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When Hannah Spelt and Nick Noordijk decided to journey to Southeast Asia, they didn’t know that their journey would change their lives eternally. They decided to doc their travels on Instagram to take care of their households and buddies abreast of their travels, and they also started to develop a following.
One issue led to a special, and they also decided to create their travel blog Salt in Our Hair. There have been a variety of ups and downs alongside one of the best ways, along with the worldwide pandemic, nevertheless, by way of trial and error, Nick and Hannah found their method and grew their enterprise previous their wildest targets.
Now, their website will get 600okay friends and they also earn $30okay per thirty days.
Maintain finding out to hunt out out:
- Why they went on their backpacking journey
- What they obtained that made the entire distinction
- Why they decided to create their website
- Why they provide up their day jobs
- How they help native corporations
- How they grew their workforce
- The place their income comes from
- Their excessive promoting and advertising strategies
- Their concepts on web site positioning
- Their technique to key phrase evaluation and hyperlink establishing
- How they create content material materials
- Their go-to sources and devices
- Their largest downside
- Their predominant accomplishment
- Their predominant mistake
- Their suggestion for various entrepreneurs
Meet Hannah and Nick
Howdy! Our names are Hannah Spelt and Nick Noordijk, every born (and largely dwelling) throughout the Netherlands. We’ve been in love since early 2014 and nonetheless are very so much so. Hannah has a background as a graphic designer and I had a job as a senior web developer.
How They Began
It started with our Instagram internet web page.
In November of 2015, Hannah and I’ve been ready to take a quick depart from our jobs and we went on an unforgettable backpacking journey for 4 months in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and The Philippines).
Our genuine plan was to journey to Australia, nevertheless we saved up merely ample money to have the flexibility to journey to additional fairly priced worldwide areas.
We obtained the idea to share our journey on Instagram to take care of household and buddies updated, nevertheless we had no money for a digicam, so we participated in a raffle and we occurred to win a GoPro digicam merely 1 week sooner than we left! We paid merely 11 euros for it!
That was the second we started our Salt in Our Hair Instagram page.
We didn’t put up one thing expert, merely GoPro selfies with a selfie stick, on a motorcycle, on boats, between rice fields, and so forth. just about daily.
Our following started rising, nevertheless it was nothing essential. Until, in the end on the end of our backpacking journey, one IG put up went viral and we the entire sudden had just some thousand followers after we returned dwelling to the Netherlands.
We obtained once more to our jobs, nevertheless people saved asking questions beneath our older Instagram posts regarding the areas throughout the pictures.
Keep in mind, this was February 2016, so there was no Instagram Direct Message or Tales, so it was a bother to get once more to everyone. This gave us the idea to start out out our website Salt in Our Hair, and simply let people go there to be taught each half about our travels.
Their Website online Goes Dwell
So, in May 2016, we launched the first mannequin of the website.
I started finding out to utilize a mirrorless digicam by way of YouTube tutorials, first on computerized, and afterward handbook.
We started to do small journeys on the weekends and take holidays from work to create new content material materials (pictures and textual content material) for our Instagram and weblog.
Little or no by little, we gained additional web site guests to the aim the place now we have been working 40 hours at our jobs and 40 hours on Salt in Our Hair as a side hustle with out making any money from it. We didn’t have any ads or any right affiliate hyperlinks on our website for the first two years.
In late 2018, about 1.5 years after starting, we earned merely ample to remain from our website in Thailand and take a look at the digital nomad life-style. We had about 50 to 60okay month-to-month friends at this stage. So we took a leap of faith and took on Salt in Our Hair as our full-time job.
I had some basic web site positioning info on the time by way of my work as a former web developer, nevertheless I had spent quite a few hours finding out by way of trial and error. We moreover found the basics of pictures. The first method we made money was by way of some affiliate purposes for lodges.
We had massive doubts, as now we have been leaving good careers as a designer and a developer.
Making an attempt once more now, worthwhile that GoPro was a key second throughout the creation of Salt in Our Hair.
Their Earlier Enterprise Experience
We had zero enterprise experience and we haven’t started another corporations since. We would have liked to review really every single issue from working with purchasers, negotiating prices, talking to the media, doing the accounting (all through completely completely different borders), finding out strategies to work with a digicam, and so forth.
The experience we had was our web design and progress talents.
The tactic of starting this enterprise went with ups and likewise a variety of downs, nevertheless we always tried to recollect why this all started: as a consequence of our love for touring (versus making a residing)!
The problem was, we had no person spherical us to ask how points labored because of that may’ve sped up a variety of points and saved us just some errors. We’re actually engaged on an infinite course about each half we’ve found since 2016, and different folks can sign as a lot as current their curiosity.
Now in 2023, proper right here’s the place we stand:
- We’re getting 600,000 distinctive friends per thirty days correct now
- We’ve associated small, native enterprise operators in Morocco, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Colombia to our readers.
