Affiliate Policy

This blog is a FREE resource for travelers, & represents many hours of work.  Girl Who Travels the World is a true labor of passion, that combines two of my favorite things in the world: travel & writing.  When I started this blog, I had no idea that you could even make money from a blog!  Let alone, how to do that.  Since late 2016, when this blog was created, the learning curve has been steep: & I’ve slowly learned how to make money ~ often by adding affiliate links, which I’ll talk more about in this “Affiliate Policy.” 

My intention with affiliate links is to keep them entirely relevant to my topic: I link to hotels I’ve actually stayed in, & products I actually use.  Occasionally, I receive complimentary hotel stays in the course of my travels: if that’s the case, I state it right up front.  If I have any issue with or critique of the hotel, however: I always address it!  My primary commitment is to my reader, rather than to a hotel or corporation, & my opinions are 100% my own.  

Cozumel was one of the first places I wrote about, back when I had NO clue how to monetize a blog! Since then, I’ve learned that affiliate programs are one of the primary ways bloggers earn money. 

Many bloggers receive free product in exchange for blog posts and/or social media shares: this is something I’ve entirely stayed away from.  I simply don’t need more random “stuff” in my life!

Companies I Work With

In the name of full transparency, here’s a list of affiliate programs I currently work with: Amazon Affiliate Program (when you see books or goods on my site, these are most typically Amazon links), Auto Europe, Google Ad Sense (these are more random, horizontal ads ~ & I’ve minimized them to make the reader experience as uncluttered as possible), Hotels Combined & Travel Payouts.

Now, what do these links mean to you, as the reader? 

It simply means that if you click through the link & make a purchase, I earn a small commission, that costs you nothing extra.  And here’s the really interesting thing about affiliate marketing: let’s say you click through one of my Amazon links, but don’t end up buying the product I recommend; you buy something else instead.  I still earn a commission!  The same is true for hotels.  So let’s say I recommend you stay at the JW Marriott in Cusco, but you end up booking the Palacio del Inka instead.  No problem ~ you still entered the booking portal through my site, therefore, I still earn a commission.

Is every link on my site an affiliate link? 

Absolutely not.  Hundreds of links on my site link to businesses or organizations I trust, & that I believe offer value to my reader.  For instance, I wrote an article called, “Why Surf Camp is Perfect for Solo Travel,” & there are numerous links to Pura Vida Adventures in the article.  Pura Vida didn’t pay me to write the article (that would be called a “Sponsored Post”), & I make no money from links that refer to their site ~ it was simply an amazing experience I wanted to share. 

What Do Affiliate Links Look Like?

Affiliate links may be text links (like this one, to the JW Marriott), or they may look like the link below, which enables you to look for hotels via a search form: 

How to Support this Website: 

• Comment on my blog posts!  Comments are very useful to other readers, & they help with Google rankings as well. 
• If my articles have been helpful to you, consider booking your next hotel or flight through my site ~ & remember, you can book ANY hotel you want through my links, not just the hotels I recommend!
• Consider making your Amazon purchases through my site. 
• Share my articles through Facebook, Pinterest, or any of your favorite sharing platforms!