10 Things I've Learned from 10 Years of Travel Blogging
Today officially marks 10 years of travel blogging here at Go Seek Explore! Wowwww. I truly can’t believe it has been an entire decade since I began this website and brand because it really doesn’t feel like it has been that long. However, when I look back at old photos and videos (and how photography trends, and even writing trends, have changed over the years!) it does almost feel like an entire lifetime has passed since I started GSE.
To celebrate 10 years of travel blogging, here are 10 things I’ve learned. These are a blend of life lessons, blogger lessons (helpful if you plan to start a blog too!), and personal celebrations.
1. Follow Your Inner Compass
I wrote about the term Inner Compass in my book (more on my book in point #4). Following your Inner Compass (your intuition/instinctive guiding force) has completely shaped me into who I am today. So much about my life looks different and is far more expanded than I ever expected it to be 10+ years ago - in the best way - and I owe that to following my Inner Compass.
My Inner Compass couldn’t shake the idea of starting a blog back in 2014. All I wanted to do was write, share, and edit photos, then go travel again so I could have more content to write and photos to edit.
I was brimming with advice and information about travel and working abroad and wanted to help as many people create an alternative life path through funding their travels through work as I could.
Here is what my original site looked like! This is a cached version as I don’t have screenshots from the actual original, so the photos don’t show up. I think we can agree my site design has improved over the years!
Later, my Inner Compass pulled me to leave my old office job in Arizona (even though it was so difficult to actually cut the ties), move to Southern California, and start an online freelance business to become a digital nomad. I only saw a few steps in front of me but knew it was the right decision, deep down - and it was.
In 2022, I couldn’t shake the idea of going back to Bali. I wanted to spend more time there and possibly buy an investment villa. When my lease ended in San Diego, I put my stuff in storage and spent about three months off and on over in Bali with additional trips to Europe and Mexico in between. I didn’t end up buying an investment villa, and ended up moving back to San Diego six months later.
I relate the Bali experience in some ways to the book The Alchemist. While I came back home right where I started, I was completely changed as a person. For almost two years I was battling intense burnout, and honestly, I felt like a shell of a person: gas tank on E, nothing left to give, emotions fleeting, candle wick burnt from both ends for far too long…whatever metaphor you want to call it.
Being in Bali was refreshing and allowed me space to truly rest and recover. I was still running my business, though with a lighter load of client work. I worked on my book. I took surf lessons. I went to the Gili Islands and Ubud and Uluwatu with new friends. I went to Greece twice (my favorite country in the world!). I celebrated my birthday at a music festival in Croatia, then went back to Bali one last time and took DJ lessons, which kicked off everything I’ve been doing with music. That summer was exactly what I wanted needed to feel more whole and like myself again.
2. Social media has completely changed and evolved
From a photoshoot to celebrate my 5-year-blog-a-versary: Spring 2019 meant big wide-brim hats and curated Instagram photos
When I started Go Seek Explore in the spring of 2014, social media was a completely different landscape than it is today. Back then, bloggers were simply using social media as a tool to post previews of their new blog posts, with a link or call-to-action to go to their blog to read the new post.
If you scroll way back on my Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook Page, you’ll see what I mean!
I’ll never forget the day Twitter disabled Instagram image embeds in its tweets. There was a time when Twitter was the top dog of social media, though Instagram was picking up speed, mainly due to its hype around filters. Many bloggers would use Instagram to put a filter on their photos, post on Instagram with the auto-share to Twitter, and then Twitter would have it embedded in a fresh tweet. #Valencia #InstaGood ;)
When Twitter stopped embedding Instagram photos in tweets, people started using each platform for its own intended use (Twitter for ‘micro-blogging’ and thoughts; Instagram for beautifully edited photos) and then the rise of influencers within a specific platform (who didn’t necessarily have a blog or YouTube channel to point to) completely took off.
Positano, Italy
This shaped how we use social media and people started spending more time on the platforms themselves than external websites. Personally, while I am present on all platforms, my Instagram and Pinterest have been my main two sources for audience growth, community, blog traffic, and my personal brand.
I still write articles for the blog and believe having at least one platform you “own” with long-form content is the best foundation since you can’t control social media, but I do use Instagram heavily for sharing updates, lifestyle content, and personal brand content. And Pinterest is my main source of website traffic outside of Google.
