Tips to Starting a Successful TravelBlog for the Wanderlust in You

The world of travel is such a beautiful thing and it’s a proof that there indeed is a world beyond your cubicle at work or life at home. Just seeing these beautiful destinations on TV, movies, and social media is enough motivation to make you want to give up your job and just travel full-time to satisfy the wanderlust in you!

Well, if you’re seriously considering it, you should start a travel blog! By starting a travel blog, you will widen your scope to travel all over the world and share your experiences with others. And the good news is that it’s not that hard to do.
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People tend to think that starting a travel blog is this painful process, that you won’t achieve success with unless you’re a technical genius. That’s not the case at all. To start a travel blog, you’ll indeed need some technical capabilities but to achieve the desired results, you need a strong desire to travel and willingness to share your experiences with the world.

​Take a look at the steps to follow to start your very own travel blog.

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​Determine Why You Want to Start a Travel Blog

In order to start a travel blog, you first need to determine why you want to start one. There are quite a few reasons why people typically start one but some of the most common reasons include: 

• As a direct source of income: You can aim to earn a nice income through your blog by way of guest posting, affiliate links, e-commerce, and advertising. This will come in handy as a way to earn some extra bucks to support your finances while traveling.​
• For fun: Sometimes people just really enjoy sharing their thoughts and experiences with friends and family, without the intent of profit. This is looked at as your online diary.
• For free travel perks: As a travel blogger, you sometimes do get to experience the perks of traveling. Everything from free meals and hotel stays to free tours and flights, those are all perks that travel bloggers get but you have to be doing a review of a certain establishment or are promoting a brand to experience those kinds of perks.​
• To become tech-savvy and learn new skills: To start a travel blog and get the word out to people about your blog, you have to be a little tech-savvy. Everything from managing your social media channels to marketing and photography, you’re going to be learning how to utilize technology in ways you never thought you would.

If nothing at all, you can start a travel blog as a form of mental health therapy. According to Forbes, traveling not only increases creativity and reduces stress but it also helps you to reinvent yourself. You’d be surprised at just how much you can change by seeing the world around you. It will give you a new perspective on life, and the fact that you can share that experience on your blog is a beautifully therapeutic thing.

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Pick the Perfect Domain Name

In choosing your blog’s domain name, there really isn’t a right or wrong name, per se, but there are some basic guidelines to consider in making sure you choose a name that will be remembered.​

• Keep your domain name short and sweet, around three to four words max
• Don’t put a time stamp on your blog. There’s no need to include your age.
• Avoid the word “nomad” if you can. Your blog will drown in a sea of “nomad” sites
• Make the name simple and easy to remember

Register Your Domain and Find a Website Builder

The fact that you now have a domain name means that you’re one step closer to starting your blog! At this point, you have your domain name so now you need to find the right platform to host it. The key to finding the right host is to find one that allows you to build your site to make money but also has a blogging platform. 

You want to look for this particular aspect simply because whether you want to profit from your blog or not, you’ll always have all the right tools to start an online business when you decide you want to. You can actually host and build your entire site with Shopify. The awesome part about this particular website builder is that it allows you to start an online business as well as incorporate your adventures through its complete blogging platform.

Basically, you want a fully-featured wysiwyg content management system because it’s going to not only host your site but it has the system built in to run the site as well. This feature is going to prevent you from having to install WordPress.​

In building your website, you’re going to want to design your site in ways that are reflective of the personality of your site. With it being a travel blog, maybe scrolling images from your travels can be the initial backdrop.  It’s really however you want it to look, think of it like decorating your site, in a sense.

Brainstorm about the Purpose of your Site & Awareness about it

In creating a blog, there are certain categories and pages you’ll absolutely need to have on your site. For example, you’ll need an “About Me” page that tells readers a little about yourself. It should be fun and ultimately tell people why they should read your content. This will also build an emotional connection between you and your readers. But as far as the basics, you’ll need a home, contact, and blog page.

But now that you have your site up and running, you need to start brainstorming different topics you want to write about or make videos about. It can be anything you want but it’s also important to keep in mind that while it’s perfectly fine to have blog posts sharing your experiences, you also want to have some posts about “tips” or “guides” on certain aspects of traveling so that when people visit your site, they’re actually being provided with valuable information as well as being entertained.​

You also need to think about all the different channels you want to connect with your audience on. To get the word out about your blog, you want to link your blog to all social media channels.
In doing that, you’ll see that there are tons of other people who are just as interested in traveling as you are. And in building that connection with your audience, you’ll establish a trust with them.

Happy Blogging

As you can see, it's really not too difficult to start a travel blog. These tips are just the basics. Because it’s your blog, you can do with it just the way it makes you happy, and that’s what’s most important. Whether you want to start your blog just for fun or for business, you have all the right tools available to you. Once you determine why you want to start a blog, you can then begin your journey to satisfying the wanderlust in you!