Heads up MadTravels contains affiliate links and is a member of the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you book or buy through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my disclaimer for more information.
I started MadTravels in late 2024 with no website, no audience, and no idea how any of this worked. I joined Scale Your Travel Blog at the same time, and it is still the best money I have spent on this business.
Here is my honest review: what you get, what it costs, who it is for, and what I built afterward to keep up with everything it taught me.
The short version
- What it is: Laura Peters’ course for travel bloggers. 12 modules plus 10+ bonus lessons, from setting up a site to SEO, Pinterest, affiliates, email, newsletters, and sponsorships.
- What it costs: $797 for the course on its own, or $2,997 for the course with coaching. Both have payment plans.
- My verdict: Worth it. I took the coaching version and would buy it again.
- Best for: Beginners with no site yet, and bloggers who are looking to scale
➡️See the full course + coaching→
Where my blog was before the course
Before Scale Your Travel Blog, my blog was nonexistent. I knew I wanted to start a travel blog a couple of years ago as an art project, a way to keep track of my travels and share them, and ideally to make money along the way. I had no idea how to get started.
I also had no idea you could actually make money with a travel blog. I just knew I wanted a way to make money online without being in front of the camera and to travel more.
I did not know how to set up a website. I did not know how Google rankings, partnerships or marketing worked. I did not know what to write.
What the course covers
The course is 12 modules you watch over Laura’s shoulder, plus more than 10 bonus lessons with templates, checklists and guides. It walks through:
- Setting up and optimizing your WordPress site
- On-page SEO for travel blogs
- Backlinks and off-page SEO
- Growing traffic with Pinterest
- Affiliate marketing
- Updating and refreshing old posts
- Ad networks
- Building an email list
- Landing sponsorships
- Other income streams
It walked me through every step. The only thing you really have to pay for on top is hosting, which runs about $15 a month or $50 to $100 a year.
Planning a weekend away?
Get The Weekender: weekend trips, already planned.
What I added on: the coaching
I made the additional investment in the coaching piece, and it was 100% worth it. Getting direct feedback from the team on my content and strategy led to so much growth, and Laura is incredible.
With the coaching version you also get a two-part site audit (about an hour and a half), 25 keywords picked for your site, 6 custom post outlines, 4 post reviews, monthly group coaching calls with guest experts, biweekly strategy calls and monthly Q&A sessions.
It has also been more helpful than I expected to be connected to a community of people doing the same thing. I have learned more from them than I thought I would.
Once you join, you have access to the materials, Laura and the team, and the community forever. That is the part I keep coming back to at every stage of growth.
Course only vs. course plus coaching
| Course only | Course + coaching | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $797, or 3 payments of $280 | $2,997, or $500/mo for 6 or $257/mo for 12 |
| 12 modules + 10 bonus lessons | Yes | Yes |
| Templates, checklists, guides | Yes | Yes |
| Facebook community, lifetime | Yes | Yes |
| Site audit | No | Yes, two parts |
| 25 keywords for your site | Add-on, $150 | Included |
| Custom outlines and post reviews | No | 6 outlines, 4 reviews |
| Coaching and strategy calls | No | Group calls, biweekly strategy calls, monthly Q&As |
If you are the type who will actually do the modules on your own, the course-only version is plenty. If you want someone to look at your specific site and give specific feedback, that is what you are paying for with coaching.
That is the part I wanted, and I do not regret it.
➡️See the full course + coaching→
Things to think about before you buy
Two honest things. First, the price. $2,997 is a real investment, and even $797 is not nothing when your blog is making $0.
The payment plans help, but go in knowing this pays off over months, not weeks. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick thing, and the course says so itself.
Second, none of it works unless you do it. You get a long list of things to do every week, and the course cannot do them for you.
There is a 14-day refund window if you put in the effort and it is not for you.
The other thing, and this one caught me off guard: there is a lot of material. At the beginning it felt daunting, like I had to get through all 12 modules and every bonus lesson before I was allowed to start.
You do not. Pick the piece you need next, do that one thing, and come back for the rest later.
You have lifetime access, so you are not racing anyone.
What I automated after
Since joining in late 2024, I have grown a lot and have started making money from my blog. It has been such a fun process.
For longer than I would like to admit, though, my growth was slow, because I have high standards and I was doing every single step by hand.
So I built systems to do the manual parts for me: keyword research into a sheet, outlines built from my own destination notes, affiliate links placed consistently, internal link suggestions, and Pinterest pins for every post. I still pick the photos, write the words and do the final edit myself.
It is all still me, just without the tedious to-do list.
That is exactly what I now sell as Saturday Systems.
But is blogging even worth starting in 2026?
I hear this constantly, and I will tell you: blogging is not dead. You can still build something real with it in 2026.
It is not the 2015 version where you post and traffic shows up, and yes, it takes longer than anyone wants it to.
But people are still searching for real advice from people who have actually been to the places they are reading about, and that is exactly what a good travel blog is. In a world full of AI-written content, real advice is valuable.
I started mine from scratch in late 2024, and it has grown significantly. The community inside the course is full of people at every stage doing the same thing.
What has changed is that you cannot wing it anymore. You need a strategy, and you need to be consistent.
That is the whole reason I took the course, and the reason I built systems on top of it.
So, is it worth it?
Yes. Scale Your Travel Blog is the best investment I have made in this business, and I think you will find it as transformational as I have.
If you are brand new to blogging, start with Scale Your Travel Blog. Then automate.
If you have already dabbled and want to scale, I would do both: the course for the strategy, my systems for the repetitive work.
➡️Purchase the full course + coaching→
Prices and inclusions are what the sales pages listed when I last checked. Check the current details before you buy.
I hope you have the best trip!
Everything here comes from my own time in Get Paid To Travel. Take what’s useful and make the trip your own.