Do you love travelling and would like to blog about it? Here is everything You Need to Know from choosing a webhost to writing your first post!
If you’re thinking about starting a travel blog but not sure how to start, keep reading.
In this post we’ll help you start your travel blog in a day. Simply follow the outlined steps - your blog can be up and running today.
Why should you start a Travel Blog?
You may have seen income reports of travel bloggers earning up to 5 figures in a month. So first and foremost you know the financial reward can be huge.
There are so many high ticket niches to blog about when it comes to travelling. Hotels, flights, experiences etc. But in addition to this, starting a travel blog is a great way to:
Share your travel experience
Improve your writing and photography skills (or share how great you are at these skills)
An opportunity to collaborate with prominent travel brands
A flexible work from home opportunity
Your blog will also help people! People are always looking for tips to travel destinations - where to eat, what to do, where to stay, cheap flights, how to pack etc.
What are some niche topics you can cover in your Travel Blog?
Sustainable travel
Budget travel
Solo travel
Adventure travel
Cultural travel
Luxury travel
Family travel
Off-the-beaten-path travel
Road trips
Digital nomad travel
How much can you make as Travel blogger
The amount of money you will make will depend on so many factors. That said, the potential is huge considering that travel is not cheap so a little commission for any service you promote will go a long way.
Here are some of the typical ways travel bloggers make money.
Affiliate marketing: Promote flights, hotel accommodation, experience packages, boat cruises.
Cash Back: Get Cash back when you book for your own flights or accommodation. Learn more here.
Sell E-books: You can create e-books on destination or trail guides. make money from selling the e-book and add affiliate links to the section on 'must have travel essentials'.
Create audio and video content: You can create audio or video content such as podcasts or reviews of places you stay at and sell them on your blog or on platforms like iTunes or YouTube.
Sell your photography on Shuttershock: You can sell all your amazing photographs on Shuttershock. There are so many people looking for stock photos for their websites, brochures, blogs, newsletters etc.
How to start your Travel Blog
Now you know starting a blog is a great idea and that there are many ways to make money from it, here’s your step-by-step guide on how to get started in a day.
STEP 1 | Create a plan
Start by thinking through what you will be blogging about. It goes without saying - any great blog needs to write about what people are interested in.
To assess interest in any topic, use keysearch.
As you can see, keysearch gives you a lot of insight including the monthly search volume of any topic. So you can decide to focus your blog on specific terms with high search volume e.g. summer holidays and create some topics that include the term.
Bear in mind that some trends are seasonal. You don't want to be writing about 'summer holidays' in September. Your topic choice should be 80% evergreen, 20% based on trends.
Google trends is also a great place to find out what people are searching for online or on social media platforms.
By doing this initial search, you can identify high traffic topics vs. topics you should disregard for now.
STEP 2 | Choose a blog name and a domain name
Your domain name is the name of your website. For example my domain name is workfromhomeHarmony. Your blog/business name and domain name should be the same.
General tips for selecting a name:
> Include keywords that describe your niche but don’t be too specific
For example don’t name your blog 'European travel'. It’s narrow and won’t fit if you decide to write about other destinations next year!
> Use your name: e.g Anna’s exploits, By JessicaLowe.
Simple name blogs are great, especially if you choose to write about broad topics (travel, food, outfits) down the line.
You’ll need to check if your preferred name has already been taken by someone else. If it has, try adding prefixes and suffixes to your preferred name until You find something available.
Use Namecheap to find and SECURE a domain name now.
STEP 3 | Choose a webhost
Your webhost is where your blog and its content will be saved.
I recommend you use bluehost or Wix. I host this site with Wix and have a second site I host with Bluehost. Here are the reasons I recommend both:
Easy to use
Simple one-click installation
Incredible customer support
They’re incredibly cheap
You don't need to know how to code to install either of these hosts. Many features don't require more than a one-click activation.
There is always help when you need it and because these hosts are popular, there are tons of YouTube videos to help you. You can get a webhost for less than $3! That's a steal. And you get a free domain name with or Bluehost.
STEP 4 | Create your blog with Wordpress
The next step is to create your blog.
If you chose Wix in the previous step, Wix is both your blog creator and your host. So no additional step is needed.
