How To Monetize Your Squarespace Travel Website
Some of you have been blogging about your travels for a while now, while others might just be dabbling with the thought of doing so.
You might be wondering, “How do those travel bloggers make money with their website anyway?!”
And, “can I monetize my travel website if it’s on Squarespace?!”
Yes, you can!
And I’m going to tell you a few key ways to do just that.
Aside from my career as a Squarespace Web Designer + SEO Specialist, I also create niche websites on the side as a sort of “side hustle” for future passive income, so I’m pretty familiar with how to monetize websites.
So let’s get you paid for all that content creation!
How to monetize your squarespace travel blog
ads
You can place ads on your website right away. Although, you won’t be making any money really until you get higher traffic counts. But, you can sign up for Google AdSense right away and install ads on your Squarespace site and at least you won’t be missing any potential income either.
I recommend placing the ads manually on your site rather than letting bots do it automatically, simply for the sake of taste.
It’s easy— once you have an Adsense account, you’ll set up ad units (I usually set up one horizontal ad unit for the body portion of blog posts and one ad unit for sidebar ads), then you just add Code blocks to each blog post where you’d like an ad to appear.
Once you reach 25,000 visitors a month to your website, you can apply for Mediavine which is an ad network that pays a lot more than Google Adsense. Many people report making in a day with Mediavine what they used to make in a whole month with Adsense! More motivation to increase traffic!
affiliate links
You can also sign up for the Amazon Associates program right away, even before you have much traffic. Then you can begin including affiliate links on your site.
For example, if you create a blog post about the equipment you like to have on you for a big hiking trip, or the camera you use, or your favorite luggage for international travel… link to those products on Amazon and you can gain a small commission anytime someone follows your link to Amazon and makes a purchase.
It isn’t a big commission, usually around 4%, but imagine if you have 100 or 200 blog posts that all include affiliate links! You can see how the commission begins to add up into a substantial form of passive income each month.
sell prints from your travels & use an on-demand printing service
If you have a travel blog, it’s very likely you take beautiful photos too!
So why not pick your favorites and offer them as fine art photo prints in all different sizes?
Even better— don’t lug around the inventory with you, but utilize an on-demand printing service online. How? You simply create an account, upload your photo, choose the options your customer ordered (paper type, size, etc.) and then ship the order to the customer straight from the printing company.
For example: I sell an 8x10 giclee print from my website for $40, a customer places an order (through my website) for this print, the order shows up in my inbox, I log in to an on-demand printing service (like finerworks.com), place an order for an 8x10 giclee print of that same image, then ship the print to that customer, the total cost being $22. The order is fulfilled and I keep the remaining $18 for just a few minutes of time spent placing the order.
Voila! That’s dropshipping/on-demand printing!
become a brand ambassador
Once you have enough monthly traffic to your site, you can reach out to brands and offer to partner with them.
They might invite you into their affiliate program so you can write blog posts featuring their products or they might want you to become a brand ambassador. Each contract will have specific stipulations, but it might involve things like creating one Instagram post a week featuring the chosen product, or two blog posts each month featuring the chosen product(s).
For example, maybe you agree to be a brand ambassador for Subaru. They might lend a vehicle to you in a specific region and have you take high-quality photographs while you’re out exploring some beautiful location, then write a post about the experience (and how the Subaru made it all possible, of course!).
You not only make an income from doing this, but you also get a lot of high-quality freebies from brands you love!
sell digital products
Most websites make the largest percentage of their income from offering digital products for sale.
You could offer guides to specific areas in an ebook format and sell those individually.
You could create an online course about how to start a successful travel blog or how to travel as a solo female. Whatever your niche is! You’ll find these things out as you grow your audience and receive feedback from them over time.
If you need a travel website that performs well to get you started out on the right foot, get in touch with me and I’d be happy to schedule your project!
If you’re interested in more content about making a living online, be sure to subscribe to my Online Business Email List (link in the sidebar, or below on mobile).
Hope this has been helpful! Let me know if you have more ideas to add to the list, or if you have any questions. I’m happy to help.
x
Tiffany
welcome!
I’m Tiffany— a Squarespace Web Designer + SEO Specialist; I create beautiful and professional websites that rank well on Google. I also like to write about working online to help others who are seeking to attain that freedom lifestyle. Join one of my newsletters below to stay in the loop!
Feel free to contact me at: tiffany@tiffany-davidson.com