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.
two successful blogs
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I recently got to sit down with Allison, a Scale Your Blog student who has built two Mediavine-level travel blogs. Her story is pretty awesome. She quit her corporate job, moved to Playa del Carmen, built a successful blog, then later picked up and moved to Barcelona and built a second successful site. Here are a few highlights from her interview: ⚫ She started her email list from day one on her second blog. She launched with a freebie and started building immediately, something she wished she had done earlier on her first site. ⚫ She built content silos around specific cities. Rather than writing random posts about Spain, she focused her content around destinations to build topical authority. That's a big part of why the second site grew as fast as it did. ⚫ She diversified from the start. After watching her first blog take hits from algorithm updates, she made sure her second site wasn't depending on just Google. Pinterest, YouTube, and email were all part of the plan from the beginning. There is a LOT more in the full interview, including how she manages both sites and what she would tell anyone thinking about starting a second blog. Normally I'd squeeze everything into this email, but I didn't want to cut anything out, so I kept it all in the blog post linked below: >> [Click here to read the full interview!] -Paid Ad- Get 5 Days of Profitable Blog Coaching, Audits & Workshops (Free!) If you're struggling to grow and monetize or just need some clarity, my friend and full-time blogger Jessie Festa is hosting a Travel Blog Prosperity Open House. This summit-style event offers a sneak peek at the coaching and community support helping hundreds of travel bloggers increase their traffic and income. You’ll get a taste of Jessie's paid membership experience with daily live events, and replays, including:
🎁 Plus, there are prizes! The more you engage, the better your chances of winning. The fun starts April 6, so don't delay. ➡️ Click here for full details and to register for free! -End Ad- My Favorite Resources of the Week
*Indicates partnership **This email contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. What I'm Working On This Week I've been deep in welcome sequence world lately, and it reminded me how many bloggers are skipping this entirely. A welcome sequence is the series of emails someone receives after they opt in to your email list. They find you through a blog post, a YouTube video, or a social post, sign up for your freebie or newsletter, and from that point, a series of pre-written emails kicks off automatically. Your welcome sequence should: 1) Make you money 2) Provide a lot of value for your readers Most bloggers send one "thanks for subscribing" email and call it done. Some don't even do that 😬 If that's you, here is what you are missing:
New subscribers are the most engaged they will ever be.
The moment someone opts in to your newsletter is peak attention. If you are not taking advantage of that window, you are wasting your best shot at making a good impression.
Your welcome sequence should earn income.
Affiliate links, your own products or services, sponsorships.. these all belong in your welcome sequence. You do not have to be salesy about it. Just be helpful and weave them in naturally. That said, be picky about what you promote. If it does not fit your audience, it is not worth it.
It should send people back to your blog.
If you are on Mediavine or Raptive, include links to your best posts inside the sequence. Every click back to your site is more display ad revenue. Iteration, iteration, iteration Yes, your welcome sequence is something you automate. Therefore, every single person who joins your list from that point forward will receive it. But do not just leave it alone forever. Check your open rates, click rates, and income data regularly. The numbers will tell you exactly where people are dropping off or losing interest, and where they are clicking and buying. Update it, test it, and make it better over time. This is vital. Your welcome sequence is content.. treat it like it! The number one excuse I hear for not starting an email list is time. "I'm already maxed out creating content for other platforms." First, that is basically like saying "I can drive, I just can't afford car insurance." Email is not extra. It is the safety net for everything else you are building. Second, your welcome sequence does not have to be created from scratch. Pull from blog posts you have already written, videos you have already recorded, or content you have already published somewhere else. ➡️ Your Task This Week: If you do not have a welcome sequence set up yet, that is your homework! Quick Poll 📊 Speaking of where you're at with your blog.. I talk a lot about monetization around here, so I'm curious where you're at right now. What is your biggest source of blogging/newsletter income right now? Hit reply to this email with the letter that matches you best! A) Affiliates B) Display Ads (Mediavine, Raptive, Journey, etc) C) Your Own Products D) Your Own Services E) Sponsorships/Brand Deals F) Other? Thank you! Talk to you next week, Laura P.S. All of my Scale Your Blog options are currently closed for enrollment. If you want to be the first to know when doors open again, you can join the waitlist here! |
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.
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