Blogging Archives » Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide https://localadventurer.com/category/blogging/ Moving to a New City Every Year to Explore like a Local Fri, 05 Jan 2024 04:46:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 How We Made OVER $302.9K in 2019 – Travel Blog Income Report https://localadventurer.com/travel-blog-income-report-december/ https://localadventurer.com/travel-blog-income-report-december/#respond Wed, 15 Jan 2020 00:15:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=54306 Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog and the challenges and lessons we learned each month. Plus, this helps us celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle. This will […]

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Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog and the challenges and lessons we learned each month. Plus, this helps us celebrate successes however big or small.

Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle.

This will also be our last income report for a while. It’s been exciting to share it over the past year, and we hope that it has helped you on your blog journey.

This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. All opinions are always our own. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

First Published: January 14, 2020

Life Updates

2019 flew by and is now over. Even though we’re incredibly grateful for this blog and career, personally it was the worst year we’ve experienced.

We wanted to share some highlights and lowlights of 2019.

LOWLIGHTS

  • We had a lot of major family drama go down at the beginning of the year… things you would only imagine happening on tv and not to anyone you know. This shit happened to us, and we’re still dealing with the shit storm. We’ll have more details afterward when we’re out, but since it involves multiple people, we’re trying to respect their privacy too.
  • My grandma’s condition is getting worse. She’s had Alzheimers for a few years, but now she can’t really get out of bed. It’s been really sad to see her feel like she has nothing to live for.
  • My dog of 18 years died in August.
  • Fingers are still injured, so I’ve plateaued in climbing.
  • We had constant issues with the site going down as we moved servers this year. Traffic also decreased slightly, but it could be attributed to that or it could be many factors.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Mika still has leukemia and Sebastian has thyroid disease, but they seem stable on their meds. We’ve also had some amazing friends watch them while we travel.
  • I started route setting at our local gym, which has been a really fun creative outlet.
  • The blog grew financially this year.
  • We found a great community here in Vegas and spent a lot of time climbing indoors and outdoors.
  • Getting to go up in a balloon at Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, which was a huge bucket list item for us.
  • Driving the Great Ocean Road in Australia.
Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival

How We Made OVER $302.9K in 2019 - Travel Blog Income Report ($22K+ in December)

Why We Share Our Income Reports

If you’re new here, you might be wondering why on earth we would share something so personal. We’ve been hesitant to share our income reports for the last 5 years, but since we’re all about trial and error, let’s see how it goes!

We’re putting out these income reports for these following reasons.

To Show You How We Make Income Blogging

We always want to be 100% transparent about how we make money through this blog. The amazing thing about the blogging world is that every blogger we’ve talked to runs their biz differently. There are countless ways to grow and improve your business.

When we started, we made most of our money through affiliate sales. Since then, we’ve shifted heavily to sponsored content. A big part of this is because my background is in sales and it’s what I’m good at.

You can learn more about my sale method below. As time goes on, this will continue to change, but we want to share how we focus on our strengths to effectively meet our goals.

To Show You The Potential of Blogging

Whether you have a blog or are starting a blog, we want to show you that you can make a career out of blogging.

Even if you don’t want to blog, there are a ton of ways to be financially and location independent and we hope to inspire others to go after it too. If you want to keep your day job, blogging can be a great way for you to make some extra side money.

Esther started the blog 6 years ago and I joined her full time 3 years ago. Even until last year, our parents were worried about us financially, wondering when we would stop “playing” and start taking our lives and work more seriously.

Neither of us ended up being “good Asians” (namely a doctor, lawyer, or engineer). It’s an unconventional job and where most people don’t understand all the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Note: There are a lot of great blogs and resources out there about blogging, but the tough part is that it’s not always replicable unless you also want to start blogging about blogging.

We wanted to show you that it’s possible to start a blog on other topics and still make a living. Though we have an e-course, we want to continue to show you that the bulk of our income still comes from our travel blog.

To Track How We're Doing

I’ve always loved sharing goals online and tracking them. Putting them out in the world (via the blog) has helped me so much with accountability. Since we’re constantly tweaking trying to improve the blog, looking at these numbers will help us learn whether we’ve been making the right changes.

It’s amazing to see how the sources of income have changed over time and to see where we still have room for improvement.

Ultimately, our life goal is to make enough to live on half our income, where the rest will go back into the community or support organizations we love.

Are You Cut Out for Blogging?

We love that our jobs give us flexibility in what we do, but being your own boss isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either. You have to be disciplined and work hard at your business to grow it.

If you’re not getting the results you want, again, keep in mind that we’ve been blogging for 6 years now and the first month I tried monetizing my blog, I made less than $20.

Give it more time and failing in the process is okay. I didn’t have the correct tools that are out now and a lot of it was trial and error. Consider it all an A/B test to figure out what will best work for you.

More: The Ugly Truths of Being a Travel Blogger told by Top Travel Bloggers

Breakdown of Income for December 2019

In December we earned a total of $22,273.74. 

Affiliate Income
Sponsorships
  • Sponsored Product Posts: $12,268.05 
    *our fave marketplace lately: IZEA
Display Ads
  • Mediavine: $7,964.87
Income Comparison to Other Months
  • Total in 2019 Year Income: $302,940.48
  • Last Month Income: $25,798.20
  • Difference: 14% decrease from last month
Expenses
  • Web Hosting: $98.95 (Want to start a blog? Here’s how you can start a blog in 5 easy steps)
  • Keysearch: $18.60
  • Virtual Assistant, Social Media Manager, Subcontractors: $8,880
  • Office Supplies/Services: $10,221.35
  • Test Products/Shoot Supplies: $1,369.15
  • *Taxes: $4,233 (not accurate until the end of year. See notes)
  • Insurance: $330.68
  • Travel + Meal Expenses: $2,181.30

TOTAL EXPENSES: $27,333.03
TOTAL NET PROFIT: $-5,059.29

We spent a lot this past month, but that was primarily to invest back into the business before the end of the year.

*Roughly 30% of your income will go to taxes at the end of the year. The number above shows the money set aside for taxes to offset how much we have to pay at the end. It’s not the full amount but definitely makes tax season less painful.

December 2019 Blog Traffic Breakdown + Stats

  • Monthly Pageviews: 765,567
  • Daily Average: 24,695
  • Monthly Sessions: 309,559
  • Monthly Unique Visitors: 267,690
  • Social Media Followers: 341,681
  • Email Subscribers: 8,852

Annual Breakdown of Income for 2019

In 2019 we earned a total of $302,940.48.

Ads: $84,593.11
Affiliate: $22,446.28
Sponsors: $195,901.09

EXPENSES 2019

  • Web Hosting: $2,213.30 (Want to start a blog? Here’s how you can start a blog in 5 easy steps)
  • Keysearch: $223.20
  • Virtual Assistant, Social Media Manager, Subcontractors: $24,786.34
  • Office Supplies/Services: $25,160.71
  • Test Products/Shoot Supplies: $8,893.44
  • *Taxes: $30,995
  • Insurance: $8,248.26
  • Travel + Meal Expenses: $65,996.32
  • Salary: $53,612.50
  • Paying it Forward: $35,000 (see organizations we work with here)

TOTAL EXPENSES: $255,989.07
TOTAL NET PROFIT: $46,951.41

**Numbers are accurate at the time of post but still need to be audited.

Goals for 2020

Since this is our last income report for the time being, check out our 20 Goals for 2020 to see what we have in store for the coming year.

Popular Posts from Last Month

What have you been up to last month? What are your goals next month?

Did you enjoy this post? Pin it for later

How We Made Over $25,798 on the Blog in November 2019 - Travel Blog Income Report

See More Income Reports

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NOV – How We Made 25k+

OCT – How We Made 41k+

SEP – How We Made 41k+

AUG – How We Made 18k+

JUL – How We Made 22k+

JUN – How We Made 13k+

MAY – How We Made 30k+

APR – How We Made 21k+

FEB – How We Made $24k+

MAR – How We Made $17k+

JAN – How We Made $26k+

DEC – How We Made $29K+

NOV – How We Made $26K+

OCT – How We Made $28K+

SEP – How We Made $12K+

AUG – How We Made $32K+

JULY – How We Made $23K+

FIRST BLOG INCOME REPORT

“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post How We Made OVER $302.9K in 2019 – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/travel-blog-income-report-december/feed/ 0 Why You Should Write A Reverse Bucket List Instead https://localadventurer.com/reverse-bucket-list/ https://localadventurer.com/reverse-bucket-list/#respond Wed, 08 Jan 2020 13:00:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=54350 Can you believe it’s 2020? A new year means new goals, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with writing lists for daily goals, yearly goals, city goals, you name it. Creating these lists helps me focus on what’s important to me and helps push me to accomplish them. There are […]

The post Why You Should Write A Reverse Bucket List Instead appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

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Can you believe it’s 2020? A new year means new goals, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with writing lists for daily goals, yearly goals, city goals, you name it.

Creating these lists helps me focus on what’s important to me and helps push me to accomplish them. There are a lot of positive reasons to write down your goals.

However, lately I’m noticing I spend more time in the clouds rather than grounded in the present. I’m always thinking about the next, new venture and how to do more and be more. Never less.

Sometimes I find myself comparing myself to others who have accomplished more in less time and start feeling that pang of guilt or I’d get overwhelmed by my never ending to-do list. That’s exactly why I believe there’s no time like the present to start a Reverse Bucket List.

