Secrets of a Full-Time Cruise Blogger

My scrappy little cruise blog is about to turn three.  It’s been an exciting and strange and challenging and joyous and discouraging and hopeful three years of cruising and blogging and then not cruising and not blogging and then cruising and blogging again. 

I had no idea what I was jumping into when I quit my job as a college professor to become a full-time cruise blogger in early 2019 – I just shut my eyes and pinched my nose and belly flopped right in!  I loved to cruise and I loved to write, so I figured, why not try? Follow your dreams and all that.

Then there was a global pandemic that shuttered the cruising industry for over a year and I found myself, like so many others, temporarily under-unemployed.  The downward trajectory of daily views to my blog was only exceeded by my motivation to continue writing from dry land, trapped in a tiny downtown Seattle apartment with a 7-year old schooling from home, a husband working from home, and a geriatric dog farting from home.  It was a challenging time during which I essentially shut down my blog in solidarity with cruise ships worldwide and my favorite neighborhood watering holes.

But, in all honesty, that hasn’t been the most difficult part of growing a successful cruise blog over the past three years. 

The Most Difficult Part of Growing a Successful and Profitable Cruise Blog

So what was it, you ask?  Sifting through oceans of information and never really finding answers to the specific questions I had about building and growing and monetizing a cruise blog.  

Sometimes it felt like there was a secret society of successful cruise bloggers, with ten-step handshakes to verify membership, blood oaths to never let baby bloggers see the man behind the curtain, and plants at Google and Instagram and Pinterest and Facebook and YouTube, programing algorithms to their favor. 

As such, one of the goals for my cruise blog was to always be transparent and helpful to other cruise bloggers, newbies and veterans alike! 

Which brings us to today’s post.  In honor of profcruise.com’s 3-year anniversary, I’m going to answer some of the most common questions I receive from new cruise bloggers.  Feel free to ask about anything I don’t address in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

Common Questions of New Cruise Bloggers Answered 

I want to write a cruise blog.  Where do I start?

Three years ago I knew less about blogging than I did about the optimal cooking time for a medium rare steak (I’m a vegetarian) and fashion (I’m still resentful of that time I had to change out of my holey college sweatshirt and leggings to get married). 

And I thought the following about basic terms related to blogging:

Domain: The place I would be the master of if my husband and son didn’t live there.  As it stands I have to hide all my treats and fake digestive issues to get some time to myself on the throne.

Web host: Charlotte.

Plugin: The heated oil filled scent disperser offering up to 50 days of “fresh linen” my husband uses to mask the smell of my sweaty gym clothes.

Widgets: A fictional race of people from a L. Frank Baum children’s novel.

HTML: A word my son spelled phonetically on an assignment for Kindergarten that I tried desperately to figure out before finally giving up and gently inquiring, “what does this say, buddy?”  “Hot metal.” “Ooooooh.”

SEO: What I assume is a typo and appreciate as an opportunity to feed my ego, “I think you mean CEO?”

Affiliate links: A trendy new vegetarian sausage substitute (soy free!).

Don’t worry about any of that just yet though.  For now, start by thinking about some goals for your cruise blog. 

#GOALS

Jot down some general goals for your cruise blog.  Think big picture at first.  My initial goals were:

1. Use my background as a professional educator along with my cruising knowledge and experience to inform my readers.
2. Scratch a creative itch and entertain my readers by showcasing my best writing and infusing my posts with humor.
3. Stay honest and transparent and true to myself.
4. After building credibility, gradually begin to monetize my blog to make it sustainable financially. 

Once you have a list of clear goals for your cruise blog, you’ll want to more narrowly define your focus and choose a name for your blog.

Narrow the Focus of your Cruise Blog

When it comes to cruise blogging, if hits and monetization are important goals for you, you probably do not want to be a generalist.  This is one of those, “do as I say, not as I did” pieces of advice.  With thousands of cruise blogs out there already, you’re more likely to gain traction if yours is focused on a very specific aspect of cruising.  For example, a large proportion of hits to my blog are to posts related to cruising to Alaska (I live in Seattle and cruise there often).  Cruising Alaska!  There aren’t many blogs out there devoted to that.  That would make a great focus! 

In addition to focusing on a certain geographic location, here are some other ideas: 

A specific cruise line (or even class of ships or ship). 

A certain aspect of cruising like cruise dining, excursions, or onboard activities. 

A specific demographic of cruisers: solo cruisers, senior cruisers, LGBTQ cruisers, cruisers of a certain political persuasion, a specific racial or ethnic group, cruisers with certain dietary restrictions, special needs cruisers, cruising with babies (or husbands who act like babies), introverted cruisers (I’d definitely read that one on a Friday night alone in my bed), furries who cruise (I can think of so many fun names for that one!), etc.

Cruise history.

Cruise news.

Working for a cruise line.

Living on a cruise ship (I dream of starting that blog!).

