Scale Your Travel Blog Review: Mike & Laura Course (2024)

Welcome to my Scale Your Travel Blog review, a course from Mike and Laura Travel. I'm an actual member of this course and other similar courses.

This enables me to give you some great first-hand information on what I thought of the training and if I can recommend it or not.

I spent around 20 hours going through all the training modules (it was a lot!) but I now have a good understanding of what was offered and I am going to pass my findings on to you.

So if you are considering this course to start your own blogging business, you'll want to stick around for my honest review with no fluff - I will tell you exactly what you need to know before you pull the trigger.

Let's jump in!

Haven't seen the webinar yet? Laura hosts one live webinar a week. In this webinar you'll learn 3 secrets to exponentially grow your travel blog in 2024. Even if you don't have a travel blog - you need to join!

Who is Scale Your Travel Blog For?

Scale Your Travel Blog is for any travel blogger who wants to take their blog to the next level and start making more money. 

If you have an existing travel blog that is not generating any income, or if you have just started one and want to get it off the ground quickly, then this course might be something to consider. If you don't travel much but want to start a travel blog, this course can also help.

There are some students that have bought the course that isn't even in the travel niche. This is because although Laura teaches you how to grow a travel blog specifically, in reality, you could apply this to other niches.

Who is it Not For?

I don't think it would be wise to buy this course if you're not going to start or grow a travel blog. It's very niche specific so If you're thinking of starting a blog in a different niche, consider this training instead.

It's also not for those on a tight budget. This is an expensive course (I'll get into pricing later) so if you want to start a travel blog you could just get a generic affiliate marketing course and apply those strategies to a travel blog.

Who is Mike and Laura Travel?

Mike and Laura are a couple that has been traveling the world for over 8 years and blogging about their adventures. They are experts in travel blogging, with a huge following and a successful blog.

Mike and Laura are passionate about travel blogging, so it's no surprise that they are now teaching people how to start and grow their own travel blogs.

They have been featured many times in the media, such as Fodors Travel, Drifter Planet, Fupping, and more.

How Scale Your Travel Blog is Different From Other Courses

When I joined Scale Your Travel Blog I immediately noticed this is a much different course from the typical courses I usually buy. It's no longer a one-way street. It's very interactive.

Besides the 9 in-depth training modules, you also get templates to help you grow your business, discounts on tools (optional) a Facebook Mastermind where you can get all your questions answered by not just Mike and Laura but by other successful travel bloggers.

But what really separates this course from others is the personalized service. While other courses may offer all of the above, Scale Your Travel Blog offers more.

Site Audit

If you have a site already, you can submit the URL and you'll get back a full video audit telling you all the possible issues with your site and how you can fix them.

A Review of Your Blog Posts

Choose 4 of your existing blog posts that you would like reviewed. You'll get back some actionable advice on what you need to do to get them ranking higher in Google.

You can use the advice that you got from those posts and apply it to the rest of them.

Get Customized Keywords

All you do is fill out a form with your niche and you're given the exact keywords to go after. This is gold for many new bloggers because most of the time they don't know what keywords to target.

This way, you won't waste any time - or money, looking for keywords to write articles on. It's all done for you.

Get Customized Blog Post Outlines

Besides from getting keywords, you're also given a customized outline for your blog posts. You'll get a total of 6, which is enough to get you started.

You will learn from these how to create your own outlines later, so the help here is great as it gives you a head start in the right direction.

I haven't joined a course that offers anything like this. For someone new, I think this is incredibly valuable. It shows that Mike and Laura are serious about helping you achieve success and they have taken the time to customize a course that is tailored to each individual's needs.

How Much Does Scale Your Travel Blog to Six Figures Cost?

Scale Your Travel Blog costs $2497 and even though this is a high price tag, in my opinion it is worth the investment. I think the value that you get from this course is worth so much more than the actual price. 

I have bought many courses and this one is definitely in the higher end in terms of cost. But as they say, you get what you pay for and this course delivers, over and over again.

To make things easier, you can split the payments up into 6 payments of $427. If you go the payment route, the total cost is $2562 which is only $65 more than the one-time payment.

Many course creators charge a lot more money for a split pay option, but not here. It's very reasonable.

If for some reason you are not happy with the course, you can get a refund within your first 14 days.

Click here to get the course and blow up your travel blog!

Is Scale Your Travel Blog Suitable for Beginners?

Yes, Scale Your Travel Blog is suitable for beginners of any level. This is because not only is the training taught in such a way that you have never done this before but because of the done-for-you research with keywords, outlines, etc. that you get.

