start a travel blog website

How to Start a Travel Blog (The Ultimate 2024 Guide)

Last Updated: February 5, 2024

Congratulations, you’ve decided you want to know how to start a travel blog! Let us be the first to welcome you to the club. You’re in for a fun ride!

Before we start there are a few things we need to clear up about starting a travel blog.

First of all, it’s not hard. Second of all, it doesn’t take long. Third, it is cheap.

The difficult part comes in trying to grow and make money from your travel blog, but there’s a lot of potential to do this successfully, and the rewards are worth the effort.

These days we make over USD$30’000 a month from this website and our various media clients. In other words, we make a good living from travel blogging.

We’re going to assume you’re in the same position that we were when we first decided to start NOMADasaurus. One day we decided to make a travel blog. So we opened up Google, started researching, and became completely overwhelmed with an entire world that we knew nothing about.

Hosting, domains, analytics, content management systems, HTML, social media marketing, SEO – all these terms went straight over our heads.

The truth is that starting a travel blog is actually quite a simple step-by-step process, and there’s no need to get overwhelmed by it all.

Let us walk you through that process.

We’re going to show you exactly how to start a travel blog in less than an hour!

Pick a blog name
Define your brand
Register your domain
Purchase website hosting
Set up your host (we’ll show you how)
Install WordPress (the easy way)
Pick a theme
Get some essential plugins
Plus have some bonus professional tips to start making money asap!

Table of Contents

Tips For Picking A Travel Blog Name

Tips for defining your brand, domains vs hosts, our favourite host is siteground, managed wordpress hosting, step by step guide with siteground, step 3 – install wordpress, free vs premium themes, w3 total cache, google analytics, get on social media, make an about page, custom design your blog, network with other bloggers, don’t sign up for a travel blog course, start blogging, what you need before our ‘how to start a travel blog’ guide.

You’re going to need a few things before we begin.

A computer (not a smart phone).
An internet connection.
A credit card or debit card.
1 hour of free time.
A delicious drink to enjoy.

You also may have seen these companies that give you a free website and only take a few minutes to setup.

Some examples are Wix, Blogspot, WordPress.com and others. These are absolutely fine if you just want to make an online diary about your travels, and maybe have a few friends and family follow along.

But these aren’t any good if you want to make a successful travel blog, or if you ever want to try and make money from it in the future.

Do yourself a favour and start with your own hosted travel blog from the very beginning. Not sure what that means or how to do it? Well, let’s get started…

Step 1 – Pick Your Name and Brand

This is by far the hardest part of starting a travel blog. Picking a name can literally take weeks.

This will be your online identity, and you’ll be telling people all around the world this on a daily basis, so make it something you are happy with.

If you want to start a travel blog about one particular place or thing rather than being the face of your travel blog, then this is easier.

You can be “Food Adventures In New York City”, and everyone will know exactly what your blog is about.

Example: Is your name Jim? Then perhaps something like “Travelling Jim” would work for your blog name. Say it out loud. Do you like it? Awesome. In fact, let’s use “Travelling Jim” as our example blog for the rest of this article.

Keep it as short and simple as possible. You don’t want to be telling people, “Hey, make sure you check out my blog, ‘www.jimistravellingtheworldforanindefiniteamountoftimestartingin2020-ihopeyoufollowme.com'” What a mouthful! If you can keep it between one to four words, awesome! Also avoid having a hyphen (-) in there, again for simplicity.
Give your blog longevity. Travelling Jim works well, but “Jim’s 2020 Travels” doesn’t. What if you travel in 2017? Same with “Adventures Of A 21-Year-Old”. That’s not going to work when you’re 22
Don’t limit yourself. If you want to start a travel blog about one particular place or topic, then go for it. These can be very successful in a niche market. But if you are travelling to Australia for example, don’t call your blog, “Jim Travels Australia”. How are you going to blog about Europe if you ever go there? If you want to have a general travel blog and don’t know what your exact plans are in the future, keep it broad.
Think outside the box. While you want to keep things as simple and general as possible, don’t forget that travel changes people. Don’t call your blog “Forever Single Traveller” just because you’re single when you started. What if you get a partner? Then you’re no longer the Forever Single Traveller. Same with something like “$1 A Day Travels”, because you’re broke when you start. Maybe in two years time you won’t be broke (and hopefully you’re actually making money from your travel blog). Reasons like this are why it’s great to keep it simple. This also helps with brand partnerships in the future, but you don’t need to worry about that today.

You’ve thought long and hard about it, and love “Travelling Jim”. Next step is to make sure it is available. This is easy to do.

Type in “travellingjim.com” into your internet browser. If nothing comes up, you might be in luck. If it does, it’s time to come up with something new.
Go to NameCheap.com and type in “travellingjim” into the little box. Hit search and see what it says. If it’s available, then the name is yours for the taking! You’re ready for the next step.
Go ahead and buy that domain on NameCheap. You’ll then own your URL for as many years as you choose to buy it for, and it’ll be quite cheap (around US$10 a year). If you would prefer to buy it with your hosting and have it all in one place, hold off and you can do that in the next step.

Bonus Tip: If “travellingjim.com” is taken, but “travellingjim.net” is available, DO NOT go for it. This gets very confusing if you tell someone your blog is called “Travelling Jim” and they accidentally go to .com instead of .net. Find something that is fully available.

You have a very important question to ask yourself: What is your travel blog about?

You’re probably thinking, “Duh, travel!” And you are right. But in this day and age having a “travel blog” isn’t enough.

If you have zero plans to turn your travel blog into a way to make money while travelling , then you can skip this part.

But if you do want to start earning money from your travel blog one day, you need to come up with a direction and style that will give people a reason to read your posts.

Don’t worry, your brand can change over time. Ours has! But for now, here’s some tips to get you started.

Will you be making videos or trying to take amazing photos?
Do you have a unique back story?
Want to write about the awesome food you find?
Interested in documenting environmental issues and sustainable tourism?
Are you an adventure traveller? If so, what kind of adventures?
Delving into culture?

The list is endless. You will get bonus points if you are doing something truly epic that gives people a reason to follow you. For example even though we had already been travelling for years, we only started this travel blog when we began our “Thailand to South Africa without flying” mission. That gave us purpose and reason to write.

If you can’t think of anything right now that’s ok. Just keep in mind that as your blog grows it will be handy to have a brand and direction.

Step 2 – Get Hosting And The Domain

Now that all the thinking is done, it’s time to get started on the technical things. This is what will take less than 48 minutes.

Don’t worry, it’s not difficult and we’ll walk you through the process of how to start a travel blog from scratch.

If you don’t know what these are, let us try to explain them as easily as possible. Let’s go with a ‘house’ analogy.

A domain (travellingjim.com) is an address. A host is a house. A website is you.

You live in a house, and your address is how people find your house. In internet terms, your website lives on a host and travellingjim.com is the address.

In more details, a host is a company that has a bunch of computers (also called servers) that are permanently connected to the internet.

Your blog and all its content, pictures, videos, etc actually “lives” on your host’s computers.

When someone types in “travellingjim.com”, their browser (e.g. Chrome or Safari) downloads your blog from one of these computers, and opens it up on your reader’s device.

Don’t stress too much about all this. Once you’ve set it all up once, it will be a long time before you have to worry about this again.

We personally use and recommend SiteGround . They are our third hosts now (having previously been with Bluehost and Dreamhost), and we couldn’t be any happier that we changed over.

Besides being great for established websites, they are also perfect for brand new blogs.

They have incredible support, fast servers, an easy control panel to navigate and very high uptime.

They are also very affordable, and getting setup with them is super simple. They really make it very easy when it comes to how to start a travel blog.

We must stress this again – their support is amazing. We have lost count of the number of times we’ve been confused about some technical thing we’ve tried to implement on our site and screwed up, just to jump on SiteGround’s 24/7 instant chat service and have their experts fix the problem for us in a matter of minutes. This alone makes them the best company out there.

By all means, feel free to go and do your own research. You’ll find that most companies have the same prices on their entry-level plans (SiteGround is $3.95 a month) and you won’t likely notice any difference in quality until your blog grows.

But we only ever recommend brands that we have used and are happy with, so that’s why we’re going through the next few stages with SiteGround.

As we’re going to go with WordPress (the best option by far), it’s good to get a dedicated and managed WordPress hosting solution.

What this means is that your host and server is optimised to run WordPress efficiently and with no issues.

Luckily SiteGround has a spectacular Managed WordPress Hosting solution which includes premium plugins (more on plugins at the bottom of this article), one-click installation, great security and a bunch more.

And if you sign up to SiteGround’s Managed WordPress Hosting solutions through our links, you will receive 60% off the regular price. Amazing deals all around!

Note: We are not sponsored by SiteGround in any way, shape or form. We pay for our hosting just the same as everyone else does (and in fact are on their higher-end cloud plan due to us needing to trust the best host out there to manage our website). We just really, really love them.

We’re going to walk you through the process of how to start a travel blog step by step.

Go to SiteGround and click on “Sign Up”

Wordpress Hosting How To Start A Travel Blog

Choose the “Start Up” plan. This is only $3.95 a month and has all the features you’ll need to get started. If you feel like you really want to focus on growing your travel blog to more than just your friends and family reading it, you can go with the “Grow Big” plan, but if you’re happy to keep costs down let’s go with Start Up.

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step 2

Choose the “Register A New Domain” section. Enter whatever your domain is (travellingjim.com), and click proceed.

Choose Domain How To Start A Travel Blog

Enter some account details and your payment options. We recommend paying for at least 12 months up front. On the $3.95 plan, that works out to be only $47.40. Even cheaper than $50! You don’t need Domain Privacy or HackAlert Monitoring, so feel free to unselect those and keep your costs down.

***UPDATE – Siteground now charges $14.95 a year for registering a new domain. Website transfers are still free if you already own your own domain name, which you can buy with NameCheap .

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step 4

You’ve now come to a verify page. SiteGround will run a fraud check to make sure everything is all good.

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step 5

Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a new domain and host! At this point you will get all your login details for SiteGround sent to you in an email.

Don’t finish your drink just yet, there’s still a little bit more you need to do to finish starting a travel blog. And the next thing is to install WordPress.

What is WordPress we hear you ask? WordPress is a “Content Management System”, or CMS for short. Basically that is the system that allows you to put words, pictures and style on a website without knowing any coding or programming. WordPress makes building your website easy. In fact WordPress is used on 26% of all website on the entire web.

Now is a good time to mention that there are actually two WordPress’s. There’s WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is for free blogs, WordPress.org is for people who want to own their own blogs. You’re going to go with .org.

Installing WordPress onto your host is very easy to do, and with SiteGround it’s actually all automatically done for you with a very simple process.

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step 6

You’ll get a popup with the SiteGround Account Setup Wizard. Select “Start a new website at (URL)” and hit proceed.

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step 7

Now you’ll be asked what type of website you need. Select “Personal/Blog” and then scroll down. The software you are going to use is WordPress, so select that and move onto the next part.

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step 9

Now you need to make up your WordPress login details. We recommend choosing something that would be really hard for people to guess, as this is the door to your website. So don’t choose “Admin” as your username for example. You will need these login details to access the “behind the scenes” section of your blog.

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step 10

Now you’ll be given an opportunity to choose your web design template. This is otherwise known as a theme, which we will go into more in Step 4. Feel free to click around and see if you can find a design you like. Otherwise you can skip this part for now.

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step Theme

And guess what – you’re done! You’ll get a very satisfying “Congratulations” with a big tick, and all your login credentials. We suggest you write these down somewhere safe.

How To Start A Travel Blog Siteground Step 11

What now? Well now you want to actually go to your website. And as usual, this is very easy to do.

Simply go to the address bar in your internet browser and type in “travellingjim.com/wp-login.php”. You’ll be taken to this screen:

How To Start A Travel Blog Wordpress Login

Put in your login credentials and you’ll be taken to the WordPress dashboard. This is what it looks like (with a few less options on the left panel):

How To Start A Travel Blog Wordpress Dashboard

Welcome to WordPress! This is where all the magic happens. You will write your blogs under “Posts”, make things like your about page under “Pages”, change the style of your blog under “Appearance”, and so on. You’ll get pretty familiar with all this over the course of a month or so. But for now, let’s move on to the next stage!

Step 4 – Pick A Free Theme

You’ve got your domain, you’ve got your host, you’ve installed WordPress, now you need to choose a theme. What’s a theme? Well that’s what your website looks like when people go to it. Keeping up with the house analogy from before, think of it as all your furnishings and decorations.

Back in the day you needed someone who was good at computer coding to make your website look good. These days you just install a theme with a few clicks.

Go into your WordPress dashboard.
Look for “appearance” on the left panel and click on themes.
Activate the WordPress Twenty Seventeen theme if it isn’t already, and your website is officially up and running!
Now just type in travellingjim.com into your internet browser! There it is – how exciting!

There are thousands of themes out there to choose from. Some are free (yay!) and some cost money.

When you’re just starting out you should be pretty happy with just a free theme. But as time goes on and you get more content on your blog, you’ll likely want to upgrade to a paid theme. Why? They offer more customisation, they’re faster, and they look better.

All you have to do is Google “WordPress themes” and be prepared to lose the next few hours of your life as you scroll around. This all comes down to personal taste.

Personally for a few websites we own, we use the Elementor page builder theme . It’s a very powerful and simple to use “drag and drop” designer that is only limited by your imagination, but they also make a number of other awesome premium themes you can choose from.

And guess what – you are now the proud owner of a fully functional travel blog! You did! If you want you can leave now and go get another drink. Otherwise stick around for some bonus tips to help make your travel blog extra awesome!

Step 5 – Download Essential Plugins

Now that your travel blog is fully setup and ready to go, it’s time to install some plugins. Think of plugins as extra additions to make your house better, like a security system or new light fixtures.

Again there’s thousands of plugins out there, but to begin with you only need a few core ones. To install a plugin go into your WordPress dashboard, look on the lefthand panel, click “Plugins” then click “Add New” on the page that opens up. Search for the ones listed below, click download, and activate. WordPress will do the rest.

This is an anti-spam plugin that filters out crap messages left on your blog. Don’t ask why (you’ll find out as time goes on), but you’re going to end up with hundreds of spam comments on your posts. Just install this plugin and let it do all the filtering.

You’re going to hear the term “SEO” a lot during your journey as a travel blogger. SEO stands for “search engine optimisation”, and that basically means when people go to a search engine like Google and type in something – for example “ things to do in Berlin ” – the posts that have the best SEO go to the top of the results, meaning more people click on them. It’s complicated and you’ll learn a lot more about it later, but for now just install Yoast.

Yoast is a plugin that pops up at the bottom of the section when you are writing a blog post. You put in whatever keywords you think you are writing about (like “best places for breakfast in Sydney”) and it will give you a list of things you can improve on to help make your post rank higher in Google.

Another plugin that is hard to explain for beginners, but essentially W3 Cache will make your website load faster for people who visit it. This is important. Install it and use the automatic settings until you learn more about it. One cool thing to note as well is that if you signed up on the Siteground “Grow Big” account, you also get a cacheing feature on your plan. Check it out.

WordFence is a great plugin that adds a layer of security to your website. This will stop people hacking your travel blog. Don’t ask why, but for whatever reason your blog will come under attack from hackers. Everyone’s does. So just install WordFence and let it do its thing.

Travel Blogging Tips

You’re now well on your way to being a travel blogger! Your site is up and running, you’ve installed WordPress, you have a theme to make it look pretty, and you’re ready to start writing.

Time to hit the world!

However if you’re still interested in becoming a professional travel blogger, or just would like to grow your travel blog, here are a few last bonus tips to help out.

Google Analytics is a program that tells you how many people go to your travel blog, and how they found it. When you first start blogging you’re probably really interested to know if anyone is reading what you write! Google Analytics will tell you.

Learning about how to setup Google Analytics and how to use it is an entire blog post in itself – something that we won’t get into. But you should read this article from Moz about how to set it up properly.

Now that you’ve got an awesome travel blog, you need to sign up for social media so people can learn about you and follow your journey! The most obvious ones are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and, but you’ll also want to look into Snapchat, YouTube and Pinterest. Go to those websites and make accounts called “Travelling Jim”, and start connecting with the world.

One of the first things you should do on your travel blog is make an “about” page. Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on “Add New Page” on the lefthand panel. Name your page “About”, and write up a little biography on yourself and what your website is. Upload a few pretty pictures and you’re sorted. Then all you have to do is hit publish and you’re all set! Also make a “Contact” page while you’re at it.

Because you’ve set up your theme, you can go into WordPress, click on Appearance > Theme > Customize, then start designing your blog. Pick some colours, change your font, add some menus, etc. Don’t forget to design a cool logo for yourself! If you don’t know how to do this yourself, you can just go to Fiverr and pay someone a small amount to make something basic.

You’ve signed up to Facebook, so now you can start networking with other travel bloggers. There are a number of really good Facebook groups you can join where you’ll find a whole bunch of people wanting to discuss blogging, from absolute beginners right through to the biggest names in the industry. We recommend signing up for “We Travel We Blog” and “Under 1000 Club – Aspiring Travel Bloggers” first. As you come up with questions about travel blogging, we’ll all be there to help you answer them!

This might go against everything other bloggers will tell you to do. But trust us, you don’t need them. The most popular ones are “Travel Blog Success” and Nomadic Matt’s course. Guess what – everything they teach you in those courses you can learn for free on Google or by asking in those Facebook groups we told you about. Save the hundreds of dollars and learn by doing.

That’s it, that’s all! You made it to the end of the article. Together we went from being an absolute beginner to having created your very own travel blog from scratch! You deserve another drink.

There is only one thing left to do now – start blogging! Get out there, take some photos, write some stories and make the best damn travel blog on the internet!

Play around with the WordPress dashboard, go to the section that says “Posts”, add a few new ones and hit publish. We promise you that publishing your first blog post is a very, very exciting moment!

You still have a lot to learn, and that’s ok. We’ve been doing this for 3.5 years now, professionally for 2.5, and we still learn things every single day. This is an ongoing process, but you’ve made the big leap and landed on your own two feet.

If you have any other questions please feel free to email us. Also make sure to check out those Facebook groups.

Our other last tip is to use Google.

We guarantee that no matter what problem you are having, whatever segment it is that you don’t quite understand, someone else has been in the same situation and asked the same questions.

Happy travels and enjoy the journey! We’ll see you out there in the blogosphere.

Alesha and Jarryd

Hi, We’re Alesha and Jarryd!

We’ve been traveling the world together since 2008, searching for the planet’s best destinations and adventures.

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How to Start a Successful Travel Blog in 2024

Last updated: 13th February 2024.

Starting a travel blog is the best decision I’ve ever made.

Through this site, I’ve funded 12 years of full-time travel and gained a book deal for my travel memoir, along with a big New York City agent. I’ve been featured in large publications, like the Wall Street Journal, the Independent, and the BBC. I’ve been interviewed on the radio in front of an audience of 1.6 million listeners. I’ve been to over 100 countries. And I make a comfortable six figures each year in entirely passive income, meaning the money comes in whether I’m working or not. (In 2024, I average about three hours of work a day).

And yet, before starting Never Ending Footsteps, I had zero writing experience, had no idea how to run a website, didn’t really know what a blog was, and had never heard of WordPress.

I hadn’t even travelled before.

I’d just graduated from college with a physics degree and was fully intending to throw myself into a career in particle physics — that is, after I took a year-long round-the-world trip.

Guys, I’ve now been travelling full-time for twelve. freaking. years . That’s 12 years of travel paid for entirely through this travel blog. I want to cry when I think about it.

But you know what? Success to me isn’t just about the money, the book deal, and the media mentions.

Running Never Ending Footsteps has led to life-changing friendships with some of the most fascinating and inspirational people I’ve ever met. It’s taught me dozens of new skills and taken me to over a hundred countries. I even found my boyfriend of 10+ years through this travel blog!

So yeah, I’d say starting a travel blog was the best decision I’ve made.

There are approximately seventeen bajillion articles describing how to start a travel blog in 2024, so I hesitated throwing my take into the mix for many years because of it. After reading several of these articles and cringing my way through them, though, I couldn’t hold back. So much of the information was outdated and wrong! And so, I want to write an article about how you can actually start a travel blog.

I want to show that you can build a six figure business — quickly and without selling out. And that being creative doesn’t have to mean being broke.

You don’t need to do what everyone else is doing — in fact, I recommend actively avoiding it. In a space as crowded as the travel blogging world, you need to stand out and that’s why my guide is the one you should follow. It’s one that’s based around what will give you the best chances of success in the present day.

And how do I know it works?

Because I’ve been mentoring a dozen brand new travel bloggers over the past two years, helping them get set up and find financial success in lighting-fast time. I even secretly started a second travel blog in March 2023 (anonymously, so that I couldn’t use my existing audience to jump-start its success) and it’s already making $1,000 a month in passive income, less than a year after starting it.

So many of the biggest travel bloggers write these guides but have no idea how to gain success in 2024 because they all did it back in 2010! The tactics that worked back then (back when Instagram didn’t even exist!) are the opposite of what works now.

I know what works in 2024 because I’ve been successful within the past year.

So with that out of the way, let’s jump into the article!

Here’s how to start a travel blog in 2024:

Find the perfect name to suit your personality
Set up hosting for your blog
Install WordPress
Learn how your blog’s dashboard works
Download a lightweight, user-friendly theme
How to design a logo
Install these essential plugins
Start making money from day one (yes, it’s possible!)

What You Need to Know About Travel Blogging in 2024

The first thing you need to know is that travel blogging in 2024 is nothing like the travel blogging of a decade ago.

Most people’s impression of travel blogging is that it’s producing diary-style first-person narratives about somebody’s own travels, sharing their first impressions and personal experiences of a country.

This was the type of content that reigned supreme in 2012. Back then, you cultivated an audience who followed your adventures in each and every destination you visited. Bloggers didn’t publish helpful guides; they wrote chronologically about their travel experiences, focusing on telling stories and offering their opinions of a country, sharing lessons learned and future plans. People followed personalities, and they followed them for entertainment.

A decade later and this style of blogging is archaic. How many Gen Z-ers do you know who subscribe to blogs? No, when it comes to entertainment, people are looking to Youtube and TikTok to follow along on travellers’ adventures.

So what is travel blogging in 2024?

Travel blogging is more along the lines of guidebook writing. It’s actually useful to think of it as running a travel website rather than a blog. It’s not about entertainment (at least, not entirely), it’s about helping people. It’s writing detailed guides to destinations, sharing the top things to do and how to make the most of your time there. It’s about positioning yourself as a travel expert and teaching readers how they can see more of the world.

It’s actually a lot of fun, and these useful guides make so much more money than personal narratives.

My storytelling posts usually average $100 a year in advertising income, while my detailed city guides make more like $2,000 a year from ads. You can do the math: write 50 excellent city guides and you’re making $100,000 a year! Or… you can write 1,000 excellent stories to reach that same income level.

I know which one I’d choose.

First, we’ll take a look at the technical steps you need to take to get your blog up and running, then I’ll dive into how you can write those detailed travel articles and set them up to make you money.

Step One: Deciding On a Name for Your Travel Blog

Finding the perfect name sounds as though it should be one of the most challenging aspects of starting a travel blog. A lot of new travel bloggers spend days and weeks agonising over finding the name that feels just right .

In reality, though, as long as your chosen site name isn’t offensive, you’ll be all good.

This ties in to what I was saying in the previous section: in 2024, the vast majority of your income is going to stem from writing helpful guides to cities and countries. And I’ll let you in on a secret: for most successful travel bloggers, 90% of their site traffic comes from Google ( not social media). People will be googling what to do in Tokyo , find your blog, browse the article, then get on with their trip. Most likely, they won’t have even noticed what your website was called.

Think about it: when you’re searching online for travel tips, how much attention do you give to the names of the travel blogs you end up visiting?

That’s why your blog name is less important than you think.

If you can rank in Google (and I’ll teach you how to do that later on), you can easily make money from that traffic. And the name of your blog? It could be anything and you would still be pulling in income.

So. With that being said, here’s what I recommend keeping in mind:

You don’t really need to stand out: Yes, names like Nomadic [name], [name] Abroad, Backpacking [name], [name]’s Travels, and Wandering [name]have all been done to death, so if you go down that route, know that your site name is going to be fairly generic. That’s not a bad thing! It’s short, catchy, and has worked for others in the past; there’s no real need to avoid choosing similarly.

What about your name?: If in doubt, register your own name as the title of your travel blog! Why not? You’re never going to grow out of it, it’s an accurate representation of who you are, and it makes branding a hell of a lot easier.

You should probably take a long-term view: Don’t call yourself The Thirty-Year-Old Traveller if you plan on running your site long-term — what happens if you’re running that blog when your 50?. Likewise, My African Adventures is going to lead to you feeling as though you can’t write about anything outside of the continent. Having a travel style in the blog name — like Backpacking [name] or [name]’s Luxury Travels Travel — could cause problems down the line if you decide, for example, you no longer want to stay in dorms every night.

Keep it classy: If you’re hoping to eventually end up taking sponsored trips or working with companies in any capacity, think about how you’ll feel when handing over your business card or pitching for a trip. “Hey, I run the successful travel blog, “Sex, Drugs, and Travel” won’t necessarily make for the best first impression. Imagine introducing your site to the CEO of a tour company to see if it feels right. Imagine being older than you are now — will the name hold up when you’re 50, 60, or 70?

Make the name as easy as possible to share: I’d avoid a site name that contains more than around five words, and I’d also recommend against using hyphens, because they make it tricky to describe your site address to people. Imagine being on a podcast and having to say, “my site is travel hyphen like hyphen a hyphen local,” or, “my site is Travel Like a Local with hyphens in between every word.” Most bloggers I know with hyphens in their url have come to loathe it.

Similarly, long, complicated words can make it tough for people who may not know how to spell them off the top of their heads. The word peripatetic describes a person who moves from place to place — sounds like a great word to include in your travel blog name, right? Now imagine how much of the general public can spell the word correctly first time, let alone know what it means!

Keep in mind that not everybody uses American English or Commonwealth English — if you’re Canadian and call your blog something like My Favourite Places or The Bold Traveller, not everybody will spell those words in the same way, so may not be able to find your site.

Check out the social media options before buying the domain: Before purchasing your domain, see if the name of your site is available on every social media network you can think of. It’s not the end of the world if your chosen site name is too long for a username because you can modify it slightly. I’m NEFootsteps on everything, for example. And if you’re really in love with your blog name, just use your actual name for social media — lots of bloggers do that.

Think of puns and quotes: If you’re really struggling, I suggest finding a long list of travel quotes and seeing if any of them resonate. Do you have a favourite inspirational saying that you can work into a blog name? Can you think of a play on words with your name to twist it into a travel-themed phrase? How about your favourite songs? Are there any lyrics that resonate with your current mindset?

How Did I Choose Never Ending Footsteps?

I opted for Never Ending Footsteps for the name of my travel blog because it’s one that can grow with me. It doesn’t link me to a particular travel style, specific age, or length of trip. I personally wanted to choose a site name that didn’t include my own name because — thinking long-term! — it would be easier to sell my site somewhere down the line if it wasn’t tied to me as a person. Finally, I liked that, while Never Ending Footsteps evokes a sense of travel, I could potentially transition it into something else in the distant future. Never Ending Footsteps would work as a name for a hiking blog or a personal development site, for example.

Hopefully by now, you’ve decided on a name for your blog. Now it’s time to move on to the next step: registering it!

Oh, and full disclosure, as always: This blog post contains affiliate links. If you decide to purchase through one of these links, I receive a commission from the sale at no additional cost to you. (I’ll also teach you how you can do this too, later on in the post! )

Step Two: Setting Up Hosting

Hosting was the scariest part for me, because what even is hosting? When I started out, I had no idea. Fortunately, it’s quick and easy to get it all set up.

Hosting is essentially a home for your travel blog — it’s where it lives on the internet. So in order to have your website exist, you need to sign up with a host . What your host does is provide the physical servers for your website to live on, maintain the software required to keep your site online, and perform regular maintenance to keep your site up and running smoothly.

Honestly, I don’t understand much more than that, so don’t panic if you’re baffled by what on earth I’m going on about. You don’t need to know how it all works to get your blog set up — I’d say 95% of travel bloggers couldn’t clearly explain what hosting actually is to you.

All you need to know is that: you need it in order for your site to exist.

I’ve tried and paid for four different budget hosting companies over the years and had countless issues with all of them apart from Bluehost . They’re the host I recommend most. I use them every single time I start a brand new website — and all of the bloggers I’ve mentored do, too. In other words, I’m putting my money where my mouth is: I use this myself!

And exciting news time! I’ve reached out to Bluehost and got them to agree to give readers of Never Ending Footsteps a discount on their hosting! When you use this link , you’ll pay just $2.95 a month , rather than $8.99.

Bluehost is also one of the cheapest options around, their live chat support team are helpful, friendly, and can usually fix issues within minutes, and — bonus! — you’ll receive your domain name (the url of your site) for free. Setting it up should take you less than ten minutes, and I promise it’s super-easy.

Head to Bluehost’s homepage . This is what you’ll see — you can change your currency in the top right-hand corner:

Hit that green button that says “Get Started Now” and you’ll be redirected to a page outlining their different hosting plans:

Don’t go for their recommended plan, “Choice Plus” — you absolutely don’t need this. Instead, I recommend the cheapest plan, for $2.95 per month. This is the one I always use when setting up a new site.

(The “Plus” plan is for people who will be running multiple blogs, which you won’t be doing right now. The added privacy and security included with “Choice Plus” aren’t needed, as there are free, just-as-good alternatives to those features out there. And the “Pro” plan is for sites that receive a lot of visitors — this isn’t you right now, so you don’t want to pay extra for resources you’re not using.)

Select the “Basic” plan and you’ll be sent to the following screen:

This one’s easy! Type your chosen blog name into the box on the left and click next. Check the name multiple times for spelling errors! Now check it again . You wouldn’t believe how many people register a domain name with a spelling mistake in it and don’t realise until everything is set-up and paid for.

Okay, so you’ve chosen your domain name and have clicked next. Now it’s time to pay for your hosting.

This is the part when Bluehost tries to get you to sign up for things that you absolutely don’t need, so I’m going to tell you which extras I always add to my package — as well as what you should skip out on paying for.

Okay, let’s dive into these options, what they all mean, and why you don’t need most of them.

For the service term option, I recommend 12 months (which is $2.95 a month) as opposed to 36 months ($4.95 a month). Well, that’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? You’re tied into a shorter contract and paying less money for it.

As you can see above, domain privacy + protection is the only additional feature I recommend going for. Basically, when you run a website, it’s possible for people to use services to find out who owns the blog and what their home address is. You definitely don’t want this on the internet! The privacy and protection feature hides these details and replaces them with a generic Bluehost address.

None of the other features are needed, as there are free, same-quality alternatives out there to all of them. There are free programs that backup your site for you; Yoast SEO has a free option that contains everything you need to optimise your site, you can get a quality SSL certificate for free, and Google Workspace Business Starter is not required at all.

So that’s everything! Fill in your personal details and payment information and you’re good to go!

Bam! You’ve now set up your hosting and domain name — easy, right?

You’re now so close to having your site up and running.

Step Three: Installing WordPress

Now that you’ve set up your hosting, it’s time to install WordPress. This is the software that you’ll use to run your website. Through WordPress, you’ll be able to publish articles, accept comments, install useful features, and customise the look of your travel blog.

As you’ll see in the screenshot above, it’s now time to create your account on Bluehost. After you click on that blue button, you’ll be asked to enter a new password for your site.

When you’ve entered in your password and clicked “create account”, it’ll take a couple of minutes to process and take you through to the next step, so don’t panic if you’re sitting there for a while.

And with that, it’s time to start building your site. You’ll see the below graphic next, and you already know what to do: click create your website !

Okay, now the fun part starts! Fortunately, Bluehost really holds your hand through every step of the process. So let’s choose the option of “a little help” on the right-hand side:

On the next screen, you’re going to want to click on “blog”.

On the following screen, it’s pretty self-explanatory: the type of blog you’re creating is “travel & documentary” and you’re creating the site for yourself:

Moving on! You’ll now enter the name of your site — I’ve used “Lauren’s New Travel Blog” as an example, and then you can enter in a tagline. Honestly, just put some placeholder text in here, as you’re easily able to change this at any point in the future — there’s no point agonising over it right now.

Now, Bluehost will ask you to pick a theme that appeals most to you. Just as with your tagline, I wouldn’t recommend spending any real time on this. This is just a placeholder to help you get your site off the ground — you’ll want to change it to a premium theme once you’ve finished setting up. (I’ll recommend some of my favourite ones in the next step).

So in this case, I’ve just selected the first them on the list (Sinatra) and clicked “use this theme”.

Guess what?

You can breathe now.

The hard part is over.

The technical part is finished.

You’re all done.

You’ve now successfully registered a domain name for your site, signed up for hosting, and installed WordPress. And now?

Now is when the fun truly begins.

Step Four: Logging In to Your Site

There’s now two different ways that you can access your website. The first is displayed in that screenshot above: just click on the button that says “log into WordPress”.

The second method is what you’ll be using from now on. Just head to https://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin. You obviously want to replace “yourdomainname” with the url you just purchased. (And the wp-admin part stands for WordPress admin).

With that, you’ll see the following screen:

Type in your username and password and you’re in!

That screen you now see is your WordPress dashboard and that’s where you’ll be running your business.

Down the left-hand side, you have all of the important stuff

Posts (for writing articles for your readers)
Pages (for static pages on your site, like an about me or contact page — these will be shown on the navigation bar at the top of your site at all times and will be easily accessible to your readers)
Comments (where you’ll approve, spam, or reply to comments on your articles from readers)
Appearance (where you’ll alter the look of your site by installing a new theme, editing its code, and adding sections to your sidebar)
Plugins (for adding additional features to your site)
Settings (where you can alter your site settings).

It all sounds a little overwhelming right now, but I promise it’ll all fall into place within a day or two.

Here’s what your next steps should be in order to get your site live and kicking:

Working in the Maldives: surprisingly easy!

Step Five: Finding a Theme

It’s time to make your site pretty! Your website theme is how you’re going to personalise your site to get it looking exactly how you’re currently hoping it will. Here are a couple of options for finding a theme, and I’ve used both of these on Never Ending Footsteps:

Elegant Themes : The very first version of my blog used an Elegant Themes theme (Divi is my favourite), and I made my way through several other ones during my first couple of years. For $89 a year, you’ll gain access to 87 professional-looking themes. It’s great value for money, getting to choose from such a wide selection means you can play around with different designs, and the support team always managed to solve any problems I was having within 24 hours. You can browse all of the designs before signing up, too!

ThemeForest: If you want to use a theme with an even slicker design head to ThemeForest . There, you’ll pay around $50 per theme (the price varies, but averages out at around $50), but the themes available have hundreds of options for customisation and have a support team to solve your queries within a few hours. I’m currently using a ThemeForest theme on Never Ending Footsteps and I love it!

Once you’ve bought a theme, it’s time to install it on your site.

Themes will usually include installation instructions, so this shouldn’t be difficult at all. On Themeforest, for example, you’ll be able to download an installable WordPress file.

Once you’ve downloaded the file, you can log into WordPress, click on Appearance – Themes – Upload, upload the zip file you’ve just downloaded from Themeforest, and you’ll be on your way to a beautiful site.

Prepare to spend a week or two customising your theme, learning how it works, and getting everything to look exactly how you want. This part can be overwhelming at times, but don’t panic — whenever I install a new theme, I find myself still optimising it a month later. It’s something you’ll probably work on for a while, so there’s no need to get it perfect right away.

If you’re having problems and want to get your site looking a certain way, you can use the support forums on Elegant Themes or Themeforest to get help from the theme’s creator.

And if you’re really struggling, just drop me an email. I’ve installed and customised themes for over 30 travel bloggers now, so I can probably show you exactly where you’re going wrong.

Step Six: Getting Yourself a Logo

A logo/banner/header is what you’ll use to differentiate yourself from other bloggers, so it’s kind of a big deal. But I’ll jump in here and say that I don’t think it’s something you need to put a huge amount of time or money into in the beginning stages of your blog. More important is your kickass content, then once you’ve started to build a following, you can pay more attention to your site’s design. As with practically everything in life, you’ll gain more benefit through investing money early on, but if you want to cut corners, this is where I recommend doing so.

Here’s what I recommend:

Canva: Canva is completely free to use, so if you’re starting your travel blog with a tight budget, this is a great option. Once you’ve created an account and signed in, click on create a design and play around with any of the banner-sized options. If you click on, for example, Tumblr Banner or Logo, you’ll find a list of pre-made templates that you can customise with your blog name. I created the logo for Never Ending Footsteps with a free trial of Canva Premium!

Fiverr: If you’re not comfortable with your own design skills, I recommend heading to Fiverr and checking out what’s on offer. You’ll be able to browse reviews and examples of each designer’s work on the site to ensure you receive a decent-looking end result. If I wasn’t confident in my design skills, I’d use Fiverr to find a designer.

Etsy: Fun fact! Etsy is a fantastic place to pick up a premade template for a logo for your site. Just search for travel blog logo, blog banner, travel logo, and see if any of the designs work for your vision. This is a great way to get something up on your site that’s well-designed and professional-looking without having to learn graphic design yourself.

Step Seven: My Essential Plugins for Travel Bloggers

You’ve got all of the design features of your site installed at this point, so it’s time to start working on some of the behind-the-scenes stuff. With your site almost ready to go at this point, you’ll want to start installing some WordPress plugins. These will help improve the functionality of your site and give you access to a ton of new features.

Head over to the plugins section of your site and click on “add new”. You’ll then be able to search for the following plugins:

Akismet: I didn’t realise how much websites are inundated with spammy comments until I started this site. At the moment, I receive 2 or 3 spam comments a minute. Fortunately, I don’t have to see any of them because Akismet catches and deletes them automatically.

Comments Not Replied To: Building a community is important, and this plugin shows you a list of comments you haven’t replied to yet. If someone spends their time commenting on your blog, it’s worth taking a few minutes out of your day to reply. Plus, if your readers can see you reply to everyone, they’ll be more likely to leave a comment themselves.

Contact Form 7: This will add a form to your contact page so that people can email you.

Interactive World Maps: Have you seen the beautiful map on my Where I’ve Been page? It’s a plugin called Interactive World Maps , which I highly recommend getting. It’s a paid plugin, so it’s not something to opt for if you’re trying to keep your costs low, but if you want a beautifully designed map to showcase your travels, this is the one to go for.

Yoast SEO: If you install only one plugin, make it this. Yoast SEO makes it so easy to improve your rankings in Google and is the absolute best plugin out there. It comes with hundreds of features and options so I won’t list them out there, but needless to say: you need this.

Step Eight: Your First Blogging Steps

Create an about page: Before you even publish your first post, you should create an about page. The first thing I do whenever I arrive on a travel blog for the first time is find out who the blogger is, what they’re currently doing, and why I should care about them. An about page is so, so important. It tells potential readers why they should follow along on your journey. This is also the place to let your personality shine! Share weird facts about yourself, tell people why you want to travel, show them you’re human and worth following. You want to be anything but boring here, as this is your chance to grab your readers and convince them to stick around.

Write your first post: After you’ve got your about page sorted, make your first blog post about you. Tell people why you started the blog, what it’s going to be about, where you’re going, and where you’ve been. Your introduction is how people will get to know you and it helps kick your blog off with a bang. Once you’ve written it, start sharing it on social media — Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are where you’re going to want to start publicising your wonderful content.

Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through: Don’t be boring. When I decided to start a travel blog, I was so focused on appearing professional and being an expert that I ended up writing bland posts that read like a Wikipedia article. Little did I know, it’s your personality that’s going to convince people to subscribe. Once I embraced my inner idiot and started writing about the ways I’d screwed up on the road, my traffic skyrocketed. It’s so important to have a personality in blogging; don’t try to be a guidebook. Be a person. Be yourself. Even if you’re really weird. One thing that helps me achieve this is to write my blog posts as I would speak, then tidy up the grammar and sentence structure afterwards.

Create a business plan: Nobody talks about this, but it’s so important! If you want to find success, you need to treat your travel blog just like any other business. How are you going to find success? How will you monetise your site? How will you build an audience? Where do you want to be in three months? Or in a year? Which companies do you want to work with? Where do you want to be featured? Start thinking long-term, write down your goals, and start working towards them from day one.

If I was starting a travel blog in 2024, my plan would involve joining dozens of Facebook groups to network with other travel bloggers, looking for travel blogging guest post opportunities to build links to my site, focusing on Pinterest to build traffic, writing 3,000+ word resources that are better and more detailed than anything on Google’s first page, and making $500 a month. You should be able to achieve that income goal within 3-6 months of starting your travel blog.

Install Google Analytics: You’ll want to be able to record how many people visit your site each day, so Google Analytics is a must. This will allow you to track your traffic and find out more about your readers. Don’t get obsessive over it though! It’s far too easy to waste an entire day staring at your live analytics. Check every couple of days to see which posts are receiving traffic and whether it’s increasing or decreasing over time.

Stand out from the crowd by doing things differently: There are hundreds of thousands of travel blogs out there now. How are you going to stand out from the crowd? I’m a contrarian so if I see that everyone’s doing something, I try to do the opposite in order to find a niche.

I don’t take press trips or sponsored hotel stays or even accept free products for review. Why? Because every travel blogger does all of those things and I knew it was one of the things their readers dislike most about their blogs. I decided I’d pay for everything myself and travel how non-bloggers travel and have received nothing but amazing feedback in response to it.

I don’t offer advice on how to travel the world. Instead, I write about how I screwed up while travelling, because nobody else is doing that. And because travel isn’t always amazing but so many travel bloggers pretend that it is. I don’t make out that my life is perfect and I’m living the dream — instead, I write frequently about my battles with anxiety and what it’s like to deal with a mental health disorder on the road. I write about what it’s like to get lost in every goddamn city you visit; about how it feels to get scammed for the twentieth time in a year; about how to deal with your boat starting to sink in Thailand.

Everyone says to create a regular posting schedule. I didn’t start off by posting regularly though, and I never have. Bloggers say to post three times a week, but sometimes I’ve posted once a week for months on end. When I got a book deal, I posted once every three months and my traffic still grew. Interestingly, I once posted every single day for a month and my traffic dropped! Most important of all is focusing on your quality of writing. Don’t rush to post as much as possible if it’s going to sacrifice the quality of your work.

There are some things that will help you find success and that’s why everyone’s doing them. Go self-hosted with Bluehost, come up with a catchy name, find a beautiful theme, and come up with a way to brand yourself. But everything else isn’t as important. Post when you want, travel where you want, and write about the things that interest you. Be yourself. That’s the way to build a successful travel blog.

How Do You Make Money With a Travel Blog?

A lot of travel bloggers recommend waiting until you’ve built a large and engaged audience before you even start to think about monetising your site, but I don’t think it’s necessary. There are plenty of ways to start earning money that won’t negatively affect your growth or annoy anyone who visits your site. Here’s how I recommend getting started:

Adsense: The easiest way to start making money with advertising is through Adsense . Sign up for an account, enter in the ad settings you want (I’ve received the most success with a 300×250 sized banner placed below the first paragraph of a post), and then you’re good to go! Download the Quick Adsense plugin, too, as it makes placing the ad code anywhere on your site straightforward. Experiment with different placements, too.

You should be able to make as much as $1 per 1,000 visitors to your site if you have enough placements, and while that won’t sound like much, once you reach 25,000 visitors a month, you can leave Adsense, join Mediavine and start making 10x more money with advertising. There are plenty of new travel bloggers who manage to reach 50,000 page views a month in under a year — with Mediavine, that means making around $750 a month in ad revenue, which is enough to live off in cheaper countries like Vietnam.

Amazon: If you want to get started with affiliate marketing (and you definitely should — I make those annual six figures from affiliate marketing alone!) Amazon Associates is best for beginners. Any time you mention a product on your site, you can search for the product through Amazon Associates, and then use that link in your post. Whenever your readers click on that link and choose to buy anything, you’ll receive a commission on that sale. Packing lists, in-depth reviews, and gift guides are great for monetising through Amazon, so get started with those.

I have packing lists on my site that make me over $300 per post each month, so if you can write a detailed packing list and get it ranking first in Google, that’s a great way to make money before you have a huge audience. Write three of them? Well, now you’ve got $1,000 coming in each and every month.

Other affiliate programs: As long as you don’t go overboard and stuff every single paragraph with a ton of affiliate links (which can always be tempting!), there’s no reason why you can’t join other affiliate programs, too. Some popular ones that I use and recommend include Booking.com for linking to accommodation I’ve stayed in, GetYourGuide for recommending tours and Skyscanner for whenever I talk about finding inexpensive flights.

That way, when you write a detailed travel guide for a place, you can recommend the hotel you stayed in, share how you found cheap flights, and recommend that your readers make the most of their time by taking tours. Then, of course, you can make money whenever somebody clicks those links and follows your recommendation.

I have a single post on my site that brings in $1,500 a month in Booking.com commissions alone, so you can see how lucrative affiliate marketing can really be.

Most important of all: I use every single one of these companies and have done since the very first day I started travelling. If you hate Skyscanner and never use them, for example, you shouldn’t recommend them to your readers just so you can make money from them. You’ve got to be ethical!

The best thing about affiliates is that you can start making money from day one. If you start your travel blog off by writing a travel guide to Athens and find that it makes its way to the first page of Google within the next month or so, you can add affiliate links to that post and you will make a decent amount of money from it — even though your overall blog doesn’t get that much traffic.

That’s all I’d focus on right now. I’d steer away from monetising your social media, trying to get comped travel, and running branded content posts/sponsored posts in the early stages, if not forever, because they’re most likely to annoy your readers.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Travel Blog?

Now that I’ve covered how to make money with your site, let’s take a look at the upfront costs you can expect to pay to keep a blog running. Here are several options:

You want to run a blog to keep friends and family informed of your travels: free

If your aim is to keep a record of your travels for your friends to follow along with and you have no desire to turn it into a business, there’s no need to make an investment up front. Instead, I recommend heading to WordPress.com (rather than .org) and setting up your site through there. You won’t have to pay for hosting and you’ll have access to free themes to use on your travel blog.

You want to start a professional travel blog but don’t have much money to do so: $109

There are definitely ways that you can cut corners without sacrificing the overall quality of your travel blog.

I’ve yet to come across a popular travel blog that wasn’t self-hosted, so that’s an essential. When it comes to a theme, having a slick and modern one will create a better first impression, so I think that’s important, too. Opt for a ThemeForest theme in this case, for around $50, and you’ll be well on your way to building a wonderful travel blog.

