If you had told me 5–10 years ago that I would’ve made almost $7,000 as a blogger in 2024, I would’ve laughed.
I knew bloggers, content creators, and influencers were making a TON of money doing what they loved and what they were experts on. But I never knew that it would be possible for me (I can be a little pessimistic, even though as a Christian I’m working on it).
I must’ve believed in myself deep down because I was still plugging along, and by faith and my hard work, it has paid off.
After sharing my wins on social media, a handful of people have asked how I have been able to monetize this blog. Well, I’m here to spill all the juicy deets; my income sources, challenges in making money as a travel blogger (which you need to keep in mind when embarking on your blogging journey), and my goals for 2025. Buckle up, because this is going to be a long post!
Some bloggers make quadruple what I made monthly (and I hope to get there one day). But I’m not dismissing the fact that I made $7,000; in fact, I am OVER THE MOON over it. Do you know how hard it is to earn $7,000? At my previous white-collar jobs as a graphic designer, I made between $1,400–$2,800 monthly. It would take me 3–5 months to earn that!
And it’s certainly not easy making money as a blogger (but not impossible). It took me years and a TON of mistakes to get to this point.
I write this post not to brag, but to show others (and to remind myself) that nothing is impossible, and if you work hard and diligently enough, you can make a living doing what you love. Even with challenges such as AI, Google’s never-ending algorithm updates, and TikTok possibly getting banned (more on all of those later).
I’m nowhere near the level of making a living as a travel blogger/content creator, but I am working towards it, God-willing.
Grab a cup of coffee (or a glass of wine, or a can of soda, if you’re Cecilio) and read on about how I made four figures as a travel blogger in 2024 (and how you could possibly do it too)!
Note: I am not a financial expert or an accountant, so take what I say with a grain of salt. And this blogging income report is before taxes.
Disclaimer: This post uses affiliate links, which means I make a commission if you book through this post. If you do decide to book using my links, thank you so much for your support!
My Blogging Journey
Once upon a time in 2014, I created a beauty/lifestyle blog through Blogspot. I had a lot of fun (but I spent a lot of money buying makeup), and while I’ve always enjoyed writing (and I’m pretty good at it), looking back, my writing style was super cringe. I had some travel-related posts, but they were more written as a diary rather than a travel guide.
Fast-forward to 2017, I switched over my blog to WordPress with a domain I bought (which wasn’t Hannah on Horizon at the time, but another cringy name). I still focused on beauty but started covering different topics. In 2019, Cecilio and I booked a trip to London and Paris before my 30th birthday. It was then that I started gravitating towards travel content, and as months passed by, I had the urge to completely switch over.
I started writing travel guides revolving around that trip, along with holidays in San Francisco and Sacramento.
Then the pandemic happened, and obviously, that meant no travel. It was very defeating, so I paused blogging in 2020 and 2021, writing only a few posts.
I decided to come back to it when the world started opening up again in 2022. And that was when we had some trips on the horizon; you don’t understand how excited I was to be back in a plane after 2.5 years! Since I started from square 1, it was a challenge to grow my site and make money.
I didn’t start seeing real growth until late 2023, and consistent money coming in until 2024. But there was another challenge; losing a lot of traffic (and money) when Google had a core update in August 2024. Now I am working on rebuilding the traffic, gaining a community, and developing my brand.
As a part of my travel blogging journey, I also created a new site, Searching for Sacramento, which is a one-stop travel/food/art resource to Sacramento and the surrounding areas.
Breaking Down My Blogging Income Report
Before I get into the nitty-gritty details of how I made money as a travel blogger in 2024, I broke it down by a pie chart.
Ad Revenue: $2,834.39
You know those ads plastered all over my page? Those make me money. I am a part of SheMedia, an ad network for bloggers of different niches, like lifestyle, fashion, travel, food, and parenting.
I like SheMedia and my monthly paycheck pays for a bill. But I have been trying to switch to Mediavine, a premier ad network that pays bloggers and publishers thousands per month. But there’s a catch; you have to have 50,000 monthly sessions (around 60–80k monthly page views) to get accepted.
I was on track to get there during the summer of 2024, as this site was growing exponentially with 37,000 monthly page views.
