Erin Hynes has a lot on her plate.
After traveling extensively, she decided to start a blog on the side, in addition to her demanding day job. Her blog, Pina Travels, has always been a passion project, and over time she’s been able to grow it to provide a healthy side income: $3k/month.
In this interview, this award-winning blogger talks about how she not only built her blog, but also a brand, which includes a strong social media presence of 50k+ and a 5-year-old podcast.
She eventually niched down from general travel, and her niche is what really drives her. She talks about her affiliate earnings, the types of collaborations she likes the most, her approach to SEO, and why she thinks she escaped the HCU.
Watch the Full Episode
Erin starts by sharing a bit of her background and her life before she built her business. She worked in marketing and traveled extensively in her 20s.
After traveling for nine months straight, she returned to work but missed her travel life, so she started her blog, Pina Travels, in 2019. Although she initially blogged about more general topics, she eventually niched down to responsible travel.
She also talks about launching her podcast.
When Erin talks about her initial success, she shares that money and numbers were never her goal, but what was most important to her was having an impact on her readers.
Now her brand includes an audience across many channels, including social media, and her blog is getting 40k sessions per month at present. Her podcast, Curious Tourism, gets 2k downloads a month, and earns up to $3k per month. And she’s still working a full-time job!
Erin talks about the initial strategies she used to grow her site and reveals whether or not she was impacted by the HCU. She talks about how she approaches content about different destinations and how she incorporates responsible tourism topics into her articles.
She also talks about SEO, creating content clusters, and what types of articles she writes and with what specific purpose. As she aims to write meaningful content as opposed to strictly affiliate content, she shares her strategies for validating her ideas and confirming what works.
When it comes to social media, she shares her strategy for posting and building her community and the specific areas where she’s had success.
The content she generally creates is for Instagram and Threads, which she talks about, and she also discusses brand deals and offers tips on securing them and dealing with the brands themselves.
Erin talks about why she prefers to maintain her full-time job and how she maximizes the time she has to work all day and then work on her blog on the side.
Lastly, she shares her plans for the future and her blogging plans. She also discusses her plans to build up other networks and collaboration opportunities.
Links & Resources
Topics Erin Hynes Talks AbouT
- Her pre-blogging background
- How she started blogging
- How she niched down
- Starting her podcast
- Her current situation
- Her strategies for growth
- Responsible tourism
- Her approach to SEO
- Types of articles she writes
- Social media success
- Social media platforms
- Threads
- Brand deals
- Working 9 to 5
- Her future plans
Transcript
Jared: All right. Welcome back to the niche pursuits podcast. My name is Jared Bauman, and today we’re joined by Erin Hines with peanut travels. org. Erin, welcome. Hi, thanks for having me. That’s great to have you on board. I always say this. I love when we get, uh, a business owner on to talk about how they grew their business.
Um, the details. The, you know, the, the trials and tribulations, all the ups, all the downs. And that’s kind of what we’re doing today. So if you haven’t heard one of those in a little while, um, it’s just gonna be exciting to have, have you on and hear about your story. Um, we’re talking about your website, your brand that you’ve created.
Um, and kind of, uh, you know, kind of the origin story, if you will, maybe bring us back and catch us up on who you are. Give us your backstory before you started your travel brand.
Erin: Oh, before, before I started my travel brand, I was just a regular. marketer, I guess that was like the work that I did. Um, and I was also very much a traveler.
I spent most of my twenties traveling. Um, and I still travel quite a lot. Uh, but what happened before the brand started is I had just come back from a very long trip. I think it was like nine months or so of full time travel and went back into working and just really missed talking about travel, writing about travel, just like being part of.
the travel community. Um, and so I decided, okay, like let’s start this as like a little side project and I’ll just like work on it when I have time. Um, so yeah, I was like working full time and just started working on peanut travels as like a little side project.
Jared: It’s a travel website. I know it’s gone on to take.
Uh, kind of a certain specific niche, a certain specific approach you shared before we hit record. Like I tend to do podcast interviews about this one type of travel topic. Was that always the goal for it when you started it or did it kind of morph into that as time went on?
Erin: It morphed into it. So my site, my brand, my community is focused on responsible tourism.
So like most of the content I produce has some sort of messaging around how we can travel in a way that’s better for people and for the planet. It did not start out that way. When I started out, I would say I was pretty basic. I just wanted to have a travel blog, just wanted to write about what I wanted to write about.
Um, I didn’t really think a lot about niche. Sorry, I’m going to say it niche cause I’m Canadian. I know Americans say it differently. Um, I didn’t really think about niche or anything. Um, And I, like, didn’t really have any goals beyond just, like, building a little audience for myself. Um, it was throughout the years that I sort of narrowed down and realized like, Oh, this is like actually what I’m passionate about within the scope of travel.
And so I should really like focus my energy on this area.
Jared: When did you start this? Uh, maybe take us back in time and, and share about, you know, what was the, the timeframe, the reason why specifically you wanted to start the site you shared that you wanted to kind of get back into that community. But, you know, were you kind of taking the classic blogging approach where you were just writing about some of your travels?
