Transcript
The Bloggy Friends Show. What's up, my bloggy
friends? Famous Ashley Grant here, and I just
want to welcome you to the Bloggy Friends Show.
We're so excited to have you join us on this
journey of sharing our knowledge and experiences
with you. Whether you're a blogger, a content
creator, or just someone who's interested in
learning more about the digital world, we've
got something for you. So grab your notebook
and a pen to take some notes, or just sit back
and take in all the amazing information and ideas
we're about to share with you. Let's get into
it. Well, Michelle, welcome to the show. I'm
so excited to have you here. Why don't you tell
us a little bit about what it is you do? Yeah,
so I'm a travel blogger. that has a blog called
Travel Her Story. So I came up the name because
it's like history, but it's spelled with her.
And I love history, but also wanted to tell my
journey of traveling. So that's a little mix
of both. I was like kind of dual names. That's
awesome. When did you start your blog? So I started
it like 12 years ago. I was working in TV at
the time, but I had a job that basically, unless
something broke, I really had nothing to do.
And I had a friend back in high school who had
started a blog. And she was like, oh, why don't
you try this thing? And I had absolutely zero
idea what I was doing. I was just like, oh, I
write stuff and people will find it. Nope. I
know how that works. You know, like I was writing
blog posts that were like my fourth day driving
across America. And I was like, nobody's Googling
that, you know. But it gave me the bug for starting
writing, basically. So I started that. But like
I said, I had no idea what I was doing. And I
also was working a full -time job. And so I would
travel very intermittently. So it wasn't really
great as far as consistency. And I remember I
kind of learned some random classes. But they
just didn't give me the proper knowledge to actually
take this seriously. And then it was about a
year and a half ago. I had left my job because
it's kind of a toxic situation and was doing
like a networking thing. And I met this guy who
basically does like a tour groups for, for photographers.
So he'll take a bunch of photographers to like
the Sahara and they'll photograph. And I was
like, yeah, I used to have this blog, but like,
I don't really do anything with it anymore. And
he was like, well, you're spending money having
it up there. Are you? And I was like, yeah. And
he's like, well, give it a try. Like at least
make what you're making, what you're spending
on it. So this way it's not lost. And I was like,
yeah, he's right. Like I have the time. I don't
have a job right now. You know, staring at LinkedIn
all day is kind of infuriating. You can only
do that before like you lose your marbles. So
I was like, I need a hobby anyway right now.
So I went back in, but then like I actually really
started learning about SEO this time rather than
just kind of like throwing paint at the wall.
It started making money. Like, oh, okay. This
is awesome. Who knew? Yeah. Well, I was like,
God, I wish I knew this 12 years ago. I was raking
it back in for 12 years. But, you know, you can't
regret choices. You can only, you know, do what
you can. So, yeah, I started making a few hundred,
a few hundred. And then I actually saw somebody
on Threads post, like, what they were making
for the month. And I was like, oh, that would
be interesting. Like, let me, like, do the math.
because we make a little bit here and a little
bit here and a little bit here you see it but
you don't really like calculate it and then I
was like suddenly like oh I'm making like two
grand a month like consistently like I was like
okay this is like something I should like put
more energy in so that's that's how I went from
you know very like not knowing what I was doing
well to like 11 years later finally figuring
out what I was doing Yeah, I'm still trying to
figure it out, if I'm honest. I mean, yeah, I
will say I have been doing this full time, like
actually making full time income as a writer
since. Goodness, I went I guess you'd say I went
pro in 2011 and I started making full time income
into 2014. But but not all of it was under my
name. I started doing stuff for like other people's
blogs. And so a lot of it was ghostwriting and
things like that. What were some of your monetization
methods for whenever you, I guess, got serious?
So mostly where my monetization even today is,
is ads and affiliates. Ads is kind of just nice.
I kind of view it as backup money because if
somebody doesn't buy something, at least they
were there and like maybe I made a couple cents
off them. But I really push for the affiliates.
So hotels, activities, so like selling, you know,
winter's coming up. So I did, I went to Finland
a couple years ago. And did all the winter activities
like reindeer sleigh riding, dog sledding, aurora
hunting, things like that. So selling tickets
to that where you get commission. And then some
product -based stuff. So like Amazon, like I'll
promote what my hostel packing list is and, you
know, link to there. So if they buy the, you
know, towel or whatever it is in there, I get
a commission off of that. That's awesome. So
in terms of ads, is it Google Ads or Mediavine?
What are you using? So I used to be with SheMedia.
That's what I was with actually like eight, nine
years ago and never made it in my own views.
So when I joined back up to like getting serious,
I was still with them. So at first I was with
them and actually I know a lot of bloggers who
like don't like them, but I've never really had
any issue with them. I just went switching to
Journey because when Journey first launched,
which is Journey is like kind of like Mediavine's
like little sister where they like let people
under 50 ,000 views in or 50 ,000 sessions. So
I joined that. And then actually about a month
or two ago, I got an email from Mediavine and
I hadn't hit 50 ,000 sessions, but they were
like, we're going to invite you in. And I was
like, oh, okay. And it was actually so new that
I posted it in a Facebook group and I was like,
is this real? Like I checked the email and it
doesn't seem like a scam. Like they didn't ask
for anything weird, but like it was so, so new.
