Disclosure: This travel blog case study article may contain affiliate links. If you click it and buy something you like, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. With it, you will help me buy treats for my dog and parrot, build the time machine, and travel back in time to see dinosaurs and interview stone crafters on Easter Island. Thank you! Read more in Disclaimer.
I have never done a case study, but I love to read one.
It is nothing better than reading travel blog success stories. How someone finally made it.
They give you hope. They give you the idea that anything is possible. That with hard work, anyone can do it.
So, let’s see if this is the case.
Let’s see if truly anyone can do it.
I have been dreaming of starting a travel blog since 2015. And until recently, I was only thinking about it. Because, you know, I never had the actual guts to do it. I found a million and 1 excuses why I can’t and shouldn’t …
… since then, I have lived in 5 different countries and visited at least 32 others. Which comes to 37 altogether. So I had (or have) plenty of material to write about.
📗 If you have been wondering “What is Anja’s favorite book to read?”, you will find the answer hidden in the blog.
Time has passed and in June 2022 I finally decided to gather up my courage and go for it. You know, as Katherine Kelly says; “It’s better to have tried and failed than never tried, you can rest easy knowing you gave it a go.”
On June 5th, 2022, I published my very first blog post titled “How to get a stranger to take your stunning travel photos”. A friend of mine gave me the idea when she said; “Oh, you should write about how you get strangers to take your photos since you always travel solo.”
Since then, the journey has been interesting (to say it pleasantly). I had no idea how many things there are to learn and still will be. From tech stuff, design, SEO, and writing … plus a ton of mistakes, rewrites, headaches, and all the other things (I don’t even know yet).
So, without further ado, the intent of this blog is to share Anja On Adventure travel blog journey, a travel blog case study with the goal to the road of joining Mediavine.
This case study is a work in progress! I’ll be updating this page, hopefully, on the 5th of every month, as we go along.
and ALSO READ:
• 9 TRAITS OF EVERY OUTSTANDING TRAVEL CONTENT CREATOR
• HOW TO DO “IF I WAS A …” TREND WITH FREE CANVA TEMPLATE
• HOW TO DO “2022 IN 60 PHOTOS” TREND WITH FREE CANVA TEMPLATE
• 3 KEY PLATFORMS EVERY SUCCESSFUL TRAVEL CONTENT CREATOR NEEDS
• TRAVEL BLOGGER, INFLUENCER & CONTENT CREATOR | WHO IS WHO AND WHAT THEY DO
and ALSO READ:
• GET OVER JET LAG WITH THESE 19 EASY-TO-FOLLOW TIPS
• 13 EASY WAYS TO MAKE YOU MORE SUSTAINABLE TRAVELER
• BEST WAYS OF TRACKING TRAVEL EXPENSES DURING A TRIP
• HOW TO BARGAIN ON YOUR TRAVELS: 17 ESSENTIAL BARGAINING TIPS
• 5 ULTIMATE REASONS WHY ARE HELICOPTER TOURS WORTH THE MONEY
• ULTIMATE TRAVELER SAFETY GUIDE: WHAT TO DO DURING AN EARTHQUAKE
Want to follow the updates of this travel blog case study? Save those!
1. The vision of Anja on Adventure travel blog
A plan. A vision. A dream.
They say, that in order to get where you want to be, you need to have a vision. A goal.
Just like with traveling. You pick a destination where you want to go. You plan how to get there. You know why you want to visit that destination and what you would like to see and do there.
The same should be with blogging.
Simon Sinek said it himself, Start With Why.
My first why is travel. Travel is my passion.
And my second why is that I enjoy teaching people about it. Showing them places and telling them all about it. Like I don’t want to toot my own horn here but I am also a geography & history teacher and a licensed tour guide. It all kind of fits together like puzzle pieces. Which I also love to do, btw. It also doesn’t harm to mention that I consider myself to be creative.
Plus I love to document visited places. And I have to admit I learned a LOT (not just a thing or two) about videography when I worked as a part of a reality TV show 3 seasons in a row. I have tons of scrapbook albums full of photos, pamphlets, memorabilia etc.
So, to get to the point, my why is;
• to help other travelers with tips and tricks from the last 10+ years of travel in over 37 visited countries;
• to share my travels with other like-minded people and inspire them to do the same;
• to document destinations and have an online scrapbook diary.
Don’t forget to pin those for later!
2. Purpose of Anja On Adventure Travel blog Case study
In short. To display the process.
Starting something fresh and new is scary and exciting.
You see all those people thriving and reaping the fruits of their hard work and you are only dreaming of being there. We start. We know what we want but sometimes don’t know if we are headed in the right way.
