Guest Blog: Affiliate Income Growth with Stay22 on Under Northern Skies (Months 1-3)

Guest blog by Alice Smith of UnderNorthernSkies.com

I’ve been a travel blogger for over 5 years and have been blogging full-time on my main website, Adventures of Alice, since August 2023. However, things significantly changed for the blog when I integrated Stay22.

In just a short time, I went from earning around $300 per month to well over $1000. In fact, despite various algorithm changes and updates, Stay22 earned more than my ad network in several months of 2024.

Encouraged by this success, and by our love of Northern Europe, my partner and I launched a second website, Under Northern Skies, in April 2024.

Shortly after the launch, I reached out to Stay22 to inquire about adding their affiliate script to the new site. Having seen such a huge success on my main travel blog, I was curious as to how the same script would perform on a smaller site with much less traffic. 

Having spoken to many other creators in the blogging world, many of whom are in the early stages of monetisation, I saw this as an incredible opportunity to run an experiment.

I wanted to see how quickly Stay22 could help monetise a smaller blog. 

Stay22 went live on Under Northern Skies in late September 2024 and the results so far have been incredibly promising. 

This case study is the first in a series of four, where I’ll be sharing ongoing updates on this site’s affiliate earnings. My goal is to show other bloggers how easy it can be to start earning affiliate income with Stay22, even for newer blogs.

The Stats Before Stay22 Integration

• There were 28 blog posts published on the site Each of these posts was optimized for affiliate conversions. 
• The site had 774 total unique sessions since it launched and was averaging around 541 sessions per month. 
• The blog generated 152 clicks to the hotel affiliate booking site. 
• In total, the site made 5 bookings through affiliate links and earned $59.65 commission from hotel partnerships.

These numbers were really encouraging, especially for such a new blog, but there was certainly room for growth. 

That’s where the Stay22 integration came in.

Implementation of Stay22

We added the Stay22 script to Under Northern Skies on September 27th 2024.

Adding the script to the site was incredibly easy, and you don’t need any coding skills to do it. All you have to do is copy a line of code provided by Stay22 and paste it into the website's header script. The entire process took less than five minutes and was very straightforward.

Stay22 offers a wonderful range of features to help bloggers monetise. For this case study, we primarily implemented 3 main elements:

• Link conversions (Roam): This switches all existing affiliate links on the site to Stay22 links.
• The new tab feature (Nova AI): This only activates for the most engaged users and opens a separate booking window for people to book hotels.
• Spark by Stay22: This new feature automatically adds additional affiliate links to blog posts where it thinks conversions will be highest.

I chose these features because they’re user-friendly, blend seamlessly with the existing content, and genuinely add value for my readers. 

Plus, the power of Stay22 links goes beyond what a single affiliate program can offer. When a user clicks on a Stay22 link, it intelligently redirects them to the hotel booking platform they are most likely to use. 

For example, if a user frequently books through Expedia, the link will open Expedia's platform. If another user prefers Booking.com, the link will direct them there instead.

This personalised approach is incredibly smart, as it tailors the experience to each user, significantly boosting conversion rates.

After embedding the script, it was time to sit back and see how it performed.

Results Post-Implementation

Fast forward to the 24th of December 2024, and I’m really excited by the progress Under Northern Skies has seen since implementing the Stay22 script.

In just 3 months, the site has seen impressive growth, both in content and performance.

• The number of posts grew from 28 to 47. These were also all optimised for affiliate conversions.  
• The traffic significantly increased by 5,100 sessions (from 774 total sessions to 5,844 total sessions), now averaging around 2,400 sessions per month. 
• Since the script was added, the site has had 504 unique clicks via affiliate links, averaging 5.3 clicks per day. 
• The number of bookings grew from 5 bookings in 5 months to 24 bookings in just 3 months. 
• The total commission earned was $257, a significant jump of almost $200.”

Even without comparing them (which we’ll do in a moment), these early results already show just how quickly Stay22 can begin driving affiliate income for a newer blog with relatively low traffic.

My main travel site didn’t see anywhere near this kind of income at this level. In fact, I didn’t start making any money with Adventures of Alice until the site was over 3 years old! Considering Under Northern Skies isn’t even 1 year old yet, I’m so impressed with these results.

It’s exciting to see the potential as the site continues to grow.

Side By Side Comparison

If we compare these results side by side, Stay22 demonstrates a significant improvement in both conversion rates and earnings. 

Before the Stay22 integration, Under Northern Skies had 152 clicks to hotel affiliate booking platforms and 5 bookings. This is a click-to-booking conversion rate of 3.29%. 

The site earned a total of $59.65 in commission, with an average of $11.93 per booking. 

In contrast, after Stay22 was implemented, the site generated 504 clicks and 24 bookings, resulting in a click-to-booking conversion rate of 4.76%.

It earned a total of $257 in commission. 

This is a 45% increase in the click-to-booking conversion rate and a whopping 330% increase in earnings since switching to Stay22.

It’s also worth mentioning that December is typically one of the quietest months for travel bookings. With January being a peak holiday planning time, I’m hopeful that next month’s results will be even more impressive.

Key Insights and Takeaways

Since implementing Stay22, there are several things I have learned.

1. Targeting affiliate links to your readers’ location is a game changer 

In these first 3 months, I’ve seen bookings from platforms that I didn’t previously use such as Hotels.com and Expedia.

Stay22 gives my readers much more of a choice when it comes to what platforms they’d prefer to book through which, in turn, increases conversions.

2. Focus on the reader's experience

This goes hand in hand with my point above but, as a blogger, you should always be focusing on your readers. 

People don’t like having to search for things. If they can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll likely go elsewhere. So, making information easily accessible isn’t only much more helpful, but makes people more likely to buy through your recommendations. 

Stay22’s POP feature means engaged users can easily see popular hotel choices in the destinations they are planning to visit. Plus, since this opens in a separate window, it won’t interrupt their current browsing session.

This has been such a natural fit for my blog because it directly addresses what my readers need: easy access to high-quality accommodations. It’s a win-win for them and for me.

3. Keep an eye on what works

It’s well worth tracking clicks, bookings, and earnings. Making use of Stay22’s analytics dashboard will allow you to identify what’s working and what isn’t, giving you valuable insights into how your affiliate strategy is performing. 

You can see which of your blog posts are generating the most bookings, which country those bookings are coming from, which specific hotels users booking most, and which Stay22 product the user booked with. 

By keeping an eye on these results, you can make adjustments to continually improve your approach and optimize your earnings.

What next?

Adding Stay22 to Under Northern Skies has been a fantastic step forward for the blog. In just three months, traffic and earnings have both seen considerable improvements. 

In my opinion, it’s proof that tools like Stay22 can help newer bloggers start earning income without needing massive traffic numbers right away.

Over the next 9 months, I’ll continue working hard on the site, documenting its growth, and tracking its income. As we enter January's peak booking season, I’m really looking forward to seeing how things ramp up over the start of the year and into spring.

Stay tuned for the next update - trust me when I say that things are just getting started.