speaker 3: Search traffic, the beauty of it is, I mean, Pinterest
27:53
Speaker 3: is a search engine. It's a visual search engine. So
27:56
Speaker 3: pins that I shared years ago still bring me traffic.
28:00
Speaker 3: So it has that long term benefit which makes it
28:03
Speaker 3: really helpful. There's also tons of AI tools now that
28:06
Speaker 3: can help. I mean I use something called pin Generator.
28:08
Speaker 3: I know some people like to just have Canva templates
28:11
Speaker 3: ready to go. There are definitely things you could do
28:13
Speaker 3: to streamline your Pinterest process, and you could also create
28:16
Speaker 3: pins for older posts. So if I'm writing a new
28:19
Speaker 3: blog post, let's say I'll do at least five new pins.
28:22
Speaker 3: I'll spread them out, I'll publish them ninety days in advance.
28:26
Speaker 3: With them, when I'm looking at my seasonal calendar, I'll
28:28
Speaker 3: also say, oh wait, last year I published this and
28:30
Speaker 3: it did really well. Let me create some new pins
28:32
Speaker 3: for it, And I forget if I just said this,
28:34
Speaker 3: I would just publish each pin for the same post
28:36
Speaker 3: at least seven days apart to avoid the spam filter.
28:39
Speaker 1: Sorry, you did not say that I'm learning, I'm learning perfect,
28:42
Speaker 1: So you didn't say that this is And I love
28:44
Speaker 1: that you're like kind of really taking us a little
28:46
Speaker 1: bit deeper and getting some people can leave here with
28:48
Speaker 1: something actionable. Now, the last question about blog before we
28:51
Speaker 1: kind of pivot to monetization, is I want to tie
28:54
Speaker 1: in brand deals because, as you know, that's like our
28:56
Speaker 1: main thing. Sidewalker is brand deal's brand deals. Brandal's a joke,
29:00
Speaker 1: that's my niche, no matter what niche the creators in.
29:03
Speaker 1: But a big question I often get asked is can
29:05
Speaker 1: my blog be profitable from a brand deal perspective? Can
29:09
Speaker 1: I do self sponsored articles? Is this a way to monetize? Now?
29:14
Speaker 1: I know for my community that answers yes, but I
29:16
Speaker 1: would love to hear from you who's in the thick
29:18
Speaker 1: of it. You also have a membership. Are you seeing
29:21
Speaker 1: brands biting on sponsored blog articles? Are you yourself pitching that?
29:27
Speaker 1: Is this a way that you could also monetize outside
29:30
Speaker 1: of traffic.
29:30
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, especially as someone who is more blog forward.
29:34
Speaker 3: I'm usually pitching my blog, my podcast, and my email list,
29:38
Speaker 3: So for me, the other stuff is secondary. Those are
29:41
Speaker 3: more my up cells because my blog is really where
29:43
Speaker 3: I see the most traction. For you, I'm an email
29:45
Speaker 3: list I think is the quickest one, honestly, But a
29:48
Speaker 3: lot of brands I've worked with like the idea of
29:50
Speaker 3: the blog and YouTube for the longevity of it. I'm
29:54
Speaker 3: also having brands ask me for sponsored pins nowadays, which.
29:57
Speaker 1: I love that. But we talk about that in a
30:00
Speaker 1: I had a charge for that and do that. So
30:02
Speaker 1: are you also charging in addition, like for the photography?
30:05
Speaker 1: Like That's one thing I'll tell my bloggers. I'm like, hey,
30:07
Speaker 1: it's not just the word count, Like you're also you know,
30:09
Speaker 1: maybe you have to shoot hi res photography. This blog
30:12
Speaker 1: post comes with five to seven images, so I love
30:15
Speaker 1: to see that you are doing this. It kind of
30:17
Speaker 1: gives people listening in like, it's not an old wive sale.
30:20
Speaker 1: There is a blogger here that is literally selling her blog,
30:24
Speaker 1: her newsletter, and her sponsored pins. When it comes to
30:26
Speaker 1: brand partnership, So do you see the same thing with
30:28
Speaker 1: like press trips, Like when you want a press trip,
30:31
Speaker 1: putting you like you're working with tourism boards on press trips,
30:35
Speaker 1: I'm assuming for the content to appear on your blog
30:37
Speaker 1: or your email. Correct.
30:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, so usually with the press trips, it's like a
30:42
Speaker 3: package of deliverables. But always it's a blog post and
30:45
Speaker 3: at least you know, some Instagram and Facebook posts and
30:48
Speaker 3: some stories, and usually one of the posts is a
30:51
Speaker 3: real I do like a package of deliverables, and then
30:54
Speaker 3: I have upsells, so I you know, I might get
30:56
Speaker 3: extra for the email. With the press trips, usually they
30:59
Speaker 3: want more, more of the long term content and the
31:02
Speaker 3: social content. I'd say emails, I get more when it's
31:05
Speaker 3: more like newsworthy. I almost want to say not that
31:08
Speaker 3: you can't pitch sponsored emails for a press trip, but
31:11
Speaker 3: I find that tours and boards usually would do that
31:13
Speaker 3: as an add on versus like we want you to
31:15
Speaker 3: come to share this with your email list. But I
31:17
Speaker 3: feel like it's how you frame it right. If you're like,
31:19
Speaker 3: I've an amazing travel newsletter and you want to pitch
31:22
Speaker 3: that like lead with what is your strength? I agree,
31:26
Speaker 3: But just in my experience, a lot of the tours
31:28
Speaker 3: and boards i've worked with want first and foremost the
31:31
Speaker 3: blog article and then you know.
31:34
Speaker 1: Contenthos and the social posts.
31:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, so photos if I do, like, I don't charge
31:39
Speaker 3: extra for having photos in my blog posts because when
31:42
Speaker 3: I'm writing a blog post, I know some people will
31:44
Speaker 3: charge based on word count and stuff. If I'm writing
31:46
Speaker 3: a blog post on my site, I wanted to rank.
31:50
Speaker 3: If it doesn' like, it only helps me if it ranks.
31:52
Speaker 3: The more your content ranks, also, the more search engines
31:55
Speaker 3: are going to see it as a win for your website,
31:58
Speaker 3: Like they look at your website as a whole. So
32:00
Speaker 3: it doesn't really benefit me to say, oh, write like
32:02
Speaker 3: this really thin post with no photos.
32:05
Speaker 2: If I'm writing a sponsor, if.
32:06
Speaker 1: You're going to do it, you're like, we're going in.
32:09
Speaker 2: Yeah I wanted to rank.
32:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wanted to rank, and then I could add
32:12
Speaker 3: affiliate links, I can have ads all that stuff, So
32:14
Speaker 3: I'm getting more than the feed the tours and board
32:16
Speaker 3: is paying me. What I will charge extra for, though,
32:19
Speaker 3: is if they want to use my photos for themselves,
32:22
Speaker 3: like commercial license photos, that I will absolutely charge. But
32:26
Speaker 3: if it's on my own blog, I want it to
32:28
Speaker 3: be the best it can be. So that's how I
32:31
Speaker 3: go about that. And then you know, anything extra in
32:34
Speaker 3: terms of like a real and Instagram post, Facebook, that'll
32:37
Speaker 3: be an extra charge or some type of package charge.
32:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is exciting guys because there is a
32:42
Speaker 1: place for bloggers to pitch sponsored blog articles, y'all. So
32:46
Speaker 1: this is exciting and it's we're seeing it happen you mentioned. Okay,
32:50
Speaker 1: so there's the monetization through you know, I'm assuming some
32:54
Speaker 1: sort from your traffic from your blog, right, so whether
32:57
Speaker 1: you're getting you know, is that through banner ads and
32:59
Speaker 1: display ads things of that nature. Right, So there's that.
33:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm a media Vine publisher a lot of
33:04
Speaker 3: people so might do Raptive, I'd say with the ads,
33:06
Speaker 3: just a quick note, wait till you can get into
33:08
Speaker 3: a premium ad network, is my tip. Like the two
33:11
Speaker 3: I just always see They're not the only two, but
33:13
Speaker 3: like media Vine and Raptive are really the two that
33:17
Speaker 3: I feel like all the big bloggers are in.
33:20
Speaker 2: There might be others.