It's a really big help for those that have never even started a blog before. So for those that are scared of starting a blog, you can leave your fears behind.

How Does The Course Training Help You Make Money?

Scale Your Travel Blog helps your blog make money in 3 different ways:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Display Ads
• Sponsorships

Let me break these down:

Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is where you promote other people's products. You are given a unique link to put on your website and if someone makes a purchase after clicking that link, you will earn a commission. Most of the money that Mike and Laura make is from affiliate marketing and this is what you should focus on.

The programs they promote are things like hotels, tours, car rentals, and travel insurance.

Display Ads: You can also make money from including ads on your site. Normally these are image ads.

The companies they suggest you work with are Mediavine, Adthrive and Ezoic. Laura breaks these down and tells you how much you can make and what her suggestions are to make the most of it.

Sponsorships: Sponsorships are where you work with other companies for a mutual benefit. For example, Mike and Laura emailed a company once that had a bike rental service.

They offered to have a link to their website in exchange for a free bike rental for 4 days. The company agreed and it saved them a few hundred dollars. Your sponsorships will vary, but you are taught on how to approach this.

What's Included in the Course?

Scale Your Travel Blog to 6 Figures includes 9 modules in over-the-shoulder video format. I find these the best way to learn. Text-based learning sucks in my opinion! I mean, who wants to read walls and walls of text? Video is king!

Here is a sneak peek inside the course. Obviously I can't fit it all in but this is generally what it looks like. The layout is clean and separated by module.

When you are done watching a video, you can click next and it will track your progress. Here, you can see I completed 96% of the course at the time I took this screenshot.

You also get the done-for-you services I mentioned above to give you a head start.

You also get access to the Facebook Mastermind group and monthly group coaching calls. This is beneficial to those that need extra help or have questions to ask.

Here is Laura in one of the recorded group coaching sessions I watched. (Yes, coaching sessions are recorded so you can view them anytime if you miss them live)

There are also "Coffee Hours" which are held monthly. This is just a fun way to connect with other members and bloggers where games are played and prizes are to be won!

What I liked About Scale Your Travel Blog

After going through the course, here are the things that really stood out to me.

1. Done For You Service

I touched on this already but felt it was worth mentioning again. Most other courses aren't interactive like this. They take your money and you are on your own to learn. With Scale Your Travel Blog, you get personalized service with their done-for-you programs which is a huge plus.

2. Video Training

As I said, video training is king! It's fun and entertaining to watch Laura take you through the lessons. You can even speed up or slow down the video depending on how fast you want to go.

3. Laura's Motivational-Style Training

Laura is a natural motivator. You can tell that she's passionate about travel and also passionate to teach this stuff. There's no fakery here. Since Laura is an ex-teacher, it's no wonder she does a great job of getting her point across and keeping you motivated.

4. Great For Beginners 

You don't need to know how to code, you don't need to know SEO or how to write a blog post. As long as you have the motivation, you'll learn the skills needed to grow your travel blog.

The course is designed with beginners in mind. Even if you are somewhat successful already, I guarantee you will learn a few things in this course that could boost your success.

5. You Won't Sweat the Tech Stuff

All the techy things that you need to know are included. This includes walking you through setting up your Google Analytics, search console, and more. All are taught from scratch, so don't sweat the tech stuff. Laura makes it easy to understand.

6. Shows You Keyword Research Without Having to Pay for Tools

I liked that there are modules that show you how to get some great keywords without having to pay for expensive tools. A few different examples of free tools are provided. And, if you want to splurge on keyword tools like Ahrefs, you are shown how to use these too.

7. Learn the Exact Strategies They Use to Rank Blog Posts

You're going to learn the exact process that Mike and Laura use to rank their blog posts in Google. If fact, they have a process where they incorporate 24 steps that you need to take. While that may seem like a lot, each step is going to get you further ahead than your competitors.

This is because you are going to learn how to structure your blog posts as well as the key elements of a successful post.

Not only do you get videos explaining the whole process, but you also get a downloadable PDF template that breaks down each step so you can reference this each time you create a blog post.

8. You Get Trained to Show E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. This is an important factor in the Google algorithm that will determine how you rank. You will learn the exact process of how to show your expertise so that you can instantly become an authority site in the eyes of search engines.

Even if you are a complete beginner, you are going to be able to demonstrate E-E-A-T by the strategies learned in this course. This is an important one, something you could easily screw up if you go at it alone!

9. You Are Given The Exact Affiliate Programs You Should Promote

Mike and Laura have tested many different affiliate programs. You are going to be shown the exact programs that they use, to bring in the most money. They even do comparisons with similar programs and show you why you should choose one program over the other.

