When Jackie Rezk was working for Delta, she was capable of journey the world free of charge, however there was one drawback: she didn’t have anybody to journey with. Uninterested in ready for a associate in crime, she lastly bit the bullet and traveled solo—and she or he was hooked.
That journey modified her eternally, and the extra she traveled, the extra she was impressed to share her solo journey adventures and the hidden gems she found.
She created her weblog, Jou Jou Travels, and her Instagram account to doc her journeys, and as we speak she’s incomes $5k per 30 days from her web site, social media, and blogging-related tasks.
Preserve studying to search out out:
- Why she created her weblog
- How she leveraged social media to develop her presence
- What she did to maneuver the needle on her weblog’s development
- The place her revenue comes from
- Her prime advertising technique
- How she outranked CNN
- Her ideas on website positioning and topical authority
- Her key phrase analysis strategy
- How she builds hyperlinks
- The distinctive software she makes use of for content material creation
- Her go-to instruments and assets
- Her greatest problem
- Her important accomplishment
- Her worst mistake
- Her recommendation for different entrepreneurs
Meet Jackie Rezk
I moved to London from America virtually 6 years in the past and I’m loving each minute of it! I really like experiencing new issues and new cultures.
Touring normally has taught me to embrace the variations on the planet. And shifting overseas has opened me as much as new potentialities and experiences.
I’m initially Egyptian and assume it’s probably the most unimaginable nation on the planet. I’m somebody who continually thrives on creativity.
Along with my journey weblog, I additionally make jewellery, and something the place I can create one thing and share it with the world excites me. I’m a foodie, too, and on my travels, I continually search for the very best locations to eat.
Why She Created Her Journey Weblog
My obsession with journey began after I labored for Delta Air Strains in 2012. I used to be capable of journey the world free of charge and I had nobody to actually go along with at the moment.
The flights have been standby, so if my buddy purchased a ticket, there was no assure I’d make the flight. I discovered a co-worker to go along with after which she canceled on me. I puzzled, when will I ever use these advantages?
It was at the moment that I realized find out how to journey solo. I couldn’t wait for somebody to journey with anymore. I wished to see this stunning world!
So I went to Switzerland for my first solo journey, utterly terrified. It eternally modified me. I gained the arrogance to journey alone and it wasn’t as daunting as I assumed.
Once I left that job at Delta, I made it my mission to maneuver overseas and stay near all of the implausible locations in Europe to journey to. I cherished sharing my images and suggestions alongside the way in which.
Though I shared content material earlier than, it was solely 3 years in the past in the course of the pandemic that I actually began to take my journey Instagram and weblog significantly.
I began my weblog, Jou Jou Travels, and my Instagram in 2018, however each weren’t severe till 2020 in the course of the pandemic. I took a category to develop on IG from Catarina Mello of @professionaltraveler in November 2020.
I shared my tips about discovering the very best hidden gems and touring the world solo and confidently. On Instagram, I used to be an early adopter of Reels and my movies began to go viral. I grew to 100k followers in simply 3 months.
On the identical time, I used to be working a full-time job in net analytics and was so uninterested in my company job. I spent all my free time engaged on my weblog to show it right into a profitable enterprise.
I’m a robust believer in following goals. It was my dream to maneuver to London and I made that occur, and now it’s my dream to work on one thing I’m so obsessed with and make a residing off it.
I invested in an website positioning course known as Running a blog Quick Lane in April 2021 and carried out the whole lot from the course on posts that I had written only for enjoyable and never for website positioning! I at all times loved writing so my weblog was only for enjoyable earlier than and I even wrote cutesy titles like “Hovering by Cappadocia,” not realizing that doesn’t actually work for website positioning.
Properly, as quickly as I took the course and carried out all of the methods I realized I lastly began to see fast development.
website positioning is an extended sport, nonetheless, after fixing outdated posts, I 5xed my site visitors in 5 months. And now 2 years later I went from 2000 pageviews to as much as a excessive in July of 50k pageviews.