And now they've started inviting more people
in their under 50 ,000 sessions. But yeah, at
first I was like, oh. I don't know. I get it,
man, because there's a lot of scams out there.
Like it's it's it's kind of insane how many scams
there are. And I've even had the people that
will send you a message and they're like, we're
going to pay you a thousand dollars. All you
got to do is put one post. And it's like, yeah,
that looks really shady. I had somebody the other
day that said they had like a company name in
it because most of the time they don't have a
company name. They're like, hi, I'm Tony. And
I want to pay you to do this. And you're like,
pay me to do what? Like, give me more details.
Yeah. But this one had a company name and it
said, and they were like, oh, we're going to
give you like a three night stay and pay for
your airfare to use our products. I like looked
at the company name and like, then they didn't
have any packages for America. Like they're all
on like other continents. And I was like, so
you're going to pay me to. do something you guys
don't offer like so I emailed back basically
saying like I don't see any of these things available
on your website and then no response oh god you
called it out yeah I forgot their plan click
google that's funny and then you know that's
the important thing though is that you know as
bloggers especially today we have got to be you
know doing our due diligence and and being careful
because there's a lot of bad actors out there
Yeah. And like years ago when I, like I said,
I was not making money at all. I'd get emails
like, hey, we want to promote our product and
your thing. Can you take guest posts? And if
it was like somewhat travel related, like I remember
when I was on Dubai or something and I've never
been to Dubai. So I was like, sure. It's content
on my website. It never ranked. Yeah. Like it
was just nonsense. They put together and put
a link in it. Like, you know, and I wound up
like being like, I can't do these anymore. Like,
it's just not worth it. The only times I do that
kind of like link stuff is if it's like another
blogger that I'm like, oh, OK, you like are actually
in the same position as me. You're not just some
weird company trying to promote their casino
or whatever. Yeah, I have a pretty strict rule.
No casinos. And the thing is, it's not I'm against
gambling. I'm not against gambling. But I don't
know, something about just putting a link to
a casino, I don't, absolutely not. Yeah, no,
no, no. And my other one, there are funny links
for me. Yeah, the other one is Bitcoin. I will
not promote Bitcoin. And it's not that I think
that all of it's a scam, but I mean, you know,
a lot of it is. Well, there's a lot of, yeah.
Yeah. And like, I'm sure you feel similarly.
Like, I don't know enough Bitcoin about a Bitcoin.
So even if a company would be legit, like, I
don't know. I don't want to tell other people
it like, you know. Yeah. And just the fact that
I know a couple of people, I don't know them
personally, but I know friends of friends that
have lost significant amounts of money. Like
one of the guys that I was talking to. a friend
of his lost like $15 ,000 in, in a Bitcoin scam.
And I'm like, yeah, I'm out. I don't want to,
I don't want to play that game. And I know, and
I know another one, he made 50 ,000, but it's
like, you don't know enough unless you know enough.
Yeah. It was the saying, you know, enough to
be dangerous or something like that. Yeah. I'm
not, I don't know enough to be dangerous. So
that's probably a good thing. So we'll stick
to, we'll stay in our lanes. So speaking of which,
so when did you actually start making money?
I know you said that you started like, you know,
finally making a couple hundred and then finally
got to two grand, but what was the timeline?
What did that look like? So I started ending
because I had like a hundred blog posts or nearly
a hundred that were like from the olden days
and I didn't know what I was doing. in like March
of 2024 and then I feel like it was like maybe
like September that I was like oh this is like
real real money so like six months like you know
give or take a little bit that I yeah really
started cranking it up and of course like when
you when you have almost like no views it just
looks like a you know Everest going up basically
from the timeline of how many views and then
of course at some point it starts like you know
tapering off or going down a little bit and stuff
and I'm like oh but you know again I went from
like almost nothing to like I have 80 posts that
I've edited and now you know my blog is like
oh shit there's stuff to rank on Google so yeah
so it was about I would say six months where
and that was ending old blog posts which took
me like a couple months and then starting to
create new stuff OK, well, just hearing 2024
is probably going to excite some of the bloggers
that are listening right now, because I know
several people that got hit hard by the Google
helpful content update, which I call anything
but helpful. So I'm curious, like, do you think
that the content update helped you or that you
just were already doing different things and
so it didn't really impact you? So like the I
know like they've had like a couple different
updates and I think. Because I'm trying to remember,
would you know that when they had that like big
one that really shook everybody up? It feels
like it was 2023. It feels like it was like either
2022 or 2023. So I think I was like on the aftermath
of that. So I think maybe whatever I was doing,
Google's like, oh, this is somebody different.