In those times we need to see that we are going somewhere. We need to see that someone else was there before us and how they manage to get through. We need to know that we are not alone and that we are making progress.
The intention and purpose of this travel blog case study is;
1. TO MOTIVATE
To motivate anyone who is just starting out. To remind them that we all started from the very bottom. That we all start from zero. Like, I love to read success stories. How random people started something out, followed their dreams, and then made it! This is to show you how someone with no blogging knowledge started and how far it can go. So If I can do it, so can you. This leads to another purpose of this post …
2. TO DOCUMENT THE JOURNEY
Steve Jobs said, “Overnight success stories take a long time.” I hope that through documenting the journey, readers and future bloggers will have the ability to see the entire process of “success”. To see ups and down and improvements made. To provide a perspective into the hours and learning curves put into it and to provide authenticity.
3. TO BE ACCOUNTABLE
To follow and try to achieve my goals. To give reasons why something worked and why it didn’t, so you won’t have to repeat my mistakes and do things better from the get-go. Also, to help me stay on track and push me when I won’t feel motivated enough. This brings us to one more objective of this case study.
4. TO COMPARE
When I started out (June 2022), I was searching for posts just like this. Why? Comparison can be good and bad. It is normal for human nature to compare ourselves to others. It motivates us. Comparison gives us the information we want, how long it might take, and get feedback when we are doing something good.
It also gives us a boost of confidence, especially if our numbers are looking better than the ones presented. But, what if we are doing worse? Then, it gives us the opportunity to improve and it pushes us to start upgrading our knowledge.
Pin those for a later read!
3. Goals for Anja On Adventure Travel blog
3.1. Why share goals?
Neuroscientists say that when we start doing something we should ask ourselves why we are doing it and what our goals are. I am not usually the one that would share goals openly. Just because I am afraid that if I share it, well, what if I don’t succeed and I fail?
Well, people who know more than I do, say that we should be able to describe our goals. Describe them vividly. A great description is very much associated with a goal’s success. They also say that a clearly described goal helps to create a vision, works as a motivator, and leads your mind to what you have to do and what you want from your future.
After setting and sharing goals, you get more committed to achieving your goals. And as long as you share it with like-minded people, they can also boost up your motivation. They can be great to provide new information, words of encouragement, and sharing their perspective. It also makes you more accountable and relatable.
So, with a lump in my throat, and the feeling when you are half excited and half ready to panic, I am publicly sharing my goals with you.
3.2. General and long-term goals
Goals for Anja On Adventure blog are;
• monetize this site and join Mediavine until June 2024,
• have the first $10.000/month from Anja on Adventure blog until April 2027,
• go on a sponsored trip to French Polynesia, Cook Islands and/or Easter Island.
The first part of this blog came to life on October 5th, 2022, and I set the goals above back in June 2022, writing them down on a yellow Post-it note. At the time I had no idea how realistic or attainable they are. I still don’t. They might work out or I might fail. Who knows what will happen in an hour, a day, a year, or five years from now?
I hope for the best but we will all see what the future will bring. “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” – Invictus by William Ernest Henley.
Experts say goals should be SMART. SMART being the acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. That is why there will be a section below, for quarterly goals, that will be updated regularly.
3.2.1. What is Mediavine
Mediavine seems to be a holy grail for bloggers.
To make it short and sweet, Mediavine is a full-service Ad-management network. It represents bloggers and content creators in various niches; from food, travel, tech, art and crafts. They aim to “build a sustainable business for content creators”. Mediavine focuses on ads so that content creators can focus on creating content. Duh!
Other Ad networks, that you may or may not have already heard of are AdSense, Ezoic, AdThrive, SheMedia, Monumetric, and others.
To join Mediavine you would have to meet several requirements. At the moment those requirements are focused on the speed of the website, 50.000 sessions per month, having original content, that most of your blog traffic is coming from Tier 1 countries … and others.
Do note that I only know what I have read and Googled online.
I have also heard, that it is not the easiest to get accepted but it is possible to do it. Even for hobby bloggers. With a lot of hard work, dedication, and persistence, many were accepted after 1-2 years of blogging.
To join some needed 80 blog posts (I guess those are the blogging experts). The average number of blog posts people needed varied from 120 to 150. And there are others who needed 170 published blogs. This is also the number of posts I hope to be enough to get me in.
Follow the journey! Save those pins!
3.3. Goals for Q3; June – September 2022
Goals below were written back in June 2022 on a yellow Post-it note.
- BLOG:
– CONTENT; publish 28 blog posts (7 per month)
How I got that number?
I divided 170 by 24 months. Playing it safe and optimistic. I hope 170 is the magic number that will get me enough sessions to join Mediavine. I hope to achieve that in 2 years.