33:20
Speaker 3: But if you have really low traffic and you could
33:23
Speaker 3: get into an ad network, like right from the beginning,
33:26
Speaker 3: it might not be worth it. What's the Google ad
33:29
Speaker 3: Sense that's the one, Okay, that can really like slow
33:32
Speaker 3: down your site and things like that.
33:34
Speaker 2: So my tip would be, wait till you have good traffic.
33:36
Speaker 3: You could get into a premium ad network and you're
33:38
Speaker 3: going to actually make good money from your ads.
33:40
Speaker 1: Amazing advice. We have that. Then we have sponsored brand
33:44
Speaker 1: deals on the blog. Then you mentioned affiliate and you've
33:47
Speaker 1: talked about it a few times because you said, oh,
33:49
Speaker 1: you do it inside your email newsletter, and I believe
33:53
Speaker 1: even on your site. I was looking it up. I
33:55
Speaker 1: believe you have. You also teach or speak a lot
33:58
Speaker 1: about affiliate But it makes sense, right you're blogging, you
34:01
Speaker 1: have a newsletter, why not monetize through you know these
34:05
Speaker 1: additional links. Talk to us a little bit about you know,
34:08
Speaker 1: your affiliate strategy. I know that you've promoted other sites before.
34:13
Speaker 1: What's the difference between creators who just kind of sprinkle
34:15
Speaker 1: links here and there and then people like you who
34:17
Speaker 1: are like, no, this is a part of my Visit's
34:19
Speaker 1: in the foot of my emails, like I'm putting it.
34:21
Speaker 1: Talk to me about affiliates so that those that are
34:24
Speaker 1: listening in they can see this big picture. Okay, she's
34:27
Speaker 1: monetizing traffic, she's doing sponsored brand deals, she's going on
34:30
Speaker 1: press trips. She also is doing affiliates. They may not
34:33
Speaker 1: know anything about it, so walk us through. It looks
34:35
Speaker 1: like yeah, so affiliates.
34:37
Speaker 3: Just quick definition, is you promoting a brand's products and
34:40
Speaker 3: they're giving you a special link that you use to
34:42
Speaker 3: promote it, and then if someone buys through your link
34:44
Speaker 3: or your code, whatever it is, you get a commission.
34:46
Speaker 3: A lot of bloggers when they're first starting out, will
34:48
Speaker 3: just like let's say I'm writing about traveling solo through
34:51
Speaker 3: Italy and I put an affiliate link to the backpack
34:55
Speaker 3: I use. Sure, maybe one or two people are going
34:57
Speaker 3: to click, but really you're not going to see great
35:00
Speaker 3: conversions from that most likely. However, if I write about
35:03
Speaker 3: the ten best hiking backpacks for petite women, that's going
35:07
Speaker 3: to be petite women looking for a hiking backpack, you know,
35:10
Speaker 3: looking to purchase. So I would say some of your
35:12
Speaker 3: content should be buyer intent. I mentioned before, I think
35:15
Speaker 3: that in your topic cluster you want to have some
35:16
Speaker 3: buyer intent content. But you could also do this with
35:19
Speaker 3: email too. I know in the email we talk a
35:21
Speaker 3: lot about promoting your own products, but maybe you you know,
35:25
Speaker 3: every fourth email or so, you have an email where
35:29
Speaker 3: it is promoting some type of affiliate that you know
35:32
Speaker 3: would be beneficial to your audience. So maybe it's how
35:35
Speaker 3: I find cheap flights with going dot com, which is
35:38
Speaker 3: like a airfare deal website type of thing. So you
35:40
Speaker 3: can weave that into other things. I know people also
35:42
Speaker 3: do it on social media. Like I said, I'm a
35:44
Speaker 3: little bit more of a blog, podcast email first creator,
35:48
Speaker 3: so I don't do it as much on Instagram and
35:50
Speaker 3: TikTok and all that, but you totally can.
35:52
Speaker 2: I see it all the time. Do a real where
35:54
Speaker 2: you're reviewing.
35:55
Speaker 3: The hotel you stay at, Do a real reviewing the
35:58
Speaker 3: backpack that you love using. So think about that buyer
36:01
Speaker 3: intent type of thing. And then I'm also always trying
36:04
Speaker 3: to think like who would this affiliate benefit.
