This article may contain affiliate links. When you purchase something we recommend, we make a small commission. You don’t pay anything extra. š For more details, check out our Terms of Use page.Ā
Is blogging dead in 2025? Or was it already pronounced dead back in 2024?
Honestly, I donāt know. But this is the year we find out.
Because after months of seeing Reddit post after Reddit post, and Facebook groups filled with āblogging is overā conversationsā¦ Iām finally starting to enjoy it again.
A Quick Backstory
I started this blog back in 2018, though Iāve been dabbling in online content since 2016 and following my favorite bloggers via RSS since 2011. Iāve watched some of those early voices grow into powerhouses and others quietly fade. Iāve also had my fair share of medium-sized blogging projects come and go.
Since 2015, Iāve been making some form of online income. And since 2019 (right before COVID hit), Iāve been fully self-employed ā either through my freelance work or as a tour leader. Travel, marketing, and education are the three consistent themes in everything I do.
For the last six years, Iāve focused more on my freelance business ā working directly with clients ā while letting the blog sit on the back burner. In the last 2ā3 years, I barely touched it.
Now, these wonāt be thrilling to start with ā but thatās kind of the point.
Iām marking July 2025 as the first official āWeāre Backā month.
Traffic for July 2025
Just under 3,000 sessions ā better than expected considering…
Back in my best months (pre-2020 chaos), I hit around 10,000 sessions, but that was during the era of wild Google traffic swings. So this feels like a solid start.
Ā Ads
I used to run Adsense on this site, but I have no plans to add ads again until I hit 50,000 sessions and can apply to a premium network like Mediavine or Raptive.
Currently, about 90% of my traffic is organic and over 30% is US-based, so Iād like to keep it clean and fast-loading for now.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is something Iāve helped clients with extensively over the years. Now, Iām finally implementing some of those strategies on my own site.
Right now, Iām part of:
GetYourGuide ā I use it often myself
Booking.com ā love their UX the most
Discover Cars ā a partner I genuinely like
I also reopened my Travelpayouts account and joined a few more programs (SIM cards, airport transfers, etc.) but havenāt set those up yet.
So farā¦ earnings: $0
But Iām optimistic.
Social Media (Or Lack Thereof)
Iāve deliberately stepped away from social media the last two years. From 2019ā2021, I managed Instagram accounts for clients and was clocking 15+ hours a day on the platform. Burnout? You bet.
What was meant to be a short break became a full detox.
My Instagram is mostly inactive now ā except when I really want to share something, like my recent collaboration with Messolonghi focused on eco tourism.
The only platform Iām slowly returning to is Pinterest. Itās more of a visual search engine anyway, and Iāve had success with it in the past. I took my first Pinterest course from Melyssa Griffin back in 2019 (yep, been around that long). These days, Iām batch scheduling pins again and testing new strategies.
Source | Amount |
|---|---|
Ads | $0 |
Affiliate sales | $0 |
Brand deals / FAM tours | $0 |
Total | $0 |
Iām actually excited to start with a zero month ā because from here, thereās nowhere to go but up.
Expenses
Technically, my hosting plan is shared between this and a few client projects, but let’s estimate $60 per year, paid in November.Ā
My only regular monthly cost is Lightroom ($12/month) which I use for photo editing ā relevant for blog and client work alike.
Other tools (like AI, Canva, Formatting and Stock) fall under general business expenses that I wonāt count specifically toward the blog yet.
New Business Venture (Separate Project)
For the past three months, Iāve been quietly building a new publishing venture that just started generating income. Itās not promoted on this site and runs under a different name. If youāre curious, I may share more about it in future posts ā let me know.
Content Published
This month Iāve written 20+ new articles based on my recent trips (and business-related topics for freelancers). Part of this output was thanks to being stuck in bed for 4 weeks after a knee injury ā I wasnāt moving, but I was writing.
Before this, the blog had 77 posts. Now itās up to 97.
Roughly 30 of those older posts are short-form or outdated posts from the early days that likely wonāt rank ā but theyāre still part of the journey.
I also re-structured and updated about 20 older blogs posts (in addition to the 20 new one’s) with new photos, better descriptions and better formatting (or fixing typos).Ā
Goals for August 2025
Hereās what Iām aiming for:
Publish 25+ new posts based on my recent 2024-2025 travels to:
Korea
Greece
Turkey
Scandinavia
Iceland
New Zealand
Hungary
Make my first $20 from affiliate sales
Even small wins count.
Ā
Final Thoughts
If youāve made it this far ā thank you. Whether blogging is ādeadā or just evolving, Iām choosing to keep showing up. For the love of travel. For the joy of writing. And maybe, just maybe, for a little income down the line.
Letās see what August brings.