– SESSIONS; 500
You have to know I have zero (zilch, nada, niente) clue about what to expect and if this number is high or low. - PINTEREST: 10k monthly impressions and 100 outbound clicks
Starting a fresh account for this blog. Pinterest changed a lot in the last few years and it is now much harder to get outbound clicks. All I hope for is to stay consistent and get at least a few clicks from it. - INSTAGRAM: 100 followers
Not trying to focus on the followers’ number, but because of the benefits you get on Instagram. With 100 followers you get to see Insights data for your audience (location, age, gender, and times when followers are most active). Plus, you don’t look like a spam profile. FYI, engagement rate is way more important than followers count.
3.4. Goals for Q4; October – December 2022
Goals below were written on October 5th 2022.
- BLOG:
– CONTENT; have 35 published blog posts
This is the 20th one. As 35 is the goal, I am hoping for 33 but will be happy with 30.
I know I have to produce more content but I already have a guiding tour to Seychelles confirmed in the beginning of November. So, I will have to prepare for that and will be “out of office” for 2 weeks. Less time to write and post.
Depending on the situation, I hope I will have a couple of weekend tours to Christmas markets across Europe (Graz, Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb). And I am planning to have the last week of December off, whether to go somewhere or just not blog, make puzzles, do a scrapbook, read a book … you know, those winter hobbies.
– SESSIONS; 3000
Aiming high just like with the number of blogs. To be completely honest, I will be thrilled to see a steady growth of sessions and if I climb to 2000. - PINTEREST: 40k monthly impressions and 400 outbound clicks
Hoping to stay consistent, to pin pins from blog posts regularly and getting more impressions and hopefully more outbound clicks. - INSTAGRAM: post at least twice/week + stories when traveling
I love Instagram but I am trying to focus more on producing content for blog. Despite that, I would love to keep posting at least twice per week and keep my profile active. When traveling I will try to show up more on stories.
3.5. Goals for Q1; January – March 2023
Goals below were written on January 2nd 2023, on a bus from Merida to Valladolid in Mexico.
- BLOG:
– CONTENT; have 57 published blog posts
Ideally, 65. That is if I want to catch up on the number of posts I had planned (7 per month). I am laughing on the inside because even 57 seems high at the moment. We will see. I will do and try my best. Not to search for an excuse but almost a whole month was ‘lost’ in Q4 when guiding tours. But … it was fun! More work to do now.
– SESSIONS; 10.000
Aiming high just like with the number of blogs. To be completely honest, I will be thrilled to see a steady growth of sessions and if I climb to 7500.
– EARNINGS; $100 Ads + $100 Affiliates
I hope to reach 10.000 page views and put some Ads on my site. I am hoping to join Monumetric (before Mediavine that is). No intention to put AdSense ads on my site or to join Ezoic. Just read too many bad reviews about site speed. Also, I will try to write some affiliate posts to and hope for someone to book through my link. - PINTEREST: 80k monthly impressions and 700 outbound clicks
Hoping to stay consistent, to pin pins from blog posts regularly, and get more impressions and hopefully more outbound clicks. - INSTAGRAM: post at least once/week + stories when traveling
I love Instagram but I am trying to focus more on producing content for blog. Despite that, I would love to keep posting at least once per week and keep my profile active. When traveling I will try to show up more on stories.
3.6. Goals for Q2; April – June 2023
Goals below were written on April 1st 2023, in a car from Planica, where I watched FIS Ski Jumping World Cup Finals.
- BLOG:
– CONTENT; have 70 published blog posts
Ideally. I am way beyond my ‘planned number’. My goal is at least to try and put out quality content. even if that means only 3 blog posts. But again, will try to do my best. At the same time, I have some guiding tours planned, so will be away for a while. Meaning, no time to write. Let’s see how everything will turn out.
– SESSIONS; 30.000
Aiming high. Of course I want to join Mediavine as soon as possible, but not having enough time to write, and not publishing more blogs … I will be thrilled to see a steady growth of sessions and traffic and if at the end of June, my traffic is ‘half-way- there.
– EARNINGS; $100 Ads + $100 Affiliates
Since March, Monumetric runs my ads (we still have to adjust a thing or two), so there will be some income from that. I do have to write more affiliate posts 😀 if I hope to get some sales from it. You see, I suck at selling and would just give everything away for free. I Have to work on that. - PINTEREST: 150k monthly impressions and 1000 outbound clicks
Hoping to stay consistent! Consistency is key with Pinterest and will try to pin pins from blog posts regularly, and get more impressions and hopefully more outbound clicks. - INSTAGRAM: post at least once/week + stories when traveling
I love Instagram but I am trying to focus more on producing content for blog. Despite that, I would love to keep posting at least once per week and keep my profile active. When traveling I will try to show up more on stories.
