Nomadic Matt
Matt Kepnes did not start out as a traveler. After growing up in Boston, he worked in healthcare administration right after college, doing desk work for inpatients and then for the director of surgical programs. He didn't take his first trip overseas until he was 23. After a 14-month trip around the world, he came back to the same kind of job, was incredibly bored, and decided he needed to leave again.
His first idea was practical. He started a blog in 2008 as an online resume, a way to get seen by editors and potential employers and show the body of his writing. Over time it grew into more than that. Around 2010 he turned the site into its own platform, shifting from a resume to a guidebook-style resource, because there were few online resources for planning a long trip at the time.
That year also marked a turning point in how he thought about the business. A conversation with Remi Thady pushed him to answer basic questions about his audience and why he was doing the work. He realized he needed to understand the business side of running an online operation, so he started a newsletter and began paying attention to marketing and brand.
Matt's early monetization came through books. He self-published an eGuide on travel hacking and later signed a publishing deal for a print book, *How to Travel the World on $50 a Day*, which became a New York Times bestseller. He described the advance as modest and said he valued the book more for credibility than for the money.
The model that worked best was affiliates. Roughly two-thirds of his income comes from affiliate relationships with companies such as World Nomads (travel insurance), Intrepid Travel (tours), and Mondo (flight booking). He estimated selling 400 to 500 travel insurance policies per month, though the figures discussed on air were inconsistent. Around a third of income comes from book sales. His list grew to over 200,000 subscribers through a signup funnel and a twice-monthly email.
His approach to content was heavy and consistent. He wrote about twice a week and did one to two guest posts a month, which produced thousands of backlinks. He also tracked keyword positions and competitors, and when a competitor captured a valuable keyword, he wrote a post to attack it.
Nomadic Matt now has more than 1.6 million unique views per month and over 200,000 email subscribers. He has three full-time employees covering social media, email and research, and operations, and is planning community events. He still spends about 16 months a year on the road.
- •Affiliate revenue scaled because Matt built a large, trusted audience first and then selected partners he already used, which made the recommendations credible.
- •Publishing guidebooks gave him expert credibility that multiplied through media and podcast appearances, feeding the traffic engine rather than serving as the main income source.
- •Consistent weekly writing combined with guest posting and keyword tracking compounded into a large backlink profile and steady organic traffic.
- •Shifting from a personal blog to a business with a deliberate email list and funnel turned one-time readers into a recurring audience for affiliate offers.
- 1.Pick a niche where you have real experience or a strong personal interest, and publish consistently (around twice a week) for a long time before expecting large returns.
- 2.Turn your site into a useful resource, such as a guide or reference, rather than a personal journal, so it attracts search traffic.
- 3.Build an email list early with a signup funnel and send regular updates, then use it to promote relevant products.
- 4.Join affiliate programs only for companies you already use and trust, and disclose those relationships as part of your brand's independence.
- 5.Track keyword rankings and competitor backlinks, and write better posts when a competitor starts capturing a valuable keyword.
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