For your logo, go for Canva if you’re trying to save money. They have some pretty impressive banner designs that won’t cost you a cent to use, and you can hire a professional designer further down the line as you find success. Skip everything else that’s paid at this point — you can invest in those later on once you start making money with your site.

If you’re tight on money, then, you’ll find you’ll pay $59 for your Bluehost hosting , $50 up-front for a professional theme, and that’s it!

You’re determined to build a successful, lucrative travel blog as quickly as possible: $150 up-front

If you’ve got money to spend and you’re ready to dedicate as much as you can to getting your travel blog off the ground, you’ll be looking at large up-front costs. You’ll also likely start making money within your first year of blogging, if not sooner.

You’ll cover the basics with a Bluehost hosting plan for three years ($100), and then splurge on a ThemeForest theme for around $50.

You’re me: $330 a month

Ha! I’m including me in this list because you’re most likely curious to know how much you’ll be looking at spending on a site once you’re successful. Here’s how my main monthly expenses break down:

I pay $35 a month to host my site with Cloudways . As my site has grown, I’ve tried a variety of hosts over the years, sometimes paying as much as $300 a month in an attempt to make my site the fastest on the internet. In the end, I settled on Cloudways, as it offers an excellent balance of speed and price.
I spend $100 a month for SEMRush . This is an SEO tool that allows you to see which keywords your site is ranking for in Google, determine which articles are best for you to write next, analyse your competitors’ websites, learn which sites have linked to yours, track brand mentions online, and all kinds of other useful stuff. It’s pricey, but I easily make that money back every year from the information it provides me with, so consider it an essential. You can check it out with a two week trial through this link .
I spend $700 a year for newsletter services with ConvertKit .
I spend $600 a year to schedule pins on Pinterest with Tailwind .
I pay $400 a year for accounting software with Xero .
I pay $250 a year to host my travel photos online with Crashplan .

It sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that I make well over $10,000 a month from my travel blog, so they’re all expenses that I can justify.

Is It Too Late to Start a Travel Blog in 2024?

I receive a lot of emails and comments from readers who are concerned it’s too late to start travel blogging. Is it? Nope! Hell no. Seriously — it’s not too late.

And the pandemic? It caused a lot of travel bloggers to give up. While the travel blogging world used to be super-crowded, it’s now thinned out over the past year, as bloggers who were reliant on press trips began to run out of money. And now that the world is starting to return to normal, those of us who focused on passive income are doing better than ever, with less competition than before.

It’s a great time to start.

And you know what? There are so many more opportunities for income than there used to be. When I started out, there were only a handful of travel bloggers who made $1,000 a month, and they were the people who had been blogging for several years. These days, there are several hundred travel bloggers who are pulling in six figures each and every year.

In Facebook groups, I see new bloggers sharing how they managed to reach six figures in just a year or two of blogging — something that used to take the original travel bloggers four or five years to manage.

If I were to start my travel blog today, I’d be able to reach my current income within two years. So don’t be dissuaded by the sheer number of travel bloggers on the internet today — focus on generating traffic then monetising your audience, and you’ll be doing well in no time at all!

Now Get Blogging!

I have one final suggestion, and that’s to take a look through the comments of this article below. I now have almost a thousand comments on this article from people asking questions and looking for advice. My answers will likely be useful as you start your travel blogging journey, and feel free to ask for any clarification in the comments, too!

And most of all, good luck! I promise you can do it :-)

693 Comments

So this is actually only the second blog post I’ve read about how to start a travel blog, but I must say that I like yours the best. Mostly because you mention a little a bit about what you’re paying up front when you sign up for Bluehost. I’m sure if I started a live chat with them I could’ve discovered it on my own, but sometimes I have a little aversion to social interaction lol being an introvert sucks … anyways … I just wanted to thank you for helping me understand why I was so confused when I tried to start my website and it was declined due to insufficient funds lol being a food runner/expeditor does’t pay much lol

I really liked this post a lot and just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated all the information and time you put into it. I didn’t even know about logos and that was awesome that you shared that because the first blog post I read just mentioned “good content”.

I am saving this for future reference and thank you greatly for the inspiration your blog has given me. Keep on doing you =) You’re doing GREAT!

Thank you so much for your kind words, Eden!

Before I put this guide together, I spent several weeks looking at similar posts by other travel bloggers to make sure that I could fill in any gaps they’d left. I found the majority of them didn’t include as much information as I would have liked to have seen when I first started out, so I’m thrilled to hear that my article was helpful for you :-)

Hi Lauren, I’m a new travel blogger based in Nigeria and I decided to start my travel blogging with touring round my state in Nigeria. I’m really having a hard time thinking about if this is really best for me but I know I have a strong passion for going places. And I can’t explore other continents because I’m underage and my college won’t allow me to. I have already created my word press account and uploaded my first about post. But I need advice on how to move on and I am using the WordPress free plan for a start. What kind of advice can you give to me please ?

Start by writing about the places you’ve already been to in Nigeria, and focus on building up your social media following. You can still find success by writing detailed guides to destinations you’ve already visited.

Hey, I stumbled on your blog while looking for ways to work since I’m laid off from my job as a cook due to the pandemic. I was bouncing around an idea regarding a travel blog revolving around virtual vacations since no one is allowed to go anywhere. All you really find is dry how to dos on the subject. I thought about how get the most out of it on a budget. Now I think I really want to try it. Just because you are stuck at home doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the world. I was hoping you’d have a little advice for me.

But do you think most bloggers set out with the intention of creating the kind of blog that can be monetized?

For me it’s been an evolutionary process – I started out on Google’s blogger in 2013 just as a way of keeping memoir for myself really, as well as a postcard substitute for friends and family. Then once my content grew I got frustrated with blogger’s limitations and moved to wordpress.com, then to wordpress.org hosted as part of my husband’s business website, and only to wordpress.org/Bluehost last month with a free theme from Catchthemes.

All I’ve paid for so far is Bluehost. The next step might be the paid-for version of my theme, but I think it’s unnecessary spend any money AT ALL until you know you’re going to stick with blogging – it’s easy enough to import existing content into a wordpress blog, so doesn’t it make more sense to create some content first and see if you enjoy the process? After all, a monetized blog seems take an awful lot of time and effort and probably isn’t for everyone – I still haven’t decided whether the monetized part is something I want to pursue.

It’s tough. I think more new travel bloggers are setting out with the intention of making money purely because there’s so much inspiration out there to quit your job and try it, and it makes it look easy.

There are pros and cons to investing in your site when you first start out. Like you say: you might end up giving it a go and then discover you don’t actually enjoy the writing and you’d much rather travel without the commitment. But at the same time, if you don’t take the time to build a slick blog that looks professional it’s going to be incredibly hard to build any kind of audience, which could discourage you from continuing, because it seems so much harder than it should be.

I’ve only just started and I’ve read quite a few “How to start a travel blog” posts – but I particularly like what you say towards the end about doing things differently. That was initial gut feeling, finding a USP rather than trying to compete in an overcrowded space, until I started reading about having to blog prolifically to start with etc. I like your approach better. You’re also the only person who specifically mentioned getting a logo – something that I’d only had loose ideas about, but will definitely go about getting this now. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Thanks so much, Maki! I actually wrote about this recently: Everyone Said I Was Doing it Wrong . I find that a lot of bloggers recommend doing the same things to find success and, while clearly they have worked for them, I’ve found success through doing things differently to everyone else. Standing out from the crowd is so important!

Thanks for this list! I can vouch for Fiverr. Found a great graphic artist who did my logo. She runs a legit design house with other artists working for her, so it might be better to find a user with an extensive portfolio and lots of positive reviews.

Oh, that’s good to hear! Thanks for the tip :-)

Wow wow wow, firstly, well done on your achievement!! Secondly, thank you for sharing these steps as many do not go into so much detail. Greatly appreciated. I’m in Cape Town, South Africa, recently retired and have always been interested in writing about our travels. We’ve done numerous motorcycle tours and I would usually do a short reflection of it. Friends have been pushing me to write more. ..I’ve recently posted 2 recent day trips on Facebook (Colleen Arendse-Stain), and being reminded again to start a book or a blog….now that I have more free time, I would like to give it a go. Thank you for the advice and inspiration… When will you visit Cape Town???

Best of luck with getting it all set up, Colleen! And I looooove Cape Town :-)

What if you are unsure what your niche is? I want my blog to encompass all aspects of my traveling life whether it’s the how to’s, budgeting, disasters on the road, travel hacking, etc. I’m concerned that by doing everything I’ll slip through the cracks and won’t be noticed.

I’d recommend focusing on one angle and tying everything else into that. For example, you could make budget travel your main focus, but still write about everything else. Travel disasters could be tied into traveling on a budget if you have mishaps in hostels, for example. Travel hacking could have a budget focus, so it isn’t all about getting as many credit cards as possible. How to travel on a budget… you get the idea. After you choose a niche that doesn’t have to be your sole, sole focus — you just want people to be able to say, “Oh, Mike? He’s that guy that writes about…”

My focus is being a walking disaster, but that isn’t all I write about! I’d probably only end up posting every few months if that was the case. I still write resource-y posts and guides to cities and posts about anxiety, but I’ll throw in a mention of a misadventure I had every now and then.

Hi Lauren –

Your blog is awesome and is set up so beautifully!! I’m working on setting one up and am trying to add a “Where I’ve Been Map” that I can link things to. I’ve been looking at maps on a few different travel blogs and yours is the closest to what I’m looking for.

Any tips for creating a map with countries colored in that can be linked to certain posts? Most of the sites I’ve found either share only a map with filled in countries OR a Google map with pins that can be moved around.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks :)

Hi Alison. Yep! I use a plugin called interactive world maps for mine. I highly recommend it as it’s easy to use, looks great, and is very customisable! :-)

Lauren, is it possible to move from my existing WordPress address to this host and get the .com address? I don’t want to start from scratch after all this time, and I’m generally happy with my existing blog on WordPress, but I know I will have to start paying for it soon. Thanks for any feedback you can provide!

Yep! You just need to transfer your site from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. When you log into your dashboard, navigate to tools and click export -> all content. Once you’ve done that, sign up for hosting and install WordPress using the directions I included in this post. Once that’s sorted, you can log in, head to tools -> import -> WordPress, and upload the exported file from your wordpress.com site. Let me know if you need any help! :-)

Are there any free themes? Could I possibly bring in my own theme designed by a graphic designer ? To sign up for wordpress do I have to use WordPress themes ?

Hi Marcy. Yep, just google free WordPress themes and a ton will come up. You can also hire a graphic designer to help you out with your site — I’d recommend this as you’d likely end up with a more professional looking theme. Yep, you need to use WordPress-specific themes for WordPress.

Let me know if I can help with anything else!

All good stuff! After building over 100 WordPress sites I would highly recommend using good security plugins, WP is easy to hack.

-Bulletproof security -Wordfence

Awesome! Thanks so much, Jane! I’ll get on that now :-)

Hi Lauren, I’m in the process of switching my WordPress blog over to a website and your post is the most helpful I’ve found so far. I had a few questions, but they’ve mostly been answered already in the comments :-) Jane’s tip sounds good about redirecting the admin login to avoid hackers, but what does this mean? How do I do it? I’d be really grateful if you or Jane could explain. I’m sure I could google it, but you make everything sound so clear and easy to follow :-)

Yep, it’s super-easy to do. Download this plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/ and you can change the url of the admin area, and add a load of extra security features to your site, too :-)

I’m surprised you didn’t mention joining travel blog success like all the other bloggers do – which is impressive! I love how you personality just shows through your delicate writing!

I started blogging about my travel experience recently as well, but I am a photographer and I have my name as the domain for my portfolio site – so I just built a blog page on top of what I already have – I’m still debating if I should just create a separate domain for blogging or just keep it as is..

I like to do things differently :-) Honestly, I think Travel Blog Success is overpriced and unnecessary. I’ve never joined so I can’t speak from experience, but I’ve been just fine without it.

hi lauren! nice article as usual! I wanted to know if the plugins are hard to use with wordpress? What do you think of squarespace?

Plugins are super-easy to use. Just search for them in the the plugins section of your WordPress dashboard and hit install. The settings for them are easy to understand, as well.

Never used Squarespace or subscribed to a site that uses it. I don’t like many of the templates and there aren’t many options for customisation.

Glad you found it helpful, Kate! Digg Digg works fine for me, so you shouldn’t have a problem with it — maybe try again? I’ve never used Genesis, so I’m afraid I can’t help with that. My theme is called Presso and I bought it from Themeforest.

Hi Lauren Thank you for sharing your tips on this post I found it really helpful :-) I am currently travelling and about to launch my own blog, more to share my experiences than to make a living out of it but obviously still want it to be unique and interesting. I read your book “How NotTo Travel The World” whilst I was travelling around India and loved it ❤️ It’s good to know I’m not the only one who makes travelling mistakes and gets into the odd disaster…. Haha st least we will both have entertaing stories to tell! xxx

Thanks so much, Jayne! I’m delighted to hear you enjoyed my book, and no, you’re definitely not the only one to have disasters :-) Best of luck with your blog!

Thanks, Lauren. I’ve read a gazillion “how to set up a travel blog” posts and even attended webinars but this is the first time I think I could actually do it. I started writing a weekly travel column for the newspapers 10 years ago but shied away from blogging because I’m technically challenged. Thanks for your confidence boosting “how to start a successful travel blog” post.

Happy travels.

That’s amazing to hear, Helga! I’m so happy to hear my post could fill you with the confidence to give it a try :-) Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing when I first started, but you pick it up pretty quickly :-)

Hi Lauren Just finished your book and reading through this blog! My husband and I plan to head out for a year of travel in a couple of years and I’d like to blog. In the meantime, I have a sort of friends and family blog about camping in Colorado. It isn’t hosted and I use free wordpress. I’d like to transform it into something lots more professional and public. So, my question is–should I just scratch it and start over? Sounds like it is hard to move content and change a name? Because I’m giving tips on where to camp I think I may need to re-visit some of the older locations anyway. Will it actually disappear so that people will only find the new one? Finally, about how long did it take before your blog began earning an income? What exactly did you do–seek out advertisers? Or did they find you? Thanks!

Hi Stephanie!

What you could do is set up a new blog, then export all of your content from your wordpress.com site to your new one. There’s literally an export and import button on both WordPress versions, so it should be super-quick and easy. You could either redirect your old site to the new one, or just delete the old one if it doesn’t receive much traffic.

I started earning money from my site three months after starting it, and was making enough to live off of after around a year. Advertisers found me for the most part, but one thing you could do is create a Facebook group or small community of travel bloggers who started their sites at the same time as you, and share contacts with each other there.

Hope that helps!

I have been following your blog for so long now and it has helped me so much with my travels so I first just want to say thank you!! I’ve just started my own blog so my family/friends can keep up to date with what I’m doing etc, I originally didn’t set it up to make it into a business or to make money but I can’t help but notice how many people are making a living from blogging. My main question would be when and how did you know when to turn it from a hobby into a priority? For me I don’t want to spend money on a domain/Wordpress.org etc if it’s only ever going to be a hobby but I also know I can’t get anywhere without if that makes sense, sorry to ramble on I just don’t know what to do and after reading this post I thought it might be best to ask you the expert hehe! xx

Roughly how much a year do you think you’d spend on expenses for your blog? Preferably in NZD or something I can convert just so I have an idea ?

These days I’d estimate I spend around 2000 USD a year. I use WP Engine as my hosting company and pay around $70 a month for them. They’re one of the best hosting options there, but pretty expensive and completely unnecessary for a new blogger. I pay around $120 a year each for social media scheduling with Coschedule and Pinterest scheduling with Tailwind. Maybe around $50 a year for new plugins for my site. $600 a year for my newsletter service with ConvertKit. That’s probably about it.

During my first year of running this blog, I think I probably only spent around $50 a year. I paid for hosting and that was about it.

Hi Lauren! I am just starting out trying to create a travel blog too and I’m really struggling with making my site look the way I imagine. I’ve purchased a theme and it’s “installed” but doesnt seem to resemble what I purchased. I am not well versed in graphic design but I like to consider myself computer savvy. Can you suggest or recommend a good resource/s for setting up the themes and basically making my sight look like I imagine? Also a good place to create a banner? or is that what you mean by a logo? I’ve been considering travel blog success but I just dont know that I’m ready or willing to invest in it yet.Thank you so much for your help!

Your theme will usually have installation instructions that run through how to set it up and get everything looking how you want it to. Otherwise, using the theme options page on your WordPress dashboard is where you need to be. That’s where you’ll make all of the changes to your site’s appearance.

Yep, you can have a banner made through the same sites I recommend for a logo.

You probably won’t recognise my name, but I’ve tweeted you a couple times :) anyway, I just wanted to ask, what is a logo? I’ve never heard of that before. I seem to be having some issues with my domain name registering, but once its sorted, (fingers crossed it will be.) I’ll be moving on to personalising my blog. how do you pick a theme? There seems to be thousands of them! As someone who doesn’t have a clue or anyone to ask, I feel like i need to be walkeeen at this for 2 days and I’ve still not got my blog! Please help!d through by baby steps! I’ve already been derailed twice, please help! haha hope alls well! Eilidh

Oh, by logo, I mean the banner up at the top of every page. The Never Ending Footsteps part is the logo. It’a way to help brand your site and inject some personality to it, rather than having some plain, boring text as the site title.

When it comes to picking a theme, it took me about a week to find one that I like. I went to Themeforest and sorted the WordPress themes by popularity. From there, I went down the list until I found one that I liked. Honestly, it all comes down to what features you’re looking for and what style works for you. Take a look at the live preview of each site and see if anything clicks. Most of the themes are very customisable, so it’d be hard to go wrong!

Great tips, wish I would’ve had this post when I started. I’m glad you mention how much work it is behind the scenes as many people just think is taking photos and publishing then online. My biggest challenge has been seo, I actually invested in a professional to help me out. Looking forward to your posts.

Thanks so much, Sanket! I’m so happy to hear you found the post useful :-) It definitely takes a lot of work to build a successful site, which is why it can sometimes be a little frustrating when people assume you’re on a permanent vacation!

That’s a good tip about investing in someone to help you out if you’re not so great at a certain skill. I know that I tried to do everything when I first started out to the detriment of my site!

Hi Lauren, I’ve been following Dave since 2012-ish and then you soon after – you’ve both been so incredibly helpful with all my travel planning. Loved your book too! I’m looking to start monetising my blog but I’m currently using blogger – I want to transfer everything so I can have my own .com name… can you do this with a blogger page or do I need to start again and copy paste the content across? I’m just worried about losing any follows! Thanks :)

Hi Clare! :-) You can keep your current Blogger site and just get a custom domain for it. Info here: https://support.google.com/blogger/troubleshooter/1233381?hl=en#ts=1734115

Great advice :)

I have a question around how your blog became successful – was there one particular moment or incident which turned your blog into a profession? There are so many travel blogs out there so im just wondering how you go about getting “discovered” – how did your readers find you?

Thanks Megan

There wasn’t really a particular moment when things skyrocketed — I definitely noticed a huge jump in engagement and follower numbers once I started embracing my disastrous side :-) but much of my growth has been pretty organic. If you were to look at my traffic numbers, it would be something like 5,000 visitors per month on average for the first six months, 10,000 visitors per month for the next six months and so on, so I’ve always had steady growth rather than one big moment when things rapidly expanded.

But that’s talking about audience size, which is different to turning my blog into a profession. For me, I didn’t think of my blog as my *job* until I’d been running it for around nine months (and travelling for three of them). By that point, I was making enough income to live in Southeast Asia, and was starting to become more well-known in the travel blogging world. It was at that point when I realised, hey, I don’t actually have to go home after a year :-)

And as for how my readers found me, I can actually answer this quite accurately as I recently ran a reader survey and asked exactly that question! To quote from that post :

“35% of you found me through Googling something random and 30% discovered me through another travel blog. On the lower-but-heartwarming end of the spectrum, 5% found me through a friend’s recommendations, 8 responders know me in real life (hi!), and 5 of you even found the site through buying How Not to Travel the World first.”

Hi Lauren! I’m in my last year of high school and your blog has definitely inspired me to chase my travelling dreams :) Was just wondering though, is a web blog essential/necessary in funding your travels or could your travels be funded from other things? What else could provide as a main resource for funding travel?

Saf – the way from Australia :)

Hi Saf! Nope, it’s definitely not essential. There are so many ways you could fund travel that don’t involve opening a laptop — teaching English, working as a surf instructor or divemaster, working on a cruise ship, running tours, working in hostels, working in bars… And for something online based, it could be doing your current job remotely if you don’t need to be in the office, working as a graphic designer or computer programmer or an app developer or a translator or a freelance writer or editor, or an SEO specialist or a social media marketer, or selling things you’ve made on Etsy or elsewhere, or self-publishing books on Amazon. The possibilities are endless! :-)

Thanks Lauren, for creating another master class post. I am bookmarking the post because in near future, I am going to make a travel related blog. Such instruction can make my work easier.

That’s so kind of you to say! Glad you found it useful :-)

Just wanted to say thank you Lauren, some fantastic tips in here. Nearly finished your book now, it’s brilliant. Never read a book that’s kept my attention and interest like yours does. You should be so very proud of yourself for such great writing. Best wishes and safe (as it gets with you!!) travels! Richard – BeyondTheVan.

Thank you so much, Richard! Your comment truly means the world to me :-)

This was really helpful, thanks so much. I still have a lot to figure out, but you’ve given me a good start.

No problem! Happy to help :-)

You’ve mentioned in your post and a few of the comments that you would suggest starting a FB page with other bloggers who are starting out around the same time as you. Do you have any tips/suggestions/advice on how to find people just starting? All the bloggers I follow online are already established.

Thanks so much :)

Hey, Renata! I answered this a couple of comments down :-)

My mother brought me a copy of your book home from work one day last year, and it had me cracking up thinking about how similar we are in terms of unlucky things seeming to gravitate to us no matter where we go. I got head butted on a subway in Shanghai by a man applying eye drops, for example..

Currently in the process of (trying) to set up my blog for my upcoming travels, and this post is doing wonders, so thanks so much!

Oh, that means the absolute world to me to hear, Jack! And oh my god, I laughed so hard at the image of you being headbutted, haha. Feel free to drop me an email if you get stuck when setting up your site! :-)

Thanks for the informative post! I’m also in the process of starting my own spiritual travel blog and was wondering…how did you find other bloggers who were new to start a Facebook group? I agree with Renata in her comment above; all the bloggers I see on social media are well established and not beginners like me.

Thanks, Christine

Hi Christine,

Twitter chats could be a good place for starting to get to know other bloggers, like #TTOT. Also, searching for hashtags like #rtwsoon for people who are about to head out on a rtw trip, or #rtwnow. Or googling travel blog 2016 “first post” or “my itinerary” or “travel plans” or something like that should bring up recent posts from new blogs. There are also a ton of Facebook groups, like the Travel Bloggers group, and lots of others for newbies as well. Just have a search for “Travel bloggers”. Finally, you could look for other travel bloggers who are commenting on blog posts.

I forged most of my friendships through Twitter, because it’s more conversational and you’re not like, “hey! *Facebook friend request even though you have no idea who I am*!”

great Article about starting a travel bog. After I had finished it, it was clear to me that you have written more or less about “professional” travel blogs. I have also started my own blog. But it is primary used to keep my family and friends up to date. So i choose one of the easy to use platforms. In my case: http://www.traveloca.com . I think it was a good decision as long as I don’t have such a popular travel blog. :) I am a real non technically-minded blogger and until my blog gets not hundreds or thousands of visitor per day, I think such a platform makes much easier. :)

Hi Maria! Yep, this is a guide to starting a successful travel blog, so a lot of my tips are based around how to give yourself the best opportunity possible of making it. If your blog is for friends and family, there’s no need to spend money on hosting and themes and stuff :-)

Yep, perhaps it gets more popular in time. Than I can think about such a “professional” blog but up to now it is enough :) What I could do so far is following some of your tips from step eight.

Yes! And I’m planning to update this article over the next week or so to include money making tips and a few other bits and bobs :-)

Oooooo!! Excited to read that update, as your clarity, illumination, and support is always appreciated ;). Thank you for everything you do!

Thanks for the tips, Lauren!

No problem!

Thanks for this! Lot’s of great tips for us lil guys starting out.

You’re welcome! :-D

Hi Lauren! Just stumbled upon this post on google – very helpful article! I’ve been blogging for about 6 months and most of my viewers come from Quora. Do you have any tips on similar sites to gain more visitors? Would really appreciate any advice :) Keep up the good work!

Thank you so much, Maria! I don’t focus too much on traffic generations on sites like that, purely because it takes a lot of time and effort and I’m not sure how sustainable the traffic is. For example, I used to get quite a bit of traffic from the TripAdvisor forums to my Maldives posts (it was in my top 10 referrers), but I just checked, and six months later, I get two visits a month. I’ve seen things like this happen over and over, so it’s not something I personally focus on. But if Quora works for you, then that’s great, and there’s no reason to stop working on it! :-)

One thing I would suggest is to focus on guest posting. Pitch articles for huge sites that are relevant to what you write about (for example, I could pitch a writing site about how I got a book deal, or an anxiety site about how travel helps my anxiety, or a personal development site on how travel changed my life, or a women’s site about how I met my boyfriend on the road). It’ll bring new people to your site, benefit your blog by giving you a link back (and therefore helping increase your search traffic), and it forces you to practice writing for a different audience!

This is my first time visiting your blog and first off, it’s fucking awesome. As I’m sure most of your followers are, I’m a travel nut (currently writing this while in Vienna, Austria) and want nothing more than to be able to travel for the rest of my life. I’m currently a junior German and Communication Studies double-major and would love to be able to travel after I graduate and share my experiences with others. I found this article really helpful! I did have a few questions for you though. 1) How exactly did you gain all of your followers? 2) How do you use your blog to pay for your trips? Obviously, money plays an important role in travel.

If you could give me any tips I would really, really appreciate it! (:

Awww, thank you so much, Jacqueline! I really appreciate it! :-)

1) Honestly, it all happened organically. Remember that I’ve been doing this for six years now, so that’s a lot of time for people to find me and decide to follow along on my travels. I just shared my travels here on my site and linked out to my social media pages on the site, I shared photos of my travels and little updates on Facebook and Twitter, and somehow people found me. I realise that isn’t very helpful, but I really didn’t do anything beyond share what I was doing. I didn’t buy any followers, or take part in reciprocal liking, or anything like that really. I’d imagine the vast majority of my followers stumbled upon my site in Google and decided to follow me then.

2) I have an entire post dedicated to how I fund my travels here: https://www.neverendingfootsteps.com/how-to-fund-travel-blog/ These days, I make money through advertising (small banner ads in the sidebar and through ads on my Youtube channel), affiliate sales (this post is an example: if you decided to set up your site using Bluehost by following my link, I’d receive a small percentage of the sale), freelance writing (I write regularly for About Student Travel and Too Many Adapters, and occasionally write pieces every so often for other websites and magazines), and book royalties from my memoir. I think that’s about it.

There are a few things other travel bloggers do to make money that I don’t: taking press trips and charging a day rate (or taking press trips for free in order to save on travel expenses), selling ebooks or courses, doing social media marketing for other companies, selling photos online, working with brands on sponsored posts, placing ads on social media, selling ad space to other travel bloggers, using something like Patreon, where their readers help support them, or reader donations… there are lots of ways you can make money through travel blogging!

Thanks, Karen! :-)

No problem! Glad it helped :-)

I’m SO glad that you said not to spend money on Travel Blog Success! I feel like everyone just recommends it so that they can get money from the affiliate links…

Yeah. A lot of travel bloggers make it sound as if you’ll never be successful unless you join. Not true!

can you recommend a good (free) travel theme by WordPress. I’ll be traveling by bike with daily entries and lots of pictures…thanks!

The problem with free themes is that more often than not they contain malware and dodgy links, which will do nothing but penalise your site — that’s why people give them away for free, because they know they can add, for example, links to cheap viagra, etc from your site and cash in from that. It’s for that reason that I recommend going with a paid one.

If you don’t have the cash to spend, use one of the themes WordPress recommends in the themes section of your site. I haven’t used any of them, so don’t have any personal recommendations.

thanks Lauren, all good points! I’m not looking to monetize my blog and mostly want it for friends and family to be able to access to follow my travels but maybe there are other issues too that could effect my site negatively by going with the free stuff. Tim

Ah, just use one of the WordPress ones you’ll find in your backend then.

Hi Lauren, This is amazing! Probably the most comprehensive guide I’ve read so far. I am new to travel blogging and i’m looking at monetizing my blog too. I have used wordpress.com before, but the features are so limited which is why I’m shifting to wordpress.org, I want to take blogging seriously but i’m quite confuse about hosting. Thank you so much, the step by step guide for BlueHost is a big help for me!

Thanks so much, Lhea! I’m so happy to hear that :-) Let me know if you have any questions at any point!

This might be a bit of a naive question, but in terms of theme and logo, do you have to go through a professional graphic designer or can you just sort of put something together yourself? I would love to design my logo myself :)

No, you don’t have to go through a professional! If you can do it yourself, you totally should :-)

Lauren, thank you! One of my aims for 2017 was to start a travel blog and now that the year is half-way through, I’m starting to realise I need to get ON THIS right now. Thank you so much for your helpful blog article — it’s inspiring, easy to understand, and packed full of useful information. Can I ask what some of your favourite travel blogs are? I love yours (obviously) but I’d love to discover other authentic travellers out there to inspire me on my own travel blog journey.

Thanks again!

I’m so happy you wrote this post, Lauren! I’m a longtime reader of your site and have been inspired by how much travel has helped you to grow. I’m setting out for my own soul searching experience in July and this has convinced me to take the leap and try travel blogging for myself to see how it goes.

That’s amazing, Edna. I’m touched to hear my story could inspire you <3 Best of luck with your blog and let me know if I can help out with anything if you get stuck along the way.

Who do you use for hosting your travel blog? Is it still Bluehost or somebody different? I read in another blog post of yours that you changed hosting company a few years ago and experienced a rise in traffic from search engines. Would you not then recommend starting with a more expensive host to give yourself the best chance of success?

Would there be much interest in retirement travel as a niche do you think? My children have flown the nest, my husband has died and I want to start traveling and showing other older women that it’s never too late to see the world. Is there any chance I can find an audience at my age? Travel blogging seems to be focused so much on younger women in their 20s.

This has been so helpful, thank you. Can I ask if these are the exact steps you followed when you started your blog or like are these things that you learned along the way? You are obviously successful and I was wondering if you made it by doing this exactly or doing some things differently. I hope this makes sense!

Can I be cheeky and ask which banner design you like most for a logo in Canvaa? Theres so many to choose from and I want one that will make me stand out.

This was just what I needed to give me a kick up the butt and convince me to start my travel blog! Time to start brainstorming names…

Yay! I’m happy to hear that, Loretta! Best of luck :-)

Hi Lauren. This was an amazing post! It not only inspired me to start my own blog but also to follow the exact steps you’ve laid out on your post. It was very helpful. Thank you. I have one question though. At the bottom of your blog, it says ‘Copyright Lauren………’. How do I do that on my blog using Word Press. Currently it says ‘Proudly powered by Word Press…..’ and the theme I use. Can I edit this?

Yes! If you go to Appearance -> Editor and find your footer.php file, you should be able to edit it in there. If not, most themes will have something in the theme options section of the WordPress dashboard where you can change it.

This is the most detailed post I found on starting a travel blog so I have to say thanks to you for that Lauren. My one question to you: would you recommend making your own logo in Photoshop or Canva when you’re starting out?

I’d go for Canva if you don’t have experience with graphic design yet. It’ll be much easier than trying to teach yourself Photoshop from scratch.

You don’t have to answer this but how much money do you make through this travel blog?

Thank you SO much for this Lauren! A treasure trove of information for new bloggers :o)

Happy you found it so helpful! Thanks! :-)

Apologises if you’ve answered this in another comment, but how long did it take before you started making money? How soon do you think a new travel blogger can start making money, realistically? How long to make their first penny and how long before they make $1000 a month, then $2000, etc. What are the best types of income for new travel bloggers to chase?

Hi Lauren. Why do you recommend Bluehost over Hostgator, etc? Who do you use for hosting your travel blog?

Thank you a lot for this Lauren! You made an overwhelming task sound manageable. No easy feat when you’re as scared of technology as me!

Oh, that’s incredible! Thanks so much for the huge compliment, Gemma!

I am about to embark on a 3 month trip backpacking SE Asia with my fiance, I have thought a lot about blogging…. but don’t want to start while I’m there. This will be a big first for both of us and we don’t want to worry about bringing our laptops as we are unsure what the trip will bring and don’t want to risk losing or breaking it. Have you or any bloggers you know started blogging after your trip as more of a reflection on the events rather than staying current with your posts?

Great , These are amazing tips for start travel blogs and these are very effective tips.

i wanted to tell you i found this incredibly informative and helpful. i want to share the kind of unconventional trips my brothers and i go on and you have given me a great starting point. once i get things up and running i’ll be sure to send you a link :)

happy travels to you.

So happy to hear that! And yep, I’d love to see how it looks when you’ve got it all set up :-)

This gave me the boost of confidence I needed. For about 2 years now, I’ve wanted to travel and be able to share it with other people. I’ve looked into doing a vlog as well, but have been to scared of failure. Thank you so much for posting this and making it easier for me finally start doing what I’ve been meaning to for years!

Thank you so much! I’m thrilled to hear I could make it easier for you :-) Good luck!

Hey Lauren!

I just wanted to leave you a little comment to let you know that I read your book and it inspired me to try start blogging. So much so I even referenced you in my first post! My blog is more as a pass time and fun than as a way to try make any money down the road but it was something I’d never really considered until I’d read your book. Your initial experience of travelling alone was also a comfort as my own first week travelling never exactly went to plan either! I just posted a blog piece about it (I came from the UK to Melbourne) and it made me remember all the things that happened during that week that I’d forgotten about. But writing it also made me realise how far I’ve come in 10 months.

So thanks again :D

So sorry to bother you if this has been asked before but, what is the difference between using Bluehost and transferring my current content over and simply purchasing a upgrade on WordPress for my blog?

Thanks so much lady!

Brydie Spark

I am just starting out with a travel blog and this article was really helpful! It looks like a daunting task to start a successful blog and monetize it but your words make it look do-able so thanks for that :)

Amazing! I’m so happy to hear that, Marium! :-)

Hi Lauren! Just wanted to say what an amazing blog this is; it’s really helped me with a lot of my travels around India and the Middle East. I’ve only just started my travel/self growth blog and I’m feeling so overwhelmed about trying to get more readers and how to do this? You mentioned getting in touch with other travel bloggers in the beginning stages but I’m not sure how to do this!? Thanks so much, love, Sophia

you are fantastic! Great (and super helpful) article. Thank you for helping out us aspiring travel bloggers

Thank you! I’m glad you found it helpful :-)

Your article is very powerful, I take your advice seriously while preparing to start my own travel blog.

Good luck! :-)

Hi Lauren, thanks for this very informative post! I usually don’t comment on things I read but this made an impression on me. I also have a question for you. Your disclaimer states that the income produced helps reduce the cost of running the site but is that all one can expect from following your advice is to supplement your travel budget or are you able to travel full time from the revenue of your site?

Hi Michael! Thank you so much — I’m pleased to hear that :-)

Oh, I should probably make my disclaimer clearer — I’ll go update it now. I was referring to the income from this specific post helping to reduce the running costs. I’ve more than funded over five years of full-time travel through Never Ending Footsteps.

Thanks for the Tips :-) this is very informative for me.After reading this I follow all the steps to start my Travel Blog I am very thankful to you Lauren.

Happy travel & All the best

Thank you! Same to you :-)

Hi Lauren, i almost never comment on blogs but this is a must! I stumbled on your blog while doing a research on how to start a Travel blog and your steps are very simple, informative and really helpful. Thank you!!

Hope i can come back to give you a feedback when i eventually start mine.

Thank you and All the best with everything :)

Thank you so much! Definitely let me know when your blog is all set up and I’ll be happy to give you some feedback :-)

Hi Lauren, I always follow your blogs and really they are inspiring for me!! I have read this blog on starting a travel blog and i found that your way is very simple, i really like it!! i just want to ask few questions:

1- I didn’t get about how toe use of skimlinks. i am little confused about it. 2- Please tell me how can i use youtube for earning money if i start travel blog.

Thank you for sharing such blogs

Ah, thank you so much! :-)

1) They have instructions for how to set up Skimlinks on the site: https://skimlinks.com/getting-started — you basically copy and paste a line of code onto your site, and then Skimlinks will take words from your articles, check to see if there are affiliate programs for these products or services, and add a link for you if there is. Once it’s installed on your site, you can just forget about it and it does all of the hard work for you.

As an example: if in a blog post, I wrote: “I decided to buy the Canon 550D camera this month and I’m loving the photos I’ve been getting from it!” Skimlinks would detect that Canon 550D was the name of a product and insert an affiliate link to the Canon website or Amazon, and then if anyone clicks that link and buys a product, you get a percentage of the sale.

2) I probably make around $10 a month from Youtube, so I’m not really the person to be asking! I don’t actively film videos on my channel, so it’s not a source of income I pursue. A good way to start is by putting Adsense ads on your videos through the Youtube Partner Program.

Hi Lauren ,

I came across your blog today and its seriously a very inspiring one….I have been searching for some sources which help me in setting up a travel blog….i found yours very helpful and informative….

Thank u so much and all the best for your future endeavours….

Just a small question. What camera do you use, as your photos are always so colorful! Thanks so much for this useful guide Lauren :)

I use the Sony A7ii :-)

Thank you sooooo much for this guide Lauren!! I’ve just taken the plunge and got a Bluehost account, found a theme and I’m now starting to think about content. I know you say that your traffic and success hasn’t been affected by how much you post, but do you have a number of posts per week that you’d recommend for someone starting out? As much as possible? Once a week?

I’d love to see a more advanced guide about how you made it as a travel blogger after you’ve set everything up. This is so useful for new bloggers so it would be awesome to see a similar guide for more intermediate bloggers too.

Oooh, that’s a great idea! I’ll put some ideas together and see what I can do :-)

We are just starting off with out blog and this article was incredibly helpful! I have followed your steps to start our site but am confused when asked to connect to a wordpress.com account for the JetPack in order to download some of the plug-ins you mentioned. I wasn’t sure I should connect since I read in your comments that WordPress.org vs WordPress.com is very different.

You definitely don’t need to use Jetpack to download any of the plugins I recommend. I still use all of them and I’ve never used Jetpack. Feel free to drop me an email with more details if you’re still having problems and I’ll see if I can help out :-)

Hi Lauren! wHat do you recommend writing about if you’ve just started your blog but haven’t started traveling yet? I feel like i’ve run out of ideas after my first few articles (travel plans for my rtw trip, why I want to travel, and a past trip). Thanks for the helpful article.

Hi! ? I want to say that this post has been really helpful, especially the tip about the business plan because most blogs will advise to wait. It helps the reader to think long term and I really like the part when you say you said you were a bit of a contrarian. Haha!

I want to know about w h a t should be the first posts. I mean there are the technical parts of building a blog, the installation of plugins and all such things but I was hoping to find an article about what should be my first posts… when I start a travel blog from scratch what do I actually do and where do I go and what do I write about? The truth is that I am only beginning to s e t o u t to travel and wanted to blog about it but don’t know where to start in the “travelling” part, and I have received help about the “blogging” part. Do i just go to a place and talk about it? Wouldn’t that be boring?

Do you have an article somewhere in this blog about the blog post ideas I am looking for? I’ll be really glad to read them! Your blog inspires me ?

I was wondering what Hosting actually was. You mention it confused you too so I’m relieved to know I’m not alone and I get it’s basically paying for your website address but is that it or does that pay for access to plugins etc?

Right, so hosting is basically paying for the server (computer space) that your website lives on. The advantage to going self-hosted rather than using wordpress.com or blogspot.com is that your site will typically be faster, you have access to support if anything goes wrong with your site, and you’re paying for the flexibility and freedom to do whatever you want with it. Blogspot/Wordpress.com, etc restrict you in terms of what themes you can use, what plugins you can install, how much you can monetise your site…

thank you for these tips. I purchased the host on bluehost and I am looking at themes. The one I want cost $59 do you recommend paying the $49 for the install theme.

No, don’t pay to install the theme. You literally just download the files, log into WordPress, and click on Plugins -> Add New and upload the theme file you just downloaded. It’s really easy to do and you definitely don’t need to pay someone to do it for you :-)

This was really helpful, thanks so much. I still have a lot to figure out, like my blog name, but you’ve given me a good start. so thanks for sharing this information…Such a great Resource and the best guide on starting a travel blog Ive read so far.

Thank you! Best of luck with your blog! :-)

Great blog i love it has a lot of great information and i like how you kept it real about you don’t necessarily have to buy the travel bloggers program. I started my blog back like 2 months before i took off to my journey to Southeast Asia for three months in August. I’ve been doing a few posting every now and then just been trying to come up with a few different ideas to get more traffic and start earning some income i really don’t care how much I start earning in the beginning just as long as I’m making some type of income it would make me feel that I’ve started somewhere

Take A looking at my travel blog and let me know what you think or what would you recommend me changing

My main topic is A African/Haitian Nomad thats on a journey to see the world on a budget learn about new cultures and there history. I’m planning for my next journey going away for 7 months to 1yr to Africa in the next few months

I also want to thank you for this post. I am new to the world of blogging and your article was very helpful. Any suggested beginner user guides to WordPress? I find getting accustomed to the dashboard a little overwhelming!

Oooh, that’s a good question! I had a look around and this site has a ton of information on getting started and understanding what everything in the dashboard does: http://easywpguide.com/wordpress-manual/dashboard/dashboard-menu-options/

Hi Lauren. Thank you for providing such a different point of view to starting a travel blog. You’re right – so many are the same! I found this post a couple of days ago but have come back now before I take the plunge tomorrow and start setting up – I think I’ve decided on thetransientexplorer.com as a name. Maybe without the ‘the’… My problem is I like to make sure everything is perfect when actually I need to make a leap – kinda like travelling I guess!

One thing I have noticed is BlueHost is promoted by most bloggers. I used to have little websites years ago and I’m guessing things have changed, but I once got charged $100 for a data spike so I get a bit nervous, especially of a non-UK company. Because BlueHost are often mentioned I think I’ll follow your advice and use them.

I look forward to coming back to your blog and checking out some more posts.

Just wanted to say that I’ve spent all day researching how to start my travel blog and your guide was easily the most comprehensible and easy to follow. I now feel like I’ve got a good chance at making my travel blog a success. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Anna! :-)

Thank you so much for informing about Skimlinks, will definitely try that.

No problem! Hope it works out for you :-) It makes affiliate earning so easy.

Thanks so much for this post! It has made a huge difference for me. :)

I’m so happy to hear that, Ryan! :-)

I wanted a tip on if i am starting and i want to approach a company to affiliate should i go directly and tell my plan, or i do some stuff build the website and then go for it?

You’ll want to build the website first, so that you can show the company where their affiliate links will be placed. For the most part, though, you won’t ever directly approach a company and pitch to affiliate for them — they’ll either already have an affiliate program you can apply for or won’t offer one at all.

Hope that helps! :-)

Hi Lauren. Long time reader of your site here. Do you have any tips for how to inject more personality into your posts? I’m a big fan of your blog because reading it feels like I’m sitting down with a friend over a cup of tea and hearing about their travel stories. I’d love for my blog to have the same kind of feel. Thanks so much Lauren!

One thing that helps me is to write in a similar way to how I speak. You could just record a few minutes of you talking about a trip you took, then replay it, and transcribe what you said. It’ll eventually become second nature to write in this style, so you won’t need to keep recording your voice. Also, reading, reading, reading. Read lots of books and article from writers with big personalities and study how they get their point across and the types of words they use.

Wow Lauren, you’re truly INSPIRATIONAL. I live to TRAVEL and this post has given me the mojo to start my own blog which I had been procrastinatng for so long. Thank you so much.

Wow, thank you so much for the compliment! :-)

Thanks so much for writing about this! A travel blog of my own is slowly forming in my mind.

Did you ever take lessons for journalism/ writing to feel confident about your writing style? Or did you intuitively post articles? (if that makes sense).

Thankyou again!

I didn’t. I found the best way to improve my writing was to read and write as much as possible. Something as simple as sitting down every day and forcing yourself to write 1000 words, whether you publish them or not, can do wonders for your writing ability. Practice, practice, practice! Even now, whenever I look back at blog posts I wrote a year ago, I want to make edits and spot dozens of ways to improve them. It shows me that I’m constantly developing as a writer and improving the more I write.

Incredible Post!! You have done an amazing job. Worth reading this entire article for travel bloggers who are about to start their travel blog. Keep it Up!! Thanks :)

Thank you! :-)

Hi, Lauren!

I got to thank you for writing this article. I’ve been researching stuffs on how to start a travel blog and I find yours very inspiring. I want to restart blogging with a new perspective but felt pressured since most of the bloggers I knew are following some kind of patterns like writing articles in exchange for freebies and with that I felt really pressured. Coz I don’t like I’ll be good at it. After reading this post, I felt at ease. I realized I don’t really have to do what everyone else is doing. Thank you for making me realize that! Now, I’m still brainstorming for a blog name. ?

You definitely don’t, Charlyn. If something doesn’t make you feel comfortable, you can find a different way to fund your travels. It’s totally nerve-wracking at first, but I feel nothing but relief when I think about how I didn’t go down the route. And honestly, from what I’ve heard, most readers of travel blogs find the freebies the most irritating aspect of sites, so if you do something different, you’ll most likely attract readers because of it.

Good luck in your search for a name!

Hi, I have a question. So how we make the money from the blog? Just by clicking on the travel link we share? Thanks for the reply.

There are so many ways to make money from a travel blog. I’ve listed the ways I recommend at the end of this article. I’d suggest going for advertising through Adsense and affiliate links to start with. In both cases, you’ll make money if one of your readers clicks either an ad or an affiliate link that’s in your post.

How is this different from the bajillion other “how to start a travel blog” posts? How is this unconventional?

The. Exact. Same. Stuff. Infact, it is the same as the bajillion “how to start a blog” post. Not even “travel blog”, just “blog”.

Just a post for you to insert affliate links.

Unfortunately, as soon as my post started to rank in Google, other travel bloggers began to copy the stuff I’d shared in this post, so I’ll take your point on board that it’s not as original as it could be/used to be. And on top of that, I guess my opinions on certain things changed, like travel blogging courses. To be fair, though, in the introduction I say:

“You don’t need to do what everyone else is doing — in fact, I recommend actively avoiding it.

