Blog Ads vs Affiliate Marketing: Which Pays More?

Whatever type of blogger you are (travel, fashion, lifestyle, wellness, etc.), you’ll need to diversify your income streams; blog ads and affiliate marketing are usually the first two methods to monetize a blog.

But is there one that pays bloggers more (and for travel bloggers, in particular)?

As a beginner blogger, your goal is to likely to monetize as quickly as possible. And so, you’re wondering whether you can (or should) start with blog ad revenue or affiliate marketing first.

The answer is both, actually.

Both are legitimate, scalable methods for blog monetization. But, they’re very different from each other and rely on various factors for growth and maintenance.

In this post, I’ll briefly break down how each works, how to maximize earnings, and whether (in my experience) affiliate commissions rack up more than passive ad revenue (or vice versa!).

Blog Ads vs Affiliate Marketing: Which One Earns Bloggers More?

Monetizing with Blog Display Ads

Blog ads, or display ads, are your ticket to true passive income.

Passive income is when you can earn money passively and blog ads are the epitome of passive—you literally do nothing.

Well, first, you put in the active work to grow your blog traffic. That’s how you reach the minimum thresholds to even get display ads on your site.

Then, once you hit a certain traffic threshold, you can apply to ad networks.

A few years ago, the threshold was high. Now, however, you can apply to popular ad networks such as Journey by Mediavine with as little as 10,000 monthly sessions.

Once the scripts are installed on your site (which the ad network takes care of), you can start earning from views.

Blog display ad earnings are based on RPM (rate per mille, or one thousands sessions).

Meaning, the more traffic (readers/people seeing your content) you get, the more you earn.

Sounds great, right?

But there are downsides to blog ads.

• You have to reach the minimum threshold (usually 50,000 sessions, but now it’s possible to monetize from 10,000).
• RPMs are decreasing as cookies and AI Overviews enter the scene
• Hard to scale unless you get more traffic (unlike affiliate marketing)

So, blog ads, while passive, are difficult to scale because traffic growth is usually a slow burn.

How to Make More Money with Blog Ad Revenue

• Invest in organic, evergreen SEO to bring consistent traffic
• Improve your site/page speed and reader experience to keep RPMs high
  • Break up paragraphs, use more original images, increase word count, etc.
• Use sticky ads, sidebar units, and in-content ads to increase ad visibility (without going overboard)
  • Too many ads can slow down your site and hurt user experience (UX) so sometimes, it pays more to turn of ads for certain pages (especially affiliate-rich posts)
• RPMs can fluctuate based on seasonality and niche!

What’s a good RPM in the travel blogging industry?

Typical RPMs range between $10–$40 per 1000 views, but this can spike during Q4 (during busy buyer seasons) or if you’re in a “high-value perceived” niche like food, travel, news, finance, or health.

My personal best in the travel blog niche (with only 40% US audience) was when I earned a little over $150 per day from display ads (I had an RPM averaging around $55/1k views and roughly 3.3k sessions per day).

However, I’ve interviewed fellow travel bloggers (with 95%+ US/Canada readership) who were earning $500 per day. (So, it really depends on your content, your style of posts, your demographics, etc.)

Monetizing with Affiliate Marketing

Then, we have affiliate marketing.

In travel blogging, that usually means travel affiliate programs that allow you to monetize from linking to travel brands.

For example:

• Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com (hotel commissions)
• GetYourGuide, Viator, Klook (tours, attractions, tickets)
• Travel insurance, gear, transport (e.g., eSIMs, products, trains, buses)

You can earn commissions by joining travel affiliate programs and promoting hotels, tours, etc., in your travel content (which naturally suits!).

When a reader clicks your affiliate link and makes a booking, you earn a percentage of the sale.

And commissions vary per program; 8-10% for tours, 4-5% for hotels, etc.,.

Affiliate marketing, unlike blog ads, is scalable without adding on heaps of traffic (though, of course, your affiliate income will grow with more traffic, but you can already optimize posts with low traffic and still improve your click-to-conversion rates).

Simply said, you don’t need to rely on traffic thresholds to get started monetizing with travel affiliates. That’s why affiliate marketing is great, but also tricky.