Knowing what programs to promote is a bonus and the ones recommended can be used for any niche in the travel blog space. So whether you are doing a travel blog on Puerto Rico or Europe, these recommended programs will work. That means no wasted affiliate links!

10. How and When to Update Your Blog Posts

Laura does a good job explaining why and how to update your blog posts. A lot of training in other courses doesn't cover this topic, but it is an important one. You need to keep your blog posts up-to-date and relevant in order to get more traffic and rankings over time.

The course will also show you how to structure your post updates so that they are optimized for search engine algorithm changes.

11. Learn How to do Email Marketing

Email marketing is often overlooked, but not in this course. Laura explains why you should start an email list and walks you through the entire process.

You are shown how to set up your list using ConvertKit which is what they recommend, but you can use pretty much any autoresponder. I prefer GetResponse myself, but just be sure that you're allowed to do affiliate marketing on the platform as some like MailChimp don't allow it.

You will also learn how to create "lead magnets" in Canva, which is essentially a freebie that you can offer to your readers in exchange for their email addresses. That's how you will grow your list. You are shown step-by-step how to create these freebies and it's really not that difficult.

12. No Fluff

This course cuts straight to the point with no fluff. You won't find any long lectures that don’t add to your learning. All the information is concise and easy to digest.

13. Active Community

When you join the course you get access to the Facebook Group.

I joined shortly after enrolling in the course and wanted to see what the chatter was all about. I've seen questions about writing posts on specific hotels, to getting backlinks, questions on Schema, and so on. Some people have even complained about getting frustrated with setting up their website.

Of course, that's the point of a community forum - to get help. From what I have seen, all questions have been answered which is a good sign. Responses are from members and from Laura herself.

Here's one for example:

So don't worry if you get stuck with anything, there's plenty of help in the Facebook Group. 

14. The SEO Advice is Solid

I know a thing or two about SEO and can easily spot bad strategies that no longer work or advice that can get your site slapped by Google. I didn't see any of that in this course.

The SEO advice is on point, both for on-page and off-page SEO. On-page SEO is all about getting your keywords, headings, content and everything on your site done the right way so Google can index your page properly.

Off-page SEO has to do with backlinks where other sites link to you. Laura teaches you only white-hat strategies and no funky stuff that can get you into trouble.

And don't worry - the way how it's taught, you don't need to have any prior SEO skills. You'll learn the entire process from scratch.

What I didn't like About Scale Your Travel Blog

It was kinda hard to find things that I didn't like about the course but I have to be balanced here!

My first complaint would be the price. It isn't cheap. I will say though that considering for what you get with this course, with the done-for-you keyword research, audit, etc., I think it's worth it.

It's more expensive than the average course, but this is no average course either.

Another thing that might only apply to some is that the sales page doesn't mention what expenses you will incur after purchasing the course. To be fair, you are given some free options but in reality, the paid tools work best.

The most expensive tool would be Ahrefs, but the good news is that you would probably just need it for a month to get all your research in and then cancel. Laura even mentions this in the course.

Is Scale Your Travel Blog A Good Fit For You?

In my opinion, this course is a good fit for anyone that is looking to get into travel blogging. If you're not a travel blogger, skip this course. There are cheaper options.

However, having access to coaching and a program that is tailored for travel bloggers by travel bloggers, well, that's a big advantage if you ask me.

You can't get more targeted than that. There are many blogging courses out there, but this one specializes in travel blogging so it's really going to give you an edge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do travel blogs really make money?

Yes, travel blogs do make good money. It isn't overnight and takes time, but to give you an example, Mike and Laura's travel blog makes them 40K a month or more. In fact, they are on target to make 50K a month later in 2024.

Which platform is best for a travel blog

The best platform for a travel blog is WordPress. It does require hosting and a domain, but it is worth the investment as you have more control in terms of design and functionality. It's also an industry standard for many in the blogging space whether you have a travel blog or a blog in another niche. Just stick with WordPress!

Is it hard being a travel blogger?

I can see it being hard for a travel blogger if he/she doesn't know what they are doing. If you don't know how to write optimized articles, do on and off-page SEO, target the right keywords, etc., then yes, it could be tough to be a travel blogger. But with the right training from the start, you'll have the proper foundation for success ahead.

Do I need to buy any extra tools for this course?

No, some of the tools Laura uses in the course can be used for free. There are some paid tools like Canva Premium and Ahrefs, but you are given free options to use and shown how to use them.

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