Alex Wieteska-Gasior never imagined her love for travel would turn into a profitable online business. Yet today, her blog, Roam & Thrive, pulls in $5,000 to $6,000 monthly and attracts up to 70,000 page views. This article explores Alex's transition from teaching English to achieving success as a content creator and photographer. We'll discuss how she built her blog, diversified her income streams, and developed strategies to grow her audience.
Alex Wieteska-Gasior
How it all started
Growing up in London, Alex always knew she wanted to see the world. Unlike her peers, who had clear career goals, Alex's only certainty was her passion for travel. This led her to become an English teacher, a job that allowed her to live in various countries, including China, Nepal, and Chile. During this time, she explored much of Asia, fueling her desire for a nomadic lifestyle.
However, Alex soon realized that her teaching income wasn't enough to build the life she wished. She wanted more financial freedom and the ability to travel on her own terms. This realization sparked the idea for Roam & Thrive, which she launched from a small apartment in Santiago, Chile.
As she developed her blog, Alex continued her nomadic lifestyle. She lived in Mexico and Costa Rica, before eventually settling part-time in Puglia, Italy. This constant movement provided her with rich experiences and insights to share with her readers.
The birth of Roam & Thrive
Alex started Roam & Thrive with a clear purpose: to share her love for travel and inspire others to explore the world while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She noticed that many travelers struggled to balance adventure with self-care, and she wanted to address this gap.
The blog covers a wide range of topics designed to help travelers make the most of their journeys:
1. Practical travel tips: Alex shares advice on everything from packing efficiently to navigating foreign transportation systems.
2. Detailed destination guides: These go beyond typical tourist recommendations, offering insider tips and off-the-beaten-path suggestions.
3. Wellness and retreat information: Alex highlights opportunities for travelers to focus on their physical and mental health while abroad.
4. Fitness routines for travelers: She provides workouts that can be done in hotel rooms or with minimal equipment.
5. Healthy eating options abroad: Alex helps readers find nutritious food choices in various destinations, balancing local cuisine with dietary needs.
As her blog grew, Alex expanded her content to include luxury travel experiences with a conscious twist. She realized that many of her readers were interested in high-end travel but also cared about sustainability and mindful tourism. This shift allowed her to tap into a niche market of eco-conscious luxury travelers.
Alex's growing photography skills played a significant role in Roam & Thrive's development. She began incorporating more of her own high-quality images, making the blog visually appealing and setting it apart from text-heavy competitors. This visual emphasis has become a key part of the blog's identity and appeal.
Alex's income breakdown
Alex's hard work has paid off, with Roam & Thrive now generating a substantial monthly income. Here's how her earnings break down:
1. Advertising: The largest portion of Alex's income, about 45%, comes from ads run through Mediavine. This advertising network is known for its high rates and is only available to sites with significant traffic.
2. Affiliate marketing: Making up 35% of her income, Alex earns commissions by recommending hotels, tours, and car rentals to her readers.
3. Photography print sales: Contributing 5% to her income, Alex sells prints of her travel photography, turning her skill into an additional revenue stream.
4. Puglia map-guide: This specialized product accounts for 15% of her earnings. Alex created a comprehensive guide to the Puglia region of Italy, which she sells directly to her audience.
In addition to these blog-related income streams, Alex works as a professional photographer for travel brands and hotels. She also licenses her travel photography to various clients. These additional revenue sources complement her blog income and allow her to diversify her earnings.
Traffic and time management
Currently, Roam & Thrive receives between 60,000 and 70,000 page views per month. Alex notes that this number was higher before recent Google algorithm updates affected her traffic. Despite this setback, she continues to work on growing her audience and adapting to changes in search engine algorithms.
Alex dedicates about 6-7 hours per day to her business. This time is split between working on Roam & Thrive, handling freelance photography projects, and writing articles for other publications. She emphasizes that this work doesn't feel like a chore because she's passionate about what she does.
Alex's top strategies
Alex's primary marketing strategy revolves around creating authentic, immersive content that resonates with her audience. She believes in the power of genuine experiences and unique perspectives. Here's how she implements this strategy:
1. Personal travel: Alex makes a point of visiting all the destinations she writes about. This firsthand experience allows her to provide accurate, up-to-date information and personal insights that can't be gleaned from secondhand research.
2. Unique perspectives: She focuses on sharing insider tips and lesser-known aspects of destinations, setting her content apart from generic travel guides.
3. High-quality photography: Alex's professional-grade photos add visual appeal to her blog and help readers envision themselves in the destinations she describes.
4. Building trust: Occasionally, Alex includes photos of herself in the locations she writes about. This helps readers connect with her and trust that she has actually visited these places.
Email marketing is another key part of Alex's strategy. She sends quarterly emails featuring trending destinations she has recently visited. These emails include exclusive local recommendations that aren't available on her blog, providing added value to her subscribers.
SEO and social media also play significant roles in Alex's marketing efforts. She pays particular attention to Pinterest, leveraging her photography skills to create visually appealing pins that drive traffic to her site.
Alex’s approach to SEO
Search engine optimization has been important to Roam & Thrive's growth. Alex's SEO strategy includes several key components:
1. Focusing on low-competition, long-tail keywords:
Instead of trying to rank for broad, highly competitive terms like "travel tips," Alex targets more specific phrases like "best vegan restaurants in Bali" or "eco-friendly hotels in Costa Rica." This strategy allows her to attract highly targeted traffic.
