For the last couple of years, more and more people have been thinking of quitting their jobs to travel the world and, every day, many of them are dreaming of keeping up this lifestyle for the rest of their lives.
Travel blogging is today, a potential way to achieve this goal and a very appealing idea for those who want to live the dream, which usually involves getting paid for traveling forever.
Well, the good news is that making money from a travel blog is totally possible.
I also tried to pursue this dream and, after 4 years of traveling and blogging non-stop, I can finally say that I managed to turn my blog into an actual business and make a full income from it.
Here you can read my 6 ways of making a living from blogging.
This was the product of some very insanely hard-working months but also, it would not have been possible if I didn’t follow the right steps from the very beginning.
For this, I signed up for Superstar Blogging Course and its creator, Nomadic Matt, was the person who taught me the right success model.
This is a very honest and personal Superstar Blogging review where I explain how I monetized my blog thanks to the course and why this is the best travel blogging course.
By the way, in case you don’t know, my blog is called Against the Compass and I write about destinations off the beaten track, mainly focusing on the Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus Pakistan, and Africa.
Table of Contents
How I started blogging and signed up for Superstar Blogging course
Before launching my blog, I didn’t even know that travel blogging could be an actual job.
However, when I started to contemplate quitting my corporate job, I also began to do some extensive research and found out that there were many people out there making thousands of dollars from their travel blogs.
Then, when I read the content from those who, supposedly, were professional bloggers, I told myself:
Hey, I think I could write the same type of information from all the traveling I have done.
It was only then that I decided to pursue this goal but, as an actual marketer, if I wanted to succeed, I knew that it would not be enough to just write compelling content I needed to develop specific marketing and strategic skills.
That’s how I started searching for travel blogging courses until I found the Superstar Blogging course.
By that time, the course was kind of new and there were not many reviews but what made me decide to buy it was that both the creator and teacher were Nomadic Matt, the person who is believed to be the most successful travel blogger out there, getting more than 1 million monthly visits and making an annual income in 7 figures
I really believed that it was the best travel blogging course and well, the money invested since I started my travel blog.
How I increased my traffic to more than 240,000 monthly Page Views in a bit more than 3 years officially launched my blog in September 2016.
In January 2022, these were my figures:
- 241,000 Page Views
- 165,050 Sessions
It has been a very long journey, full of ups and downs, both statistically and personally but, in the end, the thousands and thousands of hours of really hard work have produced their results.
In general terms, I mainly ascribe this growth to the following:
- Choosing the right niche and sticking to it
- Brand equity
- Writing compelling, comprehensive, and USEFUL content
- SEO, SEO, and SEO
And how much money do I make?
People are curious to know how much money one can actually make from travel blogging.
I hope you can understand that I don’t feel comfortable posting my salary online, but what I can tell you is that I make a very decent living.
Here you can know more about the money I make from blogging, where you can get a clue.
However, what I wanted to tell you is that the best part is that none of my earnings (or very, very few) come from sponsors but, following the course advice, I have only been focusing on passive income, which is affiliate marketing, selling products and ads.
My traffic in 2019, month by month, 1,500,000 page views
In case you are wondering, despite this quick growth, when I signed up for the course, I had absolutely no idea about blogging, to the extent that I didn’t know what a WordPress plugin was and, probably like you, I also didn’t know the meaning of web hosting, Cloudflare and barely had any knowledge about SEO.
I was a complete newbie who was asking the most stupid questions across all forums, Facebook groups, and even to Nomadic Matt.
And yes, one of the biggest advantages of this course is that you can ask questions directly to Nomadic Matt and he always replies, no matter what the question is about.
This is a real edge over any other travel blogging course.
How Nomadic Matt’s course helped me monetize my blog – The best travel blogging course
It helped me with the following:
1 – It helped me create a brand, not a travel blog
If you want to be a professional travel blogger, the first thing you need to bear in mind is that you should treat your website as a brand, not a travel blog, and brands are like people: they have a name, personality and a specific physical appearance.
This means that your blog should have a domain name that summarizes its purpose; its content must be focused on a specific audience and the colors, layout, and logo need to be designed according to this personality and audience.
At the beginning of the Superstar Blogging course, Nomadic Matt teaches you a set of different techniques to achieve this purpose, from choosing the right name to finding the niche you need to focus on.
This is the most important blogging stage. The best thing about it is that you can submit your idea to Matt for review.
2 – It helped me set up all the technical stuff
When it comes to computers, I really suck.
Like I said before, I didn’t even know what a WordPress plugin was.
Having a properly configured website doesn’t help you succeed with your blog but it is a vital requirement if you want to be part of the game.
Luckily, the course comes with plenty of tutorials, including how-to-videos, which will help you from getting your web hosting to installing and configuring all the necessary plugins, setting up Google Analytics, Cloudflare, installing an SSL certificate and even some HTML and CSS basics.