Pin those for a later read!
4. Stats and Progress reports
4.1. Progress reports
4.1.1. Progress report for Q3; June – September 2022
GOAL
BLOG:
– CONTENT; 28 blog posts
– SESSIONS; 500
PINTEREST: 10k and 100 clicks
INSTAGRAM: 100 followers
RESULTS
BLOG:
– CONTENT; 18 blog posts
– SESSIONS; 826
PINTEREST: 40k in Q3 and 191 clicks
INSTAGRAM: 118 followers
I started with the goal of 7 blog posts per month. I quickly found out there are just so many things I have to learn and I had NO IDEA how time-consuming this is. I also have a full-time job and there were days when I needed a break. To just not think about anything.
1. Month (June 2022): I don’t know what I don’t know
Setting up a blog was really exciting even though I had no idea what I was doing. There were just so many things to learn that at times I thought my mind would explode from the info overload. I registered my domain name with Namecheap and hosting with Interserver. I wanted a website to be fast, easy to navigate, simple and free. So the images and everything could breathe. Because of that, I went with Avery theme from GeneratePress.
I Installed maybe 5 plugins, connected Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook with my website. I also connected Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Mailerlite to my blog. But I wasn’t paying much attention to them since I had no idea why I even need them.
2. Month (July 2022): I know that I don’t know what else I need to know
After 2 months, the website was starting to look how I imagined. And only then I realized that you actually have to put your posts into Google Search Console, to be indexed and actually found! Consequently, the clicks in the first two months were mostly mine and from the traffic I got from Pinterest (73 outbound clicks). In the 2nd month, I also learned that you SHOULDN’T use numbers in permalinks – which I did in some of my first published posts of course.
3. Month (August 2022): I don’t know how to look for the things that I don’t know
In my third month, I was actually traveling and enjoying my holiday in Zanzibar. When I got back I was dealing with some technical issues since Google was saying my blogs were not Mobile friendly. I increased the size of fonts, changed photos to .jpg and it took a lot of time to find all the settings. It was especially hard because I knew what I have to fix but didn’t know how to ask Google for help.
I only posted 2 blogs in August, but they were longer than 1000 words. I don’t try to care about the post length but I do try to make them at least 1000 words. Around this time I learned that you should interlink your articles and include “Also read”, or “You may be interested” inside your blog. AND that those links, your links, should open in the SAME tab. Links to an outside website should open in a NEW tab. Live and learn.
4. Month (September 2022): I think I know what else I need to know
4th month was the one when I realized that SEO does not mean Something Else Obviously, but that it stands for Search Engine Optimisation. Learned about Keysearch, and meet Ahrefs (like heard of them and that they exist). Also started doing keyword research and using those when writing blog posts. I try to find 0 Volume keywords and target those, which are hard to find.
4.1.2. Progress report for Q4; October – December 2022
GOAL
BLOG:
– CONTENT; 35 blog posts
– SESSIONS; 3000
PINTEREST: 40k and 400 clicks/month
INSTAGRAM: 2 posts/week
RESULTS
BLOG:
– CONTENT; 35 blog posts
– SESSIONS; 3009
PINTEREST: 143k in Q4 and 950 clicks
INSTAGRAM: 138 followers
Well, despite all I managed to publish 35 blog posts and climb up to 3000 sessions and cross it by 9. Thank you! I was ecstatic when I saw the stats! Pinterest impressions were (still are great) but they plummeted when I wasn’t consistent with pinning fresh content. I use Tailwind to schedule new, fresh pins. Monthly clicks are improving and climbing. There was no progress with my IG. I wasn’t posting weekly and I was OK with stories. I know I can do better (since I work as an IG manager for others) but IG is not my main priority so it is put on hold.
5. Month (October 2022): I think the ‘honeymoon phase’ is wearing off
What sounded like so much fun is now putting pressure on me. That is because I read other success stories that are doing so much better than me … and they are able to produce more content. I spend half a month trying to figure out how they do it until I learned that there are people who are using AI writers to speed up the process of writing blogs. Or using people on Fiverr and other platforms. While I have nothing against it, I am not using it or to better put it, I don’t want to use it. I believe that there are much better writers but they can not write about my experience or they do not ‘sound like me’. So I made peace with it.
