I am not trying to finance my travels through travel blogging
I recently came across this article on vagabondjourney.com about failing to make enough money through blogging, and it made me think about why I have set up this new, self-hosted website. Granted, I do want to make some money out of it, but I have no intention whatsoever to try and make it my main source of income.
The internet is flooded with bloggers who claim they are making x number of dollars per month, just by writing some half-hearted, totally subjective and uninformative posts decorated with dark and badly taken pictures. Funnily enough, some of them are actually telling the truth. When this is the case, it seems like, given the quality of their posts, it’s not really a matter of how well they write but of the very fact that people want to try and be like them and hence follow these blogs. I did so myself for a while, until I realised this was all rubbish and I’d rather read a quality blog than try to see how these people supposedly financed their travels through blog money.
Added to that, as the author of vagabondjourney.com wrote, why should my ambition be to live on 20-40 dollars a day anyway?
So the bottom line is, don’t worry: While I will be placing some ads on this website, my aim is more to earn some extra cash to help me finance my travels. After all, every dollar counts no? The truth is I work to earn money, out there, in the real world. To learn how I am managing to travel slowly here in Switzerland, stay tuned. You will see that it was not easy, and it took me over a year to finally afford to paymy rent, but with perseverance, I am finally doing it.
-Photos and Text by Denise Pulis @ www.theartofslowtravel.com
2 Comments → “I am not trying to finance my travels through travel blogging”
Leave a Reply
Browse by Continent/Theme
Portfolio
Navigate
Hey Denise! I’m one of those who actually went into travel blogging to earn extra income for my travel fund. I’ve been blogging even before it came into fashion and became profitable, but the idea of making money out of something that I enjoy doing was exciting. I mean, who wouldn’t want that? Everybody made it seem as if it’s easy money.
I followed all the blogs that talk about earning online and tried to do what they advise (because if it worked for them, surely it will work for me!). I’ve come to realize that what works for one blog doesn’t necessarily mean it would work for another. While I have earned money off my blog, what I realized that it was the opportunities that I got out of blogging that are more valuable: the people I met through blogging, the recognition, the chance to travel. As my friend pointed out to me, it’s better if your primary source of income doesn’t come from blogging — it would be easier for you to say no to offers that might harm your credibility and integrity in exchange for a hefty sum.
Hi Nina, I agree completely.
I would never want blogging or travel writing to be my primary source of income. I love travelling too much, and I think it would ruin it. A few weeks ago I was showing Zurich to my best friend who had come to visit, and I forgot my camera in my bag (in a locker) when we went to a museum. It turned out that taking pictures was allowed, and I spent half the time aching to get my camera so I could take pictures for my blog, rather than just enoying it….I find this sad, and wish I could stop seeing everything as possible post. I am sure you’ve had similar feelings at one point or another, right?