Meet Tim and Ting, a pair of Taiwanese travel bloggers whose content strays from the beaten path \u2013 all the way to Middle Earth (read: New Zealand).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traditional Chinese websites for Taiwanese traveler favorites, like Japan and Korea, were already abundant. The duo thus opted to provide a comprehensive guide to another Asia-Pacific location that\u2019s well worth visiting. In doing so, they\u2019ve carved out their own niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Tim started as a hobby has now become a full-time job for two. That means it has to generate income \u2013 and it does. In a single month, Tim Ting Travel<\/a> generated over $9,000 in revenue on Travelpayouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read on to learn how Tim and Ting use Travelpayouts Drive, including Switch Links, Targeted Offers and Content Analytics, to save time on links and test what works for their cleverly crafted guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As consumers of travel content themselves, Tim and Ting knew first-hand the frustration of trying (and failing) to find all-encompassing guides to the places they wanted to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n Even though there were so many blogs out there, not a single one offered a one-stop solution to all our questions. So, if that\u2019s the case, why not create a blog like that myself?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n On top of continuing to cover New Zealand, the pair are now branching out to the US. In both cases, they draw from their own experience.<\/p>\n\n\n We wanted to create the most comprehensive and complete website possible to address the pain points we\u2019d encountered ourselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n “Comprehensive” is not a figure of speech here. One of their guides compares 13 car rental companies; another works through six Milford Sound cruise operators. A normal article takes seven to ten days to research and write. A guide the size of the ones mentioned takes two to three weeks. Those two articles are among the best-performing pages on the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since its creators are very much SEO-focused, Tim Ting Travel\u2019s traffic is primarily search-based. Almost all of that traffic comes from Google, and Tim is the first to call that a risk rather than a strategy. For a creator starting out with few resources, he thinks one channel is the right place to begin. For anyone past that stage, he doesn’t recommend copying him and Ting.<\/p>\n\n\n Diversifying through other channels is the only way to avoid the risk of relying on a single source of traffic \u2013 for example, the impact of Google AI Overview has been quite significant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n But they don\u2019t write articles purely with search performance in mind: the goal is first to create articles that address readers\u2019 real needs:<\/p>\n\n\n The most important point really comes down to this: \u2018Do you understand your readers? Can you solve their pain points?\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n Tim and Ting weren\u2019t new to affiliate marketing before joining Travelpayouts. Previously, they relied on the Pretty Link plugin, managing the process manually by removing existing affiliate IDs, wrapping links, and inserting them one by one \u2013 just three steps, but repeating them over and over was time-consuming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair found out about Travelpayouts by accident, after coming across a monetization opportunity on the platform. They moved over gradually, shifting part of their affiliate partnerships from other programs to Travelpayouts. They then decided to try Drive \u2013 Travelpayouts\u2019 AI-powered monetization system, which helps bloggers automatically find and add relevant affiliate links across their content. Marketing representative Danil recommended the tool to them. Eugenia, Travelpayouts\u2019 partnerships manager, then helped Tim fine-tune the setup. Along the way, they ran several rounds of on-off tests of Drive features and adjusted the settings as the data came in.<\/p>\n\n\n At the time, we found the tool\u2019s mechanism quite appealing because it allowed us to generate more affiliate opportunities without affecting our readers. Plus, after reviewing the setup instructions, it didn\u2019t seem too complicated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n One function that stood out for Tim and Ting was Switch Links<\/a>, which removed the need for their old manual process.<\/p>\n\n\n We can simply paste the link and it\u2019s automatically converted into an affiliate link \u2013 this has definitely saved us a lot of time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n Switch Links converts the links already in an article into affiliate links automatically. The income from those links still depends on the article and its search traffic. But the tool takes over the repetitive part, so the time goes into writing instead of managing links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other function that caught Tim and Ting\u2019s attention was Content Analytics<\/a>, which they say is more detailed than analytics they\u2019ve encountered on most affiliate platforms. They can break down performance by article, tool, order type, and affiliate partner.<\/p>\n\n\n This allows us, for the first time, to use such detailed data to conduct multi-faceted cross-validation and analysis, which is extremely helpful for optimizing our content overall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n They don\u2019t use data simply to track results. They use it to test whether new monetization opportunities are genuinely adding value. For example, they\u2019re currently analyzing the Targeted Offers<\/a> function:<\/p>\n\n\n We\u2019re still conducting more in-depth testing in this area, particularly focusing on whether Drive\u2019s Targeted Offers affect the conversion rates of the original products featured in our articles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n Switch Links has become Tim and Ting\u2019s biggest Drive earner. The over $9,000 their site generated on Travelpayouts in a single month is the result of how the whole site is run and of a gradual move of affiliate partnerships to the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Targeted Offers is still a work in progress. They have switched it on and off several times, adjusted the settings with their Partner Manager, and checked the numbers after every change. Drive has also shown them monetization opportunities they hadn\u2019t expected, such as Trip.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turn on Drive, and you\u2019ll get access to Switch Links and Targeted Offers. Then use Content Analytics to see which ones work best for your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides running the website, Tim and Ting also offer other products and services. These include e-books, consulting services, and customized itinerary planning, which they also integrate affiliate links into. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair didn\u2019t launch these products simply for the sake of additional income:<\/p>\n\n\n I personally believe that market feedback was a key catalyst for launching our own products.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n However, in addition to giving their audience what they want, branching out has brought them new opportunities. As a result, they have diversified their revenue streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for the future, they are currently working on expanding both in terms of the destinations they cover and audience they can reach:<\/p>\n\n\n In addition to writing articles about Europe, we\u2019re also developing our own AI tool to see if we can make our content accessible to audiences in different languages. This is a project currently in the testing phase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n As you can see, AI is becoming essential. It can not only help create content, but also analyze and monetize it \u2013 as Content Analytics and Drive from Travelpayouts demonstrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFinding a niche \u2013 and owning it with comprehensive content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Getting the manual work off the table<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Checking the data instead of guessing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
From blog to a wider travel business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n