6. Month (November 2022): Nothing will fall apart when taking a break
I was excited about my guiding tour to Seychelles. Like, who wouldn’t be? But at the same time, not going to lie, I was a bit scared of what would happen to my blog traffic. You know, consistency, posting new blogs, promoting … We both survived 🙂 and I even came back with fresh and new ideas. While on Seychelles, I was more focused on Instagram. I only posted 3 blogs, but one of them was lengthy (without trying to do that). Heard about Web Stories and posted 9 of them. It wasn’t really a lot of work, since I was repurposing content from my Instagram stories and Pinterest Idea Pins. Interestingly enough, two of them go viral (for my blog size) and got me a huge amount of sessions. Happy about that.
📗 “What is Anja’s favorite book to read?”. It is Rejection proof by Jia Jiang.
7. Month (December 2022): I have no idea what I’m doing but I am doing it anyway
OK! I had a nice and relaxed time planned for the end of December. Well, I ended up in Mexico … so things didn’t really go as planned. Some would say it was even better. Before leaving I posted all the blog posts that were in my drafts. Just to meet my blog goal number. When in Mexico I didn’t have time to write (and to be fair, even if I would’ve there was no way I would do it). The whole beauty for me was to actually realize that blog ‘lives’, even if I don’t check on it every day. Plus, that writing a blog post with 0 search volume (according to Keysearch) pays off. Also, when my sessions hit 100/day I did a little dance on the inside. Small wins! Posted a few more Web stories but none of them went viral. But they do bring some traffic.
4.1.3. Progress report for Q1; January – March 2023
GOAL
BLOG:
– CONTENT; 57 blog posts
– SESSIONS; 10.000
PINTEREST: 80k and 400 clicks/month
INSTAGRAM: 2 posts/week
RESULTS
BLOG:
– CONTENT; 53 blog posts
– SESSIONS; 18,983
PINTEREST: 115k/495/664/945 (J/F/M)
INSTAGRAM: 152 followers
YOUTUBE: 132 followers
Well, I didn’t really reach my goal with the number of published blog posts. Goal was 57 and I managed to come to 53. That is ok. My priority for the past two months is to make my blog more mobile user-friendly. So trying to break up the text, use responsive images etc… which is very time-consuming. I managed to get almost twice the sessions I planned and have more than 400 monthly outbound clicks from Pinterest. There was no progress with my IG. I barely showed up. I did publish a YouTube video which I consider a win. Will try to do more of that in the coming months.
8. Month (January 2023): I know how to ask Google for the things I don’t know how to do
I was away, in Mexico, for almost a month. And by the time I came back to my blogging journey, half of January was already gone. great for me but not great if you know you should be writing and publishing.
I participated in 2 link swaps and 1 collab post in the hope of increasing my DA. It was DA 6, according to MOZ, in mid-January. End of January MOZ was showing DA 8.
January 20th will be marked as my first day in blogging history – when I had more than 200 (222) daily sessions. (The first day of over 100 sessions was at the end of November).
I tried really hard to produce the number of content that I set myself to produce … The hardest part was not writing but deciding what to write about – location vise. 🙂 I also got accepted to AdSense in less than 24h. But am hoping to be accepted by other Ad Networks.
9. Month (February 2023): Torn between I do and I don’t do enough
I was trying my best to increase my USA traffic and be accepted by Monumetric. I did get accepted by them, loved their customer service, and by the end of the month, they set up ads on my site. Can’t say I’m earning big bucks since we are still in the process of adjusting ads and ads layout.
I participated in 1 collab post in the hope of increasing my DA. As I checked on 5. March, according to MOZ, my domain authority is 9.
Considering traffic, I liked that the number was going up and getting a constant number of clicks from Pinterest. Haven’t done much for Instagram. I did create 8 Web Stories for Google which helped me to increase the % of traffic from US.
I tried (and managed) to publish 8 new blog posts. I admire people who publish 1 per day. Have a huge respect for them and have no idea how they do it! Also, to actually get some sales, I started writing affiliate posts, instead of just including affiliate links, in non-affiliate posts. It worked and I got some sales for the accommodation. Thank you. Hoping for the trend to continue – with post-production, clicks and affiliate sales.
10. Month (March 2023): So much to do but nothing to show
March was a month of firsts. I got hit by the March update (14. – 16. March), but the traffic is OK (for now). After I got hit, funny things started to happen. I reached my first 500 session day, first 600, first 700, first 900 session day and first 1000 session day! Happy cheers!
According to Google Search Console, one of my blog posts was trending. That meant I was getting 500 clicks per day only from that one single blog post. Is it rude if I say ‘More please!?’
Other than that, I also participated in 2 collab posts, only published 5 new blogs and 3 Web stories. In March I also got my first tour affiliate sale (I only have 4 affiliate posts, so this is a huge win for me). Quite a lazy month, if you would only be looking at those numbers.
Despite that, I was working on the back end of my site. In order to show ads (was accepted to Monumetric last month), I had to change the structure of my blogs. Every single one! Which is 50+ if you are wondering. There is a right and there are better ways of formatting a blog post.