I’ve never joined Travel Blog Success and won’t tell you that you should; I think it’s expensive and unnecessary. I’ve had a strict no press trips or sponsored travel policy for three years and counting, preferring to make my blog a success so that I can just afford to go wherever I want, rather than traveling on someone else’s dime. I write about how not to travel the world and don’t try to pretend to be a travel expert. I’ve never had a regular posting schedule. I’ve done everything differently and that’s what’s helped me to stand out from the crowd.”

And I don’t think this post deviates from that message. I still recommend to do all of those things and that’s unconventional advice in travel blogging, where people will say: “have a regular posting schedule! Write detailed resources! Don’t inject too much personality into your posts! Be an expert!”

And yes, there are affiliate links in this post, because as much as I’d love to offer I’ve everything I’ve learned over the past six years of blogging for free (and this post actually does if people don’t click my links), I do still have to eat. And I do believe the things I’ve learned have value.

It’s good work by you! Very interesting blog and article! I want ask you about some themes, what i want to use in my website(blog). I consider these: Divi, Monsteroid, Avada, maybe X-theme. Have you seen or work with anyone of them? I also found information about them on https://www.templatemonster.com/blog/avada-5-0-vs-monstroid-2/ it’s Avada 5.0 vs. Monstroid 2 they are all good i think. So what can you advise to choose?

I actually used to run this site on Avada! I really liked it, but it was super, super bloated. It offers so many features and customisation options that it slows down your site and makes your pages enormous in size. I’m not sure about the other themes you mentioned as I haven’t used them, and I’m currently offline and using data in Namibia so can’t check them out right now.

thank you Lauren this article has made up my mind to start a blog. I love technology , however I am an older learner :) I will be travelling solo to Italy Paris & Barcelona later in the year. Art is my passion as culture and history is what I love so much. An old friend and I travelled for 4 weeks around Turkey a few years ago although I made a beautiful photography book through Blurb I did not keep a blog and now wish I had. I did keep a journal. However, this time I think a blog will keep my family & friends up to date but importantly I will be able to share my daily adventures and cultivate lasting memories. I will start thinking of a name first..that will take me a while. Thanks again

Hi Heather! Best of luck with coming up with a name and getting started with your blog. I’m so glad I started mine so that now I have such a detailed record of my travels.

This is quite informative. I like it. I have done a lot of content for clients in the Travel niche and find this topic interesting. I, however, wish to start my blog because I equally love traveling and talking about the best travel destinations. Do you think this is the right blog for me to start? All in all, your content is quite useful. At least I have some points to get me started if I settle for this. Very rich content.

I think travel blogging would be perfect for you as you already have experience writing travel-related posts and it obviously hasn’t put you off writing even more :-). That’s a good thing, because a lot of people start travel blogging thinking it’s going to be their path to riches, but find after just a few months that they don’t enjoy it and they’re not making enough money to make it worth it. So having a passion for writing and travel is helpful when it comes to starting :-)

Thank you, for this blog! It’s gonna help me a lot :)

Hi Lauren, I quite enjoyed your website, and have caught myself glued to your past blogs for several weeks now. Being 30 now, I finally caught the travel bug five years ago, and have since been to almost 20 countries, and will be going to Morocco, Spain & South of France (2nd time to France) in May. I’m sorry to hear you did not enjoy Bratislava. My fiance is from Slovakia, and we go to Bratislava yearly. If you ever make it back there again, I highly recommend checking out some wineries located on medieval castle grounds outside of the city. Especially in Spring, it can be simply bliss! Currently living on the West Coast of Canada, getting anywhere (Europe, Asia, Africa) is not only expensive, but the fights are at minimum 9 hours. I do have a full time career, however I am in the early stages of starting my blog, and have years of photos and written material to start with. How do you suggest someone with a full-time career, and say only 3-4 weeks a year to travel, successfully launch their blog? Thanking you in Advance Kyle

Thank you so much for this post. Incredibly informative. Thanks to the post, I was able to setup my blog quite seamlessly and also made a few edits to the original theme (I’m a developer so I found some of the PHP debugging, files stuff fun – so geeky haha!) I’m three posts old right now and have so much motivation to write more posts. I want to go back and share details from previous trips and start a series on specific themes. Too many ideas.

I love the point about letting your personality shine through – that helps me write more naturally and in a conversational tone. I’m no expert but my experience and stories make me who I am. Right now I am focusing on the look/feel/layout and content. I’ve only added a few links to resources using the Amazing Affiliate program (was so easy to setup) but waiting to get more readers to see where it all leads.

Hi Sonya! That’s so wonderful to hear :-) And it’s such a great sign that you’re full of motivation from the very start, as that’s usually when people will realise it’s tougher than they thought and give up. So, yay! Best of luck with your site — I’m heading over there to check it out now :-)

Thank you lauren! I am following your steps and excited to start my travel blog but I am stuck at finding a theme. Are there any elegant themese themes you would choose now? I don’t like the Cherry Truffle one you spoke about in your post.

Definitely Divi theme! It’s super slick and modern.

I’ve spend some time reading different travel blog posts and I’ve found that I have enjoyed yours the best. I like how your off the beaten path and not like the typical travel bloggers. I started to read some of your very first blogs and found them very inspiring, but I also can connect in some ways with how you think. Most days I wake up and ask myself what the heck am I doing with my life because most of the time I feel incomplete. Something is always missing. I’ve always enjoyed traveling and its always something I’ve dreamed of and being 24, almost 25. I’m tired of waiting because honestly I don’t know what I’m waiting for.. So I guess my main question is how did you choose a topic to stick with? I know my interests in animals will always have a pull on me when I travel. There’s so many beautiful creatures out there and I feel like I could take it with me in the future as well. Is that something that could last?

Hey Rebecca! Your comment definite resonates with me. I felt very similar to how you do before I started travelling, and seeing the world has helped me feel more fulfilled and happy in life. I also struggled with feeling as though I was just waiting and waiting when all I wanted to do was leave immediately — I decided to travel after I graduated and man, that was a long five years of studying and attempting to focus on work when all I wanted to do was be somewhere else!

Anyway, it took me a few months to figure out what topic I wanted to focus on. At first, my site was pretty generic and I was trying to write helpful guides and short stories about my experiences. It wasn’t until I’d been travelling for a few months that I started to figure out who I was as a traveller and what my future was likely to hold. That was when I made the decision to brand myself as an unlucky traveller, so it wasn’t something I started out with from day one. I think that having a focus on animals as you travel would be a great niche, though! You could write about animal charities you encounter around the world and how to ethically volunteer with wildlife as you travel. I think it’d work really well and obviously wouldn’t be something you would grow out of either. I like it!

I have read this post and comments. I like that you are so natural and easy to communicate with. I have been travelling for many years now and would like to start a travel blog and hopefully monetise from it.. i dont want it to be too complicating, just fun and easy to start with.

Please assist me

Hi Faiekha! Thanks so much for saying that :-) Starting a travel blog can be tricky and time-consuming when you start out, but it becomes much easier the longer you do it. I recommend starting out by following the steps in this post and then you’ll be in a great position for running a successful travel blog.

I go travelling in a couple of weeks time for a year around Asia and Australia and I have been debating starting a blog for a while – this post has encouraged me to definitely start one, thank you.

One question I do have though, is what device do you use to blog on? I’m not taking a MacBook or laptop and was wondering if it is even possible me to run a successful blog from just an iPhone?

Thanks for your help! Ellie

I travel with a Macbook Pro and do recommend taking a laptop if you’re aiming to blog on the road. I don’t know of any successful blogger who doesn’t use one. Typing out a 2000+ world blog post sounds like it would be an awful and slow experience on an iPhone! Plus there’s stuff like editing photos, fixing site code, email management, etc that would be much trickier to do on a phone. It’s not impossible, but I’d imagine it’d take five times longer to do anything, which would leave you with no time to actually see the places you’re in. When my laptop broke, I attempted to run my site from a tablet and lasted four days before I’d discovered a bunch of tasks I couldn’t complete without one.

I will say, though, that if it’ll be a blog to keep friends and family up to date with what you’re doing, you’d probably be fine with a phone, as you wouldn’t need to worry too much about editing, post formatting, marketing, etc. If you’re hoping to one day make money from your site, you have to treat it like a business and that means using a laptop.

This is simply my treasure!! It’s been like a month that I’m reading this wonderful article and following it step by step, word by word. The result is the birth of my first travel blog. I’m sure many people would be inspired as I was to do great job! Thank you so much

I’m so happy to hear that, Marc! Next up, I’d recommend creating an awesome About page so your readers can learn more about you and your travels :-)

Hey thank you this really helped me towards starting my own blog! I appreciate your advice!

HI Lauren !. i really want to do this travel and blogging things, but i do not own a camera yet im still a student and budget limited person. I just want to make my own Money first without using my parents. Do you have any ideas how to earn Money first? im starting my first ever blog soon. So do you mind lending you genius way of thinkings ? please !

Do you have a phone with a camera? If not, you can take photos from Flickr’s creative commons section — as long as you attribute the photographer, you can use them on your blog for free. It might be worth looking into freelance writing at http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com while you wait for your blog to become profitable.

Thank you Lauren.Great tips and inspiring!

Glad you found it useful, Steve!

You’re my travel blogging hero! I love that you’ve managed to do all of this WITHOUT selling out like other travel bloggers. You’re an inspiration Lauren and I hope you don’t ever give up or stop blogging. You do more than you realise.

Awww, thank you so much! That means a lot and I so appreciate that comment, Patrick! Sometimes it feels as though I’m cutting off my nose to spite my face when I take a stand against all of the sponsored stuff, but hearing from readers like you make me feel as though it’s all worthwhile.

Lauren! Thank you for this helpful guide. I’ve been going back and forth about starting a travel blog for my upcoming trip for months now but your post is what’s convinced me to take the plunge. I’ve thought of a name, signed up for WordPress and Bluehost and now I have to start looking for a theme. With any luck I should be up and running by the end of the next week! Do you mind if I send you an email at that point to gain your feedback on how I’m doing so far?

Of course! Just drop me a message through my contact form and I’d be happy to help :-)

Hi Lauren, Your blogs and especially this post are tremendously inspiring. I have been meaning to start my own blog for such a long time. I even started 2 anonymous blogs, but could never gather courage to continue them. Now that I am highly motivated, I finally want to start blogging from scratch with my name (finally) but not limiting it to just travel at the moment. I would love to publish some of my poetry and short stories too. Still innumerable apprehensions and inhibitions are not leaving me alone. I am more concerned about if I am making any sense for the readers, if they would like me, what if I become a butt of jokes, etc. Since I am relating more to your blog posts after going through many, I would be grateful if you could shed some light on me for fighting all unnecessary doubts and worries

Love, A Young Aspiring Blogger

Hey Devika!

I share your fears, and actually I still experience them now from time to time.

I just keep in mind that you can’t please everyone and not everyone is going to love what you put out into the world. But that’s okay, because you don’t know who they are and their opinion of you doesn’t matter. And a bonus: if you do receive hurtful comments, it gives you a thicker skin and helps you deal with it better, which is always good :-).

For the most part, though, there aren’t many travel bloggers that receive a lot of hate, and those that do, get it for a reason — they’re racist or offensive or rude, etc — so it’s really not something you need to worry about. For example, fter doing this for six years and building up a reasonable sized audience, I still only receive a negative comment maybe once every three months, if that. And I can be pretty polarising, as I focus on a lot of negatives when I travel, which can sometimes rub people up the wrong way!

Hope that helps ease your fears. I promise that the longer you do it, the easier it gets, and you’ll see that nobody is laughing at you and your readers love and appreciate you :-)

Just to say thanks for the tips. I’ve been travelling for 3 years now but I’ve only just realised the potential of blog writing. I’ve got a lot to catch up on. Thanks for the tips. Good luck in the future travels

There’s so much potential! Best of luck with everything and let me know if I can help out with anything at all! :-)

I just started my own blog on Squarespace and found it frustrating to use compared to my past WordPress. Do you know anyone that uses Squarespace or does everyone use wordpress?

Thank you, Jess

Hi Jessica! I don’t know of anyone who uses Squarespace — everyone I know uses WordPress.

Thank you for this Lauren! I have a question for you if it’s not too personal. How much time would you estimate you need to spend per week to build a successful travel blog? How many hours did you spend when you first started and how much do you work on your blog now?

That’s a good question! I’ll answer the easy part first: right now, I spend about 20 hours a week total working, whether that’s on my site or freelancing or whatever.

When I first started out, I probably worked around 20 hours a week, then when I decided to turn my travel blog into a business, I slowed down my movement and worked harder. For example: four months into my travels, I decided to go to Chiang Mai and spent six months living there and working on my site. There, I probably spent around 40-60 hours a week on my site. Then once I started travelling faster it was more like 10-20 hours a week. It really did depend on what I had going on in my life at that time.

So as for how many hours I think you need to put in at the start, the simple answer is as many as possible. I think it depends on your situation, though. If you have a full-time job, or you’re currently travelling quickly, you’re not going to be able to put 40 hours a week into your site. And that’s okay. Just try to hit a minimum of 20 hours and you should be good.

Do you sell text links as advertising on your site? What are your thoughts on it? How much should you charge per link?

Ah, that’s a controversial topic! For anyone else who is reading: selling text links is a way to make money with a travel blog, but is very risky to do so. Basically a company pays you to place a link to their site in one of your posts. That link helps them to rank higher in Google, but it’s also against Google’s terms of service, which means that if they catch you, they’ll penalise your site and you could lose all of your search traffic overnight.

I sold text links on my site for several years, and it was an easy way to make money, but I don’t recommend doing it. I feel that the risks are too great with something like this, and it’s much better to focus on building a business instead. Work on creating the best resource on the internet for a particular subject, have Google send you a ton of traffic, and place affiliate links for companies you use and love in your post to make money from that traffic. It’s a much more legitimate way to make money and there isn’t that risk that your business will be destroyed overnight without warning.

But having said that, obviously I can’t judge anyone who decides to sell links after I did it for several years, so if you want to go ahead with it, a typical price is around $200 per link.

There are a whole bunch of “how to start a travel blog” entries out there, but this was one of the more comprehensive and clear examples, so it was the one I used to set up my new blog. Thanks for writing it.

Ah, thanks so much, Andrew! That means a lot :-)

I’ve spent all weekend searching for tips on starting a blog (food not travel though) and I just wanted to let you know that yours was most helpful. I followed your guide step by step and it was so much easier than I expected it to be. Now I feel ready to start writing my first blog posts and hopefully to build a successful brand. Thank you for all you do, Lauren!

Thank you for commenting, Chaaru! I’m so happy to hear you found my guide to be helpful :-)

This is definitely a must read post for someone starting up their own blog. Thanks for sharing the plugins info, very useful to me considering there are tons of plugins out there.

I have a question on Fiverr and 99designs. 99designs’ pricing looks pretty steep to me so I’m more keen to try Fiverr. But it would be great to know which one would you recommend in terms of quality of work and results?

It really does depend on what type of look you’re going for with your site — some of the artists offer watercolour styles, and some are more modern… and having not used Fiverr myself, I don’t have any personal recommendations based on experience. I wouldn’t want to recommend something I haven’t personally used. But play around with the site, check out the design examples and reviews of anyone you’re considering, and if you find something similar to what you’re looking for, it should turn out well :-)

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve set my blog up using your advice and I found it very easy to follow. All I need to do know is find a theme and then I’ll be ready to start writing!

Wow, thanks so much, Malik! Best of luck in finding the perfect theme :-)

I’ve been considering starting a travel blog for a while now. I currently work full time in Texas and have been saving up some money to travel full time (for at least a year, hopefully more) . I estimate that within the next 1-2 years, I’ll be able to take a hiatus from my work and start my “gap year” of sorts.

I have traveled to Central America several times, Asia once, and typically take at least 2 trips out of the country per year. I do take alot of weekend trips around the state and nearby states.

My question is, would it be reasonable to start a blog now? I would write about my past experiences traveling (not sure if this is a good strategy, or if it’s better to blog while actually there). I would also write about travels within the US and my international trips (about twice a year). Would it be worth using these past experiences and occasional trips?

Yep, definitely start your blog now. Writing about your past experiences is a great way to get the hang of blogging, and figuring out how WordPress works, etc. When I first started my site, I only wrote about past travels, and it worked well for me!

This article helped me a lot! Thank you for being so honest and open about your success. Have a lovely day,

Great read. Very helpful for the beginner like myself that’s interested in starting a blog. Love the insight on how much it costs. Thank you

No problem! Glad you found it helpful :-)

Yo Lauren! I have maybe an interesting question for you. What are five things that you feel you did wrong when starting out with travel blogging? What mistakes have you made and what regrets do you have?

I love this question, Aman! In fact, I loved it so much that I wrote an entire blog post about it: https://www.neverendingfootsteps.com/travel-blogging-mistakes hope you enjoy the read!

Hi Lauren. I’ve been using your guide to set up my site and so far its going really well, thank you so much for all of the detail you’ve put into this. My question for you is what should I look to include in my blog’s sidebar?

Take a look at mine for what I recommend. I always think you should have a short about section at the very top, along with a photo of yourself. As for everything else, it’s not as important. I’ve gone for some social media links, a sign-up form, and a list of my currently trending posts for any new readers.

Great Work! I glad to thank you for guiding me, actually I’ll be staring my travel blog and your article is very helpful for me.

Happy to hear it, Ana! Let me know if I can help with anything as you get your blog set up :-)

Hey Lauren. I’ve been working on my own travel blog for a year now and I wanted to ask how long it took for you to see this success. At the moment I receive only 1000 visitors a month and I’m feeling demotivated. I’ve done everything you list in this post but I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. Any tips? (I’m too shy to share the link to my blog!)

I was receiving 1,000 visitors a month just under six months after staring my blog. How long have you been running yours for? And honestly, your reluctance is probably holding you back. If you’re too shy to share the link to your site, how are you attempting to build traffic to it?

thank you for this helpful guide… the best one i have found on starting a travel blog… now to sign up for bluehost. My husband and i are going to travel in our retirement and want to write about how to save money while doing it… best wishes.

Best of luck, Joan! :-)

Fantastic post, Lauren! You covered everything I needed to know and I’m convinced to try my hand at this travel blogging thing! Wish me luck!

Good luck! Let me know if I can help out with anything at all! :-)

This is hands down the best guide I’ve seen for starting a travel blog on the internet. I can’t imagine how long it took to put all of this together, so thank you, thank you for doing so!

Wow! Thank you so much for that enormous compliment! :-)

Hey Lauren. What do you suggest doing if you can’t afford to pay for a premium theme? Are there any free themes out there that you would recommend? Thanx

Yeah, I would recommend looking through the themes that WordPress offers (click on appearance/themes/add new/popular) and see if any of those work for you. I recommend not just googling “wordpress free themes” as these are often full of dodgy links and are rarely updated, leading to google penalties and an increased chance of being hacked.

So Bluehost has terrible reviews. Why do you still continue to recommend them?

Eh, search for any hosting company’s reviews and you’ll find terrible ones all over the internet. It’s not a Bluehost thing — check out HostGator reviews or GoDaddy reviews. It’s similar to how if you search for travel insurance companies you’re pretty likely to find nothing but awful reviews, but that doesn’t mean all travel insurance companies are evil. I recommend Bluehost based on my own experiences, and as I mentioned in the post, after trialing four companies, Bluehost gave me the best service. If you want to pay as little as possible for your hosting, I believe Bluehost is the best option out there.

Just a quick question from me, Lauren. What laptop do you use for running your blog, and is there any that you would recommend for travel? I’m about to start my big RTW trip in a couple of months and want something small, lightweight, and hopefully cheap. I have a Macbook Pro at the moment — would that be too heavy for this trip? Thank you!

I use a Macbook Pro, too, and have been happy with it. I thought about getting something smaller for travel, but I didn’t want the annoyance of having to type on a smaller keyboard, and none of the really small laptops receive amazing reviews. I’d recommend just sticking with what you have. If you find it’s really impossible to travel with, you can ship it home or sell it, and pick up another one wherever you are in the world. I bought my laptop in Mexico and my boyfriend bought his in Taiwan, so it’s easy to do while you’re overseas.

Wow! Very elaborately you have explained with apt names (of plugins or affiliates, etc) and your choices. As an absolute new comer in this field, I read few other “how to” sites. And finally I decided to stick to yours and have blindly followed your picks. Hope this will help me building a travel blogger of me :)

Thanks so much, Gargi! If you run into any roadblocks, feel free to drop me an email and I’ll do my best to help you out. I know how intimidating these early stages of building a travel blog can be :-)

I’ve been comparing your post with several others from travel bloggers, and many of the other posts suggest building an email list is something you should prioritise. Do you agree or disagree? I notice you didn’t mention it in this guide and was wondering why.

Yeah, I don’t think it’s much of a priority in the early stages of running a site. There are more important things to focus on, like generating traffic, before you worry about sending out newsletters to an audience you don’t yet have.

This is great guide to starting a travel blog I just search for that how to start a blog and found your post. Its good to have travel blog. Thanks for sharing these step by step guide. Regards Abid Masih

Hi Lauren, Just wanted to say that this is the clearest and most helpful ‘travel blog beginner’ post I’ve read so far! Really useful and love that you are honest about how much everything costs and what beginners should bother splurging on! I’m going to check out your book as well, my sister has struggled with anxiety and think it might be inspiring!

Thank you so much, Steffi!

Hi Lauren, I am just starting to build my blog and reading your article was really helpful. I am in a dilemma whether to use WIX or WordPress. I am inclined to using WIX as it make it so easy to customize the look of the blog as compared to WordPress. But i am concerned if the growth potential in terms of monetization and plugins would be limited if i were to use WIX as compared to WordPress. Appreciate your advice.

Wix will limit the amount of customisation you can do with your site, as there aren’t many themes or plugins available in comparison to WordPress, so you might struggle to get your site looking how you like. Wix is also more expensive than WordPress and the sites don’t perform as well in Google. There’s a reason why almost every top website in the world is on WordPress.

Wix is much easier to learn and use, but that’s about its only advantage. I think you’d eventually grow out of it and switch to WordPress in the end.

Looking to start a blog, I am in no position to travel at the present moment (young twins), but thought perhaps for content sake I could use my local environment, this wont simply be just photos and un-planned material.

Is this a possibility before we can actually travel?

The goal here is to eventually retire myself from my day job, which I’m sure we all want to achieve.

I have a premium theme and a web designer/word press guru for a wife so that side is no issue.

Yes! That’s definitely possible. Some of the most lucrative travel blogs are actually resource sites for a city the person lives in, rather than the nomadic, long-term travel blogs.

Dear Lauren, After reading this post several months ago, at the beginning of my trip, the thought of starting a blog has been floating about in my head. Yesterday I launched my site =) Thank you for the guide.

I may be mistaken, but I’m sure I read something about Stumble Upon on your site and how to drive traffic? Perhaps it was in a different post? Could you direct me there please?

Many thanks, Donné

Ah, that wasn’t me. StumbleUpon used to be a great traffic driver back in 2011 or so, but is pretty much dead these days. Pinterest is where it’s at now!

Thank you for sharing, the article is very detailed

No problem :-)

Hi Lauren – I absolutely love your article. I find it a refreshing approach to blogging. I have been tossing around the idea of starting a blog myself for over a year. I have finally thought of a name that I really like and it looks that no one is using it BUT a website called “uniregistry” owns it when I try to register with Bluehost. Do you know anything about buying a domain name that isn’t actually being used? I’m wondering if I can buy this at a reasonable price (which I don’t even know what a reasonable price is) and then transfer the domain over to Bluehost? I’d really appreciate any insight you may have! Thanks!

Have you looked on Uniregistry to see how much they’re charging for it? It looks like you can just type in the domain name on Uniregistry and buy it through there. So I’d take a look at that first to see what it’s for sale at. If it was me, I wouldn’t spend more than $50 at the absolute most for a domain name, and even then, it’s quite a lot when maybe a similar name would be available for free through Bluehost.

Ah, okay. Fingers crossed it works out! :-)

So I’ve come across this blog after reading tonnes (literally tonnes) of other posts on how to start a travel blog and this is by far the best one I’ve seen. Step by step with everything you need to know in one place – both the good and the bad! Excellent post! Really helpful for a beginner like myself :)

That means the world to me, Aaron! Yay! :-)

I’m glad I found this during the set up process. I’d like to get to a point where my travels are paid for! haha- probably unrealistic for a loooong while.

Don’t be so pessimistic! If you work hard and focus on building an engaged audience, you could be getting comps in under a year.

This page is awesome and really helpful. Thank you for the inspiration! I’ve started my first travel blog for my friend who is unable to make a trip we planned years ago. I was wondering if you could shed some insight on how to link interactive world maps to blog posts for each respective country. I can’t figure it out and I’d love to get it working! Did you write your own code or did you just use the interface provided. Thanks so much and happy travels.

Yep, it’s super easy. Just paste the url in the action value column.

Super detailed! I’m happy to see I have done much of what you recommend! I can’t believe you earn $6,000 a month. I’d love a post that details how your revenue has increased year over year since you started, particularity the earlier stages, and how your revenue has diversified over the years too. Great post!

I’m currently working on a post about that as we speak! :-)

Hey Lauren, I loved your blog and found out that you haven’t been to India yet. I hope you are planning to visit This Beautiful country soon and I will get the opportunity to meet you. Thanks Touseef ahmed

I’m heading there in a few months!

Hi Lauren! I aspire to travel like you! I love this post, it perfectly outlines creating a successful blog and that is my goal. I started a free WordPress blog several months ago to keep family and friends up to date on my travels, but I’ve really enjoyed it and want to pursue it on a more professional level. Is there a way to upgrade to Bluehost without losing all of the content I have already published? Do I need to just start from scratch? What would you recommend I do?

You don’t need to start from scratch! Just sign up for Bluehost, install WordPress, and then you’ll be able to click export on your WordPress.com site’s dashboard and import it on your WordPress.org site’s dashboard.

Many thanks for the great insight. As an over 50 couple who travel the world two or three times a year I am sick of wasting the knowledge and experience we have picked up along the way. So your blog and tips are now our inspiration to start and over 50s travel blog.( As so as we return from Borneo)

Many thanks again Best wishes Paul and Lorrainne

Ah, i’m so happy to hear that! And it sounds like you have lots of useful information to share. Best of luck with it! :-)

Lauren! If you will visit India, Is it possible to hangout with you?

Unfortunately not. After a few bad experiences, I no longer meet up with blog readers unless I know them well or have mutual friends.

Lauren – just reporting back. The owner of the registered domain wanted a *cough cough* cool $14000 for it!!! Needless to say…it’s not mine and nor will it be. I figured out a twist in the name and am happy with it. Now I simply need to start writing content. I have travel content over the past five years that I could cover; would you think I’d be better off starting with the first trip or the my most current trip? Thanks again for all the help – I really love this post and think it’s the best one I’ve seen.

Hi Julie, i am having the same dilemma whether to cover my travels over the past four years or to start with the latest trip. Lets connect to bounce back some ideas,

Hi Lauren, Your post is just amazingly well detailed, whenever i had any doubts i used to refer it to sail through with the doubts. Thanks for such an amazing post.

Thanks so much, Asmaan! I would recommend doing a mix of both in the beginning. Write about the most exciting trips you’ve done in the part and mix it up with some of your most recent travels.

Hi Lauren, this post has been amazing as I’m beginning stages of developing my own travel blog. I was wondering how you navigate citations for facts in a blog. Say you were talking about the history of a city, would you need to cite that in your blog or does that count as common knowledge? Any insight would be great! Thanks!

I only cite an article if I’m quoting directly from somewhere that has information you can’t find anywhere else. I’ll normally be like “Here’s a couple of paragraphs I copied and pasted from Wikipedia[link]” or something like that — it doesn’t need to be super formal with a blog.

Fantastic article, incredibly informative and sure to be very helpful to many people who read it and are wondering where to start like myself. One question I do have though, when you were first starting out, how often did you need to post and therefore travel in order to build an audience and did you need to have a fair amount of money saved up before starting the blog in order to do this?

Hey Alex! I would say at least two posts a week is a good amount. For the first six months of my blog’s life, though, I was publishing about once a week, and because I was studying, I wasn’t travelling at all. I just wrote about past trips I had taken and my upcoming travel plans. These days, I try to average two posts a week and travel for four-ish months of the year. The great thing about travel blogging is that it doesn’t require you to travel full-time in order to be successful — some of the most lucrative travel blogs are resources about the city the author lives in, for example, so they barely travel at all!

Great Post!. I was about to buy a book about this subject before i read this post. Now i feel like writing a book about this subject lol. TBH your blog is like a blogging bible to the newbie bloggers like me. I will always come back for more info. Thanks very much for sharing.

Sweet, thanks so much, Elizabeth! :-)

Just wanted to say that I love that you pay for all of your travels yourself and don’t take press trips! I have to say I was drawn into the idea of travel blogging by the thought of traveling for free but knowing there’s another way definately has me thinking. Maybe it would be even better if I paid for my own travels to go wherever I wanted rather than taking the free trips. Just gotta start making money first I guess!

Hi, thanks for the tips, but I think you should develop the monetisation part.

By the way there’s a small mistake, you wrote ‘adesense’ instead of ‘adsense’.

Thanks for the correction! To be honest, I really don’t think that there’s much more you should focus on when it comes to monetisation as a new blogger. In fact, advertising and affiliate sales are the only ways I monetise my blog right now.

What a great post! I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a travel blog, and this post broke it down so nicely into steps that I am now convinced to bite the bullet and go for it!

I studied in Europe a year and a half ago, and traveled quite a bit – I kept a blog while there, but it was mostly just to keep my friends and family back home updated on my travels. I enjoyed it so much that I want to start a more professional blog, but what do you recommend about the content – should I start when I go on my next trip in a few months, or start by writing about all the places I’ve been in the past?

Thanks so much!!

Hey Cristina! I’m so happy to hear this post could inspire you to try your hand at travel blogging :-)

As for content, I’d recommend starting as soon as you can, and writing about your previous trips. That way, you’ll have got the hang of WordPress and how publishing blog posts, etc work by the time you take your next trip. I started out by writing about previous trips I’d taken, then once I started travelling six months later, I didn’t have to worry about figuring out how blogging worked when all I wanted to do was write about how amazing everywhere had been.

I have came across many article on how to start a travel blog. But I have to admit that you have mentioned the entire process step by step but with necessary details. Your article is informative as well as inspirational.

Thank you so much :-)

That was a lot to digest, yet also great information. I have thought about starting a traveling blog, but my grammar pretty much sucks. Recommend I take classes to deal with that?

Well, your grammar wasn’t terrible in your comment :-) If you think it really needs some work, you could take some classes, but I’ve found simply writing frequently on my site has hugely improved the quality of my writing.

I have a dumb question — how do I get a photo of my face appearing when I leave a comment? Do I need to upload my photo anywhere on this page to get it to show?

That’s a Gravatar! Upload a photo here: http://gravatar.com/ and whenever you enter in your email address in a comment field of a blog, your photo will show!

I haven’t seen many questions about SEO on here, so I have some I wanted to ask you. Especially as your post about starting a travel blog ranks first in Google! You must know what you’re doing :-)

-How can you get started with SEO? -What tactics work in 2017? -Can a new travel blog rank for anything really in Google? -Guest posting a good option?

Interesting read. I actually started travel blogging in 2011, made a fair bit of money from selling text links, and was penalized by Google and lost everything overnight. I went home a few months later when I ran out of money.

Fast forward five years and I’m ready to give it another shot! How have things changed since 2011? I assume text links are a no-no? Are there any ways to start making money as soon as you start your travel blog? What the hell is a Pinterest? Haha. I can’t believe you’re still going! I remember following you from the Chinese tea scam days!

Very helpful guide thank you! Do you make much money from freelance writing or do you recommend not pursuing that path as a travel blogger?

Hmmm. I think it’s a good way to fund your travels while you’re building up traffic on your travel blog, but I think as soon as you start making money from your site, you’ll quickly move away from freelance writing. Having to constantly pitch pieces gets old quickly, and forever chasing up payments is even worse. Plus, the money is usually kind of terrible. So, yeah. Go for it in the early days, but expect that once you start making decent money from your site, you’ll likely start working on that full-time.

I’ve read through every single guide on the first page of Google and yours was easily the best Lauren! I love how much personality your writing has and unlike everyone else, I didn’t feel like you were desperately trying to sell me things.

Ah, thank you so much, Gemma! :-)

I don’t think I’ve ever sat and read an article this long from start to finish before. Great read. My question for you is: do you have any tips for building an audience over the first three months of a site’s lifetime? How do you get people to discover your travel blog when it doesn’t have an audience or much of a standing in Google yet?

Pinterest, definitely. Write posts that do well on Pinterest and teach yourself how to create beautiful pins. Join Pinterest groups and Tailwind tribes. Pinterest is one of the easiest ways to start building traffic when you don’t have an audience yet.

This was honestly the most helpful post I’ve found on how to start a travel blog. Thank you so much for sharing! Now it’s time to start working on mine.

Best of luck, Ivan! And thank you so much for the huge compliment :-)

Hello, I have started blogging myself. I am trying to find out the basic problems that my blog is having and looking for solutions. Also, I’m searching for some basic things like themes and other stuff. I have read your whole article, I am looking forward to getting a positive result after performing this myself. Can you suggest me any basic idea that I might need in the future as a new blogger? Thank you

Oh, you asked me the same question later on, so I’m already answered it below. If you have a more detailed question, I’d be happy to help out, but a request for basic ideas could mean anything!

Cheers for this. What’s your take on Travel Blog Success? I see most travel bloggers recommending that and wondered why you don’t?

I just think Superstar Blogging offers so much more value — you learn from experts in their field rather than top travel bloggers, and it focuses more on building a business than taking freebies and press trips, etc.

Plus, every single travel blogger promotes the crap out of Travel Blog Success and it annoys the hell out of me, so I don’t want to be one of them :-)

Thank you so much for your post, it is so helpful and full of useful content. We have started a blog and your tips and advice has really helped us. Thank you so much!

That’s a good idea! As I’ve said a few times in these comments, some of the most successful travel blogs are those that are about one specific location rather than dozens of countries around the world. Blogging about your local environment would be a smart thing to do :-)

Hey Lauren! Cool name ;)

You said in your post that you’re now making $7000 a month from your travel blog. If it’s not too nosey, can I ask how long it took for you to reach this ammount? I know that it didn’t take long for you to start making money, and then to make enough to live in Southeast Asia, but what about this high level of income? How long does it take for most travel bloggers to reach these levels and do you think it’s possible for anyone to get there?

Hey! I started making that much around four years after starting this site. I’d say you could reach these levels in two or three years if you focused on driving traffic through writing incredibly detailed guides to rank in Google, and pretty pins to bring traffic from Pinterest. Then kept your sole monetisation strategy to be affiliate income.

Just wanted to say thank youfor this, Lauren! I’ve been searching for months about how to build a travel blog and actually turn it into a business and your guide is the first I’ve found that actually covers this. No questions, just wanted to tall you that I really appreciate the effort you must have put into this guide.

Oh, thank you so much, Lance! Best of luck with your blog! :-)

I’ve been wanting to start a travel blog for so long. I think fear of the unknown held me back. Ok thats a lie. I know fear of failure held me back. Luckily, I am putting the pieces together slowly. In so doing i’ve been reading so many travel blog tips for beginners to saturation point. Yesterday I came across your post. I’ve never been so glad to find something that makes so much sense – and all in one place. So much useful information. I know its a long one but I’ve read it a couple of times so far lol – noting down and some! So, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to share this info and honestly so. And thank you for giving me that extra push I really needed!

PS: Im from Kenya, noticed on your interactive map you haven’t been yet, or maybe you did before blogging. In any case, Karibu sana (most welcome)!

Hello, I have researched about choosing a specific web host. I ended up having many options. Can you tell me if Bluehost is the ideal one to host my website on?

Yep, when you’re just starting out, Bluehost is the best inexpensive host.

Hello, I have started blogging myself. I am trying to find out the basic problems that my blog is having and looking for solutions. Also, I’m searching for some basic things like themes and other stuffs. I have read your whole article, I am looking forward to get a positive result after performing this myself. Can you suggest me any basic idea that I might need in the future as a new blogger? Thank you

I’d say that most of the basics are already included in the article!

Hi Lauren I tried to start my own blog on wordpress just for my Peru Trip and found even that “easy to use interface” very finicky. My photos and text didnt line up at all how I wanted them to. Secondly I did buy up a domain name and hosting through GoDaddy a few years ago and again used a free design template but again despite the ease of use found it too hard to use. I don`t have an idea in my head of how the website should look or be designed. What made me comment on your page is that you gave a lot of good start up advice but also that you mentioned you have anxiety. Other than chronicling my world travels with photos and video and having a poetry section, I was thinking of also having a section on my mental illness and links to helpful resources. I am worried bc my illness is the most stigmatizing of all of them, about using my real name and having my photos of my travels associated with my mental illness blog or section. Should I have a different blog or website for that and use a pseudonym? I currently work for the school board so that health information is a touchy subject I dont want prospective/current employers ect to know about it. I know I just read your article but I still feel lost on where to start…I write about travel, spiritual growth, mental illness, healing mental illness via shamanism and psychedelics (controversial) I write poems. How do I pick something so someone will remember me like you mentioned, oh melody…she writes about…..

Sounds like a good plan to me!

Thanks, Krishna!

Hi Lauren – the first time that I’ve been on your blog is through a Google search of how to start my own travel blog. I’m in a bit of a rut right now, with my quarter life crisis, and I want to say that traveling has been one of the most consistent and loved things that I have in my life. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, as I hope to share with my friends/family/others in the near future. This was super helpful! :-)

I’m so glad to hear that, Vickie! Best of luck as you get your own travel blog up and running :-)

Hello Dear Mam, this blog post is very useful information for the new bloggers, your blog post went to get a lot of new education after I read it, Please continue to post such an informative blog. Therefore, people like us will be motivated in real life. I’m new in this area and I’m building my website, I’m working hard on this Your blogs are very useful here and especially to this blog, which provide this point information, I have received lots of help to read this blog post, please continue to share this kind of information. Thank you.

Good luck, Nazrul!

Hi Lauran, very informative and useful post – thank you. A couple of questions: 1. How do you even go about uploading photos in to your blog posts i.e. working out what size they should be, inserting them etc? 2. How did you break through in to freelance writing? I’d say I definitely have advanced writing skills – I write at length every day in my job, I’ve got a personal blog and I write creative prose and poetry in my spare time, but I have no idea how to sell my skills online or even where to start. Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks, Hayley

I edit my photos in Photoshop and save them at 1500 px in width, then upload them to my site (just click upload on the new post screen), and resize them to 750 px in width (which is the width of the text area in my theme). I save them at double the width to start with to ensure the photos look pretty on retina screens (which have double the pixels). Always make your photos as wide as your theme will allow them, as the bigger the photos, the better your site looks.

I’m not the best person to ask about freelance writing, as it kind of just fell into my lap! I started writing here, and then once I’d built up a reasonable audience (10,000 visitors a month or so), companies began contacting me to ask if they could pay me to write for them. I’d recommend building up a portfolio on your site, then heading to https://problogger.com/jobs/ to apply for writing gigs.

I really enjoyed your blog post! It’s the third I’ve read, but I really like yours because you gave more information about advertising and plugins. I also really admire how you travel on your own salary! I do that as well, and though it’s hard, I want to keep it that way because I feel it’s more fun and freeing, and isn’t the “freeing” feeling what makes traveling so amazing?

I just purchased my domain through BlueHost and am currently working on it before launching. I’ve run into some problems with my business plan, though, because I currently became unemployed and don’t know how I can now afford to travel while I look for a new job.

What is your recommendation for content when you’ve had to put travel on pause? Has this ever happened to you?

I appreciate the help, and I definitely will begin to follow your blog!

Best Regards

Thanks so much, Karina! I definitely agree that not taking press trips makes travel feel more freeing — I can do and write about whatever I want without having to worry about pleasing a random tourism board!

As for what to write about, focus on previous trips or post travel guides for wherever you’re currently living. If you can build your site up to be an amazing resource for where you’re living, you’ll do really well in Google/find it easier to make money than trying to write about everywhere in the world. During the first six months or so of my site, I had never travelled before, so was focusing on writing about London, my upcoming trip plans, and previous trips I’d taken.

Bloody brilliant post on how to write a successful travel blog! Thank you so much Lauren! I’ve only recently heard of WordPress (very old fashioned)and affiliate marketing, AdSense, plugins and Tumblrs are all unknown territory to me… One question though, what is self hosting???!! Thanks in advance, Karen :-)

Ah, so self-hosting is basically paying for the server (computer space) that your website lives on, rather than using the free option a company like WordPress offers.

The advantage to going self-hosted (wordpress.org) rather than using wordpress.com or blogspot.com is that your site will typically be faster, you have access to support if anything goes wrong with your site, and you’re paying for the flexibility and freedom to do whatever you want with it. Blogspot/Wordpress.com, etc restrict you in terms of what themes you can use, what plugins you can install, how you can make money from your site, etc, so you’re really limited.

Wow, thank you Lauren. This really is a minefield!! I just set up a free WordPress.com site last month to write some travel blogs, and thought that was it! Do I have to set up hosting myself though if I want to add plug-ins etc? and Do I really need a ‘theme’? How do you go about adding advertising links and getting commission? Sorry for all the questions.. it’s mind boggling to me! I’ve only recently left working with domestic and sexual abuse survivors (prior to that working with offenders) and started working from home, so this is a huge learning curve for me! I learnt to type on the old fashioned typewriters years ago, so I feel like an old dinosaur! Thanks anyway, much appreciated, Karen

Hey Lauren. I’ve just recently moved to India to work as a teacher and wanted to set up a personal blog for some time. I’m so pleased I stumbled upon your blog post because it’s helped enormously! I’m really enjoying documenting my adventures and sharing it with friends and family. I’m not too bothered about boosting my popularity at this stage, but I look forward to learning more about the blogging world! Thanks again! Emily

Best of luck, Emily! :-)

Hi Lauren, I am going through this post for the 3rd time and it still amazes me about all the details. You really filled all the gaps. I have been thinking about starting my own travel blog for about 4 months, but I don’t get the courage to do so. I have only been on a single international trip. I work in a 9-6 job. So I don’t even have much of a data dos share. I am also scared about funding my site because I am new to this blog world. Can you guide me? Thanks in advance. Keep rocking.

Thank you! Honestly, you just have to take the plunge and do it. If you’d started four months ago when you first decided to do it, you would have likely started making money from your site by now! Write about the place you currently live in if you can’t travel, and make yourself known as a resource for that specific place.

I started my blog in May of this year thanks to this post! THANK YOU so much for the inspiration and also the detailed steps on actually getting started. Just made my first big affiliate sale and I am so excited!

Yay!! I’m so happy to hear that, Katie! :-)

Hi there – nice write up! I’ve set up personal websites before (for bands and music), but only recently want d to do a travel blog. I’ve experience with WordPress but one of the issues I’ve found was that while going this route means you have control over your site, you don’t always have the right suppprt if the themes and plug ins go haywire. Ive had some of my site break without being able to fix it.

So I moved over to Squarespace. 24/7 support. They work great for my music sites. But they have limited templates and themes for travel themed blogs.

Any experience or feedback on WordPress vs Squarespace?

I haven’t used Squarespace before, so I can’t comment on the differences and pros/cons, so if Squarespace works for you, stick with it. If it doesn’t, I recommend WordPress because it’s so powerful and you can do pretty much anything you need to with it. But you’re right in that the downside is not always having the best support — it’s not something that’s ever affected me, as the support for my theme/plugins has always been kickass, but it could mean you’d need to hire a tech person if your site breaks at some point. If that happens, you can usually hire someone on Fiverr for not too much money to get things working again.

Love you blog, Lauren. Any tips on authenticity as a blogger? You’re one of the few I follow who do it right and I’m eager to follow in your footsteps.

Thank you so much, Vivien! Honestly, just be yourself. Write your blog posts as though you’re telling a story to your best friend or writing in your diary, don’t filter to the point where your personality disappears, and embrace any of your quirks. Write your blog posts as you speak aloud and then edit them afterwards, and that’ll help you personality to shine through.

Amazing, amazing post! I can’t believe how much information you share. I have a question for you. How do you possible decide on the best theme for a travel blog?! There are so many incredible ones out there that I’m having problems just choosing one.

Thanks for sharing.Keep going! Its nice and informative blog.I am new to this and don’t know where to start but your post helped me giving an idea.

Best of luck, Sravani! :-)

Very nice article, can you also please share the marketing methods that you use for this blog.

Good question! Most of my success has actually come quite organically to me. Social media is a big one for me — Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest have worked best — and guest posting on other sites. I should do more of the latter, actually, as that’s a great way to build your audience. But um, honestly that’s about it!

Hi Lauren! I am about to start my travel blog and I must say that your post by far is the best! I read a lot on how to start a blog but never found anything as detailed and simple as yours. You just make it look very easy. I have taken all your tips into account and hopefully will be up and running my own blog in just few weeks! Fingers crossed :) Thank you for making me believe that it is doable! :)

Ah, that’s so lovely, Arina! Let me know if I can help with anything as you get set up :-)

Thanks for this article – it had a few things in there that would never have occurred to me otherwise.

I’ve been running my blog for over 3 years about living and travelling on a boat but had never considered Yoast/WPTouch – WPTouch especially is really great.

So glad it helped you out, Matt! :-)

Hei YO! Thanks for the tips. I willing to start my own blog. I think after doing a lot of trips I want to be helpful to other people. Thanks to you now I have a clue.

On this stage, I’m trying to understand wordpress.org a little bit more. How does the advertising work with WordPress? Do they plug in their own google adds? Or what are the important points that we can hold the control of our own sites?

You have complete control of your site, and advertising is separate from WordPress. With Google ads, you’ll sign up for them and be given a code to copy and paste onto your site wherever you want the ad to show up.

You’ve done so well at carving a niche for yourself… what do you think is a good travel blogging niche that has yet to be overdone? I want to stand out from the crowd but it feels like there’s no way to do so anymore.

Oooh, good question! I think, though, that the best thing to do would be to travel and write and then wait to see what consistencies emerge from your blog posts. If you’re creating a niche just because it’s not overdone, it’s more likely you won’t feel passionate about your site and then stand less chance of finding success. I think that travel blogs focusing on a specific city or region do exceptionally well, and I also think that sustainable travel is going to be huge in the coming months and years.

hi Lauren. When do you think is the idea time to start a travel blog? I’m going to be traveling when I graduate in 2019 and I want to get a head start but is it worth starting when I won’t even be leaving for another two years? Thanks for all that you do in the travel blogging world — reading yours is always a breath of fresh air.