Why You Should Write a Reverse Bucket List

A big thank you to UCI Irvine Division of Continuing Education for sponsoring this post. All opinions are always our own. This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. All opinions are always our own. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Last Updated: January 8, 2020

Reverse Bucket List - Why You Should Write One

What is a Reverse Bucket List? It’s a backwards look on all the things you’ve accomplished.

Reverse Bucket Lists have made their rounds on blogs before (I first saw the reverse bucket list idea from Erika years ago), but I figure it’s a good time to revisit them.

Instead of focusing on where you want to go this next year or decade, making a reverse bucket list is a great way to reflect on all the things you’ve accomplished.

Here are some great reasons why you should write a Reverse Bucket List:

  • It’s a great mindfulness exercise.
  • Helps you cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
  • It’s a reminder of how far you’ve come vs a reminder of all the things you have not done.

One of the goals that I’ve been proud of lately is taking an online course through UC Irvine. I’ve been thinking about going back to school for quite some time but always made excuses about how I was too old or how my brain has turned to mush. This past year though, I finally bit the bullet and took a marketing course to help me grow my blog biz!

As much as I love filling my time with other hobbies, I know I’m happiest when I’m learning and challenging myself.

My Reverse Bucket List

Career + Financial

  1. Graduate from University.
  2. Pursue further education – took some online courses through UC Irvine!
  3. Own a home.
  4. Pay off student loans and be debt free
  5. Start a blog.
  6. Make the blog a successful business.
  7. Make a living off of photography.
  8. Teach a photography class.
  9. Have photography published in a national magazine.
Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival

Travel

  1. Visit 6 continents.
  2. Live in NYC.
  3. Go bungee jumping.
  4. Live in an RV.
  5. Try ice climbing.
  6. Go horseback riding.
  7. Ride a camel in a desert.
  8. Go parasailing.
  9. Do a Via Ferrata.
  10. Go whitewater rafting.
  11. Trek to Machu Picchu.
  12. Hike the W Circuit in Patagonia.
  13. Go kayaking.
  14. Walk on a glacier.
  15. Photograph the Wave.
  16. Visit Iceland.
  17. Stand on Top of Half Dome.
  18. Hike the Narrows.
  19. Backpack Havasupai.
  20. Get Dive Certified.
  21. Learn to Surf.
  22. Swim in a Jellyfish Lake.
  23. Do a tea tasting in China.
  24. Walk the Great Wall of China.
  25. See the light shafts at Antelope Canyon.
  26. Visit New Zealand.
  27. Swim with Whale Sharks.
  28. Experience summer in Alaska.
  29. Go on a cross-country road trip.
  30. Go snorkeling in Fiji.
  31. Float in the Dead Sea.
  32. See the pyramids of Giza.
  33. Eat Italian food in Italy.
  34. Visit the Grand Canyon.
  35. Take a pilgrimage to my childhood home in Iowa.
  36. Visit all five towns in Cinque Terre.
  37. Walk on a Black Sand Beach.
  38. Attend the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.
  39. Go to a taping of a tv show.
  40. See the cherry blossoms in Japan.
  41. Go on a hot air balloon ride.
  42. Attend ComiCon.
  43. Sit in box seats at an NBA game.
  44. Play blackjack in Las Vegas.
  45. Eat at French Laundry.
  46. Stay at a 5-star hotel.
  47. Order room service.
  48. Live in Los Angeles
  49. Live in two different countries with different cultures.
  50. Do an all-girls trip.
  51. Go Couchsurfing.
  52. Wine tasting in Napa.
  53. Go to all four Disney World parks in one day.
  54. Visit 20 22 countries.
  55. Travel by myself to another country.
Swimming with Jellyfish that Don't Sting at Jellyfish Lake Indonesia - They evolved to lose their stingers after the lagoon separated from the ocean // localadventurer.com
Red Rock Canyon Climbing + Pros and Cons of Living in Las Vegas

Personal Growth + Miscellaneous

  1. Get married.
  2. Go on 52 dates in one year.
  3. Sponsor a child.
  4. Build a well – we built 3 in eSwatini!
  5. Adopt a pet.
  6. Teach the cats tricks.
  7. Finish a 52 week gratitude challenge.
  8. Learn to say “hello” in 10 different languages.
  9. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years.
  10. Read a new book a month or 12/yr
  11. Build a bike.
  12. Plant a tree.
  13. Grow an herb garden and keep it alive long enough to eat from it.
  14. Make cookies from scratch.
  15. Take a wine class.
  16. Learn to shoot a gun.
  17. Take tango classes.
  18. Learn to rock climb.
  19. Become a route setter.
  20. Run a 5k.
  21. Break 150 in bowling.
  22. Be in a viral youtube video.
  23. Learn to change a tire.
  24. Learn to do an oil change.
  25. Send one handwritten letter a month for 1 year.
  26. Take a painting class.
  27. Make your own halloween costume.
  28. Learn to play basic chords on the guitar.
  29. Get a masters in Brewniversity.
  30. Loan money on kiva.
  31. Organize a fundraiser for a cause.
  32. Participate in Operation Christmas Child.
  33. Donate toys during the holidays.
  34. Pay a stranger’s toll.
  35. Be a bridesmaid.
  36. Give a public speech.
  37. Join or start a book club.

More: 20 Goals for 2020

About UCI Online Courses

Taking online courses at UCI has fit perfectly into my on-the-go lifestyle. I can keep up with the classes from anywhere, spend time learning when it was convenient for me, and go at my own pace.

UC Irvine Continuing Education’s online courses also releases sections week to week so that I can stay on track. You even have classmates you can interact with and access to your instructor. The experience really gives you the best of both worlds.

Through the marketing course, I was able to learn new concepts, relearn and improve what I already knew, and learn the vocabulary to strategies I was already using.

If one of your goals is to improve your business or gain a competitive edge in your job, check out all the courses offered online at UC Irvine.

Do any of them catch your eye? I’ve been checking back on their Search Engine Optimization course that they are currently reworking and am excited to learn more about improving our site. Taking these online courses means it will be up-to-date.

More: 7 Advantages of Online Courses

UCI Online Courses + My Reverse Bucket List

What would you put on your reverse bucket list?

SEE MORE CITY BUCKET LISTS

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ATLANTA BUCKET LIST

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LAS VEGAS BUCKET LIST

LA BUCKET LIST

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SAN DIEGO BUCKET LIST

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SAN FRANCISCO BUCKET LIST

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“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post Why You Should Write A Reverse Bucket List Instead appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/reverse-bucket-list/feed/ 0 20 Goals for 2020 https://localadventurer.com/20-goals-for-2020/ https://localadventurer.com/20-goals-for-2020/#respond Mon, 30 Dec 2019 13:00:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=52797 Can you believe it’s the beginning of a new decade? I’m not sure about you, but I feel like a lot of people have been emphasizing that how it’s a new decade this year. Maybe that’s also because the year 2000 was all about the Y2K scare, but 2010 went by unusually quiet too. This […]

The post 20 Goals for 2020 appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

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Can you believe it’s the beginning of a new decade? I’m not sure about you, but I feel like a lot of people have been emphasizing that how it’s a new decade this year. Maybe that’s also because the year 2000 was all about the Y2K scare, but 2010 went by unusually quiet too.

20 Goals in 2020 - New Year's Resolutions

This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. All opinions are always our own. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Last Updated: June 27, 2020

20 Goals for 2020 Resolutions

Whether it helps you to give the new decade more emphasis or not, I hope that you’re writing down goals. They can be, however big or small, because sometimes we just need some small wins too.

For me, writing them makes them more tangible. Also, even if I don’t happen to check off everything on my list, it’s interesting to see what I valued at the beginning of the year and how my priorities manage to change even within that time frame.

Word of the Year

Last year my word was play, and I think we did pretty well! We’ve been climbing indoors and outdoors more than ever, and I even took up a job as a route setter at the local climbing gym. Strange how I always tend to turn my hobbies into some sort of job. Since it’s part time, I hope it stays a hobby I love for a long time.

Next year, our word of the year is

CREATIVITY

There are a lot of creative things I’ve been wanting to pursue that’s been pushed low on the priority list ever since the blog became our full time job. I’ve wanted to paint, play piano, learn illustration, and so much more.

Route setting has also been a creative endeavor, and I hope the more I get comfortable with it, I can continue to be more and more creative. 

Below, we have either combined goals or Jacob’s goal is written after mine if they’re different.

[ UPDATE ] Well… It’s time to pivot. I think it’s safe to say that we all had no idea how much COVID19 was going to derail our plans for the year. Since half the year is already gone, I think it’s a great time to reevaluate goals.

Instead of getting upset about not being able to meet current goals, we want to take the time to be grateful for our health, plenty of time to exercise creativity, time to snuggle with our kitties, and reconnecting with family and friends.

That being said, we want to refocus our goals on more local travel and seeing new parts of our city and state as safely and responsibly as possible.