If now now we have a great experience on a go to with a neighborhood agency, we try to make clear our enterprise to him/her and see in the event that they’re open to us sharing their cellphone amount or e mail in our guides.
As an illustration, in Bali, now now we have been sharing our contact for 5 years, and the actual particular person now has 15 to 20 drivers each day driving for him, and that’s merely purchasers from our journey guides.
We love constructions like this, as we be part of a small enterprise on to the reader.
We’ve expanded: we’re a workforce of 6 people all engaged on Salt in Our Hair. They’re freelancers from throughout the globe! Aside from Hannah and I, now now we have:
- editor supporting Hannah
- A writer and supervisor serving to with each half from journey planning to emails
- A writer and translator
- And a model new enterprise supervisor
How Rather a lot Money They’re Making
We’re presently making $30okay on widespread per thirty days from Salt in Our Hair. Clearly, this changes month to month, counting on the journey seasons and shopper jobs.
A traditional breakdown could possibly be:
- Affiliates: 43%
- Commercials: 38%
- Jobs: 11%
- Webshop: eight%
By means of jobs, now now we have diversified revenue streams that are irregular: work for tourism boards, licensing pictures, website adverts, and so forth.
It’s arduous to say how prolonged it took to achieve this diploma, due to the pandemic, nevertheless since December 2022 we’ve been sustaining this widespread revenue. So it probably took us about 5 years to get to this revenue diploma.
It’s a really very long time, presumably too prolonged for individuals who discover themselves in the marketplace to simply earn money. Nonetheless for us, it has been value every single day thus far. What an unimaginable journey we’ve been on, what unimaginable people we’ve been ready to fulfill, and areas we’ve visited.
Pre-covid we made about $15okay to $17okay per thirty days.
If now we have been to rearrange a model new website with our current experience, we’ll decrease this proper right down to 1, max 2 years. That’s the reason why we’re inserting collectively a course.
We probably each work spherical 40 to 50 hours per week, nevertheless it changes per day and per week as we’re not at all working eight hours a day from Monday to Friday.
When touring, getting robust hours of labor is a bit more powerful. We moreover work a lot for purchasers like tourism boards.
Their Prime Promoting and advertising Method
Our predominant method has been connecting our social media following with our website. What we do otherwise from many big blogs is that now now we have an viewers on social media who follows our journey for aesthetics, to first get inspiration.
As quickly as “impressed,” we provide a useful journey info on our website. Our idea is to make written content material materials way more attention-grabbing with a variety of pictures and video content material materials.
It’s arduous to supply suggestion for this method, as social media firms decide what’s trending. Nonetheless we nonetheless take into account that it is best to place up what you want to see, and you may lastly create a select viewers for it.
It is best to undoubtedly associate with developments, nevertheless journey that wave in your method. Pinterest may be nonetheless great attention-grabbing to cope with as a result of it drives quite a few top quality web site guests.
The Significance of web site positioning
We get well from 80% of our viewers from Google, so web site positioning is a really highly effective take into consideration our enterprise.
After we started out, I did have some basic details about web site positioning, and the remaining was from finding out and optimizing our articles.
We did a variety of testing. Not one of the best ways I’d do it now, nevertheless that was merely the circulation I was feeling good with. Correct now, I’d probably take a small course on web site positioning or dive into some present articles about it.
A course, nonetheless, can take you by the hand and advise the place needed. web site positioning moreover changes regularly so it’s good to stay up to date.
Key phrase Evaluation
We offer you article ideas first and see how we’re in a position to kind that into an article, making certain there’s ample search web site guests for it. We evaluation the keywords on tools like Mangools and Ahrefs.
Hyperlink Setting up
We’ve not at all centered on hyperlink establishing.
Everyone knows it might be an vital take into consideration your web site positioning method, nevertheless we’ve solely carried out a handful of hyperlink establishing collaborations.
Our website has grown and has a robust DA/DR with out it. At current, we solely collaborate with equally-rated internet sites that current us with robust hyperlinks.
That’s really solely two or three instances a 12 months, although we get hold of 100s of emails per thirty days requesting collaborations.
Their Content material materials Creation Course of
Our course of is pretty streamlined, which I’m proud to say!
About 99.9% of the articles on Salt in Our Hair start from notes (and voice notes) from our travels.
Part of our travels is noting down each half, the smallest little particulars, so we don’t overlook them after we start writing the guides.
Every two weeks now now we have workforce calls to set out the work for the upcoming weeks. Usually, we base articles on the season. If extreme season is arising, we push these articles out first.
Then we decide what articles are up subsequent and who does what. As an illustration, the first draft is written primarily based totally on our notes and web site positioning key phrases, then it’s checked and finalized, pictures are added, it’s printed, promoted, linked to on the internet web site, and ultimately translated to Dutch.
We publish about 6 to eight articles per thirty days.
We’ve always had a barely large Dutch viewers since we’re from the Netherlands ourselves, nevertheless this switch undoubtedly elevated our Dutch viewers pretty a bit!