Her process for this involves:
- Using keyword research tools to identify phrases with decent search volume but lower competition
- Analyzing the search intent behind these keywords to ensure she can create content that truly meets the searcher's needs
- Creating in-depth, high-quality content around these keywords that provides more value than existing top-ranking posts
2. Building content themes to establish authority:
Alex creates clusters of content around specific topics or destinations. For example, she might have a series of articles about sustainable travel in Southeast Asia, including posts on eco-friendly accommodations, responsible wildlife tourism, local conservation efforts, and how to minimize your environmental impact while traveling in the region.
This approach helps establish her site as an authority on specific subjects, which can improve search rankings and attract more targeted traffic. It also provides a better user experience, as readers interested in a particular topic can find a wealth of related information on her site.
3. Ensuring technical SEO best practices:
Alex keeps her site speed fast, ensures it's mobile-friendly, and maintains a clear site structure. These technical aspects help search engines crawl and understand her site more effectively.
Some specific tactics she uses include:
- Optimizing images for faster loading
- Using a responsive design that works well on all devices
- Implementing a clear and logical internal linking structure
- Using descriptive, keyword-rich URLs
- Ensuring her site has an XML sitemap and robots.txt file
4. Regularly updating content:
Travel information can quickly become outdated. Alex regularly reviews and updates her older posts to ensure they remain accurate and relevant. This might involve:
- Checking that recommended restaurants or hotels are still open and maintaining their quality
- Updating information about prices, opening hours, or travel restrictions
- Adding new discoveries or insights from recent visits to a destination
- Improving the content based on reader feedback or questions
This practice not only keeps her content valuable for readers but also signals to search engines that her site is actively maintained and up-to-date.
5. Building high-quality backlinks:
While Alex admits this is an area she's still working on, she focuses on creating content so good that other sites naturally want to link to it. Some strategies she uses include:
- Creating comprehensive, authoritative guides that become go-to resources in her niche
- Developing unique resources, like her Puglia map-guide, that other travel bloggers and websites want to reference
- Engaging with the travel blogging community and building relationships that can lead to natural link opportunities
- Guest posting on other reputable travel websites
By implementing these SEO strategies, Alex has been able to steadily grow her organic search traffic, which forms the backbone of her blog's success.
Keyword research and content creation
Alex's content creation process begins with understanding her audience's needs. She:
1. Travels to trending destinations: By staying ahead of travel trends, Alex can create content about destinations just as they're starting to gain popularity.
2. Conducts keyword research: Using tools like Google Keyword Planner and KeySearch, Alex identifies topics and phrases her audience is searching for.
3. Creates content based on experiences and audience demands: Alex balances writing about her personal travel experiences with topics she knows her audience is interested in.
4. Uses social media DMs to gauge interest in specific locations: Direct messages from her followers provide valuable insights into what destinations and topics her audience wants to learn more about.
Her keyword research involves:
1. Using tools like Google Keyword Planner and KeySearch: These tools help Alex understand search volume and competition for different keywords.
2. Analyzing current trends and content gaps: Alex looks for topics that are gaining interest but don't have much high-quality content available.
3. Focusing on specific, long-tail keywords: These more detailed phrases often have less competition and can attract highly targeted traffic.
4. Considering search intent: Alex considers whether searchers are looking for information, trying to navigate to a specific site, or ready to make a purchase.
Link building
Alex admits that link building has been a challenge. Her approach includes:
1. Creating top-ranking content that naturally attracts links: By focusing on creating extremely high-quality, unique content, Alex increases the chances that other sites will naturally link to her articles.
2. Using HARO (Help a Reporter Out) for backlink opportunities: This service connects journalists with sources. By responding to relevant queries, Alex can get quoted in articles and earn backlinks from high-authority sites.
3. Writing freelance content for other sites in exchange for backlinks: This strategy allows Alex to share her expertise on other platforms while also building links back to her own site.
Building an email list
While Alex's email list is currently small, she's working on growing it by:
1. Creating valuable lead magnets: These are free resources, like detailed travel guides or packing checklists, that visitors can download in exchange for their email address.
2. Optimizing sign-up forms on her blog: Alex is experimenting with the placement, design, and copy of her email sign-up forms to make them more appealing and effective.
3. Experimenting with pop-ups and inline forms: While being careful not to disrupt the user experience, Alex is testing different types of forms to capture email addresses.
4. Using Mediavine's Grow program: This tool helps Alex grow her email list without requiring much additional effort on her part.
Tools of the trade
Alex recommends several resources for aspiring bloggers:
1. Brandon Gaille's podcast, The Blogging Millionaire: This podcast provides practical advice on growing a blog and monetizing it effectively.
2. Niche Pursuits podcast: This show offers insights into building successful niche websites and online businesses.
3. KeySearch for keyword research: This affordable tool helps Alex identify valuable keywords to target in her content.
4. RankIQ for content optimization: This AI-powered tool helps Alex optimize her content to rank higher in search results.
5. Pomodoro timer for productivity: This time management technique helps Alex stay focused and productive when writing.
Conclusion
Alex Wieteska-Gasior's Roam & Thrive has evolved from a passion project into a profitable travel blog. Through a combination of authentic content creation, strategic marketing, and diversified income streams, she now earns $5,000 to $6,000 monthly. Her approach includes leveraging SEO, creating visually appealing content, and offering unique travel insights. Despite challenges like Google algorithm updates, Alex continues to adapt her strategies. Her experience highlights the potential of niche blogging in the travel industry, as well as the importance of continual learning and adaptation in the online business world.
