Today we’d like to introduce you to Bernie Van Der Linde
Hi Bernie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In 2014, I met Petra in Germany at the Hockenheim racetrack, where my eldest son just won the ADAC GT Masters Championship. We quickly realised we share a love for travelling and discovering hidden gems. In 2022, we registered our company Travel Buddies Lifestyle International and published the first article on our travel blog, Travel Buddies Lifestyle. Today, we have a significant following on our social media platforms and loyal subscribers to our newsletter. In addition, our travel blog is growing exponentially and currently receives more than 11 000 unique views monthly.
We are also privileged to collaborate with some major brands, tourism boards, and luxury travel magazines worldwide.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As Instagram was our first social platform to share our trips and experiences, we didn’t understand its limitations in terms of what you may or may not publish. Therefore, we often got shadow-banned or punished for transgressing an unknown rule, which was very frustrating and demoralising for us. Today, we understand the benefits (and challenges) of sharing content on social media platforms.
Because we manage and publish all articles on our website ourselves, we needed to learn everything there is to know about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), affiliate marketing and ways to successfully reach out to potential travel partners. Although we are growing exponentially on our travel blogs and search engines are starting to favour our articles, we still have a long way to go to successfully monetise our website.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As travel writers and avid photographers, we travel the world to compile reviews and feature articles for tourism boards, hotels and travel partners. We are known for our safari articles and recommendations to some of the best lodges in South Africa. We pride ourselves on assisting collaborators in enhancing their social media presence by sharing exciting content. In contrast to the young, beautiful content creators who only want free stays and temporary exposure, we aim to build lasting relationships with our collaborators by offering a professional service that will add long-term value to our clients.
Our goal is to make luxury travel accessible and to give our travel partners value in the collaborations. Moreover, we enjoy sharing pro travel tips to ensure people have an unforgettable experience when they apply our recommendations. Newsletter subscribers receive exclusive discount codes and other travel-related benefits.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
We are authentic on our social media pages and always ensure that our articles share trustworthy information. For example, if we don’t have a good experience at a destination or hotel, we will be as honest as possible in our description without offending our collaboration partners.
We believe our success is due to our ability to build lasting relationships with our travel partners. We don’t believe in sharing a few stories with a client and never making contact again. We regularly share content from previous visits and continue to promote our partners’ establishments long after the initial collaboration is completed.
Pricing:
- A travel blog articles – $270 (with hosted stay)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.travelbuddieslifestyle.com
- Instagram: Travelbuddies_lifestyle
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@TravelBuddiesLifestyle?si=rWJo7gpPTW-x4rMu
