Hello!
Hopefully you’ve already read my About page and already know a bit about me and my blog. This page explains my personal code of ethics, which will allow you to see, transparently, how I make money, what the disclaimers at the end of some posts mean, what my goals for this site are, and how I choose who to work with.
Goals of My Travel Blog
I want to:
- Share my travel stories, budget travel tips, and photos
- Inspire YOU to travel and visit the places I go (and anywhere else you want to go!)
- Provide you with information to help you plan your trips
- Give back to the world in at least some small way
- Generate an income that lets me keep doing the above four things
How I Generate Money to Finance This Blog
Travel blogging is not the most lucrative career in the world, but it is possible to earn a living doing it. Unlike some bloggers, I have no other job, sources of income, or trust funds so I do need to earn an income to be able to pay my bills, keep my website running, and fund blog-related travel.
Like most freelance writers, I make money in a dozen different ways and these differ a bit each year. But here are the primary ways I earn my income and support my writing:
- Freelance writing (articles, stories, photos, and videos)
- On-site advertising through banner adverts. Yes, I know they are annoying, but they do help fund my website.
- Generating affiliate sales. Sometimes I will recommend products or sites to my readers that can be purchased online, such as a book, travel-related product, booking site for hotels or plane tickets. Purchasing a product or service from one of my links may earn me a small commission but it NEVER costs you anything extra. I only recommend products and services that I believe are both relevant and good quality. I have personally tried many of the services and products I recommend.
- Through sales of print and ebooks, both on my site, and on external on-line retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
- Marketing directly to my audience – sometimes a company wants to share its story via my social media channels, an ad banner, through a giveaway or a product review. I will, again, only work with brands that I am excited about and genuinely believe in.
- Taking sponsored trips. I am sometimes invited on trips to experience destinations. These are referred to as “press trips.” Usually these trips include my accommodation, transport and food, and they may also include a daily rate to cover my time and effort. My goal on these trips is to produce great content for both the brand and my readers, and I only go on trips that excite me. I do very few of these, with the majority of my travel being self-funded.
- Through speaking engagements and craft workshops at travel and writers conferences. Some conferences may pay speakers.
My Code of Ethics:
I will:
- Never recommend a product or service that I don’t believe in myself.
- Only go on trips, paid or otherwise, that I genuinely want to go on and write about. If I’m offered a trip and it’s not something I would have done normally, I won’t do it.
- Only work with brands that I believe in and are relevant to you
- Never allow my content to be dictated – I control everything that appears on my blog, and I will only share my honest opinions. My loyalty lies to you, my readers, not to any brand or destination that I work with. If I have a bad time or bad experience with a product, I’ll tell you about it! I aim to provide honest, objective, and balanced reviews.
- Strive to ensure that the majority of the content I share is unsponsored.
- Always disclose clearly at the bottom of posts if the post was created as part of a marketing campaign and disclose clearly anything I received from a sponsor (flights, food, compensation) and the name of that sponsor.
- Adhere to the Professional Travel Bloggers Code of Ethics to strive for accuracy in my content, be accountable for my work, respect intellectual property of others, conduct myself with dignity, and act in a professional, respectful, and lawful manner.
- Try to make the world a better place, or at least not leave it worse off than I found it. Yearly, I choose a charity to support with funds generated via my blog each year.
Affiliate Disclaimer
As noted, this website contains affiliate links to products and services that generate a small income for me if you choose to use them, at no cost to you. I only recommend products and services that I use myself, and will always link to relevant information, regardless of whether or not there is an affiliate program.
Most links on this website are NOT affiliate links and I do not generate articles for the purpose of simply selling affiliate products.
Example of How an Affiliate Link Works
In a post, I might recommend a guidebook and link to it on an online bookstore. This link might be an affiliate link which means that if you click on the link and decide to purchase that book, the online bookstore tracks that the link click came from my website and I get a small percentage of the sale. It does not cost anything extra for you or affect your account in any way.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Privacy Policy
I respect and protect your privacy. I will not share your email address or any other personal information you provide unless specifically agreed upon.
For instance, if you enter a contest or giveaway on my blog, please read the terms and conditions carefully as some of your personal information (name, mailing address, contact information) may be shared with a partner. This is normally just for those who win, in order to receive the prize.
If you sign up for our email list or to receive our posts by email, I do not share this list with anyone.
I do use cookies on this website (as nearly all websites do) and you can read my full Privacy Policy here.
And that’s it, please feel free to email us if you have any questions. Thanks for reading!