Now that you have some general goals and a more specific focus for your blog, you need a name.

Choosing a Name for your Cruise Blog

Three things are important when choosing a name:

1. Does it speak to your goals and focus?
2. Is it short and catchy?
3. Is the domain name available?

I chose Prof. Cruise because it was short, catchy, and easy to remember, said something about me (that I am a retired college professor turned professional cruiser), and spoke directly to my first goal (to use my background as a professional educator along with my cruising knowledge and experience to inform my readers).

Before you decide on a name for your blog, be sure the domain name (the actual web address for your blog – you want that to match your blog name exactly, mine is profcruise.com) is available.  You can check for availability HERE.

Feel free to drop your name ideas in the comments and I’ll give you some honest feedback on what I think. 

So now that you have some goals for your blog, a focus, and a name, the next step is to start building your website. 

Purchase Web Hosting, Register your Domain Name, and Start Customizing your Website

Your first steps will be to purchase a web hosting service, register your domain name, and start setting up your website with blogging software.  I use and recommend BlueHost for all three of those steps.  BlueHost makes it super easy and is affordable for new bloggers.  In fact, if you purchase a hosting plan through any link on my site, you’ll get special pricing of just $2.95 per month for basic hosting, free domain registration, free installation of WordPress blogging software, and 24/7 customer service.

Next you’ll need to design and customize your website.  This is where things can get tricky for those with social science degrees and no background in coding (before I was a Professor of Cruising, I was a Professor of Psychology).  When I initially designed and customized my blog, I turned to Scott Chow and, specifically, this YouTube video for step-by-step assistance.  Or you could just ask any 8 year-old – they can probably figure it out faster than you can.

Now comes the fun part, cruising!  And writing about cruising!

Start Adding Content to your Cruise Blog

Here are my writing tips for new cruise bloggers:

1. Don’t agonize over your first posts because, to be candid, only 2-3 relatives are likely to read them.  Just get started with something obvious (but consistent with your goals and focus).  The more you write, the easier it will get. Just start somewhere.
2. As you get going, focus on both quantity AND quality of posts.  In order to gain views to your site through organic search (people finding your post via a search engine like Google), you need to amas a LOT of content.  This will take some time and can be frustrating (after 3 years, organic search has just recently become the number one daily source of traffic for my site instead of other referral sources like social media).  But you also want to make sure you’re posting high quality, unique content to attract and retain followers. Don’t sacrifice quality in favor of quantity.
3. Build it and they will (eventually) come.  Many will advise you to focus on SEO (search engine optimization).  In other words, packing your posts with key phrases that will help your blog rank high via search engines.  There are a lot of guides out there on how to do this, but I’ve never done it.  It stifles the creative process for me and makes my writing feel less authentic (because it is!).  Stay true to your goals and yourself and write with passion!  In my opinion, that’s the only way to really attract and retain followers and avoid burnout or giving up too soon (if you love and believe in what you’re doing, you’ll stick with it through the discouraging times). And sticking with it is the single most important thing that separates successful cruise bloggers from those who aren’t.

Begin to Monetize your Cruise Blog

Don’t worry about this right away because, honestly, even if you have your website set up to make money, you won’t make any for a long time (after 3 years, I’m just now starting to make enough to sustain my blog over the long-term).  Focus on building and writing for the first year or until hits to your blog really start picking up. 

When you’re ready to monetize your cruise blog, there are several ways to do it.  I’ll speak to the two I use and understand well.

Affiliate Links

Companies that sell travel and other services and products will pay you a small commission on items purchased through links you include in your posts.  I am a member of a number of affiliate programs, the most lucrative for me being:

Amazon’s Affiliate Program (for cruising related products sold through Amazon)

Viator’s Affiliate Program (for cruise excursions)

Travelinsurance.com’s Affiliate Program (for cruise insurance)

Booking.com’s Affiliate Program (for pre and post-cruise hotels)

BlueHost’s Affliate Program (if you purchased your web hosting plan through a link on my site, I got a small commission – THANK YOU!)

In staying consistent with my goals, I ONLY include affiliate links on my site to products I either have used myself and love or feel comfortable recommending based on extensive research.  To do otherwise will (rightfully) tarnish your credibility with your readers.  And don’t forget to always disclose in your posts that you make a commission on purchases through links on your site – it’s the law!

Google AdSense

Google AdSense will automatically add ads to your site and you’ll receive a small commission for clicks on those ads.  I resisted adding Google AdSense to my site for a long, long time because I hate how the ads chop up my posts.  But I finally gave in recently because it really is the only way I can sustain my blog over the long-term (as much as I love cruise writing, I can’t do it virtually for free forever).  To my long-term followers: I appreciate your patience with the ads!  I know they suck.  But clicking on any you’re interested in will allow me to keep writing the blog over the long-term.  Thank you!

