A lot of people have asked me how I designed my emails that come out the day after a new post. While I’d like to take credit and say I do them by hand, the truth is that I actually had (I recently switched to Aweber) it set up as an RSS-Driven Campaign in MailChimp that would basically pick up new posts from my RSS feed and automatically create an email based on a pre-designed template. It sounds complicated but it really isn’t. Let me walk you through the steps Step 1: Create a New...
Hungry for ways to crush it as a travel blogger?
I want to help you avoid the mistakes that I made when I first started. With Travel Blog Breakthrough, shave that learning curve by learning from expert travel bloggers that reveal their travel blogging strategies that have given them that breakthrough they were looking for. We’re talking about real tangible and actionable strategies that YOU will be able to implement right away. No fluff included. Unleash growth in your travel blog today!

Hello Is Anyone There?
The last published post was April 6, 2017. That’s 361 days since I last wrote for Travel Blog Breakthrough. ...
Read More
Income and Traffic Report for November 2016 – $1684
November was the big month where I finally revealed the new-look Going Awesome Places to the world and while I wish I can say it...
Read More
Income and Traffic Report for October 2016 – $3269
The big thing I’ve been talking about for the whole year so far has been the site redesign. For months there wasn’t...
Read More
Income and Traffic Report for September 2016 – $1590
With the summer winding down and my focus on closing out a project I was working on in Calgary, it was good to see that the...
Read More
Income and Traffic Report for August 2016 – $3505
Summertime is usually pretty slow because you typically will be travelling more which means less time to work on paid work...
Read More
Income and Traffic Report for July 2016 – $1331
My oh my it’s been almost 6 months since I’ve been able to finally chain myself to a desk and crank out new income...
Read MoreAlright today I’d like to introduce to you a super simple tool. It probably won’t change your life but if you’re leveraging Google AdSense to display ads on your site, you may want to check this out. Google account confusion You’re probably thinking that you can easily go to and yes you’d be absolutely correct. But if some of you are like me, the primary Google account you’re usually signed in with normally is not the same as the account that’s tied to Google Adsense. As a...
As a follow up to my earlier post on how to prepare for your press trip, I thought it’d be a good idea to talk about photography tips to make sure that press trips goes as smoothly as possible. A lot of these 10 tips may be obvious but still it’s a great check list of things that I always keep in the back of my mind whether it’s preparing for a trip or when it’s “go go go!” chaos. These are my list of 14 things you should think about when doing your...
As one of the pioneers in the travel podcasting space, and 1.3 million in downloads alone for Amateur Traveler last year, Chris Christensen was one of those guys that welcomed me to the podcasting community when I was only 2 to 3 episodes in. That’s just the kind of guy he is. In this show we talk about two things – podcasting and Blogger Bridge. With the first part, we learn about how Chris got his start and how Amateur Traveler evolved. With Blogger Bridge, we delve into...
Hey everyone! Welcome to the March 2015 income and traffic report for Going Awesome Places and Travel Blog Breakthrough. Well another month’s gone by and it’s another month that I’ve continued to crack the $1000 threshold. Through this report, I hope to give you insight on how exactly I make money with the hopes that it’ll spark some ideas. I also talk about my traffic numbers to give a sense of what kind of traffic is needed to make the money that I do. My...
Without a doubt, CoSchedule is one of the few tools I’ve encountered in my 3 years of travel blogging that have TRULY been a game changer. For those that are already using CoSchedule, you’re nodding in agreement with me. For those that don’t know about CoSchedule, get ready for your mind to be blown. Tell me if this sounds familiar. You started your blog as a hobby but you’ve begun to take it seriously after seeing traction. You continue to write but you wonder how...
For 8 episodes of the Travel Blog Breakthrough Podcast we’ve been talking to other bloggers and seen different aspects of what it takes to be successful. With this episode, I decided to shake it up a bit and instead focus on some of the nitty gritty things of blogging such as hosting. It’s a necessity for what we do but often times we quickly forget about it after we get up and running. Shared hosting is great and all to start with but what comes after? I’ve heard a lot...
In this review of WP Engine, I get down and dirty into my whole hosting migration process, why I switched and how I’m much happier now. Changing web hosting is one of the scariest things you’ll ever do as a blogger. That’s why we try our best to not migrate even when we know we probably should. The longer we let it linger, the more it hurts. What I don’t think most people realize is how easy that upgrade process is with guys like WP Engine. I did quite a bit of...
So it’s your first press trip and you’re nervous but excited at the same time. Excited because you’ve just landed a big gig with a CVB/tourism board and anxious at the same time because you’re not really sure what to expect and you don’t know if you’ll be ready. Preparation is key with every trip I’ve been on. Here is my checklist of things to make sure you do before you head out to make sure your press trip goes smoothly and without a hitch. Travel...
I’ll tee up this income report as my most successful month yet! A lot of things are starting to click so hopefully you guys’ll pick up on a few things to help with your own blog. As most of you know, I started doing these income reports back in October and I think out of everything on the site has been the most successful and insightful for readers. I really want to show you guys that it IS possible to make money blogging. The key is really to shift your mindset and start...
After you’ve decided to start your blog, and you’ve bought your domain and hosting, the next thing you want to jump right into is to create a logo for your newly minted site. I was exactly the same when I started Going Awesome Places and Travel Blog Breakthrough. I had ideas for what it wanted to look like but I had no idea how to build it. It’s a serious problem right? Because not all of us can be graphic designers and while you can try to hack something together on...
There’s always that love-hate relationship with social media and so to bring a little clarity to what you guys are doing on social with your travel blogs, I’ve brought on another great guest to chat with us on the TBB podcast. We’re chatting with Scott Eddy, a personality unto itself on Twitter. He’s someone that’s really made a name for himself from the ground up and with through it he’s started up several digital agencies, done public speaking, 1 on 1...
Alright real quick before I forget to write this one. I recently discovered this little hack at Starbucks that may end up saving me even more money. As some of you may know I’m a big fan of Starbucks. I go there not necessarily for their coffee (which I enjoy) but more so for their great coffice set up. I don’t know what it is but I learned very early on that I’m just not as productive when I’m working from home. There are just way too many distractions and...
With new year comes new expectations. A great amount of progress was made last year and the goal for this year is to continue to grow and diversify sources if income for my travel blogs. I started these income reports because it was a great way to see how I did every month. Ive said it before, doing these is totally therapeutic. The other reason I put these together each month is really for you guys. If you haven’t noticed, the travel blogging community seems to have a little bit...
As part of the natural evolution of the blogger, you get to the stage where you’re starting to monetize. One of the ways to make money with your blog is to take on sponsored posts. This is when a company comes to you to get you to help promote a certain product, promotion, contest etc. The company will either provide you the content to post on your blog or you have the freedom to write a story that relates to the campaign. You post it and when you do, you get paid. Now these...