Um, you had just come back from nine months. So I imagine you had a lot of content that you could share. Um, just trying to understand the early days.
Erin: Yeah, the early days, um, was definitely blogging. That was like what I set out to do. Um, for some more background, I have a degree in English literature. I went on to do an MA, so Master of Arts.
That involved a lot of like intense writing. Most of my day job is writing. And so, the blogging medium. really felt right to me. And so that was the initial goal. Um, and that’s what I started first. I started thinking about the blog in 2018 and I think it officially launched January of 2019. Um, I also have a podcast and a presence across social media.
Um, social media, I think I launched around the same time as the blog, like I knew that I should have a presence there. So that went live around the same time. And then the podcast launched a few months after that, uh, because the podcast, I didn’t originally think I was going to make, it was an idea that came after the blog started.
Um, so yeah, all of it launched in 2019 around. Yeah, I’d say like Q1 in the first four months of the year.
Jared: So you launched a travel site. I mean, now that we can look back, uh, you know, a year or less before the whole COVID shutdown hit, sure. We’ll get into that and how that impacted, you know, what you were doing, what you’re traveling was.
Um, what was the first initial kind of success or the first initial thing that caught for you with, with the website or the social media, you know, whichever one might’ve come first.
Erin: Ooh. The first moment of success.
I could say it was like the first like big like pillar of success for most bloggers is like traffic. Um, so I guess like when I hit my first like month where I surpassed 500 views or sessions, that was like, an exciting moment, but actually like a moment that I remember more clearly is when I received a comment on a blog I had written about traveling in Mexico and, and the commenter was just saying how much they appreciated what I had written and the detail in it.
And I just remember that moment because it felt like very nice to know that the content had like reached someone and that they had like genuinely found it useful. Um, Like numbers are great, but honestly, like feedback from people, like in real life is, is kind of nicer. So that felt like a monumental moment.
Jared: I asked that question very open endedly on purpose, you know, it’s interesting because everyone has, it kind of helps reveal like at the end of the day, uh, you know, different goals people have and the path they’re on to trying to hit those goals. And some people are very, very driven by numbers, you know, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
So we’re very driven by impact. Some people are very driven by a certain goal they had when they sat down to start it up. And it might not even be all that tangible. It might be very intangible.
Erin: Yeah, I should, I should say actually like off the top, I’m very in the blogging community. And I know a lot of people like get into blogging with the goal of numbers of metrics of like getting into Mediavine, making money, quitting their day job.
I should say that was never my goal. Originally later it became more of like a. Like late two years in around, I would say I started thinking, Okay, I’m doing a lot of work here. It would be nice to make some money. But when I started like it really wasn’t my mindset. My mindset was not that like I wanted to make enough money to quit my day job.
My mindset was just like, I really want a place where I can share like all my ideas and share my knowledge.
Jared: Were you in, because you had a day job where it sounds like you’re doing a lot of writing and like how tapped into the blogging community were you when you started this in that first year of, of starting this brand?
Because, and the reason I ask is to your point, I know I started my first website once I understood. That my content could actually get in front of a lot of people, you know, get traffic and then also get monetized in a way that I didn’t understand prior to that. And so that was kind of what pushed me over the edge.
So you’re right. I had those goals in mind myself. Um, I had a lot I wanted to talk about, but I did have this kind of forward thinking number in mind that I wanted to get to how tapped in, were you to it when you started and it was just a conscious choice where you’re like, I understand. That this can be monetized and this there’s traffic numbers, or was it really one of those things where it was a couple of years in until you realized, Oh my goodness, like there’s this thing called Mediavine out there.
Erin: Yeah. I was pretty tapped in, but I like for context, I work mostly for tech startups in the marketing space. And at that time I wasn’t like really focused on blog work for those startups. Um, I had a general idea of like how you could make money through a blog, like through ads, through affiliates. Um, but I didn’t know the details of it, especially in the context of like travel blogging.
Um, Um, the, the main goal like that I had, I would say was to actually like work with DMOs and tourism boards in my mind. That was like the Holy grail of things that I wanted to do. If the site started earning money, um, I would say I started like learning more about. all the options like Mediavine and affiliates.
Um, when I started joining like online communities on Facebook, um, I know you’ve interviewed Nina Clapperton. I was part of her early days of her, um, SEO groups on Facebook. And that’s when I started to like really understand, okay, like this is actually how I could monetize this, like, and it’s really feasible.
Jared: Yeah. Okay. Um, I like to ask this, uh, at the early part of an interview, like maybe catch us up to where things are now. Let’s fast forward and then we can kind of set the stage for how you built into that and some of the steps you took along the way.
Erin: Yeah. Where I am now. Now I would say Pina travels is more than a blog.
I would say that it. is a community. It is a brand. Um, I have a presence across many channels, um, an audience across many channels. Um, so my site earns around 40, 000 sessions per month. Now, like at this current moment, um, it used to earn more, but The Google updates have hit me. Um, I have a following of around 28, 000 on Instagram, a following of nearly 5, 000 on threads on Tik TOK.