As soon as possible! Start writing about where you currently live, get onto social media and start building an audience, work on finding your writing voice — if you start now, you’ll be making money from your blog by the time you leave to travel! :-)

Thank you very much, excellent insights as I am just starting my blog!

Glad you found it helpful, Samantha!

This is an awesome guide! Can you explain a bit more about how to make money with affiliates? I’m not quite sure what they are or how to get started. Thanks!

Sure! So it’s like a commission. Say you want to recommend a travel product to your readers — in that case you can google [product name] affiliate, and if there’s a program, you can sign up for it. If not, you can usually find it on Amazon and use Amazon Associates to link to it. Once you’ve created an account there, you can then create a link to a product and place that link on your site. If one of your readers clicks that link and buys something, you get a commission on the sale.

Here’s an example: if I booked a hotel, I might then write a blog post about the place I visited and recommend the hotel if I liked it. In that blog post, I can add a booking.com affiliate link whenever I mention the hotel. If someone reads the post, clicks that link, and decides to book a stay at that hotel, I make a percentage of that sale. Let me know if you have any further questions!

Hi Lauren Brilliant informative site. I have just sailed up the Mozambican coast and am now in Pemba. I met many great local people all along the coast. I came across your blog whilst doing some reasearch with a view of bringing my yacht here to charter. You have now inspired me to get one of these going. I use instagram simply because its so easy to edit pics and post. If you interested instagram moveswithsail2017 . My yacht’s name is just4fun and in the next few months I intend setting up a wordpress with the same handle. Maybe ‘theadventuresofjust4fun.com Do you think this is a bit too long ? Thanx

Thanks so much! Sounds like an incredible trip — Mozambique is such a wonderful country! I think your domain name is a little too long. Maybe just4funadventures is available? Or just Moveswithsail?

Very informative! How to increase traffic on existing blog?

Updating old posts, writing guest posts for other blogs, and focusing everything you have on Pinterest!

Hey! thanks for giving motivation…..I will start my pet blog soon..one more thing wordpress is better than blogspot?

Yes, definitely go with WordPress!

More wonderfully inspirational and easy to initiate ideas! When life is busy, it’s fantastic to hear your tips and be reminded of some of the little essentials. Much needed motivation!

Hey, thanks so much, Essa! :-)

Thanks so much for giving me the guide lines for starting new blog. I just decided to learn how to create a travel blog, your article was really helpful for me.

Glad to hear it! Feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions :-)

Hi, this is very useful for me. Starting, running, upgrading and maintaining a travel blog is a difficult and time-consuming activity. In the the beginning we made a blog about the trip and thought everyone will love it. Not so. Thanks for giving us some useful ways to increase the audience.

The early days are the toughest, because you’re still figuring out your voice and it’s a struggle to build your audience. But stick with it! It’s hard work but you’ll get there in the end :-)

I love this article and it honestly has given me a little extra boost to continue what I am doing!

I’m so happy to hear that, Jason!

I have to personally thank you so much for this article. I’ve had it bookmarked for the past couple of months and i used it as my bible while creating my own Travel Blog. I would revisit it every once in a while to make sure I was following through on all your valuable advise. My blog has been up for a few months now and though I don’t yet have much of an audience, I’m really glad this post gave me the inspiration I needed to get started.

I just have one question though. I’m at the stage wherein I’m trying to approach Affiliate programs such as TripAdvisor, Agoda, etc, and I find my applications rejected. When did you start applying for Affiliate programs? Was it right at the beginning? Or did you wait till you had some dedicated traffic before applying?

Thanks again for this article!

Take Care, Rohan

Really loved the way how you explained each and everything in detail and still kept it entertaining until the last line. You shared your own experience as a beginner, putting yourself in our shoes and that really gave me the idea how to start from scratch. I feel a lot more confident now and hopefully gonna start my blog asap. Thanks

Thanks so much, Salman! Best of luck :-)

Hey Lauren,

I really enjoyed reading your advises and i feel like go out there and be a blogger. Travel is my passion and o always wanted to share it with my friends and family.

I’m going to Central America soon and i’ll start taking photos and videos and share them in a blog i’ll open.

Thank you so much!

Good luck, Leo! :-)

Thank you so much for your post! It was really helpful. May I ask if the Basic plan from Bluehost was sufficient for you? It seems as though the plans have changed and that you can only get Domain Privacy through the Prime plan now. I really want to get the ball rolling on my blog, but nervous at the same time.

I think you should be able to still get it on the basic plan. This page https://my.bluehost.com/hosting/help/domain-privacy seems to indicate you can buy it after you’ve set everything up.

I see that! Thank you so much for your quick response.

No problem! :-)

Hi Lauren! This is an excellent guide, I’ve taken the plunge to convert my wordpress to a real blog.

I love maps so it was great to see your suggestion for the interactive world map plugin. Just to let you know that it now says “This plugin is deprecated” after installing, but it does recommend a different one to use.

Do you still use the old plugin?

Really? That’s so weird, as it says here https://codecanyon.net/item/interactive-world-maps/2874264?ref=NEFootsteps that it was last updated on the 19th September 2017 and the creator was replying to comments and answering support questions for the plugin nine hours ago. Are you sure you downloaded the right plugin, as I can’t see anywhere that it’s stopped working?

I’d ask a question in the comments section of the plugin about it or ask for a refund if it really has been depreciated. It’s unfair to get someone to pay $21 and only afterwards say that it wasn’t working and to download something else instead!

Thanks for your quick reply. Turns out it’s all in the detail ;) I searched your suggested plug-ins instead of clicking through. After a bit of playing around I could tell it definitely wasn’t the same as yours! There’s a free version with a similar name (map instead of maps).

Once I get my blog going I think this will be a great investment. Keep up the good work and happy travels!

Ah, got it! :-) Thanks so much, and good luck with getting your site off the ground!

Thanks for this great information!!

I specially found your tips very good :)

I have already started blog an running well but can you please suggest me plugins specific to travel which can help me to create a better travel blog

That’s included in the guide! :-)

I wanted to see if you could tell us about the ways of getting the blog legal with the state. And how the money you generate actually gets transferred to your (bank,PayPal) account? Or where ever it goes too. Really enjoy your blog!

Legal in what way? You’ll want to register as self-employed and get an accountant so that you can start paying taxes, but you won’t need to do this until your site starts making money because it’s a hobby up until that point. But that’s about it. Some pay me via Paypal and some via bank transfer; usually the former though.

How do I start a website that costs me nothing at all?

Use WordPress.com instead of WordPress.org, get a free theme, and you’re done :-)

This is good. My wife and I have a pretty amazing idea for a blog. Came up with the idea like 2 hours ago and this was the first thing I read. Pretty solid advice.

How can I ask you questions in the future?

Same as you’re doing right now! ;-) Leave a comment here or message me through my contact form.

Sounds good. Do you have any resources for the product review side of blogging? Like a person i should research, or a site I should visit.

Would you recommend me doing one site with different blogging types? For example, one tab is travel, one tab is product reviews, one is parenting stuff, etc…

I want to do a lot, but dont want to pay for multiple sites. Wanted to see if you have had seen anyone do that in the past.

Great step by step on starting a blog – I’m about to start mine…what do use for security of the site or are you a specific plan with bluehost that keeps everything secure?

When I was with Bluehost, I used the Word Fence plugin, but now site security is included in my package with my current host.

This information was SO helpful for me! Starting a new blog, I had no idea where to start. The process could easily be intimidating and overwhelming, but this step-by-step makes it relatively easy. I’ve come back to this post almost daily as I get going. I’m still in the early stages of travel blogging and still learning a lot, but I feel like I’m off to a good start. So thank you!!

My blog: http://www.lichenandlayovers.com

That’s so kind of you to say, Erin — thank you! Best of luck as you get everything up and running, and feel free to drop me an email if I can help with anything!

No questions, just my undying gratitude that you put this guide together. Can’t wait to get stuck in with this in 2018.

Ah, thank you so much! Glad you found it useful and best of luck!

That’s what I need! As a novice, I’m very grateful to you for your information. I’m starting my blog this weekend. I feel scared but excited! Thank you.

Best of luck, Mary! Feel free to head back and ask me any questions if you get stuck or confused :-)

Hiya Lauren,

To be honest earlier today was the first day I thought of starting a travel blog. This was very very informative and I have already favourited to save on my web-page. I had just one question – what would you suggest be the best way to get traffic to your blog?

Pinterest and Google! Focus on SEO for both :-) Oh, and guest posting for larger sites.

I found this really helpful.Thank You! I have ideas of how i want my travel blog to look like but the content is what I am worried about. Throughout my travels, i was inspired to document the most powerful moments i had with ‘strangers.’ I haven’t yet shared them with the world. For a muslim, a girl, and coming from a conservative culture, I saw the world very different when i began travelling at 20. I want to have a human-centric approach to my blog to show the beauty of people of different cultures and faith. From Asia, to Europe, to the US, Middle East and Africa, I don’t like being a tourist, I tend to dwell on immersing myself in the local life, attend events, get togethers, food stores and places of worship. And through such, I have become a better person myself. I want to share my travel expriences in a very captivating way whilst being able to break stereotypes and prejudice.

Sounds fascinating! I’d love to read your blog — let me know when you’ve set it up and I’ll offer some feedback. But don’t worry about the content, I think it sounds like a great niche for your site.

Hi Lauren. This is by far the best read about how to start a travel blog. You didn’t advertise, you smartly inform people. Thank you. ?

Thank you so much, Rachel! That means the world to me :-)

Hello Lauren,

Thanks for your effort and sharing the valuable post with us, I did a lot of research on how to start a travel blog but didn’t find the right information for a beginner. Once I read your blog and realize that you have shared the right information that I’m looking for, Keep sharing your valuable and informative content on a regular basis. Thank you once again.

Glad you found it helpful, Amy! Feel free to drop me an email with any questions if you have them :-)

What do you do about copyright on your images? I’m particularly concerned about theft of mine. I notice you don’t watermark yours – is there something you do behind the scenes to prevent your photos from being stolen from your travel blog?

Yeah, I don’t care. People will take your images whether you add a watermark or not, and the watermark makes them look ugly, so I don’t have one. It’s part of the package that comes from working online.

Nice guide. I guess the one thing that’s holding me back from starting a travel blog is the belief that it’s too late. There are so many travel bloggers out there now that it feels impossible to get your voice heard. Do you think it’s too late to make money with a travel blog now? And what tactics can I use to be discovered when there’s so much noise in this space?

No, no, no! It’s definitely not too late. I’m a part of a few Facebook groups and there are so many people who are starting to make thousands of dollars a month within a year of starting their blogs. It’s so inspiring to see and proves that there’s always space for more people in this industry. Focus on improving your photography, figuring out how to drive traffic through Pinterest, writing as many guest posts as you possibly can, and providing the most detailed resources on a topic to rank highly in Google. You can do it! :-)

Spot on with this guide! I’ve been blogging for three years and agree with everything you’ve said. Keep on being your authentic self – the internet needs more people like you!

Hey, thanks so much! :-)

i am shankar, 60 yrs male from india and have been travelling around for the past 35 years . After marriage family priorities and business life took over. In between my passion for travelling, photography & reading continued. Lot of my friends and relatives have been encouraging to put my experiences in writing and making extra buck too. Now i have been thinking seriously, why not start at this point of time and still see the world & make money too.

All i want to know from you is, is it right time to start writing blogs combined with my travels and also make some extra buck.

You insight and encouragement is going to plan my future. After going thru your writeup on travel blogging, i feel excited as to why not start off now. Your views and comments should help me in shaping my passion. Please advise. Shankar…india

The best time to start is as soon as possible! It takes a while to get everything figured out, so if you’re determined to start a travel blog at some point, start it today. Good luck! :-)

Hi Lauren! Great guide as always. I’m setting my travel blog up now by following your instructions and wanted to say thank you for the effort you put into this resource. It’s helped me no end as I’ve tried to figure out this whole blogging thing. I’m now starting to publish my first blog post and wanted to ask what you think is a good word count to be aiming for. I know your posts generally skew longer and was wondering if there’s a reason for that?

Yes! I find that the longer and more detailed my blog posts are, the easier it is for them to rank in Google. I usually publish blog posts of at least 2,000 words, but sometimes aim for as many as 4,000! Oh, and also, when I was writing my book, I got into the habit of writing 5,000 word chapters and haven’t been able to break it yet — it feels more natural to write the longer posts now, especially if it’s a narrative. Hope that helps!

you havent replied to my query sent on jan 14th 2018. awaiting ur reply soon.

hi, lauren i want little help from you, please suggest me a good and free seo optimized theme for self hosted wordpress blog.

Take a look at the options offered by WordPress in the themes section of your dashboard. They have some quite nice ones these days :-)

Hey, I found this super helpful and intriguing!

Do you think you need to be on a long travel trip in order to start a travel blog? Or (because I am little money and am still studying) can you start a travel blog with only two trips a year?

Nope, definitely not! The most successful travel bloggers are the ones that travel only a handful of times a year. When I stopped travelling full-time and found a base in Portugal to live for six months of the year, my income doubled within a year! Start by writing about where you currently live and you’ll find it far easier to make money than focusing on the entire planet — with the latter, Google won’t know what you specialise in and you’ll subsequently find it harder to rank for many terms.

Thank you for your instructions. I have thought of starting a travel blog for a while since I love to travel. I am just so busy with work, kids, and life in general. You have definitely inspired me to start it now though. I just have a few questions about the business aspect of a blog. Did you set up a corporation or any type of business account? Are your travels tax deductable even if you don’t make that much money off of it? Does every travel blogger make money? How can I keep a blog going since I can’t travel all the time because of my kids’ school schedule? Thank you in advance.

1) I didn’t set up a business until this year. For the first five years of running my travel blog, I was registered as self-employed. 2) As long as you can show a business plan that details how you were planning on making money through those travels, you should be okay. 3) No, not every travel blogger makes money. There are no guarantees. If a travel blogger didn’t go self-hosted, had ugly photos, and was a terrible writer, they’d be unlikely to find success. 4) Not being able to travel all the time is the best way to build a successful travel blog! The travel bloggers that make the most money are the ones that have a home and don’t travel frequently. You have more time to work on building an audience and can position yourself as an authority in your hometown, too!

Hi Lauren!!

I just read your article and it was worth my time.. I recently just started my blog too, which i hope to make it a travel blog rather than a travel guide, and tips blog later on when i have the resources.

And yeah, I’m now a BIG FAN..!!

Thank you! Best of luck with your travel blogging career :-)

I have some although it was a great post Can I use blogger for blogging. What is the disadvantage if any?

I wouldn’t recommend using Blogger. It has some pretty severe limitations and you’ll find it harder to build an audience on the platform.

Hey, Thank you so much for such a thorough explanation. I am a freelancer tour organizer and mostly I organize tours for groups, Currently, I am working in India and organizing tours(mostly treks) in the mountains of India. I recently thought about developing a travel blog for myself and was about to start up my own travel organizing company, this article cleared up many things which I was confused about, I was very confused about the SEO part too but I hope these steps will clear up some fog for me now!! Really appreciate it! Thank you for sharing!!

Yay! Feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions or need help with anything as you get set up :-)

Really helpful post! Just have a quick question about Bluehost – If I put in my address which is in the UK, there is tax added to the total which is around $21. Does it matter if I keep the country as the US to avoid paying that tax or does it need to be your actual country? Sounds stupid but thought I’d ask!

If you have a US address you can use then yeah, I assume you can do that. Worth a try!

Please, please post an updated breakdown of how you make money with your travel blog Lauren. I’m sure many of us here would love to read it! I’m curious what sources of income you have, the percentage breakdown of these sources when it comes to your overall income, how much you make (if that’s not too personal!) and how much time you spend working on your blog at present.

You got it! It’s definitely on the list — I’ll try to get to it within a month or so.

Really useful tips! I haven’t even thought that there are so many fine points to pay attention to!

Right? It sounds overwhelming at the start, but things do start to fall into place as you work at it.

I’ve just come across your blog and I’m really enjoying reading it (currently about your trip to Maputo!). I do a bit of travel blogging on the side and enjoy doing it but find it hard to get it out to a wider audience. Have you any other suggestions?

Thanks so much, Sam! My biggest recommendation is to guest post on other sites. Not necessarily travel blogs, although somewhere like Nomadic Matt would definitely help expose your writing to a new, wider audience, but sites that are relevant to the topics you write about. As an example, I might write about travelling with anxiety on a large mental health-focused site, or how I budget for a month-long trip on a financial advice website, or what it’s like to travel as a bisexual for an LGBT magazine. Stuff like that. It’s one of the best ways to build up your audience, as not only does it bring new readers to the site, but it also gives you links that’ll help your article rank higher in Google and therefore bring more readers in that way.

I literally googled “how to start a travel blog” and this is the first site that came up. I currently enjoy traveling a lot, have started to post photos on Instagram and have become super interested in travel blogging.

Your instructions make it seem so simple! And great advice/tips!

Thanks so much, Raven! Best of luck if you decide to go ahead with travel blogging :-)

I have caught the travel bug after putting down deposits for my Round the World trip, however, this wont be until sept 2019, as we have to save enough money. I’m wanting to start a travel blog, is it too early now? I have been to many exciting places (Tanzania, Turkey, San Francisco, Zakynthos, and many beautiful places in my home country, UK) and will be going to NYC this summer.

What i’m wondering is do you reckon it is too early to get into my travel blog before my RTW trip? I am worried I dont have enough content (stories and pictures!) to keep posting regularly?

Thank you, Elle

Nope! It’s never too early — the earlier you start, the better! There’ll always be things to write about, whether it’s your previous trips, your plans for the future, where you currently live, and random pieces of travel advice and tips. The most successful travel bloggers are those that don’t travel super frequently, so don’t feel as though you need to be travelling full-time in order to build a successful travel blog :-)

I’m currently studying engineering physics in Sweden (where I’m from) and after this semester I’ve decided to take at least one year off to travel. I have always loved writing (I have been writing a diary since I was 12, and I’m now at the age of 28) and I’m also very passionate about photography. I have done some traveling before I started my studies and I have lived and worked in Spain, Australia and New Zealand. I’ve always written about my travels, but only in my diary or personal blog. I want to combine my passions (writing, photography, traveling) and turn it into a professional travel blog. My main intention is not to make money (that’s just a big plus), but to reach out to people. To share my travel experiences. I get so inspired by you and other great travel blogs out there, I want to inspire too.

Do you think I can create a successful international blog even though english isn’t my native language?

I think I’m pretty good at english, but I can’t tell if my grammar is correct at all times. I mean, spelling checks are easy, but checking entire sentences and sentence structure and all of that… it’s a bit harder. Any thoughts or tips regarding this topic? Do you think that I have to improve my english writing skills before I start blogging? Or do you think people would read anyway? And do you know of any successful blog written by someone that have another native language than english?

Thank you for this post!

Hi, i had a question about billing… does the total on blue host mean that that is the total that you pay once a year or can you pay it monthly? meaning can i pay it monthly or or does it take it out all at once? sorry very new to this and a bit confused, just want to make sure i can understand everything that im investing in.

Hi Rachel! You pay for it all up front rather than month by month.

is there a way to pay it month by month or is that the only option?

I think that’s the only option.

Lauren I love the concept of the blog. I full heartedly agree, you don’t see a lot of people blogging about the down side of traveling. I recently spent 3 weeks in Europe solo traveling, and I got a lot of compliments about how pretty the pictures were, meanwhile no one saw all the internal muck that was beginning to come up. I finally stated my blog after a year of sitting on it. Right now it’s just for fun. We’ll see where it goes. I also enjoyed reading about your Cook Island experience, as its currently on my list for travels in 2019. Cheers. Ryan

Best of luck with your blog, Ryan, and with your travels to the Cook Islands! Thanks so much for the huge compliment :-)

Thank you for this very interesting post. I’ll keep your advices in mind for my brand-new blog ;)

Thank you Lauren for sharing this great information.. you inspired me to start my own travel blog.. One question, how to get traffic with new created blog ? Thank you so much..

Best regards, Karen.

Pinterest, guest posting, and writing long and detailed travel guides to popular destinations.

Thank you so much for the great insights. I’ve been itching myself for the past month or so in trying to publish my first post. I felt the “About Me” page and first post are almost similar and based on what you suggested, it doesn’t seem too different too. So I’m a bit worried.

Also, what I am mostly worried about is if it’s too late to start up a travel blog now?

Hey! thanks for sharing information, as a beginner it will help me to learn and write my own travel blog.

Wow! Thank you for such a detailed post! My 13-year-old daughter is taking next year off to travel. We set up her website and plan to launch it in June. I’ve been looking at ways to monetize her site because I think she would feel so accomplished if she made a buck or two. We are literally starting from scratch, but she wants to makes go of travel blogging for this year. We are super excited! I’m so grateful for your post!

Hey, Thanks for sharing such awesome tips for making a travel blog.

Thankyou. This is so engagingly written. I am in Buenos Aires with a cold & just decided to explore blogging as I can’t dance at mo with this cold. And I love writing vignettes about ordinary but magical things. I’m in a cafe at this moment for my favourite coffee y medialunas ~ lol not good food for a cold but good for the soul. When i get back to my room, I’m gonna start. Thankyou for you simplicity & integrity.

Thank you for the huge compliment! :-) Best of luck with getting started, and feel free to drop me an email if you need help with anything at all :-)

Hello, Lauren! I enjoyed reading your take on starting a travel blog. You gave a lot of good information and ways to help get started. I’ve wanted to travel my whole life and now in my late 40s, I’ve finally decided to stop wasting time waiting for the travel fairy to visit me and start living my dreams. Writing, photography and travel are my passions and I’m super excited to get started putting all three of my passions to work for me instead of me working for them.

I have a bit of a different approach with my travel blog, at least I haven’t found one like it yet, and I’m looking forward to trying it on for size.

My biggest concern is getting started and actually developing the audience. Short of physically pulling up my site on random strangers phones for them to visit did not seem like such a great idea so I’m wondering what steps did you take to create a following or was it a matter of trial and error?

Thank you so much for any information you can offer to help me get started. Safe travels!

Hi Lauren i’m starting my website soon and will get blue host from your link :) I have a question. Is it a must to spend money on theme. Could i just look for free themes and still earn money through blogging?

Yep, you can use a free theme to get started! And once you start making money from your site, you can invest in a paid theme.

I’m just about to launch my website (which I’ve been avoiding for a while). I came across your article and it’s now getting me excited!

Good luck, Jesse! Let me know if I can help out with anything as you get your blog set up :-)

Yikes! I thought this was going well until… I followed all the instructions, and then when I got to the point where I wanted to log in to the admin portal of wordpress, I could not figure out my username and/or password. So I tried to get a new password, and neither my email address or what I thought was my username works. What do I do? I’m all signed up and paid up but can’t do a thing!

Hi Leanne! Try Bluehost’s live chat and they should be able to help you out: https://helpchat.bluehost.com/

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I’ve been planning to launch a travel blog myself and I guess I will bookmark this page for future reference.

Again, a great post!

Hello Lauren! thank you for your amazing blog! :) yes….you’ve heard that a million times…but still it’s true and hearing nice things about your achievements can never be too much ;)

I was really inspired by your article now to finally kick start my own blog. I have an existing webpage with squarespace.com. they are amazing. most of the plug ins that you are recommending they have built in anyway. but of course their annual service is a bit more expensive. I did some calculation and am thinking to switch to bluehost and themeforest. BUT then I realized that the plugins also have to be paid…or am i not getting it? Cause I don’t find it in your listing for the costs of starting a travel blog. hmmmm?…:) Thank you for your time and answer! Love, Sanya

Hey Sanya! No, all of the plugins listed in this post are totally free to use, apart from the Interactive World Maps one. And thank you! That means a lot to me :-)

Thanks for this post Lauren. It’s helped me so much and I’ve finally set up my own travel blog. It does take sooo much work and I feel like I could’ve done with a ‘how to use WordPress’ post before starting the process too haha!

Hi, thank you for this amazing tips. At this time I’m working as a writer, but I’ve always dream to become a travel blogger. That’s great chance to see the world and earn some money :) I’ve a few question to you. I have no idea how to create my own travel blog and how to promote it. And which camera should i purchase for my blog as a beginner blogger. I’ll be grateful to you if you answer me. Thank you for sharing this wonderful article.

How many post should I create in advance before starting a blog?

It doesn’t really matter, to be honest. I created my site first and then began writing for it. You wouldn’t need more than two or three, though.

Hi ! I had a great journey navigating through your blog, and I would like to mention that it is amazing and very relatable. But I do have a question. How exactly do you make money? I do not have an idea about running blogs but I am a travel enthusiast and want to turn travelling into a full time career. I am just not sure how to make the money required for travelling. I hope you will help me out.

For me, I make money from advertising (with Mediavine), affiliate marketing (from various companies, like Amazon, World Nomads, Booking), book royalties (from sales of my travel memoir, How Not to Travel the World), and, um, that’s about it! I used to make money from freelance writing, but eventually stopped doing that because the money was pretty bad and I didn’t enjoy the work.

Great tips! I used to have a website a few years ago and now I have stopped due to losing interest. Now after I read this, it kinda motivates and inspires me to start a travel blog. Cheers!

Sweet! Best of luck if you do decide to do so :-)

I’d like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this.

In fact, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own site now ;)

Sweet! Get on it :-)

How did you add the number of posts to the hover on the interactive map? I can’t find how to do that.

Your blog has forced me to create my own travel blog. It is not as extensive as your site. Not to mention we are coming to Portugal and the Azores based on your posts.

I do that manually every time I publish a post, or whenever I remember to update it. And don’t worry too much about your site not being so extensive — I’ve been running this blog for eight years, so I’ve had tons of time to write my blog posts! Hope you have an incredible time in Portugal. It’s such a wonderful country.

I was able to get help from the developer to figure that out. I was using tags and not categories and that was the problem. We enjoyed our trip and now looking to retire in Portugal and possibly the Azores as the destination. Although, the mainland is probably better for travel.

I found that writing posts after the fact can be difficult to remember all the info and all the odd things that happen along the way. It takes me 4-8 hours to put together the pictures and text for each day of travel. I should probably take notes along the way ;-).

Hi Lauren, Fantastic and informative post – wish I’d known this years ago when I started travelling! BTW it helped me immensely in using your step-by-step instructions to set up my own travel blog (mostly just as a memoir of my journeys, not with monetisation in mind), and I had a trial run of if during recent trek in Nepal. Any thoughts on setting up/linking to FB, Twitter, IG, etc? Seems like an additional burden to maintain the various social sites as well, but it would be nice to be able to post to IG and have it appear on blog…..

Hi Lauren, love your website and I am half way through your book, which I also love! I am a big traveller myself but mainly long weekends all over Europe and three long backpacking trips over the last ten years. I want to set up a blog to document my adventures, but down the line if I wanted to upgrade to a more professional approach would it be a relatively straight forward process of moving all the material to a paid for service? I am in two minds whether to jump in the deep end and pay for the items and services you outlined above or whether to go for more of a memoirs approach. Regards, Alan

Hi Lauren, this is so great. I have been trying to decide if i should start a travel blog. My husband and I love to travel and now we are taking our kids with us (8 and 5 both on their second pasports) I love to take photos and am not so sure about the writing. Would i set it up the same way. Does wordpress work for that or should i use something else? I am initially looking to share with friends and family but would love to be able to travel for a year with the kids but currently our jobs don’t allow it. Longest trips about 4-5 weeks Sorry for rambling. Thank you again for ao much clear information.

I’m not new to traveling, but I am new to travel blogging. I’ve been researching travel blogs for a few weeks now and just came across your page, thank you for the information and the time that you took to write this! It was very clear and helpful!

thank you very much, i have always loved travelling and always wanted to start travel blogging since the first time i left my country. i have learnt alot from your guide and from you and intend to get started right away.

My desire is to meet you one day, my home Country is Zambia in southern Africa so do swing by one day, lol.

very insightful and best regard,

Wow I just love your article here on blogging as a travel blogger! I have been in the same career for 10 years and I am ready for a change. I have been thinking of becoming a travel agent (solo on my own) for years. Do you have recommendations?

my best, Suz

Hi Laura, great info! One question I’m starting a travel blog site myself but have not published it yet, did you wait till you had several blog post before you published your site or did you just publish it once your blog site was set up?

Thanks Marc

No need to wait, just start publishing now! It’s going to take a while for people to actually find your site, so get everything up as soon as possible.

Hey Lauren ,

I wanted to start a travel blog in a local language is this a good idea to start it in a local language ? I have a passion about writing and travelling but never use blog for the same. Should I go with free or Paid in wordpress for the very first time? And is it possible that you start a free first and then convert in to paid and your blogs are available as same as before? Kindly Guide.

—Shivani

Hey! I found this information to be invaluable and very inspiring! Just like you before your blog, I’ve never written anything but I have been curious about blogging for some time now. I’ve always wanted to travel the world and experience different cultures, meet new, interesting people, eat amazing food and write about all my adventures but I always let the fear of failure deter me or I would feel so intimidated because I wouldn’t have a clue how to get started and like you I’m not technically inclined at all! This has really been a great article for me to read and I feel so excited! You make it sound so easy! Do you think incorporating spirituality or capturing culture and local destinations instead of just touristy attractions would entertain readers? Do I start my site before I go anywhere? Do I write about the places I have already been even though I don’t have all the pictures I feel I would need to make my web page more interesting or captivating (Or all the memories intact for that matter)? I would like to focus my travel blog on the people, culture, spirituality or native life, mostly (of course, also along with and all the other things people usually write about in travel blogs). Do you think that would be a good niche?

Hi Lauren, Just read your blog. This blog not only helped me a lot but also improved my knowledge of blogging too. Thank you so much for the great info and keep sharing your ideas with us so that we can explore more.

Hi Laren, I’m off to the island of Mauritius in October, where I will be staying for the next few years. In the past 6 months I have been preparing for this as I plan to create a travel photography blog before I leave the UK. I have one question to ask. Before I do, let me just say that I have a photography website that is up and running, but it does not have a blog section. So my question is: Will I be able to create a blog from the information provided above, and add it to my website or will I have to create a blog separate to the web site?

Kind regards Marc

Hi Marc! You should be able to add a blog to your website without needing to follow my instructions, as it’s likely already built into your site as a feature. Is your site running on WordPress or Squarespace or…?

Thank you so much for this post! it really encourages me to keep going on making my own travel blog as for now I have my travel videos on my youtube channel but I wanna do the next step !

Good luck! Let me know if you get stuck with any of the steps :-)

I LOVED your post. I found it incredibly helpful and inspiring. My thoughts on starting a travel blog are very new. I currently graduated University with a Photography degree and I have been saving money to travel. I spent two months in India then spent two months in Israel, now I am back in England starting my saving process again. Do you recommend I hold off getting a blog up and running until I have the funds to actually start my travels?

I recommend starting now, as the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll find success! You’ll still have plenty to write about, having spent time in India, and starting now means you’ll get the hang of how blogging actually works by the time you can afford to travel.

Hello Lauren! I have love traveling ever since I was a little girl with my family. A few years ago I started traveling on my own, and I haven’t stopped since. I’m currently an elementary school teacher and travel every break I get, but I keep wanting to blog and had no idea how to. I love writing in journals, so that’s a plus :) My question is, do you ever go back and blog about past travel experiences? Or do you focus on the present and future outings? I want to set up a Blog and your article was amazing! Any additional advice will help and thank you for being honest in this article.

Hi Lynda! Yep, I definitely do. I try to focus more on storytelling over creating a resource when I do this, as things may have changed in the time (like prices, quality of food in restaurants, etc) since I was there, but there’s no reason why you can’t blog about previous trips. It’s a great sign that you already love writing in journals :-)

This is great. I think the best way to find your travel blog is to just go out and travel. Eventually, you’ll figure out the kind of travel you want to do. Thanks for the good points here.

I do agree with that, actually. People change, and assuming you’re going to be a budget backpacker forever when you first start out could end up being disastrous if you realise you can’t stand hostels!

This is a great blog! Thank you! I have just set up a blog on WordPress and this was so helpful! I’m still creating my blog and I would like to have a hotel section and would write about the hotels I’ve stayed at.

So I need photos for my post – should I approach hotels and ask permission to use their photos? As I’m just starting out not sure if I’d be eligible to be an affiliate on booking.com but have seen that other travel bloggers must have used that as an option and it looks great but have literally written three post, so may be small fry!

You could do that but I recommend using your own photos of the hotel instead. It makes your review more personal and proves you actually stayed there :-) Definitely sign up as an affiliate now. You want to be making money from the first post you publish. If you’re going to be talking about the places you stayed in in your posts, why not add an affiliate link? You might not have an audience now, but when you do in the future, you’ll wish you’d set up all of your posts for success from day one.

Great tips, I am new here but I must say you are pretty famous! I am curious to know what your opinion would be for starter with respect to starting costs? Well I hope I am not asking a question thats already been answered but I didn’t read it yet!

There’s a whole section in the post about that :)

As many have replied – this blog is great! My husband and I love to travel. For years he has said I should create a blog. We just got back from Grand Cayman and I’m starting to think more seriously about it! My husband is OCD, analytical, guidebook and I’m more of a free spirit. Thinking about maybe posting from our 2 points of view? Haha. Coming up with a unique name and brand would probably be my biggest struggle. Thanks for your blog – it’s gotten me many things to think about!

Hi Lauren, Thank you so much for putting this guide togetherness. It’s proven to be invaluable to help me get started on my own blog, theteatimeadventurer.com. The hardest part was getting started. The content pours itself out. I know I’ll look back on my first few posts eventually and say, why did I post that. I have two questions for you; my first question is how do you figure out who to contact about adding a link to your blog to drive traffic? How established should you be post wise? I’m having trouble getting to the next step. Second, would you recommend contacting a more experienced travel blogger to read your posts to get feedback? I know it’s important to join blogging superstar, but I’m a little tight on funds right now. Hope this changes in the future. Thank you again.

Thanks for sharing an amazing guide for bloggers in the making. I am now kinda inspired to start off immediately! Good luck to you!

This article was very informative. As I am a newbie and hardly know this blogging world, you made an extra effort to write this article in very simple letters. Thank you!!

I love this post thanks a lot. I still struggle with the traffic, even though I have my blog for a long time now. But it just won’t get more :( Thanks for your advise anyway :) Greetings from Vienna!

Am I *really* the first one to notice that the math doesn’t make sense here: “You should be able to make as much as $1 per 1,000 visitors to your site if you have enough placements, and while that won’t sound like much, there are new travel bloggers who reach 50,000 page views a month in under a year — that’s $500 a month…”

$1 for 1k = $50 for 50k. Not $500 So they either had 500,000 monthly visitors or they’re earning $50 a month! ?

Ah, I forgot to clarify. Once bloggers hit 25,000 views a month, they can join Mediavine and make far more money with advertising than they will with Adsense. 50,000 page views usually equate to $500 with Mediavine, or around $50 with Adsense.

So the numbers are correct, I just forgot to mention you’d want to change ad networks once you started receiving more traffic.

Truly useful piece of information. It’s good to learn the ways to improve a blog from top bloggers.

I’m glad to hear that! Best of luck with your blogging journey :-)

Hi!. Your article was a huge inspiration for me and I just run my own travel blog. For now I am blogging in polish but maybe some time I will decide to start doing it in English even tho it’s not my first language ofc. Thank you once again!

No problem! I think it’s a good idea to blog in your native language, as there’s probably a lot less competition when it comes to travel blogging in Polish!

Just read your article but I already built my blog but in Squarespace. Maybe you can help me with some great plugins for my website?

Ah, sorry, I have no experience with Squarespace so I’d just be googling best plugins for Squarespace to answer your question.

Hi Lauren. This was a wonderful post. I know a lot of people like you said are doing travel blogs/vlogs. I still would love to do a blog with pics and Vlog about airlines. I see all the others out there. But not so much bigger guys like me, And not meaning tall. My concern starting this would be trying to get viewers and well funding to get tickets to review the airlines. I really love the step by step process you did. It is the best how to start a blog I have read yet. My goal is to do a flight a week or a flight every other week. Starting from scratch makes that hard. Just wondering you had ideas on ways to make it so even if I make no money at the start. Any help you might have would be a big help. And hope you don’t mind helping a beginner out.

Umm! I really don’t know where to start commenting, your article is so articulated I’ve got lot of good Information from it I’m amazed. So i just have one question.

I have not travel the world before, but i have travel overseas two times to Indonesia twice, and the USA once.

So my question is.

After doing a research, Is it okay to start a Travel blog that directs and inform people about places to visit, what to do when they get there, where to go, which to avoid, and stuff like that.

And all that without me being travel, I just conduct a research and inform people.

Is that okay from what you have been experienced?

Thank you so much for you very informative article! It makes me think that the dream of becoming a blogger is well within reach. My question for you is this: how important do you think it is to specialize your blog? Do you think a blog about trying out all kinds of new things might be as well-received?

Love this post, it’s the best one I’ve seen. So I’m a big traveler and one of my New Years resolutions for 2019 is to start my own travel blog. I’ve never heard about hosting before and was wondering if you think first-time bloggers should invest in this? I’m a perfectionist and the main thing holding me back from starting the blog is my hesitation about the design and layout not looking perfect but what are the benefits of hosting on Bluehost? Exactly what is hosting?

Also I’m heading to Cairo, Luxor, and Beirut in a few weeks and I want to start blogging there. Do you think that I have enough time to get this up and running?

This was such an enlightening article for me. I love traveling and have always wanted to start a blog with no clue on what to do and how to go about this, and reading your article has given me such good direction. I still have questions though and I can email you if you have some time for me pls.

Thank you! Yeah, definitely drop me an email if you’re having any problems with getting your site set up :-)

I want to start a travel blog, but I’m not a full time traveler and not sure I ever want to be. Initially I though of your first option “run a blog to keep friends and family informed of your travels” but I also want to blog about other stuff, like social problems (I work for an NGO and my line of work is International Development) and personal relatable stuff (moving on my own at 17, having married young, being vegetarian, etc). Have you found bloggers with this kind of issues and what have they opted for? How does it work for them?

i recently started my blog. after reading your awesome guide. thanks for that

Best of luck with it :-)

I honestly read everything and even keep a note of the important things. I’m planning to start a travel blog soon but wanted to be educated first of what is expected to happen. Great post!

Thanks, Keith! Best of luck with getting yours set up and running smoothly :-) You can always drop me an email if you get stuck along the way, too.

Thanks so much for you guide- super in depth and easy to read. I’m really interested in starting a travel blog and I have been for years, but my anxiety has been a huge factor in preventing me from taking the jump. I think I am finally ready to just go for it- and I’m excited! My question is, you wrote this article almost 5 years ago. How have things changed since then? Do you think it’s STILL not too late to start a travel blog?

Yep! I update this article every couple of months and added the section about whether it’s too late last year. So, this article is up-to-date already — as soon as something changes I make sure to add it here :-)

Loved your article, but Bluehost deactivated me because my government ID didn’t match my mailing address. My husband and I retired, sold our house and are full-time travelers. I can’t give them an ID that matches my mailing address because my mailing address is a mail-forwarding business, so they deactivated my account after a couple of days. Just thought you should know. I still want to set up a blog, but will have to find a different route.

Hi! Thanks for such a detailed thread! Clarified many of my doubts although I decided to use a different hosting where I had registered my domain. Thanks again!

Hi! This is a really great post about starting out in travel blogging, and I wish I had read it a year ago, when i switched from a free to a self hosted WP blog. I found the hosting /theme/plugin sections particularly helpful and would like to stress that a good security and a backup plugin are essential and I would also install Jetpack as it does a lot of essential Support and is free/good value. Living in Europe, I was not sure about Bluehost , and went with a cut-price EU provider which is Slim in Prices and customer Support but I had no major issues so far. I just get what I pay for! As a Hobbyist, I am not averse to creating some income, but I agree with you that good unbiased content is the key. It is refreshing to read a professional blogger who does not take sponsored or press trips – which, let’s face it, don’t reflect the reality of travelling! – yet still make good income from the blog. I hope you Keep the transparency, and thank you for such a detailed post!

Hi Lauren, Firstly, great post!! I read your book a couple of years ago, before properly committing myself to travel. It definitely inspired me to not be afraid of things going wrong. Now I am away, 4 months into travelling SEA, and I am definitely one for not pretending that travel is always sunshine and roses with no challenges!!

I have been very VERY slowly working towards a blog the last couple of months but am ready to get serious. I wonder how you developed a writing routine in the early days when you didn’t know what you were doing? I love to write but I’ve always been very bad when it comes to a blank canvas.

I’m so happy to read this. This is the type of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.

Thank you! That means a lot :-)

Starting september i’ll be going on a world trip for around 12 months, and considering to start my own blog as well, partly because of that the site I co-write for doesn’t do enough marketing or knows how to market itself and is stuck with declining page views, partly because of posts such as yours. My biggest concern however, is how do you generate enough traffic, especially when you’re just starting out with the blog. I’ve recently deleted my social media accounts as I didn’t reckon they were worth my time so I can’t rely on those, but do have some knowledge about marketing due to my studies, but little regarding SEO Do you have any advice on how to generate sufficient traffic, especially when starting up your site. And how do you write and post for the best SEO results? I understand that that’s partly traffic, but to create organic traffic you need to write in a certain way / use certain words , or am I mistaken?

For a long time, I thought about creating my blog about travels. Each year there were more trips, the photos no longer fit on the hard disk and memories began to blur. This article became an inspiration for me. The blog was created and let us see where it will lead me :) Thank you!

First off, thank you for this awesome, comprehensive how-to! It’s helping me a ton, as I’m just starting out.

I have a question: how many hours a day/week would you say it takes to connect with people on and post content to Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest, in order to stay relevant?

I’m pretty averse to social media, and I’m trying to understand whether I have time to stay active and promote my blog on those platforms, all while working a full-time job and some freelance gigs.

Thanks a ton! :)

Honestly, I’m pretty averse to it too, these days. I deleted my Instagram, share my posts on Facebook and Twitter when I publish them, which takes about 5 minutes a week, and Pinterest I use Tailwind to schedule my pins to go out, so maybe five minutes a week? The longer I’ve been a travel blogger, the more I’ve realised that social media doesn’t really do much to help out your site. 85% of my readers come to my site from Google, so it started to feel like a bit of a waste of time. It’s definitely not essential to find success!

Hi Lauren, Thanks so much for this amazing information. When choosing a name for your blog, are there any problems if your name is similar to another business? I have seen several blogs with similar names. But, I wasn’t sure if it creates problems if it is similar to an unrelated business if the domain name is available.

I’d steer away from anything with an identical name, but it’s okay if it’s similar. After all, there’s a travel blog called Never Ending Voyage, and it’s never caused any problems for either us — we’ve both been very successful! If somebody registered like, neverendingfootsteps . org, yeah, that would be a problem.

Hey! I must say that your post has been the most helpful out of all the ones I’ve read. Thank you so much for doing this. I have only one big question bothering me-

When I first start broadcasting about my travel blog on all platforms of social media, and people will come to my blog to check it out, will it look good that I have only one post? Should I rather write and post 10 articles before I share it on social media? I would really like to know how to start with my blog- one article at a time or posting a few?

Hello Lauren, Thanks for the lovely post.

I am in the process of starting my blog, but I’m bogged down by bluehost and their associates.

I followed through on the process as described, but bluehost is yet to add the wordpress theme I chose to my domain name.

Contacting their customer service has been a pain in the neck: the guys on their chat seems lost all the time and take forever to respond, I called their line, I was on hold for about an hour, no one answered. Nohting has been resolved yet.

Is there any advise you can give or anyway you can help? I feel like the more bluehost lingers on this, my desire to get this blog going may wane.

Hi Uzoma! Hmmm, what do you mean that Bluehost is yet to add the WordPress theme to your domain name? If you log into your WordPress dashboard, you can add the theme to your site by clicking on appearance – themes – upload and do it all yourself without getting Bluehost involved. Themes are something that you add yourself, not something your host gets involved with. Unless I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying.

Feel free to drop me an email with more information if you’re still struggling! It should only take a few minutes to figure out :-)

Thanks for the reply, You are awesome. I’d be emailing you shortly.

Good Lord this was fun and exciting to read from beginning to end. I almost hate to say I’d like to start a travel blog too but yup…Two Cats Travels is weighing on my mind. Even with your detailed instructions I’m a little overwhelmed by the technology of it all… but I’ll just follow your step by step directions to see where we land. I LOVE the idea of making your first blog like a first date…more of a getting to know you moment! My husband is claustrophobic so planes are an issue so our travels have proceeded concentrically from our home in New England. We’ve made it as far as Croatia and I am so hoping for Japan someday soon…I have never written to a blog before but you really have me jazzed to turn this kernel of an idea into the whole cob as it were! Questions: Once I get this started is it to late to write about our past travels over the past 3 years if I fact check? Or does it need to be an in the moment excercise. I ask because every time we go somewhere I immediately come home an create a hardcover book as a memento for us and I love to write so they are not just pix. As a hook or unique angle I’m thinking of the old children’s phrase curiosity got the cat and satisfaction brought it back because that’s basically why we travel. Does this make sense outside my head? Anyway, thanks and happy travels! Warmly, Lori and Jim

Hi Lauren, I’ve been thinking about starting a ‘travel’ blog but am moving more toward even a ‘life/lifestyle’ blog if that’s even a thing. I love to travel but I also enjoy a lot of home design stuff and do a bit of wedding coordinating. I know this is all a bit scattered but at the same time they are all a part of my life. Any recommendations, as I am a total newbie, on where to begin figuring out my niche? there’s a lot of pieces of my life I think could be beneficial to a blog but I’m so hesitant to start and be confined by only one of these things!

Wow thanks a lot! I just lanuched my blog and this post gave me a million new ideas to think about. Thanks for spreading the love!

Hi Lauren! I have always written a personal travel journal and after several people suggesting I should write a blog – I’m seriously considering it. For now I’d love for it to be mainly for family and friends but I also want the option for it to be something more later on if I wanted it to be. Is there any themes that are free that I can choose? I can commit to $2.95 a month for hosting but nothing more at this stage as my travels at the moment are for 6 months so budget is tight. Also can you download and create an entire blog on WordPress on an iPad? Because that’s all I have with me on this big trip ?

like your website and especially your incredible story and all the tips you give here. Well done!

I am working on a website about tips and tricks for backpackers myself and have to say one tip from this post I would really like to stress is

LET YOUR PERSONALITY SHINE THROUGH!

I am getting there more and more myself. It feels more natural to write and just have a look at some other blogs. Some people flat out swear half the time – in successful blogs! So whatever your style is, write like that, write like you talk. Best advice ever!

Also, what I am always curious about is, how long it takes to make money from your blog. A lot of people give you different answers and for example you said after 3 months you started making money, but it took you about a year to live on it.