More: 19 Goals in 2019

101 Things to Do at Home for Fun

Travel Goals

  1. Visit one new national park unit.
  2. Check off 5 new things on our Las Vegas Bucket List.
  3. Climb at a new rock climbing destination (Priest Draw) ✓
  4. Check something new off on our Nevada Bucket List.
  5. Create a bucket list for Utah.
  6. Visit Sedona.
  7. Photograph Bonneville Salt Flats or Hike the Subway

More: Your Complete List of 400+ National Park Units in the US

Personal Goals

  1. Rehab exercises every night to get fingers back to at least 90% // Stretch at least 3x a week.
  2. Get back into climbing shape before lockdown.
  3. Learn to sew. Start with stylish face masks // Learn to shoot miniatures.
  4. Paint for at least one hour every week. Don’t have to finish anything, but carve out time and get the art supplies out. // Post one TikTok a week.
  5. Find a dentist and get invisalign – rolled over from last year.
  6. Call home once a week // Write handwritten letters once a month.
  7. Read 12 Books // Read 10 Books

More: 101 New Hobbies to Start in 2020 – Listed by Types of Hobbies

Work and Blogging Goals

  1. Post to IG once a week (@estherjulee and @petiteclimbing) and 3x a week @jacobthefu) or have them prepped for our social media manager.
  2. Get our traffic back up to pre-COVID numbers (need to hit 15k sessions a day) since traffic tanked during lockdown.
  3. Continue our one sec of video a day (Check out 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) 
  4. Partner with one of our dream brands.
  5. Post 2 videos a month.
  6. Donate $25 for every item not completed. You can help us decide where the money goes at the end of the year.

Goals Postponed for Another Year

These were some of the goals we had to let go of this year.

  • Visit one new state (DE, ID, NE, RI, VT, WV).
  • Visit one new country.
  • Monument Valley – the first time we didn’t get to see it because it was completely covered in clouds.
  • Hit 500k sessions a month on the blog.
  • Do one dynamic or “scary” move every week // Consistently climb v6. – Haven’t been able to go to the gym or Red Rock.
  •  

Our Failures = More Giving

We didn’t complete 7 of our goals last year and have $175 to donate. What organizations should we give to?

Most Popular Posts in 2019

  1. 5 Beautiful Lighthouses in Portland Maine
  2. How to Have the Perfect Christmas in Las Vegas
  3. 25 Coolest Things to Do in Marfa TX
  4. 15 Unforgettable Things to Do in Palm Springs
  5. All the Best Stops on the Ultimate West Texas Road Trip
  6. 25 Fun Indoor Activities in Las Vegas
  7. Your Ultimate Utah National Parks Road Trip
  8. 15 Incredible Things to Do in Bishop CA
  9. Pros and Cons of Living in Las Vegas
  10. 17 Unforgettable Things to Do in Denali National Park

Essential Tips for Successful Goal Setting

  • Reflect and create goals that are important to you. Give yourself room to change them later if needed. This isn’t so you have a way to get out of doing them, but over the course of the year, you may change as a person and so will the goals and what’s important to you.
  • Set S.M.A.R.T. goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound)
  • Write them down so that they are more tangible, and if you share them with the world, you might feel more accountability.

Favorite Planners

What are your 2020 goals? Do you have any goals we can work on together?

SEE MORE CITY BUCKET LISTS

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ATLANTA BUCKET LIST

PDX BUCKET LIST 

CHARLESTON SC BUCKET LIST

LAS VEGAS BUCKET LIST

LA BUCKET LIST

NYC BUCKET LIST

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ASHEVILLE NC BUCKET LIST

ATX BUCKET LIST

NEW ORLEANS BUCKET LIST

ORLANDO BUCKET LIST

SAN FRANCISCO BUCKET LIST

SEATTLE BUCKET LIST

WASHINGTON DC BUCKET LIST

“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post 20 Goals for 2020 appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/20-goals-for-2020/feed/ 0 How We Made OVER $25K in November – Travel Blog Income Report https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-november/ https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-november/#respond Tue, 10 Dec 2019 01:37:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=54068 Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog and the challenges and lessons we learned each month. Plus, this helps us celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle. Life Updates […]

The post How We Made OVER $25K in November – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]>

Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog and the challenges and lessons we learned each month. Plus, this helps us celebrate successes however big or small.

Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle.

Life Updates

November was the month of guests. We started the month on a Scenic River Cruise in Portugal, but as soon as we got home, we had guests in town back to back. We had 3 sets of guests stay with us over two weeks. Overall, it wasn’t as crazy as I imagined because I emotionally prepped myself knowing I would have very little alone time (some of us introverts need a lot of alone time).

Then the last week of the month, we spent climbing outside as much as possible and spending time with old and new friends over Thanksgiving.

How We Made Over $25,798 on the Blog in November 2019 - Travel Blog Income Report

This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Originally Published: December 9, 2019

How We Made OVER $17K in March - Travel Blog Income Report

Why We Share Our Income Reports

If you’re new here, you might be wondering why on earth we would share something so personal. We’ve been hesitant to share our income reports for the last 5 years, and we’re super nervous about this post, but since we’re all about trial and error, let’s see how it goes!

We’re putting out these income reports for these following reasons.

To Show You How We Make Income Blogging

We always want to be 100% transparent about how we make money through this blog. The amazing thing about the blogging world is that every blogger we’ve talked to runs their biz differently. There are countless ways to grow and improve your business.

When we started, we made most of our money through affiliate sales. Since then, we’ve shifted heavily to sponsored content. A big part of this is because my background is in sales and it’s what I’m good at.

You can learn more about my sale method below. As time goes on, this will continue to change, but we want to share how we focus on our strengths to effectively meet our goals.

To Show You the Potential of Blogging

Whether you have a blog or are starting a blog, we want to show you that you can make a career out of blogging.

Even if you don’t want to blog, there are a ton of ways to be financially and location independent and we hope to inspire others to go after it too. If you want to keep your day job, blogging can be a great way for you to make some extra side money.

Esther started the blog 6 years ago and I joined her full time 3 years ago. Even until last year, our parents were worried about us financially, wondering when we would stop “playing” and start taking our lives and work more seriously.

Neither of us ended up being “good Asians” (namely a doctor, lawyer, or engineer). It’s an unconventional job and where most people don’t understand all the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Note: There are a lot of great blogs and resources out there about blogging, but the tough part is that it’s not always replicable unless you also want to start blogging about blogging.

We wanted to show you that it’s possible to start a blog on other topics and still make a living. Though we have an e-course, we want to continue to show you that the bulk of our income still comes from our travel blog.

To Track How We're Doing

I’ve always loved sharing goals online and tracking them. Putting them out in the world (via the blog) has helped me so much with accountability. Since we’re constantly tweaking trying to improve the blog, looking at these numbers will help us learn whether we’ve been making the right changes.

It’s amazing to see how the sources of income have changed over time and to see where we still have room for improvement.

Ultimately, our life goal is to make enough to live on half our income, where the rest will go back into the community or support organizations we love.

Are You Cut Out for Blogging?

We love that our jobs give us flexibility in what we do, but being your own boss isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either. You have to be disciplined and work hard at your business to grow it.

If you’re not getting the results you want, again, keep in mind that we’ve been blogging for 6 years now and the first month I tried monetizing my blog, I made less than $20.

Give it more time and failing in the process is okay. I didn’t have the correct tools that are out now and a lot of it was trial and error. Consider it all an A/B test to figure out what will best work for you.

More: The Ugly Truths of Being a Travel Blogger told by Top Travel Bloggers

Breakdown of Income for November 2019

In November we earned a total of $25,798.20. 

Affiliate Income
Sponsorships
  • Sponsored Product Posts: $15,383.46 
    *our fave marketplace lately: IZEA
Display Ads
  • Adthrive: $8,365.53
Income Comparison to Other Months
  • Total in 2019 Year Income: $280,666.74
  • Last Month Income: $37,904.59 (had to fix a couple accounting issues)
  • Difference: 32% decrease from last month
Expenses

TOTAL EXPENSES: $9,168.86
TOTAL NET PROFIT: $16,629.34

*Roughly 30% of your income will go to taxes at the end of the year. The number above shows the money set aside for taxes to offset how much we have to pay at the end. It’s not the full amount but definitely makes tax season less painful.

November 2019 Blog Traffic Breakdown + Stats

  • Monthly Pageviews: 620,362
  • Daily Average: 20,679
  • Monthly Sessions: 354,127
  • Monthly Unique Visitors: 305,909
  • Social Media Followers: 341,581
  • Email Subscribers: 8,818

Goals for December 2019

Blog Goals
  • Get ahead on blog posts.
  • Get ahead on Pinterest.
  • Create new pin designs.
  • Create pinspirational content.
  • Find a video editor.
Life Goals
  • Quality time with friends in Australia.
  • Rehab fingers and train to get better lock off strength for climbing.
  • Finish the one last book to finish reading goal for the year.
What Worked Last Month

I finally got a therapy lamp, which I think has helped me with my depression during the short days this season. Does it give my life more meaning? Ha, no. But it’s definitely tricked my brain into thinking the days are longer.

What Didn't Work + Lessons Learned

Things are continuing to go smooth from the day-to-day front as far as the blog goes. Unfortunately, that means I’m starting to get bored of the blog business since I’m a start up girl. I still show up for work because that’s what you do, but after the holidays are fully over, I’m going to have to figure out ways to shake things up. 

We also decided not to renew our e-course plan. It is a completely separate business of its own, and in hindsight neither of us had much interest in marketing e-courses. There’s also something about e-courses that felt off-putting for us, but against our better judgement, we put one out after hearing so much positive feedback from others. Now we gotta follow our hearts. Until we find the right marketing partner, we’re going to put a pin in it.

Lastly, we had to adjust some accounting numbers for the past two months after talking to our CPA. It turns out that we weren’t recording our reimbursements in the correct category, which means our numbers for September and October were a bit off, but the total number matchs up.

