WoMoGuide is our passion project, but not a hobby project. The website was planned as a professional platform from the start, and in 2020 we decided (at the worst possible time, so to speak) to be completely on our own. In addition to our online marketing, photography and videography services, WoMoGuide plays a central role.
The more support we get from our readers, the more time we can invest in the WoMoGuide. Because like everyone else, we have to make a living, and time that we use elsewhere (for customer orders) can’t be used for WoMoGuide.
Ways to support us
We would be very happy for you to support us! We appreciate it, and we also know that this cannot be taken for granted.
Some visitors assume that content simply has to be available on the Internet and magically generates itself. But readers like you realize that unfortunately it doesn’t work that way and that someone has to invest their time to create useful articles and good videos. Thanks for that!
The following sections describe all currently available ways of supporting us
- directly and indirectly, as well as
- monetarily and non-monetarily.
Become a WoMoGuide supporter
The possibility to support us directly is completely new. We use the German platform Steady for this. The platform takes over the connection of payment providers, secure payment processing, invoicing and transfer to us. Unfortunately, there are also some fees for this: After deducting all fees, we receive around 70% of the support amount. But that’s still far more than, for example, when shopping at Amazon.
Buying our own products
Unfortunately, we are not quite there yet, but our own products will be an essential way of supporting us: ebooks, books, checklists, courses about camping & camping vans. Because we prefer it when we can also provide you with a specific service for your support. This is planned for 2021 at the latest!
Purchase through affiliate links
In many of our articles you’ll find links to shops (pimarily Amazon), where we link useful products. If you click these links and buy something on Amazon, we get a provision (in the low, single-digit percent range). You’ll find many such links in, for example, the Camping Van Accessories article. * In case you aren’t currently looking for camping products, you can support us by generally shopping on Amazon.
(* Affiliate Link – Advertising)
Do you think Amazon is bad? Before you make a final judgment, we ask you to read our statement on why we are linking to Amazon.
YouTube
We have also been active on YouTube since 2020 Here are the possibilities to support us there
Watch our YouTube videos including advertising
We take part in the so-called YouTube partner program. When you watch our YouTube videos, you’ll be shown ads. If you want to support us, please do not skip the advertising, because only then will we benefit.
We have no direct influence on which ads you see, because YouTube decides that. At the end of the month, YouTube pays part of the advertising revenue to the creators of the videos. Incidentally, one doesn’t get rich from it (it would take several hundred thousand subscribers), but we’re still happy about it.
By the way, we had long been troubled by whether we even wanted to annoy our viewers with advertising. The truth is, however, that if you want to run a successful channel, you will be forced to actively participate in the partner program, because YouTube as a company has no interest in showing videos that YouTube cannot earn money from.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Subscribing to our YouTube channel also helps. Although not directly monetarily, YouTube gives preference to larger channels. To do this, simply click on the red Subscribe button under any video.
Like and share our videos
If you give us your like, or even share the video, you will help us to push the spread of our video. That doesn’t help us directly either, but indirectly through the possibility of finding new viewers for us.
You can also find the buttons for this directly under the videos:
Commenting on videos
Feel free to leave us comments under our videos! We are not only happy about the exchange, but comments are also a signal to search engines that our content is valuable. So we get ranked further up.
Support on social media
If you like an article, please share it on social media. Because the more of your friends see our material, the more readers we have. That doesn’t help us directly, but of course, indirectly, growth never hurts.
Mediation of cooperation partners
Do you know companies with products that are interesting for camper van travelers? Maybe you can introduce us.
How WoMoGuide generates income
Initially intended as a sales platform for our camping van book, it soon developed a life of its own, because our tips, advice and travel reports were enthusiastically received by the community. And so there are several pillars today:
- On WoMoGuide we distribute our eBooks, checklists and onlöine courses. These are still in development, we want to publish these in January 2021 at the latest.
- We link useful camping products on Amazon with so-called “affiliate links”. If you click on them and then buy from Amazon, we get a small commission (different depending on the product category, but mostly in the low, single-digit percentage range).
- Brand new: Our readers can support us directly via Steady (see above)
- We cooperate with companies, that fit our target group. We write articles for these companies, test products and present these products to our community. This work is sometimes paid for directly, sometimes takes place on a comission base. If this is the case, there’s usually a purchase option in the article and we get a commission, if someone makes a purchase after reading our article. Of course, we strictly adhere to the legal requirements, google guidelines, mark such cooperations as advertising, and adhere to the voluntary travel blogger codex.
- We offer content production (text, photo, video) to companies that suit us
- We participate in the YouTube partner program. When you watch our videos, YouTube embeds advertisements in the videos.
- We are also considering embedding banner advertising on the website (but have so far not done so).
The effort behind WoMoGuide
WoMoGuide is now a full-time job. This may not be immediately apparent, because we continue to operate WoMoGuide as a website of camper-van-traveller couple and do not want to fall into business talk and come across as a company website. But there is much more to a platform like this than just occasionally writing articles when you feel like it.