How A lot Jackie’s Incomes
I earned as much as $1,300 in weblog revenue in a month, from advertisements and associates. Though I’m at the moment with Shemedia, I’ve targets to enter a extra premium advert community like Mediavie to earn extra.
I do know that my advert revenue will quadruple as quickly as I hit the Mediavine necessities, in order that’s my present focus. I’m incomes a good quantity now that I made a decision to give up my job however it’s not on my weblog alone.
I’ve diversified my revenue streams, which I at all times advocate to others. It’s vital to do that as a result of one thing like Instagram, for instance, might disappear someday.
Along with my weblog, I earn from UGC/social media administration for different manufacturers. I’ve 2 accounts I work with and I’d like to develop that too.
One is a bubble tea store and one other is a London tour firm. I movie movies for them to submit to their channels and assist them develop their accounts. That is cash I can depend on every month.
I even have digital services on my web site. I provide Lightroom presets and e-books, in addition to consultancy providers. My consultancy providers embrace teaching calls to audit different individuals’s blogs and providing tailor-made tips about find out how to develop your weblog.
I even have a trip-planning service the place I plan customized journeys for others. My e-books embrace a information to shifting to London as a foreigner.
After I had a massively viral reel (13.5 million views) on how a lot it prices to stay in London versus the US, I provided this product.
As you’ll be able to see, there are a lot of methods to earn!
I additionally work with manufacturers for sponsored content material, which incorporates sponsored weblog posts and advertisements on my Instagram account.
In case you embrace all my revenue streams, I’m incomes round $5k a month on common, however I’ve hopes to extend this considerably within the subsequent months, particularly after hitting Mediavine.
My revenue breakdown is as follows:
| Sort | Common |
| Model Partnerships | 25% |
| UGC/Social Media Creation | 18% |
| Affiliate | 19% |
| Advertisements on Weblog | 9% |
| Sponsored Weblog Posts | 3% |
| Digital Merchandise | 3% |
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I’m at the moment getting 31k classes a month on my weblog.
I work on my weblog round 7 hours a day now that I’ve gone full-time. It’s a variety of work however I really adore it!
Jackie’s Prime Advertising Technique
My #1 technique is to jot down on matters that provide the most bang on your buck. For me, since I really like hidden gems, that is simple. I write on matters which can be lesser identified and do a full devoted submit for them.
The primary time I did this was a whole accident. I visited this hidden gem in Italy on the Amalfi Coast known as Vietri sul Mare. I cherished this city a lot, it was one among my joyful locations.
I wrote a weblog submit on it earlier than I actually knew website positioning, and after I went in to make some optimizations, I discovered it rating primary on Google, even forward of CNN.
The quantity was actually excessive for this matter and it even seemed like a tough rating, however on the identical time, not many journey guide-style posts have been on this city. It’s now one among my most-viewed articles.
With that doing properly, I at all times attempt to jot down full posts on unknown cities like this. I additionally attempt to make a Google Net Story for my posts as I really feel prefer it offers new posts a lift in views. Net Tales are basically Google’s model of reels or thought pins on Pinterest.
The Significance of website positioning
website positioning represents the majority of my site visitors at 75% so it’s fairly essential for me and I’ve invested a variety of time in researching the very best key phrases to hit my targets.
I typically be sure that I write on matters which have greater quantity and a key phrase issue of 35 and beneath. I additionally write about many matters on the identical space I’ve visited. The extra Google sees you as an authority on one matter, the higher possibilities you have got at rating.
For instance, my Puglia, Italy posts are doing properly as a result of I’ve 8 posts on the subject. Google is extra prone to rank me than somebody who wrote one itinerary information on Puglia. I’ve posts on the place to remain in Puglia, devoted posts for every small city in Puglia, and extra.
It additionally encourages a consumer who discovered you from one submit to click on by to many different posts. This may enhance engagement and pageviews per go to. The longer somebody is in your website, the extra Google will acknowledge your weblog as high quality.
