David Leiter doesn’t stay a boring life. As a full-time traveler, it comes as no shock that he paperwork his adventures on his weblog, The World Journey Man.
Though his adventures started in 2016, he did not create his web site till a number of years later. He labored on it for five years earlier than he began to see any actual success, and at present he is incomes $10k/month.
Run-ins with venomous snakes and shut calls on sinking ships have performed little to discourage him; in reality, his purpose is to go to each nation on the planet and proceed to develop his weblog.
Hold studying to search out out:
- How he began touring
- Why he finally began his web site
- What he did when Covid hit
- Why the pandemic was one in every of his favourite life intervals
- The place his earnings comes from
- How a lot site visitors his web site will get
- His major advertising technique
- His ideas on search engine optimisation
- His method to key phrase analysis and hyperlink constructing
- His content material creation course of
- His misadventures
- Her favourite assets and instruments
- His greatest problem
- His biggest accomplishment
- His major mistake
- His recommendation for different entrepreneurs
Meet David Leiter
I’m an American who’s been touring the world full-time for 8 years now. I’m at present primarily based in Bali, Indonesia, the place I met my spouse Intan (who’s a Bali native), and we’ve been touring the world collectively for the final 5 years or so.
My first actual worldwide journey was a go to to Iceland in 2016, the place I solo traveled the entire nation and drove 7,000 kilometers across the Ring Street whereas sleeping in a rental automobile alongside the way in which.
I used to be on a really tight price range on the time, so this was the one manner I may see a notoriously costly nation like Iceland.
I used this journey to movie a drone video of Iceland, which admittedly appears to be like fairly dated by at present’s requirements, however again in 2016 it was pretty leading edge and it obtained greater than 1,000,000 views on Vimeo.
In the identical 12 months, I additionally made a drone video of Colorado that went viral and obtained featured on worldwide TV by BBC Journey.
The Colorado video was finally pulled from Vimeo for utilizing an excessive amount of bandwidth after it handed 3 million views, however you’ll be able to nonetheless see it on YouTube the place I reuploaded it later.
It’s trying fairly dated now, however again when it was filmed 8 years in the past it was the primary time individuals had seen aerial views of Colorado like this from a drone, so it was pretty groundbreaking in that respect.
This was good drone coaching for me, and although I’m probably not centered on making movies anymore, I nonetheless use drones recurrently for my weblog these days to seize distinctive photographs for the articles I write.
I used to be additionally in a position to monetize these journeys considerably, and although it wasn’t an enormous supply of earnings simply but, it made me notice how a lot I beloved touring, mountain climbing, and seeing the world. I knew I needed to maintain pursuing it.
Why He Created His Website
I created my journey weblog in 2019 after I had already been touring the world full-time for 3 years. I believed it could be a great way to share my tales and photographs, make some extra earnings, and hopefully encourage individuals to journey and see the world.
At that time, I already had numerous content material and expertise as a traveler, however I didn’t know something about rising a weblog or monetizing it. I had no thought what to name it both, so I simply used a reputation {that a} good friend prompt, The World Journey Man.
My purpose with the weblog is to doc a few of the most scenic locations I go to all over the world by creating articles, photographs, movies, and guides for different vacationers.
A 12 months after I began the weblog, Covid hit, and the journey business was crippled for greater than 2 years. Throughout that point, it was unattainable to successfully monetize my weblog, however I saved pushing forward within the hopes that issues would return to regular finally after which hopefully my work would repay.
I used to be type of working on blind religion for some time there, as a result of I spent greater than 3 years engaged on the weblog and not using a single greenback of earnings.
Me and Intan have been additionally very restricted on the place we may journey throughout that point, as a result of a lot of the close by nations have been utterly closed for tourism.
Fortunately I used to be in a position to get a particular visa to remain in Indonesia, and we spent these 2 years touring in Bali and plenty of different islands in Indonesia. We needed to get examined for Covid dozens of instances because it was a requirement earlier than each single home flight in Indonesia.
Because it seems, although we weren’t making any cash but, this time that we have been caught in Indonesia was one in every of my favourite life intervals as a result of we actually obtained off the overwhelmed path and noticed locations which are not often visited by Westerners.
Indonesia is filled with superb issues to see and do. We did jungle treks to see orangutans, and stayed on distant paradise islands with no different individuals.
These are nonetheless a few of our most particular journey reminiscences, and I feel it’s additionally a few of the most original content material I’ve on my weblog.
