Convenience > This Guide is All You Need to Begin Travel Blogging Today
20th Jul 2022
Step-by-step Guide to Starting Your Own Travel blog
Convenience

This Guide is All You Need to Begin Travel Blogging Today

Travel blogs have taken off incredibly recently as more people want to explore places and document their adventures by creating a blog. Sometimes it’s about sharing tips, recommending where to stay, or simply recording the journey. Nonetheless, many travellers are looking for reliable travel blogs to read when planning their next holiday.

Starting blog results in usually two reactions. One is that it’s easy, and anyone can do it. The second reaction is that it is a challenging and saturated market. If you are aspiring to become a travel blogger, this step-by-step guide will help you start a tour blog, including finding a niche, setting up your branding and domain name, content creation, and finally moving your blog to a self-hosted one.

 

Choosing Your Niche

With a wide variety of travel blogs available online, choosing your unique niche can take some time, especially if you want to monetise. It can be a specific country or an area, budgeted or luxury trips, travelling with kids or pets, etc. Always choose the one you can write and are passionate about, as it might take a long time to see the results.

 

Here are a few ideas to pick your wandering inspirations: –

  • City/ Area/ Country focused: Destinations in and around the locations, accommodations and sightseeing, fees, and how to get about.
  • Budget or Luxury Travel: As long as your wallet permits, you can go as high and low as possible. Ideas on 5-star hotels and hostel staycations, things to do and see and so on, tips to save, etc.
  • Travelling with pets/ family: Pet-friendly options, ideas on negotiating deals with hotels and airlines, touring tips, and hacks for babies or seniors.
  • Solo travel: If you are a female, you can go for solo female travelling hacks, Hostels, and Airbnb rooms, and tips on meeting and making friends on these journeys.

Tools like Ahrefs or BuzzSumo help you get ideas on what other bloggers are talking about or if you find a gap in your niche, fill it with meaningful content.

 

Selecting the Name & Branding

This is your online identity, so consider it a long-term haul while picking up the name for your blog. Make it short and more accessible to type and primarily easy to spell. It is always better not to complicate it with hyphens and numbers.

You are promoting yourself as a brand, so think from the perspective of your potential clients. Imagine them recognising and identifying the content as your niche or brand.

 

Tips to remember while picking the name –

  • Avoid common and overused names of similar bloggers as your brand
  • Make it short and straightforward to remember, type, spell, and share
  • Not to add hyphens and numbers
  • Think outside the box and do not limit yourself with the name

Have foresight and be careful not to limit yourself to specifications. For example, choosing a specific year or age, “wander2022” or “name25”, in the long term, what happens when you turn 26 years old or when it is the year 2023. The name becomes irrelevant, and changing the domain name is a task.

 

Setting up Web Hosting & Blog Detailing

What is web hosting? In simple terms, you are paying for a space on the internet with a specific name and address. All your pictures, write-ups, and traversing content can be accessed easily by visitors when they type your domain name. So, choose a reliable and fast hosting server to set your site up. Different plans are available at prices starting at 2$ and up.

There are various free platforms like Tumblr, and WordPress.com, which are excellent for personal blogging. While paid hosting services like SiteGround, BlueHost, etc., help you grow and access the tools required to manage your website. Learn to use WordPress with their free videos and tutorials.

Blog themes and fonts play an essential part in how your site can turn out to be. You can begin using a free theme that matches your travel blog and upgrade it with paid themes as your content grows. Keep it uncluttered with simple fonts, complementing colour palettes, and high-quality pictures and videos that can attract clients to visit your site more.

 

Installing Plugins for Functionality

Several Plugins improvise the functionality of your site, and there are paid and free ones that you can use to give these additional features. Here is a list of must-have Plugins: –

  • SEO plugin: for SEO analytics, Google search, keyword research, etc., which helps your site to pop up.
  • Security plugin: to prevent hacking and to secure the site
  • Caching plugins to help speed up and to load the sites faster for your visitors
  • Contact forms and Social Share Plugins: Be it Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, or Snapchat, make a page and connect with the world.

In addition to these, there are several plugins that you can download for travel blogs:-

  • Map Plugins: that let users show the tours and travel you’ve been on, routes with arrival and departure dates, etc.
  • Photo gallery plugins: that can show high-quality pictures in a gallery, in specific lights, with faster image loading
  • Several Affiliate links that can earn you a commission – flight booking, hotel, Airbnb, international travel agencies, etc.

 

Content Creation

Now you have set the foundation; it is time to start blogging. You can start by making an “About Me” page, specifically an introduction – this is all about you, your background, niche, an outline of what to expect, and a brief explanation on why they should follow you.

1. Building an online presence – Use all popular social media to build your audience strategically. Make sure to keep your user name similar to your domain name for easy recognition.

2. Learn about keyword research, SEO, Google analytics, etc. – To know what works with your audience. In the beginning, try various types of content specific to your niche to understand how users react. For example, for pet travel – train travel guidelines, a list of pet-friendly hotels and Airbnbs in particular areas, travel booking period, videos of travelling with pets, etc.

3. Creating impactful content – With many tips, hacks, information about travel restrictions, tours and packages, and blogs about things that add value to the users and encourage that wanderlust feeling. Always remember quality over quantity.

4. Connecting with other bloggers and networking – Learning new trends and tricks, and connecting to get ideas and inspirations, discussions, and collaborations can get you a long way.

 

Earning Money from the Travel Blog

The first thing to remember is to be patient. The targeted users will slowly trickle in as and when your blog grows. You can earn money through various channels once you get enormous traffic on your site.

  • Affiliate marketing is one of the most common options. Anytime a user buys from your affiliate link, you earn a commission.
  • Google AdSense – Google creates specific ads for your blog, and you can earn when the visitors click on them.
  • Customised plans and contents – this can work with memberships, customised and detailed travel booking, etc.
  • Hotels, airlines, and companies sponsored trips to create content based on their needs and preferences.

 

Conclusion

Now that you know how to set up your wanderlust blog, you can start creating your content. Remember to post regularly for the blog site to grow. In the meantime, learn more about valuable tools like WordPress, keyword and Google analytics, editing photos and videos, promoting your blogs on social media, etc. Be patient and happy blogging.

 

FAQ

What are the benefits of travelling?

Travelling makes you feel relaxed and energised, and it helps you to learn and appreciate nature, food, culture, and everything a place has to offer.

 

How do I get paid to travel?

There are many ways to get paid, like blogging, brand ambassadors of companies, social media influencers, work exchange programs, and many more.

 

Is there any job that pays you to travel?

Many jobs pay you to tour – precisely cabin crew, cruise ship workers, tour guides, and travel and wildlife photographers.

 

How can I live my life and travel?

Many companies now give you the flexibility of work from anywhere policies. Plan your budget, research living arrangements, money-saving and investing hacks, create a passive income, and slowly transition to a travel life.

 

Can you earn money from a travel blog?

Yes, you can make money, although driving traffic to your website and earning recognition will take time. Add value to the content you are creating for the users.

 

Do You Need a Laptop & Camera? 

Yes, it is always better to invest in a good camera and laptop to create high-quality videos and pictures. You can find many guides online to learn about editing your images, creating content, and more.

 

What should a travel blog include?

Pick out a niche you would like to work on. Based on that, you can include travel guidelines, locale and things to do, a list of hotels and Airbnb, travel news, information regarding tours, sightseeing, rules, etc.