If you chose bluehost, then you'll create your blog with Wordpress.
Wordpress is great for having a crisp looking blog. It is loved by virtually every blogger I know and can be installed in a simple click.
To install Wordpress using Bluehost:
Log in to Bluehost
Click on the My Sites tab from the side navigation menu to the left.
Click the Create Site button.
Click the Start Building button under the WordPress option.
Enter the Admin Information.
Details to enter:
Enter your Site Name
Enter a brief Site Description (Site Tagline)
Admin Account
Enter a login Admin Username and password
Enter an Admin Email Address - where you'll receive your login information
Choose Language:
Select the preferred language for your blog.
Then click install. The installer will take a few minutes to create your new WordPress blog.
Step 5 | Select a blog theme
Now you need a theme for your blog.
Your theme is simply a template of how your blog will look.
You can use a free theme. If you want something fancier, there are many premium options. Make a choice on free vs. paid themes based on your budget.
To install a theme from the WordPress directory, log in to your dashboard (‘www.WhateverYourNewDomainIs.com/wp-admin,’ hit enter) and navigate to:
Appearance -> Themes -> Add New.
Hover over the theme you want and click Install. Once the installation is complete, Click 'Activate' it.
STEP 6 | Install blog plugins
Plug-ins and blogs are inseparable. They are software codes that help you increase the functionality of your blog.
You need plugins to increase security, for speed of your website, for back up, and to add some structural features to your blog.
Here are the Essential plug-ins you need to get started.
Updraftplus - for backing up your content to prevent loss of data
WPForms - to allow you add a form to your blog for email list generation
WPRocket - caches your site so it loads faster
Cloudflare - Content management system that increases the speed of your blog
Monster Insights - to track the performance, viewership and readership of your blog.
Tasty pins - optimises your images for pinterest
Step 7 | Create the necessary pages
Homepage
Privacy/legal page
Contact page
About us
Once you’ve got your blog set up you want to create important pages that tell people what you do (About us/Home page).
You also need to create pages that protect you legally (legal page) and mention how you protect the data of your readers (privacy page).
Don’t skip this step.
Blogging can sometimes mean people take your advice and things don’t go as planned. With the right disclaimer, terms and conditions, and privacy policy, you may protect your self from unwarranted lawsuits.
You don't need to be a lawyer to set up your policies.
You can use legal templates created by Amira (who is a lawyer and blogger) to get your protection.
STEP 8 | Start creating content
Finally it’s time to start writing your blog posts. General consensus is to have 10-15 posts ready before launching your blog.
I’ll recommend you identify 4-5 broad categories you will be writing about. And then list 2-3 topics under each area - topics must be based on relevant high demand key words you find using keysearch.
Step 9 | Promote your blog
You'll need to promote your blog post for people to read it. It takes a blog a couple of months to get indexed by google so social media is the way to promote posts when you start blogging.
Create social media accounts.
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram
You will share any new blog post on at least one or all of these for more visibility. People will appreciate highly visually appealing posts, so ensure you use pictures of great quality when sharing on social media.
Grow an Email list.
From day 1, create a free resource you can offer to readers in exchange for their email addresses.
Along the line your email list becomes your audience. You can send newsletters of new posts to your list, you can also send out products you want to promote or sell.
Step 10 | How to get paid as a blogger
Affiliate marketing
The first way to monetise your blog is through affiliate marketing. You can start by adding affiliate links and promoting products you trust in your first blog post. A really great program for any beginner blogger is:
Sponsored posts
You can make money from brand sponsorships. Hotels, restaurants, booking agencies will pay you to make Instagram or blog posts about their products or services.
You can get access to sponsorships through sponsorship networks. Once you have more experience as a blogger, you can personally pitch to brands.
Allow display Ads on your blog
Ad revenue is a great way to earn passive income from your blog. But as you will see from the requirements below, you will need to be a bit established to qualify.
Here are some great ad networks to join:
Mediavine, Requirement: 50,000 sessions/month
Monumetric, Requirement: 10,000 pageviews/month
Ezoic, No minimum pageview requirements
Final thoughts
You now have insight to what it takes to start your travel blog. Good luck and enjoy the process!
Thanks for stopping by!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a commission if you make a purchase using my link - but this is at no cost to you.