Site School
  • Grow Your Traffic
    • SEO
    • Email
  • Monetize Your Traffic
    • Affiliates
    • Advertising
    • Products & Services
    • My Income Reports
  • Case Studies
    • Discover Sausalito
    • Eat Like Bourdain
    • Follow The Butterflies
    • Great Plains Travel Guide
    • Jordan Traveler
    • London On My Mind
    • Soup Whoop
    • Space Tourism Guide
    • Valerie & Valise
    • Visit Ni’ihau
  • Grow Your Traffic
    • SEO
    • Email
  • Monetize Your Traffic
    • Affiliates
    • Advertising
    • Products & Services
    • My Income Reports
  • Case Studies
    • Discover Sausalito
    • Eat Like Bourdain
    • Follow The Butterflies
    • Great Plains Travel Guide
    • Jordan Traveler
    • London On My Mind
    • Soup Whoop
    • Space Tourism Guide
    • Valerie & Valise
    • Visit Ni’ihau
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SEO
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Email
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Affiliates
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Advertising
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Products & Services
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Case Studies
  • ELB Hero
    Case Studies

    Eat Like Bourdain 1 Year Report
    [CASE STUDY]

    June 25, 2022 / No Comments

    I'll be completely honest: at a certain point, I was definitely starting sites on a whim last year. I'd sit down to dinner with my husband, and be like "I think I'm gonna start X new site" and would have it launched and deployed within a week. While I pride myself on coming up with (what I think are) good ideas and moving on them quickly, it got to be a bit much – we did end up running twelve sites at the end of 2021...

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    Second Blogiversary Hero

    Celebrate My Second Blogiversary with Me!

    October 21, 2015

    Great Plains Travel Guide 6 Month Report [CASE STUDY]

    September 9, 2021
    Follow the Butterflies Hero

    Follow the Butterflies 18 Month Report [CASE STUDY]

    October 28, 2021
  • Income Reports

    May 2022 London On My Mind Income Report

    June 18, 2022 / No Comments

    It's hard to believe that, all in, I've been blogging for almost nine years – and as a full-time role for four years. When I left my last traditional job, it was a leap of faith, and the pandemic certainly made me question my plans (as it did for many). However, by starting new sites – including London on My Mind (LOMM) – I've been able to weather the storm and actually grow in the past few years...

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    You May Also Like

    August 2021 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    September 2, 2021
    July 2019 Recap

    July 2019 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    August 3, 2019

    October 2020 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    November 7, 2020
  • Income Reports

    May 2022 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    June 11, 2022 / No Comments

    After a travel-filled April, May was delightfully slow – a few days of travel at the beginning and end of the month bookended a month of home time, catching up on work and with friends. While I am rekindling my love of travel and of being a travel blogger after 2+ long years of slogging it out, it's nice to be home with J and the kitties, and have my routines to keep me sane...

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    October 2020 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    November 7, 2020

    December 2020 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    January 2, 2021

    March 2021 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    April 10, 2021
  • tRPM Hero
    Monetize,  Organize

    tRPM: The Most Valuable Blogging Metric You’re Not Tracking

    June 4, 2022 / No Comments

    In the world of blogging and running websites, there are so many metrics to keep track of. Traffic numbers and follower counts. CTRs and ROIs. Engagement rates, view rates, ad rates, oh my! At the end of the day, there's only one metric I really care about for my websites (and their associated social media accounts): tRPM...

    Read More

    You May Also Like

    Travel Blog Success Tools

    7 Essential Affiliate Programs for Travel Bloggers

    October 2, 2020

    8 To-Dos to Prep Your Blog for the December Traffic Bump

    November 3, 2020
  • Income Reports

    April 2022 London On My Mind Income Report

    May 28, 2022 / No Comments

    When I started receiving requests to do monthly recaps for Valerie & Valise, part of me wondered: would it not also be helpful to have a look 'under the hood' of a newer site? Would people want to see how you can start a site and how it will grow – not just what an almost decade-old site can do today?...

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    You May Also Like

    January 2021 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    February 6, 2021

    May 2021 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    June 5, 2021

    October 2021 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    November 11, 2021
  • April 2022 Recap Hero
    Income Reports

    April 2022 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    May 21, 2022 / No Comments

    Busy, busy, busy – that's how April sticks out in my memory. For the first time in two years, I feel like April began to give us a sense of returning to some normalcy. I spent a lot of time on planes, some of it not even wearing a mask; I went to conferences and events, many of which not even wearing a mask; I ate in restaurants and went to parties and traveled almost-normally...