How A lot He’s Making
In 2023, I made a full-time earnings from the weblog—as much as $10,000 per thirty days. My web site has common advertisements from Mediavine, and I exploit affiliate hyperlinks to get income from accommodations, excursions, and different issues that I like to recommend to readers on my web site.
My affiliate packages embrace issues like Reserving.com, GetYourGuide, Klook, and Amazon, plus some small corporations which have reached out to me for partnership, akin to a ship tour firm in Coron Palawan, within the Philippines.
I even have some aspect work doing internet design and search engine advertising, which I’ve continued doing within the background whereas I journey.
My boss has been very gracious and versatile over time, which actually helped me get began as a blogger, particularly within the early days when all of my journey was self-funded.
On the running a blog aspect of issues, it took me 5 years of labor (largely with out pay) to achieve my present income stage, though with out Covid, I more than likely would have reached this level sooner.
My journey weblog averaged about 300,000 to 350,000 readers per thirty days in 2023.
Like most area of interest bloggers, I had a site visitors dip on the finish of 2023 due to the Google algorithm updates, however my web site continues to be making a full-time earnings in 2024, and I anticipate it to totally get better and hold enhancing over time as I write extra content material and the SERPs hopefully get much less unstable.
David’s Primary Advertising Technique
My major advertising technique is search engine optimisation. Like most journey bloggers, I don’t have sufficient of a price range to pay for promoting on Fb or Google, so virtually all of my web site site visitors is natural.
I had already realized some issues about search engine optimisation via my prior work background, however numerous it has been hands-on expertise with my journey weblog.
Once I first began my weblog I didn’t know a lot about search engine optimisation, so it’s been a gradual course of, and I’m nonetheless studying new issues each day.
Google’s personal documentation is mostly an excellent useful resource for search engine optimisation newbies desirous to make optimized content material that’ll present up and carry out decently on engines like google. Semrush additionally has some good information about search engine optimisation finest practices to observe.
His Ideas on search engine optimisation
search engine optimisation is essential and numerous journey bloggers neglect it or don’t perceive how one can do it.
There are a bunch of issues concerned in search engine optimisation, however my fundamental technique is to jot down numerous weblog posts and get numerous backlinks. It’s easy, but it surely works. Most journey bloggers appear to do solely one in every of this stuff, or neither.
Not your whole weblog posts will carry out nicely on engines like google, even when they’re good, however in case you throw numerous stuff on the wall one thing will stick. Multiply that by a whole bunch of weblog posts, and also you’re beginning to have a recipe for achievement.
The tough factor is to maintain writing content material that’s contemporary, authentic, and doesn’t sound prefer it was written by a robotic. After you’ve already written 400 weblog posts, it begins to get fairly tedious.
I’ve discovered that I write loads higher after a break, so I attempt to journey for some time if I really feel like I’m nearing burnout.
Key phrase Analysis
I attempt to goal a wide range of high- and low-competition key phrases.
The high-competition key phrases are normally extra invaluable, in fact, which is why everybody’s making an attempt to get them, however which means they’re additionally more durable to rank for.
The benefit of low-competition key phrases is that they’re simpler to rank for, and so they’re additionally extra prone to appeal to backlinks.
For instance, I visited the Banggai Islands in Indonesia lately and wrote a information for it.
Regardless that these are distant islands that don’t have numerous high-value site visitors, they’re rising in reputation currently, and I already obtained a backlink organically (from a backpacker web site) since my information is at present one of many solely English guides for visiting these islands.
I do key phrase analysis with a mixture of Ahrefs and Semrush. Usually, you need to search for key phrases which are prone to mesh nicely with a journey weblog, and likewise longer key phrases which are much less prone to have numerous competitors from different web sites in your area of interest.
Hyperlink Constructing
Hyperlink constructing is at all times an excellent factor. I’ve numerous methods to do outreach. One time I entered a photograph contest with the Indonesia Tourism Bureau and obtained a backlink from their official web site. That was massive for me.
Typically if I see a web site stealing my photographs and utilizing them with out credit score, moderately than file a DMCA or ask them to take down my photograph, I’ll ask for a credit score hyperlink as a substitute.
Consider it or not, I’ve gotten a bunch of high-quality dofollow hyperlinks over time from this type of outreach.
Typically I by accident stumble onto websites utilizing my photographs, or different instances a reader of my web site will let me find out about it.
