Laura Peters is the owner and author of Mike & Laura Travel, a blog that helps travelers find unique destinations and travel experiences on a budget. She is also the CEO of Scale Your Travel Blog, a coaching program that helps travel bloggers start, grow, and scale their travel blog income. When she isn't writing blog posts about her favorite travel destinations, she is serving her audience through Scale Your Travel Blog and her live/virtual events, Travel Blogging Summit.
How Tanya Grew Her Blog to $800/Month in Under a Year
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One of my favorite things lately has been sharing success stories and behind-the-scenes tips from real bloggers inside Scale Your Travel Blog. And if you’ve been wondering whether it’s still worth starting a blog, or whether you should keep going, use this success story as proof that it absolutely is. Today, I want you to meet Tanya from The T Word on Travel. When Tanya started her blog in 2024, she didn’t have a website, didn’t know SEO, and had zero experience with blogging. But she knew she needed a change, and she was willing to bet on herself, just like most successful bloggers do. Fast forward less than a year later, Tanya’s blog is bringing in steady affiliate and ad income, and she’s only getting started! How Tanya Grew to Over $800/Month In March 2025, Tanya hit 4,900 sessions on her blog, a 30% jump in traffic from the previous month. Her income that month came from the following:
That’s over $800 in blog income with traffic still under 5,000 sessions. That's nuts! *Tip: Journey (powered by Mediavine) officially says you need 10,000 monthly sessions to qualify for their ad network, but in reality, they’ve been accepting bloggers who are showing strong upward momentum even if they're far below that number. Reminder: You don’t need massive traffic to start earning. You need a strategy that focuses on helping readers make decisions (not just inspiring or entertaining them). 4 Smart Blogging Tips You Can Borrow from Tanya’s Journey Tip #1: Lean into affiliate programs that naturally fit your content. Tanya found strong success by incorporating Stay22 into her blog posts, offering readers easy ways to book hotels that matched the trips she was writing about. But remember, the right affiliate program is going to vary depending on your blog’s focus.
Tip #2: Learn from others who’ve already done what you want to do. One of the biggest reasons Tanya was able to grow faster was she didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. She showed up for live workshops, coaching calls, and trainings inside our course and coaching program, Scale Your Travel Blog. She took notes, implemented quickly, and stayed open to learning new strategies (something a lot of bloggers, especially at the intermediate and advanced stages, forget to do). Tanya says: You don’t know what you don’t know. But when you surround yourself with the right teacher and community, you can shortcut the trial-and-error phase, and grow faster than you think. Tip: Success leaves clues. The more you learn from others who are a few steps ahead, the faster you can avoid common mistakes and find your own path. Tip #3: Treat your blog posts like decision-making guides. Instead of just sharing her experiences, Tanya writes posts that help readers make a choice (like where to stay, what tours to book, or how to organize their trip). If you want your blog to make money, ask yourself every time you write:
Tip: Readers who are planning are far more likely to book or buy than readers who are just daydreaming. Write for the planners! Tip #4: Focus your niche around what you actually love. Instead of trying to cover every destination or trend, Tanya leaned into writing about the types of trips she’s most passionate about. Readers trust you faster when it’s obvious you genuinely know (and care about) what you’re talking about. And most importantly.. ..you’ll actually want to keep writing when it’s about something you love, which is crucial for long-term growth. (Burnout is NOT fun. Trust me on this.) What Helps Tanya Stay On Track With Her Blog Tanya currently balances her blog with managing autoimmune health conditions, which sometimes makes it hard to concentrate. Here's how she's been able to keep focused on her blog:
Important: You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to keep showing up for yourself. Her Long-Term Blogging Vision Tanya’s goal isn’t just a side income. She’s building a blog that will eventually give her the freedom to move her family to a dream location, live anywhere she chooses, and support them 100% from her laptop. And I can tell you from personal experience this isn’t just a fantasy. When I first started blogging back in 2014, I had the exact same dream: to create time freedom and be able to live and travel anywhere I wanted. Fast forward to 2025... and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Blogging now fully supports my family of three, and we’ve chosen to make Northern Minnesota our home while traveling part-time. Big goals start with small steps, and she’s proof it's never "too late" to start. The Monetize Momentum Challenge kicks off this Thursday, May 1st inside Scale Your Travel Blog! This is a 4-month challenge that's focused on helping you grow your blogging income through any or all of the following: affiliates, ads, sponsorships, or your own products/services. We’ve got $400+ in prizes up for grabs, community check-ins, and a ton of support to help you build serious momentum.. ..even if you're starting from scratch with no website yet (we can help you FINALLY get it up and running!). This challenge is completely free for all current Scale Your Travel Blog students (course-only or coaching). If you're not part of Scale Your Travel Blog yet, join us now and get in on the challenge (even if you're brand new to blogging): 👉 Join Scale Your Travel Blog: Course & Community ($797 - or - 3 months x $280)​ This could be the help and inspiration you need to finally start making money from your blog! 🚨 How To Monetize Your Blog Like a Funnel (Without TONS of Traffic) 🚨 How To Turn Your Blogging Skills Into Income, No Matter What the Economy Looks Like 🚨 Learn how to design a blog you’ll LOVE, without sacrificing user experience or site speed (without Elementor, Beaver Builder, or Divi) Talk to you soon, Laura P.S. Here are my top recommended blogging resources. ✔️ #1 Travel Blogging Course + Coaching + Community: Scale Your Travel Blog​ |
Laura Peters || Travel Blogging, Affiliate Marketing, Email Marketing
Laura Peters is the owner and author of Mike & Laura Travel, a blog that helps travelers find unique destinations and travel experiences on a budget. She is also the CEO of Scale Your Travel Blog, a coaching program that helps travel bloggers start, grow, and scale their travel blog income. When she isn't writing blog posts about her favorite travel destinations, she is serving her audience through Scale Your Travel Blog and her live/virtual events, Travel Blogging Summit.
In 2018, Mike and I decided to start traveling full-time. At that point, I had already spent a few years bouncing around: teaching English in Thailand, backpacking through Europe on a budget, and living out of a campervan in New Zealand. So going full-time wasn’t a huge stretch. What made it possible was teaching English online with VIPKID (they’re hiring again, by the way). I was pulling in around $2,500–$3,000/month, which was enough to fund our life in places like Southeast Asia and...
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