Optimization: “The action of making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource.”
This week has been all about making the most of the current situation. With a solid block of 4-6 weeks in Adelaide, I’ve taken the time to start going back through all of my 600 blog articles and updating and optimizing them. It’s a tedious process but one that yields benefits for years to come. The general idea is to look at the old blog post and update it with any new info and photos. Then you check what keywords it is currently ranking for and try and optimize the article to favor keywords it can begin gaining more traffic from. The final step is to add affiliate links for hotels, camera products, insurance and activities where relevant.
For the past three years I had only ever added a few affiliates here and there but with over 400,000 views there is potential to earn more with in-text affiliates than with Mediavine, which is my ad network. Unfortunately, this means I have to go back through three years of blog posts and add everything in one by one. It is taking a lot of time but when the results are immediate with monthly highs of referred bookings and sold items the motivation to continue comes easily.
The goal is to create a substantial passive income, which ultimately gives me the freedom to chase projects and travels I am genuinely inspired about rather than being influenced by money. It’s a strange idea that to be free from money (the devil) you have to find a way to earn enough of it consistently that it doesn’t control your thoughts, decisions, and ideas. That is financial freedom.
It’s been a relatively dull week in terms of action but that is just how it goes when you are a digital nomad. Some weeks you spend 10 hours a day on the computer and some weeks you just don’t open it.