There are additionally providers you should utilize to search out and determine websites which are probably stealing your photographs. Considered one of these I’ve used previously is CopyTrack.
After all, there’s at all times the potential for getting hyperlinks organically. In different phrases, in case your journey content material is nice and useful and has superb photographs which are superior to the competitors, persons are extra prone to hyperlink to it.
A few of my finest hyperlinks truly occurred naturally with no outreach on my half. Somebody simply determined they preferred my content material, in order that they linked to it.
Clearly, I wouldn’t advocate simply sitting again and ready for hyperlinks to return in on their very own like this, but it surely’s nonetheless one supply of hyperlinks that may be very invaluable.
His Content material Creation Course of
I do numerous writing and my web site has virtually 400 weblog posts now. I do the entire content material creation myself. I by no means use AI for any of it, and I plan to maintain it that manner.
For all of the discuss AI currently, it’s nonetheless principally ineffective for creating journey guides which are nuanced and useful for readers.
I attempt to write at the least one or two new weblog posts each week, though I don’t prefer to sacrifice high quality for amount, so I generally fall behind on this goal, particularly if I’m touring loads.
The Yoast search engine optimisation plugin will be useful for optimizing new weblog posts. Typically I spend days going again and updating previous weblog posts in order that they’re nonetheless correct, which takes numerous time as nicely, but it surely’s value it if you wish to hold your web site related.
His Electronic mail Listing
I do have an electronic mail checklist, however I’m nonetheless on the lookout for methods to develop it with out being annoying. I’m not a fan of pop-ups asking individuals to hitch a mailing checklist.
I attempted that early on, but it surely simply didn’t appear definitely worth the problem it causes for individuals.
In some unspecified time in the future, I’d prefer to experiment with providing a free obtain (akin to a Lightroom preset or e-book) to individuals for becoming a member of my mailing checklist. That manner there’s at the least an incentive.
At present, I solely have a few thousand individuals on my mailing checklist since I haven’t prioritized it, however I’m hoping to develop that quantity.
I exploit MailChimp for managing the e-mail checklist, and that has labored nicely, however I’m nonetheless on the lookout for methods to enhance my mailing technique.
David’s Work Schedule and Adventures
The variety of hours I work varies, and I don’t at all times hold observe, however on a typical day I most likely spend 2 to 4 hours engaged on the weblog.
Some days I spend 8 to 12 hours engaged on the weblog, whereas different days I don’t work on it in any respect.
Within the early days of the weblog, it ate up much more of my time. Now that I’ve already designed my web site and written a whole bunch of posts, I don’t must spend as a lot time on it as earlier than, in order that helps.
Nevertheless, sustaining the web site is just one a part of journey running a blog. I additionally must journey, take photographs, and write new content material. I principally spend 6 to eight months a 12 months touring, with a little bit of relaxation between every journey.
Clearly, touring is numerous enjoyable and I’ll by no means cease having fun with it, however generally it may be laborious work, too.
I don’t take pleasure in in a single day flights or sleeping on airport flooring. I don’t take pleasure in being sick or jetlagged. I’ve had a number of shut calls and brushes with dying whereas touring over time, so it’s not at all times enjoyable and video games.
For instance, one time I virtually stepped on a venomous pit viper whereas mountain climbing in Indonesia. My foot landed inside centimeters of the snake, which was coiled up within the heart of the trail, however fortunately its head was turned away from me and the snake didn’t see how shut my foot landed.
This was on a distant island with no antivenom and virtually no hospital, so a chew from one in every of these snakes may imply amputation or dying.
One other time, our boat virtually sank throughout a storm on the ocean close to Sumatra. We have been making preparations for what we’d do if we needed to go overboard and swim. We had noticed a floating wood fish lure about one kilometer away and deliberate to attempt to swim there and cling onto it if the boat went underneath.
This occurred at night time in a really dangerous storm with heavy rain and large waves. There was no land wherever in sight, so we would have needed to float and swim on the market for days till a fishing boat or another person hopefully noticed us and rescued us.
Fortunately, the storm handed and we have been in a position to flip our motor on and get again to land. We have been utterly soaked and chilly, however secure.
Within the newest incident, a driver we employed in Sulawesi fell asleep on the wheel and drove throughout the opposite lane on a busy freeway. We frantically woke him up earlier than he drove off the sting of the highway, the place there was a steep jungle ravine under.