I think I’m around 20, 000, um, YouTube, very small audience, but it’s growing there. I think I’m at, I like, I’m at like 400, um, But yeah, throughout, like across all those channels, um, it creates like a nice community where I’ve like different touch points with different people. Um, I also have my podcast, which is called Curious Tourism.
It’s earning around 2000 downloads a month. Um, I wouldn’t say it’s like an income stream. I have worked with brands in the past to run ads there. Um, but for the most part, like the podcast is truly my passion project. And that’s where like, I get like into the nitty gritty of responsible tourism topics.
Um, and yeah, overall, like if we’re looking at numbers, I’m earning like around 3000 to 4, 000 a month in Canadian dollars. Um, Through a mixture of affiliates, Mediavine and brand partnerships that are mostly on social media, as well as contracts with DMOs and tourism boards. Um, yeah. And all those channels now, I guess, are like around seven years old at this point.
Jared: Yeah. Congratulations. Um, I mean, you know, it’s worth mentioning because I know it’s in our, it’s in our kind of agenda and notes, like a lot of people listening will. Lean into this, uh, you’re still working a full time job. So this is all on the side while you’re still working the full time job. And I think that’s important to mention.
A lot of people who listen aren’t interested in going full time. I’m not saying you’re not, by the way, but I’m just saying that a lot of people listening, they’re like, Hey, I just am looking to start something on the side to supplement, to, to kind of scratch that itch, to feed that passion. And that’s what you’ve done.
I think the whole time, right? Is it the whole seven years you’ve started this, you’ve always had it on the side. You’ve always had a full time job.
Erin: There was one period last year where I was traveling for six months. So during that time, I wasn’t working full time. Like, I was mostly working on peanut travels.
I didn’t have a full time gig. Um, but other than that, yeah, I’ve been working a full time career job for the last seven years.
Jared: That’s great. Very inspiring. That’s a very good secondary income, especially when it’s around something that, you know, you love and you’re passionate about. Um, I mean, let’s get into, uh, some of the nitty gritty about how you built this.
And I’m curious, To just maybe ask you some of the strategies that worked from a high level. And we can kind of dive as deep as we need to into each of them. I know people listening are going to be interested in how you grew it. Also, how you survived and sustained through COVID also, you know, you talked about the Google updates.
Everyone listening will be familiar with those in some capacity. You’re still earning good income. Um, so how you’ve navigated that, what are some of the strategies you think that have helped work or that stand out for building this?
Erin: I would argue that like the biggest strength I’ve had like strategically is that I have not always followed the latest trends in SEO and the latest like common strategies that are being shared from the beginning, I had like a deep focus on making my content user focused and there was a period like especially during the pandemic where people were telling me that this was the wrong approach.
Um, but ultimately it worked out really well for me. I did not get hit by the HC who it’s more the recent updates that have brought down my traffic a little bit, but that’s also like due to the fact that I haven’t been working on my blog, like as actively in the last year, cause I was traveling. so much.
Um, but I survived the HCU like unscathed and I truly believe it’s cause I had this like user focused framework from the beginning. I was not trying to go for those like high volume keywords that are like kind of related to my niche, but not really. Um, I was only ever like focusing on keywords and queries that were like extremely related to my niche and extremely relevant to my audience.
Jared: What for you, because I know the focus has become sustainable tourism, but what was like, what are your focuses as you’re writing and how do you structure? And this is a big travel, travel blogger question in general, travel website. Like, you know, if I go to Italy, I write about Italy. How deep do I go into that?
I then go to, you know, I’m just looking at some of the keywords you rank for, for the record. I’ve got in front of me, I got a Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Italy, how are they related? Like, how do you come at from a standpoint that is not SEO focused? How do you look at writing about a place that you just went to?
Erin: Yeah, through the responsible tourism framework. So my like goal has always been to create quote unquote, general travel content. Um, that. that very quietly encourages people to travel in a way that is better for people and for the planet. Um, so you will find very like kind of run of the mill itineraries on my site.
I am a general travel site, so I cover like destinations all around the world, um, but in every single piece of content you’ll find that sort of like underlying message and notes about like how to be be in that place in a more responsible way. Uh, my site also does have an entire section dedicated to responsible tourism.
And that’s where I write guides that are like on specific topics, like for example, how to avoid, uh, cultural appropriation, how to travel more deeply, uh, responsible tourism tips, sustainable travel tips, stuff like that. Um, so I think like that’s, I would argue that is my niche, but I am truly a general travel site in the sense that I do cover places that are all over the world.
Jared: So in essence, maybe you’re a travel, you’re a site that covers a lot of different topics, but always from one singular standpoint, yes, this is this focus on sustainability. Is that something that you think has helped you gain a lot of traction, um, in terms of readership? Um, and how have you kind of seen that play out?
Erin: It’s interesting. Like I always tell people, this is not a niche to make money in. Um, I think it may. become that. I am noticing like in the travel space a lot more interest in responsible tourism practices. Um, but especially when I started out, like people did not really care about this. Um, so for the most part, I find that readers say they appreciate like the notes that I include about it, but for It’s hard to say, right?
