Chihuei Liu has been in the travel business for a long time – first as a flight attendant, now as the blogger behind Discover Over There.
Chihuei (rhymes with freeway, as she likes to say!) works full-time in tech sales, so she doesn’t have oceans of time to devote to her site. All the same, she’s found efficient and effective ways to monetize it.
To free up Chihuei’s time for the things she enjoys, three AI Travelpayouts tools step in to handle the hard work. Let’s get to know them now:
- Emerald automatically places affiliate tools for the highest number of conversions.
- Booking Booster studies the behavior of users on the site and, at the right moment, shows them the brand offers that are most likely to bring you money.
- LinkSwitcher automatically converts regular links and links from other affiliate platforms into Travelpayouts’.
The blog
Chihuei started Discover Over There in 2021 to write about city travel, and she’s now homing in on a juicy niche: design-forward hotels around the world.
Did we mention she likes to travel? She’s written about her experiences on six continents, covering cities as far-flung as Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, Taipei, and San Francisco (where she’s based). Along the way, she’s grown her monthly traffic to 62,000+ visitors and earned a following of 60k on Instagram.
Monetizing on a tight schedule
Working in tech in San Francisco, and using all her PTO to fly across oceans, doesn’t leave Chihuei a whole lot of free time. That’s why she’s always had an eagle eye out for efficient ways to monetize her blog – and it’s why she loves Travelpayouts’ AI tools:
As someone who works full-time in AI, I’ve seen its power firsthand. So when I saw that you all rolled out AI tools, I knew I just had to try it! I only get to blog for a few hours every night, so I was hoping for positive results from any AI tool, and Travelpayouts definitely delivered.
Discover Over There had been bringing in a little cash, but once Chihuei started using Emerald, LinkSwitcher, and Booking Booster, her revenue exploded – from $87 in January to nearly $1,155 in July.
☝️ Here and below, the numbers include both confirmed and pending (potential) bookings.
How Chihuei uses AI tools
1. Emerald
Her favorite tool is Emerald, which automatically places affiliate tools in content to maximize conversions.
Having smart recommendations turned on is so… smart!
My favorite part is the set-and-forget mindset. I never have to worry about going back and linking to something if I forgot. Also, I love that the algorithm knows what my readers will want and auto-recommends based on their preferences, lifestyle, etc.
The result? More time for crafting amazing content and more earnings: March — over $35, May — almost $64, June — over $89.
2. Booking Booster
Booking Booster, meanwhile, studies the behavior of Chihuei’s visitors and shows them specially curated offers that they’re likely to book. She just recently started using it, and it’s already brought her an extra $170.
3. LinkSwitcher
Finally, LinkSwitcher helped Chihuei optimize existing content by monetizing all of her non-affiliate links.
I was super impressed with LinkSwitcher because I knew I had a lot of unoptimized links on my page from years ago. Instead of going back to change the links, LinkSwitcher did that for me and saved hours of copy-paste drudgery.
For someone whose work and play are both fast-paced, that kind of automation is a life-changer.
Freed up to dream big
Take a cue from Chihuei: let AI handle your routine tasks so you can focus on traveling, creating, earning – and planning your next big step.
For Chihuei, that step is to keep growing while niching down into elegantly designed hotels:
I plan to continue balancing my full-time career with blogging, as I’m genuinely passionate about helping busy professionals travel more comfortably and efficiently.
That means sharing fast-paced itineraries and showcasing beautiful luxury boutique stays around the world. Eventually, I’d love to maybe launch my own travelwear brand – something that helps business travelers move from point A to point B in style and comfort.
We’ll be here for it!
Takeaways: How to boost your blog game today
I’m a huge believer in testing everything, and running experiments – which means you should definitely start by experimenting with AI. It’s not going anywhere, and you might as well use it to your advantage to generate more revenue! What do you have to lose?
- Turn on AI tools. Emerald, LinkSwitcher, and Booking Booster will help you multiply your earnings.
- Keep using standard tools. Links and widgets deliver consistently strong results.
- Track your site’s performance. Use our free Content Analytics dashboard to see which posts, brands, and tools are generating revenue, and which need to be tweaked.
And as always, Travelpayouts will be here to help in any way we can. 💙