Like we're not going to. And I obviously don't
know for sure. I'm just guessing because Google's
not going to tell us anything. People constantly
ask me, like, how do you rank? And I was like,
well, you have these 200 guesses that you make
every time. But yeah, so I think maybe I was
just, because I honestly, when I started, like,
retaking it seriously, I wasn't up. on all the
updates and all the changes and everything i
was just going one of the big people that i learned
a lot from is nina who owns she knows seo who
has a facebook group for it was exclusively for
travel bloggers pretty much at the time but now
it's for like all bloggers and learning a lot
from her and so yeah i just i think i wasn't
even like kind of aware of it when i was restarting
i've obviously become aware since they've done
other updates and i've definitely seen like get
affected from some of them but like luckily it's
like it'll like dip for a month and then it will
kind of like figure itself back out and I'm not
gonna say I've like cracked any code I think
it's just dumb luck some part and just continuing
to make sure it's actually things I give a hoot
about like I said like not posting random like
Dubai articles from random guest posts like I
don't care about that I've never been there I
have no skin in the game But for instance, like
one of my top posts is like an anti -theft purse
I use all the time. So that's something I'm very
passionate about. I know about it. I've used
it for years. Like I can talk very personally
about it. So if I can't qualify that, then I
just don't do it. And I think that kind of at
E -E -A -T for Google really likes like, oh,
she actually really knows about this and cares
about it. So yeah, I know the A stands for authority,
but I can't help but feel like it should be two
A's. authority and authenticity, because that
really does matter. I mean, like you, we've talked
about the guest posts a couple of times and I
do accept guest posts personally on my own website,
but I mainly do it from a research perspective.
Cause like, I kind of like to see what people
do send me so I can see what I want to play with.
But, but I have a special category on my website
that you would have to know what you're looking
for to be able to find it, if that makes sense.
So like all my guest posts are corralled in one
spot. on the site. But I don't know if that's
the best way to do it or not, but I'm playing
with it and just seeing kind of what happens.
But so coming back to the helpful content update
and Google and all the things, I'm curious, have
you seen any impact because of AI? Because that's
a big question that everybody's talking about
right now. Yeah, I want to say it was either
in June or July this year that they turned on
AI overviews for Europe is what I was told. And
like my month that month went half the income,
like just sliced in half. And I know it was mostly
the AI because my impressions were still great.
So it wasn't like I lost rankings. You know,
it wasn't like, oh, Michelle, you lost the post
number one spot for this. That's why it changed.
my impressions were still pretty much the same
as the prior month but like all the click -throughs
were like in the toilet you know so like that
tells me it's still on google just people have
decided not to click it and why have they decided
not to click it well they're getting the answer
above it you know so yeah so like for a month
i like lost and i was like that month i was like
oh no what am i gonna do like it's a night thing
and then it was like weird like the next month
everything went back to normal i'm like knocking
on wood right now um because i i I've just been
like, OK, I'll take it. So that was the only
month that like AA really did me in. I'm sure
it's still doing me in in some format. I'm sure
people are Googling, you know, things to do in
Paris rather than clicking on a blog post. But
there's some of that I just can't control, you
know, like it's going to happen. So it really
is. And so with that in mind, you know, one of
the things I'm thinking about really heavily
right now, and I plan on interviewing a few people
to discuss it, is. How are you anticipating that
you're going to need to promote your website
outside of just trying to rank for SEO? So I
do a lot of Pinterest is how I also bring in
traffic. So Google and Pinterest are the two
main drivers. I know a lot of people as far as
like AI are like, oh, I really want to rank in
the where they note you as a source. You know,
it's like you've said, you know, you're Googling
your, you know, thanks to you in Paris. And it
has that AI box and you click on it and it says,
you know, Susie's blog. But nobody's yet proven
to me that that actually gives them any traffic.
So I've tested with it a little bit and I've
actually gotten myself to be sourced, accredited
or whatever you want to call it up there. But
I've never seen, I mean, I've had like maybe
50 AI views a month. It's according to my Google
analytics. So like until somebody's like, oh,
I'm getting like 10 ,000 views a month from that.
I just don't. And I get it if you're maybe like,
I don't know, let's say like a big brand Marriott
where like you Google like the best hotels, you
know, to stay at and like you want to be Marriott
and that you show up in there. But for like me,
like unless it's coming, clicking through my
blog, I'm like, I don't know, like, why am I
going to? I, you know, I can't disagree with
that at all because the unfortunate thing is,
yeah, if they're getting the answer and not needing
to click through, it doesn't do us much good.
I mean, yes, of course. Everybody wants that,
you know, feather in the cap of, oh, I'm showing
up all the time. But if no one's clicking through,
you're not making money. And so that's kind of
one of the things that I've been talking to a
lot of people about lately is like, okay, so
do we invest in ads? Do we start an email list?
Well, if we start an email list, then we have
to buy ads to get the people to the email list.
So it's an interesting game that we're all kind
of playing right now. And there's a lot of guessing
involved. Would you agree? Oh, yeah, 100 % guessing.
