A travel-blogging couple who earns up to $6,000 a month shares exactly how they make money on the road
Courtesy of NOMADasaurus
In early 2014, Jarryd Salem and Alesha Bradford left their native Australia to backpack from Thailand to South Africa without taking a single flight.
Since then, they've spent most of their time on the road, traveling everywhere from Mongolia to Vietnam to Tajikistan.
When they spoke with Business Insider in 2015, they were earning $1,500-$2,000 a month as they traveled. In the past year, however, business has taken off, and they now earn between $2,000 and $6,000 a month.
As they've increased their income, they've made it their mission to inspire others who want to lead a similar lifestyle. One way to do that is to be transparent about exactly where the money comes from.
"Whenever we see these articles, now we notice people are happy to say they earn money online — we earn six figures or $5,000 a month or that kind of thing — but when it comes to actual details, it's quite light," Salem told Business Insider. "They say we have a digital product or make money through affiliates, and if you're in the industry, you understand what that means. But if you're not, it can be inspiring in a way ... but there's no kind of direction afterwards."
He went on to explain that travel bloggers — including him and Bradford, who run NOMADasaurus — make their money in nine main ways:
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In the Czech Republic.
Affiliate partnerships
In an affiliate partnership, a blogger links back to a retail website. When a reader follows the link and makes a purchase, the retailer pays the blogger for the referral.
NOMADasaurus makes anywhere between $100 and $1,000 a month from referrals on products like hotels and travel insurance, but Salem says some bloggers make much more.
"We know people who make $5,000, $6,000, $7,000 a month, and that's just in our industry," he says. "If you break away from that to people who focus on affiliate websites whose entire business is dedicated to one particular niche, they can earn much more."
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In Thailand.
Press trips
On a press trip, a hotel, tour company, or tourism board pays bloggers to come experience the area, service, or facility, and share it with their readers through stories, videos, and pictures.
NOMADasaurus charges $2,000 for a press trip, which is a pretty typical amount, Salem says. However, some bloggers are able to charge much more. "I've heard of people making $10,000 for a trip, but they're exceptions to the rule," he says. "They're fantastic videographers or photographers, or people who have been in the industry since the beginning."
It's also common to charge a day rate — NOMADasaurus charges $50-$100 a day. "A lot of press trips are unpaid," Salem says. "They're free hotels and tours and flights. You don't get paid, but but you don't pay anything, either. While this isn't physical money, it does keep our personal travel costs down."
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In Mongolia.
Sponsored campaigns
Sponsored campaigns are similar to traditional advertising. It might include everything from banner ads on the site to blog posts and social media posts featuring the product or service.
"A startup will reach out to us and ask if we'll write a post about what they do," Salem explains. "Those start as low as $50, but our range is $800-$1,500. We usually limit it to one post and maybe a few mentions in other articles. If possible, we always try out the product before we promote it."
SEE ALSO: A couple who ditched their 9-5 jobs years ago to travel the world explain how they afford it »
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