Though Sean Lau studied civil engineering, he shortly realized that was not the sector for him. As an alternative, he set off to see the world.
He created his first website, Living Out Lau, to doc his travels however, at first, running a blog proved to be rather more difficult than he thought it might be. An opportunity encounter in Guatemala finally gave him a number of the instruments he wanted to search out success.
He went on to create two extra journey blogs, constructed from a ardour for these nations: The Turkey Traveler and Travel Thailand Together.
In the present day he continues to journey the globe and earns $5k per thirty days from his three blogs.
Maintain studying to search out out:
- Why he began his websites
- What occurred in Guatemala
- How a lot site visitors he is getting
- The place his revenue comes from
- His foremost advertising and marketing methods
- His ideas on search engine optimisation
- His method to key phrase analysis and hyperlink constructing
- How he creates content material
- How he grows his electronic mail lists
- His go-to sources and instruments
- His foremost problem
- His best accomplishment
- His ideas on failure
- His greatest mistake
- His recommendation for different entrepreneurs
Meet Sean Lau
I am a 30-year-old explorer, initially hatched in Hong Kong after which transplanted to Jersey Metropolis.
I initially dabbled in civil engineering however quickly traded my onerous hat for a backpack. With a complete of $20,000 in my checking account, I took a leap of religion to solo journey the world.
My adventures took me everywhere in the globe, from the Andes of Peru to the disaster of Chernobyl in Ukraine. However as my financial savings began to dwindle, I appeared for methods to generate profits, and that’s when my first weblog, Living Out Lau, was born.
My first makes an attempt at blogging were about as successful as a penguin attempting to fly. However then destiny launched me to some successful travel bloggers in a random small city in Guatemala.
After absorbing their data like a sponge and making use of a number of the methods, my weblog started to achieve traction and began taking off, and ultimately reached Mediavine.
Since then, it has allowed me to journey full-time and share my journey experiences as I proceed to discover the world!
Why He Created His Websites
I began Residing Out Lau as a result of I believed, “Hey, who would not need free stays and a few additional bucks whereas doing what they love—touring?” Seems, I used to be clueless about the right way to make that occur.
Then got here alongside The Turkey Traveler and Travel Thailand Together, my joint ventures with my enterprise companion. We completely adored these two nations, and we needed to assist others fall in love with them, too.
All three of the journey blogs supply a mixture of sensible recommendation, in-depth guides, and private anecdotes.
As for progress, effectively, it has been a combined bag.
Residing Out Lau, which I began in 2018, took its time, reaching 50k periods after about 3 years. The Turkey Traveler (2022) sprinted forward, hitting 100k periods in simply 9 months. And Journey Thailand Collectively (2023)? It obtained to about 30k periods in a yr.
The expansion of the blogs closely is determined by how a lot content material I’m capable of put out.
As I dive deeper into running a blog, it turns into crystal clear that diversification is essential, and I am not simply speaking about the place your site visitors comes from.
It is about at all times having your radar on for contemporary alternatives and staying nimble to maintain up with the ever-evolving tech panorama.
As for site visitors, Residing Out Lau will get slightly below 100k periods per thirty days. The Turkey website used to recover from 100k per thirty days, however now dropped right down to about 30k a month due to the HCU. The Thailand website will get about 30k per thirty days and, like my authentic weblog, was not affected by the replace.
How A lot He’s Incomes
It varies fairly a bit, however the websites earn about $5k a month by means of a mixture of associates, sponsorships, and promoting.
It took about 4 years for me to attain this stage, however since then, I’ve had 5-figure months as effectively.
As for a way a lot I work, it varies since I journey a lot, however wherever from 10 hours to 40 hours per week. I at all times goal to do a minimum of 20 hours per week, so I’ll make up for it on days once I’m not doing something.
The factor with running a blog is that there’s at all times one thing to do, so every time I’ve some free time, I simply pop open my laptop computer and get just a little bit of labor performed.
Sean’s Most important Advertising and marketing Technique
With regards to my primary advertising and marketing technique, I might must say it is search engine optimisation. It is merely one of the simplest ways to drive natural site visitors to my websites. However there’s extra to only search engine optimisation for getting natural site visitors.
Consider your web site as a tree.