Proper now, I’ll proceed specializing in extra Italy content material to observe this technique of writing on one matter. As soon as I’ve constructed up this content material, I’ll shift to different nations. Since Italy is my favourite nation, this received’t be too unhealthy!
I go to so much, so I’ve a variety of content material from there. I nonetheless write on matters aside from Italy, however from now I feel I will probably be specializing in Italy content material as my running a blog website positioning course teacher suggested me to do that. He mentioned I’d begin to see a compounding impact if I be sure that to deal with one matter.
Key phrase Analysis
I take advantage of KeySearch, which is an reasonably priced software and really simple to make use of for key phrase analysis. I analysis lengthy tail key phrases from locations I’ve traveled to and discover the matters that may drive probably the most site visitors.
First, I seek for a time period extra broadly and examine the volumes of comparable matters that KeySearch suggests. I then take a look at the individuals rating for that matter and write a weblog submit that’s longer and hits all of the factors. I guarantee my submit is over 1,500 phrases because the longer the submit, the higher the possibilities of rating.
KeySearch tells you what the typical phrase depend is for these rating on the primary web page. I additionally be sure that the primary web page rivals are bloggers and never simply the massive guys like Condé Nast. This may give me a sign of how possible I can rank, too.
I normally discover somebody with an identical DA to mine and put their URL into the Explorer part of KeySearch. This offers me all the important thing phrases that individual has for the article.
It additionally helps me see if there are higher phrases I can go after with greater volumes that perhaps fewer individuals wrote about. Additionally, the explorer tells me the estimated site visitors the competitor will get for that individual submit.
It is a great way for me to gauge if it’s price writing in regards to the matter. If they’ve a low site visitors quantity right here, I wouldn’t wish to waste time writing about it.
Hyperlink Constructing
Hyperlink constructing is vital, however I wouldn’t say it’s the place you must spend all of your effort. In case you’re new to running a blog, I’d say goal for at the very least a DA of 10, after which I’d actually simply deal with content material. It’s vital to create high quality content material, and also you’ll have the ability to rank when you’ve got that.
I’ve seen individuals with decrease DAs outrank greater ones on a regular basis. I’ve elevated my DA to 37 over time, and I feel it’s undoubtedly simpler for me to rank now and it will get me on the primary web page of Google a bit faster, too.
So, first deal with content material and construct your hyperlinks as you go, is my recommendation. If you wish to push a sure matter, you’ll want to get hyperlinks for the articles you discover aren’t rating. Additionally, Pinterest is sweet for that, too. If persons are re-pinning your submit so much, this may assist.
I’ve been constructing hyperlinks by Fb teams and have grown my DA to 37 since I began in April 2021. I even have been featured in Get Your Information and Interrail. which have a stronger DA. So the stronger the DA that hyperlinks to me, the higher my possibilities of rising my DA sooner.
Her Content material Creation Course of
More often than not I’m touring solo since I journey a lot that not everybody can sustain. So my course of is usually a bit more durable with out somebody to assist.
Nevertheless, I’ve mastered the solo photographs and content material creation with my helpful tripod and now my drone. I’ll arrange a tripod, take the images, and never care a lot in regards to the staring bystanders!
As for my drone, at first, it was tremendous scary to make use of and now I really feel it may be simpler than organising a tripod! I take advantage of energetic observe typically, so it follows me whereas I stroll, or I simply use the timed photographs function to shoot images of myself solo. I’m completely obsessive about it now and excited as a result of it has made my content material 10x higher.
Then, it’s time to edit the images and collate all my suggestions for Instagram and my weblog. I do a variety of analysis to search out the very best locations to go and at all times be sure that I hit these. I additionally be sure that I discover alternate options to busy locations. That is one thing that has labored tremendous properly for me.
For instance, I had a reel get 9 million views on Instagram by exhibiting my viewers that as an alternative of paying tons of cash to remain in Positano, they’ll keep in Scala or Procida for a fraction of the fee. These cities are much less touristic and, due to this fact, cheaper.