But how much time did you spend on average? I assume (and you actually mentioned it as well) you lived in cheaper countries and worked probably close to 24/7 on your blog in the beginning. I guess. So for someone who works 40h per week and works on their blog in the evenings and mostly on their days off it would obviously take a lot longer. But nevertheless, from what I read it is absolutely not unusual that it might take more than a year to make any money at all. I am not even there, but I notice how I get better at things and I’ll get there. Would just like to know what your take on this is.

Now I know it can really take quite some time, like seriously you will have to be persistent. But if you see progress and you believe in what you do, just hang in there! That would be my personal advice.

Thanks Lauren for all the useful tips and stories you share.

All the best

Hi Lauren, Thank you so much for putting this guide togetherness. It’s proven to be invaluable to help me get started on my own blog, The hardest part was getting started. The content pours itself out. I know I’ll look back on my first few posts eventually and say, why did I post that. I have two questions for you; my first question is how do you figure out who to contact about adding a link to your blog to drive traffic? How established should you be post wise?

Keep Posting, You are a Big inspiration for all of us. I have recently started my travel blog so Its cool to come across experienced bloggers like you. Cheers

Wow I am so confused… (nervous laugh)

I just purchased through your link on Bluehost today :) Thought I would support you out of all the blogposts I’ve been reading about how to start a blog. I literally have no clue what I’m doing in there, it is so much fun! And I am happy to announce that wowiwalkers.com will be up whenever I find the courage to hit “launch”.

My boyfriend and I are going for a year. Thanks for the inspiration during the years.

Hugs Cecilie.

Hi Cecilie! Ah, congratulations for taking that first step :-) It’s a great sign that you’re finding it fun, too! Best of luck as you work through those early stages and let me know when your site is live. I’d love to take a look at it :-)

Wow :) you just cleared my clouded mind thank you so much , i just bought a domain name to build travel blog and was fully confused where to start how to start , do i have to updated the blog after ever trip or i have to updated as a whole. how i am going to do it . you just showed me my way :)

Hi Lauren! Really great suggestions. We’re just starting out but took much of your advice into consideration. Thanks so much! We figure that if nothing else we’ll end up with a nice collection of our travel memories together: http://wanderinghikers.com/

By the way, I noticed you don’t have Instagram in your list of social media links. Is that not a platform you recommend using for helping build your audience? Personally, I don’t like how it limits hyperlinks to just your bio page, so it’s hard for someone to use the platform to drive traffic to a website. On the other hand, we like to make cinemagraphs and Instagram displays them quite nicely. Any thoughts?

I wanted to start a travel blog recently and I just don’t know where to start. I like backpacking in Europe, especially the Camino – Santiago de Compostela. Already been there twice and I want to start a travel blog on this particular journey. However, I just don’t know where to start from. I get all the website setup but the contents are my problem. Not sure what to start from.

Can you give any advice?

I’m planning to do another Camino sometime soon before I actually start my own website just to get more information and ideas from the travel.

That’s awesome. I’m actually going to be walking my first Camino in a couple of months! I’d suggest brainstorming which kind of posts you would have wanted to read when you were planning your Camino, or backpacking in Europe. So maybe that’s a packing list or a day-by-day itinerary or what to know before you go… or maybe it’s a narrative about how the Camino changed your life or why you decided to walk it a second time or the people you met along the way.

Whenever I’m not sure what to write about, I always think about what I would want to read on a blog. Hope that helps!

Hello Lauren, Because of your post, I started a travel blog in no time. Thank you so much, the steps was easy to follow. I have been to 25 countries and fell its the right time to start Regards, Praveen

I have been very fond of travelling over the globe and i just love to write about travelling stuff. But i am always keep on facing financial issues..i cant leave my job immediately..Is it really important to travel to a city to write a blog?Could you please advise me a way to deal with all such issues?

Thank you in advance!!

Hey, Lauren! Yours is the first article that i read when i thought of starting a travel blog and i don’t think i’m going to need to look at anything else because you have explained everything so vividly. I am not a person who travels constantly and continously. Travelling was just my hobby and i recently discovered that i want to keep doing it as my priority and want to make a living out of it by making a blog and because i don’t have enough money, i am doing some part time jobs to earn money so i can travel to different places. because obviously with so much competition out there i won’t start getting paid very soon. So, what i wanted to ask was , do i need to travel constantly and a lot to start a blog or can i have some breaks in between the travelling to earn some money?

This is brilliant, thank you so much for all of this amazing information! It has actually inspired me to go ahead with my ideas and I have started taking the initial steps to do so!

Thank you again, I look forward to following you further :-)

Hi Lauren Firstly thanks for taking the time to write in such detail about a topic which is quite daunting to someone contemplating entering the world of travel blogging, My question might be a bit stupid but I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction, I was following your step by step guide, I got the name, set up hosting, set up wordpress but I then had to leave it for a bit and when I came back to it I cant find continue from where I left off, pretty much from picking a theme onwards,,any help would be greatly apreciated

I started traveling when I was 10 in 1974 and 3 years ago began traveling again when I came to work in Iraq. My dream was to go to Maldives, I was recently divorced so I was a bit scared going by myself but I was like my bucket list will never get done if I don’t start. Thats when I found YOU ! my first alone trip was to the Maldives …. to Fulidhoo because of you! I work around so many people that travel constantly and would love to have a blog. My question is how often to start out would you need to travel? Can I continue to work and blog every trip I go on which is about 3-4 months? I would really appreciate your opinion and by the way I loved Fulidhoo and because of that trip I am fine traveling alone . Thank you! Carol

Hi, Is it sensible to start a travel blog with a best but free WordPress theme for 2-3 months or longer and then jump to a professional theme like Divi from Elegant Themes?

Yeah, you can totally start off with a free theme for a few months while you get the hang of things and start to build your audience up :-)

I am 2+ months away from 65 but still holding up on my dream of capturing the images of the world and sharing my thoughts in writing … which you made me realize is through travel blogging. I searched and met your articles. It inspired me 😊

Thank you so much. Your step by step instructions helped me understood the necessities it requires. I wish I could still fullfil this dream.

Thumbs up for Lauren!

Thanks for the great advice on this; my blog is set up and running now. Looking at starting the next step of your advice which is the monetising side. I have one question about a dedicated bank account for the blog in the early stages of setting up, and noticed you gave the following response to someone else question:

“You’ll want to register as self-employed and get an accountant so that you can start paying taxes, but you won’t need to do this until your site starts making money because it’s a hobby up until that point”.

Would you set up a dedicated business bank account for your blog and then look at taxes once revenue is coming in, or would you just use your personal account for now until it starts taking off?

Lauren, I must applaud you for this article, you are an amazing writer! Of all the guides I have read about blogging few days ago, this is the most detailed yet concise and captivating of all.

Am a novice in the blogging world with very little travelling experience, being born and brought up from a small village and poor family in Nigeria. I decided to create a travel blog about travelling , presenting poor people’s travel style and luxurious travel style, sharing mostly about people’s travel experiences in those two categories and encouraging everyone in their capacity to be involved. It is an entirely different approach to the usual travel blog and I want you to help me organise this idea to be more realistic and business savvy.

Kia Ora Lauren

I am reading this from New Zealand and I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your generosity in sharing this info. One of the best I have I read. I have just started a year long Diploma course in Travelwriting and Photography so I was really keen to see what I could do to start and take the plunge to start my blog.

Keep up the great writing and come to New Zeland sometime.

Ah, thank you so much, LJ! I actually spend a month of every year in New Zealand! My boyfriend is from Christchurch, so I’m always popping back to hang out with his family.

Hi Lauren! I’m sad to say that I’d already purchased hosting before I read your article a few months ago, so I ended up with something other than Bluehost. I didn’t understand how affiliate links work either, so I’m REALLY sorry again. But I AM considering switching hosts following a day-long site outage that my current host refuses to explain. In your experience, is it fairly easy to switch hosting plans? If I go with Bluehost I’ll sign up via your affiliate link now that I know how that works, lol.

Thanks! Andrew https://www.hikingillustrated.com

Yep, I’ve never had any problems with switching hosts, although it definitely took a little bit of googling to figure out which steps to take — if you get stuck at any point, you can always use the Bluehost live chat, if you decide to go with them, to ask for help understanding any of the steps.

Awesome, thank you so much!

Stumbled onto your blog not long ago, while looking for inspiration to start my own. I really appreciate that you’ve written this! It’s awesome! I’ve come across a little hitch, that maybe you can help me understand. While looking into wordpress, (This is before I commit to hosting and domains and all that) I noticed that to use the business option (instead of the personal) it costs around $350 a year! Yikes, wasn’t expecting that, in your blog here it never mentions anything about that. If I set up through bluehost first, and then to wordpress, like you’ve mentioned, do you not have to deal with the scary $350 for a business site set up?

Ah, you’re looking at wordpress.com — wordpress.org is what you’re looking for :-) and what this guide is for. WordPress.com hosts your site for you — so there’s no need to sign up for Bluehost — whereas WordPress.org allows you to use your own host as described in this post. You want the latter, as self-hosted sites have a lot more freedom in terms of plugins, advertising, and other stuff. WordPress.org is totally free to use, so no $350 a year — definitely don’t pay that!

Ohhhhh!!! How did I ever miss that detail. Thank you so much for clarifying that. Just downloaded it now and am officially even more lost. I guess with wordpress.com you can play around with the workings of the site before you launch it, and with wordpress.org, even to play around with it you have no choice but to pay for hosting. I wanted to play around first to see if I even have a clue how to do all of this before paying, because committing to a pay thing, and then realising I’m not smart enough to figure it out, is a very real thing. Damn!

You can play around with wordpress.com first if you like. I think the dashboards are similar, you just won’t have access to the same plugins and will be a little more limited than you would be with the .org version.

But yeah, you need a host to use wordpress.org. But honestly, WordPress is so simple to figure out that I don’t think you’ll have a problem just going with it.

Hi Lauren, thank you for your incredibly helpful post. I was wondering – once you’ve set up your hosting (for example with Bluehost) and have your website built and ready – how do you integrate the posts on your website/blog with your social media platforms such as FB/Instagram? Is there an integrated way to do this or is there lot of duplication if you want to post and establish presence on social media also (eg, do you have to post on your blog, then post on Instagram, then post on Facebook etc)?

No problem! I usually publish my blog post, tweet it out immediately after it goes live, and then share it on my Facebook page the day afterwards, and that’s it.

The more I put thought into it, the more I think I may just take the plunge and do it. I have an urge to share my travel stories and no one to share them with. This reason alone makes me think it would be worth it! Thanks so much for your replies. :)

Thank you for the informative post. I had hosted a blog around 2008-2009 but closed down after running it for a year or two, so I had some experience but needed a checklist kind of post to get started again. I’ve launched another travel blog in 2019 and I must thank you for this post as it helped me refresh everything I knew without having to go through 10 different articles :-)

Best, Tabish

Hi Lauren, thankyou for your post information, I have been thinking of starting a blog about “my family travel bucket list” I haven’t traveled outside of Australia yet but I have so many places I want to take my family, and have found that I spend alot of time researching everything about traveling with kids and family that I would like to share it with other parents out there that want to travel as well. Of course I would use reviews and do thorough research, and even have others contribute to what I am posting as well. I guess what I’m asking is, do you think this is an idea worth looking into? Thankyou.

My twin sister and I currently own and run a travel agency in addition to our full time jobs. We’ve only had the agency for about a year but so far it’s been moderately successful. We want to start getting into travel blogging as well as vlogging because we believe that it mirrors why we got into traveling and starting the travel agency. We grew up poor and never had the opportunity to travel. In college we were blessed with the opportunity to do a travel abroad program in Ghana and have been traveling ever sense. We want the blog to mirror our current and past travels as well as talk about food wine and culture shock while traveling for example when we went to China a lot of ppl wanted to take pictures with us and we did it understand why and after talking with locals we learned that there aren’t a lot of black ppl in China so that’s why they wanted to take pictures of us so we want to touch on the cultural exchanges that we do while traveling and meeting locals. I guess my question is do you think it’s a conflict of interest to have a travel blog as well as a travel agency? Do you think the viewpoints that we want to relay are different enough for us to stand out? How would you suggest dealing with two different ppl writing for the same blog bc although we are twins we have different personalities experiences and thus writing voices? We leave for a trip to Thailand and Indonesia in three weeks. Is it realistic to have a blog up and running by then or should we take pictures and write once we get back from the trip?

Hi Lauren ,Thanks for your wonderful article.I like to start a travel blog. It is 2 week still I am looking for a suitable name for my blog. Will it be ok if I use the nomber 2 instead of ‘ two’ to make the blog name shorter.Your advise is appreciated.thanks

Yep, that’s fine!

Hi Lauren, I never commented on a blog post before, but I have to say I love your post. I have been looking into starting a blog for at least a year now and all the post I have found are the same. Thank you for being different. You have inspired me to make my dream a reality. I look forward to checking out more of your post.

Hi Lauren, Your article was very helpful! When you mentioned making money off of affiliated programs such as world nomads or booking.com do you have to reach out to those companies to set something up to get commission through links in your posts or how exactly would you go about actually making money off of them?

Nope, just google “Booking affiliate program” or “World Nomads affiliate program” and sign up on their sites. Takes 2 seconds to fill in the forms and get your account set up :-)

What do you think of using content from places you have previously traveled to to kickstart your blog? Do you think it’s ok to write about trips you’ve made in the past year or only new recent trips?

Nah not necessary! I don’t do it.

Dear Lauren Good day to you.Thanks for your advise on ‘boost on Facebook’ I only recently started publishing on word press. As I am on a limited budget and zero experience on blogging I started with a personal plan. I try to install yoast SEO plugin (free version) but it is only for business plan according to word press. Is there any alternative SEO plugin or even other way to do SEO for newbies like me. This is just a temporary measure until we are financially stable.Thanks Lauren…

Ah, I see. If you’re using wordpress.com, then yeah, you won’t be able to use Yoast. That’s for people who self-host with companies like Bluehost or pay with WordPress.com.

I don’t have any personal experience with using wordpress.com, but I’d just say ignore the plugins for now. Just focus on making sure you’ve got your keywords in your blog posts and that your articles are as useful and detailed as they can possibly be — if they are, they’ll start to rank.

Hi Lauren Thanks for some great advice. I am planning a 12 month trip through Central and South America and I am looking to start a travel blog now as I plan. Some great advice for me to consider. I am clear on my usp/focus and I have experience at building wordpress sites. At the moment I’m trying to think of a good name… going to throw it out to my group of friends to see what comes up. I am quite a mature person and have travelled with a pack on my back quite extensively.. but never blogged. Going to give it a try. Cheers for the inspiration.

Hey, hi and hello!

Your blog on how to startup… well, blogs was the first one I have read and I have to admit that I got to the end and was truly stumped for questions. I mean, I DID have questions but nothing that I could not figure out and find on my own. For the most part, you cleared up all mysticism that I had found surrounding blog startups.

I am aiming to start my own travel blog within this year so I am doing the rounds right now to gather what information I can on how to do so and what I should really be looking for. I have only read a couple blogs so far and yours has pretty much delved into the waters that other sites just didn’t go into, like your own income and expenditure for instance!

But with a newfound sense of confidence, I am still going to make the leap and hopefully will have found my own little corner of the blogger world to fashion into my own!

Thank you! And Happy New Year!

hello, I was wondering if it is possible for you to switch from a personal blog to a buisness blog? I want to begin my blog soon, but do not currently have the money to begin with a buiness one? Is it easy to switch an excisting personal blog to a buisness or would you think it is better for me to wait until i do have the funds and then start from then? thankyou :)

Hi Lauren This is such great information and such a good resource for bloggers. I honestly wish that we had this information on hand when we started our blog back in 2013. Coming up with the right name was the hardest but we did get there in the end. Hosting was also hard as everyone had their own opinions what was the better. Thanks for this article.

Thank you for sharing your tips and knowledge. Starting anything new is always intimidating and can be overwhelming. It’s nice to get advice from people who actually have done it!

My family & I are very excited to evolve our travel blog!

Love this Lauren! Which subscription widget do you use? I’m stuck between feedburner vs jetpack – if either of them! Thanks

The widget in my sidebar? That’s from ConvertKit.

I used your site almost exclusively in an attempt to create a travel blog. Unfortunately, BlueHost/Word Press is one of the worst and most complex ways for someone who’s new to the game to enter the business. While they seem to have a lot of options, their tech support is $99 a month which after spending a $100 for the hosting, template, and a plug in, doubles the cost to get started.

Luckily, my husband who’s far better at this than I am is helping, but even he has been having a frustrating time sifting through unexplained menus and information with no tutorial.

I had so much planned and now I am very close to canceling my account with BlueHost/Word Press and either going with another hosting site that is much simpler OR sticking to posting YouTube Videos, Instagram, and FB posts.

Feel free to ask me any questions if you’re having problems, either here or through my contact form.

I promise it’s so easy to use once you get the hang of it and you definitely don’t need to pay for WordPress tech support!

The vast majority of the internet runs on WordPress, so it’s really worth figuring it out. Keep in mind that your host is just the space where your website lives on the internet, so all hosting services are identical. Once you’ve signed up for bluehost and installed WordPress, you’ll basically never sign into your bluehost account again. Then everything is done through your WordPress dashboard. I just thought I’d mention that, in case you’re trying to do anything on the bluehost site.

As I said, feel free to ask me any questions!

Hi Lauren! Thank you for sharing this. Such a great information specially to my fellow beginner bloggers out there! I really don’t know how to start on blogging but to be honest this blog makes me feel better and gets me go to with confidence. Thank you again!!

The article was really helpful and motivating :) good luck with your travel plans for 2020!

I’m glad to hear it! My travel plans have been cut short due to coronavirus, but that’s okay. Hopefully things get back to normal soon :-)

Hi Lauren, I wrote to you earlier on here. I’m not even a traveler, but just want to let you know: I discovered this site by googling: “Best lifestyle blog NAMES” and you were one of them! Congratulations! I’m going to follow your blog, even though I backpacked 30 years ago!!!

Thank you so much, Annien! :-)

Hello! You’re article is really helpful! I got so motivated, I got a name and logo! I want to register my domain with Bluehost, if I pick the 36-month plan, do I pay monthly or do I have to pay the 106$ once off? Thank you

I think you now have to pay upfront.

Dear Lauren, I have started my travel blog 3 months ago.I have bought my domain from word press. Unfortunately I hardly get more than 5 visitors a day and sometimes none. Recently I consulted another travel blogger he told me my travel blog confuse readers as they don’t know what I am writing about.travel blog also lacks good navigation.I have improved the navigation part but still I hardly get visitors. I also feel blue host maybe a better choice than wordpress because I have to upgrade it inorder to get stuff like SEO and Custom email. Lastly I think I have start with the wrong footing. Is it better to start all over again with blue host and a new domain.Thanks…

This is so helpful, thank you!!! I have always loved traveling but we are a young family and don’t have the means to travel as much as most but I really feel like this is what I am being called to do. I’ve travelled a lot around my state but that was years ago. Would you recommend posting about previous travels even if they were quite a while ago? And I love to budget out places that we want to go to but haven’t visited yet, would you recommend posting those ideas as well or should I just stick to something that I know? Hopefully we will start traveling more but until then I’d like to build my blog and make it successful before then. Thank you so much for your time and this post, it has been extremely helpful.

I’m sure you must get the same message often, but your site was one of the big reasons why I was able to finally make the decision to start blogging. After reading about how you were able to start traveling from a low wage job and turned it into a business, It really made me think I could achieve that too. I’ve struggled with depression and with thinking where I am is as good as my life is going to get. I’m not going to lie, it’s been really hard at times, thinking all there is to life is working to pay bills so i can live to work to pay bill, ect.

I am where you were back in 2011 and while it’s been years and, like you said, the travel blog market is really diluted now, you make it feel like it’s not to late to start living life. I’m in the process of building a site and hoping to get more of a social media presence so i can start building an audience. I’ve even planned a trip a few states away just to get out for a little bit. It’s not much, but it’s given me something to look forward to again.

Thank you so much. You have no idea how grateful i am to you.

Hey Lauren: I just ran across your site after searching @ hiking through Portugal to France which I am doing in the fall. Any advice you can give. Not sure if I’m really up for for blogging the whole time although I’m equipped to do that. Bit of a geek. Guess it would be nice if I could make some $ at it but that is very secondary. But advice would be greatly appreciated as I have never been to Spain…but I’ve been to Oklahoma.

I’m so happy to hear that!

Your article is a great help. I decided to start travel blogging and created a website using Godaddy for Domain and globehost for hosting. It was a breeze and cost me $12 to get my site up. The pandemic has made us Work from home and using the spare time for the website creation. Any suggestions on a good free theme, i have started with Writee but it has some limitations.

Happy to have found your extremely helpful article which am bookmarking for future reference.

Hi Lauren, I need your opinion if you don’t mind: I have bought my domain and built website through Dynadot. Now I learned I need wordpress. Dynadot have access to WordPress through their VPS plan ($10/month). I don’t really understand terminology like servers, plug ins etc… If you were me, would you stay with dynadot and get that plan, or move the domain to Bluehost and get WordPress through them? Thanks!

If you haven’t bought hosting through Dynadot, you can keep your domain name with them, buy hosting through Bluehost and then download WordPress through there. It’ll be cheaper that way. I bought my domain name through a random site I found when I was first starting out, so my domain name is on a different platform to my host. I’d probably do that. When you sign up for Bluehost, you can just select I already have a domain name, enter your one that you bought through Dynadot and then access WordPress through Bluehost.

Hi! I’m just starting my travel blog underthesameskye.com and trying to get to grips with this whole pinterest thing! Something noone says in their blogs regarding pinterest is – should you be pinning other peoples pins to your blogs? Or just your own when trying to grow a following? I love this post, but this is the one question I can never seem to find the answer to!

Most people recommend pinning 80% other people’s content and 20% your own. That’s what I try to do, unless I’m feeling lazy, in which case Tailwind just pins my stuff automatically for me.

Hey Lauren thanks so much for making this post it has helped me an incredible amount in getting my blog set up.

Now my main dilemma is when the best time would be to actually go all in and publish my first post…I’ve only traveled to a handful of places so I know I could probably write a few posts about where I’ve been already but I don’t want to start posting until I actually have plans to be traveling for a significant amount of time and know I will have plenty to write about, which may not be until a couple years from now. What do you recommend is the best thing to do in the meantime?

I’m a teacher, and I’ve gotten very bored with quarantine and summer. My husband and I have taken some amazing trips, and I would love to start a travel blog to document them and the ones to come. I’m basically wondering what purpose does a host serve? I would love to make a living off of a blog in the future, but I’m not about to quit my job with those dreams unless they become true. I would like to invest as little as I can in the beginning because I’m not sure of what I would even blog during the school year in between travels, so I would hate to invest and not see a return.

Hosting is basically like renting a space on the internet where your website lives. The hosting company provides the physical servers for your website to live on, maintains the software required to keep your site online, and does regular maintenance to keep your site up and running smoothly.

You can get free hosting with sites like Blogspot, but they’re very limited — you can only run certain ads, some of the ads that do run make your hosting company money as opposed to you, you can’t install many plugins, and are limited with themes. When you opt for free hosting, you have no control over your blog — it could get shut down tomorrow and you’d lose everything.

That’s why I recommend self-hosting with Bluehost, as that removes all of those limitations.

Wow, I love your set up. The info is so honest. I just recently started my own travel blog as my husband [The Big Guy] and I are looking to move abroad come first of the new 2021 yr. The pandemic put a screeching halt to our March 2020 take off date. Ha. I have been told I should not be so personal but its hard to be personable in your blog without losing your personality. You do a great job. My blog is 100% yet – still have a page or two to add & fill in, but I’m close, I think, to start thinking about affiliates soon.

Just for giggles, how much do you charge for mentoring?

Oh, I found your blog when I was looking for info on moving to Portugal, just fyi. Best, Holly

Hey Holly! Such a bummer to hear you had to postpone your trip :-( But I wholeheartedly disagree with the person who told you not to be so personal with your blog — it’s what helped me to be successful! Readers want to connect to people who are human, and the more personal you are, the more relatable people will find you :-)

My mentorship program is $300 a month if you sign up in June. Feel free to drop me an email if you’re interested!

Hi Lauren, great blog post, thanks for your work putting everything together. I was already at step 7 when finding your post, but even the things mentioned in step 8 helped me – especially the tips on HARO, Pinterest and Facebook groups.

Thanks and all the best, hope we can travel soon again. Cheers, Chris

thanku so much Lauren for giving a most valuable information about blog.Before,reading your post i m too confused about blogging but now everything is clear…Lauren, your writting way of posts was so simple and awesome.i can easily understood each and every line of your post…

There are approximately seventeen bazillion articles describing how to start a travel blog out there and few of them makes sense… I keep reading a lot of them but yours is one of the practical and useful one!! Great post…

Thank you! So, so, so many travel bloggers have ripped off this post since I wrote it, so I’m thrilled that you rate mine as more useful! :-)

Hey Lauren, Hope you are doing well. I am yet to start my travel blog and this post has been my goto place for any doubts whatsoever. I have been dwindling upon the idea of whether to publish my blog now or not. As due to covid-19, travel plans have been halted. I do have a few places that I have travelled, but I am in doubt whether this is the right time to publish or not. Would people really be interested in trips that I have taken 6 or 7 years back? Please help out here. I have already written 10 posts and just waiting for the right time to publish. Also, is it a good idea to start affiliate links right when I start or should I wait for some traffic? Thanks in advance. :)

There’s still plenty of other travel-related content you can focus on — like general travel tips. How to save up for travel, how to make friends while travelling, how to save money on flights, how to overcome jetlag, how to handle dorm rooms, how to use points and miles, how to pack for a weekend away… that’s just off the top of my head. You can also write about where you currently live, if it’s a popular tourist destination. And you can totally write about trips you took years ago, too — I’m currently writing a post about something I did eight years ago. I just don’t make recommendations in those posts because I can’t be sure of accuracy of restaurant/hotel quality.

The right time to publish is yesterday :-) The sooner you start, the sooner you build and audience, the sooner you’ll start making money. Absolutely start today. And start with affiliate links from day one, yes.

Thank you so much Lauren for the support and guidance you have provided. I finally created my blog and even published a few posts. I am a long way to get it all optimized and everything but just as you said, taking the first step was the most important. You are an awesome person and blogger. Thanks again :)

Hi Lauren, i am amazed with your website really ,, i am an Egyptian interior designer,,studied architecture and have gone only to Turkey,Istanbul couple of years ago,,i LOVE traveling and would like to link between architecture,interior design and traveling,,,um planning to travel to malaysia KL next trip,, and would like yo to advice me from where can i start. Thankyou :)

Wow, I just love your article. The info is so honest. I just recently started my own travel blog. This post will really help me to grow my blog significantly. Keep up the good work. Thanks a lot for this awesome piece of information.

Heya. This is such wonderful post and I feel very inspired! I’ve been rethinking what I’d like to do in life and Travel Blogging is something I’ve always wanted to do but have never done because I get extremely frustrated sitting down using technology. Do you ever feel like this? What would you say to someone who’s starting a travel blog with content written from years ago? Alongside new travel posts, of course. Thank you so much for your time x

Hey Lauren, Thanks so much for the great blog post! I like that everything is right here. I’ve been working by writing for a blog, but I think I might start my own blog on the side. I really love writing… Almost as much as I love traveling. Thank you for putting everything together. I know all about writing, but this will help me with setting it up to begin with. Looking forward to the end of this pandemic so we can travel again. Warm regards, Nancy A

I am so grateful that I stumbled upon this post of yours. There’s so much value in this post and I can’t thank you enough for it. I had an epiphany only yesterday that I do want to start a travel blog. I mean, I’ve always loved traveling and I’ve always thought of how I can share these travel experiences with people. Creating a blog has been going in and out of my mind for the past years but it was only yesterday that I am truly determined to get serious on it.

I can’t wait to start implementing the steps you mentioned here. It’s gotta be a tough road, but it’s a road I am willing and actually excited to pass through.

Again, thank you so much for this. I’ll be checking our your travel blogging mentorship post now. Hehe. :)

Much respect, Gielyn

Thank you for creating this guide! There was so much information in the article, and as I’ve been reading the comments, there’s been a second wealth of information there as well. I like that you really go over every single possible step a person may run into. I’m starting a new blog, and I had no idea where to start! This certainly is a big help for me! Thank you for the help!

Hi! I’m just thinking about building my own business and starting a blog. How did you learn to operate WordPress? Are there some tutorials you would recommend? Please let me know, I’m not sure if it’s going to be intuitive..

Loved this guide!

Honestly, I didn’t find WordPress too difficult to understand. You have your posts, where you write your blog posts, your pages, where you publish your static pages, your comments where you moderate comments, your categories where you categorise your posts, your menus, where you build your structure and navigation. I found it all very intuitive! I struggled more with deciphering how my themes worked, but they usually include documentation and demo content that shows you how to build up your site. If in doubt, Google your problem and you’ll probably find an answer :-) Or I can build your site for you if you’re on my mentorship program, so you don’t need to worry about it!

Helow Lauren! How are you? You absolutely great. Just like wow. Your blog content made me think about to persue blogging. What a great travel writer. Haha. Sorry i’m just amazed about your writing skills.

Quick question. Since beginner and looking forward to be your mentor and guide to start and navigate my blog, is that something about how tos? I mean for the next 3 months you will guide, navigate and teach me and for the next month i will be the one who will manage my blog? Please enlighten me lauren and have a great day.

Eleyn….

Yeah, with the mentorship, I spend each month showing you how to build up your blog to stand the absolute best chances of success — it doesn’t have to be for three months, either. Just for however long you feel you need — could be a month; could be six months.

Hello Lauren. My wife and I have been following you travel blog for several years. If you don’t mind, I have a few questions about your website. Do you use custom post types and taxonomies? I noticed your destination url’s are listed like “destinations/continent/country/” not the typical “category/continent/country”. Your other groupings (archive pages) such as blog, monthly-summaries, popular posts, resources, site news, what’s it like in, musings, packing, travel itineraries, travel expensise, confessions, incidents, travel plans, etc. – I figure some of these may be standard WP pages but are some of them custom taxonomies similar to the standard WP categories or tags? Thank you

That’s a setting with the Yoast plugin — you can just choose to not have category show in the url. Everything else you mentioned is a standard WordPress page.

I had been blogging for past 5 years almost (foodravel com) and yet I’m struggling to make any money. At times I feel like giving up and then I get hopes from people like you that some day I will shine. But when? Always a question.

You really make it sound so straightforward !! (I was going to say easy, but then decided that that’s SO definitely not the right word … it sure isn’t easy and you’ve probably put a lot of hard work into this) and I will definitely save this post for the future ! I’ve been thinking of a travel blog for a while, as I started traveling last year – sadly a few months before Covid-19 hit the world and after months and months of still somehow trying to get around without being unreasonable, had to just stop it all and go home. But I’m definitely planning on going again, and my next trip might bring me all the way up to Greenland, if I do it right ! So then I’ll surely have a lot to talk about … Thank you so much for all the super helpful advice, I especially love the bit about “doing things differently”. That’s what I always say – I’m terrible at posing for nice pictures, and people will more likely see dirty clothes, muddy shoes, sweaty faces and greasy hair … because well, that’s the hard reality of what will happen ! Keep going, you’re great ! X

Hi Lauren, I really enjoy your blog and following your adventures. Good luck with your move to New Zealand. I live in Charleston, SC and you should check it out once the pandemic is over. I have a technical question about your photos. Do you compress or use a compression app to make the image size smaller with the photos you use in your posts? Thanks, Luke

Thank you! I’d love to visit Charleston — it’s definitely on my list. I’d love to do a big southeast US road trip once the pandemic is over, as it’s a part of the country I really haven’t explored yet.

For photos, I compress them using Lightroom once I’ve finished editing them. I usually aim to have them between 100 and 300 kb in size when I upload.

There is so much individual and local culture in the American Southeast. You really can’t beat Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, and St Augustine. I hope to read about your travels there once the pandemic is over.

Hi Lauren :)

I’m currently following your post to help set up my first (well, second, but first official) blog.

So I’m stumped. My setup process was a little different than yours. I was never prompted to “install” WordPress. And by the look of your screenshots, it doesn’t seem like you “installed” WP either. It looks as if you were just prompted to register/sign up for an account with them to be able to use it.

I’m stumped because I didn’t have this step. Maybe it’s because I already had a blog.wordpress.com acct previously. Although, this time I’m creating a blog using a hosting account.

So my question to you is, do I need to physically go to the WP.org website and install WP there? Because that is an option and when I visit the site, it shows that I don’t yet have it installed. Or is the sign up/registration sufficient?

Thanks in advance for the help! (I’ve tried my best to find an answer to this problem, but have spent enough hours without any success, so I decided to reach out and ask :))

Hey Christina!

Feel free to drop me an email through my contact form and when I reply, you’ll be able to attach screenshots of what you’re seeing. You should be installing WordPress through Bluehost, not through WordPress.org. Does this article help you out? https://www.bluehost.com/help/article/install-wordpress?_ga=2.161335485.122244224.1609126555-2039552607.1593160949

And thanks for the reminder to update the screenshots on this post to make sure they’re current! I’ll get working on that this week :-)

Loved your article on how to set up a travel blog.

I live in Australia and am looking at going down the .com.au route instead of a .com website.

Any tips on that?

I hope 2021 treats your bustling travel life better this year.

I have a question about copyright. Do I need to apply/register for copyright, or does the content on my website automatically come under copyright? If it’s automatic, should I state it in my footer? If not automatic, how do I register?

Cheers! Lauren (Waugh)

Hi, Lauren, I have just read your article on how to begin a travel blog, with interest. You provide a host of blogger hacks with insights into the art of blogging and travelling. Out of so many principles to success the one that stands out for me is, ” don’t try to be a guidebook. Be a person. ” I used to travel for a living for the same reason you started travelling. A passion to see what was over the horizon. Then the obsession really got a grip of me for 15 years. The pictures and my diaries from that time are sadly lost or damaged beyond use. I still make notes on our travels and have started a diary again regularly. I always liked writing, and writing about where I’d been. I worked as a photographer, so my niece suggested I start a travel blog to combine the two. I spend a lot of time in Italy, sampling the food and the culture. My partner and I plan to travel more in, and out, of Italy so hopefully I will have a lot more inspiration and material to fire up my literary creativity. Thank you, Lauren for taking the time to share your knowledge and secrets with the rest of us.

Wow! I’m so happy I found your blog! You really gave me a lot of motivation to start my blog :-)

Hello, I found your post incredibly helpful! My question is a little off topic but I don’t know who else to ask.

About a year ago I decided to start a blog through bluehost and word press and had no idea what I was doing, didn’t research it and it was a total disaster. I just recently found out that I am still paying for it and I have spent hours trying to figure out how to cancel the services and subscriptions with no luck!! I have tried to contact the company but its an automated machine and when I enter the information it just hangs up on me!! Any guidance or help you can offer would be much appreciated!!

I would really like to start over with a travel blog and do this the right way! But I am worried that if I start another blog and it doesn’t work out I will be stuck in the same situation!! Thank in advance for your help!!

You can cancel your account. Just log in to your Bluehost account and click on do not renew — you won’t be charged any further payments. Instructions are here: https://www.bluehost.com/hosting/help/how-to-cancel-my-hosting-account

But beyond that, is there any reason for you to cancel this one and start another one? Can you not stick with your current one and work on that? Having an aged domain helps your site to rank in Google, so there is a benefit to keeping your current set-up.

I loved this. I see a few hundred comments above me so wonder if mine will break through. I’m in year three of travel blogging and infinitley patient that it will pay off one day. Thank you for the advice, I plan to take you up on lots of it. Just ordered some books and will go in depth on the other points. I would kind of argue your point (in that my blog is first hand experiential) that personal storytelling won’t work. Many of my comments are about how I made someone feel like they are there, or want to book a trip to go there. Just a little point that hopefully separates me to some degree. Thanks again for the insight! I’ll be following!

The problem with storytelling is that it won’t bring a large audience to your site, as storytelling posts rarely rank in Google or perform well on Pinterest — those two sources making up 95% of traffic for almost every travel blog. And the other issue is that they’re tremendously difficult to monetise with affiliates, as you’ll rarely be reaching your audience at the booking stage of their trip, which is when they’ll be looking to spend money through your recommendations. It’s not to say you can’t find success through narrative posts, but that it’s best to have plenty of resource guides on your site, too — the guides will bring people to your site and your stories are what will keep them there.

Hey Lauren I had just started blogging a few days back and was so much confused about which topic to choose. First I selected to blog about technologies and updates but laterwards I shifted my topic to travel-related. So going through the topics I got your topic about starting a travel blog, it is so knowledgeable that if a person wants to start blogging related to travel must read this topic as it has all the details from the beginning like how to buy hosting and the most important that is to choose the topic that about which topic that the want to start a blog and also telling about the theme you should use. Thanks for proving such great knowledge to people and helping me with great knowledge and excitement to focus on my blog and making it more beautiful. Thank You

I have suffered with Depression for the past few years and would love to start a travel blog, travelling is my passion and the pandemic has certainly made me realise even more how i want my life to go! I want to eventually leave the office day job behind and spend time experiencing the world with my family. Your article is inspiring and i am going to give this my best shot.

I am so glad I came across your page today – I am graduating with an engineering degree this winter and am planning to doing some traveling (mainly to Australia) for about a year!

I would love to start a travel blog, as similar to you, I’ve always loved to travel and have wanted to find a way to do it more than just a few weeks a year.

Do you think it would be possible to start a successful blog when only traveling a few months a year to start? Also, would it be worth starting it before my trip and just including stuff from around my state?

Thanks in advance and keep up the great blog!

Thank you so much for the advice ! My girlfriend and I have seriously been considering starting a travel blog and this has motivated me so much. Together we have been to Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Panama so far, but we are scared that we do not have enough traveling experience to start a blog, or that we will run out of things to post before our next trip. Do you think it is still attainable ?

Absolutely! There’s hundreds of blog posts you can write just for those destinations alone

Travel Tips for Costa Rica The Best Time of Year to Visit Costa Rica How Long to Spend in Costa Rica How to Spend a Week in Costa Rica How to Spend Two Weeks in Costa Rica What to Pack for Costa Rica How Much Does it Cost to Travel in Costa Rica First Impressions of Costa Rica The Best Things to Do in Costa Rica The Best Beaches in Costa Rica Is Costa Rica Safe The Best Accommodation in Costa Rica What to East in Costa Rica

And that’s just at a country-level. You can also write a dozen posts for each of the cities/towns you visited. Do that for every destination. Write similar posts for the country you’re currently living in. Write general travel posts, about how to stay safe while travelling, how to avoid scams, how to save money while travelling, how to save money on flights, how to make friends while travelling, what’s it like in hostels, how to find the best tours, how to plan a trip from start to finish, items not to pack with you, why you want to travel, tips for travelling as a couple.

The most successful, most lucrative travel blogs are the ones that only focus on an individual country, so the fewer the destinations you concentrate on, the more successful you’ll be :-). It’s a big misconception in travel blogging: that you have to be well-travelled and a full-time traveller to find success, but the opposite is true. Even for myself, I tripled my travel blog’s income within a year of stopping my full-time travels to find a base.

So yep, 100% attainable. And there’s no way you’ll even come close to running out of things to post about.

Thank you so much Lauren. I have been so confused trying to start a travel blog! I have a library full of information on how to start a travel blog and I was still unable to start one. Your information prompted me to start now with it. Your steps are easy to follow. I like the way you justify every step you mention. Once again Thank You! You are my redeemer! Kgabo

Hello Lauren! I am also thinking about starting a travel blog to gain exposure regarding my photographs and share my travel stories with others! Do you have any general advice for me in how to approach starting the blog and how to go about gaining interest and readers? Also many of my entries to the blog will be me talking about past travels and experiences, as opposed to being currently in those places and was wondering if that is alright or if the blogging world is more so oriented to blogging about things in the present as opposed to the past?

Meet Lauren Juliff

Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

Travel Better, Cheaper, Longer

How to Start a Travel Blog

A laptop on a desk inside an office with lots of plants

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, including the links for HostGator and Bluehost. At no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links. If you have any questions about the companies or my status as an affiliate, please don’t hesitate to email me.

Whether as a hobby or profession, starting a travel blog is pretty easy. You can set it up in under 30 minutes. It’s a lot easier than when I started my blog in 2008. Back then, I didn’t know the first thing about making a website. Luckily, on my adventures around the world, I met Matt and Kat, a British couple who also happened to be web designers.

When I came home and decided I wanted to start this travel blog, they agreed to help me set it up and teach me HTML. I hand-coded the website and used a funky tool called Dreamweaver to build it. It was painfully slow and I wasn’t very good at it. (And my original website was really ugly!)

Luckily, you no longer have to build websites that way!

Creating a website has gotten a lot easier and simpler thanks to WordPress, an out-of-the-box platform designed to make sites easier for those not technically savvy (like myself). It powers over 25% of the internet and is the best platform to start a blog on. It’s super flexible and can do whatever you want it to do — from a simple journal to complex blogs and e-commerce websites.

In our blogging course , we’ve had thousands of students start a website on WordPress without any technical skills. They got them up and running — and you can too!

While I’ve talked about how to succeed as a travel blog in the past, today, I want to give a quick tutorial on how to create a travel blog from scratch in seven easy steps.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Picking a Name Step 2: Signing Up for a Host Step 3: Installing WordPress Step 4: Setting Up Your Website Step 5: Installing Your Theme Step 6: Creating Your Main Pages Step 7: Joining Our Blogging Course Frequently Asked Questions

Step 1: Pick your domain name

The first thing you need to do is pick a domain name (i.e., your website name). When doing so, there are no hard and fast rules. There’s no such thing as a “wrong domain name,” but there are a couple of rules I like to live by:

Make a name that can last – If you pick “JohnsAsiaAdeventure.com” and then you leave Asia, the domain name won’t make sense anymore. Make sure you pick a name that isn’t so focused that if you decide to shift gears, you can keep the same domain name.

Don’t date your blog – Don’t pick something related to your age either. “Twenty-Something Travel” becomes really irrelevant when you get older, which actually happened to a blogger I know. Pick a name that can be used no matter your age!

Avoid certain words – Avoid words like “nomad,” “vagabond,” “wanderlust,” and “adventure.” They have been done to death, and they will make you seem like you’re copying people, not being original.

Pick a name that describes what you do as much as possible – I was a nomad, so “Nomadic Matt” was the best pick for me. If you’re into luxury, put words in your domain name that convey that. You want people to see the name and go, “I get what that website is about.”

Keep it short – Use 3-4 words maximum. You want the name that rolls off the tongue. Even Ramit Sethi from “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” abbreviates his site to “I Will Teach” or “IWT.” The shorter, the better.

Keep it simple – I’m not a fan of using jargon or slang in your domain name, as I think that makes things confusing for people who don’t know it. The last thing you want is someone saying, “What does that mean?” or being confused. If someone has to think hard about the meaning, then you’ve already lost them. So don’t try to be clever!

Step 2: Sign up for a host

After you’ve picked out your domain name, you’ll need to register it online and buy hosting (the little computer in the sky that’s going to power your website). There are a lot of basic hosting companies out there — and most of them are pretty terrible.

However, the two biggest and best are HostGator and Bluehost . I would go with one of those two.

While they are owned by the same parent company, I lean toward HostGator , as I find its call center customer service quicker and friendlier, and HostGator is prone to fewer outages (no one wants their website to go down!). It’s also really improved its service and now offers free SSL certificates (that’s the thing that tells users your website is secure).

Here’s a walk-through of how to set up your host with HostGator (it won’t take long):

First, head over to the website’s sign-up page and get hosting for only $2.78 per month. That’s over 60% off the normal price!

Next, choose your plan (I suggest the hatchling plan):

Enter your desired domain name at the top of the page. Make sure before you sign up that the domain you want is available, so as to avoid issues with your signup process.

register your domain name with hostgator

The system will then prompt you to take out “domain privacy protection,” which we recommend you do. (Why? This will hide your address and contact details from appearing online when someone queries your domain name, and it will keep spammers from calling you to sell their sketchy web services. It’s really annoying — and once your name and phone number are out there, they’re out there forever. Nip it in the bud by hiding them from the beginning.)

If you already have a domain name but need hosting, simply select the “I already own this domain” from the tab at the top. Then, enter your domain name and continue to the next step.

Make sure you have selected the right hosting plan from the drop-down list and then select the billing cycle you are prepared to pay. The longer you lock in for, the cheaper initial pricing will be.

We suggest starting with the “Hatchling Plan” (which gives you hosting for one single domain), but if you have plans for more than one website, then opt for the “Baby Plan” instead, to give you room to grow (since you can host unlimited domains with it).

Next, you will then select the username for your account and a security PIN. Fill out your billing information and preferred payment type (credit card or PayPal.)

You can opt-out of all of the additional services on offer by unchecking them.

additional services offered by hsotgator

Review your order details and make sure everything is correct. Then click “Checkout Now!” at the bottom of the page.

Once your order has been received, you’ll be redirected to the HostGator billing portal. You will also be sent two separate emails with the login credentials to your hosting control panel and the billing portal for your HostGator account. Be sure to save the information. Save them on your computer and/or print the emails for safekeeping.

They will look similar to the example below:

For those of you with an existing domain or a domain purchased from a third-party site like GoDaddy, take note of the nameservers listed on your hosting account email. You will need to add those to your domain where you purchased it, to link your domain and hosting together. Please refer to the support documents from where you bought your domain for exact instructions on how to update your nameservers.

That’s it! All that takes about five minutes from start to finish!

Again, you can click here to go to HostGator to set it up.

Step 3: How to Install WordPress

After you’ve registered your domain name and chosen your hosting package, the next thing you’ll want to do is install WordPress. (WordPress is what will actually run the website. The host is simply the computer your site sits on.)

WordPress is an open-source, free web publishing application, content management system (CMS), and blogging tool built by a community of developers and contributors to make it easy for people to blog!

After you’ve paid for your domain, you’ll get an email telling you your login details. Log in to your hosting control panel using the link provided to you by email when you purchased your hosting from Hostgator. The link would look similar to this:

https://gatorXXXX.hostgator.com:2083

The email will be titled “Your Account Info” if you have trouble locating it in your inbox.

Once logged into your control panel, you need to scroll down the settings page to locate the “Software” section. Then click on the “QuickInstall” link. The software section will be located toward the bottom of the page.

On the page that loads, select WordPress from the top menu or the WordPress tile on the page..

Select your domain name from the drop-down. Leave the “install/path/here” field blank.

Enter the name of your blog, an admin username (make sure the admin username is hard to guess), your name, and your email address, and then agree to the terms and conditions below. Then click the “Install” button.