36:07
Speaker 2: So one thing I do with all of my.
36:09
Speaker 3: Products, especially courses, create a resource list where you have
36:13
Speaker 3: your recommended tools with affiliate links. On my website, I
36:17
Speaker 3: have my travel resources page. I know people coming to
36:20
Speaker 3: my website learning about travel from me, especially solo travel,
36:24
Speaker 3: want to know what I use resource lists with affiliate links,
36:26
Speaker 3: So I'm also thinking about, you know, other placements I
36:29
Speaker 3: could use. I've done more creative things where I've co
36:31
Speaker 3: hosted webinars with affiliates and things like that, so you
36:34
Speaker 3: could get creative with it, but at the very foundation
36:36
Speaker 3: of your affiliate strategy, at the very least, have some
36:39
Speaker 3: buyer intent content. And then when you're creating your content,
36:42
Speaker 3: whether it's informational or buy your intents, particularly blog posts,
36:47
Speaker 3: don't just have a link, make it bold, have a
36:50
Speaker 3: really strong call to action with an emoji. I like
36:52
Speaker 3: to have an intro or infobox under the intro it's
36:56
Speaker 3: a different color. Let's say it's the pen best family
37:00
Speaker 3: friendly hotels in Rome. Short on time. Here is my
37:04
Speaker 3: top pick. You can pick one to three hotels that
37:06
Speaker 3: you want to highlight there. Have a comparison box if
37:09
Speaker 3: you are sharing those ten hiking backpacks for petit women.
37:13
Speaker 3: Make it easy for people to make a decision without
37:15
Speaker 3: having to read three thousand words comparison box. You know
37:19
Speaker 3: some of the features that you want to call out.
37:21
Speaker 3: I'm sure people want to know the price. What are
37:23
Speaker 3: the things that people want to know quickly to make
37:25
Speaker 3: a decision. This is some of the things I would recommend.
37:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially when you keep mentioning this buyer intent. Buyer intent,
37:31
Speaker 1: and that makes sense, right, Like what you said is like, oh, here,
37:34
Speaker 1: I'm in Italy. Here's the backpack I'm wearing. Like you said,
37:37
Speaker 1: no one cares whole article about best backpacks to whether
37:40
Speaker 1: your trip or whatever. People are searching that they're ready
37:44
Speaker 1: to purchase, and you're going to see a lot more
37:46
Speaker 1: push with you know, with conversions, right like, because the
37:50
Speaker 1: article was almost done in this really strategic way, and
37:53
Speaker 1: I appreciate you sharing that, and I think affiliates, you know,
37:56
Speaker 1: bundling that into blog and newsletter. It just seems like
38:00
Speaker 1: it would be such a natural fit. One thing that
38:02
Speaker 1: we kind of didn't talk about, but it makes sense
38:04
Speaker 1: when I think about the whole process is because Jesse
38:07
Speaker 1: also has social she may or may not be doing
38:10
Speaker 1: automations like hey, here's a quick video on hotels and
38:13
Speaker 1: real comment Rome to get my full blog article, and
38:17
Speaker 1: she's probably using an automation to get her social to
38:21
Speaker 1: go read the article, and then in the article she
38:23
Speaker 1: has her booking dot com or whatever you're using to
38:28
Speaker 1: then go ahead and capture people that are looking to purchase.
38:30
Speaker 1: So I think just to scale it up, even if
38:33
Speaker 1: you're on social guys and you start using your blog,
38:36
Speaker 1: I know so many influencers that use their blog as
38:40
Speaker 1: that value piece to offer their following, Like, hey, comment
38:44
Speaker 1: blog and I'll send you this article and it's really good,
38:46
Speaker 1: a really good deep dive. So I think that's super exciting.
38:49
Speaker 3: I do that with mini chat, and I'll do a
38:52
Speaker 3: lot of like I do it a lot with optin
38:54
Speaker 3: freebies too, Like I'll try to think of what optins
38:56
Speaker 3: do I have, Like what reels and carousel. I'm so
39:00
Speaker 3: glad carousels are becoming more of a thing because I'm
39:02
Speaker 3: so much more of a writer than a video person.
39:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I have the call to.
39:06
Speaker 3: Action with them ani chat like grab the opt in,
39:08
Speaker 3: So that's been really helpful as well.
39:10
Speaker 1: I think all of us are really excited about carousels
39:13
Speaker 1: because well, my whole thing is is being on a YouTube,
39:16
Speaker 1: like being on YouTube and teaching on YouTube. I mean,
39:18
Speaker 1: my videos are forty minutes, right, I just have longer spaces,
39:22
Speaker 1: And there's people in the world that don't want that
39:24
Speaker 1: and they don't have to consume it. And then there's
39:26
Speaker 1: my audience who's like, I want to I have a
39:27
Speaker 1: commute every day. I want to drive and listen to Nina,
39:29
Speaker 1: you know, so you know, finding content that you enjoy
39:33
Speaker 1: and that's joyful and for me, it's always been such
39:34
Speaker 1: a struggle to put me in like a little box.
39:36
Speaker 1: That the blog feels like a space too, where you
39:40
Speaker 1: can just be really free. You know, you're not constrained.
39:43
Speaker 1: You know you can really give what you want to
39:46
Speaker 1: give wholeheartedly and not have to hold back to fit
39:48
Speaker 1: a time stamp or whatever. Yes, I couldn't agree more so, Jesse,
39:53
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time, your wisdom, all
39:56
Speaker 1: the tips, the action items. How can our viewers and
40:00
Speaker 1: listeners find you connect with you? I'm going to include
40:03
Speaker 1: everything obviously in the description below, y'all, but just so
40:06
Speaker 1: you can hear it from Jesse direct. Yeah.
40:08
Speaker 2: So, my website's Jesse on a journey dot com.
40:10
Speaker 3: If you click the blogging button in the menu, it'll
40:13
Speaker 3: take you to the blogging section of my website, Jesse
40:15
Speaker 3: on a journey dot com Blogging dash Freebies. It's where
40:18
Speaker 3: I have all my freebies. I'd say maybe one that
40:20
Speaker 3: would be good for people here would either be my
40:22
Speaker 3: algorithm proof blogging workshop it's free. Or I have a
40:26
Speaker 3: resource library that has seventy five plus resources all focused
40:30
Speaker 3: on growing traffic, community and income and one thing. I mean,
40:33
Speaker 3: there's a ton in there on creating products, affiliate marketing, traffic,
40:36
Speaker 3: all that stuff. But one thing that I feel like
40:38
Speaker 3: would be a good extension of what we talked about
40:41
Speaker 3: is I have a content repurposing. It's like strategy and
40:45
Speaker 3: mapping out. I spend a lot of time on it.
40:47
Speaker 3: So if you're like, Okay, how do I do all
40:49
Speaker 3: these things, that's going to help you create a step
40:51
Speaker 3: by step repurposing strategy.
40:53
Speaker 2: So it's much quicker.
40:54
Speaker 3: But beyond that, I'm basically Jesse on a journey on
40:56
Speaker 3: all the socials. I have a make money travel blogging
40:59
Speaker 3: YouTube chant, and then I also have the Profitable Travel
41:02
Speaker 3: Blogger podcast.
41:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm going to link the podcast. Guys, I'm
41:06
Speaker 1: gonna link everything below so you can take a look.
41:08
Speaker 1: And I'm pumped that we got to finally get a
41:11
Speaker 1: blogger on our podcast because we tend to talk. I
41:14
Speaker 1: talk to a lot of people on the brand side,
41:16
Speaker 1: you know, influencers, but we needed someone to rep for
41:18
Speaker 1: the bloggers out there and share that this is, you know,
41:21
Speaker 1: a profitable space, a joyful space. Especially if you're listening,
41:25
Speaker 1: I'm assuming you want to start a blogger, You're excited
41:27
Speaker 1: you like to write, this is a space that you
41:29
Speaker 1: want to get into, and I think Jesse is gonna
41:31
Speaker 1: be able to shepherd you and all things travel blogging prosperity.
41:35
Speaker 1: So definitely go check her out. And thanks so much
41:38
Speaker 1: Jessie for your time, and thank you all for listening in.
41:40
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. It was fun.