WoMoGuide started on the side, but over the years the flow of visitors grew and with it the effort that went with it. Today there is a professional (and strict!) editorial calendar that must also be met. A blog article appears every Sunday, and that doesn’t work spontaneously or on the side. Articles are usually researched, written, corrected and scheduled into the publication calendar months in advance.
Since 2020 we have also been trying to publish a YouTube video every week. We don’t always succeed in doing that, because video production is also an enormous amount of effort. Here is still a lot of investment to be made, because the hardware necessary to even be able to cut 4k videos at all, the huge volumes of data that have to be saved and of course the camera equipment cause quite high costs.
There is also a lot of effort involved that is not obvious at first glance.
This shouldn’t in any way be a complaint. We have decided to operate this platform professionally and are fully committed to it. We just want to give our readers the opportunity to understand the effort behind the platform.
Because a professional web platform cannot be compared to hobbyist, time to time, travel reports. Because “time to time” doesn’t interest readers or Google. If you don’t manage to rank high in search engines, you won’t be found. And if you are not found, then in the end you will not help anyone (or very few). And so it would remain a hobby project, without range or great relevance for the target group.
If you want to work professionally, the demand for infrastructure, technical equipment, your own time availability, an editorial calendar and much more increases with the flow of visitors.
Here are some points that are not always obvious:
- We like to travel, but we can’t just live right through the day. It is constantly being noted, photographed, filmed. The day is recorded in the evening so that we don’t forget important details. Then the planning for the next day already follows, so that we also have something to tell.
- We also work on the go, because otherwise we would not have the time. The mountains of material that would pile up would at some point no longer be manageable:
- Photography, viewing the material, sorting, image processing, export for the target medium
- Researching for articles, gathering material, and writing the articles
- Structuring and layout of the articles so that they are as easy to read as possible
- Search engine optimization of the articles so that they can be found. Because articles that you can’t find won’t help you any further.
- Moderating and replying to comments
- Replying to emails
- Video production for our YouTube channel. Videos have to be planned, the necessary material has to be filmed (often several times because something has been forgotten or something goes wrong technically). This is followed by editing, dubbing and uploading. A YouTube video means about 2-3 days of work on average after the material has already been filmed.
- Music and sound effects for our videos must be licensed (for a fee)
- Our social media channels need to be looked after. Due to the many other activities, we don’t always do it the way we would like.
- Finding cooperation partners, communicating with them and agreeing on cooperation. The negotiations for this can take days, and sometimes there are still 0 euros in income afterwards.
- Server infrastructure that can handle> 100 000 visitors a month, as well as the continuous administration of the same
- Updates to the software to avoid security gaps and to keep the design up-to-date so that the user experience also fits
- Continuous effort to comply with legal requirements (e.g. GDPR)
- Camera equipment, up-to-date laptops (suitable for video editing!), memory cards, backup media, microphones, gimbals, tripods, lighting equipment, etc. (expensive, constant retrofitting and upgrading costs)
- Insurance of our equipment against theft, vandalism, etc. because, of course, we also have to protect ourselves during travel.
- Editing programs, graphics programs
- Fees for payment service providers, etc.
- Acquisition of services such as logo design, book layout, editing, etc.
- Costs for further training, because in the area of technology nothing ever stays still
- Bills from our tax advisor and, of course,
- income taxes
- Compulsory health insurance, which, of course, we need same as all other self-employed
Objections
We know from experience: There are always critical voices when it comes to money. Being asked questions like “If this is your passion project, why are you taking money for it?” and similar. Incidentally, much more so in Europe than in America, where talking about money is not so frowned upon. Nevertheless, we want to address these objections again here:
Passion project and financial income are not contradictory terms. On the contrary: we are so attached to WoMoGuide that we want to spend as much of our time as possible on it. But you have to be able to afford it.
Because we too have to make a living, of course. Preferably with work we can really stand behind and put our heart and soul into.
When I was still a employee, there were periods of several months without new articles. Videos on YouTube were out of the question. At least not with the quality demands we place on articles and videos. It wasn’t until 2020, with the step into full-time self-employment, that there was finally a well-filled editorial calendar without gaps.
But in 2020 the income from WoMoGuide.de is not yet in the right proportion to the effort invested. That’s ok, because I knew beforehand that it would take time. But at the moment we are living on savings and generate most of our income with commissioned work outside of WoMoGuide. This cannot become permanent. If the income of WoMoGuide does not increase significantly, I will be forced to invest more of my time into contract work in 2021 and have to divert this time from WoMoGuide. If, on the other hand, sales of the book and other products go well, we can continue to offer the usual quality and invest the time that is required for it.
You (hopefully) see: just because you want to or have to earn money with a project, it doesn’t make the project worse. On the contrary: it increases the quality and the time that is available for it. And in the end everyone benefits from that.