Popular Posts from Last Month

Featured Question from Readers / Marketing Tip

Ask us anything! We’ll be featuring questions and answering them each month on these reports.

HOW TO WORK WITH SPONSORS​

The e-course is out! Are you a content creator and want to learn how to work with brands?

If you look at our income reports, we make a majority of our income from sponsored posts. We used to do many one-off partnerships with brands, but over the years we’ve been focused on longer term partnerships. Now, most of our brand sponsorships are over $20k.

With over 10 years of trial and error, working in corporate and managing our first business, Jacob has figured out the best ways to pitch and work with brands.

At first we were reluctant to put out just another e-course in this oversaturated, dog-eat-dog market, but we’ve seen our coaching and course actually help people quit their jobs and start their own businesses. How cool is that?

Plus, all our students who have put our course to action have made their money back within the month, and one of our students using the e-course has already booked $11k in sponsorships.

So effin’ excited to see them conquer this new chapter in their lives. If you’re interested to learn more, see the intro video here.

Did you find these blog income reports helpful? Now that we’re no longer marketing the e-course, we may also put these on hold or consider doing annual reports instead.

See More Income Reports

⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡

SEP – How We Made 41k+

AUG – How We Made 18k+

JUL – How We Made 22k+

JUN – How We Made 13k+

MAY – How We Made 30k+

APR – How We Made 21k+

MAR – How We Made $17k+

FEB – How We Made $24k+

JAN – How We Made $26k+

DEC – How We Made $29K+

NOV – How We Made $26K+

OCT – How We Made $28K+

SEP – How We Made $12K+

AUG – How We Made $32K+

JULY – How We Made $23K+

FIRST BLOG INCOME REPORT

“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post How We Made OVER $25K in November – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-november/feed/ 0 How We Made OVER $41K in October – Travel Blog Income Report https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-october/ https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-october/#respond Fri, 15 Nov 2019 22:45:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=53538 Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog and the challenges and lessons we learned each month. Plus, this helps us celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle. Life Updates […]

The post How We Made OVER $41K in October – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]>

Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog and the challenges and lessons we learned each month. Plus, this helps us celebrate successes however big or small.

Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle.

Life Updates

October started the season of visitors. Once the weather gets nice, everyone comes to Vegas. We love Las Vegas, but we always found it strange that out of all the places we’ve lived, we get far more visitors here than any other well-visited city.

Early in the month, we went to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival which has been on our bucket list forever and then ended the month heading to Portugal for our Scenic River Cruise.

We also got climbed outdoors at least once a week, which was a personal goal of ours for this climbing season.

This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Originally Published: November 15, 2019

How We Made OVER $41K in October - Travel Blog Income Report

Why We Share Our Income Reports

If you’re new here, you might be wondering why on earth we would share something so personal. We’ve been hesitant to share our income reports for the last 5 years, and we’re super nervous about this post, but since we’re all about trial and error, let’s see how it goes!

We’re putting out these income reports for these following reasons.

To Show You How We Make Income Blogging

We always want to be 100% transparent about how we make money through this blog. The amazing thing about the blogging world is that every blogger we’ve talked to runs their biz differently. There are countless ways to grow and improve your business.

When we started, we made most of our money through affiliate sales. Since then, we’ve shifted heavily to sponsored content. A big part of this is because my background is in sales and it’s what I’m good at.

You can learn more about my sale method below. As time goes on, this will continue to change, but we want to share how we focus on our strengths to effectively meet our goals.

To Show You the Potential of Blogging

Whether you have a blog or are starting a blog, we want to show you that you can make a career out of blogging.

Even if you don’t want to blog, there are a ton of ways to be financially and location independent and we hope to inspire others to go after it too. If you want to keep your day job, blogging can be a great way for you to make some extra side money.

Esther started the blog 6 years ago and I joined her full time 3 years ago. Even until last year, our parents were worried about us financially, wondering when we would stop “playing” and start taking our lives and work more seriously.

Neither of us ended up being “good Asians” (namely a doctor, lawyer, or engineer). It’s an unconventional job and where most people don’t understand all the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Note: There are a lot of great blogs and resources out there about blogging, but the tough part is that it’s not always replicable unless you also want to start blogging about blogging.

We wanted to show you that it’s possible to start a blog on other topics and still make a living. Though we have an e-course, we want to continue to show you that the bulk of our income still comes from our travel blog.

To Track How We're Doing

I’ve always loved sharing goals online and tracking them. Putting them out in the world (via the blog) has helped me so much with accountability. Since we’re constantly tweaking trying to improve the blog, looking at these numbers will help us learn whether we’ve been making the right changes.

It’s amazing to see how the sources of income have changed over time and to see where we still have room for improvement.

Ultimately, our life goal is to make enough to live on half our income, where the rest will go back into the community or support organizations we love.

Are You Cut Out for Blogging?

We love that our jobs give us flexibility in what we do, but being your own boss isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either. You have to be disciplined and work hard at your business to grow it.

If you’re not getting the results you want, again, keep in mind that we’ve been blogging for 6 years now and the first month I tried monetizing my blog, I made less than $20.

Give it more time and failing in the process is okay. I didn’t have the correct tools that are out now and a lot of it was trial and error. Consider it all an A/B test to figure out what will best work for you.

More: The Ugly Truths of Being a Travel Blogger told by Top Travel Bloggers

Breakdown of Income for October 2019

In November we earned a total of $41,003.65. 

Affiliate Income
Sponsorships
  • Sponsored Product Posts: $29,721.91 
    *our fave marketplace lately: IZEA
Display Ads
  • Adthrive: $9,291.70
Income Comparison to Other Months
  • Total in 2019 Year Income: $257,967.60
  • Last Month Income: $41,118.21
  • Difference: .3% decrease from last month
Expenses

TOTAL EXPENSES: $8,854.47
TOTAL NET PROFIT: $32,149.18

*Roughly 30% of your income will go to taxes at the end of the year. The number above shows the money set aside for taxes to offset how much we have to pay at the end. It’s not the full amount but definitely makes tax season less painful.

October 2019 Blog Traffic Breakdown + Stats

  • Monthly Pageviews: 541,829
  • Daily Average: 17,478
  • Monthly Sessions: 436,479
  • Monthly Unique Visitors: 373,872
  • Social Media Followers: 341,226
  • Email Subscribers: 8,791

Goals for November

Blog Goals
  • Finish posting and updating all of our gift guides.
  • Keep up with a minimum of one post a week.
Life Goals
  • Start hangboarding to rehab fingers.
  • Set aside quality time to hang out with visitors.
  • Send out snail mail.
What Worked Last Month

We moved servers again, and so far it’s been stable, and we’re happy with the new set up. It’s time for us to be more proactive and focus on content creation instead of worrying about keeping the site up and running.

What Didn't Work + Lessons Learned

Balancing work time when we have visitors staying with us is always hard, especially since our office doubles as the guest room. We’re still trying to find a good workflow. Balance is never a word I would use to describe any part of my life, since I swing to both extremes, but we’ll have plenty of practice this month.

We also posted this later than we wanted, and now we only have half a month left to achieve some of our goals, so we’re going extra light on goals this month.

Popular Posts from Last Month

HOW TO WORK WITH SPONSORS​

The e-course is out! Are you a content creator and want to learn how to work with brands?

If you look at our income reports, we make a majority of our income from sponsored posts. We used to do many one-off partnerships with brands, but over the years we’ve been focused on longer term partnerships. Now, most of our brand sponsorships are over $20k.

With over 10 years of trial and error, working in corporate and managing our first business, Jacob has figured out the best ways to pitch and work with brands.

At first we were reluctant to put out just another e-course in this oversaturated, dog-eat-dog market, but we’ve seen our coaching and course actually help people quit their jobs and start their own businesses. How cool is that?

Plus, all our students who have put our course to action have made their money back within the month, and one of our students using the e-course has already booked $11k in sponsorships.

So effin’ excited to see them conquer this new chapter in their lives. If you’re interested to learn more, see the intro video here.

What have you been up to last month? Any fun plans next month? What are some of your goals next month?

See More Income Reports

⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡

SEP – How We Made 41k+

AUG – How We Made 18k+

JUL – How We Made 22k+

JUN – How We Made 13k+

MAY – How We Made 30k+

APR – How We Made 21k+

MAR – How We Made $17k+

FEB – How We Made $24k+

JAN – How We Made $26k+

DEC – How We Made $29K+

NOV – How We Made $26K+

OCT – How We Made $28K+

SEP – How We Made $12K+

AUG – How We Made $32K+

JULY – How We Made $23K+

FIRST BLOG INCOME REPORT

“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post How We Made OVER $41K in October – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-october/feed/ 0 How We Made Over $41.1K in Sep – Travel Blog Income Report https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-september/ https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-september/#respond Wed, 02 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=52014 Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog and the challenges and lessons we learned each month. Plus, this helps us celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle. Life Updates […]

The post How We Made Over $41.1K in Sep – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]>

Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog and the challenges and lessons we learned each month. Plus, this helps us celebrate successes however big or small.

Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle.

Life Updates

The year is flying by! We started September off by road tripping up the California Coast with Visit California to celebrate California Surfing Day. Then we headed to NYC for a secret video project that we’ll be sharing later on.

Our last trip of the month was LA for the Thirst Project Gala, which is an amazing organization that our blog has partnered with to build some wells.

Now that the temperatures are starting to drop in Las Vegas, hopefully we can fly less and climb outside and explore locally more! This is the perfect time to start visiting Vegas.

