Matt Kepnes writes the very successful travel blog Nomadic Matt and recently released an eBook, How to Make Money with Your Travel Blog. (Which I reviewed 2 weeks ago.) He recently took some time to answer a few questions about the book, his websites, and future goals.
How long did it take you to gross $3,000 a month?
About 8 months from when I started thinking about monetization.
How were you making ends meet before?
I was teaching English in Bangkok.
What’s your typical travel blogging work day like?
Write a blog, find advertisers, tweet, comment on forums, build links to my sites (about 4-5 hrs).
Any specific advice for travel bloggers with day jobs?
Spend all your free time on your websites. Once they start rolling, they are pretty self sustaining but there is a lot of upfront work. Better to get it out of the way all at once.
Do you think any travel blogger can take the advice in the book and replicate your success?
I do. All you need is motivation, patience, persistence. There are many travel bloggers out there who make money.
If you could offer one ‘most important’ piece of advice about making money with your travel blog, what would it be?
It takes time. Be patient and don’t give up.
In a ‘tweet’, why should someone buy your eBook?
“You get access to advertisers.”
What are your future goals with your websites?
I’d like them to make more money and, for NomadicMatt.com, I’d like to double the traffic by the end of the year.
Thanks Matt for taking the time to answer these questions which I’m sure a number of other travel bloggers have. Matt’s eBook, How to Make Money with Your Travel Blog is $27 and available for purchase from his website.
Nice interview…
Its good to know a bet more about Matt I think a lot of bloggers are curious about him and how he made those earnings.. so now we know a bet more.
He’s done a series of interviews on a number of travel blogs if you’re looking for more background information on Matt. For the making money part, his eBook is a good resource to have.
Hi Matt and Anil,
I purchased Matt’s ebook and I can say that I have learned a LOT from his mistakes (hehe). Matt’s given out lots of tips and tricks and has name-dropped many suppliers who can help with monetizing one’s blog. I guess anyone can replicate Matt’s success with hardwork. My only comment is, it takes a certain kind of person/personality to do this thing. And you have to be likable. Without the likability factor, it may take longer for a blog to take off. Matt has that factor, and that may be why he’s successful. This is a strong piece of interview – concise and interesting!
Thanks,
Jen
Thanks Jen, I agree with your take on the book. Matt’s book really shows how time intensive growing a blog can be and that personality and networking is a large part of it. I’ve always thought it’s important to put a bit of yourself in your writing and let your personality shine, which was more difficult for me in the past.
I think that when we’re new to the travel blogging world many times we end up hiding behind our blog, but it’s really the person people are connecting with. I still feel that strong content, voice, and ‘definition’ is the cornerstone of any successful blog and one shouldn’t lose sight of that while trying to monetize.
Having a good product makes it easier to tell people about it 🙂