From having texts outside of containers, using smaller paragraphs, galleries instead of images, taking advantage of grids, reusable containers … all of it responsive to mobile users. Around 90% of users visit Anja On Adventure from a mobile device so I trying to make a better user experience for them …
Also, I know there are a lot of ads on my site, I am trying to reduce the number to max 6 of them, but not everything can be done at once. Or as fast as I would love to. Thank you for being patient.
4.1.4. Progress report for Q2; April – June 2023
GOAL
BLOG:
– CONTENT; 70 blog posts
– SESSIONS; 30.000
PINTEREST: 150k and 1000 clicks/month
INSTAGRAM: 1 post/week
RESULTS
BLOG:
– CONTENT; 57 blog posts
– SESSIONS; 22,606
PINTEREST: 137k/1068/ (A/M/J)
INSTAGRAM: 153 followers
YOUTUBE: 145 followers
11. Month (April 2023): Why am I doing this? or when you loose motivation
April felt very unproductive. I only published 4 blog posts and was still on a mission to update the old ones. If you are wondering, no, I haven’t updated half of them. After one of my blog posts stopped trending, traffic even out at around 650 – 700 sessions per day.
I was doing everything at once but nothing at all. There was no motivation but I knew I have to do something. So, I was creating some freebies, writing outlines for blog posts, a couple of email sequences … and ended up with having at least a dozen half-written posts that are still unpublished. Will try to fix that in May.
Surprisingly only four (4) of my affiliate-focused blogs are getting some traction and I had a whooping (for my site) of 15 bookings with them. I was shocked, happy, and surprised.
On a personal life note, I had a birthday and celebrated it in Seychelles. Plus a lot of my April ‘blogging time’ was used for planning that and a trip to Jordan coming in May.
12. Month (May 2023): Caught between ‘I want this‘ and ‘I don’t give a fu**’
Can’t believe it is 12 month already. I was supposed to be thrilled how far I’ve come but the truth is a bit different. But let’s start at the beginning.
May was awesome. Personally. Ok. Parts of it were awesome, and others not so much. Went to Seychelles and visited Jordan. Meaning, that I was away most of the month. My dog passed away, and that was really sad. And I wasn’t really in the mood to do anything.
Blog route pretty much followed the one in April. It was all very unproductive. Wasn’t really in the mood to create and write. Or do anything. I had no motivation but was trying to. So at the end I published 4 blogs but for the most part… there was no work done on it.
Part of it was also that felt I didn’t do enough. My blog will be one year old next month and I constantly had that feeling I should do more. Haven’t published enough posts, not having enough traffic, not updating the old blog posts fast enough… I think my holidays to Jordan came at the right time, because I was able to get some clarity.
I did get some affiliate sales. Like, I seriously have to start writing some more affiliate posts. Plus I like my journey with Monumetric so far. The RPM rate has sort of stabilized and I’m liking how we are all progressing forward.
Now, when I look a year back, I’m proud of what I accomplished. Knowing I started with zero (0) knowledge. My sessions dropped a bit from the previous months, but I kind of expected that. In the next months I will focus to produce more content (to catch up a bit) because still hope to get into Mediavine in 1 year. I am still hoping to
Let’s see what next year brings.
Pin those for later!
