(ThyBlackMan.com) Being a travel blogger is no easy job. It can take months of blog posts to start to feel like you’re making a dent in the travel blogosphere, and you’ll be working for next to nothing during that time. However, with some patience and dedication, you can earn a living with blogging, all while fulfilling your travel dreams. While it may take a while to start seeing the fruits of your labor, there are some ways you can save while traveling and working on your blog. The following tips teach you not only how to offset costs as a travel blogger, but inspire content creation, too:
Get Free Trips
One of the perks of being a travel blogger is the potential to get free trips. It’s important to note that getting your blog in the position to qualify for free trips takes hard work. Many bloggers who do take free trips have been blogging for at least a year and have cultivated a solid social following. Free trips come in many different forms. Sometimes, tourism boards and businesses will reach out to you in hopes of offering a free trip in exchange for some positive exposure. Other times, you’ll do your own outreach.
Press trips are popular among travel bloggers. This is a publicity method that brands use in hopes of gathering more exposure. If 
you’re offered this type of media trip, a company will usually pay for your transportation and lodging. To score press trips, you should create a media kit for your website, which will include blog stats (monthly pageview, unique visitors, and other relevant stats), an introduction to you and your blog, social media stats, and positive reviews from other brands who have worked with you (if you have them). Check out this media kit from A Globe Well Traveled for a good example of what this looks like.
Start Outsourcing
By outsourcing some of your work, you can focus on doing what you do best: writing your travel blog. For example, you may have grown enough to start hiring a team of writers, web designers, and marketers. Once you start making money from your blog, you’ll need to officially register as a business. And while you may be great at penning detailed posts about your adventures, small business tax preparation may not be your strong field. Identify the areas where you need help, and outsource appropriately. Sometimes, you may just need help from a personal admin assistant to help shave valuable time off your hours. Have personal assistants search images you can use, schedule blog posts, conduct research, manage other writers, and so much more.
Volunteer Abroad
Volunteering through platforms like Workaway, HelpX, or WWOOF allows you to offset the costs of accommodation, which can easily be the most expensive part of traveling. The premise here is simple: volunteer part-time at a business, with a family, or on a farm abroad in exchange for free accommodation and /or food. Some hosts will also provide some form of funds, whether it’s pocket money or a grocery stipend.
However, while you work part-time, you can save up and continue working on your blog. You’ll also have plenty of new material for your website; you never know what type of activities and tasks you’ll have during your volunteer experience, but it’s certainly blog-worthy. Most times, you have weekends off to explore the area as well. With this type of arrangement, you’ll also get to live like a local and truly learn a place.
Barter Your Services
We talked about how press trips can get you free flights, excursions, and accommodations. Similarly, with a little independent outreach, you can take matters into your own hands. Instead of waiting for someone to reach out to you, or hunting down pre-existing trips, you can reach out to businesses that you’re most interested and offer your services in exchange for a free stay (or whatever you’re interested in).
For example, let’s say you’re planning a trip to Thailand and you’re interested in taking some cooking classes. Shortlist of a few cooking schools that you like, and reach out to them. Let them know that you have a growing blog with steady readership (depending on your real growth stats—don’t embellish the truth) and would like to take a free class in exchange for a promotional post and link. In the editorial world, this is called pitching.
Make the introductory email as personalized as possible, and be sure to list the benefits of accepting the proposition. For instance, if you’ve written about gourmet food around the country, send a few published posts. The goal is to sell the idea as mutually beneficial. Similarly, keep an eye out for recently-opened hotels in the area you’re traveling, as new establishments will be more likely to accept this.
Staff Writer; Bobby Moore