And as far as email lists, like I never. I've
done email lists for other companies where I've
like been the person like hired to do their email
list. So it's not that I don't know how to do
it, but for me as like a blogger, I just never
really invested in it. I have started a little
bit to start investing in it, partly because
I wrote a book and I want to promote that to
people. But also like I've seen people who are
like ranking the number one spot where they'll
have like a travel guide and they're like, oh,
do you don't have enough time? Click this and
give me your email and I'll email you the travel
guide. So I'm like, okay, like I'll test that
out. Has it been super successful so far? No.
But to your point of like, you just got to guess
and hope something works. But as far as like
imparting any wisdom on people, yeah, Google
and Pinterest are still my main drivers. The
only other thing I'm kind of testing out now
is definitely like, you know, when you Google
something and it'll like show like Instagram
videos and TikTok videos and whatever. And I'm
not a big video person. I kind of hate editing.
As far as somebody who used to work in TV and
post -production, it's hilarious that I hate
editing, but I do. But I've definitely started
to like upload all those like little clips or
do like TikTok videos. I do mostly slides where
I'll be like, you know, things to do in Paris
and I'll do like, you know, 15 slides of different
things. Just to see if I start to rank, I have
not found myself to start to rank yet. The only
thing I've gotten so far is like some YouTube
shorts. I've gotten like a thousand views, but
has that driven anything to my website? I don't
think so. Because I think it's similar to TikTok
where you just kind of, like, scroll through
and you're not really, unless you're, like, really,
really interested, you're probably not clicking
on that person's profile. So, yeah, it's all
just, like, a game of testing different things.
I've even started posting my, like, blog posts
on LinkedIn. Because somebody was like, oh, you
should create, like, a page for your company.
And I was like, oh, okay. And has that driven
anything yet? No. But, you know, it's, like,
one of those things where you're like, you got
to test it for a few months and see if it works.
Yes, that's the facts, man. One of the girls
that I interviewed for a podcast on podcasting,
she said she gives six months for any test that
she does. And, you know, the funny thing is,
it's like as bloggers, sometimes it's like, well,
six months could mean that, you know, we're having
ramen noodle packets instead of an actual meal.
So it's a weird game. Well, I've definitely I've
had friends who are like, oh, I'm going to try
blogging now that it's working for you. And I've
told them all like. some people are gonna like
pitch that it's gonna take like two weeks and
you're gonna be making like five thousand dollars
a month I was like that was never realistic for
me a lot every so often I'll get a blog post
that like immediately ranks but more often than
not it's six months later that it's ranking on
the page you know and I've had blog posts that
were like number one and like I had one that
like brought me in like five hundred dollars
in revenue on just activities Like, I was selling,
like, you can get this pass, and you can go to,
like, five different attractions. Well, they
got rid of that pass. So my blank, since my blog
post was focused all on that, my blog post, like,
fell off. Which, as far as the Google helpful
content update, that was actually, I thought
it was, like, that's pretty fair. It's no longer
available. My post is now out of date. So, of
course, I went in and, like, edited it to, like,
make it up to date. And that was a couple months
ago, and now it's finally on the bottom of page
one. But I was like, page one. Yeah, well, it
fell off page one for, like, those few months.
So, like, I was not making the revenue I was
before. All that $500 was, you know, when it
was number one on the Google. And I had, like,
the number one slot for, like, almost a whole
year. I was, like, very proud. I was like, this
is great. This is great. And then I got rid of
that damn pass. No. But, yeah, blogging is not,
like, a short -term, like, I'm going to make
a million dollars next week. You know? Like,
some people, like, snag. It is such a long game.
And, you know, that's kind of why I started diversifying
myself of of not just focusing on just my own
website. I started working for other people.
So I I definitely get that it's you never know
what's going to happen. So I'm curious, do you
find yourself working for other people as well?
Or are you really like zeroed in on just working
on your own website? I mostly just work for my
own. I have done a couple of guest posts for
other people. And that was mostly just try to
improve my DA, domain authority for anybody who's
still learning blogging. But I didn't find it
really worked. What I did instead was I found
this company called Quoted. So there's Harrow
and another company where like journalists will
pitch like, I'm looking for somebody who's been
to Paris in the fall. I have questions and you
can respond and hopefully they pick you. I never
really got any responses on Harrow, but quoted,
you pay a monthly fee and you get access. Like
I've gotten features in Travel and Leisure, AOL,
Yahoo, I'm trying to remember, HuffPost. So like
names we all know. It's not like, you know, Joe's
Taco Hut in the side where you're like, I've
never heard of Joe's Taco Hut. And that's helped
boost my DA a little bit. So I've spent more
time doing that than anything. But I have actually
gotten like a real, real job from this. weird
story like last year I post on LinkedIn my kind
of like my blog maintenance and I was kind of
hoping like well maybe somebody will see this
and they'll hire me you know it was like kind
of like I mean brag a little bit you know maybe
somebody's like oh she knows what she's talking
about they'll hire me and it worked. AAA who
does famously like car insurance and things like
that for people and you can get your car towed
and stuff like that but they also do have travel
advisors you can go to them and they'll help
you book your trip. So they reached out to me
and were like, hey, do you want to write some
content for us? So I worked for them for a couple
months last year. And then they unfortunately
laid off all the contractors, which included
me. So I was only with them for a couple months.
