{"id":3279,"date":"2026-05-03T09:09:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T09:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/tips-to-earn-online\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T18:37:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T18:37:33","slug":"tips-to-earn-online","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/tips-to-earn-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips to Earn Online"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Tips to earn online<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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How travel writers make a living from the road.<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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No \"passive income hacks.\" Just the real ways small travel blogs (ours included) turn writing about places into rent money \u2014 what works, what doesn't, and what we'd tell ourselves if we were starting again today.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Why we wrote this page<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Every couple of weeks someone messages us asking the same question: can a travel blog actually pay for the travel?<\/em> Short answer: yes, but slowly, and almost never the way the YouTube ads make it look.<\/p>

This page is the long answer. We’ve grouped the income streams that matter for a small site like ours \u2014 affiliates, sponsorships, ad networks, digital products, and freelance work on the side \u2014 with what each one actually paid us, what it took to get there, and the mistakes we’d skip if we were starting Hungrytravelfamily again in 2026.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The five income streams<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Where the money actually comes from<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Most successful travel blogs we know lean on three or four of these at once \u2014 never just one.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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01<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Affiliate links<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Travel insurance, booking platforms, gear, and tour operators pay you a small cut when a reader clicks through and books. Slow to build, but compounds: an article that ranks for one good keyword can earn for years.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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02<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sponsored content<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Tourism boards, hotels, and brands pay for a written feature, an Instagram post, or a press trip. Pays well per project but it's lumpy income \u2014 and you have to be honest about which ones you say no to.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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03<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Display ads<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Once you have steady traffic (~25k\u201350k pageviews\/month), networks like Mediavine, Raptive or Ezoic place ads on your site and pay per thousand views. Most boring stream, also the most reliable.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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04<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Digital products<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Itineraries, photo presets, ebooks, Notion templates. Higher margin than anything else \u2014 you make it once and sell forever \u2014 but you need an audience that already trusts you before they'll buy.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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05<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Adjacent freelance<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Travel writing for magazines, photography licensing, marketing\/AI consulting for travel brands. The blog becomes your portfolio. This is how we pay our rent right now, honestly.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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If you're starting today<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What we'd do in year one<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Most new travel bloggers chase ads or sponsorships from week one and burn out. If we were rebuilding from zero, here’s the order we’d actually go in:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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  1. Pick one country or region.<\/strong> Don't try to cover the world. Search engines and readers reward depth.<\/li>
  2. Write 30 articles before checking analytics.<\/strong> Anything less and you're just guessing whether the niche works.<\/li>
  3. Add affiliate links from day one.<\/strong> Booking.com, GetYourGuide, SafetyWing \u2014 sign up early so the links are in your evergreen articles, not bolted on later.<\/li>
  4. Build an email list before social media.<\/strong> Algorithms change every quarter; an inbox doesn't.<\/li>
  5. Save sponsorships and ads for year two.<\/strong> You need traffic and trust first. Both take time.<\/li>
  6. Keep a side income.<\/strong> Freelance writing, marketing, anything. Money pressure makes for bad content.<\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    \u201cThe blogs that survive aren\u2019t the ones that earn fastest. They\u2019re the ones whose owners actually like writing.\u201d<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    \u2014 Joona & Alla<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Honest mistakes<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Things we wasted time on<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Chasing every social platform.<\/strong> TikTok, Pinterest, Threads, Reels, Shorts \u2014 we tried all of them in our first six months. Pick two, get good, ignore the rest.<\/p>

    Free hosting and theme bundles.<\/strong> We rebuilt the site twice because the cheap stack didn’t scale. Buy decent hosting and a clean theme once. We use a free Astra setup with a custom look \u2014 minimal but solid.<\/p>

    Writing for ourselves, not for search.<\/strong> Our prettiest essays still get the least traffic. Find the keywords first, then<\/em> write the beautiful version of that article.<\/p>

    Saying yes to bad sponsorships.<\/strong> One thin paid post can cost you the trust of 5,000 readers. The math isn’t worth it. We turn down most pitches now.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The toolbox<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    What we actually use<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    No affiliate fluff. These are the things our two-person operation in Rovaniemi pays for (or uses free) every week.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Hosting<\/div>

    Hostinger \/ SiteGround<\/p>

    Affordable WP hosting that doesn't fall over when a post catches traction.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

    Theme<\/div>

    Astra (free) + Elementor<\/p>

    Boring on purpose. Fast, light, easy to redesign without a developer.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

    SEO<\/div>

    Yoast \/ RankMath + Ahrefs Lite<\/p>

    One on-page plugin, one keyword tool. That\u2019s the whole stack.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

    Email<\/div>

    ConvertKit \/ Beehiiv<\/p>

    Free up to 1k subscribers. Easy automations once you grow.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

    Affiliates<\/div>

    Booking, GetYourGuide, SafetyWing<\/p>

    Three travel-relevant programs that approve small sites.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

    Ads (later)<\/div>

    Mediavine \/ Raptive<\/p>

    Once you cross 25\u201350k sessions\/mo, the highest-paying networks.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

    AI assist<\/div>

    ChatGPT \/ Claude<\/p>

    Outlines, edits, repetitive copy. We never publish raw AI prose.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

    Crypto<\/div>

    Trezor hardware wallet<\/p>

    Any crypto we hold lives offline on a Trezor, not in an exchange app. Small, boring, and the first thing we'd tell a friend to sort out. Get one here<\/a> (referral link \u2014 we may earn a small reward)<\/span>.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Want help, not just the playbook?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    We help travel brands and small publishers grow with content, SEO and AI workflows \u2014 the same systems we run on this site. If that sounds useful, come say hi.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Work with us<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3279","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3282,"href":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3279\/revisions\/3282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hungrytravelfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}