Kritika Goel – Travel Vlogger

How does Kritika Goel make money online?

Kritika Goel is an Indian travel vlogger and YouTube content creator. Her mission is to help content creators be profitable and make blogging their full-time career. 

As she mentions in her November 2021 video above, Kritika has seven sources of income… 

• YouTube Ad Revenue
• Affiliate Marketing
• Brand Deals
• Sponsored Trips
• Online Store
• Investments
• Miscellaneous 

Currently, Kritika is making most of her income through sponsored content (brand deals) and affiliate marketing. Each month she earns between $600 to $3,700, depending on the brand she’s working with. 

When you look at vlogging as a long-term business, your audience’s trust is very important. That’s why I take only 10-20% of the brand deals that come my way.

During the 2020 lockdown, Kritika launched her online store. She sells her Lightroom presets for $20 to $40, and various email template kits for $10. ¹

In the beginning, Kritika also did a lot of sponsored trips without getting paid. Now she doesn’t accept deals like that as she finds it to be a lot of work. ²

It feels like it’s going to be fun, but you’re constantly creating content. Still, if it is a place I really want to travel to, then I will do it without the extra pay. 

The smallest portion of her income comes from YouTube ad revenue, investing in shares and mutual funds, and licensing fees when brands use her content. 

There are times when people reach out and ask me to write a blog post for them or use one of their links in one of my existing blog posts. Sometimes I get invited to events and I get paid to attend them, as well. 

How much money does Kritika Goel make?

In the same November 2021 video, Kritika mentioned that travel vlogging is unreliable in terms of income. 

During the ‘bad’ months when she is not taking brand deals, Kritika ends up making $900 to $1,200 monthly. However, in the ‘good’ months she can earn up to $4,800 or more per month.  

How did Kritika Goel get started?

After graduating in 2013, Kritika worked for 4 years at a corporate job before starting her YouTube channel. Even though she paid her bills, she felt dissatisfied as she believed it was more to life than the 9 to 5. ³

In 2017, I finally decided to take the plunge and give my YouTube channel a real shot, and I’m so glad I did! Today, I’ve built an online audience of over 420,000 wonderful people, work with awesome brands, and travel to places like the Czech Republic and Hong Kong for work! 

How did Kritika Goel get to where she is now?

Kritika shared her journey of becoming a successful travel vlogger in this December 2021 video…

As she mentions in the video, the essential skills you need are knowledge of geography, editing, and photography. Even though she was good at photography because of her dad, Kritika learned about editing and videography on the Internet. 

When she quit her job in 2017, Kritika had some money saved but she started looking for freelance gigs to keep making money while traveling.

I used to write travel-related articles for Expedia Singapore and I would get $73 to $85 per article. Freelancing is a good way to make money when you’re in that transition phase where you quit your job and you need a side income. 

Another thing she suggests doing is finding local accommodation establishments in the city you live in. 

Kritika used to offer to take photos and create videos of hotels and Airbnb listings in exchange for a free one-night stay. That way she was logging her experience and building her portfolio. However, most of these arrangements were free of charge at the beginning.

When offering photos in exchange for a complimentary stay in a hotel, you can suggest creating a video for an extra price. If you already have a sample portfolio in hand, I think brands are more likely to say yes to additional proposals and pay you for them.

What tools/resources does Kritika Goel use?

Kritika lists her favorite tools on her website. Those are:

• Epidemic Sound – Global Royalty-Free Soundtrack Providing Company
• Flodesk – Digital Marketing Service Provider
• TubeBuddy – YouTube Video Optimization and Management Toolkit
• Thinkific – Course Creation Platform
• Skillshare – Online Learning Community