Like, I would say some readers, like the feedback I get is that they read my site for that specifically, and others have just like found me through Google SERP and don’t really care about that, but like find the guide helpful. Um, the area I would say that like, it is really great is that when I work with brands or with DMOs or tourism boards, that truly is like the angle that I sell to them, um, that I’m going to represent.
their brand or to represent, uh, their region through this lens. Um, so from the community standpoint, I think it’s really important in terms of like ranking as a travel site on Google. I don’t know that it’s like setting me up for success, but We’ll see. We’ll see what the future holds. I think there’s like a growing shift towards, um, more responsible tourism.
And I think more and more people are looking specifically for that kind of content.
Jared: What has your approach been to SEO over the years? You know, and I, again, I’ll just share some of the reason I’m asking. Like you, I agree. You did not get hit by the HCU, at least not from all the charts I’m looking at.
Certainly there’s been so many Google updates, like just pick your poison. You know, at some point one was going to come up and get you, it seems, but it wasn’t helpful content update related. And, and so you, you in essence have content that where you have done some S you have taken somewhat of an SEO approach at different phases from what you’ve said, but it wasn’t anything that got hit by that helpful content update.
What was your SEO approach? And again, asking, cause so many people listening are really curious at, um, at different content approaches that didn’t get hit by the HCU.
Erin: Mm hmm. Um, like I mentioned before, like a big focus on user. Um, I only target keywords that are actually very related to my niche and that are very in depth.
So, like a good example is like, Especially during the pandemic, people were just trying to rank for like high query, um, or high volume queries. Um, so for example, it would be like a simple question like, um, this is actually on my site. I’ve been meaning to remove it, but what is the legal drinking age in Iceland?
Um, that’s a blog that I wrote during pandemic times because someone I was working with told me that like it’s high volume, you’ll rank for this, like you should capture that audience. Um, I have very few blogs like that because while they do drive traffic, they’re not like a place where you can really like share who you are, share your insights, share a lot of detail.
Um, it’s really just like a regurgitation of information that already exists on the internet. Um, so it doesn’t serve my purpose of like building an audience that is going to come back to me. Um, so yeah, I would say, like, mid pandemic, I started shifting to writing, like, guides that were very unique to me, um, so you’ll notice, like, a recurring theme on my site is guides that are what not to do in, and these are guides that are, like, helpful tips about a place, but through the context of responsible tourism, um, they’re very long, they’re very in depth, they share a lot of, like, cultural detail, they share a lot of, like, Detail about how you should engage with a place.
Um, I also do a lot of itineraries that are tried and true that I have tested that I have written based on my own experience. They include a lot of detail about like where to go and eat, what to eat there. Um, where to stay. And I make sure that like, it’s all stuff that I can actually speak to because I’ve done it.
And because, um, because I’ve done it, I’m able to share detail that like you wouldn’t find elsewhere. Um, so I would say like that. Has been the main focus. There’s other things that I’ve done that like just out of practice that I think have helped. So for example, I am a general travel site, but I will never write less than 10 blogs about a place.
So whenever I start writing about a new country, the goal is to get to at least 10 blogs. In most cases, I’m trying to write more. So for example, I think I have like 25 blogs on Portugal. Um, so there’s a lot of places that I’ve been in the world that I haven’t written about yet because I’m not ready to like start writing 10 blogs about them.
Um, so there’s just like a few countries on my site that I’m just like doing deep dives into before I move on to another one.
Jared: I think you kind of put a nice fine point on that topic, that query, because that was all the rage, right? Especially in 2020, 2021, even into 2022. So easy to capture traffic around that.
And then with the onset of AI and with the way Google looked at those types of sites, like, um, yeah, that, that went away and just vanished, right? The other
Erin: thing I’ll mention is I don’t do a lot of, uh, Like roundup posts, like the best hotels to stay in, the best tours to take, and the reason that I started this initially was because I, I haven’t done all 15 tours.
Like, what can I say about these tours that, like, TripAdvisor, doesn’t already say. Right. And so I always like felt that that kind of content was pointless and something I noticed in the HCU was that like a lot of people that were like filling their sites with this kind of content because it is affiliate content, it makes you money, um, they got hit quite badly because like, That kind of content isn’t serving users.
It’s not like building a community in a way that like a really well thought out itinerary.
Jared: so how did you measure and validate what was working? If the approach wasn’t go after this keyword, get that traffic, move on to the next keyword, go after that affiliate term, get that monetization, move on the next term.
How were you evaluating? I went to Portugal, I wrote 12 articles. And how do we know if it’s working?
Erin: Oh, I really just look at analytics. Like I’d look at search traffic, analytics, um, rankings. And then my strategy is to look at like the style of blog. I mean, this is a common practice. So for example, like I started noticing that my blogs on whatnot to do were performing quite well.
And so that became a regular habit as did, um, itineraries, like five day, seven day, three day itineraries. Um, I just carefully tracked sort of like what type of content was performing the best and slowly shifted all my content to follow that model. So actually like at this point, most of my blogs fall into like specific pillars of type of content, type of query that they’re answering.