But Google’s August 2024 algorithm update caused me to lose a lot of traffic, tanking it down to 12–14k monthly page views. So much for my journey to Mediavine! Google has been having update after update for the past 2 years, and I somehow managed to avoid getting tanked (instead, those updates caused my site to skyrocket!) until that then. I will explain more about Google’s updates later on.
Affiliate Links: $3,237.06
This was the most surprising part of my blogging income report. I’ve struggled with affiliate marketing for a long time, so I didn’t expect to make more money from affiliate marketing than I did with ad revenue.
New to affiliate marketing? Well, let me explain it a bit more. Affiliate marketing is when I promote a tour, hotel, or products I use (like clothes, items in my gift guides, and packing essentials). If someone books a tour or reserves a hotel using the links on my posts (and doesn’t cancel them), I earn a commission.
The majority of my affiliate commissions are from people booking tours I recommend on Viator and GetYourGuide. Now, when people use my link, they don’t have to book those specific tours; they can book any tour on the sites as long as they use my links. Some people book tours for countries I haven’t visited yet!
Most people book tours in London, Japan, and Copenhagen since my most popular posts are about those destinations. I’ve also had people book the manatee snorkeling tours I recommend in Florida.
And as far as accommodation, I’ve had a lot of people reserving ryokans in Kyoto using my links, especially because that post is ranking on Google’s first page.
Freelance Writing: $500.49
Now, the freelance projects aren’t published on this site, but this site has given me opportunities to write 2 paid articles on Roam Rhino, a travel app for BIPOC and LGBTQ folks. Other than writing for my high school and college newspapers and on my own blogs, I’ve never written for a publication.
I want to write for more travel publications. Jen from Jen on the Jet Plane, one of my favorite travel bloggers, has also written for major publications such as Fodors, Travel & Leisure, AFAR, Lonely Planet, and The Washington Post.
I just have to get over my fear of getting ghosted and rejected, because it’s a part of the game of becoming a travel writer; you have to develop thick skin. Which is a challenge for me because I am pretty sensitive, but that’s all the more reason I need to keep pitching, because the more I pitch, the better I get, and the more desensitized I get when I face rejection.
Sponsored Posts & Links: $332.48
I’ve partnered with Travelpayouts, promoting their platform on X (formerly Twitter) in March 2024 with three different posts. A few months later in July 2024, they reached out to me wanting a link insertion on an already existing post. So I inserted the link and added copy about their company and how they help support travel bloggers financially.
The Challenges of Making Money as a Travel Blogger
Google’s never-ending algorithm updates
If you rely on Google and SEO to get traffic as a blogger, you’re basically playing Russian roulette. Before, you used to be able to get a ton of traffic, which results in a stable income, from your posts ranking on the first page of Google.
But in recent years, Google has been making more frequent updates to their algorithm where they’re prioritizing big sites like Reddit, Quora, and Forbes, and punishing small bloggers and publishers, pushing them to the second page. Let’s face it, almost no one clicks on the second page.
Google has been especially punishing travel bloggers over bloggers in other niches.
This has caused so many full-time bloggers and publishers to lose their income. Some of them have had to lay off their staff (if they had any) or go back to working a full-time job for a company.
There have been a few bloggers who have kept their income stable, despite losing traffic from Google. Their secret? Diversifying their income streams (and not relying on search traffic and SEO), having an e-mail list (so subscribers will never miss a post), and having digital products to sell (which is something I will be working on).
Dealing (and competing) with AI, the dirty acronym
AI (artificial intelligence) is the new buzzword of the 2020s, and it’s here to stay. Love it or hate it, you just can’t avoid it.
There are so many mixed opinions about AI. Shady bloggers are using it to write their posts (some of them are even ranking above those who wrote completely from scratch!). Even though I use ChatGPT very sparingly (only to edit, sparingly, not to write), I don’t deny that it does scrape content from other websites (and I always fact-check even after using ChatGPT). And that’s where those shady bloggers are also plagiarizing and not even realizing it.