How We Made Over $41,000 on the Blog in September 2019 - Travel Blog Income Report

This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Originally Published: October 2, 2019

How We Made OVER $41K in September - Travel Blog Income Report

Why We Share Our Income Reports

If you’re new here, you might be wondering why on earth we would share something so personal. We’ve been hesitant to share our income reports for the last 5 years, and we’re super nervous about this post, but since we’re all about trial and error, let’s see how it goes!

We’re putting out these income reports for these following reasons.

To Show You How We Make Income Blogging

We always want to be 100% transparent about how we make money through this blog. The amazing thing about the blogging world is that every blogger we’ve talked to runs their biz differently. There are countless ways to grow and improve your business.

When we started, we made most of our money through affiliate sales. Since then, we’ve shifted heavily to sponsored content. A big part of this is because my background is in sales and it’s what I’m good at.

You can learn more about my sale method below. As time goes on, this will continue to change, but we want to share how we focus on our strengths to effectively meet our goals.

To Show You the Potential of Blogging

Whether you have a blog or are starting a blog, we want to show you that you can make a career out of blogging.

Even if you don’t want to blog, there are a ton of ways to be financially and location independent and we hope to inspire others to go after it too. If you want to keep your day job, blogging can be a great way for you to make some extra side money.

Esther started the blog 6 years ago and I joined her full time 3 years ago. Even until last year, our parents were worried about us financially, wondering when we would stop “playing” and start taking our lives and work more seriously.

Neither of us ended up being “good Asians” (namely a doctor, lawyer, or engineer). It’s an unconventional job and where most people don’t understand all the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Note: There are a lot of great blogs and resources out there about blogging, but the tough part is that it’s not always replicable unless you also want to start blogging about blogging.

We wanted to show you that it’s possible to start a blog on other topics and still make a living. Though we have an e-course, we want to continue to show you that the bulk of our income still comes from our travel blog.

To Track How We're Doing

I’ve always loved sharing goals online and tracking them. Putting them out in the world (via the blog) has helped me so much with accountability. Since we’re constantly tweaking trying to improve the blog, looking at these numbers will help us learn whether we’ve been making the right changes.

It’s amazing to see how the sources of income have changed over time and to see where we still have room for improvement.

Ultimately, our life goal is to make enough to live on half our income, where the rest will go back into the community or support organizations we love.

Are You Cut Out for Blogging?

We love that our jobs give us flexibility in what we do, but being your own boss isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either. You have to be disciplined and work hard at your business to grow it.

More: The Ugly Truths of Being a Travel Blogger told by Top Travel Bloggers

If you’re not getting the results you want, again, keep in mind that we’ve been blogging for 6 years now and the first month I tried monetizing my blog, I made less than $20.

Give it more time and failing in the process is okay. I didn’t have the correct tools that are out now and a lot of it was trial and error. Consider it all an A/B test to figure out what will best work for you.

Breakdown of Income for September 2019

In September 2019 we earned a total of $41,118.21. 

Affiliate Income
Sponsorships
  • Sponsored Product Posts: $28,749.98
    *our fave marketplace lately: IZEA
Display Ads
  • Adthrive: $9,559.04
Income Comparison to Other Months
  • Total in 2019 Year Income: $216,963.95
  • Last Month Income: $18,269.48
  • Difference: 225% increase from last month
Expenses

TOTAL EXPENSES: $12,460.88
TOTAL NET PROFIT: $28,657.33

*Roughly 30% of your income will go to taxes at the end of the year. The number above shows the money set aside for taxes to offset how much we have to pay at the end. It’s not the full amount but definitely makes tax season less painful.

September 2019 Blog Traffic Breakdown + Stats

  • Monthly Pageviews: 534,530
  • Daily Average: 17,818
  • Monthly Sessions: 426,847
  • Monthly Unique Visitors: 362,814
  • Social Media Followers: 321,981
  • Email Subscribers: 8,709

Goals for October

Blog Goals
  • Add new Pinterest designs to 5 posts.
  • Prep holiday gift guides.
  • Optimize Keywords for top 50 posts
Life Goals
What Worked Last Month

This was a bigger month in terms of income as payments rolled in from previous projects.

Affiliate sales are slowly going up from the work we did in August. Since it was a much bigger month in terms of sponsored posts, affiliates were only 6% of last months income. Our goal is to have affiliate sales become 20% of our income.

What Didn't Work + Lessons Learned

Last month, I worked on cleaning up my tags to help with SEO. When I first started the blog 9 years ago, I started tagging posts with anything and everything. Thousands of tags later, it’s time for a cleanup.

Unfortunately, there was also a bit of a hiccup with cleaning up so many tags so fast. The site slowed down significantly and also lowered our traffic as you can see below.

We also moved servers but we’re still having issues with image quality and site speed, so we still have a lot to work on next month. Anyone have experience with this?

We didn’t get around to optimizing keywords on all top 50 posts, so it’s rolling over to October’s goals.

Blog Traffic Comparison
Popular Posts from Last Month

HOW TO WORK WITH SPONSORS​

The e-course is out! Are you a content creator and want to learn how to work with brands?

If you look at our income reports, we make a majority of our income from sponsored posts. We used to do many one-off partnerships with brands, but over the years we’ve been focused on longer term partnerships. Now, most of our brand sponsorships are over $20k.

With over 10 years of trial and error, working in corporate and managing our first business, Jacob has figured out the best ways to pitch and work with brands.

At first we were reluctant to put out just another e-course in this oversaturated, dog-eat-dog market, but we’ve seen our coaching and course actually help people quit their jobs and start their own businesses. How cool is that?

Plus, all our students who have put our course to action have made their money back within the month, and one of our students using the e-course has already booked $11k in sponsorships.

So effin’ excited to see them conquer this new chapter in their lives. If you’re interested to learn more, see the intro video here.

What have you been up to last month? Any fun plans next month? What are some of your goals next month?

See More Income Reports

⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡

AUG – How We Made 18k+

JUL – How We Made 22k+

JUN – How We Made 13k+

MAY – How We Made 30k+

APR – How We Made 21k+

MAR – How We Made $17k+

FEB – How We Made $24k+

JAN – How We Made $26k+

DEC – How We Made $29K+

NOV – How We Made $26K+

OCT – How We Made $28K+

SEP – How We Made $12K+

AUG – How We Made $32K+

JULY – How We Made $23K+

FIRST BLOG INCOME REPORT

“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post How We Made Over $41.1K in Sep – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-september/feed/ 0 How We Made Over $18.2K in August – Travel Blog Income Report https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-august/ https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-august/#respond Tue, 10 Sep 2019 12:00:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=52013 Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog, the challenges and lessons we learned each month, and finally to celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle. Life Updates We spent […]

The post How We Made Over $18.2K in August – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]>

Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog, the challenges and lessons we learned each month, and finally to celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle.

Life Updates

We spent half of August in Canada road tripping around Nova Scotia and Newfoundland – our even greater backyard. So far, we’ve shared a few photos on Instagram (Esther & Jacob), and we’re currently working on a few posts for the blog.

While we were home in Vegas, we split our time between the office and climbing gym. Jacob left town for a quick consulting gig giving insight from the blogger standpoint, and we even snuck in a couple of date nights, which was a personal goal last month. 

We saw Hans Klok the fastest magician in the world and had a movie night to see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Have you seen it? It’s better to do some research on the Manson family before you watch it or it might be hard to understand what’s going on.

How We Made Over $18,000 on the Blog in August 2019 - Travel Blog Income Report

This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Last Updated: September 9, 2019

How We Made OVER $18.2K in August - Travel Blog Income Report

Why We Share Our Income Reports

If you’re new here, you might be wondering why on earth we would share something so personal. We’ve been hesitant to share our income reports for the last 5 years, and we’re super nervous about this post, but since we’re all about trial and error, let’s see how it goes! We’re putting out these income reports for these following reasons.

To Show You How We Make Income Blogging

We always want to be 100% transparent about how we make money through this blog. The amazing thing about the blogging world is that every blogger we’ve talked to does things a bit differently. There are also countless ways to grow and improve your business. When we started, we made most of our money through affiliate sales. Since then, we’ve shifted heavily to sponsored content. A big part of this is because my background is in sales and it’s what I’m good at. You can learn more about my sale method below. As time goes on, this will continue to change, but we want to share how we focus on our strengths to effectively meet our goals.

To Show You the Potential of Blogging

Whether you have a blog or are starting a blog, we want to show you that you can make a career out of blogging.

Even if you don’t want to blog, there are a ton of ways to be financially and location independent and we hope to inspire others to go after it too. If you want to keep your day job, blogging can be a great way for you to make some extra side money.

Esther started the blog 6 years ago and I joined her full time 3 years ago. Even until last year, our parents were worried about us financially, wondering when we would stop “playing” and start taking our lives and work more seriously. Neither of us ended up being “good Asians” (namely a doctor, lawyer, or engineer). It’s an unconventional job and where most people don’t understand all the work that goes on behind the scenes.

More: The Ugly Truths of Being a Travel Blogger told by Top Travel Bloggers

We love that our jobs give us flexibility in what we do, but being your own boss isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either. You have to be disciplined and work hard at your business to grow it.

If you’re not getting the results you want, again, keep in mind that we’ve been blogging for 6 years now and the first month I tried monetizing my blog, I made less than $20. Give it more time and failing in the process is okay. I didn’t have the correct tools that are out now and a lot of it was trial and error. Consider it all an A/B test to figure out what will best work for you.