But I actually started up as of last week with
them again, writing some more content. So basically
writing those, like, things to do in Paris so
that you click on that. And then we'll use them
for travel advising. So I'm very thankful that,
you know, my blogging has led to, like, real
full -time money. even if it is just, you know,
contractor work. Absolutely. And, you know, the
cool thing about it is not only are you, you
know, getting income from a client, you're making
money on something that you own as well. So it's
like an in tandem thing. And I think it's good
because it shows, you know, any future employers
or future clients that you're continuing to put
yourself out there and that you actually, like
you said, know what you're doing. And it's funny
you mentioned quoted because that's how you and
I met. I'm looking for podcast guests and I am
going to sign up for. In case Alex Sanfilippo
is listening, I am still planning on signing
up for Podmatch. But yeah, I've been playing
with Quoted as well and seeing what kind of things
pop from that. And I do have to say, ever since
Featured took over Harrow, I'm still getting
pretty decent responses. It's not nearly as spammy.
But the frustrating thing about Harrow is that
you still do get a lot of AI -generated bull.
So that's a big issue that I'm dealing with.
But I'm curious. So you mentioned Pinterest.
You mentioned Google. You mentioned that you're
putting yourself out there on Quoted. Anything
else you're doing to kind of drive people to
find out who you are and where you are? Not really.
I mean, I really don't love the social media.
Like I said, I post now on like Instagram and
TikTok mostly to see if I can rank on Google.
Like I know. I do not have the energy to like
create TikTok videos where you're like the hook
at the beginning, like find out how I survived
this thing. And then it's, you know, a five minute.
I just don't have that patience. That's why I'm
doing slides like 15 things to do in Paris. And
it's just like images and it's like Eiffel Tower,
Arc de Triomphe. And I'd rather do it. I'd rather
angle myself as like I said on LinkedIn where
like I meet with like the AAA or stuff like that.
And that's part of why I'm like posting my blog
posts on there is like hoping that like tourism
boards would be like, oh, she really does like
know what she's doing. And also like I don't
know how long I stay with AAA. Like I said, contractor
work, I would love to stay with them. They're
a great team. But like maybe I'll go to travel
and leisures. Maybe I'll go to somewhere else.
Or to your point, it was like tandem work so
that. You know, if the blog post isn't ranking
for these couple of months, I still don't have
to eat ramen noodles. And I've met some lovely
people on LinkedIn, a lot of other girls who
are writing for like Business Insider and stuff
like that, which they paid like a few hundred
bucks an article. And I haven't placed any yet.
I've pitched a few times, like maybe like about
half dozen times to different outlets. I've got
one no from like Trev from. teen vogue and one
other no and i remember like oh man i used to
read teen vogue i would have liked them um but
you gotta like yeah you gotta keep like finding
ways and i'd rather do that than kind of like
guest post for you know like a random site where
i'm like yeah well you know this is like a 2da
site i don't know what those do hey uh i'd rather
like you went to like the professional writer
side you know where you're like oh i wrote for
business insider and travel and leisure and honda
nest or whoever is you know uh offering up spots
but i think i just got to get better at pitching
and i've been told from people who have been
pitching for quite a while i'm doing it successfully
that's been kind of dry the last couple months
so i was like maybe it's not me maybe in the
new year it will You know, a lot of people, they
say past Halloween, people kind of start shutting
down for holidays already. So that's what it
is. That's kind of true. And then it picks up
like, you know, I used to actually, you know,
speaking of the ghostwriting that I said that
I had done, some of the ghostwriting clients
I had were actually travel agents. That's how
I began with the ghostwriting side of things
is a bunch of travel agents needed content for
their websites and they didn't have time to write
it. They wanted to just sell their packages.
So, yeah, I definitely. understand the ebbs and
flows of when people are booking trips and things
like that. So I'm curious with the affiliate
sales that you're doing, how do you find your
affiliate partners? So I've signed up for a couple
of different ones. I used to, when I first started,
again, I had no idea what I was doing. So I'd
sign up for like random ones. What I found is
most successful is I really love Stay 22. They
do hotels. um get your guide activities and they've
just started retail so you can like um do i think
it's like best buy and nike and target and maybe
walmart um nordstrom's i know is one of them
so you can basically sell um get commissions
through those rams as well um not just the hotels
and the activities um but they have some great
ai tools where if like somebody's like You know,
like I have a bunch of posts on Paris. So if
you're on my things to do post, then you're on
my three days in Paris post. And then you're
on my how to be safe in Paris post. It's going
to like the AI is going to be like, oh, wow,
they're really like keen to go to Paris. And
it will kind of shoot you off into some like
hotel booking pages. And that's where I get a
lot of my bookings is that like it's like, oh,
yeah, you might be interested in this. They also
have some great AI where it will like find text.