4.2. Stats
No. of published blogs | TOTAL No. of blogs | Time frame | Google Search Console clicks | Google Analytics Sessions | Monthly Pageviews | Words per blog (average) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 2022 | 6 | 6 | June 22 (26 days) | 13 | 65 | 245 | avg 1660 |
July 2022 | 5 | 11 | July 22 (31 days) | 46 | 152 | 237 | avg 2160 |
August 2022 | 2 | 13 | August 22 (31 days) | 207 | 351 | 443 | avg 2750 |
September 2022 | 5 | 18 | Septemb 22 (30 days) | 406 | 826 | 1109 | avg 2900 |
October 2022 | 8 | 26 | October 22 (31 days) | 688 | 1522 | 1956 | avg 2600 |
November 2022 | 3 | 29 | Novembe 22 (30 days) | 1064 | 2016 GA4 8941 UA | 3815 | avg 4000 |
December 2022 | 6 | 35 | Decemb 22 (31 days) | 1929 | 3009 GA4 5478 UA | 6744 | avg 2700 |
January 2023 | 5 | 40 | January 23 (31 days) | 4080 | 5607 GA4 5718 UA | 12151 | avg 3300 |
February 2023 | 8 | 48 | February 23 (28 days) | 6973 | 9480 GA4 12086 UA | 20824 | avg 2930 |
March 2023 | 5 | 53 | March 23 (31 days) | 15500 | 18983 GA4 20355 UA | 35402 | avg 3440 |
April 2023 | 4 | 57 | April 23 (30 days) | 18115 | 22606 GA4 19312 UA | 24978 | avg 3200 |
May 2023 | 4 | 61 | May 23 (31 days) | 14100 | 18717 GA4 17768 UA | 20100 | avg 3100 |
and ALSO READ:
• 9 TRAITS OF EVERY OUTSTANDING TRAVEL CONTENT CREATOR
• HOW TO DO “IF I WAS A …” TREND WITH FREE CANVA TEMPLATE
• HOW TO DO “2022 IN 60 PHOTOS” TREND WITH FREE CANVA TEMPLATE
• 3 KEY PLATFORMS EVERY SUCCESSFUL TRAVEL CONTENT CREATOR NEEDS
• TRAVEL BLOGGER, INFLUENCER & CONTENT CREATOR | WHO IS WHO AND WHAT THEY DO
and ALSO READ:
• GET OVER JET LAG WITH THESE 19 EASY-TO-FOLLOW TIPS
• 13 EASY WAYS TO MAKE YOU MORE SUSTAINABLE TRAVELER
• BEST WAYS OF TRACKING TRAVEL EXPENSES DURING A TRIP
• HOW TO BARGAIN ON YOUR TRAVELS: 17 ESSENTIAL BARGAINING TIPS
• 5 ULTIMATE REASONS WHY ARE HELICOPTER TOURS WORTH THE MONEY
• ULTIMATE TRAVELER SAFETY GUIDE: WHAT TO DO DURING AN EARTHQUAKE
Skipped to the good part? Here is the gist
Anja On Adventure Travel blog Case study documents progress made with a new travel blog on a way to hopefully join one of the top Ad Networks currently in the market, Mediavine. To do that, according to Google, most new blogs need 1-2 years and on average from 120 to 150 blog posts. Let’s see if I can make it in two years.
🗨 FAQ
What is a travel blog?
A travel blog is an online version of itineraries, budget breakdowns, personal stories, destination guides, and travel tips that the author of the blog documented on THEIR travels. Those travel adventures could be experienced solo, with a friend, partner, group, family, or strangers from the road. Travel blogs should contain original photographs and authors’ points of view.
What is a case study?
A case study is a researched approach that documents the journey over a period of time. Results are backed up by numbers. They are usually updated regularly, and their purpose is to show progress and real-life challenges that are occurring during the case study.
What is a travel blog case study?
A travel blog case study documents progress made with a new travel blog on a way to monetization. It documents newly published blog posts, the number of page views according to the Google Search Console, session numbers, and outbound clicks on Pinterest.
What are the most common travel blog monetization options?
Affiliate marketing, ads, and selling digital products.
There are many ways to monetize a travel blog. Among the most common ones to join various affiliate marketing programs, run ads on your travel blog and to sell digital products. When your blog grows you can then, get paid press trips, write sponsored posts, sell your photos, and more.
What are the best ad networks for travel bloggers?
Mediavine, AdThrive, SheMedia, Monumetric, Ezoic, AdSense.
Mediavine is considered a holy grail. And you can join AdThrive if you have at least 100,000 monthly pageviews. If you are just starting out and your traffic is low, consider AdSense or Ezoic. If your blog is taking off, consider joining Monumetric or applying for SheMedia.
✈ Travel like a PRO
Are you ready to travel like a PRO?
Save time and money with these travel tips and resources.
I personally use these companies to save time and money. They do the work by providing a list of options, prices, and reviews from actual guests, for anywhere I am traveling worldwide.
✈️ FLIGHTS: I use Skyscanner in combination with Google Flights to find amazing flight fares (try the Explore feature). I book directly with an airline or pair it with Iwantthatflight for the best deals.
🏨 ACCOMMODATION: Booking.com is my favorite site for finding great hotel deals. They return the best rates and reviews are from actual guests!
🚘 RENTAL CARS: Discover Cars are my go-to, when planning an epic road trip.
🗽 TOURS & ACTIVITIES: I like to wander around on my own, but when I want to explore with a group, skip the line with an entrance ticket, I book it with GetYourGuide or Viator.
❤️🩹 TRAVEL INSURANCE: I never, under any circumstances travel without insurance. In most cases, I use yearly global travel medical insurance. But, if you don’t have that and some impromptu travel plans occur, use SafetyWing. With them, you can buy travel insurance even when you are already abroad. Better be safe, than sorry!
📲 ONLINE SAFETY: NordVPN keeps your devices’ browsing safe and malware-free. Stream shows from around the world, access social media in countries where they are blocked and buy cheap flights by changing your virtual location.
