How One Blogger Built Two Mediavine Sites While Living Abroad
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Allison has been blogging since 2019. She has two travel blogs, both on Mediavine, and she has built them while living in two different countries.
In this interview, she shares what worked, what she would do differently, and what she thinks every blogger should consider before starting a second site.
Tell us a bit about you and your blogging journey.
What’s your first blog called, and how long have you been at it?
My first blog is Viva La Travelista, which I started in 2019 after I moved to Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about blogging, but I was excited about documenting my travels and sharing tips about the area.
After a lot of trial and error, the site slowly started to grow and I began to realize that blogging could actually become a full-time career.
I was experiencing a lot of burnout in my corporate job, and since I had some savings set aside, I made the decision to quit my job and pursue blogging full-time in 2022.
That’s when I found Laura and joined Scale Your Travel Blog, which really changed the trajectory of my business. After implementing what I learned in the program, I was able to get my first blog accepted into Mediavine in January 2023.
What is your second blog called, and what is it about?
My second blog is called Splendidly Spain, and it’s a niche destination site focused entirely on travel in Spain.
I live in Barcelona now, so the site focuses on travel guides, itineraries, and tips for exploring cities across Spain.
It’s been really fun to build a site around a destination I’m actively living in and exploring on a regular basis.
What kind of results or milestones have you experienced so far, whether in traffic, income, or new opportunities with each of your blogs?
My first blog reached around 85,000 monthly page views at its peak, and my Spain blog reached about 70,000 monthly page views last fall.
I don’t focus much on social media, so the majority of my traffic comes from SEO. That has really shaped how I approach content strategy and keyword research.
In terms of opportunities, blogging has opened the door to working with hotels, tour companies, and travel brands through sponsored stays and collaborations. I’ve found that having a strong niche focus has helped me build relationships with local providers.
I’m also really proud to have been featured in major travel publications like Travel + Leisure, The Washington Post, Forbes, and more.
What made you decide to start a second blog, and how did you know it was the right time to start another site rather than continuing to focus solely on your first?
I decided to start a second blog after I moved to Barcelona in 2024. Around that time, my first site had been losing traffic due to ongoing Google updates, so I felt like it was a good opportunity to start fresh with a new site.
I also loved the idea of building a niche destination blog focused entirely on Spain. Since I was living here and exploring the country regularly, it felt like a natural direction to take my content.
Starting a second site also allowed me to diversify my business rather than relying on a single website.
What things did you do differently, if any, for your second blog based on your learnings from your first one?
Starting my second site was so much easier than the first because I avoided many of the rookie mistakes I made early on.
I basically followed the framework I learned in Scale Your Travel Blog.
That included things like choosing a fast website theme (I use Kadence), keeping plugins minimal, implementing SEO best practices from the beginning, adding legal disclaimers, optimizing images, and properly setting up affiliate links.
One big difference is that I started email marketing right away with my second site. I launched with a freebie and began building my email list from the beginning. I also started placing affiliate links from the start since I had already been accepted into many affiliate programs from my first blog.
I’ve also put more focus on diversification, including Pinterest and YouTube, so the blog isn’t relying solely on Google traffic.
How long did it take for your second blog to reach Mediavine? What do you think most contributed to that timing?
I started my second blog in June 2024, and it was accepted into Mediavine in August 2025, so it took about 14 months.
I think one thing that helped was building content silos around cities I had visited in Spain, which allowed me to create strong topical authority for those destinations.
And I think seasonality also played a role. Travel to Europe peaks in the summer and early fall, so my site experienced a lot of traffic growth during those months.
What has surprised you most about running two blogs at once?
One thing that surprised me was the difference in RPMs between the two sites.
My Mexico blog gets a much larger percentage of traffic from the United States, which tends to generate higher Mediavine RPMs. My Spain site attracts a more international audience with a mix of US and European readers, so the RPMs are quite a bit lower.
That has made me think more strategically about ways to increase RPM and diversify income streams beyond display ads.
How do you manage your time and priorities across both sites so that neither one gets neglected?
Are there any systems, workflows, or content strategies that have been especially helpful in keeping both blogs growing?
At the moment, my Spain blog has become my main priority since I’m seeing more growth there and I no longer live in Mexico.
But for my first blog, I focus on maintaining and updating the posts that generate the most revenue to make sure they stay accurate and continue performing well.
I’ve also expanded into YouTube, which allows me to create video content for both sites that complements my blog posts.
Now that your second blog is on Mediavine as well, what has that meant for your business overall in terms of finances, creativity, or in terms of long-term goals?
Getting my second blog into Mediavine has definitely provided a nice boost in revenue.
More importantly, it has added a layer of stability to my business. With Google updates being so unpredictable, it feels reassuring to have more than one asset generating income.
Now that I’ve reached that milestone, I’m focusing more on growing my email marketing revenue through an evergreen newsletter and getting my Spain YouTube channel monetized.
For bloggers who might be considering starting a second site one day, what would you encourage them to think through before making that leap?
I would encourage bloggers to really think about the time commitment before starting a second site.
Running two blogs is a lot of work, so it’s much easier if you’re already blogging full-time or if you have the budget to outsource certain tasks.
I also think it’s important to have had some level of success with your first blog and a clear understanding of what contributed to that growth. That way you can apply those same strategies and systems to the second site rather than starting from scratch again.
But if you’re passionate about the new niche and willing to put in the work, starting a second site can be a great way to diversify your business and open up new opportunities.