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    June 2020 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    July 4, 2020

    March 2020 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    April 4, 2020
    July 2019 Recap

    July 2019 Valerie & Valise Income Report

    August 3, 2019
  • Content Challenge Hero
    Grow

    What is the Content Challenge
    & How Does it Work

    May 18, 2022 / 3 Comments

    Feeling stuck on growing your site? Have a serious case of burnout or writer's block? I've been there – many times. Most people are surprised to learn that since I'm generally super productive and get a lot done but I (like everyone) struggle with my motivation. I've also worked to overcome those issues by finding tricks and techniques that motivate me even when I'm not feeling the fire inside on any given day, week, month, or even season. (Yes, I've taken whole seasons off from some sites!)...

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    You May Also Like

    8 To-Dos to Prep Your Blog for the December Traffic Bump

    November 3, 2020

    7 Components in My Travel Blog Strategy for 2021

    December 30, 2020
    Blogging Lessons 2019

    5 Important Lessons I Learned as a Full-Time Blogger in 2019

    January 2, 2020
  • Case Studies

    Jordan Traveler 1 Year Report
    [CASE STUDY]

    May 14, 2022 / No Comments

    People often ask me how I choose to start sites about different destinations, and why. The reality is that each answer is different. When it comes to my Jordan Traveler site, it was a memory of a trip six years ago – almost exactly around this time in 2016 – that left such a strong impression that I want other travelers to have the same experience. And I was fortunate to have that own experience again recently...

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    Valerie & Valise – 6 Years On: What I’ve Learned & What’s Next

    October 21, 2019
    Third Blogiversary Hero

    Happy Blogiversary: Valerie & Valise Turns 3!

    October 21, 2016
    ELB Hero

    Eat Like Bourdain 1 Year Report
    [CASE STUDY]

    June 25, 2022
  • Website Launch Plan hero
    Learn

    How Often to Publish on a New Site:
    My 10/10/10 Website Launch Plan

    May 7, 2022 / No Comments

    So you've decided to start a new site? Awesome! When I started Site School, it was always my goal to help both first-time and repeat website owners create sites that bring them joy and earn them money. This means that, from time to time, people in the community will be in the "launch" phase of their first/latest site and need help with that process as much as any other part of the business like monetization through ads and affiliates or product brainstorming...

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    You May Also Like

    Blogging Lessons 2019

    5 Important Lessons I Learned as a Full-Time Blogger in 2019

    January 2, 2020

    9 Components in My Travel Blog Strategy for 2020

    January 3, 2020

    8 To-Dos to Prep Your Blog for the December Traffic Bump

    November 3, 2020
  • SEO Strategy in 2022 Hero
    Grow,  SEO

    6 Important Areas of Focus for Your SEO Strategy in 2022 (& Beyond)

    April 30, 2022 / No Comments

    If I've learned anything over the eight years since I started running my first site, it's that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) never stops changing. As soon as you think you've figured out what Google wants, the world's biggest search engine improves its algorithms, changes its criteria, or releases some update that upends all we've been focusing on...

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    You May Also Like

    8 To-Dos to Prep Your Blog for the December Traffic Bump

    November 3, 2020

    7 Components in My Travel Blog Strategy for 2021

    December 30, 2020
    Content Challenge Hero

    What is the Content Challenge
    & How Does it Work

    May 18, 2022
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About Me & Site School


 
Hi, I'm Valerie! 👋
I've been blogging for over two decades – and for the past 8 years as a professional blogger.
 
Today I run over a dozen websites, and I started Site School to help you build your own sustainable and financially successful website!

Explore My Websites

(Indicates Starting Month)

Valerie & Valise (10/2013)
Space Tourism Guide (11/ 2017)
Discover Sausalito (01/2020)
Follow the Butterflies (04/2020)
London on My Mind (01/2021)
Great Plains Travel Guide (03/2021)
Soup Whoop (04/2021)
Visit Ni'ihau (05/2021)
Jordan Traveler (05/2021)
Eat Like Bourdain (06/2021)
True Crime Pods (07/2021)
Solar Smarts (07/2021)

My favorite course investment?
👇

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