YOU ARE OFTEN REFERRED TO AS ONE OF THE GREATEST TRAVEL BLOGGERS IN THE WORLD. HOW DID YOU EVEN BEGIN TO BREAK INTO THE INDUSTRY? 

I started my website with a selfish goal: to make money to keep myself traveling. I wanted my website to be an online résumé where editors could see my writing and say, “Yeah, we want to hire that guy!” — and then pay me to go somewhere and write a story about it. My dream was to write guidebooks for Lonely Planet. I imagined no cooler job and it was better than working in a cubicle.

In those early days, I worked as an English teacher in Bangkok and Taiwan. Blogging was never meant to support me full–time — let alone lead to book deals, conferences, speaking events, and so much more. In fact, I didn’t care much about this website. I mean, sure, worked on it and didn’t want it to fail. But building it into something bigger than myself was not the goal. Instead, I wanted the dream: passive income. I wanted money to be coming in while I slept. I was 27 with no responsibilities. I wasn’t looking toward the future. I just wanted the good times to never end.

While I earned a little bit of money from affiliates and selling links on this site, I spent most of my time creating AdSense websites, designed solely to get people to click on Google ads. Yes, I was a scammy internet marketer! I put all that money I made back into these websites — getting people to write articles, optimizing the websites for search, and creating more websites — and lived off my teaching income. I found keywords that paid well and designed very niche and ugly websites around those subjects. Even though these sites made money, they lacked soul. As time went on, between this website, my teaching job, and those AdSense sites, I made more than enough money, earning upwards of $8,000 a month. Then one day it all changed.

I was part of this group called the Keyword Academy. It was run by two guys, Mark and a guy named Brad who led monthly consulting calls. During one, Brad said, “Matt, why are you building this crap? You know travel. You have a website that people read and like. You have a skill set. Focus on that. This shit is stupid. We only do it because it’s quick cash.” And he was right. Travel was really my passion. So, in late spring 2009, I shifted my focus back to this blog and, over time, let those other websites die or sold them off. And, when Google finally learned to filter those spammy websites out, all the people I knew from those days were left with nothing. But the experience taught me some important lessons about creating an online business.

First, until your hobby can pay your rent, don’t quit your day job. There are a lot of people telling you to “follow your passion” — but they neglect to tell you that unless your passion can pay your bills, you should keep your “unpassionate” day job. Teaching English and those scammy websites allowed me to have some income while I focused on “Nomadic Matt.” It wasn’t until the end of 2009 / early 2010 that Nomadic Matt earned enough where I needed no other sources of income.

Second, no matter how good or helpful your blog is, marketing is important. If no one knows how to find your website, it’s all for naught. Those crappy, scammy websites taught me how Google and SEO worked as well as the importance of marketing and messaging. I took that experienced to improve this website, optimizing my content for Google, created products, and started networking with bloggers outside travel. I think this is one of the things that gave me an edge over other bloggers at this time. While they focused solely on writing and social media, I focused on that as well as SEO. This ensured that I ranked high in search engines, got visitors every day, and helped get my “brand” other there (I got interviewed on CNN once because the writer found me on Google).

I hated those other websites but I will work 24/7 on this one because I love what I do. I don’t agree with basically anything I did in those early days. It was a very scammy way to make money. But I don’t regret one moment of it because it showed me a better way and helped get to where I am today.

THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF TRAVEL BLOGS OUT THERE UNSUCCESSFULLY DOING SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU DO, POSTING THEIR OWN ADVICE AND STORIES. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO CREATE YOUR OWN BRAND TO STAND OUT THE WAY YOU DO? 

As I built this community, I learned that when you create a business that helps others, you create something sustainable and gives meaning and joy to your own life. I work very hard on my website because I believe in it and that it helps people. I guess the saying is right. When you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.

The market is saturated with bloggers – there are two ways to stand out: be different and be better!  There are lots of mediocre travel blogs out there, but there is always room for a star travel blog that tackles a niche that is different than the rest.Think of it like the restaurant industry – there are tons and tons of restaurants but new ones open and succeed all the time? Why is that? Because there’s always room for quality! Make something great and don’t worry if there are too many other blogs. Strive to be better!

For a long time, I avoided spending any money on this website. I bootstrapped everything and viewed every expense negatively. “That designer would be nice but I can’t afford it. I’ll just create a crappier design myself.” But I soon realized money spent wisely is an investment. Now I pay for designers, SEO auditors, conferences, employees, video and audio editors, copy editors, and much more. This allows me to improve the reader experience, develop useful products, work on other projects, and free up time to write. I focus on my core competencies and hire the rest out.

Creating a travel blog is a time-consuming process. Writing about your trip to Paris is only a small part of the story. Successful blogs focus on content and are customer-centered and reader-centered. It’s easy to reach small or mid-tier status but if you want to stand out, focus on reader-centric content, being niche, creating products, and sticking to best practices.

YOU DIDN’T TAKE YOUR FIRST OVERSEAS TRIP UNTIL THE AGE OF 23, HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO AVOID THE TRAVEL BUG FOR SO LONG? 

I don’t know how I escaped it for so long. I do know that growing up in Boston, I was never a big traveler. Outside of a cruise and college trip to Montreal, I had no travel experience. After college, I got a job and the standard American two-weeks-a-year vacation. I wanted to use that time to travel. After all, it was vacation time, right? So for my first trip overseas in 2004, I went to Costa Rica. That trip changed my life. It opened me up to the possibilities of the world. In Costa Rica, I experienced other cultures, got lost in a jungle, saw conservation projects in action, and met people from around the world. From that moment on, I was hooked on travel. All I wanted to do was travel, see more of the world, and learn more about the people in it.

If you ask anyone what their favorite country is, it’s likely to be the one that made them fall in love with traveling. Therefore, CostaRica is one of my favorite countries because it did just that!

YOU’VE MENTIONED MEETING FIVE BACKPACKERS IN CHIANG MAI WHO INSPIRED YOU TO TRAVEL FULL-TIME YOURSELF, BUT HOW WERE THEY ALL FUNDING THEIR OWN TRAVELS?

I have no clue. All I know is they weren’t on their way home to a job waiting. They were “on the move”.

In college, I studied History and became a high school history teacher when I graduated. I worked at a hospital in their administrative department while I got my MBA. All in all, I’d say I led a pretty normal life before I started traveling.

FINALLY, DO YOU HAVE ANY GENERAL ADVICE FOR PEOPLE CRAVING A LIFE OF TRAVEL? 

Don’t be scared. Fear is a powerful deterrent. Taking the leap into the unknown is scary, but you aren’t the first person to travel the world. You aren’t discovering new continents or exploring uncharted territories. There is a well-worn travel trail out there and people to help guide you along the way. If millions of people can make their way around the world each year, so can you. You may feel scared and nervous but you’re just as capable as anyone else.

Using consistent tone and design, making sure that they all complement each other, you can really start to build a brand. Good branding is when you can instantly recognise the blog and post as your own.