For 39-year-old Briana Beaty of The Palm Beach Moms blog, that has given her the opportunity to travel more with her husband and three daughters. She serves as travel writer for the Local Moms Network, with her posts distributed across a nationwide team of mom bloggers.
“I love getting to do fun things with my kids as work, and I love that my kids get to see me doing work,” she said. “And I really love the messages from moms and the connections I’ve made with moms because of this.”
While Beaty said her most popular travel post is about Legoland, her family’s favorite vacation was to Westgate River Ranch Resort and Rodeo in River Ranch, about an hour west of Vero Beach.
It’s not fancy. “You are going to the rodeo, you are making s’mores,” Beaty said.
“My kids are begging to go back,” she added, laughing. “We didn’t want to leave.”
A Miami-based mom, who asked that her name not be used, said she estimates her blog has netted her more than $40,000 in free travel, nationally and internationally, and experiences over the past three years.
“We’ve been able to go to Disney, Universal,” she said. “It’s unbelievable.”
But don’t think these are easy jobs. Sure, that vacation might be provided courtesy of the venue or advertiser, but there’s work to be done when they get home.
The blogger has to take photos throughout the trip, make notes of what they loved, and return to write a blog post and craft accompanying social media features as part of the promotion.
It’s part of a growing field known as “influencer marketing.” Something you might associate with the Kardashians has grown to include bloggers with smaller but more engaged followings.
Beaty said her blog is a full-time job, and she often works until 1 a.m.