Inspired by 10 Years of Frequent Miler, I thought it’d be fun to reflect on the past four years of Points With Q. It’s been a wild ride, full of ups and downs. So, I can’t wait to see what the next four years have in store! Particularly as it relates to the changing landscape of points and miles and award travel.
The most interesting development over the past four years happened in year three. The pandemic altered everyone’s way of life, including those of us who travel regularly. For example, my full-time job halted corporate travel for nearly a year. Separately, Ashlee and I did little to no travel in 2020 and that trend continued in 2021. With that out of the way, let’s take a look in more detail about Points With Q.
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What is Points With Q?
A travel website focused on educating travelers with blog posts focused on business class deals, credit card reviews, and loyalty programs. I also have a post once per month on the books I read over the past month. Reading is a big part of my life. So, I like to share books that other travelers may find interesting as well.
The inspiration for the Points with Q posts comes from a few sources including Frequent Miler, One Mile At A Time, and God Save The Points. Each of these sites takes a unique angle towards award travel, which I appreciate. I also generate content ideas when I want to learn more about a particular topic. Writing about different topics helps ensure that I fully understand each topic by forcing myself to explain the topic to others.
Who is Points With Q?
Yours truly! In addition to writing 3x blog posts per week, I run the SEO, back end of the website, business development, and social platforms. It’s a lean machine that is time-intensive. However, running this site has been an incredible learning opportunity, which is one of the reasons I started Points With Q.
In the future, I’d love to bring on additional writers, an SEO expert, someone to run the back end of the website and social platforms. That would free me up to focus on writing and business development, two areas of Points With Q where I can add the most value.
Points With Q Growth Over Time
My first post How to Fly to Southeast Asia Using Points and Miles went live December 15, 2017. Since then, I’ve published 395 blog posts, including this one, over the past four years. Just reading that number is mind-blowing! I also created my first paid course The Best Travel Rewards Credit Card Course to help peel back the onion on travel credit cards.
Running this blog over the past four years has at times been a struggle. There were multiple times when I considered giving up. And if you know me personally, I never throw in the towel. However, it can be deflating when you put in a ton of effort with little to no results. So, I’ve changed the way I think about the blog. Instead of focusing on vanity metrics like social media followers and page views, I’ve instead focused on how many people the blog is impacting. There is a helpful article 1,000 True Fans I reference often when I think about the purpose of Points With Q.
Year 1 December 2017 – 2018
Asia travel was clearly on my mind as the top two posts were 5 Best Ways To Use Asiana Miles For Maximum Value and 5 Best Ways To Use Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. We traveled to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Singapore in 2016 so this makes sense. Other top posts from this year included 5 Best Ways to Use Avianca LifeMiles, How to Book Flights in AwardHacker: A Beginner’s Guide, and 5 Best Ways To Use Alaska Airlines Miles.
Year 2 December 2018 – 2019
For the second year in a row, 5 Best Ways To Use Asiana Miles For Maximum Value was the most popular blog post. How to Book Flights in AwardHacker: A Beginner’s Guide came in second followed by 5 Best Ways To Use Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, 5 Best Ways to Use Avianca LifeMiles, and 5 Best Ways To Use Alaska Airlines Miles.
Year 3 December 2019 – 2020
How to Book Flights in AwardHacker: A Beginner’s Guide topped the charts for the most popular post in 2020. Rounding out the top five posts of 2020 was 9 Top Things to Do for Kauai Travel, 5 Best Ways to Use United MileagePlus Miles, 48 Hours of Frisco Colorado Travel, and 5 Best Ways To Use ANA Airlines Miles.
Year 4 December 2020 – 2021
For the second year in arow, How to Book Flights in AwardHacker: A Beginner’s Guide was the top post in 2021. St Croix Travel: A Caribbean Vacation in 48 Hours, 5 Best Ways to Book QSuites Business Class US to Doha, 5 Best Ways to Use Avianca LifeMiles, and 5 Best Ways to Use Avianca LifeMiles rounded out the top five posts in 2021.
Year 5 December 2021+
The focus will continue to be about educating readers. Blog post topics will include book reviews, business class deals, credit cards reviews, and loyalty programs. I also plan to launch a new travel course, similar to The Best Travel Rewards Credit Card Course. All in all, 2022 is shaping up to be a fantastic year.
So, what content do you want to see on Points With Q in 2022? What types of articles do you find most helpful? Please let me know in the comments or by sending me an email on my contact page.
Disclaimer: If you click and/or sign up for a credit card through certain links on this site or any of my related social media platforms, I may make a commission from that click-through. The editorial content on this page and the user comments are not provided by any of the companies mentioned and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. The opinions expressed here are mine alone.