Um, yeah. And most of it isn’t affiliate focused. And that’s just because I noticed after the HCU that my site had done well. And I’m pretty sure that that’s why.
Jared: Let’s talk about those social media accounts. Um, you know, I wrote down, you started those in 2019, couple months after the website ish. Um, you know, where are those, uh, you share where they’re at now.
Sorry. Um, what’s been the approach and what’s been the process for posting to those as you know, you’re now six, seven years in on, on this site.
Erin: Yeah, I know a lot of people have like a very, um, thought out, like, strategy when it comes to social media. For me, like, my strategy has just been to, like, post what I feel like posting and try to, like, share.
a narrative through what I’m posting. Um, and that has worked really well because I think that people feel like they can really connect with me and they have an idea of who I am, what kind of content to expect from me. Um, the only like really rules that I’ve followed is to be active, to post often. Um, And to just, like, try to relate everything I post back to my niche.
I, I used to, like, hop on a lot of the trends, um, and over time I realized that, like, while they have the potential to go viral, often, like, going viral with, like, a trendy video doesn’t actually earn you, uh, a new audience. It’s actually the more, like, unique content that I’ve made that, that builds up my audience and creates an audience that sticks around and, like, engages with my content.
Um, another, like, piece that I think. is maybe unique to me is that I put a lot of effort into responding to people. Um, I know other creators that like don’t go into their hidden folder and, and answer questions. I know a lot of bloggers especially feel like a little annoyed when people ask them for like help planning my trip.
Um, but this is something I’ve always done and like it takes a lot of time, but I, I do think it has helped me build a community that’s loyal and sticks around.
Jared: Careful. I might come comment and help you ask my grip because generally about an hour into planning some trip. I’m like, well, I would just wish I could have someone who knew what they were doing.
Help me with this. Um, what have been some of like the most successful aspects of the social media, whether it’s a certain video or a certain post or a certain focus you’ve had again, just trying to make it more tangible for people listening.
Erin: Ooh, like successful in the sense of like what I view as success or like from a financial perspective.
Jared: Sure. That’s why I asked it open ended. Yeah. Again, I, I’m being open ended with you cause I appreciate your perspective and I think a lot of, I’m being open ended on purpose just to be clear and I’ll, I’ll give a little context. Yeah. I could ask you for the numbers and I could ask you for the metrics. But at the same time, you have navigated your way through a lot of the stuff where metrics were destroyed.
And so I’m, I’m staying open ended on purpose to hear your perspectives on what success looks like, not just from an SEO standpoint, but also from, Hey, social media as well.
Erin: Yeah. So from a personal standpoint, um, Success has been just like the interactions I have with people online and the community that I’ve built online.
Like I, I have friends, like people that I genuinely believe are close friends of mine. People, like when I was in Japan last year, I went and visited someone who lives there who has been part of my community for, from nearly the beginning and had never met him in person. We had like, talked for years, but like I actually went and met him in person and these kinds of connections, I think are really special and their connections that I’ve only been able to find like through this community that I’ve built.
Um, so from like a personal perspective, that’s like a really six metric of success, I guess I’m saying. Um, And then from like a, I guess, financial and brand perspective, uh, the community that I’ve built has led me to book like really great work. Um, I’ve worked with like a lot of the DMOs and tourism boards here in Canada, and I absolutely love doing that kind of work.
It’s my favorite thing to do. Um. It pays well, which is nice, but it also gives me an opportunity to like see a place and understand a place in the kind of depth that you’re not always able to do as a regular tourist, um, which is something that’s really special to me.
Jared: What types of stuff do you find you’re gravitating towards on social media?
You know, there’s so many different platforms, whether it’s from Facebook to Instagram, YouTube, and then, you know, you’ve got all sorts of variations in that. YouTube, is it shorts? Is it? You know, more long horizontal style video. So what type of stuff are you gravitating towards as it relates to travel?
Erin: Yeah. So YouTube. I’m not doing like long form, uh, landscape style videos. Um, I would say I create primarily for Instagram. That’s where I find that my community is the strongest. And then from Instagram, I’ll, I’ll basically just repurpose everything for elsewhere. Um, so Instagram is the main focus from a social perspective and then threads.
has become only recently, actually more of a focus for me. I’ve just found the conversation on threads really nice and, uh, the engagement there really nice. Um, so yeah, I typically create at this time, they’re really pushing carousels. So often what I do is like, if I come up with a video concept, um, so for example, like a video concept.
that I came up with recently was to make a video about how to be a responsible snowbird. Um, at this time of year, a lot of people are traveling South, whether it’s like for the entire winter or for a few weeks or just a few days just to escape the cold. Um, so I wanted to create like a message around how to do that in a responsible way, how to be a good tourist when you head South.
Um, and so with that concept, I’ve created first a real later, I’m going to. Change it into a carousel. So like take the same information, um, but create a carousel out of that. Um, I’ve created a thread, like a thread for threads, uh, sharing the same information and then the videos will be reposted to Facebook, YouTube Shorts, um, and TikTok.
