Last updated on November 3rd, 2024
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In 2014, when I first started food blogging as a hobby, I never imagined that years later, I’d be making a full-time income from it through active and passive income. I started with the intention of blogging for fun, simply because I was passionate about food. I found it thrilling to write about and photograph food and share my experiences with the world. One thing led to another, and more and more money-making opportunities began to appear. What started as a slow trickle of income has blossomed into a full income that I can live off of entirely. This whole experience has made me a firm believer in the saying, “Do what you love, and the money will follow.”
Without fail, when I tell people that I’m a full-time blogger, they are often surprised that it’s possible financially. In this article, I will clear up the mystery surrounding professional blogging and be completely transparent about how much I make as a professional food and travel blogger. I hope that this information inspires you, the reader, to pursue your dream of blogging professionally.
My First Big Break as a Blogger
Even though I have developed a full income from blogging, that wasn’t always the case. For most of my early years blogging, I made less cash and more in the form of bartering for services. What I mean by this is that much of the value I’ve received from blogging has come from services, not just cash income.
For example, after pursuing food blogging for a few months, I started some of my first collaborations with luxury brands, exchanging writing and photography for accommodation and food. My very first collaboration was with Mandarin Oriental. I simply emailed one of their marketing executives, and after learning that they liked my content, they offered me both meals at their restaurants and a two-night stay at their incredible Bangkok hotel in exchange for some photos and articles.
At the time, I had never experienced such luxury, so I was bouncing off the walls with excitement. That collaboration helped me realize what was possible in the future.
Bartering Services as a Blogger
I started with just a few collaborations, but within a short time, I began booking them back-to-back for months on end. This allowed me to travel for the last 10 years without having to pay for accommodation unless I wanted to. At one point, I added up the total value of the services I received, and it was literally hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, just from blogging and photography.
For example, most hotels would offer multiple nights of stay, including meals. At high-end hotels, that would generally cost $150 to $1,000 per night. I would do this for at least six months out of the year, so at the low end, it added up to $27,000, and at the high end, it was up to $180,000 per year in value, in exchange for blogging.
Instagram Sponsored Posts
Some people separate their blog and social media accounts into different categories of income, but I always treated them as one because they were so intertwined. I sold my blog and Instagram account as a package, which helped promote businesses across both platforms. Not long after I started collaborating with luxury brands on my blog, I began receiving sponsored post offers on my Instagram account. These started at a few hundred dollars per picture and eventually reached a few thousand dollars per picture.
In the beginning, I pursued more brand deals on Instagram than I do now. In my first year or two of doing Instagram sponsored posts, I made about $20,000. However, over time, I realized I didn’t want to promote every product or service people were willing to pay me for. While it was thrilling at first, I felt better morally only promoting things I would actually pay for myself. This reduced some of my income, but Instagram sponsored posts are still a viable part of professional blogging, especially if you’re more lenient with what you promote.
My Blog Affiliate Link Passive Income
From almost the very beginning, I learned quickly about affiliate marketing. Even before creating my food and travel blog, I experimented with affiliate links for a separate business. I had made a website called Tripod Reviews that reviewed high-quality camera tripods. Each article had affiliate links to the respective tripods, and every time someone purchased one, I would get a small commission. I paid someone to write those articles and ended up making a small profit. This experience proved that affiliate marketing could be a viable business.
Once I learned that affiliate programs were available for food and travel services, I added as many links as possible to my luxury travel and food blog. Over the years, I’ve put a lot of effort into incorporating these links, but when push came to shove, I only averaged $20 to $50 per month from these links. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s completely passive once it’s set up, and it’s very consistent. Recently, I’ve seen it tick up, making more than ever before.
I’ve also read about other internet personalities making significantly more money from affiliate links in my industry and others. I definitely feel that affiliate marketing could play a larger role in my income as a professional blogger.
Blog Sponsored Posts
As I’ve shared, my blog has always generated income in one way or another. The most recent way has been through sponsored articles, known as guest posts. This is similar to Instagram sponsored posts, but instead of posting pictures of goods and services, it involves sharing articles with links to products and getting paid for it. For the last year and a half, I’ve averaged about $2,100 per month from guest posts alone.
When I first started receiving these, they added up to just a few hundred dollars per month. Over time, that has continued to increase. However, with the constant changes on the internet, I know these opportunities might not last forever. Knowing this, I’m trying to take advantage of them as much as possible to maximize my returns.
What Does My Blog Make Per Month?
I’ve been transparent about my overall income, but I’m sure you’re wondering: What does this come out to per month? If we were to just include the cash income, it would be somewhere between $2,150 and $2,500 per month. If we include the cash value of other services I receive, the total would be somewhere between $3,400 and $10,000 per month.
I know these are wide ranges, but that’s just how it is when you’re blogging. What matters most to me is the average income I’ve seen over the last two years consistently. This has allowed me to live simply off a small amount of income and save the rest.
For those who have read my other articles, you’ll know that I have several other businesses, including real estate investments, book publishing, web development, stock investing, and more. As my blog income has grown, I no longer need to touch other sources of income and can live off my blog alone. My living expenses for nearly the past decade have averaged between $1,000 and $1,800 per month.
Conclusion
Although I never started my blog with the intention of making money, somehow it has turned into a full-time active and passive income. What began as a pipe dream to be able to live off of a passion project soon became a reality. While many people think that living off a traditional written blog isn’t possible in this day and age, I’m here to prove that it still is. If anything, it’s more achievable now than ever has been before, as my income continues to increase year over year. Instead of feeling discouraged about pursuing something like this, I hope this encourages you to give it a shot and pursue your dreams of blogging. A final note: if my story has taught anything, this only has worked because I pursued something I loved, not just pursued money. So, if you have a topic that you feel passionate about, start creating and sharing about it. Who knows, you may soon be able to live off of your passion as well!