COMMERCE I’m a 52-year-old travel writer and website owner who has been doing this for a living for 10 years. I’ve spent more than 5 of the last 10 years on the road and living outside the United States while working on my websites and doing research. I launched priceoftravel.com at the beginning of 2010 and it has quietly become one of the busiest travel information sites on the internet, with over 1 million page views each month. I worked as Content Director at Bootsnall.com for 2.5 years before going out on my own. I also run overwaterbungalows.net.

1. Roger Wade - PriceOfTravel.com
How to be a six-figure
travel webmaster while
ignoring social media

4. Our goal:
Passive income by helping
people research and plan trips
through search traffic

6. social media traffic
vs.
search traffic

7. Purchase Funnel:
The road from awareness
to a purchase

8. Travel Purchase Funnel
1. Inspiration
2. Research
3. Planning
4. Purchase

9. Google Adsense can do
very well in the research
and planning stages

10. Social media post: How a visit to an Italian monastery changed my life
Search traffic post: How to visit a monastery in Italy

11. Social media post: The Holi Festival was by far my favorite thing in India
Search traffic post: Where to best experience the Holi Festival in India

12. The mindset of
getting search traffic

14. Two primary ways people do
online travel research:
1. Ask questions
2. Search for lists

15. People just type in questions
• What to do in Amsterdam?
• When to go to Amsterdam?
• How much does weed cost in Amsterdam?

16. They search for the “best” of things
• Best bars in Amsterdam
• Best day trips from Amsterdam
• Best coffeeshops in Amsterdam

17. Think of questions you
have before your own trips

18. The mindset of getting
search traffic
that makes $$$

19. Best AdSense performance:
Topics directly related to
ads
• Best public parks for picnics in Amsterdam
• Best walking tours of Amsterdam
• What to do in Amsterdam on a river cruise?

20. Best affiliate performance:
Expert advice for an imminent purchase
• Detailed hotel or hostel reviews
• Expert product reviews
• The best hotels, hostels, tours etc.

21. Social media
inspiration example
Awesome cruise on Ha Long Bay

22. Inspiration complete: Now for research
• Where is Ha Long Bay?
• Flights to Hanoi on an Skyscanner
• Hostel or hotel prices on Kayak
• How much does a Ha Long Bay cruise cost?
• Things to do in Hanoi
• Where to go in Vietnam
• When to visit Vietnam
• Tours of Vietnam
• Okay, I'm going.

23. AdSense placement
is critical

24. Worst AdSense placement

25. Best AdSense placement:
Responsive Leaderboard 728x90

26. Next best AdSense placement:
Matched Content and below article

27. Aggressive AdSense placement:
Below title and above article

28. Very aggressive AdSense placement:
Between paragraphs

29. Travel affiliates 101
• Hostels ($3 to $5 per booking)
• Hotels (5% average, but harder than it looks)
• Flights ($2 per booking)
• Travel insurance: Lucrative for some
• Amazon: Great if you find a niche
• Travel credit cards: Impossible
• Cruises: Good, but hard to rank

30. How my sites are structured

34. Examples of my
most profitable pages

38. Advice for creating and sustaining
profitable search posts
• Write the longest and best article
• Structure pages to be quickly scanned
• Use comment questions for ideas
• Update and refresh articles annually

39. You can make money from articles that
don’t get search traffic
• What is next for someone reading one of your popular
articles?

41. Let’s summarize
• Get as close to the purchase as possible
• Even travel planning posts can make AdSense $
• Adsense placement is critical
• Experiment with affiliate programs
• Write the best articles and update them

42. How to be a six-figure
travel webmaster while
ignoring social media
Roger Wade - PriceOfTravel.com