3. My content has changed (allow yourself to change)
My content has changed a lot over time! And since I’ve started DJing, a lot of my social media includes music content now, too
That said, my content has changed since I started GSE as well. When I first started posting, I had a lot of content on Europe and study abroad tips in addition to work-and-travel advice. This made sense since I had only been to North America and Europe, was one year out of college, and had just wrapped my time working at a travel company in Italy whose clientele were study abroad students.
After getting so many questions about a work-and-travel lifestyle, I drifted off of study abroad content (I was getting farther out of college, too, and didn’t feel like I really needed to talk to that audience segment anymore) and focused more on travel careers and interviews with digital nomads.
As time went on, I did plenty of self-development and mindset work and wanted to share my findings, advice, and unique angle on self-development for travelers and online business owners, so I started including content about that as well.
Now, my articles include travel tips from all over the world (since I’ve traveled to 46 countries!) in addition to digital nomad guides and some self-development content.
Allow yourself to change, expand, and grow. It is okay to outgrow something and evolve or pivot. You don’t necessarily have to give it up completely…but know that it is okay to evolve.
4. I’d write a book
When I started Go Seek Explore, I was so focused on writing, content, and my obsession with travel. Blog posts seemed to pour out of me as I filled each article with travel tips, work-and-travel advice, and wanderlust-y “just go” inspirational content.
Deep down I felt like I had a book inside me, and knew I would probably want to write some sort of non-fiction book one day. That book idea became Infinite Entrepreneur, which was released on June 1, 2023.
I started outlining some ideas in the summer of 2020, when travel was restricted and the world was in lockdown. I was aching to get out and see the world again, so I started sharing “#GSETravelStories” on some of my Instagram posts that were written in a memoir style format based on my travel adventures.
This inspired me to write an entire book, though I wanted to write something that would help people create a digital nomad work-and-travel lifestyle. I decided to go where no business book has ever gone before: blend memoir style travel stories with prescriptive non-fiction how-to tips.
I’ve been loving the positive feedback that I’ve gotten on the style of the book over the past year! It seems like you too have found it refreshing to read a business book that isn’t just boring ol’ tips and instead inspires your travel bug.
Order Infinite Entrepreneur here
5. Focus on what moves the needle in your blog, business, creative pursuits
Santorini, Greece
When you are working on making progress in your business - or your blog or another creative pursuit - the best way to really get things moving is to focus on needle-moving tasks. These are things you do that create momentum, forward-movement, and results.
For a freelance business, if you want to grow your monthly client stack (which results in increasing your monthly revenue), then you want to put a majority of your energy into client outreach and attraction strategies to move the needle in that area.
If you want to grow your blog, yes, putting out consistent content is helpful, but to grow the actual traffic (readers/page views) you want to put a lot of consistent effort into building an online community through social media, your Pinterest strategy, and SEO for Google.
Focus on what moves the needle versus spreading yourself thin amongst a bunch of various activities, and you will find the flow and momentum you seek.
6. I’d find various ways to make money blogging
Travel brand collaboration: Morocco trip
When I started my blog, I was eager to grow it and use it as both a creative outlet and a way to earn some income back, too. There is a lot of time - and tech expenses, like website hosting, email software, and design tools - that all go into growing and maintaining a blog.
Affiliate links, banner ads (which I need to add back on! There was a glitch and I had to turn them off), brand collaborations, and selling digital products like courses and Lightroom presets are various ways I have made money through GSE.
Seeing people use the Lightroom presets and sending their photos to me has been really cool! Launching the courses was a great experience. I got to help people at scale and use teaching/education methods. (My courses, while they were profitable, are currently retired, as I spent a ton of time maintaining them and felt like I needed to move my attention elsewhere!)
Cartagena, Colombia - edited with my “San Blas” Lightroom preset
I also have enjoyed working with a bunch of brands over the time I’ve had this blog, whether it’s through this website or on my social media pages. I partner with brands, hotels/properties, and locations I believe in, and have turned down literally hundreds of pitches (probably more?) that weren’t a good fit or didn’t feel like they were in integrity. Keeping the blog clean in this way is important to me, as if your (the reader’s) trust!
7. I’d start a freelance business
While the blog has made money over the years, when I started my freelance business, I was able to really grow my income in a consistent, predictable way. When people ask me if my blog or music makes me the most money, I tell them that it is actually my social media freelance services, which I have been doing for 7.5 years at this point.
