This is an interview with Shelley Marmor of Travel Mexico Solo.
Hey, Shelley. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.
First off, thank you for including me in your interview series! I initially visited Mexico in 2018, and basically never left because I fell in love with the country. I spent most of 2018-19 traveling around Mexico by myself, and trying to figure out how to actually live this digital nomad life forever.
I started my first travel blog in March 2020 just as we went into lockdown for Covid. I had A LOT of time on my hands since I couldn’t travel anymore, and put it all into the blog.
Well, that paid off, and I hit 6-figures in earnings within two years, and have since made more than 7-figures from my travel blogging business.
What was your life like before becoming a full-time blogger?
I lived a “normal” life in south Florida, and worked a 9-5 job as a Miami travel magazine editor. That experience gave me a lot of insights into the travel space, which helped me when I started the blogs.
How did you end up in Mexico?
The magazine I was working at for about 8 years abruptly closed down, and despite having a lot of experience and sending out a lot of resumes, I couldn’t find another job.
I decided I needed a fresh start, so I sold my apartment in Florida, and set off to travel for a bit until I figured out what to do next. My first stop was Mexico City, and it was love at first sight.
What made you get into blogging?
I have a degree in journalism, I had experience in the travel space, and I had made websites before, so it seemed I had many of the fundamental skills needed to start blogging.
From the start, I discovered there were travel bloggers making good money from this so I took some courses to figure out how to also make money from it, and after about 2 years, blogging was my full-time profession.
When did you start your first blog?
I started it in March 2020, and I picked “Travel Mexico Solo” as the name because I had done a lot of solo travel in Mexico and I knew my personal experience would be something of value to others.
How did your first year as a blogger go?
If you’re a first time blogger, you should expect A LOT of work and basically no pay-off your first, second and maybe even third year.
I was no different! However, investing in courses really helped me to turn my blogs into a six- then seven-figure business quicker than many see success like that.
When and why did you start your other Mexico travel blogs?
I have 4 Mexico travel blogs now, and started the newer ones because I had figured out a formula to grow them to good traffic numbers quickly.
With a good amount of traffic, you can monetize blogs with ads on your site and earn passive income while you sleep. I started them in 2021 and 2022.
What were you writing about in the early days of the blogs? And what’s different about your blog topics now?
Initially, I wanted to cover solo travel/solo female travel a lot more (hence the blog name, “Travel Mexico Solo.”)
However, my analytics showed that my general Mexico travel content was bringing in more blog readers, so I pivoted more to writing about that.
How long did it take you to make your first money blogging?
The first payment I received was in January 2021, which was 10 months after starting Travel Mexico Solo.
It was for $77.10 from the Airbnb affiliate program. After that, I went all in on affiliate marketing, and made more than $750,000 from it in less than 4 years.
How much traffic do your blogs get now?
Between the 5 blogs I now have (4 Mexico travel blogs and one in the blogging niche called Travel Blogging 101), they do about 300,000-500,000 in monthly traffic.
Google/SEO is still the biggest source of traffic but in 2024, I have been working to diversify that to include other sources like Pinterest, Flipboard, Facebook, etc.
What do you think is the best strategy to get more traffic?
Learning SEO was the game changer. Though nowadays as Google continues to update their algorithm in a way that doesn’t favor bloggers and small- to medium-sized web publishers, I’d recommend people focus on alternative traffic sources.
What’s your current content strategy like?
I have a blog manager who handles these day-to-day tasks, so I’m pretty hands off now.
We do work in a way that she creates content clusters, so she will focus on creating 5+ pieces of content about a certain place, instead of just a one-off blog. I’ve heard these called content silos or content pillars, and it’s a strategy many use.
When did you get into SEO? And do you optimize every blog post?
I started learning SEO the first year I was blogging, and it was instrumental in my success (again, the blogging world is different than it was in 2020 when I started, and I don’t know if SEO is as important as it once was).
In the past, all my blogs were heavily optimized using a variety of tools, but it seems that’s less important now.
What’s one SEO strategy that has worked best for you, and that you constantly rely on?
I’m not sure this is specifically an SEO strategy, but always aim to make your content the best by analyzing your competitors.
Just to be 100% clear, I am not saying copy/plagiarize anyone. I am saying see what other successful bloggers in your niche are doing, and those things better.
How much are you currently earning as a blogger per month?
In 2024, I decided to stop sharing monthly income reports, but I will say that I averaged $47,000 USD per month in 2023.
In that year, about 50% came from affiliate marketing, 25% from ads on my sites and 25% from selling my courses and private coaching.
Are you actively building backlinks to your blogs?
I have used what is essentially a PR company to get me good quality, high authority links and features.
They have been able to get links in publications like Huffington Post, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Time, Daily Mail, etc., so I no longer actively pursue getting a ton of backlinks because I have a pretty strong profile.
Do you create all the blog content yourself?
Today, I have a team of writers, and have been focusing on things outside of blogging for most of 2024. I still write blogs here and there and have a passion for that, though I don’t personally produce much content anymore.
How have the recent Google core updates affected you?
They decimated one of my 5 sites, and the others have seen traffic go up then down then up then down… it’s been a rollercoaster for sure, and not a fun one.
What do you do if you notice a significant drop in your blog’s traffic?
Some blog posts (the ones that make me good money) are more important than others, so if any of those are affected, we will optimize or use other methods to get traffic back, like Facebook ad arbitrage.
How do you handle setbacks or failures in your business?
They have become easy to handle because they both happen so often.
As an entrepreneur, I think you enjoy the highs more if you find a way to accept the lows too. Through my own personal development work, I have come to see failures as a blessing because the faster you fail, the faster you can correct, pivot, and find success.
Today, I often treat my first attempt as a first draft that will inevitably need to be perfected.
How do you manage your time when running multiple blogs?
As mentioned, I have a team now so I can’t really say I run the Mexico travel blogs anymore. However, time management is SUPER important no matter what you do — but when you’re the boss, you get to decide how to do it.
I actually think time management is a personal thing, so everyone can have a different approach and still be good at it.
What’s next for you and your Mexico travel blogs?
I plan to retire at 50, so I have been investing everything I can and working with a financial advisor. I’m also getting into real estate, and just purchased my first home, which I was able to buy with all cash! Not bad for a travel blogger 😜