Earlier than it might probably develop tall and robust, you should plant the precise seeds and basis. Which means beginning with a site identify that is each catchy and brandable. One thing that sticks in folks’s minds and makes them need to come again.
However maybe my greatest tip/secret for natural traffic is to build your site on an expired domain. This may give you a head begin by way of search engine optimisation, as these domains typically include pre-existing backlinks and authority even when it doesn’t, having an aged area identify may help Google discover your website a lot faster.
That’s how I used to be capable of develop The Turkey Traveler so shortly. It’s the one expired area I used. It was a weblog a few years in the past however had been deserted for a very long time once I bought it.
It solely had a DA of 4 and about 3 referring domains, however the first submit I revealed ranked within the prime 3 inside per week of being revealed.
I didn’t imagine it, so I attempted a model new area for my Thailand website, and we aren’t seeing almost the identical progress we did with the Turkey website and the one notable distinction between the 2 is the expired area.
With regards to discovering an excellent, expired area, you’ll most likely have extra luck with platforms that promote aged websites (like OdysGlobal). If you happen to don’t thoughts doing a little bit of homework, then auctions (like GoDaddy Auctions) are completely fantastic.
That is the place you’ll have the ability to get an excellent deal, however you’ll must put in a little bit of time.
His Ideas on search engine optimisation
search engine optimisation remains to be some of the vital features of my enterprise, particularly because it drives a really focused viewers that may convert simply. It’s answerable for almost 90% of the site visitors on all my websites.
There are lots of components to my search engine optimisation technique, and it begins with my current content material. I search for key phrases that may be interlinked with my current content material and much like one thing I’ve written (and is rating).
If I don’t discover one thing that’s much like one thing I’ve written, then one thing I can interlink to is sufficient. It’s much like creating topical authority.
Then, in fact, you search for low-difficulty key phrases utilizing instruments like Ahrefs and KeySearch. I’m not too frightened concerning the quantity of the keyword as long as I believe I can rank within the prime 3 for it. Even a key phrase with “10” quantity on Ahrefs can drive lots of of site visitors per thirty days.
Then comes the writing, which I typically outsource to my writers. My writers don’t use AI (so far as I do know) and this may positively be helpful.
After the content material is written, I’ll internally hyperlink it with my related articles, typically manually or utilizing Hyperlink Whisper.
Key phrase Analysis
My keyword research process is kind of natural.
As a result of I typically journey to the locations that I write about, my key phrase analysis course of entails placing myself within the sneakers of the traveler. This helps me to search out smaller however important queries that aren’t solely straightforward to rank for, however one thing I can supply worthwhile recommendation on.
The identical queries typically come up, however only for completely different locations, so I find yourself with a ton of key phrases that I’ve an excellent likelihood of rating excessive.
I attempt to not keyword-mine different journey bloggers and journey websites, except I see that the content material is severely missing some good info. There’s sufficient of the identical info being regurgitated all over the place on the web, and we don’t want extra of that.
Hyperlink Constructing
Hyperlink constructing is likely one of the most important components of working a web based enterprise trying to achieve natural site visitors. It is notably vital throughout the early phases, but it surely falls off when you attain an excellent quantity of authority.
In my hyperlink constructing efforts, I prioritize seed websites, that are thought of by Google as extremely authoritative (assume Forbes, HuffPost, and so forth.). I take advantage of a mixture of private outreach and websites like HARO for this.
Infrequently, I additionally guest post on other travel blogs, as it’s vital to take care of relevance together with your backlinks.
I as soon as experimented with hyperlink constructing businesses that provided 3-way hyperlink swaps, however the high quality of the websites they supplied was disappointingly low. In actual fact, their companies could have performed extra hurt than good.
Sean’s Content material Creation Course of
Presently, I’ve two writers who write for me utilizing the outlines I give them. Then I edit them earlier than passing them on to my VA, who publishes them on-line.
I attempt to get a minimum of 1 article revealed per week on every website, however typically it isn’t potential with touring and managing three websites.
- On Residing Out Lau, there are roughly 270 articles
- On The Turkey Traveler, there are roughly 160 articles
- On Journey Thailand Collectively, there are roughly 80 articles
His E-mail Listing
On Residing Out Lau, now we have a really small electronic mail listing as a result of I haven’t put within the effort to develop it, which I deeply remorse.