Jared: What is, um, what’s the key to threads? You’re like the third person in the last couple of months that talked about threads. Everyone has announced, right? And I think most people probably, you know, went and signed up, got it all figured out and then maybe haven’t done much with it. Like, so what’s going on with threads?
Maybe tell us what is, you know, what you’re seeing work there just so people can have a little idea about if it’s something they should, you know, jump into.
Erin: Um, I’m just finding, like, great discussions there. Like, as someone who just, like, loves to debate things, like, debate responsible tourism especially, I’ve just found that, like, yeah, the algorithm is algorithming for me there.
Um, I’m finding people that are interested in the same topics as me, and so it’s actually growing my community beyond, like, the reach I had on Instagram. It also helps that if you have a audience on Instagram already, when you join threads, like people are automatically prompted to follow you. So when I started using threads, I already had a built in community that was based off my Instagram community.
So I think that’s why I’ve found it like really nice because that community is already there. And the algorithm seems to be good at like expanding that community. Um, like, interestingly, I’ve been trying with blue sky as well and I just find blue sky, like, It’s hard to find your community there, it just is not working for me, like I will post the exact same content or variations of the same content on Blue Sky and it just doesn’t like have the same reach.
Um, yeah, and I’m finding threads is nice because, like, at least for me on threads, I share more sort of behind the scenes. It is very common in the travel blogging space that people become, um, involved in like courses and selling information about like how to become a blogger. And this is like something that people often ask me, like, will you make a course?
Will you give me tips or advice or an ebook on how I can do what you’re doing? And this is something I’ve never wanted to do. Um, but on threads, I find it interesting because people do share kind of behind the scenes of being a travel blogger and I have found it to be a nice space to share my sort of like thoughts about being a creator, being a blogger.
Um, Without like having to create a course about it.
Jared: Um, you have mentioned brand deals a couple of times now. Um, and, uh, talk about what that looks like. If you could maybe give us an example. Um, you’ve related it to your podcast. You related it to certain types of content you’re creating, but what does a brand deal look like?
I’m sure most people are gonna be familiar with a brand deal, but hearing you talk more about the types of brand deals you’re doing would be really helpful.
Erin: Yeah, I’m doing brand deals mostly with like travel related products and companies. Um, I do them in different ways. So for example, the biggest brand deal I’ve done for my podcast was with world nomads.
They sponsored, um, an entire season of the show. And so every episode we had a host read ad. Um, so that was like a year long contract on a monthly basis. Um, that included, I believe it was like Two ad reads per month on the show. Um, but most of the brand deals I do, I would say are for social media. So typically it’s like a product.
Um, so for example, like the company aisle sent me their product and paid me to create content, um, to go out to my audience. And then sometimes I’ll also negotiate to provide them UGC, which they can then license and use on their end, um, to promote on their channels.
Jared: How do you find these brand deals? Or if they come to you, what are they saying in terms of how they found you and why they wanted to partner with you?
Erin: Typically if they come to me and they’ve found me, it’s because of the messaging that I’m sharing. That’s why they’re interested in working with me. Um, other times I’ve noticed it’s because Of the kind of like technology that I use, I guess, like I I’m big on using a drone to shoot content. Um, so I’ve had like other drone companies reach out to me interested in having me like showcase how their drones work.
Um, but for the most part, it’s the, the fit of the like responsible, sustainable tourism angle. Um. Yeah, to be honest, when brands reach out to me, it’s usually that they want to just like send me free stuff and have me make them content for free, essentially. Um, and so often I say no to them. Typically, like if it’s a brand deal, it’s a brand that I’ve reached out to on my own just because I want to work with them.
Um, and so I pitch them and then we work out. or negotiate a contract from there. Um, yeah, it is, it’s a hard space to be in. It’s like very oversaturated. There are tons of creators of every size, um, trying to land brand deals. And because of this, because of the oversaturation, a lot of companies know that like, They can just get this done for free.
They can just send someone their product and they’ll do a whole campaign for them for free. Um, so I would say actually it’s like my least favorite type of work to do just because there’s so much frustrating negotiation that goes on. And it honestly feels like a little offensive sometimes what brands think you’ll do for them for free.
I just get so annoyed. I’ve
Jared: heard this before. I was at a little bit of a mastermind meetup. And I had a friend there telling me like how much he makes on a brand deal. And then what he had to do for it. And I was like, that doesn’t sound like that much work. And he’s like, it’s awful. I don’t want to do it anymore.
It’s just terrible. What’s wrong. What’s and he’s like, it’s the brand dealing with it, back and the fourth, the change requests a little. Things you feel are like, come on. And they’re like, no, it has to be this way. And so you kind of echoed a lot of what you’re saying.
Erin: Yeah. I also just find like, often they’re like sending me a script.
They want me to just like read the script in the video. And I always tried to explain to them, like, actually you’re hiring me to speak to my audience and the P the best person to do that is me. And so you need to give me like the creative freedom to like share this message in a way that works for my audience.