🛜 STAY CONNECTED WITH eSIM: Ditch the plastic SIM cards and waiting in lines at the airport! Airalo eSIMs allow you to connect as soon as you land at your destination. They have eSIMs for over 190+ countries worldwide.
✔ You May Also Like
❥ About Anja On Adventure
Anja On Adventure is a travel blog, a collection of insider tips and information on destinations, that I visited as a solo female traveler, tour guide, teacher, yacht stewardess, and Survivor challenge tester.
Anja, is a thirty-something adventure-seeking, sun chasing, beach hopping, gin-loving, tropics enthusiast with a creative mind and sarcastic spirit, who loves coconut and mango but doesn’t like chocolate and sweets. I am passionate about all things travel, maps, and puzzles. Click here to learn more About me.
Blogging is certainly a marathon, and not a sprint! There is SO much to learn within your first year (and then every time you learn something, you have to go back and update your posts/site with your new learnings!)
yeah! I am discovering this is the case… and I thought I was doing so well on my first posts (guess not)
This is so encouraging! This was so helpful as someone starting out to see what type of goals I can even set! Thank you for sharing!
How far along are you? When did you start?
Great job! It’s great to write down all your goals and manifest it. I hope your next quarter is even better.
thank you so much! I hope for the best but will have to produce some more content for that …
How fun! Looking forward to see your progress!
Thank you! It is really scarry to see how it will all go …
Thank you for sharing this case study and your goals with us. I am going to look into Mediavine for sure!
thank you! how far along in your journey are you?
This was such an interesting post! I am working toward Mediavine too and sometimes it can feel discouraging because I still feel so far away. I think it would be helpful to write out goals like this!
thank you! How far along are you! yeah… I get an extra push if I write down my goals… what are yours?
Hi Anja, I’m curious about the webstories. Where have you posted them? I’m figuring out how to grow with the web stories plugin but I don’t know where I should post the stories when I have created them. Could you explain more or create a blog post about this? thank you!
check your email 😉
Very honest report of your blogging journey so far. Good luck reaching your goals. I am on a similar journey so I understand your feelings.
Thank you so much! How long are you blogging? Or how far along are you?
When or even before I started I was reading and searching for case studies … just to see that hard work pays off and that numbers go up if you put in the work… so I want to do that for anyone just starting.
Super helpful and encouraging. So refreshing to read such honesty. You’ve worked hard!
Thank you! I read a lot of case studies and some were portrayed like this is super easy. While those did encourage me and give me hope, I soon realized that they are not the most realistic … so, I want to show my journey and encourage others but also to document my way of progress.
Hi and thanks for sharing your report! My blog is just 3 months old now so this is very encouraging. Can I ask you how often were/are you pinning per week to get to these results? I had never really used Pinterest before so I was surprised to recently learn that it’s so important for bloggers.
Hi Sharon!
First things first, I am absolutely certain, you will get where I’m now and even further!
Thank you for your message, It makes me super happy you find it useful and encouraging. The whole reason for me starting this case study, was because I needed that inspiration, encouragement, proof and kick in the *** that this can work out. Even when starting from zero, knowing absolutely nothing.
Regarding Pinterest:
Pinterest is a long game… you have to be super consistent on the long run to get results. Meaning, it is better to pin 1 pin every week for 10 weeks, than pin 10 pins in one day. And I don’t really know how many pins I posted per week. To be fair, it is not about the number but about consistency. So, if you can do 1 pin per week, do that, If you can do 2, perfect. Just don’t jump in with 7 per day and then not show up for a month. Because whatever you ‘pin number will be’, the Pinterest algorithm will pick that up and work around that (your) number. For someone, it can be 2 per day, and for some 3 per month.
Now, I do have at least 12 different pins for every blog post, with 3 different pin descriptions, targeting different keywords on Pinterest. Ideally, I pin them in 3-4 weeks interwals, so I have a fresh pin for 1 blog post good for a year. It was a bit harder in the beginning, when I didn’t have that many blog posts. I had a feeling, people were seeing pins from the same blog posts over and over. Now, that I have more blogs published, there are more pins and is a healtier mix of them being displayed. I do use Tailwind to publish and schedule pins.
Hope this helps.
Thanks a lot for your reply!
I loved this post! Blogging can get so frustrating when looking at the numbers and seeing how other bloggers are doing. I struggle to remember why I started blogging to begin with. Great work! Keep it up!
Thank you so much!
I love how organized you plan your short and long-term goals! An inspiration for me as well on my journey to Mediavine 2023!! <3
Thank you! If you ask me now, I have found that writing goals is the easy part. Working towards them (especially on days when motivation is non existent) is the hard part. How far along your journey are you?