Note: There are a lot of great blogs and resources out there about blogging, but the tough part is that it’s not always replicable unless you also want to start blogging about blogging. We wanted to show you that it’s possible to start a blog on other topics and still make a living. Though we have an e-course in the works, we want to continue to show you that the bulk of our income still comes from our travel blog.

To Track How We're Doing

I’ve always loved sharing goals online and tracking them. Putting them out in the world (via the blog) has helped me so much with accountability. Since we’re constantly tweaking trying to improve the blog, looking at these numbers will help us learn whether we’ve been making the right changes. It’s amazing to see how the sources of income have changed over time and to see where we still have room for improvement.

Ultimately, our life goal is to make enough to live on half our income (right now we’re at 30%), where the rest will go back into the community or support organizations we love.

Breakdown of Income for August 2019

In August 2019 we earned a total of $18,269.48. 

Affiliate Income
Sponsorships
  • Sponsored Product Posts: $7,600 
    *our fave marketplace lately: IZEA
Display Ads
  • Adthrive: $8,497.56
Income Comparison to Other Months
  • Total in 2019 Year Income: $175,845.74
  • Last Month Income: $22,450.77
  • Difference: 18% decrease from last month
Expenses

TOTAL EXPENSES: $11,622.20
TOTAL NET PROFIT: $6,647.28

*Roughly 30% of your income will go to taxes at the end of the year. The number above shows the money set aside for taxes to offset how much we have to pay at the end. It makes it less painful at the end of the year.

August 2019 Blog Traffic Breakdown + Stats

  • Monthly Pageviews: 605,592
  • Daily Average: 19,535
  • Monthly Sessions: 477,413
  • Monthly Unique Visitors: 399,818
  • Social Media Followers: 320,076
  • Email Subscribers: 8,651

Goals for September

Blog Goals
  1. Optimize Keywords for top 50 posts + 10 older posts.
  2. Delete and clean up tags for top 50 posts.
  3. Add new Pinterest designs to 5 posts.
Life Goals
  1. Start training program for climbing
  2. Test out 2 new recipes at home
  3. Finish reading a book
What's Working on the Blog

Last month, we updated hotel links for the top 50 posts (well, most of them. Some posts were a little more complicated, so we skipped those). Most of those links were through Commission Junction, and you can see below, that our daily publisher commission has been increasing. I’m happy to report that updating and adding fresh links has upped our affiliate income. Now, I need to work on the next 50.

We’ve been meaning to put together our ultimate Nevada Bucket List since we moved back and we finally got around to it last month. I spent several days researching and found a ton of fun and weird hidden gems, which makes us extra excited to do more local travel within the Silver State.

CJ Commission + How We Made Over $18,000 on the Blog in August 2019 - Travel Blogger Income Report
What Didn't Work + Lessons Learned

We managed to do all our work related goals but have been slacking on our personal ones. I haven’t picked up my kindle in so long that it has collected so much dust. I also haven’t been motivated to start intermittent fasting this month, so in September I’m giving that one a rest and trying it again in a few.

Popular Posts from Last Month

HOW TO WORK WITH SPONSORS​

The e-course is out! Are you a content creator and want to learn how to work with brands?

If you look at our income reports, we make a majority of our income from sponsored posts. We used to do many one-off partnerships with brands, but over the years we’ve been focused on longer term partnerships. Most our brand sponsorships are over $20k, and one of our most recent ones was over $35k.

With over 10 years of trial and error working in corporate and managing our first business, Jacob has figured out the best ways to pitch and work with brands.

At first we were reluctant to put out just another e-course in this oversaturated, dog-eat-dog market, but we’ve seen our coaching and course actually help people quit their jobs and start their own businesses. How cool is that? Plus, all our students who have put our course to action have made their money back within the month, and one of our students using the e-course has already booked $11k in sponsorships. So effin’ excited to see them conquer this new chapter in their lives. If you’re interested to learn more, see the intro video here.

What have you been up to last month? Any fun plans next month? What are some of your goals next month?

See More Income Reports

⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡

JUL – How We Made 22k+

JUN – How We Made 13k+

MAY – How We Made 30k+

APR – How We Made 21k+

MAR – How We Made $17k+

FEB – How We Made $24k+

JAN – How We Made $26k+

DEC – How We Made $29K+

NOV – How We Made $26K+

OCT – How We Made $28K+

SEP – How We Made $12K+

AUG – How We Made $32K+

JULY – How We Made $23K+

FIRST BLOG INCOME REPORT

“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post How We Made Over $18.2K in August – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/blog-income-report-august/feed/ 0 7 Special Advantages of Online Education https://localadventurer.com/advantages-of-online-education/ https://localadventurer.com/advantages-of-online-education/#respond Mon, 09 Sep 2019 12:00:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=51968 We were in Newfoundland when I thought to myself, I need to consider buying beachfront property. The waves lapped at the shore. Seagulls called in the distance. Colorful houses dotted the landscape. After a long day of exploring and shooting, I settled down in front of my computer to catch up on work and my […]

The post 7 Special Advantages of Online Education appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]>

We were in Newfoundland when I thought to myself, I need to consider buying beachfront property. The waves lapped at the shore. Seagulls called in the distance. Colorful houses dotted the landscape.

After a long day of exploring and shooting, I settled down in front of my computer to catch up on work and my UCI online courses, while taking in all the sounds and smells of the sea. Your classroom doesn’t get any better than this.

Today, we’re sharing all the advantages of online education.

A big thank you to UCI Irvine Division of Continuing Education for sponsoring this post and giving me the opportunity to continue my education. All opinions are always our own. This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Last Updated: September 9, 2019

7 Special Advantages of Online Education

Back in May, I shared how I was reigniting my passion for learning by going back to school. Life hasn’t slowed down one bit, but it has given me the chance to really appreciate taking courses online. For a long time, I had contemplated going back to school at a campus, but there was always something that would get in the way. This spring, I finally decided to take a different route by doing courses online. Here are a few things I’ve enjoyed about the experience.

Address, map

Local Tip / Pro Tip / Note: dsfsdfsd

PHOTO

photo: 

BACK TO TOP

1. Location Independence

The number one thing I love about our job is that we can be location independent. We’ve lived in a new city every year for the past six years and travelled outside of that at least once a month.

Doing courses online fit perfectly into that lifestyle. As long as you have internet access, you can take your classes on the road.

More: I’m Going Back to School! Taking Online Courses at UCI

Online Certificate Courses
Continuing Education Online
How Do Online Classes Work? + The Advantages of Online Education

2. Self-Paced Learning

When I’m in a group setting, I tend to try to go with the flow even if there are topics I’ve learned before and want to move through quickly. Having my courses available to me online allows me to learn at my own pace and absorb the material I need to spend more time on.

3. Flexible Schedule

Life is busy! Most of us don’t have the luxury to quit our jobs to go back to school. This lets me keep up with the blog, continue to be a setter at my local climbing gym, and also take classes. Since we don’t have a typical 9-to-5 and our schedule is all over the place, I love that I can work the classes into my day-to-day life instead of the other way around.

On top of that, the courses are practical and focused, unlike a degree that tends to be broader in focus. I know that when I’m spending time on my course, I’m learning skills that I can immediately use in my business.

4. Budget Friendly

Online continuing education courses are typically more affordable than degree options and have immediate benefits as well. The knowledge you learn is practical, relevant, and applicable on a day-to-day basis. In addition, all the materials you need are included in the online courses. Anywhere I can save makes Jacob really happy.

5. Comfortable Learning Environment

Anyone who knows me, knows my style is comfy chic. Not only can I wake up late for class, I can simply roll out of bed and stay in my PJs all day. Or stay in bed while I’m at it.

I’m also introverted and like being in my own space, so I find that to be a better learning environment for me. 

Benefits of Online Education

6. Saves You Time Not Having to Commute (+ Eco Friendly)

I’m not afraid to say I’m a terrible driver, and it’s a shame I’m perpetuating the stereotype, but I don’t enjoy being behind the wheel. Being able to take my courses from home (or when we’re traveling) takes the commute out of the equation. It saves me travel time plus it’s better for the environment! I’m doing everyone a favor by staying off the roads.

7. More Up to Date

Online courses are updated regularly, and UCI does an amazing job in making sure we’re learning the most up-to-date material. No matter what your profession is, it helps you stay relevant and makes you more marketable.

On top of that, they offer so many different types of classes. Every time I look through their list of courses, something new catches my eye.

More Advantages of Online Education

  • There’s a huge variety of courses to choose from. Specialized courses might not be available at a school near you. There are also compressed programs if time is an issue. This really puts you in the driver’s seat in terms of your education plan. Online courses are ideal for adult learners!
  • They look good on a resume and are competitive in the workplace. You’ll be more appealing to hiring managers because you prove that you are continuously improving/retooling your skillset.
  • Easier access no matter where you are.
  • Online courses in some cases, may carry transfer credit toward a degree program.
  • It will improve your self-discipline.

Disadvantages

We’re all for taking online classes, but to give you the full picture, we had to include a few disadvantages:

  • Not as much in person peer interaction or networking opportunities.
  • Need to be disciplined to manage your time correctly and keep yourself on schedule.

How Do Online Classes Work?

I won’t speak on behalf of all online courses, but my experience with UC Irvine Continuing Education’s online courses has been really easy to integrate into my life.

