Discover why becoming a travel blogger might not be your best path and how to build a sustainable travel career instead! Join Jody Halsted as she shares actionable insights and strategies to turn your passion for travel into a thriving profession.
IE 425: How Do You Become a Travel Blogger? Don’t! Build a Travel Career Instead! With Jody Halsted
Jody Halsted has an Ireland travel advisory company called Ireland Family Vacations. She is the host of the Traveling in Ireland podcast.
She started blogging in 2004 when blogging was “the Wild West world!” She has gone through many different phases in her business. She did family travel, worked as a freelancer, and started multiple blogs and websites in many different niches.
She found that many people resonated with the content she shared about Ireland. When things started to shift in blogging around 2011-2012, her small pond of blogging got bigger. She figured out what she wanted to focus on that she would not hate doing. She didn’t want to write about things she didn’t care about.
She threw everything into the Ireland bucket and became known as the Ireland family expert. When she started her first Ireland website, the tourism board in Ireland didn’t cover families.
Their main audiences were seasoned travelers on buses and the newlywed/honeymoon market. They didn’t cover families at all and instead sent people to Jody. That was a great boost for her business.
As her business started to grow, she realized what she thought people wanted wasn’t actually what they wanted. She had been writing all the basic travel blogger content; places to go, stay, and do. She was doing lots of review-type blogs.
Jody realized that you could find that content anywhere. The content that resonated with her audience were topics like “How to pack” and the common stuff travel ideas that other bloggers don’t really share or don’t know if they have not traveled to Ireland often.
She started going really in-depth on “how-to’s.” She started a podcast, and added services, itineraries, and products. That built her company into a business that has a blog but now the blog is a marketing tool for the business.
In 2020, she had to make a big pivot and hone in on what she was doing. She had planned to write a book and create a planner. 2019 had been the biggest year for Irish tourism and her 2020 was set to double it.
On March 14th, 2020, the bottom of her world fell out. She felt like she was on a roller coaster that was never hitting the bottom. She had two years without business. Jody took the time to hone in on what she was going to become known for, fix things, work on the podcast, and get ready to hit the ground running when the world was able to travel again.
Things opened up a little in 2021 but the people in Ireland were still limited to a 5k radius of their homes. If people worked outside of that, in a hotel, for example, they couldn’t go to work.
When the war in Ukraine started, Ireland lifted their travel restrictions so they could take in the misplaced people. That kickstarted Irish tourism in 2022. Since Jody had maintained what she was doing and honed her focus, she was well-positioned when travel opened up again.
For those looking to build a travel career without necessarily becoming a “blogger,” what are the key steps to take?
If Jody were to start again, she would make sure she knew the area she was planning to talk about very well. She has been traveling to and through Ireland for 22 years. There is not a country or town to which she hasn’t traveled.
You can get general advice anywhere but if you want in-depth advice on traveling to Ireland, Jody Halstad is your girl. The day of being everywhere and doing everything has passed. You have to know exactly who you are talking to.
While people who are taking a bus tour of Ireland might listen to Jody’s podcast, that is not her main target audience. Her audience is groups, multi-generational families, people who can take longer trips, and people who enjoy getting off the main tourist trail. She can reach them in multiple ways and that makes it easier to share her message.
If she were trying to talk about Ireland, Scotland, and England, she wouldn’t have the same ability to share. Her reach is small but powerful.
If you are going to start a travel advisory now, know exactly where you are talking about and who you are talking to. You cannot go general and be successful. That used to be possible but now only works for a freelancer. Get specific and understand your audience, no matter what type of blog you are going to create.
Know the problem you solve for those people. Jody listened to her audience, watched the numbers and engagement, and honed in on the “how to’s” and content that answered the questions her audience was asking. She still writes other content but that is not how people find her website.
If you want to become a travel blogger – DON’T! Build a travel career.
Jody focuses on how she can bring people to her website and then she gets them hooked. She pulled ads off of her website in 2024 to sell her own products.
She doesn’t feel like she should have ever done ads. While it did bring her some income, it never gave her thousands of dollars like it might for a recipe blogger. The ads were intrusive, ugly, and never targeted her audience.
A big project for her in 2025 is to make sure she has at least three calls to action in every article. One might be a freebie. Another one gets them to her newsletter. One gets the audience to a product that matches their interest. She wants to ensure she is giving them what they need and not just fluff.
How did you start monetizing your travel work, and what advice do you have for those looking to earn income from their travels?
Jody doesn’t do press trips and rarely does paid travel. She thinks that is short-sided and doesn’t want to be directed on what content she needs to produce. She wants to produce content that both she and her audience will be interested in and find a way to make money from that.
She started with affiliate marketing first because that was the easiest step. She made the rookie mistake of signing up for everything in the beginning. Now, she is really picky. She only chooses affiliates that she has personally used, offers a great deal, delivers a great experience, and is a 100% fit with her audience.
Currently, she mostly works directly with travel partners that are in Ireland. She negotiates directly with the travel partner to create an agreement based on the business she sends them. They know Jody can produce hundreds or thousands of completed sales.
She sells services, like creating itineraries. She does more vacation coaching to help people customize their itinerary and make it personal for their trip.
She sells ads on her podcast that fit with her business. She also has a planner, and a book, and she goes to Ireland to take people on tours. She has lots of little buckets that add money to her business.
The majority of her money comes from directly partnering with people to help promote their businesses. She sets these up similarly to a sponsorship. She defines the terms of the agreement and what the deliverables will be.
She thought outside of the box, brainstormed what she could offer them based on her audience, and put together a proposal. Not only do they get exposure, but they also see results from it.
Jody is very diligent in checking her numbers and she knows how much revenue she sends to each affiliate. If you are considering a travel career, you need to think about what you can offer to your audience and how businesses want to get in front of those consumers who would be a good fit.
In some instances, Jody gets paid after the trip is taken. Some of her biggest income comes up front though. She tracks what she thinks was billed and what the company made.
This year, she raised the rates and all of her people came back. She had the data to show she had undercharged them in the past.
Jody could make more money with actual numbers but she doesn’t want affiliates to think she is taking advantage of them. Jenny notes that a heart-centered businessperson is what she wants to work with because she knows they will over-deliver.
Jody only takes the number of clients she wants to work with because she knows how many hours she wants to work with. She is currently trying to duplicate herself to be able to maximize her output. She has a few different independent contractors that help in her business but she doesn’t want to be an employer. Her goal is never to have a huge business or manage people. She wants her business to be fun.
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