Because successful affiliate marketers know how to write copy well. They know how to connect with the reader’s buying intent.

Another “downside” (really, just a difference) to affiliate marketing compared to blog ads is that affiliate marketing requires your active attention.

• It takes time to build SEO traffic and rank for “profitable” keywords
• You need to test and experiment with your affiliate content before seeing consistent earnings
• You need to maintain and optimize copy to ensure optimal conversion

Thanks to AI-powered affiliate tools, travel affiliate marketing is much easier to scale than it used to be. However, it still requires some active effort on your part.

Exactly how much traffic do you need to make money with affiliate links?

That’s hard to say.

You can monetize and receive your first commissions with 100 views, or even 10. It’s all about how well you optimize and present your copy. It involves SO much more than just linking to affiliates here and there. It really goes down to psychology, trust, and how well you inspire and resonate with your reader.

How to Create High-Converting Affiliate Content

• Write affiliate-rich travel reviews, gear lists, where to stay guides, or comparison posts
• Target buyer-intent keywords like “best carry-on luggage for Europe” or “how to get to Mt. Fuji by shinkansen”
• Share your personal experience to build trustworthiness (important for conversions)

What are the best travel affiliate programs?

I am an affiliate of multiple travel affiliate programs (e.g., Booking.com, Viator, Klook, Airalo), all of which are accessible and available to join through Travelpayouts. I also earn from hotel commissions through Stay22.

So, Which Earns Bloggers More?

Let’s break it down (these thoughts or estimates are just based on my averages across multiple blogs, so take them as just that—averages).

• Blog ads typically earn between $10–$50+ per 1,000 sessions (RPM). Let’s say it’s $30 on average.
  • At 2k sessions per day, that can mean ~$20–$100/day from ads ($600–$3000 per month). Passive income.
• Affiliate links (in one post, for example) can earn anywhere from $50–$500+ per post per month if well-targeted and ranking first! Heck, just ONE juicy (*cough*, expensive) hotel conversion can make you several hundred dollars. (Those are bit more rare, unless you’re frequently promoting luxury hotels, but ya never know! I get lucky sometimes with big spenders, haha.)

To put that into perspective, one affiliate post can outperform your entire monthly blog ad revenue if it’s targeting the right keywords and audience (and demographic—a US-based audience will generate more display ad revenue than a heavy international audience).

However, unlike ads, affiliate income isn’t entirely passive—it requires a more active strategy and ongoing optimization over time.

That’s why getting better at your blog writing helps you not only rank higher in search engines, but also make more money from affiliate marketing! 🌟

Key Factors That Affect Display Ad Earnings vs Affiliate Commissions

Blog Ads:

• Your audience demographics (is your audience North American readership or Asian? Brands bid higher on consumer markets, which is why Q4 (i.e., Christmas) always sees higher RPMs/ad earnings
• SEO quality and traffic source
• Ad blockers and browser cookies
• + more

Affiliate Commissions:

• Product [tour/hotel/etc] relevance and trust
• Your writing and ability to naturally inspire and “sell”
• Your travel blog niche and reader persona (luxury travel ≠ budget travel)
  • Example: Luxury hotel commission will fetch higher commissions than hostel recommendations
• Cookie duration
• Commission rates of each affiliate program
• + more

The Goal? Use Both Ad & Affiliate Earnings to Monetize

The key to building a sustainable travel blog is to diversify your income, so you’ll absolutely want to (eventually) have sound strategies to increase both display ads AND affiliate commissions.

The ultimate power strategy is to combine both monetization methods.

• Optimize display ads on YOUR blog, where possible (that sometimes means turning it off for some posts/pages, such as on affiliate-heavy posts to remove intrusive ads near your CTAs)
• Focus on combining text affiliate links and visual affiliate widgets on affiliate-rich posts (travel itineraries are great for this!)

Before monetization, think about user experience (UX). That’s what will truly help you scale your blog. It’s the long-term solution. Don’t take shortcuts!

Want my help choosing travel affiliate programs, writing buyer-intent posts, or applying to ad networks?

Drop your questions in the comments, or check out my Bootstrap Blogging Course for travel bloggers.