After enrolling in the course, I was given access to my course and the materials I needed. Although you have flexibility, they keep the class on a schedule by releasing sections of the course each week. This ensures that all the students are on the same page, allowing for a richer sharing and learning experience for everyone.

Within that week, I’ll have materials to review, discussions, activities, assignments, and quizzes. I have classmates from all over the world to interact with and also have access to my instructor, creating professional relationships that can last long after the class is over.

In my opinion, it has given me the best of both worlds.

More Resources

Have you taken online courses before? Can you think of any other advantages of online education? What classes would you be most interested in?

Did you enjoy this post? Pin it for later

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post 7 Special Advantages of Online Education appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/advantages-of-online-education/feed/ 0 How We Made Over $22.4K in July – Travel Blog Income Report https://localadventurer.com/travel-blog-income-report-july/ https://localadventurer.com/travel-blog-income-report-july/#respond Sat, 10 Aug 2019 12:00:00 +0000 https://localadventurer.com/?p=51746 Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we make a full time income through our travel blog. We share what worked and what didn't work.

The post How We Made Over $22.4K in July – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]>

Welcome to our blog income reports where we share ways we’ve been making money through the blog, the challenges and lessons we learned each month, and finally to celebrate successes however big or small. Though we have a few side hustles, we’re happy that the travel blog is our main hustle.

Life Updates

In July, we sent Josh & Macy to the Czech Republic to write about Prague and the surrounding areas. Meanwhile, Jacob and I went RVing in Bishop, road tripped the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia, and had a special project in Chattanooga.

The trip to Chattanooga has been in the works for a while and is in partnership with our friends at Presencia, who is a neighborhood-based tutoring and mentorship program in Atlanta’s immigrant community. We’ll be writing up more about that later, but we’re so excited that we were able to do our first trip. The first is always a learning experience, and we hope there will be many more to come!

In between our travels, we celebrated Jacob’s birthday, I’m still working at the climbing gym, and Jacob has been helping out with our friend’s Youtube channel. Have you seen his Off the Pill interview?

Blog Income Report - How We Made Over $22.4K on the Travel Blog in July

This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Originally Published: August 10, 2019

How We Made OVER $22.4K in July - Travel Blog Income Report

Why We Share Our Income Reports

If you’re new here, you might be wondering why on earth we would share something so personal. We’ve been hesitant to share our income reports for the last 5 years, and we’re super nervous about this post, but since we’re all about trial and error, let’s see how it goes! We’re putting out these income reports for these following reasons.

To Show You How We Make Income Blogging

We always want to be 100% transparent about how we make money through this blog. The amazing thing about the blogging world is that every blogger we’ve talked to does things a bit differently. There are also countless ways to grow and improve your business. When we started, we made most of our money through affiliate sales. Since then, we’ve shifted heavily to sponsored content. A big part of this is because my background is in sales and it’s what I’m good at. You can learn more about my sale method below. As time goes on, this will continue to change, but we want to share how we focus on our strengths to effectively meet our goals.

To Show You the Potential of Blogging

Whether you have a blog or are starting a blog, we want to show you that you can make a career out of blogging.

Even if you don’t want to blog, there are a ton of ways to be financially and location independent and we hope to inspire others to go after it too. If you want to keep your day job, blogging can be a great way for you to make some extra side money.

Esther started the blog 6 years ago and I joined her full time 3 years ago. Even until last year, our parents were worried about us financially, wondering when we would stop “playing” and start taking our lives and work more seriously. Neither of us ended up being “good Asians” (namely a doctor, lawyer, or engineer). It’s an unconventional job and where most people don’t understand all the work that goes on behind the scenes.

More: The Ugly Truths of Being a Travel Blogger told by Top Travel Bloggers

We love that our jobs give us flexibility in what we do, but being your own boss isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either. You have to be disciplined and work hard at your business to grow it.

Note: There are a lot of great blogs and resources out there about blogging, but the tough part is that it’s not always replicable unless you also want to start blogging about blogging. We wanted to show you that it’s possible to start a blog on other topics and still make a living. Though we have an e-course in the works, we want to continue to show you that the bulk of our income still comes from our travel blog.

To Track How We're Doing

I’ve always loved sharing goals online and tracking them. Putting them out in the world (via the blog) has helped me so much with accountability. Since we’re constantly tweaking trying to improve the blog, looking at these numbers will help us learn whether we’ve been making the right changes. It’s amazing to see how the sources of income have changed over time and to see where we still have room for improvement.

Ultimately, our life goal is to make enough to live on half our income (right now we’re at 30%), where the rest will go back into the community or support organizations we love.

If you’re not getting the results you want, again, keep in mind that we’ve been blogging for 6 years now and the first month I tried monetizing my blog, I made less than $20. Give it more time and failing in the process is okay. I didn’t have the correct tools that are out now and a lot of it was trial and error. Consider it all an A/B test to figure out what will best work for you.

Breakdown of Income for July 2019

In July 2019 we earned a total of $22,450.77. 

Affiliate Income
Sponsorships
  • Sponsored Product Posts: $12,991.61 
    *our fave marketplace lately: IZEA
Display Ads
  • Adthrive: $6,919.63
Income Comparison to Other Months
  • Total in 2019 Year Income: $157.576.26
  • Last Month Income: $13,160.63
  • Difference: 70% decrease from last month
Expenses

TOTAL EXPENSES: $6,818.96
TOTAL NET PROFIT: $15,631.81

*Roughly 30% of your income will go to taxes at the end of the year. The number above shows the money set aside for taxes to offset how much we have to pay at the end. It makes it less painful at the end of the year.

July 2019 Blog Traffic Breakdown + Stats

  • Monthly Pageviews: 712,191
  • Daily Average: 23,264
  • Monthly Sessions: 554,289
  • Monthly Unique Visitors: 461,560
  • Social Media Followers: 321,007
  • Email Subscribers: 8,583

Goals for August 2019

Blog Goals
  1. Log hours to see where I’m spending the most time.
  2. Put together a bucket list for Nevada.
  3. Update hotel links for the top 50 posts.
Life Goals
  1. 2 date nights
  2. Finish reading a book
  3. Start intermittent fasting to see how that helps my health.
What's Working on the Blog

I decided this month, I’m going to try logging my hours and seeing where I spend too much time for the blog. I need to cut hours in certain areas that don’t benefit the blog as others.

One of the areas I spend the most time is Pinterest. I tried to pass off some of my tasks to Jacob, but ended up seeing a huge drop in impressions and traffic. Now, that I’m back on it again, our monthly viewership has gone from 4 million to 7 million again.

The analytics below shows you the increase in daily viewers over the past 3 months.

Pinterest Monthly Viewers
What Didn't Work + Lessons Learned

I’ve been working on updating our affiliate links, especially on our top performing posts. It seems like there is an increase in affiliate earnings from some of our affiliate partners, but then a few of them just dropped off the map. We’re going to have to do some digging why the links haven’t been tracking or generating commission.

The chart below shows what our affiliate income has looked like for the past year. These numbers will be a little different from how we do our income report, since the chart reflects the sales and commission made the same day, while we calculate the amount for our income report from when we receive the money in the bank. 

Black: Total Affiliate Income Per Month, Darker Blue: Avantlink, Yellow: Amazon, Lighter Blue: Shareasale, Orange: Affiliate Window.

Affiliate Income Chart
Popular Posts from Last Month

HOW TO WORK WITH SPONSORS​

The e-course is out! Are you a content creator and want to learn how to work with brands?

If you look at our income reports, we make a majority of our income from sponsored posts. We used to do many one-off partnerships with brands, but over the years we’ve been focused on longer term partnerships. Most our brand sponsorships are over $20k, and one of our most recent ones was over $35k.

With over 10 years of trial and error working in corporate and managing our first business, Jacob has figured out the best ways to pitch and work with brands.

At first we were reluctant to put out just another e-course in this oversaturated, dog-eat-dog market, but we’ve seen our coaching and course actually help people quit their jobs and start their own businesses. How cool is that? Plus, all our students who have put our course to action have made their money back within the month, and one of our students using the e-course has already booked $11k in sponsorships. So effin’ excited to see them conquer this new chapter in their lives. If you’re interested to learn more, see the intro video here.

What have you been up to last month? Any fun plans next month? What are some of your goals next month?

More Travel Blog Income Reports

⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡

JUN – HOW WE MADE 13.1K+

MAY – How We Made 30k+

APRIL – How We Made $21k+

MAR – How We Made $17k+

FEB – How We Made $24k+

JAN – How We Made $26k+

DEC – How We Made $29K+

NOV – How We Made $26K+

OCT – How We Made $28K+

SEP – How We Made $12K+

AUG – How We Made $32K+

JULY – How We Made $23K+

FIRST BLOG INCOME REPORT

“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

Local Adventurer on Pinterest Local Adventurer on Youtube

You might also love

The post How We Made Over $22.4K in July – Travel Blog Income Report appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]> https://localadventurer.com/travel-blog-income-report-july/feed/ 0 How to Start a Blog in 5 Easy Steps https://localadventurer.com/how-to-start-a-blog/ https://localadventurer.com/how-to-start-a-blog/#respond Tue, 30 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000 http://localadventurer.com/?p=51406 When I started our blog, it was initially an outlet to share photos of our adventures on the west coast. I had closed my wedding and portrait photography business of 8 years, and we moved to LA to pursue Jacob’s budding youtube career. While Jacob kept busy with his work responsibilities, I felt like I […]

The post How to Start a Blog in 5 Easy Steps appeared first on Local Adventurer » Travel Adventures in Las Vegas + World Wide.