Even Google has its own Generative AI block that sometimes shows up on the top, pushing other websites further down the search engine or to the 2nd page. Also, they definitely scraped from my Playa del Carmen itinerary because I mentioned eating at La Perla Pixan, and it showed up in their AI block (screenshot below).
AI not only hurts travel bloggers but also travel agents. It’s too easy to just hop on ChatGPT or Google Gemini and ask them for 1 week itinerary wherever, and they will whip one up for you in seconds. No need to visit (and support) a small publisher or hire a travel agent, both of whom have expertise and experience!
The income is unstable if you don’t diversify or have a backup plan
Don’t get me wrong, you can make incredible money blogging. But for the first few years, it can be unstable. And as I mentioned earlier about Google’s constant algorithm updates, you have to diversify your income streams so your bank account doesn’t dry up.
This is why most people continue to work regular jobs while blogging until the blogging income matches or surpasses their job income consistently. It’s also why bloggers rely on freelance work and other side gigs to stay afloat while growing their site.
Since my site isn’t earning me a livable income, I am working part-time in a physically and mentally draining job, and I do respite work as a caregiver for my sister and niece (both of who have autism). I come home exhausted after a long day everyday, juggling around and driving. I barely have time to work on this site when I come home, because all I want to do is veg out.
I am on the hunt to get a full-time job or to dive into full-time freelance graphic design as a way to fund this site and my travels. And to not have to waste time driving everywhere, and completely dedicate myself to this site when I come home.
Social media algorithms are also changing, and some of them might go away
Some bloggers also do brand deals on Instagram and TikTok, earning up to five or six figures. But even those algorithms are changing, especially when Instagram prioritizes reels or when your posts don’t show up on your followers’ feeds.
Don’t get me started about TikTok getting banned! So many creators and businesses have thrived because of TikTok, and TikTok has contributed billions to the economy. If it does get banned, it will be detrimental to so many creators and small businesses who are thriving, especially if they were struggling with Instagram.
General travel blogs don’t make as much money as niched-down sites do
There’s a reason they say “the riches are in the niches”. And there’s a reason I created Searching for Sacramento (well to be fair, I do need to explore my hometown more anyway. Going on horizon 40,000 feet in the air ain’t cheap, folks!).
People are more likely to trust a person or a publisher who is an expert of a particular topic, which is why travel blogs in a specific niche are more lucrative. The niche could be about a particular city, state, or country, or about a style of travel (family travel, cruising, luxury, hiking/adventure, etc.).
Think about it, would you trust a PCP or a dermatologist for your raging acne? (Although, I did go to my PCP for some stress-induced acne I’ve been battling for 8 months, and they prescribed me benzoyl peroxide, which made it completely go away).
There’s also a lot more you can do with a niche site—all of your digital products can be completely centered around that niche, taking the guesswork out of creating said product. It’s also easier to be consistent with e-mail marketing because you only have to curate your newsletters about that one specific niche.
Another extra perk of having a niche travel blog? You’re completely focused on that destination, without the pressure to travel to far destinations (and spend even more money).
My income stream goals for 2025
I’m not going to put a specific income goal for any of the income streams, because that’s private to me. Here’s what I plan to do in order to make even more money as a travel blogger in 2025:
Do a complete blog audit and update old posts
I know I have a lot of posts that are out of date, have no regard to SEO, and have no affiliate links (or broken links). I also need to update the dates. As a blogger, you are also supposed to de-index and delete posts that are no longer relevant to your site or niche.
The more up-to-date and SEO-optimized my posts are, the more the search engines will see them and put my posts back up on the 1st page. Which means more money from ad revenue and possibly more affiliate commission!
Create UGC (User-Generated Content) for brands
I’ve done UGC for a popular pet food brand, a travel app, and an Airbnb near San Diego (which wasn’t paid, but the former two were). However, these were in 2022 and 2023.
UGC is a lucrative income stream, and it’s extremely popular because you don’t need a huge social media following. Instead of posting a brand collab on your own Instagram and TikTok (with the brand’s expectation that they’ll get sales through you), you’ll be creating content for the brand to post on their page.
All you need is a phone and some good lighting. For brands, UGC is more affordable than hiring a production company.