I know that all this may sound like Chinese to you but, thanks to the course, it won’t for long.
Moreover, this part of the course is run by Nomadic Matt’s personal website developer and he will assist you during the whole process. He is extremely helpful.
3 – It taught me the importance of SEO and how to implement it
Matt claims that SEO has been his most important key success factor and that is why, throughout the course, he takes you through all the different techniques to boost your SEO, like the secrets of guest posting, how to get backlinks, keywords, etc.
For me, this part of the SSB course has been a key element in increasing my traffic and besides spending a lot of time trying to get loads of backlinks and choosing the right keywords for every article, after following his advice, I also managed to guest post for very popular blogs such as The Planet D, Everything Everywhere, Nomadasaurus and The Broke Backpacker.
Furthermore, most course students may have the chance to be featured on the course’s blog and get a few backlinks from a very high-authority site.
4 – It taught me how to write content and which content works for your audience
Writing isn’t the only reason to create a successful blog but it is what defines your authority as a blogger.
The course teaches different writing skills and you even get a chance to send an article to Matt for his feedback.
Moreover, it tells you the importance of writing for your audience and not for yourself. If you want to succeed, your blog needs to be like a bible or a useful source of information and the course tells you the different ways to do this.
In my case, useful, comprehensive travel guides from countries where there is a lack of travel information have been key to increasing my authority and traffic.
5 – It told me the different ways to monetize your audience, how to diversify your income, and the importance of passive income
Throughout your blogging journey, you will meet tons of bloggers who make several thousand dollars a month from sponsors and press trips, exclusively.
There is nothing wrong with that but this might present 3 big disadvantages:
- First, in an extremely fast-changing world like the internet, you should always rely on different sources of income because the rules of the game can change very quickly.
- Second, always relying on sponsored content and press trips means that you are continuously trying to pitch brands and working for others. After a few years, you may feel exhausted.
- And last, too much-sponsored content may lose your credibility as a blogger and influencer.
The course takes you through all the different ways to monetize your audience and the importance of passive income, putting a big emphasis on creating a product or service, such as eBooks or offering tours.
More reasons to sign up – Superstar Blogging review
Those are the ways it helped me, but the Superstar Blogging program has many other advantages:
Skills you will learn
The course teaches a range of different topics, all skills needed for any blogging journey:
- Branding, from choosing your niche to choosing a great design
- Writing tips
- Mastering social media
- Everything about SEO
- Email marketing
- Creating products
- Partner with brands
Ongoing tech support
Matt’s personal website developer will help you set up your site and assist you with all your issues throughout your blogging journey. This is gold, seriously.
Weekly Q&As with Nomadic Matt in person
Every week, Nomadic Matt will organize live Q&A sessions in which you will be able to ask Matt (in person) all your doubts.
Blog post editing and feedback each month
At the end of every month, you will also get feedback from Nomadic Matt on your work.
Access to a private forum
Where you can network with like-minded bloggers ask questions and join the Opportunity Board for finding jobs.
A free WordPress theme
During the site configuration stage, Matt provides you with a free WordPress theme of your choice from Studio Press. This is already worth 100USD.
30-day money-back guarantee
After 1 month, if you are not happy with the results, you can claim 100% of your money back.
You should NOT buy Superstar Blogging course if
I’ll be honest. This course isn’t for everyone and you should not buy it if:
You have been in the game for a while
If you have been blogging for a while, perhaps, you should try to find a course for advanced bloggers, as most of the Superstar Blogging content is aimed at beginners. Still, I am sure that you will find plenty of useful content but you won’t be able to extract all its potential.
You just want to build a blog to update your friends and family
The Superstar Blogging program mainly teaches all the needed marketing skills to grow a large audience and how to monetize it. If you just write for keeping a record of your travel adventures, this is not your course.
You won’t take it seriously
Signing up for the course and reading all the material doesn’t mean that you are going to be successful. Even if you know all the tricks, implementing them properly takes several months and, perhaps, even years. Building a successful travel blog is the product of spending long days and nights working in front of your laptop, as well as reading and keeping up to date with all the industry trends from the fast-changing digital world.
More courses offered by Nomadic Matt
Nomadic Matt also has one more specific course named:
How to become a travel writer
Writing is perhaps, the most important skill, as it is what decides whether your readers stick to your content or not.
Learn the art of travel writing with David Farley, author of An Irreverent Curiosity, host for National Geographic, and a professor at Columbia and New York University to teach an in-depth course on the nuts and bolts of travel writing.
Conclusion – Superstar Blogging review
Seriously, if you are a complete newbie and your life goal is to make a business from your blog, I strongly think that this is the best travel blogging course.
How much does a Master’s Degree Cost?