]]>

When I started our blog, it was initially an outlet to share photos of our adventures on the west coast. I had closed my wedding and portrait photography business of 8 years, and we moved to LA to pursue Jacob’s budding youtube career. While Jacob kept busy with his work responsibilities, I felt like I lost a part of my identity when I stopped shooting. Out of that time of being lost, this blog was born.

A big thank you to Travelade for sponsoring this post. All opinions are always our own. This post may contain affiliate links, where we receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked at no additional cost to you. Read our full disclosure for more info. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

Last Updated: July 26, 2022

After I decided to start blogging more regularly, I began noticing other bloggers that were making it a career. Seriously? People get paid to travel the world?

I’ve always loved the idea of making what you love into a business. That’s initially why I started our photography business, but blogging felt oddly different and a lot more personal. It took me a while to change my mindset and think of the blog as a business too. Soon enough, I discovered a new world of opportunities and also a community of bloggers working toward the same dream of blogging full-time.

5 Easy Steps on How to Start a Blog

1. Pick a Topic to Blog About

Picking your blog niche is one of the most important decisions you will make. It guides you in shaping your content and your audience. You can make small changes along the way, but once you’ve grown an audience, you want to avoid making a complete 180 in the type of content you write. I started off writing about a lot of different topics, because I’m a dabbler and love trying a little bit of everything. Some topics I wrote about in the past were travel, recipes, diy projects, personal goals, and more. As you can see I was all over the place.

I know some say you should blog what you want, and your audience will follow you for who you are. In my experience, I only saw real growth when I started narrowing my focus on travel. If you are already a celebrity or trying to grow yourself as an online personality, that’s a different story. If you’re blog is more about the content,  it’s beneficial to have a niche.

Pro Tip: Write down everything you’re interested in and see if there are specific categories that you are an expert on. Are people constantly asking you for advice about something? Also, consider if you have a unique perspective that you can offer.

Starting a Travel Blog in 5 Easy Steps

2. Choose a Name and Domain

Based on your niche, pick a name for your blog. This is very important because it’s the first thing people see. It needs to be memorable, easy to spell, and give people an idea of what your blog is about. You want to be specific to your niche but also careful not to pigeonhole yourself (i.e. If you name your blog TravelingtheSouth, what happens when you want to move to a different part of the US or world or you want to expand your content to other areas?).

Pro Tip: Do some research on the top sites and blogs in your particular niche. Don’t use similar or any common words since it makes it harder to stand apart (unless you plan on trying to piggyback off of someone else’s success). Double-check to see if your potential domain name is available at domize.com. It’s the easiest way to see all your options, but then it takes you to other sites like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, etc for purchasing the domain.

How to Choose a Domain Name through Domize

3. Register Your Domain and Choose Web Hosting

At this point you can go one of two routes: self-hosting or a free alternative. If you’re looking to start a blog as a hobby, get a free domain. The unfortunate part of this is that the name does not look as good (i.e. yourblogname.wordpress.com, yourblogname.tumblr.com). In addition to that, you’ll have a lot more limitations on design and plugins when you don’t own the blog. For those reasons, I highly recommend self-hosting. Now, what does that mean?

There are two components:

  1. The Domain is basically the URL. For example, localadventurer.com is the domain.
  2. Hosting is renting space on the internet. You use a company that will store all your information on their hard-drives connected to the internet.

For your domain, you can purchase it at a number of sites. Here are a few that we’ve tried:

  • Google Domains – I like to look at my options through DOMIZE, but once I find a domain name I like, we now mainly use Google Domains to make purchases.
  • GoDaddy – This current site is still through GoDaddy, but all the newer ones have been through Google. If the price is the same, it doesn’t make much of a difference. It’s just a matter of preference. Just go with the cheaper one.

Pro Tip: Before purchasing your domain, search google to see if they are offering any coupons or deals.

There are a lot of options for hosting as well! Here are some popular options including ones we’ve tried:

  • BlueHost is also a really popular hosting option for a lot of bloggers. They offer cheap plans, easy setup, and technical support.
  • HostGator was what we previously used on for our wedding photography website.

Pro Tip: If you use this link for Bluehost, you’ll pay only $3.95 a month rather than $7.99. A perfect way to start! Just hit get started and you’ll see different plans. If you’re just starting out, the cheapest plan is all you need.

4. Install WordPress

Although there are other alternatives, WordPress is by far one of the biggest platforms and the one that we use. Besides being huge, it’s easy to set up, free to use, and there are tons of themes and layout options. If you are using BlueHost as your hosting, they have easy WordPress set up wizard. Just follow their instructions, and if you have any trouble, they have great customer support. I’ve used Blogger in the past but ended up sticking with WordPress. WP FTW!

Sites like Squarespace and Wix make it really easy to put together a pretty site but is very limited in customization. Anyone we know who has used them eventually outgrows those sites and moves over to WordPress, but if you’re looking for a simple site to deal with they are great options.

5. Design the Blog

This is the fun part but can also be daunting. There are thousands upon thousands of free WordPress themes out there. As you’re starting off, just pick one where you like the general look and start familiarizing yourself with how everything works. They are limited but having fewer options will make it less confusing at the beginning.

If you’re signing up with BlueHost, it will be the next step. Again, don’t overthink which theme you use because you can change it whenever you need to. Just pick one and finish the prompts to set up the rest of the site.

Once you have a better idea of what you need, you can take the next step and find a paid theme. Most of the time, these will give you much more flexibility in your design and customization. Each has its own pros and cons, so be sure to do your research before purchasing anything.

If you can’t find a theme out there that meets all your needs or just want something that sets you apart from what’s already out there, hire someone to design and build you a custom blog. We used a paid theme that we customized for a while until we needed more from it. In our 6th year of blogging, we finally hired someone to help build a custom site to meet our needs. If you need a referral, send us a note to hello@localadventurer.com.

If you want to get a head start and focus on creating content, check out the bonus info below about Blog Setup Matters.

Pro Tip: A great way to gather inspiration is to create a Pinterest board to pin all the websites that inspire you. If you have a web or graphic designer, add them to your board.

How to Make a Travel Blog

BONUS: Outsource Your Design

If designing a blog seems a bit daunting, you can always outsource the whole process to get yourself up and running faster and smarter. We recently used Blog Setup Matters to set up a blog for Josh and Macy. Check it out here: Set on High.

The experience was really simple and really didn’t require much from my end! I just provided info of what I needed, they asked me what I would need, and they immediately worked on it. There were things that they implemented that I didn’t even know I needed. There was a nice selection of themes to choose from, and finally, they answered any questions I might have until I felt comfortable. – Josh Fu

Starting a blog is easy. Keeping up with it takes a lot of work. If you’re looking for an easy way to share your travel tips, there are other options out there like Travelade.

Travelade has built a site where you can easily create travel guides for any destination in the world. You can customize your theme, create different collections, easily add items to each collection, and more. On top of that, each of the items automatically includes address info, website, rating, reviews, and photos. After creating a guide, you share it with your audience and you earn a commission for bookings through your guides. 

It’s a great option if you have a following (i.e. on YouTube or Instagram) and want to just point people to a guide you created without building your own site. It’s also a great option if you’re just looking to share recommendations with friends and family.

Check out this Wanderguide that I made in 5 minutes. You can obviously go into way more details on your tips, but it’s amazing how quick the whole process is. Just to give you a comparison, it usually takes us at least 20 hours to do a full blog post.

Create your first Wanderguide here.

Travelade - A Simple Alternative to Travel Blogging

Favorite WordPress Plugins

  • JQuery Pin it Button for Images – can customize your own pin it button.
  • Pretty Links – you can rename links to make them all look pretty and clean.
  • Yoast – Helps you with SEO to show up better in search engines. There is a free version which works great. We only recently started paying for the premium version so to look at multiple keywords per post, which saves time but isn’t necessary when you’re starting out.
  • WordPress Editorial Calendar – so you can see scheduled posts in a calendar format.
  • Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – It shows related posts at the bottom of your post, and you can choose what you want to feature.

Apps We Use for Social Media

  • Tailwind for scheduling Pinterest (Get $15 when you sign up with our link). I use the Unlimited Smart Schedule to save on time. You can manually pin, which I did for the first year, but we got to the point where the time I put in to manually pin wasn’t worth it.
  • Grum.co for scheduling Instagram. We do this for LocalAdventurer, but for our personal accounts, we save drafts in Instagram.
  • Hootsuite for scheduling twitter and facebook.
  • ConvertKit for mailing lists.

More Resources

So that’s it! This is definitely just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a good start to get your blog up and running.

Last but not least, we want to tell you how much we appreciate you reading our posts, commenting, and supporting us via any affiliate links. This blog has been a labor of love, and none of this would have been possible without you. We wish you the best in starting your own blog, and let us know if you have any questions.

Have you considered starting a blog? What other information would help you as you start yours?

Did you enjoy this post? Pin it for later

How to Start a Travel Blog
How to Make a Blog
How to Start a Blog for Free

SEE MORE ON HOW TO BLOG

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UGLY TRUTHS OF BEING A TRAVEL BLOGGER

JUNE 2019 – HOW WE MADE $13.1K+

MAY 2019 – HOW WE MADE $30.9K+

APRIL 2019 – HOW WE MADE $21.7K+

MARCH 2019 – HOW WE MADE $17.7K+

“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust

estherandjacob-400px

Esther + Jacob

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.

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