On The Turkey Traveler, I do have an electronic mail listing, and it’s rising fairly properly. I take advantage of Develop to assist me get extra subscribers for that.
And on Journey Thailand Collectively, we at the moment don’t have an electronic mail listing, however I’ll develop that when we attain round 50k month-to-month periods. At that time, the effort and time of managing an electronic mail listing will likely be extra value it.
For the time being, we’re simply utilizing Develop to develop it because it’s fairly passive. However additional down the road, we’d must adapt new methods if we need to develop it extra shortly.
His Favourite Assets
I’d suggest trying out Area of interest Pursuits, Authority Hacker, and Matt Diggity.
These guys share actual case research and run a number of websites, so that you get an even bigger image of which search engine optimisation methods work and which don’t.
Be sure you community and communicate to different bloggers. There are tons of running a blog Fb teams on the market the place you’ll be able to join with different people who find themselves in the identical boat as you.
Ask questions, share your experiences, and absorb their recommendation. You may be stunned at how a lot you’ll be able to study from these on-line communities.
And lastly, do not forget that there is not any scarcity of self-proclaimed gurus on the market. Each Tom, Dick, and Harry has an opinion, however that does not imply it is best for you.
So whenever you hear some recommendation, do not simply swallow it entire. Do your homework and do some on-line analysis earlier than you determine to use any technique.
His Go-To Instruments
KeySearch, Fb teams, and Jasper are three of my most helpful instruments as an entrepreneur.
KeySearch: This device is my main device for search engine optimisation. It helps me discover key phrases which might be related to my enterprise and have an excellent stability of excessive search quantity and low competitors.
Plus, it supplies insights on backlinks, competitor evaluation, and extra.
Fb teams: In addition to sharing cute cat movies, I take advantage of Fb teams for networking and studying. These are communities full of different bloggers and entrepreneurs who share their experiences, recommendation, and typically even their failures (that are simply as worthwhile to study from!).
It’s additionally an excellent place to study extra about your prospects instantly if you’re planning to promote a product.
Jasper: Jasper has been my content material writing assistant for some time now, and it’s notably useful when I’m having a inventive block.
I take advantage of it for articles, social media content, and typically even writing emails. It has positively been a game-changer!
Sean’s Most important Problem
Maintaining with the quickly altering digital panorama has been the most important problem for me. The arrival of AI, fixed updates to the Google Search algorithm, and shifting consumer consideration all require us bloggers to adapt shortly.
The second main problem I’ve encountered is constructing a dependable workforce.
Hiring a digital assistant appeared like a logical step to dump some duties and liberate my time. Nonetheless, discovering the precise VA who can work independently, has consideration to element, and is passionate concerning the work has been harder than I anticipated.
Earlier than you discover the precise particular person, be sure to have very particular directions/SOPs that they’ll observe. It is extremely unlikely you’ll rent somebody who is aware of your precise procedures.
From my expertise, typically it might probably even backfire whenever you rent somebody with comparable expertise as a result of they assume they know what to do, so that they’ll skim by means of the SOPs and directions.
Having a trial interval or trial job is important. I like having just a few potential candidates do a trial job to see how they carry out.
The ultimate product will not be crucial factor. You need to see how the candidates behave after they encounter difficulties, how a lot consideration to element they’ve, and the way they convey with you.
His Best Accomplishment
My most important accomplishment as an entrepreneur has been redefining my relationship with failure. It is now not a dead-end or an indication of defeat for me. As an alternative, I see it as a stepping stone in direction of success.
This shift in perspective has been important to my success as a blogger. It is taken away the concern and stigma related to failing and changed it with resilience and a drive to study. Now I see each as a chance for progress and enchancment. It is an opportunity to investigate what went mistaken, perceive why it occurred, and work out the right way to keep away from comparable errors sooner or later.
I didn’t at all times have this realization, however I assume I kinda developed it after attempting so many various issues and never attaining the end result I needed.
It was by no means, “Oh this didn’t work, time to surrender.” It was at all times, “Oh this didn’t work, how can I attempt a distinct approach or method it from a distinct angle?”