Once the install process has finished, you will be given the password you need to log in to your WordPress site in the notification bar at the top (dismiss the popup that appears). Take note of the password, as we will show you how to change that later on. You will also be emailed the details if you miss or forget to save the info.

Step 4: Setting up your website

After you’ve installed WordPress, go to domainname.com/wp-admin and use the username and password you created to log in. You’ll see a screen like this after you log in:

Here’s a little overview of the menu on the left side of the screen:

Dashboard – The dashboard is the first thing you see when you log in to WordPress, and it’s the main administrative area for your blog.
Home – This will take you back to the main dashboard view.
Updates – This area will tell you if WordPress, your plugins, or your theme need to be updated.
Posts – You can view all your blog posts here, as well as set up new ones and add categories and tags.
Media – Here’s where you can view your media library and add new media content, like photos and videos.
Pages – Pages are the individual landing pages on your website (like your About page, Contact page, Resources page, etc.). You can add new pages here as well as review and edit existing ones.
Comments – Comments on your blog posts go here. You may want to check the spam folder periodically to make sure you’re not missing real comments.
WPForms – WordPress’s contact-form plugin.
Marketplace – Here you can create an online marketplace.
Appearance – This section lets you entirely customize your site’s appearance.
Plugins – Review, install, and update your plugins here.
Users – If there’s more than one person accessing your blog, you can create accounts and give them certain privileges here.
Tools – This section has certain tools to aid you with management tasks.
Settings – You can adjust all your site’s settings here, including things like your blog title and the size of thumbnails being used.
Insights – Insights provides traffic and user stats about those visiting your website. (Google Analytics is a better choice, though.)

Plugins are a great way to add additional functionality to a WordPress-powered site. And with over 50,000 listed in the WordPress Repository and many more premium options available from developers, there are endless possibilities as to what you can do with your site. (I’ll list some examples below.)

To get started, click on “Plugins” and then “Add New” when logged into your WordPress dashboard. Here you can search for plugins that you want and install them via a one-click install that automatically installs them to your WordPress platform.

Alternatively, you have the option to upload a plugin you have purchased or downloaded from a third-party site. To do this, see the “Step 3” arrow in the picture above. All you have to do is click “upload plugin” and you’ll be asked to upload the ZIP file of the plugin that you downloaded from the third-party website.

Once you have uploaded a plugin (or searched for one, as I’ve shown in the image below) you can install it.

After clicking the “Install Now” option, the button will change to say “Activate.” This allows you to enable the plugin on your site and makes it ready to be configured and used.

If you can think of a feature you’d like to have on your site, I can almost guarantee there is a plugin for it, but here are the essential ones for your travel blog:

Akismet – Just like getting junk mail in your mailbox, your website will get spammers looking to leave junk comments on your site. Akismet seeks to reduce the amount of this by automatically filtering it for you.

Yoast SEO – The best SEO plugin out there. This combines the ability to create meta tags and descriptions for your posts, optimize your titles, create a sitemap for search engines to read, customize how your posts appear across social media, and do a whole lot more.

Relevanssi – While WordPress does a lot of things well, what it fails at is adding search functionality to your site. Relevanssi seeks to fix this and give your readers the most accurate results when searching on your site.

UpdraftPlus – You can never back up your site too much. The WordPress database holds every word you’ve ever written, and if your blog has started to make you a few dollars, you would be nuts not to keep regular backups. UpdraftPlus does it perfectly.

Grow by Mediavine – A great social sharing plugin for your site. It comes with great a simple set of icons that work well on both desktop and mobile.

Cache Enabler – This plugin creates saved copies of your site, making loading your web pages much faster.

Code Canyon – This interactive map is a cool way to highlight your travels and share them with your readers.

Step 5: Install your theme

One of the most important things a blog needs besides good content is a good design. People decide in seconds whether or not they trust your website and choose to stay. A visually unappealing website will turn off readers and reduce the number of return visits you get.

So to accomplish a good design, you will need an amazing WordPress theme (i.e., design templates and files).

Luckily, there are lots of out-of-the-box options for you where you can download a predesigned theme, upload it to your website, switch it on, change some settings, and presto! A new look for your website!

You can get:

Free themes – Free themes are plentiful and for budding new bloggers looking to make their mark online. They seem like a great option, as they allow you to keep costs low. There are many great free themes online, but most of them are not amazing. If you plan on blogging for a long time, this might become a problem as your website grows. However, if you just need a simple design to blog for your friends and family, then go the free route. You can find some good free themes at wordpress.org .
Premium themes – The next step up from a free theme is a premium theme. Premium themes are paid themes that offer a bit more uniqueness, flexibility, and functionality. These cost $25 USD and up, depending on the developer and features.

I suggest getting a premium theme . Yes, it’s another cost — but here is why you should do it:

With a premium theme, you almost always get customer support from the developers. If you get in trouble, they are there for you. You don’t get that with a free theme.
With a premium theme, there are more controls and instructions so they are easier to change. Free themes don’t have that.
Premium themes tend to be a lot prettier.
Premium themes are faster and more SEO friendly.

Genesis themes by StudioPress are some of the best and most popular if you’re looking to invest in a top-notch theme.

To install your theme, simply go to the left-hand column, click Appearance –> Themes –> Upload.

Whatever theme you picked will come as a .ZIP file for you to easily upload. From there, you just activate it, and it’s turned on! All themes come with a manual and help file so you can customize your design to your specific needs.

(If you want a custom logo or need to hire any designers, two sites to find freelancers are Upwork and 99designs .)

Step 6: Create your main pages

After you’ve uploaded your theme, you’re going to want to make a few basic pages on your website in addition to the blog posts. The difference between a page and a post is that a page is a static piece of content that lives separate from the blog. A post is a blog post that gets “buried” as you write more and more. For example, this post is a blog post. When I update again, another blog post will get put on top of it, and it will be pushed down in the archives, making it harder to find.

But a page, like my About page, lives on the top of the website, right near the main URL, and does NOT get buried. It’s a lot easier to find.

To create these pages, go again to your left sidebar and click Pages —> Add New. (For blog posts, use Posts –> Add New.)

I recommend creating four basic pages to start:

About page – This where you tell people about yourself and your history, what your blog is about, and why it will help them. This is one of the most important pages on your website, so make it personable!

Contact page – People need a way to reach you! Be sure to be very clear on what emails you will and won’t respond to, so people don’t send you spam.

Privacy page – This is a standard user agreement page informing readers what the applicable laws on your site are, that you use cookies, etc. etc. You can find out-of-the-box examples throughout the internet.

Copyright page – This is a standard page letting people know you own this work and not to steal it. You can find out-of-the-box examples of these, too, throughout the internet.

(If you look in my footer, under the “About Us” section, you can see examples of all four of these pages!)

Step 7: Join our blogging program! (optional)

Superstar Blogging travel blogging program

You’ll learn everything I know about creating a successful blog from creating engaging content, going viral, networking with bloggers, getting media attention, mastering SEO, creating products, growing a newsletter, and making money.

If you’re interested, click here to learn more and get started !

requently Asked Questions

Starting a blog can be an intimidating process. I struggled a ton when I first started blogging and had a lot of questions — but no one to ask them to. Since I continue to get questions about blogging emailed to me every week, I thought I’d share some of the answers here (we cover all of this in the course I mentioned above too).

How much does it cost to start a blog? You can start a travel blog for just a few dollars per month. Hosting costs less than $5 USD per month, which is the only expense you absolutely need. In a perfect world, you’d also purchase a premium theme, which can cost around $100-150 USD, but that’s about all you need at the start. Everything else can wait!

Can I blog if I have a full-time job? You definitely don’t need to be a full-time traveler to be successful. I started my blog as a hobby while working as a teacher — and so did tons of other bloggers who are now successful. Starting a blog is like starting a business. It won’t make money overnight, so keeping your day job is a smart move. Lots of part-time bloggers are successful!

Do I need a laptop or fancy camera to start a blog? You definitely need a laptop and, while a camera is helpful, a big fancy camera is not 100% necessary. A simple phone camera or point-and-shoot camera will suffice. I only travel with my iPhone and that works well!

Is it too late to start a blog? Definitely not! Think of blogs like restaurants. Is it too late to start a restaurant? Of course not! Yes, there are already a TON of restaurants out there, but there’s always room for a new, awesome restaurant.

The same goes for blogging. There are TONS of blogs out there, but most of them are average. There is ALWAYS room for new, awesome content!

Can you actually make money blogging? Definitely! This is not a get-rich-quick industry though. Most bloggers don’t make any money for their first year, however, there are thousands of travel bloggers out there making everything from a few bucks per month to full-time incomes. If you put in the work, learn the right skills, and stay consistent, it’s 100% possible to make a living in this industry.

Do I need a lot of technical skills to get started? There are some minor technical skills you need, but otherwise, that’s it. I had zero technical skills when I started, which is why I wanted to include a comprehensive tech unit in my course as the tech stuff is the most tedious. But you don’t need to be a computer whiz to get started. You just need to learn the basics.

How much money can you make as a blogger? There are travel bloggers bringing in over 1 million dollars a year from their website so the sky is the limit! But, realistically, the majority of full-time bloggers make between 80,000-150,000 a year.

That’s it! You’ve set up your basic website. Sure, there are social media buttons to add, blogs to write, images to upload, and things to tweak but all that comes later. Once you do the steps above, you have the framework needed to create and share your story with the world! To recap on how to start a travel blog:

Step 1: Pick a Name
Step 2: Sign Up for Hosting
Step 3: Install WordPress
Step 4: Set Up Your Website
Step 5: Install Your Theme
Step 6: Create Your Main Pages
Step 7: Join Our Blogging Course (Optional!)

By following these steps, you can start your travel blog and your stories and tips with the world! (That’s where the real fun begins!) Don’t let the tech scare you. I didn’t know anything when I started. I was totally clueless and had to teach myself how to do this. If I can do this, you can start a blog too! I believe in you! (Email me if you want more encouragement.)

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner . It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld . If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

SafetyWing (best for everyone)
Insure My Trip (for those 70 and over)
Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage)

Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.

Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.

Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, including the links for HostGator and Bluehost. At no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links. If you have any questions about the companies or my status as an affiliate, please don’t hesitate to email me.

Got a comment on this article? Join the conversation on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter and share your thoughts!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I recommend only products and companies I use and the income goes to keeping the site community supported and ad free.

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How to Start a Travel Blog: The Complete Guide

Many people dream about traveling the world for a living; and there are people that are actually able to do so that aren’t pilots, flight attendants, or businessmen. These people are known as travel bloggers and they get paid to visit and write about their major passion in life: travel.

Before you think it’s all a dream, it’s time to debunk a few myths and tell some truths about how to start a travel blog. 🏖

Travel Blogging Truths

Who wouldn’t want to be a travel blogger? Travel can be expensive and the idea of having someone else cover your costs is certainly enticing. But it’s not all about grabbing trips to Paris in first class. Travel blogging is just like a job .

Travel blogging isn’t easy. The fact that you’re traveling and getting paid to do so while staying in top accommodations is what most people see. They don’t realize that there are a lot of struggles that go hand-in-hand with figuring out how to start a travel blog.

Here’s what you need to know before getting started as a travel blogger:

It’s a saturated niche. Everyone wants to ride the wave of being a travel blogger, thinking it’s all rainbows and sunshine—that by virtue of having a travel blog (and a few followers), they can request comped stays at 5-star hotels. But it’s not that easy . There are plenty of travel bloggers that spent a long time building their empire before they took off to the point where they received any special perks (or compensation).
Many times, you’re behind your computer. Being a blogger is like having your own magazine and being the editor, photographer, writer, and stylist—all in one. Some bloggers have teams now, but in the beginning, it will be just you . Taking and editing photos and/or video, write-ups, SEO , social media scheduling: all these tasks will require a fair amount of time stuck in front of your computer.
Writer’s block. Companies pay you for content, and to be a successful travel blogger, you have to follow deadlines like any regular job. Creating great content while at the same time, experiencing what every place has to offer isn’t easy, especially when you just want to relax and you’re on a tight deadline.
You won’t earn a fixed income. As with freelancing in general, you’re only as good as your next project. You’ll also have to think of travel blogging as an expense at the beginning. After all, how will you start writing about places you haven’t been to? You have to invest some money to do the traveling that will serve as the subject for your content.
If you’re a solo travel blogger, it can be lonely to go from place to place on your own. And since you aren’t in a place for too long, you’ll constantly make and break friendships and connections.
Not knowing what’s next. Becoming a travel blogger may seem exciting at first, but you have to be constantly planning for what’s next. There may be a time where travel loses excitement or you run out of funds and you’ll need to plan accordingly.

If you just want to learn how to start a travel blog for the sake of sharing your travels, then these truths may not apply to you. Your expectations and ambitions will be based on self-fulfillment (and perhaps sharing your adventures with friends and family) more so than building a brand to appeal to sponsors.

How to Start A Travel Blog

Not scared away by the harsh truths of travel blogging? Here’s how to start a travel blog, step by step:

Choosing a Niche

There are two basic ways to get started: travel then figure out how to start a travel blog , or plan to start a travel blog then do the actual traveling . The motivation for the people in the former situation is likely just that they want an outlet to share their travels to family and friends, while the latter is more suited to those that plan to expand and monetize their travel blog in the future.

Like food blogs , travel blogs are a dime a dozen, so it’s best to start by choosing a niche (especially when you eventually want to earn from travel blogging) that will help differentiate you from the pack, since general travel blogs will usually not fare well when it comes to SEO efforts.

Travel Blogging Sub Niches

There are so many travel blog niches you can think of and fill a need for. To some, their niche comes naturally. For others, it could take a while to make a decision. Here are some questions you can ask yourself when determining a niche for your travel blog:

Why do I want to blog?
What am I passionate about telling or teaching to others?
What are my skills, strengths, interests, and expertise?
Can I write about this topic for a long time? The niche shouldn’t be too broad or too narrow.

If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some of the more popular travel niches:

City blogging: Focused on your city (you don’t have to travel that far, and you perhaps know the topic better than most)
Country-focused: Destinations around the country
Area/Region: Like South America or Southeast Asia-focused
Demographic-focused: Like travel blogs specifically targeted to Americans/American passport holders
Budget travel
Luxury travel
Solo travel
Female travel
Traveling for work
Adventure travel
Family travel
Empty nesters/traveling for seniors
Traveling with disabilities

Or if you’re really ambitious, you can even blog about your worldwide journey, as Gary Arndt has done on Everything Everywhere . He sold his house in 2007 and has been traveling around the world ever since (over 175 countries and counting).

To be sure that someone will want to read your blog, search for your competition (to validate if there’s an existing audience for your idea). You might even want to utilize a tool like Ahrefs or BuzzSumo to look up some of the most popular content in a niche, such as “Traveling in South America,” to get an idea of what other bloggers are writing about. Then ask yourself, can you do this better?

Alternatively, you may want to try and be the first in your niche. If you can, find a gap in the market. If you find yourself asking “Why hasn’t anybody done this?”—do it yourself!

Most bloggers market themselves as brands. Your brand is what you’re known for and known as. It’s what makes people say “That is so XX!” when they see a piece of your content.

Aspects of blog branding include:

Your blog name and niche
Your blog’s overall look: the theme, fonts, logo, color palette, images you use, and so on
The voice of your writing

Coming up with your Blog Name

Your blog name is important because it’s also what your blog is known as (your brand). While you’ll be able to change many things about your blog over time, your name is something you should stick with. Give it a fair amount of thought before deciding on it.

Not sure what to call your shiny new travel blog? You might start with your own name, a play on that name, or a mix of your name and travel-related terms. A few general rules for settling on a blog name (which will also be your domain name):

It must easy to recall and easy to spell
It should also be not too long
It must not contain hyphens or numbers

For more tips, you can take a look at our guide: How to Choose a Domain Name (8 Tips to Stand Out).

Some brilliant travel blog names to look to for inspiration include Nomadic Matt , which is about a guy who travels the world, Adventurous Kate , a blog about a girl who quit her job to travel the world, and The Blonde Abroad , which is about a solo female traveller who is (you guessed it) blonde. There’s also Tanks that Get Around , a travel blog/travel tank top shop.

Setting up the Blog

A professional blog has three technical elements you’ll need to setup: domain name , blogging platform, and web host.

Choosing a Blogging Platform

There are many free blogging platforms out there, like Blogger, WordPress.com , and Tumblr. Any of these options is fine for a personal blog, but if you plan on monetizing your site, a self-hosted WordPress blog is your best bet .

The other platforms come with their own restrictions, but with a self-hosted WordPress site, you’re free to customize it completely. Self-hosted WordPress also allows you to grow and not worry about having to change platforms later if your travel blog suddenly becomes super popular. Read more about the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com .

WordPress powers 42.7% of the internet , is super user-friendly and has flexible customization options. It is used on many different kinds of websites , be they blogs, ecommerce sites, news portals, or business sites. Due to its open-source nature, WordPress is free to use, however creating and maintaining a site might cost you some money .

While the content management system you choose is free (assuming you choose WordPress), you’ll have to pay for your professional domain name and web hosting.

Choosing a Reliable Web Host

The web host is where you store your website’s files. Hosting plans can be as cheap as $4/month and can be upgraded to give you more storage space and bandwidth for visitors as your blog grows.

It’s important to choose a reliable and stable web host that does not have too much downtime. If you’re starting out, you might be better off with shared hosting, which means you’ll be sharing a server with other blogs. The downside is, your blog may load slower because you’re sharing resources with other websites. Also, you might have to spend more time fiddling with your site.

Application hosting , database hosting , and managed WordPress hosting through a company like Kinsta have its advantages for those interested in how to start a travel blog.

Since you’re on the go, the last thing you have time to worry about is downtime or messing around with your server. Additionally, you might not always have access to the best internet connection to fix things. Falling back on a reliable managed host might actually save you money.

You’ll also get access to a variety of tools which can make managing your site a lot easier, such as Kinsta’s custom dashboard .

A few other things to look out for when deciding on a web host:

WordPress optimized
Good customer support
Automatic backups
Ample storage space

Read more about how Kinsta is different than other hosts.

Customizing the Blog’s Look

After you’ve installed and setup the free WordPress CMS with your web host, you can focus on setting up your blog’s look and feel—an important aspect of branding.

Customizing the following will help your travel blog become your own:

Theme: You can choose from both paid and free options . There are themes that cater specifically to travel blogs. When you’re just getting started, don’t overthink your blog’s theme. You might want to start with a free one first, because unlike your blog’s name, you can change the design later on .

To help with the process of choosing the blog’s overall look easier, you can make a branding board. A branding board includes:

Color palette : Have a set of 2 to 3 complementing colors (anything more would be distracting).
Fonts : 3 at most. Think one for your logo, one for headings, one for body copy.
Images that reflect what you want your blog to evoke when visitors drop by your site.

Increase Blog Functionality with Plugins

What attracts many users to WordPress is the customizability it offers thanks to plugins, which are codes you can install to add functionality to your site. Since you’re just getting started, defer to the experts. Blogging Wizard shares some of the must-have plugins that can help with SEO, analytics, backups , safety , and speeding up your blog .

There are also some plugins to consider that were created specifically for travel blogs. These include:

You might also want to add an Instagram plugin to show off your travel photos on your blog.

You might also consider installing affiliate plugins , but we’ll talk more about that in the latter monetization section.

Content Creation

The most important part of a blog is the content. Content shouldn’t just be confined to articles (or text); it can also take the form of photos (graphics, infographics), videos, and audio ( podcast ).

Of course, you shouldn’t start with all of these different types of content at once—it can be overwhelming. Instead, you can start adding new content types as your blog starts growing and you get the hang of running it.

To get some inspiration we recommend you to take a look at these guide:

How To Be A Solo Content Marketing Ninja

How to Create Evergreen Content That Lasts (17 Tips and Tricks)With WordPress

5 Things More Important for Your Content Than Content Length

There is no right or wrong way to write. Many people adopt a journal way of writing—telling people about their day or experience, while some go for how to guide types of posts.

The best kind of blogs are the ones that deliver a mix of content types. Many people that read travel blogs are after the information you can give them about a place, while your unique voice (which adds to the branding part of the blog) is what will draw readers to you.

If you plan to travel after setting up your travel blog, you can plot out what content to write, what places to feature, what angles to write about. Ideally, you’ll have at least 15 posts ready to go before launching. This will give you time to consistently release content as you work on your next pieces, while giving readers enough content to stick around and read.

Tips to Optimize Content for SEO

There’s no hard and fast rule for content length and ranking on Google but in general, the longer, the better.

Though the in’s and out’s of proper on-page SEO are outside of the scope of this article, here are a few quick hits for setting up content for success:

Use headings to organize your article (and to strategically make use of keywords )
Write titles that people will pique people’s curiosity so they will share your post, but don’t be clickbaity (meaning, truly back up the article with great content). Also, write titles the way people search.
Use keywords in URL slugs

For a more advanced study of SEO (that’s still beginner-friendly), check out our SEO checklist and some recommended SEO plugins you should start off.

Asher Fergusson, a successful travel blogger, and Kinsta customer said that the secret for his rapid growth in organic search rankings was to conduct a controversial research study. After having a nightmare Airbnb experience with his wife and 10-month-old son in Paris he decided to review over 1,000 horror stories to see what’s most likely to go wrong. The resulting article titled, “ Is Airbnb Safe? ” led to being featured on the front page of Reddit and was picked up by dozens of mainstream media outlets. This boosted the SEO strength of his entire website.

Photography

People are visual creatures, which is why platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are so successful and growing at a rapid pace .

Taking great photos or videos that make viewers feel like they are there or will want to be there will attract more visitors to your blog. The photos will also be used for your blog promotion; pretty photographs with catchy titles attract people on sites like the aforementioned Pinterest.

While you’re thinking about images, don’t forget to optimize your images , both for performance and for SEO . You can’t just upload full resolution photos to your blog and expect them to load fast. You’ll need a little help from an optimization tool or plugin. Name your files something meaningful (and short), as Google looks at things like these when it chooses what to index for Google image search. Which tools and how to showcase your photos you can read our guide: 8 Best WordPress Photo Gallery Plugins .

There are three main ways to promote your blog:

Social media: The easiest way to promote your travel blog is through your own network, but social media, with hundreds of millions of monthly active users, is also known for targeted advertising, meaning that it can help your content reach the people most likely to care about it. Hand Luggage Only’s Instagram is a great example of a beautiful travel photo diary. Another awesome platform where you can promote your content is Pinterest. We wrote a detailed guide on the best Pinterest marketing tips .

Traditional media: Getting featured on newspapers and magazines is good exposure, even for an online entity. In fact, this is how popular blogger Nomadic Matt quickly grew his following.
Search engines: The largest potential source of traffic, but comes with a lot of competition.

Writing guest posts is another way to get backlinks to your site from more prominent travel blogs. On another note, collecting email addresses and sending out email newsletters is an effective way to get more views because it gives you a direct connection with your subscribers (unlike social networks, which may restrict reach to your existing followers).

Nomadic Matt, arguably the most popular travel blog, recognized the potential for these tactics but went in a different direction . He pitched guest blog posts to finance blogs on how to save money traveling. He guest posted on entrepreneurship podcasts to talk about how he was able to build a business from his travel blog.

These tactics set himself apart from others, and also introduced his site to multiple different audiences.

Travel Blog Monetization

There are several ways to monetize your travel blog , but when you’re starting out, it can be tough. What many travelers (or digital nomads) do to sustain their traveling lifestyle while working on the road involves accepting jobs as virtual assistants, doing freelance writing, consulting, or offering some other type of service.

Ways to Make Money from Your Travel Blog

Besides using your personal brand to get clients for services you may be interested in offering, there are many other ways to make money from your travel blog:

Sponsored trips : Work with private companies or brands and tourism boards. Tourism boards usually want press to encourage more people to visit their country. They will usually pay for food, lodging, activities, and sometimes even airfare. Since they want resulting posts to reach a wide audience, this might only be offered to those with bigger followings. Some companies may also invite you to sponsored trips to launch their products—with everything paid for.

Workshops : After growing a following and being recognized as an expert, you may be invited for speaking engagements or workshops that you can charge for.

Blog not making enough yet? Check out these 65+ ways to make money online on the side while you continue to grow your travel blog up to where hopefully one day it can financially support you.

This guide by Firstsiteguide includes a few more ideas if you are looking to start your travel blog.

How to Start a Travel Blog

A travel blog is a good way to document and share your love of travel, but it also brings about the potential for income. First decide whether you’ll be blogging for passion or profit, then follow these guidelines to help you with the specifics of how to start a travel blog.

What are your tips when it comes to the question of how to start a travel blog? Tweet at @Kinsta and we’ll share the best insights! Or drop them below in the comments.

Maddy Osman creates engaging content with SEO best practices for marketing thought leaders and agencies that have their hands full with clients and projects. Learn more about her process and experience on her website, The Blogsmith and read her latest articles on Twitter: @MaddyOsman .

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This post was seriously the most helpful post I have read!!!! I just need to bust out more content and focus on affiliate marketing now! I’m looking for a course on this. Thanks for the helpful post!

So glad to hear it, Laura! Best of luck on your blogging journey. :D

I’m Happy that I came across this post as I am still on my way building my site as a travel blogger. :)

Glad to hear that! Let us know how it goes :)

This is the one of the most honest and truthful post’s I had read! Thank you!

Hey, thanks for all your tips and tricks. :) Greetings from Vienna

I enter your website regularly almost every day. You have some great articles. I Love Your Suggestions. Thanks.

I just start my blog but with your tips, I can improve my blog so much. Thanks a lot for providing the information.

Very helpful article for those who are willing to write a travel blog to provide very practical help

Much needed blog, I was thinking of starting my own blog but was not sure how to start after reading your i felt quite good of starting new one.

I haven’t seen a post as helpful as this one!!! Just need to create more content and focus on affiliate marketing now! This is something I’d like to learn more about. You made a great point! Thank you!

How to start a travel blog in 2024

Lena Sernoff
Nov 1, 2023
16 min read

How to Start a Travel Blog (+ Get Paid Doing it)

While travel blogging is one of the most popular types of blogs, rest assured, you have not missed the boat (or plane) on your chance to start your own. While competition has increased over the years, so has demand: In fact, The World Travel & Tourism Council projects that travel and tourism in the United States will reach pre-pandemic levels in 2022, contributing nearly $2 trillion to the U.S. economy.

Today, the key to starting a travel blog is going into a niche and offering a specialty of focused content. New popular locations, adventures and hidden gems come to the surface every day. Even your own backyard and hometown might be unfamiliar to new readers, and you can add your unique perspectives to reviewing them.

In this guide, we'll help you navigate the field, from how to make a website and creating a blog to writing your posts and finding collaborations, to not only stand out but also get paid. Once you've learned how to start a travel blog, you'll have the world at your fingertips with this type of website .

Get started with the Wix Blog Maker .

Ready to start a travel blog now? Get started with Wix today.

How to start a travel blog

Choose the type of travel blogger you want to be

Pick a blog name and secure your domain name

Select your travel blog template

Create a blog logo

Prepare your footage

Write your first blog posts

Engage with your audience

Network with tourism partners and brands

Monetize your travel blog

Learn from the best (travel blog examples)

01. Choose the type of travel blogger you want to be

While you can cover all types of travel topics, choosing a niche will more easily lead to success. Think of who could benefit from your unique guidance and hone your content towards them. Not only will this naturally attract an audience of repeat readers, it will simplify the process of monetizing your blog , as you’ll have a defined value to bring to partners.

For example, Wix user Tales of Israel used her expertise as an Israeli resident to help citizens and tourists alike explore the country’s hidden corners.

Focus on a niche when you start a travel blog, example of Tales of Israel's blog

We Are Travel Girls grew a solid following of more than 415,000 Instagram followers by focusing on tips for women travelers.

Screenshot of We Are Travel Girls who started a travel blog for women

Here are some niche blog ideas in the travel space:

Country-focused

Budget travel

Luxury travel

Solo travel

Female travel

Traveling for work

Adventure travel

Family travel

Empty nesters

Accessible travel

Experiential travel

Festival travel

Couples travel

Backpacking

LGBTQ+ friendly travel

Traveling for seniors

02. Pick a blog name and secure your domain name

After choosing which direction you’ll take your travel blog, align it with a catchy name to help people discover and remember you. Just like naming a brand, coming up with a blog name should include some creativity and strategic vision of where you'd like to take your blog over the years.

Learn more:

Travel business names

Lifestyle blog name ideas

Travel blog name ideas

For example, if you’re going to be a city-based blogger, include it in your name. If you’re targeting solo travelers, try to pick a name that portrays that, so people know you’re catering to them. Just don’t let your name corner you in, as you still want to expand on topics in your niche.

Tip: Use a free travel agency name generator for travel name ideas.

Blog name generator tool showing travel blog names for inspiration

Securing your domain name

Once you've found the perfect travel blog name, make sure it's yours and only yours. To prevent confusion when promoting your blog , ensure no other companies or individuals currently use your blog name or hold your domain name. Check that social media handles are available and secure them as well. The more easily people can find your blog, the more likely they’ll return.

You might also want to consider using a .blog domain extension , to make sure your blog stands out.

Tip: Secure your free domain name with Wix.

03. Select your travel blog template

Photos and videos can bring your adventures to life and invite your visitors to join in on your journeys. And that’s why you should choose a visual-forward blog website template to display your travel blog content.

Make sure it also has an inviting homepage, a detailed “About Me” page, a well-organized blogging section and a dedicated newsletter sign-up section—all great places to share your media.

Below, we've showcased a few of our favorite mobile-optimized travel best blog templates :

Travel blog website template 1 features:

A large homepage image layout to make a powerful first impression.

A mid-page menu to take visitors to your different types of travel guides.

A highly-visible subscriber form to help grow your newsletter.

travel blog website template showing buildings in italy

Travel blog website template 2 features:

A dedicated “Work With Me” to showcase your partnership offerings.

A perfectly-placed blog logo that functions as a return-home button.

An attention-grabbing video background to greet visitors.

travel blog website template showing hot air balloons

Travel blog website template 3 features:

An embedded Instagram feed to seamlessly showcase your social media content.

A video page to display high-quality footage or promote your YouTube channel.

A Live Chat tool to communicate with visitors.

Trave blog website template showing women with hat looking at the ocean

04. Create a blog logo

A logo will help you build a brand around your travel blog. You’ll likely try out a few different tactics over the first couple of months as you cement your blog’s brand, like updating your site layout or changing your photography style. Use a blog logo on your site, professional email signature, and social channels to tie your online presence together with a distinctive trademark throughout the changes.

Tip: Get inspired by these blog travel logos and try creating your own with Wix’s free logo maker tool.

05. Prepare your footage

It’s easier to describe a must-see hot spot with images than simply words. In fact, articles with images get 94% more views as opposed to those with none. A good camera can help ensure your images are high-quality and properly-sized to look their best. It might be worth investing in a DSLR, drone, tripod, or other equipment to help elevate your visuals. You can also utilize stock images until you capture new content on your next trip.

Leverage photo tools to assist in gathering and preparing your content, and consider free photo editing software to filter and adjust your shots. What is a blog if not the perfect place to showcase your travel images.

Tip: Use a free Video Maker to craft a compelling video and check out these travel photography tips .

06. Write your first blog posts

Without articles, a live blog is just a website. Before sharing your blog with the world, write and publish at least three posts to give new website visitors a taste of the content you offer. This will also help create momentum behind your content creation strategy.

You can be as creative as you'd like when writing your blog posts. However, here are some blog ideas and blog formats you can build on:

The Ultimate [ insert location ] Travel Guide

How to See [ insert location ] in Just [ insert number ] Days

X Tips for Finding Cheap Flights During [ insert season or holiday ]

Best Things to Do in [ insert location ]

Why You Need to Go to [ insert location ]

Cheap Things to Do in [ insert location ]

Packing for [ insert type of trip ], What to Bring

What to Do on a Weekend in [ insert location ]

Awesome Stops on [ insert road name ] to [ insert location ]

Don’t forget to break up your content with rich media to hold your readers’ attention.

Over 80% of travel planning is done online, which means that your readers want to make decisions based upon your content—not just casually look for inspiration. (And if you are part of an affiliate network, those decisions can turn into real money for you.)

To make sure you get a slice of that active audience, make sure you optimize your content for search engines and make your site as visible as possible to these searchers.

Some blog SEO best practices are to:

Research keywords and common terms related to your destination or travel topic.

Include the keyword in the title, URL, a few times in the article in the SEO meta description.

Use internal linking in your blog and website.

Include alt text on images.

Editorial calendar

It’s good to set a regular schedule for publishing new content on your travel blog. It can be once a week or once a month—just keep your posting frequency consistent so readers know when to check back for the latest guides. Also, with new posts going live on the regular, Google will visit your site more often to index pages—improving your SEO.

To start filling out your content calendar, try one of these strategies to brainstorm great content:

Research the specific seasons, holidays or events happening at your destination to brainstorm content. There will be an influx of searches and demand for these topics at key times of the year.

Also, read competitor articles and blogs for inspiration. If you know what people have already said on specific locations or topics, you can add unique value and provide what’s missing.

07. Engage with your audience

Without interested readers, fans and followers, your blog is simply a diary. Use these channels and common methods below to authentically engage with your audience and drive traffic to your website :

Social media

Social media is an invaluable place to grow your travel blog. Up to 50% of travel enthusiasts use Instagram to find local places to explore.

You can use social to discover new audience members by:

Finding which social channels your target audience spends the most time on. See which hashtags they use, locations they tag and which brands and travel creators they follow.

Create content specifically geared to your target audience’s wants and needs. Check out our guide on social media content ideas .

Engaging with your target audience by following them, liking their content and commenting something meaningful on their posts. Here's how to increase your social media engagement.

Using social communities, forums and groups to connect and network with target audience members and fellow travel bloggers.

Tip: A social post maker can help you produce eye-catching, quality content.

Word of mouth

Connecting with potential readers in real life can be a pivotal way to grow your travel blog. Aside from telling your friends and family about your blog, inform people you meet on your adventures that you blog.

Even if travel blogging is not (yet) your full-time job, when you meet people that ask about your occupation, slip in how you just started a new travel blog, and you'd love for them to subscribe or follow. Travelers love staying up to date with the amazing people they meet on their trips, and they’ll likely become new followers.

Once you've gained a few subscribers to your newsletter, you can send email marketing campaigns to engage readers. In your settings, set up an automatic email that dispatches newly published blog articles.

08. Network with tourism partners and brands

Starting a travel blog doesn’t have to be just a hobby. Partnerships with tourism companies, attractions, hotels, restaurants and brands can provide great compensation opportunities, either through an exchange of goods or cash payments.

For example, you can get a free stay in exchange for blogging about the hotel and capturing quality content for them to use on their social media or site. Another example is a suitcase company sending you a free bag to tag them in a post. You might also consider writing content in multiple languages to partner with relevant tourism brands, learn how to start a multingual blog to expand your reach.

How to reach out to brands:

Identify the brand you wish to partner with

Do thorough research on them to understand their audience’s needs

Reach out with a pitch of the exchange of services you can provide

Outreach email template:

Hi my name is [full name],

[Mention something personal you like about this company].

I’m the travel blogger behind [blog name/hyperlink website URL], who specifically covers [list three main topics your blog covers]. My current readers and followers amount to [insert your total reach here].

My audience is mostly [include audience insights and engagement rates if relevant]. I highly believe that it can be mutually beneficial for us to partner as I reach the same audience your brand seems to want to attract.

Please let me know if you're currently looking for new partnerships, as I'd be happy to [insert which services you'll provide, such as a blog post, rich images, social media posts]. In the past, I've partnered with [brand names] and here [insert link], you can see the examples of the content I've created.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[Signature with your email, phone number, website link, logo and social media channels]

09. Monetize your travel blog

As much as sipping a comped piña colada by a hotel pool sounds extravagant, it won’t necessarily pay the bills. Therefore, you can use any or all of these nine creative ways to make money blogging:

01. Sponsored posts: Most travel blogs publish sponsored posts as their main income source. Agree with your partner on the goal and length of the post and how much you’ll receive in return. The average travel blogger charges an average of $200 per sponsored post.

For instance, a sponsored post about a Caribbean boating service could be about the best way to island hop, and you mention the boating company and link to their website several times in the article and as you review your experience using their services. Just remember to include a note that the post has been sponsored to keep your readers’ trust.

Learn more: How to make money as a travel blogger

02. Affiliate marketing: Many travel bloggers also earn commission from marketing another company's products. You promote their products on your blog, social media accounts, and other platforms using a unique tracked link and make a profit from each sale. To begin, sign up for affiliate marketing programs and send readers to buy from recommended referral links.

Here are some common travel affiliate programs to consider: Expedia Group Affiliate Program , Booking.com Affiliate Program , Amazon Associates , Skimlinks , and AWIN .

03. Advertise: 94% of travel blogs sell advertising . When you're figuring out how to monetize a blog , one of the best ways is to get paid by running ads on your website. Tip: If your site is on Wix, you can add Google AdSense directly to your blog from the app market.

Google AdSense image for an idea for how to monetize your travel blog

04. Premium content: Consider charging readers for more exclusive information and production-intensive content, like premium guides, digital downloadables or eBooks to open an additional revenue stream. For instance, if you've made a PDF map with all the vegan restaurants in Paris, you could charge readers $5 to download it.

05. Donation: Donations are becoming more popular in the content creation world, so don’t be afraid to ask for them. Accept donations via Patreon, PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, and or even paper checks in the mail.

06. Workshops and courses: You're likely an expert in your niche, especially if you travel often. Share your tips and tricks with readers in exchange for payment with an online course or in-person workshop. The two famous travel couples behind Club Life Design , for example, offer a social media and photo editing course.

07. Freelance: You don't necessarily have to make money from your traveling sites . You can choose to be a digital nomad freelancer and make money doing online gigs while exploring the world.

Tip: Wix Marketplace is a great way to grow your client base by designing Wix users’ websites.

08. Sell photos and videos: Make money selling your photos online. If you own a drone, this can be a great way to sell premium video footage to partners, which isn't easy for them to produce. Here's our guide on how to make money as a travel photographer.

Additionally, many travel bloggers, such as Aloha Jana , make money selling photo color preset filters to others who want to beautify their images.

Mobile image of Aloha Jana's travel blog with filters

09. Make and sell products: Sell or dropship branded items like swimsuits, sunglasses and travel gear.

Tip: You can add an online store to your blog to sell directly from your site or create a dropshipping website .

10. Learn from the best (travel blog examples)

Sometimes the best way to start a blog is to see how others have done it before you. These Wix users have created travel blogs websites that make us feel like we’re alongside them for all their travels:

The Bucket List Bums

Bucket List Bums’ clearly understands what her readers want: Information to help them plan their trips. Beyond her high-quality, stunning travel shots, she organizes her blog posts by country under “places,” allowing readers to explore their destination of interest. She also clearly defines how many days travelers should spend in each location, as you can see in this Three Days in Baja post.

Aside from offering her readers value, she gracefully makes her blog work for her, too. She’s added affiliate links to her shop page and also cleverly embeds them into image captions.

Anika Pannu

Anika Pannu’s travel blog is modern and interactive—perfect for her target audience looking to replicate that same experience on their journeys. Beyond immediately capturing her visitor’s attention with a parallax scrolling effect on her home page (featuring video and scroll-triggered motion images), she also provides content details that speak directly to her audience.

For example, Pannu rates her recommended stays with a helpful euro sign rating system, as seen in her A Weekend Guide To Lisbon, Portugal . This allows readers to quickly get a sense of the costs associated with her listings without going the extra mile to find pricing ranges. To grow her brand deals, too, she's smartly created a dedicated partnerships page.

Inspiration for how to start a travel blog shown with Anika Pannu's blog

Zion Adventure Photog

Just landing on Zion Adventure Photog’s earth-toned homepage makes you feel like you’re already visiting the eponymous natural park. Since this travel blogger is local to Southern Utah, she helps to provide that inclusive experience throughout the blog.

On the content side, their hiking blog posts all consistently outline the length, difficulty, location, when to go, trail details, and additional info sections. Both regular visitors and new readers alike can easily navigate the posts and get the information they need. They also have a clear call to action to follow them on Instagram to grow and engage their community offsite.

That welcoming feeling extends to their blog monetization strategy as well: They offer various photography services and offer a transparent pricing plan to support their readers’ experience beyond the planning phase.

Screenshot of Zion Adventure's Photog. The image shows a woman hiking in Zion national park.

How to customize your travel blog

Customizing your travel blog is a great way to make it stand out from the crowd and reflect your unique personality and style. There are many different ways to customize your blog, but here are a few ideas:

Choose a theme. A theme is a pre-made design that you can apply to your blog. There are many different themes available, both free and paid. Choose a theme that matches the overall style of your blog and that is easy to navigate.

Customize your colors and fonts. Once you have chosen a theme, you can customize the colors and fonts to match your branding. This is a great way to make your blog look more cohesive and professional.

Add a logo. A logo is a great way to make your blog more recognizable and to give it a unique identity. You can create a logo yourself or hire a professional designer to do it for you.

Add social media buttons. Make it easy for your readers to follow you on social media by adding social media buttons to your blog. You can also use social media to promote your blog posts and connect with other travelers.

Add widgets. Widgets are small modules that can be added to your blog sidebar or other areas of your site. There are many different widgets available, such as recent posts widgets, social media widgets and calendar widgets. Choose widgets that are relevant to your blog and that will provide value to your readers.

Add images and videos. Images and videos are a great way to make your blog posts more visually appealing and engaging. Be sure to use high-quality images and videos that are relevant to your content.

Write a compelling bio. Your bio is a chance to introduce yourself to your readers and tell them why you started your blog. Be sure to include your interests, your travel experiences, and your goals for your blog.

Target audience: Keep your target audience in mind when customizing your blog. What kind of travel are they interested in? What kind of tone and style do they prefer? Tailor your blog to their needs and interests.

Make your blog mobile-friendly. More and more people are using their smartphones and tablets to access the internet. Make sure your blog looks good and functions well on all devices.

Use a consistent design. Your blog should have a consistent design throughout. This means using the same colors, fonts and overall layout on all of your pages.

Keep your blog updated. Make sure to update your blog regularly with new posts and content. This will keep your readers coming back for more.

By following these tips, you can create a customized travel blog that is both informative and visually appealing.

How to pick a travel blog name

Here are some tips on how to pick a travel blog name:

Make it easy to remember and pronounce. You want people to be able to easily find your blog and remember its name. Avoid using difficult or unfamiliar words or abbreviations.

Make it relevant to your travel niche. What kind of travel do you write about? Is it budget travel, luxury travel, adventure travel or something else? Choose a name that reflects your niche and interests.

Be original and unique. You want your blog name to stand out from the crowd. Avoid using generic or overused names.

Keep it short and sweet. A long and complicated name will be difficult for people to remember. Aim for a name that is 2-4 words long.

Here are some examples of good travel blog names:

The Wandering Trotter

The Budgeteer

The Luxe Voyager

Adventurous Kate

The Travel Junkie

Nomadic Matt

Off the Beaten Path

The Wanderlust Files

Passport & Plates

A World to Wander

The Globetrotter

Travel Lemming

Once you have chosen a few potential blog names, ask your friends and family for their feedback. You can also do a quick Google search to see if the name is already taken.

Can you start a travel blog writing about old trips?

Yes, you can start a travel blog writing about old trips. In fact, many successful travel bloggers started out by writing about their own travel experiences, even if those experiences were from years ago.

Here are some tips for writing a travel blog about old trips:

Write about your personal experiences. People are drawn to travel blogs that are authentic and personal. Share your stories, your insights and your tips from your old trips.

Use photos and videos. Photos and videos are a great way to bring your blog posts to life. Include photos and videos from your old trips to illustrate your stories and make them more engaging.

Update your blog regularly. Even if you're writing about old trips, try to update your blog regularly with new posts. This will keep your readers coming back for more.

Be specific and informative. When writing about your old trips, try to be as specific and informative as possible. Share details about the places you visited, the activities you did and the lessons you learned. The more information you can provide, the more valuable your blog will be to readers.

Add a contemporary twist. Even though you're writing about old trips, you can still make your blog posts relevant to today's readers. For example, you can share tips on how to save money on travel, how to find the best deals on flights and hotels or how to travel sustainably. You can also write about current events or trends that are related to travel.

Other types of blogs to consider starting

How to start a finance blog

How to start a real estate blog

How to start a gaming blog

How to start a health blog

How to start a teaching blog

How to start a music blog

How to start a tech blog

How to start a mom blog

How to start a sports blog

How to start a beauty blog

How to start a lifestyle blog

How to start a travel blog FAQ

Do travel bloggers get paid.

Yes, travel bloggers can get paid. There are a number of ways that travel bloggers can make money, including:

Affiliate marketing: Travel bloggers can earn money by promoting products and services related to travel, such as hotels, flights, tours and travel gear. When a reader clicks on an affiliate link and makes a purchase, the travel blogger earns a commission.

Advertising: Travel bloggers can sell advertising space on their blogs to businesses that want to reach their audience. The amount of money that travel bloggers make from advertising depends on a number of factors, such as the size of their audience and the type of advertising they sell.

Sponsored posts: Travel bloggers can write sponsored posts for businesses that want to promote their products or services. Sponsored posts are typically paid for by the business, and the travel blogger will disclose this to their readers.

Selling products and services: Travel bloggers can sell their own products and services, such as e-books, travel courses and photography prints.

How much does it cost to start a travel blog?

Is it worth starting a travel blog, how much money can you make from a travel blog, do you need equipment to become a travel blogger, how to start a travel blog without traveling, related posts.

Blog SEO: 10 ways to attract more readers to your blog

How to easily start a blog and make money in 2024

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How to Start a Travel Blog

Posted August 9th, 2021 by Montana Mincher & filed under Travel Blogging .

Our audience are constantly asking how they can start a travel blog. We’ve asked our expert blogger Montana Mincher to put together a detailed article on how to start a travel blog. Use this guide as a reference point when you embark upon your travel blogging adventure.

Choose a Domain Name

Finding the perfect blog name might come naturally to some, while for others it will feel like a stressful and impossible task. After all, your blog name is what’s going to define you so it’s important to get it right!

Instead of running headfirst into creating your blog, sit down somewhere you feel comfortable and inspired, and start to map out a feel for your blog. Get those creative juices flowing and think about what you’re going to write about, what you want it to look like visually, and what your overall intentions are for running a blog. This vital brainstorming process will leave you with a vision board that you can use to highlight who you really are in the sometimes overcrowded world of travel bloggers.