So that’s the 411 on how I started my cruise blog and have begun to monetize it and how you can do the same.  However, you probably still have lots of questions.  I did too!  And I found it virtually impossible to get a straight, candid answer from any seasoned cruise blogger.  Here are some of the questions I had and my best attempt to answer them with my three years of experience as a full-time (I’ll let you be the judge of how successful) cruise blogger.

How Much Time Do You Spend On Your Cruise Blog?

I treat my blog as my full-time job and spend roughly the equivalent amount of time on it.  I do take vacations, but in a typical week I put in 30-50 hours.

What Do You Love About Cruise Blogging?

Telling stories through words and photographs, documenting my family’s travels – especially so we can look back and laugh at Mr. Cruise’s (more like my) fashion choices, meeting and learning from fellow cruise and travel addicts (thank you!), helping people plan memorable cruises and vacations, and high praise from my number one fan (hi mom!).

What Do You Hate About Cruise blogging?

I hate nothing about you (because you’re here, reading my blog, so you’re obviously awesome), but there are a few things I don’t love about cruise blogging. First, the blurring of vacation and work, “how many drinks have I had, because I could have sworn the cruise director just came on the intercom, ‘a very good morning,’ and threatened to toss me overboard if I don’t get my review of yesterday’s excursion posted by noon.”  And second, the tech, legal, and business sides of blogging.  Can’t I just travel and tell stories?  I don’t want to figure out what a rate sheet is.

Where do the Images on your Blog Come From?

A successful cruise blog will include a mix of images and text. Most of the images on my site that are directly cruise-related are my own. I used to use a fancy camera, but most of my current images were taken on my phone or a small point and shoot (I got sick of lugging around a heavy camera). For situations (like this post) when I need free stock images, I use Unspash. For creating Pinterest Pins, Instagram Stories, cruise memes, and headers for blog posts, I use Canva.

How Many Unique Visitors Did You Get To Your Cruise Blog In The First Three Years?

I had 321,981 unique visitors between late January 2019 and December 9, 2021.  Keep in mind that I wasn’t updating my blog at all during the Covid shutdown (for almost a solid year), so this number is really for more like two years.

How Many Page Views Did You Get To Your Cruise Blog In The First Three Years

And this indicates the total number of page views during the same time period.  Same caveat about Covid.

What Have Been The Most Popular Posts On Your Cruise Blog?

Here are the ten most popular posts on my blog.

It seems all people want to do on a cruise is eat! I can’t really disagree with that.

How Do You Market Your Cruise Blog?

I don’t, really.  I mean, I tried my hand at a campaign slogan, drawing inspiration from Old Spice, ”Prof. Cruise, Smell Like A Man, Man,” and Nike, “Prof. Cruise, Just Do Her,” but I my ads kept getting flagged as lewd. Other than that, I participate in some cruising and blogging groups and forums where I share my content if it’s relevant to posted questions or discussions.  And I do minimal social media stuff – I have an Instagram page, a Facebook page and group, a YouTube channel, a twitter account and a business Pinterest account.  Most of my traffic comes from loyal followers who share my content on Facebook, Pinterest, or Cruise Critic (thank you!) and organic search (Google, etc.). Here’s a more detailed breakdown of where referrals to my site came from over the past 3-years:

How Much Money Do You Make From Your Cruise Blog?

Since adding Google AdSense to my blog just a month ago, my total earnings have doubled.  I generally make around $500 per month through affiliate links and expect to make around that same amount per month from Google AdSense with current levels of traffic.  So, roughly $12,000 a year.  It’s not much, but it pays for my cruises!

Do You Receive Any Free Travel Or Cruise Related Products In Exchange For Your Reviews?

No, but if you want to offer me some or give me some tips…

What Are Your Long-Term Goals For Your Cruise Blog?

I hope I’ll continue to improve as a writer and would like to revamp the design of my site to be cleaner, simpler, and more professional looking. And eventually I’d like to make enough money to support myself independent of my husband’s income (but that’s a longer-term goal and not a primary or realistic one right now).

Do You Offer Guest Blogging Opportunities?

Writing a guest post for a well-established cruise blog can be a lucrative way to market your own blog.  I’m always open to hearing from other cruise bloggers and content creators with ideas on how we might collaborate and I do occasionally accept high quality, unique guest posts that are consistent with my goals (reach out to me in the comments or through the e-mail found on the “PRESS” tab on my website).   

What’s Your Best Tip For Someone Interested In Starting Cruise Blog?

Do it!  And share it with me!  If there’s one thing I love less than cruising (no offense), but even more than writing about my own cruises, it’s reading about other people’s cruises!

And with that…

Pay no attention to that woman behind the curtain! The Great Prof. Cruise has spoken! 

Class Dismissed.

Homework (10 points): Have questions about cruise blogging that I didn’t answer?  Post them to the comments and I’ll try my best to answer them. And if you’re already a cruise blogger, share your own best tips for newbies. Let’s help and learn from each other!

*I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you on purchases made through links on my site. Thank you for your support!