Maybe I didn't like highlight. This hotel is
near the Eiffel Tower. It will link it automatically
for me to an affiliate link. So it takes a lot
of the work out that you would normally do. And
I'm not saying don't link to anything. Like don't
rely on this tool 100 % if you're selling some
specific hotel. But it's nice like a backup,
right? Because if I like forgot something or
they think text could be conversion worthy, I
guess I'll call it, it will highlight it for
you. So I really like Stay22. Really enjoyed
working with them. The other one I use is Travel
Payouts. They have more variety. So you can do
like car rentals. You can divide or trip advisor
with them. You can do the hotels. You can do
get your guide. They even have, I think, travel
insurance. They've got all kinds of stuff on
there. That one I just like have never made as
much money. I do Omeo with them, which does like
a lot of train and bus travel. I've made like
a couple bucks on that, I think. I know a lot
of some bloggers who really may think with that
one, but for me, Stay 22 has been better. And
then I'll also like sign up first. I'm part of
the Amazon affiliates. So again, like if I do
my hostel list and I, you know, do like, you
need this padlock and you need this towel and
you need these flip -flops or whatever, a link.
The nice thing about Amazon though is even if
they don't buy the thing I'm promoting, let's
say like the padlock, but they buy their coffee
because they always get their coffee off Amazon.
I still get a commission because they hand through
my link. So I've seen plenty of that. Oh, yeah.
That brings up some good memories for me. I posted
my most popular current post as of the time of
this recording in November 2025 is I did a recipe
for the bonefish Hawaiian orchid martini. That
is like the most popular thing I have on my website.
And I linked to a coconut syrup by Monin. Well,
people click that. They don't buy the syrup,
but like someone bought an Xbox, someone bought
a Dyson hairdryer, someone like all kinds of
crazy stuff. And so it's fun that like I'll get
$12, which pays for the martini because they
clicked the moment. Yeah, no, I've had the same
where I've been like, what the hell is my buy
today? And then I'll look at it like car parts.
Yeah. You know, like I'm like, I know car part
is like under a hundred bucks. We all know that,
you know? So I was like, there was one day that
I was like, I made like, like a. a good amount
in affiliates. And I was like, what did somebody
buy? And it's like, oh, okay. All right. This
makes a lot more sense. And that, that nicely
picks up around Christmas because obviously everybody's
shopping too, because that is one thing I'm like,
I, when you asked me, I was earlier working on
and I didn't mention is like making my, my blog
a little more seasonality proof. So I have one
location, Finland that I did in winter. That's
like my, you know, winter travel posts, but the
rest of them are pretty like. either evergreen
or more summery stuff, you know, going to Europe
in summer. So that's another thing I'm working
on. But yeah, Amazon, like if you're not part
of Amazon, I mean, I don't love Jeff Bezos, but
I do like that. Absolutely. It's such a low barrier
to entry. It's just, it's really good. But so
it sounds like you need to create a travel gift
guide. Yeah, that is definitely one of those
things that I'm like, I gotta keep doing this.
I keep like, because I've actually, that's how
some of the ones I'm quoted, like they've been
like, what's the 10 items you want for Christmas?
I'll be like, you need these items. So you need
to write your own. Absolutely. I need to write
my own. That's one of those things that I'm like,
I'm working on my pillar post right now. Hence,
I've written like 15 posts on Paris. I've written
like. 20 some odd on Austria, 20 some odd on
Greece. And then anybody who's listening is like,
what's a pillar post? Rather than writing one
article on a post, you write as much as you can,
basically. So whether that's where to stay, the
itinerary, travel tips, how to get there, restaurant
guide, whatever it is, just so that Google's
like, oh, they know this thing and they don't
just know like one. section of this little thing
so that's mostly what i've been working on but
yeah no i need to do gift guides because i do
very well with products i mean some of my top
poster products yeah and those one again like
i usually link to an amazon or some kind of other
um some of them i partnered with directly so
i don't link to amazon i'll link to their their
dedicated affiliate program um and still have
done well with those so yeah i think Products
are easy for me because I like will not write
about it unless they like sent it to me. So I
have the photos of me with it. I can be like,
I use this on X trip wherever I was going and
it did X, Y, Z. And I liked X, but I hated Z,
you know, whatever it is. So yeah, product posts
do very well for me. Those are fun. So I'm curious
with, you know, travel, obviously you're doing
a travel website. How often do you travel? I
spent four and a half months in Europe this summer.
That was the longest I've been gone. That's awesome.
And I went with no return ticket. It was mostly
I had like family things that I had to come back
for that wouldn't make me come home. I probably
would have been still over there because people
have been like, how's it being home? And I'm
like, yeah. I'll go back. I'll go back. I was
running out of Shangri -La. Yeah, as an American,
you can have like 90 and 180 day period. And
I think I used like 60 curry. So I was like,
I'm pushing the limit, you know. But yeah, so
like I did four and a half months in Europe.