Her E-mail Record
I’ve over 3k e-mail subscribers on my listing. I’ve grown it by embeds and pop-ups on my websites. I’ve a few freebies together with a solo journey e-book and an IG Reels matter thought freebie.
I normally ship out emails with attention-grabbing journey suggestions and at all times hyperlink again to my weblog to encourage them to learn extra. Nevertheless, I haven’t had the time to dedicate to this as a lot as I’d like, and am specializing in hitting site visitors targets to achieve Mediavine within the meantime.
Her Favourite Sources
I like to recommend becoming a member of Fb teams with different bloggers in an identical area of interest. Right here you’ll be able to ask questions and join with these with an identical mindset.
I additionally advocate investing in a course. It actually helped me and I noticed a direct influence after implementing what I realized. The course I took was Running a blog Fastlane and it was 100% definitely worth the cash. I additionally realized so much from Anna on the She Strategy. She has a e-newsletter the place she shares a variety of running a blog suggestions.
Her Go-To Instruments
My favourite instruments are as follows:
KeySearch: I take advantage of this key phrase analysis software day by day so I can guarantee I’ve carried out the right analysis and take advantage of out of my posts.
Travelpayouts: This user-friendly software aggregates all of the affiliate packages I wish to use in a single. I’m lately switching extra of my affiliate hyperlinks to Travelpayouts because it makes it a lot simpler. I receives a commission multi functional place and don’t have to enroll individually anymore to every associates program.
Google Analytics: My profession earlier than was taking a look at all of the numbers and analyzing information by instruments like Google Analytics. I actually love taking a look at my very own progress and insights.
It’s the very best software on the market for understanding the way you’re doing. It permits me to see what content material works, what doesn’t, and what enhancements I could make to drive extra site visitors. I’d say that is probably the most highly effective software!
Her Greatest Problem
My important problem is having the time to juggle all of it with a full-time 9-to-5 job. Now that I’ve give up, I’ve extra time to deal with it.
Even now, I attempt to be extra organized so I can be sure that I’m productive. Not having a set schedule every day may be difficult.
Her Best Accomplishment
I’m very pleased with constructing an viewers in beneath 2 years on each my weblog and Instagram by sharing my journey tips about my weblog. Once I truly get messages from individuals saying they adopted my suggestions or I impressed them to journey solo, that makes me extremely joyful.
Particularly after I see that I’ve inspired somebody to not look ahead to others to journey the world! It was one thing I used to be scared to do as properly and I’m so glad I did. It actually modified who I’m.
I’m stronger and extra open-minded. The truth that I can now earn money on-line pursuing these goals is unimaginable.
What She Needs She Knew When She Began
I want I had began with website positioning in thoughts from the start. I had to return and alter a variety of issues. That took time, so I like to recommend studying find out how to do it from the beginning the best method.
I additionally strived for perfection an excessive amount of on my Instagram particularly.
Persons are extra within the content material and worth moderately than perfection. Don’t let perfection cease you from creating content material.
In fact, be sure that it’s top quality, however we will’t at all times be good.
Her Predominant Mistake
My greatest mistake is letting the considered failure cease me from pursuing my goals. I lastly made the leap to give up my job and never take heed to any of the haters or my smaller interior voice asking, “What if I fail?”
I feel the very best factor to do is go for it. Now I’ve the time to focus my consideration on this and get additional forward.
Her Recommendation for Different Entrepreneurs
Simply get began. Don’t let worry cease you from pursuing your ardour.
Additionally, don’t let being older cease you too! All of us begin someplace, and it’s by no means too late to get began. It’s an extended sport, so don’t hand over earlier than you see outcomes. website positioning takes months, even years.
Don’t examine your self to others and get discouraged. You by no means understand how a lot effort goes behind this stuff as all you see is the top end result.
It may be difficult and includes lengthy hours and dedication. Running a blog isn’t for everybody both. You actually have to like what you’re doing and stay agile.
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