I assume what made my concern of failure go away was figuring out that I at all times had a backup, whether or not that was time (to attempt one thing new) or simply going again to my previous job (to have cash earlier than attempting one thing new once more).
My finish purpose was additionally one thing I really cared about. It was by no means to be wealthy, however simply to have the monetary independence to dwell fortunately.
And when you may have a purpose that you just actually care about, your failures are now not failures, however simply a part of the method.
What He Needs He Knew When He Began
If I might return to once I first began, I want I knew that running a blog is way from a simple journey. It is extra like a rollercoaster experience with numerous highs and lows.
I used to imagine that when I discovered a profitable technique, it might be clean crusing from there. Nonetheless, the fact is that there are quite a few twists and turns alongside the way in which.
You may face setbacks that may really feel disheartening, particularly after investing important time and sources.
As an illustration, a Google algorithm replace might all of the sudden make your search engine optimisation technique ineffective, or a social media platform may change its insurance policies, affecting your content material visibility. These exterior elements are past our management and may require us to pivot and adapt.
This occurred early in my running a blog profession once I was attempting to make use of social media (largely Instagram) to drive site visitors to my weblog. For a yr or two, Instagram was an excellent chunk of my website’s site visitors, however the introduction of reels and TikToks ultimately dropped my engagement.
It took me a while to understand that I needed to change my social media technique if I needed to get site visitors to my website. I ended up abandoning that technique altogether and began specializing in search engine optimisation.
Then, in fact, now we have the Google Search Algorithm updates that occur each few weeks. I’ve adjusted my content material technique and elegance of writing, and even deleted content material for that!
His Largest Mistake
Reflecting on my entrepreneurial journey, the most important mistake I made was not having a well-defined path to my finish purpose. Once I first began, I knew what my finish purpose was—to make running a blog my full-time revenue and job—however I had no concept the right way to get there.
For 2 years, I wrote articles not optimized for SEO, social media posts that weren’t designed to achieve extra engagement and followers, and principally simply had no technique on the right way to get site visitors to my website.
I attempted to navigate every thing by myself, considering I might determine all of it out by means of trial and error. Whereas this method did result in some worthwhile studying experiences, it additionally resulted in pointless errors and wasted time.
In hindsight, searching for recommendation from skilled mentors might have helped me attain my objectives sooner, whether or not that’s within the type of an search engine optimisation course or talking to fellow successful bloggers.
So, if I might return, I will surely make investments extra time in setting a well-defined path to my purpose, discovering the precise mentors, and studying from them.
His Recommendation for Different Entrepreneurs
Firstly, having a well-defined purpose is essential. Know the place you need to go and what you need your enterprise to attain.
Don’t take into consideration this simply by way of how a lot cash you’re making, but additionally concerning the affect you need to make in your business or neighborhood.
After getting that purpose, make actionable plans. A dream with out a plan is only a want.
So, map out the steps you should take to succeed in your purpose and persist with it. However keep in mind, whereas it is vital to be persistent, it is also essential to be versatile. Adapt your plan as wanted as a result of the entrepreneurial journey is never a straight line.
After getting that plan, you’ll want to hunt out all of the sources you may get your fingers on. Absorb all of the data, recommendation, and mentorship. By no means cease studying, as a result of the enterprise world is at all times evolving. Attend workshops, learn books, community with different entrepreneurs, and do not hesitate to ask for assist whenever you want it.
Most significantly, that is one thing I found after just a few years of working remotely, and that’s self-care.
Entrepreneurs are identified for his or her lengthy hours and relentless drive, but it surely’s equally vital to deal with your self, each mentally and bodily. Burnout is actual, and it might probably take a extreme toll in your means to assume clearly and make sound choices.
So take breaks, train, eat healthily, and do issues that show you how to loosen up and recharge.
Lastly, embrace failure. As an entrepreneur, you are most likely going to fail a minimum of just a few instances, and that is okay. In actual fact, it is greater than okay. It is a chance to study, develop, and are available again stronger.
Every failure brings you one step nearer to success. The bottom line is to not let it discourage you, however to stand up, mud your self off, study from it, and take a look at once more.
Entrepreneurship isn’t just about constructing a profitable enterprise, it is also about constructing a resilient and adaptable mindset.