Once you’ve thought out your blogging identity, you can start to brainstorm words, phrases, or names that associate with your topic. Remember, the best blog names are first and foremost relevant, brandable, and memorable. Of course, with so many blogs and websites out there the hardest part can sometimes be thinking of something that’s not already taken. You can use this tool to check if the domain name you’re considering is still available or not.

Here are our top tips for choosing the perfect domain name:

Stick with .com

URLs with .com are often more visible on Google’s search engine results page (SERP) they are also the most recognizable across the whole world and because of this familiarity, they’re also seen as the most reliable.

Use keywords in your domain name

Again, SERPs will reward you for this! Read more about SEO for travel bloggers here .

Make it easy to pronounce, spell and remember

Avoid double letters, hyphens, and long-winded domain names.

Keep it unique and on-brand

Make sure your domain name is reflective of your blog’s identity and stands apart from everyone else.

If you’re still stuck you can even use domain name generators like this one from Shopify to get some ideas.

Buy A Hosting Package

A hosting package is basically your blog’s home on the internet and all sites need hosting.

Bluehost is among the few hosting platforms that the wise folks from WordPress recommend and powers over 2 million sites worldwide. Bluehost has a super simple WordPress Installation process, and with just one click you’ll have everything sorted for you. Basically, if you’re after a high-quality, super easy, and cheap hosting solution Bluehost is the answer.

When you sign up for a Bluehost plan you’ll automatically get a free domain name, 24/7 customer support, and you can even get your hosting through Bluehost before you’ve committed to a blog name.

Bluehost is fairly easy to use and beginner-friendly, but for your ease of mind here’s a walkthrough of everything you’ll need to know about hosting your new blog with Bluehost:

There are a few different choices for packages: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro. You should choose which suits your needs and budget, but the Basic plan should be fine for all your needs. You can upgrade at any time if you need too.

Next, you’ll be prompted to set up your domain, but if you haven’t chosen your domain name yet don’t worry you can still continue the set-up process and come back to create your domain name later.

By continuing on to the next step, you’ll be prompted to create your Bluehost account by completing all your personal and billing information. During this stage of the set up you can also review your package, plan inclusions, and add any extras you might need.

You’ll then receive an email from Bluehost with your account and WordPress login information so you can start to build your website

Use WordPress to Set Up Your Website

The importance of WordPress in the blogging space is hard to deny. It’s the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world and now accounts for over 30% of websites on the internet (yep, it’s a pretty big deal). WordPress supplies a massive template system for literally anyone and everyone, and allows for as many plugins as your heart desires.

This makes WordPress the go-to CMS for fully functioning and customizable websites for any business, blog, portfolio, eCommerce store, and basically everything else you can think of.

The basic idea of a CMS like WordPress is to provide you with a tool so that you don’t actually need to be a coder to build and edit your own website. With its ease of use, compatibility with other third-party blogging tools, and versatility it might surprise you to know that WordPress is a completely free tool. The catch here is that while WordPress is free, you do have to pay for your own domain name and hosting—but as mentioned above, you can get both of these with Bluehost for a very manageable $2.95/month.

Here’s how to start using WordPress to build out your blog!

Once you get the signup email from Bluehost, click on the link to be taken to your WordPress hosting control panel. From here, you can follow on to the WordPress login button to enter your WordPress site’s admin dashboard and begin to edit your site as you please.

Choose a Theme

Remember when you sat down for that great brainstorming session and started to plan out your blog? If you had a clear image of what you wanted your blog to look like, now is the exciting part where you get to revisit that vision and actually execute it!

It goes without saying that your blog’s appearance is one of the most vital elements to get right to ensure that you’re getting traffic onto your website and that they spend time on it. WordPress is great because it allows you to work with interchangeable themes super easily. With one click you’ll be able to try out different themes on your website until you find something that you think looks perfect.

A theme will give you a base to start with for the overall look and design of your blog, but you can absolutely customize it to suit you. Many themes have various design elements and functionalities that are customizable so you don’t have to go searching for one that ticks every one of your boxes.

There’s no shortage of WordPress themes out there. Third-party sites like aThemes and justfreethemes are filled with great free themes to choose from. If you’re happy to pay for a theme, then there’s a whole other world to delve into from theme stores like themeforest .

This article has a great wrap up of the 25 best WordPress themes for travel bloggers.

Install Plugins

WordPress plugins are great tools to use to add extra functionalities to your website. If you find that something is missing from the theme you choose, chances are you will be able to add it in with a plugin. By extending the standard functionality of your site with plugins you’ll be able to really make a website your own. There are plugins for basically everything you can think of, but here are some of the most essential ones for travel bloggers.

SEO Yoast is one of the most popular SEO plugins. This magical little plugin will help you to make SEO tweaks that will ultimately make your site more accessible to search engines. As a blogger, this is a very important thing to achieve, so SEO Yoast is basically a must-have.

Instagram Feed

Many bloggers like to incorporate their Instagram feed onto the homepage of their website or anywhere else throughout. Doing this is a great way to not only drive more traffic to your Instagram page but it is also great for showcasing your beautiful work and making your website more personal.

This plugin is related to a major factor in SEO – your site’s speed. This very simple plugin optimizes your images for you, ultimately making sure that your website is performing at a high speed so that your audience won’t get sick of waiting for pages to load.

This plugin lets you add interactive contact forms to your website, which your visitors can use to reach you directly. This is really handy if you want to try and get commissioned for work from your site, or for anyone who wants to be reachable by website visitors. Having a contact form is also much more professional than just displaying your email in plain text on your site.

Start Producing Quality Content

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: content is king. All of the work setting up your blog and getting the design and functionality right is ultimately going to be pointless if you aren’t ready to knuckle down and start producing some epic content! There’s no secret recipe to creating content your audience is going to love, but follow these few steps and you might just find your groove.

Create a publishing schedule

Publishing a new blog post whenever you feel inspired is wonderful, but consistency and frequency are what everyone’s really aiming for. Think about your favorite TV show and how hyped you get every week when you know there’s going to be a new episode released. Imagine if you could create that excitement among your own audience! By developing a consistent publishing schedule you’ll be able to set yourself deadlines, manage workflow, and also keep up with your audience’s expectations.

Keep a file of your content ideas

Do you know those times when you’re mid-shower and come up with a great new idea? Don’t let those ideas just wash away! Start a new document with all of these random ideas and a brief description of each one. This way you can always go back and pick up on any of these ideas and flesh them out as needed.

Get Inspiration

Check-in with your favorite blogs. Consider what content you personally love to consume and try to replicate that. Of course, when you’re getting inspiration from someone else you have to remain unique and authentic and take on a version of that idea with your own point of difference and in your own voice.

Review what content is performing the best

Periodically review your published content. You can sit down weekly, monthly, or quarterly and look at your website’s analytics. What type of content received the most landing page visits and had the longest page linger time? If there are any clear patterns start to take note of what your audience responds to and if there was anything that didn’t perform well. This will help you get a better idea of what type of content to avoid while separating the content that does perform well so that you can better craft your content to suit your audience’s needs.

Great Escape Publishing’s travel writing program is a great tool you can use today to learn more about creating engaging content and enhance your writing skills. And to learn more about blogging specifically, you should check out their blogging program [DA1] .

Get Traffic To Your Blog

So you’ve created an epic blog that’s got full user functionalities, looks amazing and houses lots of awesome content, but how do you actually drive traffic to your blog? There are numerous ways that you can start to get your blog recognized on the internet, but we’ll just focus on the main two strategies anyone can implement to ensure lots of website views.

Social Media

The power of social media is very evident in the world of blogging, it almost seems too easy for those Instagrammers with millions of followers to start a successful blog. Even if you don’t have a massive following there are still so many ways you can use this power to leverage the success of your blog. Start by including your websites link in any social media accounts that you’re active on. Every time you share a new blog post, make a post or a story linking to your new work and promote it to your social media audience.

Search Engine Optimization

If you’ve come this far in starting your own blog chances are you’ve heard of a little thing called SEO before (hint, it’s not so little). Search Engine Optimization is basically the practice of adopting certain strategies and following rules to improve the likelihood that search engines will show your content in the top search results to searchers. This is a pretty important thing to achieve when you’re trying to drive organic traffic to your new blog. To dive deeper into the world of SEO, see our full SEO Guide For Travel Bloggers .

Travel Bloggers Guide

Travel blogging news and resources

How to start a travel blog – the complete beginners guide

A complete guide to starting your own travel blog.

As a travel blogger one question I often get asked by non-bloggers is how do I start a travel blog?

I’m a passionate advocate for people starting a blog, whether it be travel or otherwise. I set up this page to show new bloggers how to set up a travel blog from scratch. This is the same method I set up this site and my first travel blog.

Starting a travel blog has been one of the best business decisions I’ve made. I first started making how-to travel web sites in 2001 as a hobby. I had no idea that I could make money from it, but it was a passion that I wanted to follow. Making travel information websites is now my full-time (dream) job.

I started my own travel blog in 2009 which has brought me all kinds of benefits and business opportunities. It’s given me a platform as a travel writer and helped me become a leader in the digital nomad space. I’ve been offered paid writing jobs in international press, invited to countries from tourism offices, and received leads for my web business.

From a non-business perspective I’ve made countless friends with people who found me via the blog, and I love having an online archive where I can look back at all the stories and photos from my travels.

Whether you’re looking to become a professional travel blogger or just want online travel journal to share your travel stories with the world, I’ve put together a quick-start guide on how to start a travel blog .

Following these steps will get you online in less than half an hour. From there it’s up to you how much time you put into your blog; from a once-a-week hobby to a full-time business.

How to start a travel blog in 5 steps:

Choose a name for your travel blog
Register your domain and buy hosting
Install WordPress
Choose a theme
Install plugins

Step 1: Choose a name for your travel blog

If you already know what you’re going to call your blog then you can progress to the next step of buying your domain and hosting.

If you’re still thinking about what to call your site I have written a guide to choosing a domain name for your travel blog . This is an important step as you don’t wan’t to be stuck with a name you don’t like or one that limits your future blogging.

Once you have picked a name you’re ready to register your blog name and get a domain and hosting package.

Step 2: Register your domain and buy hosting

To get a website online you need to register a domain (like travelbloggersguide.com) and rent hosting space (the company that keeps your site online). These are two separate items, though many hosts will sell both domain and hosting.

With Bluehost you also get a free domain with your hosting (otherwise a domain name normally costs about $10-15 a year to register).

You can buy the cheapest package available (starter) which is enough for a new blog.

Start setting up your site by ordering your domain and hosting here and follow these instructions.

On the Bluehost page go to the top nav bar and select products > shared web hosting .

From there click get started now and select starter . If you will be hosting more than one site select plus (you can upgrade later if you start a another site).

Next you will be asked to register your domain name.

Assuming your chosen domain is available you will then be taken to the account information page. Fill in your account details as required.

For the package information I opt out of the extras, but if you want to keep your domain ownership private you can opt in here. Domain registrants are required to publish the name and address of the owner of a domain. If you are not comfortable with your address being made public then select Domain Privacy Protection .

You now have domain and hosting for your travel blog. The next step is to set up WordPress.

Step 3: Install WordPress

WordPress is the world’s most popular blogging platform and I use it for this site. I have used other blogging platforms for other sites and WP is by far the most user friendly. WordPress is free to download and can be done within your hosting account.

It is estimated that WordPress is operated by 25 to 33% of all websites on the internet, so that gives you an idea of how popular it is.

WordPress is so popular because you can create a website without having to know anything about code. You can make a website with a ready-made website template (called a theme) without worrying about how it works. All you need to do is type in your content into a box (similar to an email composition box) and hit “Publish”. It’s non-technical nature has let anyone to be able to become a publisher online.

WordPress also have thousands of plugins available which can be downloaded to enhance your site. You won’t need any to get started but you will soon learn about plugins once you start designing your site.

To install WordPress onto your blog, login to your Bluehost account which will take you to your cPanel.

Click on the hosting menu, find the section called Website and select “Install WordPress”.

Next you will be taken to an installation page. Select Install at the Do it yourself (FREE) option.

From here select which domain you would like to install to. You can choose to select your domain with a www or without. I’ve written about which one to use , but I say just pick which one you prefer.

At the next step select Show advanced options . Here you will set your username and password for your site.

Enter your details and select Install Now .

Congratulations, you have now installed WordPress on your blog. You will get an email with your login details, or you can go straight to your login page at yoursitename.com/wp-login.php.

Once you are logged in you should select a good permalink structure. This is what the blog post link looks like after the .com.

A new WordPress installation will set your URL to the default “Plain”:

http://travelbloggersguide.com/?p=123

If a visitor sees this link outside your site they will have no idea what it is for. I prefer “Post Name”, which makes posts look like this:

http://travelbloggersguide.com/sample-post/

To fix this, go to your left hand column and select Settings > Permalinks. From there select the “Post Name” option.

There are other options of course, and if you want to read more about that, here is my post about WordPress permalinks . The main thing is to get this right the first time, so you don’t find yourself wanting to change your link structure once you have an established blog.

Step 4: Choose a theme

After WordPress is installed on your domain you can technically start publishing immediately using the pre-installed theme. A theme is separate to the WordPress installation which controls the look and functionality of the website. This system allows you to pick a pre-made design without having to know anything about PHP, HTML, CSS, or any other scary coding acronym’s.

While the pre-installed themes are practical to get started, you are better off finding another theme to differentiate yourself from the thousands of blogs that didn’t bother to change the default theme.

To change your theme, go to the menu on the left hand side and select Appearance > Themes. In that section you will see preloaded themes from WordPress.

For free themes you can start looking in the official WordPress Theme Directory . This is a good place to begin if you are starting out and haven’t settled on a look for your site. These themes are connected to your Themes contol panel, so you can also browse and upload directly from your site.

I personally use and recommend StudioPress , which I use on this site. This is a premium theme, which you can buy for a fraction of what a custom-made site would cost.

There are thousands of themes to choose from though, so here is a more detailed guide for choosing a WordPress theme .

Step 5: Install plugins

In addition to themes, the other feature that allows you to change the look of your site are plugins. A plugin is additional software that can be installed on your blog to enhance its features and functionality. At the time of writing there were over 40,000 available plugins, but you should use as few as possible (I use 9 here) because too many may slow your site speed.

To get started here are the plugins I always install on new sites:

Akismet – Filters out the avalanche of spam comments that WordPress blogs attract.

Wordfence – WordPress security plugin provides free protection from hacks and malware.

Jetpack by WordPress.com – Provides a range of features within one plugin, including adding site stats to your dashboard.

Plugins are something you can play with as you get used to how WordPress works. For example there are dozens of social sharing plugins, which allows readers to easily share your blog on social media. They all have different styles so browse for the one that best suits your site.

You might find that you need a specific functionality added to your theme, so just Google it and see if someone has already made it.

Reserve your Gmail and social media names

Once you have picked your domain name you should also reserve your Google email alias, preferably the same name as your domain. Even if you plan to use your domain as your email (eg [email protected]) there are two reasons why you should reserve your name anyway.

– The first is to stop someone else claiming your great name.

– The second, more practical reason, is that you will need a Gmail account to login to other Google sites.

Gmail , the email service by Google, also acts as your account login for other Google services such as Adsense, Analytics, Youtube, and webmaster tools .

Also reserve you social media names using the same name as your domain. Even if you don’t think you’ll use them it is better to get before someone else takes them. At the very least register:

– Facebook – Twitter – Instagram

If you really want to go crazy and lock down your name everywhere, Knowem lists over 500 sites where you can create a public username.

Reserve your WordPress/Gravatar account

In addition to reserving your major social media handles, be sure to register a wordpress.com account.

Having a WordPress account is handy for 2 reasons:

– You can get an API key for the Akismet spam filter .

– Your WordPress profile is used at Gravatar.

“Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog.”

Have you ever commented on a blog and noticed that other commenters have their image or site logo next to their name? On WordPress when you put your email address in the comments section, if it matches your Gravatar email, WordPress will automatically add your image.

Set up Google Analytics

One of the reasons you need a Gmail account is to be able to access wide variety of services that Google offers. When it comes to finding out how many visitors your blog is getting, Google Analytics is one of the best traffic counters for websites. It is also the industry standard, so if in the future an advertiser wants to know your website stats, they will want to know stats provided by Google.

Analytics provides details like daily visitors and page views, what country your visitors come from, and which websites sent you the traffic, among many other stats.

When you open your account you will be given a unique code to place on your blog. You will need to check with your Theme to see where to place the code. If you get stuck and don’t know where to place the code, use the Google Analytics For WordPress plugin. Try and use as few plugins as possible though, so just this until you figure out your theme settings.

Start an email list

Ask most established bloggers and they will say that they wished they started a mailing list earlier. Email subscriptions are not handled by hosting providers so you need to do this independently. An email list is a great way to keep your readers up to date on your site. Even if you don’t know how you’ll use your mailing list you should start collecting subscribers to your site.

There are many email services out there, and they do get quite expensive once you start growing a serious list. A good option for beginners is Mailerlite , which is free for the first 1000 subscribers, or Mailchimp, which has offers 2000 free subscribers. If your mailing list needs get more complex you can always move your list – the important thing is to get that list started.

Start travel blogging

Setting up a travel blog is the easy part. Now you can begin to fill your site with content.

Before you get started ask yourself what type of travel blog you are starting? A travel blog can be a personal travelogue of your travels, or it can be an information site about any travel-related topic.

Is your travel blog going to be a hobby site or is it something you want to develop into a full-time business?

If you’re considering creating a site as a business, you will need to put a lot of hours into your site. When I first started out I spent a year of doing not much else in my spare time but developing my websites. In fact, it might make you unsociable as you spend your nights and weekends after work on your website. The payoff for me was that I was able to make my publishing business a full-time job, and now I set my own work hours.

Personal Travel Blog

Starting your own travel blog is a great outlet for creative expression. As well as showcasing your writing and photography talents, you can build relationships with other travel bloggers and create your own community of like-minded people.

Not everyone who starts a travel blog intends to become a full time blogger. Most personal travel blogs are travelogues, made for the purpose of keeping friends and family up to date when on the road, and as a permanent record of a trip.

Just because your site isn’t commercial, it doesn’t mean you can’t be professional in your approach to blogging. Anyone can see your site, so why not create something to be proud of.

Information Travel Blog

A travel blog doesn’t just have to be about you and your travels. There are so many subjects (niches) you could possibly blog about, the options are endless. It could be a destination guide, a travel gear review site, or an air travel news blog.

If you are going to start an information travel blog, stick to what you enjoy. Pick a subject that interests you and become the expert in that. You don’t need to be an expert in the field when you begin. You will learn things as you go, and perhaps in the process become the expert in the field.

One of the most enjoyable aspects I have found about running travel information blogs is that it keeps me talking about travel even when I am at home.

If you do find yourself “grounded” in your city for whatever reason, you could create a travel blog about your own city. The city you live is a tourist attraction for someone else. It’s easy to be the expert of a city if you live there.

Travel blogging FAQ’s

In addition to the technical questions of setting up a blog, here are some of the most frequently asked questions about starting a travel blog.

How much does it cost to start a travel blog?

At a bare minimum it will cost just under $50 for the first year for your hosting and domain. Most hosts provide a half price first year rate, so expect to pay about $100 per year after that. From this domain and hosting base other optional expenses will accumulate as you craft a blog to your own taste and needs.

How can I start a blog for free?

If you’ve read this and just want to start a free travel blog you can do so at wordpress.com . You will get a domain with WordPress in the domain, like travelbloggersguide.wordpress.com . There are other blogging platforms as well, such as Blogger, which gives you a blogspot.com domain, though I recommend WordPress. The free site is fine if you just want to write on the cheap and have to desire to turn your blog into something larger.

Do I have to quit my job to start a travel blog?

It’s become a popular theme in the travel blogging space to declare that you “quit your job to travel the world!” While that is great if you are in the position to do so, most people are happy to keep their job and travel part time. Indeed, with such a low barrier to entry, travel blogging in your spare time is a low-risk way of discovering if full time travel blogging is for you.

Can I make money by blogging?

Absolutely! Before I began my travel blog in 2009 I had been making money online since 2003 by making travel websites.

How can I make money travel blogging?

Thee are numerous ways to make money from a travel blog, so it will depend on what type of site you have created. Some ways you can make monetize a travel blog include:

– Affiliate marketing . – Banner advertising. – Membership sites. – Infoproducts. – Writing physical books (from memoirs to traditional guide books). – Sponsored posts. – Paid press trips.

Is it true that travel bloggers get paid to travel the world?

In addition to being paid cash for your writing services or advertising on your blog, some travel bloggers are also offered free tours , hotel stays, flights, and travel gear for reviewing. In addition to free travel, some promotional campaigns also pay a daily rate and expenses on top of that. So yes, some bloggers are getting paid to travel the world. Of course you have to ask yourself if this is what you want to do on your blog, and if your readers trust your judgement when being paid to write about a place. That is a topic for a separate blog post..

So can I travel the world for free as a travel blogger?

Sigh. I’m hearing this one more often than I would like, often from travel blogs that are selling the dream, so to speak. I always think back to my high school economics class, which is where I first heard the phrase “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”. If it was free travel then that would mean you are getting something for nothing. Some of the most prominent bloggers I know who have most of their travels paid for are also among the hardest working bloggers I know. They are the ones holed up in their hotel room putting together a weekly newsletter or editing the days video, or expanding on their notes for a 5000 word in-depth article on a destination they just visited.

How much money can I make from a travel blog?

There are so many variables that go into a successful travel blog so there is no simple answer. Some part-time blogs might make ten dollars a month, while others are making ten of thousands of dollars a month.

There are a number of bloggers who are on record saying they earn six figures a year, and one of the biggest blogs nets around $750,000 annually . I also know bloggers that are making a comfortable income that aren’t blogging about it.

Should I set my site up on a premium host?

If you read some of the more established travel blogs you may notice that they promote web hosting that costs anywhere from $25 to $150 a MONTH! On my main travel blog I have now graduated to a premium host which costs $25 a month. Don’t worry though, you don’t need this level of hosting for a new blog.

Premium hosting is useful for when your blog is getting over 100,000 visitors per month. At that point having a dedicated server and optimising your site for that fastest possible load times can make a difference in your rankings. For a brand new site though these small improvements isn’t worth the extra cost.

I want to be a travel writer for magazines and newspapers. Should I still start a blog?

You should especially start a blog if you want to write for traditional media outlets. I’m still amazed when I meet traditional writers who don’t have a home on the web. A blog is like an online business card. You can promote your writing services here and list your catalog of published works. You can also use the blog for articles you have written that don’t end up finding a place to be published.

Personally I haven’t pursued paid travel writing for other publications as my time is better spent on other sites I run. Even so, I’ve been approached by publications out of the blue asking me to contribute because they read my travel blog. Having a blog is another avenue for someone to find you.

Travel Blog Jobs

Travel blog directory, follow travel bloggers guide.

How To Start a Travel Blog and Make Money (in 2024)

Written by Ankit Singla

3K Followers

Last Updated on:

by Ankit Singla

Learning how to start a travel blog doesn’t have to be difficult.

As the saying in the business world goes, the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

The same goes when starting a travel blog.

In this post, we’ll discuss every step it takes to make this goal a reality.

Ladies and gentlemen — here’s how to start a travel blog.

1. Why Become a Travel Blogger?
1.1 Benefits of being a travel blogger
2. How to Create a Travel Blog: Building Your Site
2.1 Step 1: Think of an awesome travel blog name
2.2 Step 2: Pointing your domain name to a different host
2.3 Step 3: Installing WordPress
3. Best WordPress Themes for Travel Blogs
3.1 Logging in to your WordPress admin account
3.2 Creating a child theme
4. Best WordPress Plugins for Travel Blogs
4.1 How to install WordPress plugins
4.2 The must-have plugins for WordPress travel blogs
5. Building Your Travel Blog’s Content Strategy
5.1 Keyword research for travel blogs
5.2 How to create killer travel blog content
6. Promoting Your Travel Blog Posts
6.1 Build an Instagram page
6.2 Create a YouTube channel
6.3 Promote more visuals through Pinterest
6.4 Build your travel blog’s community on Facebook
6.5 Join travel-related subreddits
6.6 Answer travel-related questions on Quora
6.7 Build an email list
6.8 Use Google Analytics to integrate data into your decision-making
7. How to Make Money as a Travel Blogger
7.1 Making money with advertisements
7.2 Promoting affiliate products to your readers
7.3 Selling digital products
7.4 Selling your travel photos
7.5 Writing sponsored posts
7.6 Getting paid to travel through press trips
7.7 Running social media promotion campaigns
7.8 Taking on brand ambassadorships
7.9 Organizing tours and events
7.10 Offering content writing services
7.11 Attending public speaking engagements
7.12 Offering consultancy services
8. Conclusion

Why Become a Travel Blogger?

Before you take on any task, it’s always important to know why you want to do it.

When it comes to travel blogging, different people have different reasons.

Some start a travel blog website because they’re retired and wish to make the most out of their golden years. Others have a serious case of wanderlust — compelling them to develop plans that’ll make travel a sustainable lifestyle for them.

At the end of the day, all that matters is that you really want to travel.

If, however, you’re only in it for the money, then travel blogging definitely isn’t for you.

Unlike other niches like marketing, food, and fashion, travel blogging requires commitment. How else will you provide readers with quality, travel-related content if you hate the outdoors?

Put simply, you must be genuinely in love with travel in order to grow and prosper in this sphere.

Benefits of being a travel blogger

Other than being a passionate traveler, here are a few more reasons why you should become a travel blogger:

Immerse yourself in different cultures — Traveling to other countries is the way to truly appreciate what the world has to offer. It’s totally incomparable to just reading about foreign cultures in a book, online post, or another person’s Instagram account.
Promoting a cause — A lot of travel bloggers promote volunteerism and responsible tourism. Some of them also travel to raise awareness on issues that affect their destinations.
Meet new people — There’s nothing like traveling abroad to diversify your personal and professional networks. The bigger your network, the more life-enriching opportunities you’ll find — be it with other people or international brands.
Generate income — When I said don’t do it for the money, I’m not saying there aren’t big bucks to be made. In fact, I’ll show you some of the ways to make money travel blogging in this post.
Build your own brand — Regardless of niche, blogging is a surefire way to build your authority. This will open the doors to bigger things, like writing books, becoming a brand ambassador, and being an inspiration.

Feeling motivated yet?

Don’t get too excited — you still have mountains of work ahead of you.

How to Create a Travel Blog: Building Your Site

Creating your travel blog encompasses several steps. This includes coming up with a blog name, registering your domain, and building your first web page.

Step 1: Think of an awesome travel blog name

Before you worry about learning how to start writing a travel blog, you must first give it a suitable name.

This process can be broken down into three steps:

Read How to Discover Travel Blog Name Ideas for a detailed guide.

Here’s a simplified breakdown of the steps you need to take:

Brainstorming possible names with keywords

A great way to discover potential keywords that align with your travel blog’s brand is to write a mission statement.

Simply write up to two sentences that describe your blog’s content, your readers, and how they will benefit. When done, you can wrap it up by writing a short introduction of yourself.

There are no strict rules for this. To give you an idea, take a look at this simple statement from The Blonde Abroad :

Disregarding the blog’s name, you can see that The Blonde Abroad’s mission statement contains a fistful of keywords. Not only did the site mention who the blog is for, it also clearly defines what its content is about.

There are several more ways to obtain additional keywords for the purpose of blog name selection:

Looking for catchy synonyms on Google
Checking Google Autocomplete suggestions
Using a tool like SEMrush to find keyword variations
Using AnswerThePublic to find questions people are asking

For even more keywords, look at the infographic below.

Once you have a decent pool of keywords to work with, try combining them to find something that clicks.

Let’s say you’re interested in the name “Solo Nomad Travels.”

The next step is to check if it’s available as a domain name.

Checking the name’s availability as a domain name

Domain registration and hosting services like NameCheap and GoDaddy can help you with this. Just use the domain feature baked into these sites to validate their availability.

As a bonus, they’ll also provide you with potential domain alternatives.

If the domain you want is available, consider registering it immediately.

Domain registration is, after all, incredibly cheap. As you can see in the screenshot above, NameCheap lets you own the domain name for as little as $8.88 per year.

Here are a few reminders before you buy a travel blog domain name:

If possible, go for the “.com” TLD or domain extension
Keep your domain name short at three words or approximately 12 characters tops
Pick a brandable domain name over keyword-stuffed one

Hosting your travel blog domain

Once you’ve finalized your domain name and registered it accordingly, it’s time to get it hosted.

This should be a fairly straightforward process. All you need to do is look for a reliable hosting service provider and follow the steps they’ll show you.

While budget companies like NameCheap are great for domain registrations, people are having issues with their hosting service.

That’s why budget domain registration services are best paired with a different web host.

The question is, how exactly can you point your domain to your web hosting account?

Don’t worry — it’s not that hard.

Let me walk you through the steps.

Step 2: Pointing your domain name to a different host

First things first, you need to create an account on a reputable hosting service provider.

If we’re talking about reliability, affordability, and ease of use, one of my top recommendations would be SiteGround .

Go ahead and check out their site to see their selection of affordable web hosting solutions.

Let me lay down the reasons why SiteGround is a great hosting service provider.

Great customer support — Your web hosting’s performance is one of the things you have no control over as a blogger. That’s why it’s important to pick a host with great customer support and communicates well, like SiteGround.
Easy website migration — In case you’re moving your domain from or to SiteGround, rest assured that the migration process will be easy-peasy.
Reliable uptime — In web hosting, “uptime” refers to the time when your domain and web assets are online. SiteGround is proven and tested to have an average uptime of 99.99 percent.
SG Optimizer Plugin — The SG Optimizer Plugin is specifically designed to help WordPress users achieve maximum performance. It utilizes a variety of optimization techniques like caching, image optimization, frontend optimization, and more.

Seriously — don’t take my word for it.

I dare you to search the web for SiteGround reviews. Chances are, you’ll get a barrage of reviews with four to five stars.

With all that said, I used SiteGround’s interface to show you how to use different domain registrars and hosting services.

Updating your domain’s name servers using SiteGround’s values

To point your registered domain to a SiteGround hosting account, an easy way is to change your domain’s name servers.

Put simply, name servers are part of a Domain Name System or DNS. A DNS functions like a database that contains a list of devices with attached IP addresses.

Just a fair warning before you begin.

While it only takes minutes to point your domain to your host, it may take days before your changes apply. This is called “DNS propagation.”

To find the correct values for your SiteGround hosting account, head to your cPanel, and look under “Account Information.”

Your account’s name server details should be presented there.

Copy these values or keep this tab open for now. The next step is to plug in your name server values to your domain registrar.

For the sake of this guide, let’s say you registered your domain on GoDaddy.

You can change your domain’s name servers by first heading to the “Domain Manager.”

Just click ‘Manage Domains’ in the “Quick Links” panel of your account.

GoDaddy should take you to your “My Domains” page, which is basically a list of all your registered domains.

Look for the domain that you want to point to SiteGround and click the “Ellipsis” button next to it. From there, click on ‘Manage DNS.’

This should bring up the “Domain Management” page, which has a comprehensive list of your DNS details.

What you need to do is scroll down and look for the “Nameservers” panel.

Click the ‘Change’ button right next to “Use default nameservers.”

At first, GoDaddy will remind you of the risks and disadvantages of connecting your domain to a different site. Read it as you wish, then click ‘Enter my own nameservers (advanced)’ to proceed.

On the next page, simply enter the name server details from your SiteGround hosting account. Click ‘Save’ to finish the job.

Remember that, if you don’t use GoDaddy, then the steps above aren’t applicable to you.

Each domain registrar has different interfaces and navigation systems. If you’re having a hard time looking for your domain’s name server settings, contact your registrar’s customer support.

Furthermore, it may take 24 to 48 hours for the domain propagation period to complete. While you wait, contact your registrar and web host to verify if you properly set up your domain.

On your SiteGround account’s homepage, look for the panel “Transfer Your Domains” and click the link below.

Step 3: Installing WordPress

Now that your domain is hosted and ready, the next step is to install WordPress . It’s a Content Management System or CMS that essentially provides you with a visual interface for website creation.

Here’s the cool part: most web hosting services have adopted WordPress into their ecosystem.

This is mostly due to WordPress’s popularity for bloggers, businesses, and professionals alike.

For instance, SiteGround has an easy WordPress “autoinstaller” that can set up your site in seconds. This tool can be accessed from the control panel under the “Autoinstallers” section.

Take note that the same tool can be launched by clicking ‘WordPress Installer’ under “WordPress Tools.”

From WordPress Installer’s main page, click ‘Install’ to initialize the software setup application.

Be sure to install an updated version of WordPress by selecting the most recent version. To do this, click the drop-down menu next to “Choose the version you want to install.”

The highest number should denote the latest WordPress update.

Under the “Choose Installation URL,” select the domain you want to build your travel blog on. I also recommend using an “https” protocol, which stands for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.”

This protocol utilizes a Transport Layer Security or TLS to encrypt communications conducted through your website.

The rest of the WordPress setup settings are fairly self-explanatory.

For example, under the “Admin Account” section, you can create your primary admin account. You just need to input details such as your administrator username, password, and email address.

WordPress Installation Admin Account Setup

It’s also worth noting that hosts like SiteGround offer additional installation options. For instance, you may choose to install the Loginizer plugin, which limits invalid login attempts.

This is a great countermeasure to brute force attacks.

These add-ons vary from host to host. Just remember that these plugins are completely optional — you won’t miss out a lot by choosing not to install them.

Once you’re happy with your WordPress installation settings, click ‘Install’ at the bottom of the page.

Congratulations — your WordPress travel blog should now be up and running!

You’re now ready to build your travel blog website.

Best WordPress Themes for Travel Blogs

Installing WordPress is just one of the steps in learning how to start a travel blog website.

You should also learn how to choose a great theme, which plugins to use, how to publish content, and more.

The first item on that list is pretty easy to do.

Step 1: Logging in to your WordPress admin account

After installation, log in to your WordPress dashboard by accessing the installation URL. By default, this is simply your domain plus “wp-admin” attached to the end.

Let’s pretend for a second that you actually bought the domain “SoloNomadTravels.com.”

After registering and hosting your domain, log in to WordPress by typing in the following address:

You can log in to your WordPress account using the admin credentials you created earlier.

Viewing the theme library

WordPress has a built-in theme library with truckloads of free themes to choose from.

To view your options, click ‘Themes’ under the ‘Appearance’ sub-menu.

WordPress comes with pre-installed themes that you can activate in a jiffy. You do, however, need to carefully consider which theme to use on your travel blog.

To add new themes, click ‘Add New.’ This will pull up WordPress’s theme library where you can find and install professional-looking in a snap.

Type in the keyword “travel” or anything related to your blog’s vision to get suitable ideas.

If you’re not in the mood to do your own digging, read 10 Best WordP r ess Themes for Travel Blogs here .

Step 2: Creating a child theme

Found the perfect travel blog theme?

You probably feel as ready as ever to start making customizations.

Here’s a word of advice: don’t .

Although WordPress allows you to directly edit themes right away, it’s advised that you create a “child theme” first.

Child themes work by inheriting the appearance and basic functions of a theme — also referred to as “parent theme.” They’re created to allow WordPress website owners to make heavy customizations on any theme installed.

You can definitely customize a theme to your liking without creating a child theme. However, you’ll most likely lose all your customizations once you install a theme update.

In other words, child themes separate your customizations from the essential functionalities of the parent theme.

To create a child theme, you need to access your web host’s WordPress theme directory.

Finding your WordPress website’s theme directory

Every web host should have a built-in file manager you can use for this. In GoDaddy’s case, it’s simply called the “cPanel File Manager.”

On the File Manager interface, click on the ‘public_html’ link. You can also find this in the directory tree on the left.

This should open up your website’s designated directory.

Next, click on ‘wp-content’ and open the ‘themes’ folder. You should see a list of folders — each named after one of your currently-installed themes.

Suppose you want to create a child theme for the “Twenty Nineteen” theme.

You’ll need to create a folder for that.

You can add a new folder to the current directory by clicking ‘+ Folder’ on the File Manager’s main toolbar. As for the name, it’s best to use the same name with “-child” added to the end.

In relation to the example above, you can call your child theme’s folder “twentynineteen-child.”

Creating your child theme’s style sheet

After creating your child theme’s folder, open it and create a new text file called “style.css.”

On GoDaddy’s file manager, you can add files to your website’s directory by clicking ‘+ File’ on the main toolbar.

Once the file is created, edit it using the ‘Edit’ button on the toolbar or on the right-click menu.

Since you just created this file, it should be empty once you’ve loaded up the editor.

Copy and paste the code below to continue.

Curious how I came up with the code?

To be perfectly clear, only two lines of that code are actually necessary for your child theme to work. I’m talking about the “Theme Name” and “Template” lines.

Important parts of a child theme style.css file

You just need to modify the “Theme Name” and “Template” lines to match your theme’s name.

If you’re bothered by it, you can simply copy information from the parent theme’s style sheet. You can find the appropriate file in the parent theme’s directory.

Some of the information you can copy into your child theme’s style sheet are:

Description
License
Text Domain

Don’t worry about the rest of the code. WordPress should already know how the theme looks just with the theme’s name and template.

The file should now function as the child theme’s style sheet, which tells WordPress what the theme should look like.

Creating ‘functions.php’

Already saved your child theme’s “style.css” file?

Nice — that’s one out of two.

There’s one more file you need to create in your child theme’s library. This time, call it “functions.php.”

Wondering what code to copy and paste into this new file?

Here you go:

Save the file to finish this step. Your child theme should now be ready and waiting for you in your WordPress theme library.

Just head back to ‘Themes’ under the ‘Appearance’ sub-menu. You should find it right next to the parent theme.

With your child theme highlighted, click ‘Activate’ to make sure it works. If it doesn’t, review the steps above and check if you used the right codes.

Best WordPress Plugins for Travel Blogs

A theme creates a skeleton for your WordPress website.

It becomes the foundation wherein building blocks, like your content and various site elements, can be piled up.

Since content creation takes substantially more preparations, let’s focus first on WordPress plugins.

How to install WordPress plugins

Installing plugins on your WordPress website is as easy as installing themes.

From your WordPress dashboard, expand the ‘Plugins’ sub-menu and click ‘Add New.’

To look for plugins that may prove useful to travel blogs, enter a related keyword on the search field.

A keyword like “travel” can give you a few ideas.

The must-have plugins for WordPress travel blogs

Here is a quick roundup of the top travel blog plugins I’d recommend.

Tip: you can learn more about these plugins by visiting this post .

Divi — A page builder that will give you full control over your website’s appearance. Its features include a drag-and-drop builder, ready-to-use layouts, advanced animations, and pre-built website elements.
Bloom — Bloom lets you create eye-catching opt-in forms that can appear as pop-ups, fly-ins, widgets, and content gates. The best part is, both Bloom and Divi come for free with an Elegant Themes membership.
Genesis Author Pro — If you use a Genesis child theme , Genesis Author Pro is an aesthetic and easy way to showcase your books. You can include details like the book’s price, editions, publishing date, ISBN, and so on.
Geo Mashup — Some travel bloggers allow their audience to browse their content using a visual, interactive map. Geo Mashup lets you pin clickable markers on maps from services like Google Maps, which take readers to specific posts.
Travelers’ Map — Travelers’ Map is a lightweight alternative to Geo Mashup. Its main advantage is more flexibility, allowing you to change the appearance of your map using OpenStreetMap tiles.
Photo Gallery by 10Web — Photo Gallery by 10Web lets you create beautiful image galleries for your travel photos with ease. It features several transition effects, different layouts, gallery grouping, Instagram integration, and eCommerce support.
Social Snap — This is my go-to plugin for leveraging the power of social media. It lets you add sharing buttons anywhere, build a floating sidebar, integrate over 30 social networks, and more.
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed — You can showcase your Instagram photos on your travel blog using Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed. It pulls posts from your Instagram account in real-time, allowing readers to view your posts as you upload them.
Smush — While photos are essential to any travel blog, they can have a negative impact on your site’s performance. The Smush plugin prevents this by compressing the file size of your images with the option to preserve quality.
WP Rocket — WP Rocket is another plugin designed to help maximize your website’s performance. Its main features include GZIP compression, browser caching, sitemap preloading, and lazy loading.
The Events Calendar — Planning to host events with your travel blog audience? The Events Calendar can help you using an interactive calendar — complete with a custom widget and Google Maps integration.
LinkWhisper — It’s recommended to build a solid internal link structure to improve your SEO and boost the discoverability of older posts. LinkWhisper can help you do this by looking for internal linking opportunities, such as unlinked related posts and “orphaned” content.

Building Your Travel Blog’s Content Strategy

Alright — you’re done with all the necessary preparations.

You have your unique domain ready and WordPress ecosystem going.

What comes next is perhaps the most important part of being a travel blogger — creating a content strategy.

Keyword research for travel blogs

When creating content for a travel blog, keyword research is the first order of business.

Keyword research makes sure you create posts that people actually want to read. More importantly, it can help you determine which content ideas can give you traffic.

You’ll understand why as you learn more about keyword research.

Using the Keyword Magic Tool

Let me get one thing straight.

It’s nigh impossible to conduct data-driven keyword research without a capable tool.

Sure, you can technically acquire potential keyword ideas with just Google. You just need to enter any relevant term and look at the Autocomplete suggestions.

Let’s give it a go with the search term “destinations in Asia.”

So, do people actually search for those keywords on Google?

You bet you can.

Can you effectively leverage those keywords to bring traffic to your travel blog?

Only a keyword research tool can answer that.

As far as this goes, my personal tool of choice for keyword research is SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool .

It can be accessed from the ‘Keyword Analytics’ section of the SEMrush dashboard.

Keyword Magic Tool works by identifying keyword ideas while pulling up valuable keyword metrics. This includes each keyword’s monthly search volume, average Cost-Per-Click, and keyword difficulty rating.

Here are the suggestions you’ll obtain using “destinations in Asia” as your seed keyword:

Keyword Magic Tool Destinations in Asia Suggestions

Pretty interesting, right?

When picking a keyword for your content strategy, remember to look at the following metrics to gauge their viability:

Volume — This metric measures the average monthly number of users who search for this keyword. Personally, I prefer to target keywords with a volume of at least 100.
KD — Short for Keyword Difficulty, the KD metric gives you an idea of how competitive a keyword is. A KD of 60 to 80 means medium difficulty, which is good for new bloggers.
CPC — The metric CPC or cost-per-click reflects the average amount advertisers are willing to bid for a keyword. It can help you determine the monetization potential of any given keyword.

Keywords with higher CPC are often more competitive since brands typically care more about monetization. However, long-tail keywords can provide new bloggers with more traffic and better chances at ranking.

Long-tail keywords are phrases that contain at least three terms.

The longer they are, the less competitive they get.

Long-tail keywords also pertain to a more specific topic and target a narrower audience. That makes them perfect to be used as content ideas for your travel blog.

For example, the keyword “honeymoon destinations in Asia” is as clear-cut as you can get.

If I’m calling the shots, I’ll write a simple listicle that highlights the pros and cons of each destination. While I’m at it, I will also share some tips for travelers who wish to visit those locations.

Not finding keywords with decent traffic and reasonable keyword difficulty ratings?

Here’s a tip: don’t think too much about their average monthly traffic.

It’s okay if the keywords you find only have 100 or so monthly searches.

Remember, the goal is to target multiple related keywords in one post. If you target five low-competition keywords with 100 monthly searches each, then your content’s traffic potential is 500.

For more information on long-tail keywords, check out this guide .

Getting more content ideas with AnswerThePublic

In my own content strategy, I use a mix of keyword research tools — each with specific purposes.

The Keyword Magic Tool, for example, is my favorite for acquiring valuable keyword metrics. But content idea generation, I usually get more promising results with AnswerThePublic .

Here’s how it works.

Just like any other keyword research tool, you enter any seed keyword into the search bar.

Let’s try “honeymoon destinations” to see what the tool can do.

Upon clicking ‘Search,’ AnswerThePublic will compile a list of questions that people ask around that keyword.

The tool does this by rendering a visualization with branches for question words, like what, how, and which.

AnswerThePublic Questions Visualizations

As you can see, these questions can be refined into interesting travel blog post ideas.

Some examples are:

Which honeymoon destinations are best in India
What are great honeymoon destinations
Which honeymoon destinations are the cheapest

Other than questions, AnswerThePublic also provides phrases based on prepositions and comparisons.

Just below the first visualization, you’ll find additional ones sprinkled with more ideas.

You can switch to the “Data” mode for a more organized view of these ideas. Simply click on the ‘Data’ tab on top of the results.

Based on the results above, here are more ideas you can turn into travel blog post topics:

Honeymoon destinations you can drive to
Honeymoon destinations to visit in May
Honeymoon destinations near Bangalore
Honeymoon destinations with a baby
Honeymoon destinations with private pool

Rest assured that these ideas came from Google searches.

Users are looking for them, meaning you can write about them in your blog to capture people’s attention.

You do, however, need to run these keywords on a tool like Keyword Magic Tool. Doing so will provide you with additional data that can help you make informed decisions for your content strategy.

Take a look at metrics like average monthly volume and keyword difficulty. That’s the way to maximize the value you can get from your content creation efforts.

When you find keywords, collect them into a spreadsheet along with important metrics. You’ll need them later once you start writing your content.

Looking at your competitors for keywords

Let’s face it: keyword research can be time-consuming.

Sometimes, it’s tough to find keywords with good traffic and a suitable keyword difficulty range. You also need to think of what type of content to use when utilizing keywords in your blog.

For all those reasons, I always recommend doing competitor keyword research.

Trust me — if there’s someone who cracked the code to the keyword research puzzle, it’s your top competitor.

You should have an idea of who they are before you even decided to start your travel blog. If not, take a gander of this list of the top 52 travel bloggers on the web.

You can also quickly identify your competitors with — surprise, surprise — Google.

Just enter any of the keywords you’ve collected earlier plus the keyword “travel blog.” Google’s first page should now contain your top competitors.

When you find a potential competitor, fire up SEMrush or anything similar and run a domain analysis.

You simply have to paste their domain address and click ‘Search.’ The tool should do the rest.

Let’s pretend for a minute that While I’m Young is your top competitor.

After entering their domain address into SEMrush, the tool will generate a data-packed domain overview report.

It should look something like this:

To take a peek at your competitor’s keywords, scroll down to the “Organic Research” section.

Their top keywords, along with their keyword rankings, should be presented to you on a silver platter.

SEMrush Domain Overview Organic Research

Clicking ‘View details’ will give you a deeper look at your competitors’ keywords.

Under the ‘Positions’ tab, you’ll see the full list of your competitor’s keywords and their metrics.

There you go — a fresh batch of potential keywords for your content strategy.

The good news is, you’re free to repeat the same strategy over and over again for every competitor you find.