Like last year, December to January, I was in
Mexico and Bacalar. Before that, I was in, I
think, Finland and Sweden. So I'm actually honestly
like two to three years behind on posts because
I've been doing the pillar posts of destinations
I did, you know, a little while back. So people
have been like I've met on travels. Like I met
people in Poland this year. I met people in Belfast
and Budapest and wherever. And they're like,
oh, where's the post where I met you? Not there
yet. Yeah. I'm working on it. It's in the queue.
It's in like, it's got all these other posts
that I got to do first. Yeah, I get it, man.
And it makes me curious though, whenever you're
traveling and you're thinking about it in terms
of, okay, I'm doing this for content. Does it
hurt your travel experience or does it enhance
it? I had somebody ask me this recently, and
I think because I really only do photos, it doesn't.
bug me so much I think if I was sitting like
there and like recording videos and was one of
those people with the steadicam and making it
perfect which their videos look amazing like
congrats to them but like I think that would
take me out of the experience as somebody who's
just doing photos I can like kind of easily snap
one and like kind of like mentally go back into
being a tourist for a second um I do like take
notes like if I'm like oh this thing really sucked
like I was telling somebody the other day I did
a tour in Turkey And the tour guide, like, lost
several people. So I'm going to remember that
when I write the blog post. Like, we had to go
back for them. Like, there was, like, three people
they left behind. And I remember he asked me
for a review at the end. And I was like, wow,
the gall of this. You're like, you don't want
a review from me, man. And really, we only went
back because somebody else on the bus was like,
these people from Saudi Arabia aren't on our
bus. Yeah, because we would have kept going.
That just transported me back to my honeymoon
20 years ago. I got left behind. I was on an
excursion. We went on a cruise for our honeymoon.
And we got left behind by the bus in Belize.
And it was like a two -hour drive back to the
port. And so we're like, okay, what do we do
now? We're in a foreign country. Like, what do
we do? And it just so happened we got very lucky.
A different cruise ship had not left yet. And
they let us sit on the stairs of their bus for
the two -hour drive back to town. So we got very
lucky. Oh, man. Yeah, you really lucked out.
I was on one in Thailand where we were, like,
island hopping to, like, uninhabited islands.
It's not like, you know, island hopping where
you're like, oh, I'll just go to the nearby resort.
Awesome. We left somebody behind, but, like,
luckily we drove away. We see him from the shore,
like, waving his hands in the air. We went back,
but I was just, like, oh, my God. Like, what
if he wasn't prompt enough about waving at us?
I guess he could have gone on one of the other
boats that was sitting there, but I was just
like that. Like, what if it was the last boat?
Like, I don't know. I just like I'm one of those
people. I'm like, what if, what if, what if?
I was actually telling my friend the other day,
he's like, he has kids and he's like, how do
you slow to travel? I'm like. I was like, a lot
of people will be concerned about, like, speaking
the same language. And I'm concerned about being
left behind on this whore in our country, okay?
I always introduce myself to the guide. I remember
their names so that this lady, they're like,
oh, that blonde girl from America, you know,
who asked me my name or was nice to me. Whatever,
like, I can get them to hopefully remember me
so that they're not like, where is she? Yeah.
You just created another blog post you need to
write. A what if I'm left behind, this is what
you need to do to not get left behind. Well,
exactly. That's what my friend said. He's like,
well, then you need to write that down. So other
people know, like, you know, make sure you're
rememberable. So people you're not like ditched
behind when they like forget, you know, that's
really solid advice. So we've talked about a
lot, but one of the things that we also mentioned
that I kind of want to circle back to, we talked
about AI. I'm curious because everybody's asking
about it again. Are you using AI in your writing?
What are you doing with that? Yeah, I use it
for like a lot of like outline creation because
I realize it can't replace me. You know, it's
not going to. uh be scared in the ATM cave in
Belize like I was and talk about how I was excited
it was like an Indiana Jones invention that I
realized this was an adventure I wasn't prepared
for um so just not gonna come up with that stuff
it's not gonna be lost on the island in Thailand
you know it's not gonna be lost in Belize from
the bus you know um but I will use it like I'll
be like hey I'm gonna write a post on how to
be safe in Paris give you some an outline of
like what I should do and like it'll give me
you know like you know uh use a money belt or
something like that but then I'm going to fill
that out with like oh I actually like you know
an anti -theft person this is why you know um
so I can I think it all can only if you're asking
it like what's the weather in Paris in April
everybody's gonna have the same answer you know
that's fine for me um in my opinion at least
but yeah if it's something like a little bit
and and to the point I said earlier like I rank
For the posts I rank, it's usually, like, the
very personal posts. So, like, I did the ATM
cave in Belize, which there's, like, Maya sacrifices
in this. You have to go through, like, this watering
cave and climb up into it and whatnot. That was
a very personal post for me because I was like,
I love Indiana Jones. I thought this was going
to be amazing. And then I kind of, like, panicked
a little bit because that's very personal. AI
is not going to come up with that. Maybe they
can guess, like. A lot of people don't do well
in this cave. Like, they're not going to have
my exact experience. So, yeah, I really just
use it. Or I'll use it, like I said, if I'm doing
a lot of posts on Paris, I'm doing things to
do in Paris and, you know, an itinerary post
in Paris. And I talk about the Eiffel Tower in
both of them because obviously it's, like, the
biggest landmark in Paris. I'll have it reword
what I've written in the first post just so it's
not the exact same words. But I'm feeding it
my content and going, hey, can you rewrite this?