And only I know that. Um, A lot of brands like don’t, don’t want to follow that model in working with creators and so yeah, it is, it’s a frustrating type of work to do. It can pay very well. I just find like with the effort that goes into the negotiation and the pitching, um, I’m not sure that it’s worth it.
Jared: I’m going to, because when we talk about brand deals and other episodes previously, I get these questions, um, uh, in the YouTube video. So I’ll ask the questions that I get just because I know that someone is thinking of them. And we’ll probably ask this question. Um, he’ll probably ask it even though I ask you actually, anyway, I digress.
Um, what, like for someone who is interested in pursuing that, cause the question typically is like, I’ve tried. Going after brand deals, and I just don’t seem to get anywhere. Are there any tips you have for people who do want to pursue brand deals or at least try them out to see if maybe they are a good fit for the type of content they produce and for their specific industry?
Erin: Yeah,
I think having like a more general niche will probably benefit you if that’s the type of work that you, you aspire to do, I think. It is limiting being in the responsible travel space because I feel like a, I feel that I have to be very selective about who I work with because I need to represent the values that I talk about so actively.
So for example, like I don’t work with corporate hotels, a lot of travel bloggers do, this is like a great. Brand deal to do if you are a travel creator. I don’t do it because it doesn’t fit into what I preach on my channels Which is to book locally owned hotels So there’s a lot of doors that are closed to me because of this This is also part of why I like to work full time because I can very selectively choose who I work with because my Bills are on the line.
I don’t need to pay my bills with this money. And so I, I have the space to be selective like that. But if your goal is to make like a large income from creating, I think having like a more generalized niche or niche that isn’t limited by that kind of value system is going to give you a lot more flexibility and who you can pitch, who you can work for.
Um. Yeah, and I would just say, like, you just, you just have to be committed to pitching a lot, um, and standing your ground, I would say, like, from the very beginning, you should be charging rates, you should never be doing these exchanges for free, um, and I think this is really important, especially for small creators to hear, because we need to shift, sort of, as a collective, towards Thank you very much.
Demanding this always, because when there are those creators that will take things for free, um, it means that those brands aren’t learning that, like, this is an industry norm. We need to make it an industry norm.
Jared: You set my transition up perfectly. Um, I can tell you host a podcast, teeing up the next question, like without even maybe realizing it, uh, full time job.
And I wanted to talk about that. I wanted to talk about how you’re able to grow this and balance this while working a full time job. It has ups and it has downs, right? I’m sure we can all imagine the upsides. Like you said, you have a paycheck, a steady job. So your, your, your side hustle here, if you want to call it that your website.
Your brand is not required to make a certain amount of money every month to pay your bills. The downsides is you have a full time job, so there’s a lot to get done. And you have a big chunk of the week already gone because you have that full time job. How have you balanced it? Why have you chosen to, you know, stay on a full time job?
What a lot of people would pursue, uh, to pursue leaving that. Like, I’m just curious to get your insights and your perspectives there.
Erin: Yeah. Um, I guess the main reason is because of my niche, I, I’m really committed to representing the values that I talk about. And I have just found over my last few years of experience that is very hard to piece together a full time living in this niche.
I think that that might change in the future. And I am finding that like, in the last year, my earnings have grown Quite a lot, especially with working with DMOs and tourism boards. So I wouldn’t say it’s like out of the question for the future that I work full time this way. But yeah, like if you ask my husband, he’ll just say she’s a workaholic.
Like I love to work. Um, I find working on my blog and my podcast really fun. So it’s. I hate to say this, but it’s like kind of a pastime for me. I just really enjoy it. Um, and I also enjoy my full time job. So I think I’m just a workaholic to be honest. Um, yeah, I carve out like a lot of time during the week.
Uh, I would say like, I probably spend like one to two hours a day towards the end of the day, either like in the morning before I start my day job or in the evening. Um, yeah. Where I work on stuff and I’m just like really good at going into like focus mode. So if I’m writing a blog, like, and I decide I’m going to work on this blog for an hour, I can write it really quickly.
Um, I think this is another thing that has been like really helpful for me is just I’ve always been a very fast writer. I’ve noticed that I can write a blog a lot faster than other people can. Um, and this has been to my advantage for sure.
Jared: Are there any ways that you’re um, Whether it’s harnessing technology or whether it’s just a result of some habits you’ve built up that you are maybe, uh, developed efficiency techniques.
Like, are there any techniques you have for maximizing the hour or two you put in every day on this?
Erin: Yeah, I think because I mentioned earlier like there are specific types of blogs that I write because I have such a formula for how I structure these blogs, um, that adds to like how quickly I can write them.
Um, I also find when I’m focusing on one, like I mentioned, I’ll always be writing about one country for, For like an extended period of time. Right now I’m writing about Nepal and because I’m writing all this content at the same time, um, a lot of the information I need is very like top of mind. I have all the images ready, everything, all the information is there in top of mind, which makes the process of writing a lot faster.
