My First $100 Google Adsense Income with iTravelRox

How iTravelRox Started?

A lot of people have asked if I am earning through my blog. To be honest, when I started a travel blog in 2013 through WordPress(dot)com, I never stressed myself to make money. I just wanted a travel blog where I could post my photos using my first Olympus digital camera for the love of photography. Then I wished for a DSLR camera which I had to work hard for it. In few months, I bought my own camera, a Nikon D5100, in cash. Well, thanks to my online job.

Switching from WordPress (dot) com to WordPress (dot) org

It’s been a year since I switched to self-hosting which I told myself I don’t want to expect anything from my blog because the ultimate purpose is a portfolio. I’ve been working online since 2009 and I setup several websites through WordPress. So I decided to upgrade the look of my blog right after my scuba diving experience from Malapascua Island.

Highly Recommended Hosting24

I was looking for a new hosting for my client’s website and got this from a friend. Since it is a business website, I recommended Hosting24 (referral link). Talking to customer service was hassle free. It was really quick and I can easily get my answers right away. That’s when I decided to buy their hosting for my blog.

Integrating Google Adsense on iTravelRox

I owned blogs before with Google Adsense on it but I only earned $30 and nothing happened. I was just trying my luck to earn on Google Adsense with my travel blog since I got a few visitors. Since I switched to self-hosting, I was so obsessed checking out the Site Stats on how many visits on a day on my blog. 100 visitors and a thousand visitors in a month were fine for me. Tried my luck to do guest postings on other blogs and that’s when I got more visitors for iTravelRox.

The first five months, visitors were increasing until it dropped to 8k visitors in a month in December 2016. The first 11k visits were in October 2016 and 14k visits in November 2016. In January 2017, I got my 16k visits. After that, it remained at least 10k visits in a month especially when I had no time marketing or sharing my blog like every day. I even seldom post in a month. It’s a miracle if I could post 5 articles in a month.

At last, got my first $100 Google Adsense Income!

The joy of receiving my first $100 Google Adsense income happened when I was in Manila last May 2017. I was in Taiwan of April 2017 when I got an email from Google. I went back to the Philippines as I am only allowed 30 days in Taiwan. Imagine, I was totally broke when I arrived in Manila but this Google Adsense income saved me. I even flew back to Taiwan just because going back to Cebu was really expensive. In Taitung, Taiwan, my accommodation for a month was free, no problem with the internet connection as I was working in a co-working space, and the only expenses I would think were food and transportation.

Conclusion

I am not really stressing myself with travel blogging. I didn’t quit my job to travel the world or around the Philippines. As a person who started working online since 2009 before traveling in 2013, I brought my work with me when I decided to become a digital nomad in 2014.  I just learned to travel long term along the way when I feel I am confident on how to survive of meeting travel mishaps.