you know, so that it's angled more to her, you
know, how to be safe around the Eiffel Tower
in Paris or something like that. So yeah, I don't
just go like, go write me a post on how to be
safe in Paris and hit publish. I always reread
it. It doesn't always sound like you. So, you
know, I have like a more like a quirky, I'm very
pop culture -y, so I'll like throw in pop culture
references that it's just not going to do. So
yeah, I don't think it's like generate and publish.
I think that's not it. Thank God, because I tell
you what, that's one of the big things that I've
been talking to a lot of people about is if you're
going to use AI, that's fine. But don't forget,
you still have to be a human. Yeah. Yeah. So
one of the things that I'll do is I'll leave
in the show notes. I wrote a blog post for GoDaddy
about the importance of humanizing whatever it
is you're getting from AI. There is a proper
way to write a blog post using AI. So it's good
to hear that you're doing it that way. Yeah,
I think I actually listened to your episode on
using AI. And I remember there was like a website
you mentioned that you can find out if an article
is generated by AI. Yes, I'll have to put that
in the show notes as well. Copyscape does it.
And then I'm actually going to go ahead and pull
up the other one. Yeah, because I actually like.
Last night I was kind of testing it out because
I was like, oh, this is interesting. And I put
in some articles that I knew I had used AI for.
And it told me 0%. It's probably because you
went back and humanized it. Yeah. Well, that's
what I'm thinking because I was just like, I
definitely know I like put in some prompts, you
know, to like get some information. And I like,
you know, copy pasted it in there to like see
what it would say. And I was expecting it to
say like at least like, I don't know, a couple
percent, you know, like maybe like 5 % or something
like that. Um, cause like I said, so the outline
and I was like zero and I was like, oh yeah,
I guess me. It matters taking those extra couple
steps. I mean, it really does matter. Um, the
website that I was, um, that I've been using
is writer .com backslash AI content detector.
And then the other one that I have been using
has been, um, like I said, copy scape and, um,
That one's a little bit more sensitive. So like
if you're trying to get the actual passages highlighted
that may be most likely to be AI, it'll tell
you which ones flag the system. But yeah, there's
something to be said for if you're going to use
a tool like an AI generator, at least please
go back and fix it. Yeah, yeah. Make sure it
sounds like you. Make sure it has your personal
experience. Because again, you know, it's not
going to be scared in Belize in the cave. It's
not going to be lost in Paris. It's not going
to be. I'm behind by the tour bus, you know?
Yeah. And those are the posts I think that people
mostly enjoy reading. I mean, I can still think
of blog posts that I really enjoyed reading.
One reason I went on that cable is because, you
know, other people's blog posts. Because they
don't let you take your camera in, so you kind
of just have to imagine what it looked like.
Oh, man. Yeah. You know, I think that we're going
to see that a lot more, that people are going
to be looking more for that human connection,
that human element of, OK, yeah, everybody can
have the same top 10 post, but there's nothing
quite like saying this is how I felt in that
moment. And if you want to feel this, this is
what you need to do. Yeah. Yeah, and I love writing
those posts rather than anything else. I was
telling my friend the other day, I was like,
we went to Disneyland and there's a Disney around
the Matterhorn. Well, I went to go see the real
Matterhorn this summer, but apparently I went
too early. All I saw was whiteout. There was
a blizzard up top. So I joked I've spent less
money going to Disneyland and seeing the Matterhorn.
That's awesome. Now that's going to be a blowout
for somebody else that's right. Unless they just
happened to go in April to the Matterhorn and
seen the Blizzard 2. But you know what I'm saying?
It's not going to be like, you know, they're
like, oh, by the way, go to Disneyland for treatment.
I only have a picture of me just in like white
sky behind. That's supposed to be like 27 or
29 peaks there. I saw nothing. What are the odds?
Oh, man. It just sounds like a very entertaining
blog post. Oh, yeah. It's going to be like this.
I was so excited going up the cogwheel train.
I paid over $100 to go on this train. And guess
what? Nothing. I saw nothing. All I could do
was laugh with everybody else up top. Well, you
know what? I got to say, at least she walked
away with a story and a laugh. Yeah. Yeah. You
know, at least that's one of those things not
to do post. Don't go in April. Yeah, that's kind
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