I plan to pitch more brands, even if I get ghosted or rejected…because the only guaranteed “no” is by not trying. Gotta do it scared, right? And, I will also apply through those influencer networks I’m a part of.
Create and sell digital products
I have some ideas for digital products (which I’m going to keep a secret until I launch them). I’m excited about them because I believe they’ll help my audience travel with the limited time they have, especially those from the US where you get scraps for PTO.
Another good thing about selling digital products? You don’t have to rely on high traffic to sell them, unlike with ad revenue and affiliate links.
Invest more time and money in my new niche travel site
As I’ve mentioned earlier, my new site, Searching for Sacramento, aims to show tourists and locals the best things to do, see, and eat in the area. Sacramento is an up-and-coming town, getting featured in Travel and Leisure’s Top 50 Places to Go in 2025, Eater’s Top Food Cities in 2024, and Wallethub’s Best Foodie Cities in America in 2025.
And I want to be a part of showcasing the jewels of my hometown. That will involve spending a bit more money on activities, restaurants, bars, and day trips to Lake Tahoe, the Foothills, and the small towns in the Delta. But I do see the opportunity to earn money in various ways, such as affiliate links, brand collaborations with local businesses, and UGC.
Also, it would be a great way to build community in the area and make new friends!
Pitching to brands and tourism boards for collabs and UGC, and travel publications for story ideas
I hate pitching. I hate it, I hate it. I’ve gotten burned by it, and it’s discouraged me enough to not pitch for a long time (I’ve also had a very rough year in 2024 that I don’t want to get too much into). But now that 2025 just started, my mindset feels renewed as I try to leave all of the bagging from 2024.
I just have to get over the fear of being rejected or ghosted. It’s just a part of the game being a content creator.
Create artwork to publish and sell
As a creative and artistic person (I was a graphic design major, and have 8 years of professional experience as a graphic designer), I have a lot of ideas buzzing in my head for this site that I haven’t put to fruition. This includes creating art prints to sell here and at local booths (which is another part of my community-building strategy in Sacramento), putting them in different products to sell, and maybe even creating a travel-themed adult coloring book to sell! The options are endless!
Start a YouTube channel
Social media algorithms like TikTok and Instagram are fickle, but YouTube remains stable for creators. There’s so much potential to monetize in different ways! I already started posting YouTube shorts, and started getting a bit of subscribers here and there after each post.
My biggest challenge with starting YouTube is having to shoot both vertical and horizontal at the same time. It’s tedious, but it’s a part of the job as creator.
Cecilio and I have already started shooting some content here in Sacramento, which has given me inspiration to keep trying video in addition to this site. He is helping me with the script, shooting, and editing the YouTube videos while I work on the vertical videos (YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram, and now Red Note).
We’ve been getting a lot of inspiration from watching food and travel YouTubers, which is what we already do anyway since we don’t watch a lot of TV. I’m super excited about this, although I’ll say I’m also a little scared because I’m super self-conscious in front of the camera, especially video camera. But you only get better with practice!
Offer Travel Planning Services
Offering travel planning services, whether as a travel agent or someone who curates itineraries to clients (without booking them like a travel agent would). I’ve been getting more people asking me for advice on their trips, and I want to help as many people as I can to help craft their dream vacation.
Wrapping up my 2024 travel blogging income report
As I mentioned in the intro, I still can’t believe I’ve made almost $7,000 in the past year, and it’s encouraged me to scale this site and earn even more so that I can take my time back to travel whenever I please and stay at home with the dogs.
And even if/when I do find a full-time job, this site would be the extra side money to save for trips, pay off bills, and invest in this labor of love as a business. Here’s to making 2025 fruitful!
I hope this post encourages you to start your own blog, making money doing what you love (no matter what topic), with the right strategy and planning. I’m not special; if I can do it, absolutely anyone can!
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Hannah is a travel writer, graphic designer, and the founder/editor of Hannah on Horizon. She is based in Sacramento, California, living with her husband and two adorable dogs. She shares tips on how to experience luxury travel on any budget, and how to maximize time at each trip or destination, no matter what your budget or amount of vacation time at work. She enjoys making you feel like you have visited each destination with her through her storytelling and informative writing style.