Working with clients on a continued, monthly basis has been extremely helpful for my bottom line, especially during the pandemic years when travel was not possible or more difficult to do. I had multiple international travel collaborations completely go “poof” in the spring and summer of 2020, so having a stable and growing income from freelancing at that time was a godsend.
Being able to work from anywhere in the world, as long as there is WiFi, is amazing. I am grateful I set up my business for time/location/financial freedom because I can be working and growing my business at home and anywhere in the world!
8. Starting an email list is one of the smartest things you can do as a blogger
Doha, Qatar
I’ll never forget that many of the “how to start a blog” posts I read when I was about to launch my blog all mentioned having an email list. Literally every successful blogger says to start an email list, even though it costs money, even if your only subscriber at the start is your mom, and even if you are simply collecting emails before you “know what to write.” (For real though - if you know what to write on a blog post, you can also come up with something to send an email about!)
Andddd like every newbie blogger out there, I didn’t launch my blog with an email list. It took me two years to finally create one! During those two years, I watched my Google Analytics site traffic slowly increase, with spikes in traffic when I would do guest posts on bigger websites…and then the graph would show a dip later on back to where it was.
When I finally started an email list and created a “lead magnet” (something of value you give away for free, like a PDF guide/checklist/ebook), my subscribers started to grow.
Then I had a pin on Pinterest go viral and get around 15,000 saves over a weekend, and my email subscribers ticked way up. I continued sending my weekly emails with links to new posts, and my site traffic steadily increased because people reading the emails wanted to hear from me and wanted to see the new content.
Beijing, China
Better yet, it felt like I was finally growing a community! Getting replies in my inbox about the email, people replying with questions or thanking me for sending helpful tips, and people coming to social media and mentioning something I had only written in my newsletter was rewarding.
I started the blog to help people, and instead of feeling like I was sending words out into the void of the internet, there was an actual community of like-minded people on the other side of the screen.
If you are a blogger, an influencer/YouTuber without a blog, or a business owner, do yourself a favor and start an email list. Collect emails now, even if you don’t send out newsletters right away.
People rarely bookmark websites and social media is dependent on algorithms. An email list, like a website, is something you own.
You might have a successful social media post or a viral blog post, but the harsh truth is this: you will likely be forgotten - unless some of the people who find you can join your email list.
9. Not everyone will “get” it - and that’s okay
Baby 2013 Ally working in Italy - the travel job that inspired me to start this blog!
When I started my blog back in 2014, blogging was often seen as something people did as hobbies. Yes, blogs can be great hobbies - but they can also be a business, platform, and foundation for a personal brand. My blog is all of these, and that was my intention from the start.
In 2013 when I graduated college with my Public Relations degree, we had to do a capstone project (which was essentially a huge research paper on a topic within PR that included interviews of people in the industry). I chose to research how fashion bloggers were changing the landscape of shopping and consumer purchase decisions around clothing and other products. I could tell that the community these bloggers were creating was allowing their audience to shop and find inspiration from a real-life, relatable person they could connect with. These bloggers weren’t “just a mommy blogger” or “had a cute little website with pictures on it” - they were building incredibly profitable businesses and brands with it.
These bloggers understood how the world and internet were shifting, and held their vision for their personal brands. Some of the bloggers I interviewed for my capstone paper were Emily Gemma (The Sweetest Thing), McKenna Bleu, and I think (?) Christine from Hello Fashion, among others. Check out their blogs, social media, and brands now…and you’ll see the massive success they’ve had! It’s amazing.
Sometimes your vision is greater than what others believe is possible. Maybe your vision is greater so you can innovate and pave the way for others to follow in your footsteps.
Not everyone will “get it” when it comes to why you put your time and creative focus into blogging (or another pursuit). If you feel called, do it anyway.
10. It takes time to grow
Being invited to be part of the 2023 Kerala Blog Express in India was an absolute dream come true!
Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. Growing a website, email list, and social media, especially organically, takes time. You have to really love what you are doing to be able to front the time (and costs) before you start to see an ROI. For me, I can’t imagine not having a blog! I’ve always loved it and knew from the start it would likely be a slow build over time.
Last Thoughts
Ten years later, I am so grateful for every single person who has read, commented, shared, and found advice & inspiration from the content, courses, and book I’ve put out through GSE.
Whether you’ve been around since today, or day 1, or somewhere in between, it means so much to me. Thank you! Cheers to more adventures!