And then in terms of technology, I do use ai, but in more of like an ideation way. I would never use AI to like write an entire blog. This is mostly ’cause I actually enjoy writing them. I’m not gonna like. get rid of the thing that I actually enjoy doing. Um, but I’ll use it to like, help with ideation, to help rephrase things if I need to rephrase something.
Sometimes if I don’t know how to like, start writing a section, I’ll ask ChatGPT to like, spit it out for me, but I’ll never use exactly what it gives me. I just use it as inspiration essentially.
Jared: What’s um, as we kind of bring this to a, to, to, to start to wrap up here, like you talked about how you’ve seen this increase in interest over the past year or so, and specifically how you’re choosing to tackle the travel space, you know, and, and sustainable travel, what’s next for you on the horizon, whether it’s as a result of what you’re seeing from the increase in interest, whether it’s also a result of, you talked about the increase of AI and it’s, you know, it’s, it’s kind of prominence in the online world.
Um, you talked about SEO changing so much and Google being very different than it was a year or two ago. Like what’s next for you? What do you have on the horizon? Where are you, um, pursuing with, um, with your brand?
Erin: It is very doom and gloom out there for travel bloggers right now. A lot of travel bloggers feel that there is not a future for the travel blogging space.
Um, I would be lying if I say I don’t also worry about that, but because my blog is still doing quite all right. Um, I’m committed to like continuing and also I have found like as long as I’m updating older content, I, I’m actually seeing my traffic increase again. Um, so I will continue blogging for as long as I can.
Um, but aside from that, like I’m putting a lot more focus into other streams. Um, this is a strategy that most bloggers are following now. Um, for me, this is mostly DMO work and tourism boards. Um, It’s work that I really love doing. And so that’s sort of where I’m focusing my energy outside of focusing on the blog.
Um, so yeah, I’d like to build up like my network in that area and just continue working with more GMOs, hopefully beyond Canada. Canada has been my focus because I do blog a lot about Canada given that I’m from here. Um, but in the future I’d like to start working with tourism boards around the world.
Jared: Aaron, where can people follow along with, um, with what you’re doing? You know, we talked about your website at the outset. We’ll say it again, um, or feel free to, you know, share it again if that’s the best spot. Um, maybe your social media channels. Like where can people follow along with what you’re doing?
Erin: Yeah. Peanutravels. org is my main channel and then on social media. Everywhere, I’m the same handle. It’s Pina travels, P I N A travels. Um, and then my podcast is curious tourism. You can listen to it for free on any podcast app. Um, and we are with the VoyaScape network. So if you’re interested in travel podcasting, you can find a whole collection of podcasts there that are great.
Jared: Final question from me. I didn’t ask it at the outset. I should have, where did the, where did the URL and brand name come from?
Erin: Oh, actually, it’s funny you didn’t ask that. Most people do. I just threw up my
Jared: list, for the record. Yeah.
Erin: That’s kind of refreshing. Um, this was a crucial mistake I made when I started it.
And this is what shows that I wasn’t really thinking about the future when I started blogging. Um, when I started travel blogging, I had it in my head that I would not. Like my personal life would stay mine and like my personal identity wouldn’t be all over the internet So I thought oh, yeah, not well When you Google me, you know who I am Yeah, Pino was my nickname when I worked in Italy in a hostel there.
I was working there for several months And, um, basically long story short, I’m very allergic to peanuts. And I worked with a bunch of Australians who thought this was funny. And so as a joke, they started calling me peanuts. Um, and then the Italians we worked for couldn’t say that. So they just like changed it to Pina and it just became my name and it was my nickname for many years.
So when I started blogging, I thought, Oh, it’d be cute to use this like nickname. That, um, came to me like through my travels. Um, now I kind of regret it because yeah, I get emails from people who think my name is Pina. It just, it’s a bit confusing. So be careful about that if you’re planning on starting a travel blog.
Jared: Those Australians have, that’s exactly the kind of humor I’ve, uh, I’ve heard of them.
Erin: Yes. That’s
Jared: wonderful. Um, I’ll tell a quick, funny story just to also put you, make you feel better. My first business was a photography business. I named it. Um, and you can probably with the people listening to this podcast, you could probably find this website from 25 years ago, but I named it optical realities, photography, thinking it was really cute.
And most phone calls that I got were like, hi, this is a Jared with optical realized photography. No, no ma’am. We don’t do contact lenses. I’m sorry. Yeah, no, we’re actually a photography studio. Yeah, I know it is a bad, I’ll pass that on to the owner. I agree. Bad name. Didn’t last long. I did end up changing it because it was really bad for business, but don’t feel bad.
We’ve all made that mistake at some point.
Erin: It’s, it’s going fine. I just, I looked into changing it and eventually I was like, well, I’m going to lose all my domain authority if I do that. So I’m not going to do it. Ah,
Jared: and you are thinking about SEO full circle. Yeah. A good end to the podcast. Hey, Erin, thanks so much.
This has been a real treat. Thanks for sharing your success. Thanks for sharing how you, how you did it. And thanks for sharing, um, just kind of all the tips along the way. I really appreciate it. It’s been a great interview.
Erin: Thanks for having me.