We do nothing specific to promote our Dutch website, nevertheless it was to moreover hook throughout the people wanting on Google in Dutch. Our Dutch website is certainly not a 10 however, nevertheless it’s a chunk in progress.
Their E mail Itemizing
We do a monthly newsletter that we’ve named “Journey Letter,” with about 25,000 subscribers.
We are no followers of e-newsletter popups, so we’ve merely grown it by way of the form throughout the footer of our website.
We share way more behind-the-scenes stuff, like thrilling points we’re engaged on, humorous points that occurred whereas touring, our touring agenda, and distinctive reductions, and you’ll even get a look into the Salt in Our Hair enterprise.
We actually merely gave it an infinite overhaul, so be comfortable to enroll!
Their Favorite Belongings
YouTube is one of the best ways to go to start out out out, everytime you’re finding out strategies to rearrange your website, and so forth.
Nonetheless, must you go down into the trial and error course of with written content material materials, will probably be good to have an expert giving some tips on it.
Upon getting that beneath administration, optimize your website to ship the perfect experience to your readers. Google values this very so much and might put you bigger throughout the outcomes in case your website is sweet.
We don’t have one specific YouTube channel to counsel; merely search for what you’re attempting to carry out.
You in all probability have a specific weblog or influencer you perception, we advise testing in the event that they’ve some data on their website or channel.
Their Go-To Devices
With solely freelancers engaged on Salt in Our Hair, on-line collaboration is crucial. We use the subsequent devices:
Trello, for our planning (from notes to publication), enterprise ideas, and web progress ideas.
Google Workspace, for each half from Docs, Mail, Jamboards, and Meet to Drive. Our entire workforce can merely collaborate proper right here.
Adobe software program program, significantly Lightroom, for modifying pictures for the articles.
Their Most essential Drawback
I might level out two challenges proper right here.
One: Surviving a pandemic with a journey enterprise if nobody is able to journey. This was the hardest, as the long term was unsure.
We observed an infinite decline all through that interval, and afterwards, our website revenue went once more to about 10-15% of what it was.
And now we have been merely on a rising streak with our website after a variety of years of arduous work! Luckily, this picked once more up after Covid.
We redesigned the website totally and continued setting out our ideas for the long term. As quickly as we had some perception, we employed our second freelancer to help with the Dutch website. That’s what we did all through Covid.
Two: Desperate to do each half ourselves (and ending up burned out).
Outsourcing to freelancers was our best dedication up to now. We nonetheless ensure that the freelancers actually really feel like they’re part of a workforce and that we’re all engaged on one factor superior!
We found our freelancers by way of our group on Instagram! We’ve put out a story that now we have been looking out for anyone to help us out. A follower notified her buddy (who she thought was match for us), we chatted (she didn’t know one thing about Salt in Our Hair), and it was the proper match.
We made a variety of errors at first, figuring out strategies to work collectively. Nonetheless the three of us did it, and two years later we started together with completely different freelancers. She’s now managing most of our enterprise and is taken into account considered one of our best buddies.
Their Most Important Accomplishment
That may be inspiring 600,000 people per thirty days, by way of our website, with our travels.
It’s unimaginable to be taught and hearken to the idea our viewers has in our journey guides. Normally people attain out to us on the streets, telling their journey story, or they ship a message thanking us. This feels surreal to us and we’re great pleased with that.
What They Need They Knew When They Started
I need we had anyone to ask or confirm points with, so we didn’t should decide each half out by ourselves and we could have merely centered on the work.
Understanding web site positioning has been an infinite sport changer throughout the progress of Salt in Our Hair, and with that, our revenue has grown.
Completely different points like finding out strategies to , edit, strategies to rearrange a social media platform, and so forth. have been presumably less complicated to know from the beginning, nevertheless we actually like that there was such an infinite finding out curve. It made us so much stronger.
Their Most essential Mistake
Our largest mistake won’t be charging ample for the amount of labor now we have been providing. There was no method to find the fees for this as a result of it was not one factor that was spoken about as so much as now.
Everytime you change right into a plumber, you presumably can have a look spherical and see what completely different plumbers are asking as a cost. This wasn’t (and nonetheless really isn’t) there throughout the social media and working a weblog world, so that you even have to find out what you’re value.
Figuring out our prices for the tourism board is one factor it took a number of years to get correct.
Their Advice for Completely different Entrepreneurs
I might say always be open to innovation and experience. Changes come, so it’s best to journey the wave instead of swimming in opposition to it.
As an illustration, when TikTik and Instagram reels started, it was talked about that people have been going to stop looking out for journey content material materials by way of Google.
Nonetheless, fairly than sitting spherical and prepared, it is best to always look into strategies to utilize this to your profit.
As an illustration, we now actively promote areas we journey to on our social media and hyperlink to our website for added data. This moreover drives web site guests and helps you market your mannequin.
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