Fortunately, there wasn’t any oncoming site visitors within the different lane when this occurred, however we have been on a busy highway that’s normally utilized by truckers, so issues may’ve turned out a lot worse.
Later we came upon our driver had stayed up all night time driving 10 hours, so he was working on no sleep. We canceled the journey proper then and stopped on the town to relaxation.
We’ve had a lot of experiences like this whereas touring over time, however these are just some examples of how shortly issues can go dangerous.
I nonetheless haven’t been threatened or robbed at gunpoint although I’ve traveled most of Central and South America, but it surely wouldn’t shock me if that occurs sooner or later, and I attempt to be additional cautious in these locations.
Typically I downgrade my digital camera gear if I’m touring someplace there’s the next likelihood of being robbed.
His Favourite Assets
On the images aspect of issues, I’m a fan of YouTube channels like Simon d’Entremont for clear and concise digital camera ideas.
My running a blog model, internet design, and search engine optimisation strategies have been largely self-taught, though I prefer to learn different journey blogs infrequently for brand spanking new concepts.
An excellent useful resource for search engine optimisation information is Search Engine Roundtable.
His Go-To Instruments
For key phrase analysis and search engine optimisation, essentially the most useful gizmo I exploit is Ahrefs, however Moz and Semrush additionally work nicely for this.
You should utilize these instruments to test your backlinks, discover new key phrases to jot down about, and lots of different issues. You can even use them to test your web site site visitors pattern, though Google Analytics is best in case you actually need correct site visitors knowledge.
After all, my digital camera is one in every of my most helpful instruments, too. I upgraded to a Fujifilm X-T5 digital camera lately and I largely use a wide-angle lens.
I’m positive there are higher cameras on the market, however in my price range (round $2,000) it really works completely and takes nice photos.
For photograph and video enhancing, I exploit the Adobe instruments, Lightroom and Premiere. These work nice and you can even use Lightroom to again up your photographs within the cloud as you go.
His Greatest Problem
The most important problem for me is writing in bulk. You aren’t going to have a really profitable and entertaining weblog until you do numerous writing, and this obtained tedious for me after in regards to the a hundredth weblog put up.
I may save time on this by utilizing AI, in fact, however the high quality would most likely be dangerous. Hiring writers is another choice, however that prices cash and it makes the weblog much less private.
So irrespective of the way you slice it, journey running a blog is numerous work and there’s no escaping it.
His Biggest Accomplishment
On the running a blog aspect of issues, I really like having the ability to assist individuals journey to new locations. I’ve particularly loved running a blog about Indonesia as a result of it’s filled with hidden gems that haven’t actually been seen by Westerners.
A whole lot of that is due to my spouse, who’s been an enormous assist as my interpreter throughout our travels in Indonesia.
As for private achievements, I’d love to go to each nation on the planet.
By some sources, there are as many as 200 nations on the planet. I’m nonetheless engaged on that purpose. Proper now I’m averaging about 10 to fifteen new nations per 12 months, however my file to this point is 24 nations in a single 12 months.
What He Needs He Knew When He Began
I’ve completely uncared for social media, and I want I had stayed energetic on there from the start, although it’s numerous work.
I began a Pinterest account lately and I’ve been pinning posts from my weblog on there each day. I’m already getting some extra noticeable site visitors from it.
I don’t anticipate Pinterest to ever exchange Google as my major site visitors supply, however each little bit helps.
Google has been an actual mess currently, so any critical blogger needs to be on the lookout for methods to get their eggs out of that basket and construct new site visitors sources.
His Primary Mistake
The most important mistake I made was beginning my weblog as late as I did. I want I began 5 or 10 years sooner.
In that case, I might have much more expertise and possibly much more earnings. The journey running a blog discipline may be very saturated these days.
You may nonetheless achieve success at it, but it surely takes extra work than it used to, and I feel that’ll solely change into much more true sooner or later as the quantity of competitors grows.
His Recommendation for Different Entrepreneurs
Most likely the most effective recommendation I may give is that there aren’t any shortcuts in running a blog.
Even in case you work sensible, you’ll nonetheless must work laborious.
I’ve put numerous time into my weblog over time, and it wouldn’t achieve success if I didn’t.
Issues like search engine optimisation, photograph enhancing, writing, and internet design are all issues which are very time-consuming if you wish to do them nicely.