That translates to heaps and heaps of proven target keywords that can bring quality traffic to your travel blog.

Long story short, you’re reaping the benefits of the keyword research that your competitors did.

How crafty is that?

Apparently, there are more ways to take advantage of the research your competitors have done.

Other things to look for in your competitor’s website

Apart from keywords, you can also harvest more ideas for your content strategy from your competitor’s blog.

By this, I mean looking at certain aspects of their content and adopting them into your content strategy:

Content types — What kind of visual content does your top competitor use? If you want to outperform them, be prepared to utilize the same content types — be it videos, infographics, or slideshows.
Internal links — Give your competitor’s content a thorough read and you should find a couple of internal links to their own posts. This will help you unearth even more topic ideas you can cover in your travel blog.
Content length — There’s more than enough evidence that proves the positive effects of high word counts on SEO. Just remember that adding fluff is not the way to bolster your blog content’s average length.
Link sources — Using SEMrush or anything similar, you can also find other sites that link to your competitor’s posts. This is important if you want to employ link building strategies like the Skyscraper Technique .
Essential pages — How did your competitor create their “about,” “work with me,” and “contact” pages? Are there any other useful pages and resources you can replicate in your blog?

I’m pretty sure there are more things in your competitor’s site you can use as inspiration for your travel blog. It all depends on what you find appealing and your specific objectives at this very moment.

For example, what colors pop in your competitor’s blog? Do you like their blog post layouts, font choices, and navigation?

I’m not encouraging you to blatantly copy every single facet of your competitor’s blogging strategy.

All I’m saying is, beginners sometimes need to see how things are done in order to hatch original ideas themselves.

How to use keywords in your content

Now that you have a list of keywords in hand and some content ideas, let’s piece them together.

The first rule is to make sure your target keywords appear in the right places.

Here are the specific content elements where you should put your target keywords at least once:

Page or post title — Your blog post’s title is one of the elements that absolutely need your target keyword. It’s also the first thing your readers will see upon discovering your blog, so pay close attention when creating it.
Main headline — After users click on your post’s title, the next thing they’ll look at is the post’s main headline. Seeing a matching, keyword-optimized headline reassures them that they found the content they wanted.
Subheadings — Keywords in subheadings are also shown to improve keyword rankings. Not only that, they’ll also make your content more skimmable and readable to readers.
Main body — The main body text is where every primary and secondary keywords should appear. Several authoritative SEO brands like Yoast recommend putting them right in the introduction.
Images — To optimize images for SEO, give them keyword-optimized filenames, alt text tags, and surrounding text. This will help make your website more discoverable to people who use image search.
Link anchor texts — It doesn’t matter if you’re optimizing an internal link or a backlink from an external source. Using a keyword-optimized anchor text will help search engines understand what your post is about.
Permalink — The permalink is the URL that readers can use to access your content. You can edit this straight from WordPress’s post editor to contain your focus keyword.
Meta description — While the meta description doesn’t directly affect keyword rankings, it can increase organic click-throughs to your content. I currently use the Rank Math plugin to optimize meta descriptions here in Master Blogging.

I know — it can be tiresome to consciously think about these content components when writing blog posts. But I assure you that it becomes second nature when you’re working on your third or fourth post.

It’s all about being consistent with these keyword optimization practices.

Once you nail keyword placements, keep in mind that there are other on-page SEO strategies to remember. You can read the full guide on on-page SEO techniques right here .

How to create killer travel blog content

Just a heads up in case you’re still looking for good content ideas for your travel blog.

I compiled a grand total of 138 post title ideas for your brand-new travel blog .

Feel free to use that list to fuel your travel blog content strategy. Just remember to tweak the titles a little so you won’t have the same posts as everyone else!

Now — going back to your travel blog content creation.

It takes a lot more than just a good content idea to make the cut.

Let me break down the essential content guidelines that I abide by myself.

Create user-oriented posts

The best articles are the ones that address the readers’ pain points.

Think of the objectives that your audience will accomplish after they read your travel-related post. Combine these objectives with your target keywords to come up with valuable post ideas like:

Packing tips for a specific type of trip
Things to do when visiting a certain destination
How to stay safe when doing a specific outdoor activity

Use a task management app

If you really know me, you should know that I’m a big fan of productivity tools.

An important piece of my everyday writing ritual is Trello — a task management application with a lot of uses.

I use Trello to consolidate all my content plans and ideas.

There are separate lists for general reminders, topic ideas, ongoing tasks, completed tasks, and so on.

Here’s a glimpse of how busy my blogging life really is:

Trello also has a handful of useful tricks up its sleeve.

With checklists, I can track my target keywords for a specific post. I can also create deadlines to help me stay right on schedule.

Want more tips on staying productive? Read 23 Productivity Tips for Bloggers .

Take a lot of high-quality photos

In a travel blog, words can help describe the details of a story.

Photos, however, bring that story to life.

If you’re clueless on travel photography, I suggest taking up online classes. You may also bank on free YouTube tutorials on smartphone photography, which is a practical approach for beginners.

Just search “how to take travel photos smartphone” and you’ll find a long list of free tutorials.

YouTube How to Take Travel Photos with a Smartphone

To show off your travel photos, you can insert them in your articles or use a gallery plugin. You can also refer to your competitors’ posts for ideas on how to incorporate photos in your blog.

Create custom blog banners

To become an authoritative figure in any niche, a rule of thumb is to never use generic stock photos.

Use a tool like Canva to create custom blog banners to make your travel blog posts more eye-catching.

Canva is a user-friendly, drag-and-drop image editing tool with a bunch of time-saving features. For one, it has pre-made blog banner templates you can customize with text, visual elements, and image filters.

You can also use Canva to customize the travel photos you’ll upload on social media, including Pinterest and Instagram. Just be sure to use the ideal format for the specific site by selecting the suggested design dimensions.

Use automated proofreading tools

As a travel blogger, you don’t need flawless grammar and spelling to make great content.

I say that for two reasons.

First, a lot of travel bloggers use a conversational writing tone to give their content a unique flavor. This makes their travel stories more genuine, impactful, and entertaining to read.

Second, you can always rely on proofreading tools to iron out the basic grammar and spelling mistakes you’ll make.

I’ve seen a lot of tools that do a good enough job through the years. But since I’m not one who’ll settle for “good enough,” I reviewed the absolute top 4 proofreading tools right here .

My top pick would be Grammarly , which is the one I still use to this day.

What won me over to Grammarly is its speed, user interface, and customizable proofreading goals.

It lets you tailor the tool’s proofreading algorithms to suit your travel blogging style. It doesn’t matter if you wish to create humorous posts with colloquial language or strictly professional articles.

As for its actual reliability and accuracy, I think Grammarly is definitely capable of helping you create 100% polished posts.

Just bear in mind that you’re not obliged to approve all of its correction suggestions, especially those unrelated to correctness. Use your own discretion when approving suggested changes in your post to retain your personal blogging voice.

Build a resources page

Want to make it easier for readers to find your travel blog’s essential content?

Here’s a four-word piece of advice: build a resources page.

Think of it as the starting point of every new visitor who stumbles upon your page. Ask yourself, what are must-read articles that will familiarize guests with your brand?

After listing these articles down, create a page with all the necessary links. Here’s an example from Nomadic Matt :

What makes resource pages useful are the internal links that take readers to useful content.

Speaking of which, now might be a good time to plan your travel blog’s internal link structure.

Build a solid internal link structure for your travel blog

Links are internal if they point to content within the same site.

Creating resource pages with links to your own content is an example of internal linking. In addition to helping readers find the information they need, internal links are also crucial to on-page SEO.

Below are some ground rules on how to effectively create internal links in your travel blog:

Always set internal links to open in a new tab
Don’t put internal links to unrelated posts
Make sure every post is accessible within three clicks — not just with internal links, but with menus as well
Don’t put internal links on images
Avoid using too many internal links, especially ones that are too close together

To create internal links in your travel blog, start by planning the categorization of your content.

Most travel blogs create different categories for specific aspects of traveling. This includes travel equipment, destinations, packing, and budgeting.

Building internal links between posts under the same category is a surefire strategy. However, see to it that they’re created contextually — meaning they should not distract readers from the current topic.

Let me give you a real-life example right now.

For the nitty-gritty of internal linking, read this guide .

Promoting Your Travel Blog Posts

Successful travel bloggers who make thousands of dollars are expert marketers — make no mistake about it. You can’t just upload high-quality travel blog content and call it a day.

To learn how to become a travel blogger, you should also learn how to promote posts like one.

And to do that, you need to be familiar with a professional travel blogger’s go-to content promotion channels.

Build an Instagram page

For some bloggers like Melissa Hie of Girl Eat World , Instagram is one of the cornerstones for success.

Instagram is a fun and easy way to turn your travel experiences into shareable stories that people will love. You just need a modern smartphone, a destination, and the patience to diligently upload photos to your feed.

Instagram is great for travel bloggers because it basically lets you tell travel stories through your photos.

A strong caption for each image will definitely go a long way, though. So, think of something creative and use branded hashtags whenever you can.

Another advantage of using Instagram is that your followers also get to see your uploads in real time. This creates the feeling that you’re taking them along in your journey, especially if you regularly share Instagram “Stories.”

Instagram tips for travel bloggers

Create a business account for features like analytics and ads
Formulate a recognizable, travel-related hashtag for your brand
Pick a color palette or filter configuration to make your Instagram page look cohesive
Link to your travel blog in your Instagram bio

Create a YouTube channel

The biggest travel blogs use video content to maximize the engagement of their audience.

It shouldn’t be hard to see why.

When it comes to telling stories, nothing beats videos since your audience can both see and hear what’s happening.

Videos also give you the opportunity to introduce how you act in public and who you are as a person. And if you share your videos through YouTube, you can leverage the platform’s potential for brand building, traffic, and monetization.

California Through My Lens is an example of a travel blog that heavily relies on YouTube to build authority.

YouTube tips for travel bloggers

Upload everything on YouTube and embed videos in your blog
Learn about YouTube SEO with tutorials from other travel blogs like The Endless Adventure
Engage your viewers in the comments
Leave your website and other contact information on your YouTube channel page
Always promote your YouTube videos on other channels as you upload them

Promote more visuals through Pinterest

Pinterest is another image-sharing social network with tools tailored to the marketing needs of brands.

With a “ Business ” account, you can leverage features like real-time analytics, domain integration, and bulk pin creation.

Check out this Pinterest business page by The Blonde Abroad to see what your account can look like:

Pinterest tips for travel bloggers

Whatever you do, don’t forget to use a Pinterest business account for your travel blog
Customize your photos with a tool like Canva to add CTAs, links, and other text overlays
Link your travel blog to your Pinterest business account
Read my Pinterest traffic guide for more tips.

Build your travel blog’s community on Facebook

While the social networks above are great for sharing content, Facebook is perfect for community building.

Facebook lets you join groups, jump into conversations, and react to other people’s posts with your brand front and center. It can also serve as the central hub for your content distribution efforts — be it through videos or blog posts.

As a Facebook page owner, you can also use advanced features like “Mentorship” to build a great community. I personally use this feature on the private Master Blogging community — check it out and consider joining!

For ideas and inspiration, take a look at the Facebook page of A Dangerous Business travel blog:

Facebook A Dangerous Business Travel Blog Page

Facebook tips for travel bloggers

Join Facebook groups to connect with a wider audience and potential influencers
Create and promote CTA buttons on your Facebook page
Set up Frequently Asked Questions or FAQs to provide quick information
Create automated responses for people who contact you through Facebook Messenger
Don’t ignore comments and direct messages — Facebook isn’t the place for that

Join travel-related subreddits

Reddit is a popular network that isn’t often discussed in blogging guides and tutorials.

The main reason is that Reddit users are typically tech-savvy and can easily tell if you’re being spammy.

However, it’s still an excellent platform for raising brand awareness and forming valuable connections that can grow your travel blog. You just need to live by a few golden rules if you want positive recognition from the community.

One of these rules is to avoid mentioning your travel blog unless it naturally fits the conversation. It’s also important to join the right subreddits where your travel blog content can be appreciated.

r/SoloTravel is an example of a travel-related subreddit you can join and share travel posts on.

Reddit tips for travel bloggers

Never be overly promotional — Reddit users have a keen sense for spam
Only post travel-related content on travel-related subreddits
Prioritize adding value to conversations even if you don’t have to mention your blog
Let Reddit users naturally become interested in your blog by answering questions and providing insightful advice

Answer travel-related questions on Quora

If there’s one place you’ll find people who need your expertise, it’s a Q&A website like Quora.

Loyal Master Blogging readers will know that I already wrote a post dedicated to Quora marketing . There, I unveiled a step-by-step strategy that will help you turn questions into high-quality blog traffic.

The plan here is simple: look for relevant questions, offer solutions, and mention your blog if necessary.

Quora’s user interface should be simple enough for you to figure out how to look for questions to start with. Just enter a keyword and wait for suggestions to pop up.

If there are no suggestions right off the bat, select ‘Search: your keyword’ for a list of posted questions.

Quora tips for travel bloggers

Build a detailed bio with links to your travel blog
Create a Quora topic using your travel blog name
When answering questions, provide a lot of valuable paragraphs and slide in the link naturally
Turn questions into content ideas
Due to the number of marketers on Quora, consider using paid ads to cut through the content noise

Build an email list

As a professional blogger, you absolutely can’t forego email marketing.

Building an email list is a great way to collect and nurture potential leads. Additionally, it’ll give you a steady source of quality traffic if you do lead segmentation and content promotions right.

To create an email list, you’ll need an email marketing platform.

Popular platforms like ActiveCampaign allow you to automate emails, manage your lists, create subscription forms, and more. In simpler terms, they provide everything you need to have an email marketing campaign up and running.

For more information on ActiveCampaign along with possible alternatives, read 11 Best Email Marketing Services for Bloggers .

Email marketing tips for travel bloggers

Automate a welcome email with links to your travel blog’s top content
If you sell products, automate birthday emails that offer special discounts
To generate more subscribers, try offering an opt-in bribe like a free eBook, template, or Lightroom presets
Never use your audience’s emails to send spam
Try to use plain text emails more often since they’re proven to generate more click-throughs
If you’re sending newsletters, try to keep the word count low and include links to useful resources instead

Use Google Analytics to integrate data into your decision-making process

If you purchased a SEMrush for keyword and content research, you already have a capable analytics tool for your blog.

If not, use Google Analytics to track important website data.

Google Analytics is a free service that will equip you with tools to stay on top of your blog’s performance. It can track your traffic, bounce rate, top traffic sources, session duration, conversions, and more.

The platform can also give you a closer look at your blog audience. In the ‘Audience’ section, you can learn things like their estimated lifetime value, preferred browsing device, demographics, and interests.

For steps on how to use Google Analytics on your blog, visit this guide . I also shared a bunch of tips that will help you turn numbers into actionable plans.

Google Analytics tips for travel bloggers

Identify your top traffic sources so you can funnel all your content promotions there
Set goals to track your conversions
Find the pages that lose your audience’s interest and try to patch up their problems
Learn how to use industry benchmarks to see how your blog fares against competitors

The strategies above make up the best content promotion strategies for travel bloggers. If you’d like to try something else, refer to this list of 17 blog promotion tactics .

How to Make Money as a Travel Blogger

A lot of aspiring travel bloggers are probably looking forward to this section.

That’s completely understandable.

If you truly enjoy travel, you’ll do whatever it takes to make it a sustainable lifestyle.

There are multiple ways to make it happen.

Making money with advertisements

The easiest way to make money off of a travel blog is to show ads.

True, it may not be the most lucrative monetization strategy. Being irresponsible with ad placements can also hurt the user experience on your site.

But if you do things right, ads can provide you with enough funds to keep your blog running.

There are two ways to make money with ads on your travel blog:

Partnering with an ad network

An easy way to start making money with ads is through an ad network like Google AdSense .

The main advantage of joining an ad network are the instant connections with potential advertisers. You just need to worry about creating an account and designating ad spaces on your blog.

Networks like AdSense will do most of the work from there — supplying ads that match your content.

Selling advertising spaces directly

You can make more money with advertisements by selling ad spaces directly to other companies.

There are a few differences between this strategy and working with an advertising network.

For one, you control which brands get to advertise on your travel blog. You’re also in charge of the appearance and formats of your banner advertising spaces.

It sounds like a lot of work. But with a plugin like Advanced Ads , you can set up these ad spaces with ease.

How can you promote your advertising spaces to brands?

It’s as simple as writing an “advertise with us” or “work with us” page and mentioning your offer.

Here’s an example from Getting On Travel :

Promoting affiliate products to your readers

Full disclosure : affiliate marketing is my go-to monetization strategy for my own blog.

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing lets bloggers earn commissions by promoting another company’s products or services.

I can probably write a complete listicle that discusses everything I love about affiliate marketing. But to keep this post short, I’ll just highlight the best benefits of being an affiliate marketer.

Work with companies you love — Affiliate marketing is the best way to promote products that you’d personally vouch for. If you truly care about your readers, you’d help them acquire the tools to accomplish their goals.
Generate decent passive income — There are affiliate marketing programs for travel bloggers that offer up to 80 percent commissions. This income is passive, which means you can make money from your affiliate marketing content as long as it’s live.
Earn based on your performance — There’s a science to running affiliate marketing campaigns. You’ll be handsomely rewarded if you can zero in on factors that affect conversions and click-throughs.
Get free incentives — Apart from the commissions, being a profitable affiliate marketer in the travel niche has a few other perks. An example would be the free trips, cash bonuses, and other incentives for performing at a certain level.
Free marketing materials — Most affiliate marketing programs provide their members with free marketing materials for promotional purposes. There’s no need to spend time and money creating those materials yourself.
Low barrier to entry, high ceiling — Believe it or not, even the biggest affiliate marketing networks don’t charge their members a single cent. Other than that, you can join as many affiliate programs as you can manage to multiply your profits.
Connect with established brands in the travel industry — Being affiliated with well-known companies is good for your personal brand. Not only that, but you can also connect with like-minded people who joined the same affiliate programs.
Promote products without being too salesy — Affiliate marketing lets you hit the sweet spot between your content’s profitability and reader experience factor. Just write a product review, comparison post, or product listicle and your affiliate link should fit right in.

To get started in the affiliate marketing industry, look for programs that pique your interest in this list .

Selling digital products

If you want to make a name in the travel industry, you won’t settle with just selling another company’s products.

You need to put your thinking cap on, develop an idea, and build something to plaster your name on.

Creating digital products , be it an eBook or online course, is a great entry point for new bloggers.

eBooks, in particular, won’t cost a fortune to make. As for online courses, there are platforms like Teachable that will help you develop eLearning products from the ground up.

Selling your travel photos

Being a travel blogger obliges you to, at least, make an effort to improve your photography skills.

It’s not something every travel blogger does. But if you can consistently take professional-quality photographs, you can make money by selling them on your website.

Jonathan Look Jr. of Life Part 2 does this by allowing users to purchase photos straight from their blog.

Writing sponsored posts

Travel bloggers can also make a good sum of money by publishing sponsored posts on their blog.

This is a monetization opportunity that isn’t limited to the travel niche.

The premise is simple: you get paid for publishing content that puts another brand on a positive light. It doesn’t matter who creates the sponsored content to be published.

Some travel bloggers refuse to publish sponsored posts because they think it makes their blog disingenuous. Others, however, are more open to the idea as long as they stick to a few rules:

Mention that a post is sponsored upfront
Write the sponsored post yourself so it stays on-brand
Be honest and use real opinions — mention this to the brand sponsoring you

Getting paid to travel through press trips

Press trips allow travel bloggers to make money doing what they love.

In this arrangement, a company plans and pays for a trip to a specific location. In exchange, the travel blogger agrees to provide them with exposure, featured content, or both.

You can say that a press trip is somewhat similar to publishing a sponsored post. The main difference is, press trips actually require you to travel to the destination you’re writing about.

Sponsored posts may also cover products, services, and people — not just travel destinations.

There are two ways to get opportunities to do press trips with organizations.

If you’re already a big-shot travel blogger, watch out for proposals in your email inbox. Otherwise, your best hope is to pitch press trip proposals to organizations yourself.

What you should remember is to put the growth of your travel blog first before cold pitches for press trips. Building an authoritative brand in the travel niche will make you more attractive to prospects, anyway.

Running social media promotion campaigns

For travel bloggers who manage to build a sizeable blog readership, establishing a social media presence should be relatively easy.

That puts you on the radar of organizations that need a hand in the tricky world of social media marketing.

Just like sponsored posts and press trips, social media promotion campaigns can start with either you or a prospective brand. When a deal is struck it usually ends with you receiving payment for certain deliverables on social media.

As for the deliverables, it can be any form of social media content promotion over a specific period of time. It could be anything from a single Instagram post to a social media takeover.

The bigger your name is on social media, the more you can charge for social media collaborations.

Taking on brand ambassadorships

You may offer both sponsored posts and managed social media campaigns as individual packages.

But what if your prospect wants to do a little bit of both?

As a brand ambassador, you can offer them regular promotions through your blog, social media, and other content distribution channels. In turn, you’ll make more money than you would if you accept sponsored post and social media campaign proposals separately.

To get the attention of brands, I advise putting together a blogging media kit . You can then mention your willingness to accept brand ambassadorships on your blog.

This is how Yulia of Miss Tourist does it:

Organizing tours and events

If travel planning is your passion, you can turn it into a money-making machine by organizing travel events.

This can be done with or without the collaboration of a local tour company.

For the DIY route, a feasible idea is to organize planned tours of your local area. That’s given you’re already settled in a region or country with well-known travel spots.

There are, of course, travel blogs that take this idea to a whole new level.

The Adventurists , for example, organize wacky outdoor activities on an international scale. For one, they host “The Mongol Rally” where participants traverse 10,000 miles of rough road in a car or bike.

It’s not exactly a monetization strategy you can plan and roll out over the weekend. But if you can grasp the logistics and execution of such events, it’ll put your travel blog on the map.

Offering content writing services

There is a clear line between publishing sponsored posts and being a content contributor for hire.

With sponsored posts, you agree to publish content you may or may have written on your own blog. As a content writer for hire, you offer your skills to produce content for another website.

Your travel blog has all you need to prove that your content writing skills are up to par. All that’s left to do is offer your content writing services in your “work with me” page.

You may also choose the type of brands you want to contribute content to. It can be an online magazine, another travel blog, a destination, and so on.

Naturally, the way you present this service is entirely up to you. It can be mentioned in a bulleted list or highlighted with a simple visual, like what A Broken Backpack does.

Attending public speaking engagements

Speaking at your first event is indeed one of the most memorable milestones in the blogging career path.

I’ve been to a few speaking engagements myself. And from my experience, being on stage for the very first time changes you.

It reminds you that, as a blogger, you are given the privilege to inspire other doers.

Remember, most if not all people who attend these events have big ideas themselves. A speaker encourages them to take action and bring about positive change to the world.

Such instances are where a successful blogger can truly find fulfillment.

If you’re interested in speaking gigs, I recommend signing up for a service like Agent .

Of course, you should also mention that you’re willing to take on public speaking engagements on your blog.

Offering consultancy services

Finally, a handful of accomplished travel bloggers offer to share experienced-based, expert insights to companies for a price.

Being a consultant in the travel industry encompasses a range of project types. This includes product development for tour companies, staff training for destinations, marketing for online travel sites, and so on.

Uncornered Market is one of the few travel blogs that can offer consultancy services for a range of areas.

Congratulations — you now know all about how to be a travel blogger and make money along the way.

My last piece of advice for you is to go and get started today.

Head on to a website like Bluehost , host your blog, and claim your success. Your blogging career can’t go anywhere if you don’t take the first step!

If you have questions, try searching for them in my blog. I probably already wrote a full-length guide about them.

Good luck — I’m rooting for you!

You Might Also Like:

89 Proven Ways to Make Money with Your Blog in 2024
19 Best Affiliate Marketing Courses for Aspiring Affiliate Entrepreneurs
All Blogging Tools I Use and Recommend (Including Books!)

Ankit Singla

Ankit Singla is a full-time blogger, YouTuber, author, and public speaker. He founded and leads Master Blogging . With over 13 years of blogging expertise, he has assisted numerous aspiring bloggers in achieving their dreams of creating successful blogs.

Popular Posts by Ankit Singla ( see latest )

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Master Blogging, powered by Ankit Singla’s 13 years of blogging expertise, is your reliable resource for building a profitable blogging business. Here, you’ll gain the insights and support to thrive in blogging.

BLOGGING DEALS

How To Start a Travel Blog: From Creating a Website to Making Money

Do you love sitting on the beach and writing stories about your amazing journeys? Like the idea of sharing your travels with others?

It can be an overwhelming feeling when you know readers will love your blog posts.

Even better, if writing a travel blog generates a steady income you can use it to fund your next adventure.

It’s a dream life most of us would love to live. But is it really possible?

Yes, it’s very much achievable!

Travel blogging can take you places you love to go without worrying about getting back to work. Because this is your work!

As fun-life as it seems, it’s a serious job. Like any other business, it needs lots of work, dedication, consistency and lots of planning.

We have seen a number of travel enthusiasts using some basic business principles and chasing the dream of becoming successful travel bloggers.

Their passion gave them a life they always wanted to have – to explore the world, have fun and make money while doing it.

You could do it too.

Leave the 9-5 behind and travel for a living while writing about it. We’ll show you how.

Our guide on how to start a travel blog extends beyond building a fantastic website.

It explains the reason behind starting a travel blog, how to turn it into a business, how successful travel bloggers make it work, and how to make money out of it.

So grab a cup of coffee and relax!

By the end of this guide, you will know everything you need to know to pursue your dream career.

Step 7: Set up the necessary pages for your travel blog

Reasons to start a travel blog.

Travel blogging has become a very saturated space. Newbies are joining the industry at an ever-increasing rate believing that it is a quick rich scheme and vanish just as fast.

If the “why” for starting a travel blog is only to make quick money, then you may need to reconsider your options.

It requires a lot of work and serious dedication to make it a success. It’s not just sitting on the beach and taking selfies. It requires many, many hours of effort.

Here are some of the reasons to become a travel blogger:

1. Passion is the key

Passion and consistency should be the driving force of everything you do. If you have the passion and the urge to regularly share your travel experiences through writing, photos, and videos, you have a reason to be a travel blogger.

Another strong reason to become a travel blogger is a passion to help others have memorable journeys.

2. Be unique

There are thousands of travel blogs out there, but only a few get attention. Your blog must offer unique travel content that your audience will enjoy.

If you can find a unique voice or viewpoint or offer something other travel bloggers don’t, it should help you gain readership and make a success of your blog.

Curb Free with Cory Lee , for example, is the passionate voice of Cory who travels the world in a wheelchair.

The award-winning travel blogger has been featured on CNN, National Geographic, Los Angeles Times and several other platforms for his heroic and unstoppable journey.

He inspires others who use wheelchairs as well as those who don’t.

He provides tips on how others can fulfill their travel dreams and turn perceived weaknesses into strengths.

3. Give back to the community

Whatever you do and achieve, if you want to give back to the community and help fellow travelers to make their journeys comfortable, you should start a travel blog.

You can help solve travel problems through your tips and guides and offer actionable advice for travelers. The community doesn’t forget when you help them.

4. Support the travel industry

A flourishing travel industry can help everyone grow together. As a travel blogger, if you are willing to play a role to support whatever segment of the industry you are in, travel blogging will pay you back.

For example, one way to help the industry would be to support small tour operators through your blog. Or if you are a wildlife photographer, highlighting conservation issues or other worthy causes can help the world at large as well as your blog.

5. Business acumen

Travel blogging isn’t about publishing your experiences and waiting for people to read them. It’s a complete business that involves planning, marketing, selling, and everything businesses need.

If you can learn the ins and outs of business skills and transform your blog into a successful online travel business, you have a stronger chance of success.

6. Willing to learn

Travel is a source of learning itself. If you believe in learning new things every day, travel blogging is a great way to provide you with that knowledge.

For example, as a typical traveler, you might ask your tour guide a few simple questions about who made the Eiffel Tower and when.

But as a professional travel blogger, you will likely be much more interested in discovering local stories the world does not yet know.

7. Travel and tourism are booming

While these reasons should be compelling enough for you to become a travel blogger, there is one more reason to consider it.

The United States is among the top 5 tourist nations on earth. The country recorded 45 million tourists in 2020, ranking fourth worldwide .

In the same year, the US generated $84.21 billion in the tourism sector alone. This shows a lot of potential for anyone joining the travel and tourism industry.

In 2019, New York ranked 11th in the world for being among the top tourist destinations in the world, attracting 14 million tourists.

How to start a travel blog step by step

When we talk about travel blogging for beginners, it also includes website creation, customization, and optimization.

Here is a summary of what we will explain below, step by step:

Select a niche for your travel blog. It’s helpful to work on a topic you are comfortable talking about
Buying a domain is the most basic requirement for starting a travel blog
Web hosting provides you with a space where you can build your website
Setting up WordPress as the choice of platform is the right decision you will take for making a travel blog
Choosing a theme is a way to give your website a look you and your readers will love
Adding essential WordPress plugins will add the desired functionality and features to your blog

Follow this step-by-step process and you will have a solid foundation to begin your travel blog.

Step 1: Select a niche for your travel blog

Selecting a niche is the first and most important step you should take before setting up your online business. This is the reason we have put it on top of everything else on our list.

The niche is the topic your blog is about that you select to target a specific audience for your content.

For example, The Points Guys specifically blog about how travelers can best use their credit cards to get maximum reward points. Brian Kelly guides on boosting airline points, getting hotel rewards and several other hacks to tell how travelers can save cost and avail different deals.

Similarly, The Blonde Abroad is all about female solo travelers. On her blog, Kiersten (Kiki), focuses on women traveling and their fashion needs which makes her blog a go-to place for females who love adventurous lifestyles.

Similarly, Dan Flying Solo, Y Travel Blog and The Planet D are some of the top travel blogs you can find on the internet.

They all cover specific travel niches which is why they get attention from readers who like to read about those topics.

If this is the first time you are hearing about the term niche, we have a detailed guide that explains niches and how to select one.

Does it mean you should select travel as your niche?

No! We have many reasons not to select it because it is too broad and too saturated.

It would be difficult to compete with established websites that already rank higher and publish massive amounts of content.

An easy way to pick a niche is to break it down. This will give you better control over the subject and you should have less competition and more opportunities.

For example, if you select traveling solo by bicycle as your niche, you may be only targeting people who love traveling solo on their bicycles.

This might sound like creating content for a small number of people. But trust us when we say you will be the only one ranking in the search engines for any query related to this topic.

Down the road, you will be recognized as an expert on the topic and people will follow you everywhere.

Once you have a following and a solid reputation, you can always expand to include other travel niches.

Steps to select your travel niche

Selecting a niche should be easy if you follow these simple steps.

As a travel enthusiast, make a list of your hobbies, destinations you have traveled to, and places you wish to visit
Figure out what you enjoy most while traveling
Find out what your social circle thinks about similar information. You may be the one who enjoys food more than visiting remote places. Or you may prefer to track or hike solo
Find out what topics people look for that are closer to your hobbies and travel wishlist. Don’t forget to join groups and forums, read blogs and reports for similar information
Develop a pattern showing commonalities between what people are looking for and what you can do best
Build a list of topics, narrow it down and pick the one that matches your lifestyle
That is your niche!

As a reference, you may find topics like solo, family, group cultural, religious, educational, eco, luxury, and so on.

As long as you’re interested in that niche and can produce quality content around it, it’s all good.

Don’t worry if you think you have no expertise in a topic. When you are a traveler, it’s easy for you to do research and gain knowledge on any travel-related topic. It will come naturally after a while.

Step 2: Buy a domain name to make your blog a brand

Once you’re done selecting a niche for your travel blog, it’s time to buy the domain name.

The importance of a good domain name

The domain name is actually your blog’s address. It is the text you type in your browser’s address bar to access the website.

It is also the name of your blog, brand or company. So coming up with a good one will need your attention and some research.

It’s critical to choose a name that is relevant to your niche and that sums up what you’re about.

A carefully chosen domain name should have the following qualities.

It should be:

Clear and presentable
Easy to remember
Easy to spell
Preferably a .com

As a general rule, if you need to spell your domain name over the phone, it doesn’t work.

Ideally, the domain name and the name of your brand must be similar or at least your brand name should be a part of it.

The Astra example

A relevant example is our own WordPress theme, Astra. Our domain name is www.wpastra.com .

It’s short, memorable and easy to spell.

To understand the logic, you can dissect our domain in two parts to notice “WP” is actually the abbreviation for WordPress and Astra is the name of our main product.

Both words hold great marketing value: WordPress is the most popular website-building platform today and Astra has become the most popular WordPress theme over the years.

So you can imagine what we did before choosing our domain name. We made sure it met all our branding needs.

We can think of a few more examples such as Google, Amazon, Best Buy and Apple. They are all simple, short, and memorable brand names and their domain names are also similar.

See if you can come up with something equally memorable.

You can break rules if you want to

A domain name can be anything as long as it doesn’t imply something different from what your niche is about.

Check out the names of some of the top travel blogs. They are all popular travel brands and they have multi-word domain names:

Legal Nomads
Uncornered Market
Alex in Wanderland
The Blonde Abroad
View from the Wing
Oneika the Traveller
Never Ending Footsteps

Try not to pigeonhole yourself. Your domain name should give you room to change things a bit when you need to.

Kiersten says on her blog that if she decides to change her hair color, the name The Blonde Abroad would no longer work.

If you think you need more details on the subject, we have a detailed guide on what a domain name is and how to choose one.

How to search for a domain name

Just like you created a list to pick a niche, make a list of ideas that can define what your blog is about.

If you feel you are short of ideas, you can take help from Google search, Thesaurus.com and Relatedwords.org .

In Google search, type any word related to your niche and scroll down at the bottom to see what comes under “Related Search”.

Let’s Google “adventure travel” and see what we get.

Note down the terms that appear. Repeat the process for different words.

Next, look for related words on Thesaurus and Relatedwords .

Note down interesting terms you come across.

This will help you populate your list with some great choices.

Choose the best domain name and verify its availability from a reputable domain registrar.

We recommend NameCheap , Domain.com , SiteGround , Bluehost and HostGator .

You can register your domain for as little as $8 – $15 per year.

If your desired name is not available, keep trying different variations until you find the one you like.

In the next step, we will buy web hosting for our travel blog.

There are many web hosts that also provide domain registration services. Some of them offer free domain registration for the first year.

It’s a smart way to save money wherever possible at the start of your business.

However, we recommend you register your domain and hire web hosting from two different companies.

There are certain advantages to it such as:

1. Your web host might increase the domain renewal price which you will be forced to pay. It can appear difficult to leave a web host and transfer your domain to another registrar (it isn’t)

2. You can choose the most reliable registrar in town with an affordable plan

3. Choosing a separate company for domain registration provides you with better domain security. In case your web host comes under a severe attack, your website can run into trouble and become inaccessible. In such a situation, you can redirect your DNS entry to another web host and get your website going again with backup data.

Step 3: Set up web hosting for your travel blog

A web host is a company that provides you with space to store your website and make it accessible on the internet.

It’s a critical decision to make as your web host should offer speed, uptime, security, regular backups, timely updates and high-quality support.

You can find a web host for less than $3 a month but we suggest focusing on quality over the lowest price.

We recommend Cloudways , SiteGround, GreenGeeks and DreamHost as they are all great hosting partners.

For this tutorial, we will choose SiteGround as our web host.

SiteGround is a reliable web host for any website with managed hosting plans ideal for WordPress.

With SiteGround, you can choose the server location of your choice to target region-specific audiences.

For example, if your travel blog is mainly for the US audience, you would like to host your website on any server in the US.

Why did we choose WordPress? We will explain it shortly.

Buy web hosting

You can follow these steps to buy a hosting plan.

Select WordPress Hosting under the Hosting menu on their homepage.

Choose a plan that is affordable and offers the resources you need.

GrowBig is a wise choice for websites that need power and aim to grow. You can always upgrade your plan down the road.

Press the Get Plan button and proceed.

Enter the required information on the next screen, including payment information.

Select the duration of the hosting service and make any selections you want. If you are looking for maximum discount at the start, choose a longer duration.

Once done, press the payment button and let the system process your order.

After a successful payment, you will receive a confirmation email.

Step 4: Set up WordPress – the most popular blogging platform

WordPress is the most popular platform for any website whether a blog or an eCommerce store.

It’s powerful, flexible, and suitable for every budget and you can literally create a website for free.

It’s a huge ecosystem of free themes and plugins that help you create the most complex websites. The content management system (CMS) dominates with over 43% of websites using it on the internet.

You can set up a WordPress website in no time.

Let’s do it from inside the SiteGround dashboard.

After logging into SiteGround, go to the Websites menu and press the Add New Site icon.

Another way of doing the same action is by pressing the New Website button in the menu bar.

Select Existing Domain from the three options if you already registered a domain name.

Otherwise, select New Domain , choose your domain name and set everything up.

Press the Continue button to point the domain to the SiteGround server.

Press the Select button under the Start New Website option on the next screen. It will show WordPress as one of the choices.

Select WordPress and enter your login information for the WordPress admin area. Press the Continue button.

It will take a short while before you see the message, You Are All Set!

The wizard can redirect you to the WordPress admin through the Log In Admin button or you can type www.yoursitename.com/wp-login.php to access the admin panel.

On your way to the WordPress admin panel, you might come across a new wizard asking you to access a theme library SiteGround provides.

If you are new to building websites and don’t know what a theme is, let’s briefly discuss it here.

A theme consists of files, scripts and folders that you add to your website to customize its appearance and features.

WordPress offers a huge database of themes that you can access from the admin area. You can use SiteGround’s themes or use something else.

We recommend the latter.

Press the Exit button to cancel the wizard at this stage.

SiteGround adds certain plugins while setting up WordPress on your domain. These plugins add specific features to your website.

They also change the way the default admin panel screen appears.

We want to start from scratch and customize the website the way we want.

Therefore, once inside the WordPress admin area, we will need to remove these plugins.

Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins , select the plugin checkbox and press the Deactivate link.

Once done, press the Delete link when it appears under each plugin.

If you want to get familiar with WordPress plugins and how to install them, here is an in-depth tutorial to install a WordPress plugin .

Step 5: Choose a theme and design your travel website

WordPress comes with a default set of themes that lack a number of modern features your travel blog should have.

This is where Astra comes in.

Astra is the most popular WordPress theme in the world with over 2.7 million users.

With the help of the Astra theme and its supported plugins , you can give your site any look you want.

Astra is blazing fast, fully customizable and free to download from the website . You can also get it from the WordPress repository.

Astra is free but also has three premium versions. If you want to know more about what premium offers, check it out Astra pro here.

Let’s get back to our test website and add Astra.

Go to Themes , click Add New , and search for the Astra theme.

Press the Install button and activate it when the option appears.

Astra adds the necessary layout for running a blog. You can give your website a modern look and customize it for any niche without touching a line of code.

To do this, add the Starter Templates plugin.

Go to Plugins > Add New and search for Starter Templates .

Install and activate the plugin.

It’s Astra’s own plugin that gives you access to 240+ predesigned templates .

We will select the one that suits our travel blog’s needs.

To access the Starter Templates library go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.

Click the See Library link under Starter Templates to launch the import wizard.

With the Starter Templates library , you can choose the page builder of your choice from the WordPress block editor, Elementor, or Beaver Builder.

Select a page builder and type “Travel” to see relevant Starter Templates.

Case 1: Create a personal travel blog

For personal traveling experience, Astra theme offers several Starter Templates based on the WordPress block editor (Gutenberg).

We will select the block editor from the list and choose the Travel Blog template.

The next screen will ask you to upload a logo if you have created one.

You can use Canva to design a logo for free or use premium logo design services like LogoContest , Looka Logo Design or Logaster Logo Generator .

You can add the logo now or come back at a later time. It’s easy both ways.

Here are some interesting tutorials from Astra on adding or editing logos:

How to add a logo, favicon and site title with Astra
How to create a correct format SVG logo
Now resize your logo on the fly!

Change the font on the next screen and press the Continue button.

Enter essential information on the next screen and press the Submit & Build My Website button.

You will have a beautifully designed travel blog in a few moments.

Case 2: Create a travel blog to offer professional services

Changing a template is an effortless task with the Starter Templates plugin.

There is another way to access the plugin.

Click on the Starter Templates menu item under the Appearance menu to launch the import wizard (Appearance > Starter Templates).

This time, we will choose the Elementor page builder which offers a huge variety of travel-related templates that we can choose from.

All are great designs with specific needs. We will choose the Outdoor Adventure template and continue with the wizard.

On its way to installing the new template, the wizard will ask you to delete the previously imported template and its data.

Check all of the boxes and press the Submit and Build My Website button.

As you can see, the Outdoor Adventure template lets you offer travel services.

For example, if you also plan to arrange tours and earn money from the beginning, this template is enough to give you a good start.

Step 6: Make your travel blog powerful

Creating a blog is one thing, but optimizing it requires additional features. That’s why we love WordPress for its robust ecosystem of diverse plugins.

Here are some plugins that will make your travel blog journey more enjoyable.

Ultimate Addons for Elementor

If you imported an Astra template based on Elementor, Ultimate Addons for Elementor will help.

You can use lots of widgets and sections that present travel journeys beautifully. It can show your Instagram feed and gives you a lot of control over how you want to show it.

Overall you get 40+ widgets and extensions, 100+ website templates and 200+ section blocks to power up your blog.

If you haven’t installed Spectra yet, you are missing a lot of advanced features. Spectra is a free page builder that significantly enhances the functionality of the default WordPress editor.

You can customize your website, build beautiful pages and use templates effortlessly with Spectra.

The page builder also offers over 100 prebuilt templates so you don’t need to design pages from scratch.

If you want to take the correct SEO measures from the beginning of your travel blog, Yoast SEO is your go-to plugin.

Yoast is used on over 5 million websites which shows the trust of the WordPress community in the plugin’s performance.

The plugin can improve your technical SEO right off the bat. It automatically creates an XML sitemap and lets you easily manage title, and meta description tags anywhere on your website.

When it comes to better ranking and a high click-through rate (CTR), the schema needs to be correctly handled.

You can publish different types of posts on your travel blogs such as how-tos, reviews, articles, and sell products and services.

Each post needs to have a proper schema to communicate with search engines about the nature of the post.

The plugin can implement schema markup in a few clicks without coding skills. It integrates nicely with Yoast SEO. Together, these two plugins can level up your game without any outside help.

WP Portfolio

As a travel blogger, you’ll display pictures and videos to share your journey.

WP Portfolio is a multipurpose plugin for creating picture and video libraries across your website the easy way.

You can show them anywhere with the shortcodes, change the way how they look and use tons of built-in features to improve the user experience.

SureMembers

Having a loyal community is a very effective way to monetize an online business. Travel is no exception.

You can build a travel-loving community and create a number of compelling reasons to receive payments from them. Reasons such as paid content, selling travel products and services, digital products and more.

SureMembers allows you to create content paywalls and set up secure digital downloads in no time.

With SureMembers you can create multi-level access for members to limit them to anywhere and any way you want. The plugin works perfectly with SureCart , Cartflows and Astra .

Convert Pro

Building an email list is an effective way to remind your visitors of the latest posts or travel plans you want to share through emails and newsletters.

A newsletter is a very effective way to boost readership and sales.

The WordPress plugin provides you with a drag and drop editor for creating opt-in forms that work perfectly on any device type.

Convert Pro integrates perfectly with any email marketing service provider . You can use predesigned templates to create several types of highly interactive opt-in forms.

Presto Player

If you’re a fan of sharing videos, your travel blog should provide a way to easily publish and play them.

Presto Player is a powerful choice that offers a lot of control over how visitors view and share content.

You can attach multiple video sources, show a sticky video player that draws more attention, create video chapters and generate leads via emails.

Presto Player can help you create a Call to Action (CTA) on your videos which you can use to increase user engagement.

The built-in analytics and reports module is a great way to tell how your videos are performing.

Every website requires a set of essential pages that tell people what they need to know.

Among all the essential pages a website must have are an about page, a contact page, a privacy policy and a 404 page.

You can add as many pages as you like, but these are a practical minimum.

WordPress provides an easy way to create any number of pages you want to create. However, this is not always enough.

These essential pages should be well-designed and highly interactive.

Having Astra on your website gives you a number of benefits.

Each template comes with the necessary pages and you can also access a huge library of professionally designed pages.

For example, we would like to create a new contact page.

To do this, add a web page from Pages > Add New .

Once you reach inside the page editor, press the Template Kits button located on the top bar. This will open the template library.

Each kit has multiple pages inside such as contact, about and a homepage.

You can import a complete set of pages or choose any one of them as required.

Alternatively, you can also type something in the search field to reach the desired page templates.

We will type ‘contact’.

Choose any page that suits your needs.

Press the Import “Contact” Template button.

Once imported, press the Publish button.

You can use these predesigned templates and patterns to create a number of beautiful pages this way.

Top travel blogs for inspiration

There are successful travel bloggers and there are VERY successful travel bloggers.

It’s a huge domain without boundaries, which is why we see plenty of travel bloggers making their mark.

Here is a brief list of some of the top travel bloggers who have earned a reputation, built a loyal community and who make a significant income each month.

Nomadic Matt

Matthew Kepnes is the man behind Nomadic Matt – one of the oldest blogs on travel and a true travel guru. He makes lots of money from his blog which attracts over a million visitors a month.

Over the years, Matt has successfully created multiple revenue sources for himself such as Travel Media School, content creation courses, eBooks and travel services.

His estimated yearly income is around 6 to 7 figures in USD.

Global Viewpoint

Jon is behind Global Viewpoint who started a career with a 9 to 5 job. Soon he realized he wasn’t made for a desk job and embarked on a self-growth journey.

He spent nights and weekends establishing his travel blog, and never looked back. He travels to different continents and shares travel tips, photos and videos with his audience.

On Global Viewpoint he makes over $20,000 a month and lives a dream life.

The Planet D

This amazing blog is about the adventures of Dave and Deb, a couple married for 20 years. They entered the travel space in 2007 with a motto “Adventure is for everyone”.

Since then, they have traveled to 115 countries on all 7 continents. Their blog proves that traveling is accessible to anyone, no matter age and income.

They have been featured in famous publications and made it to the Top 10 Influencers of the world list of Forbes

Their estimated income from being a travel blogger hovers around $17,000 monthly

How to promote your travel blog

Now that you have read about how to create a blog and heard a few inspiring stories about successful travel bloggers, let’s now share some tips on how you can promote your blog .

A basic rule is, you have to network, meet people out there and tell the world what you do.

Promoting a travel blog requires you to remain active and utilize certain techniques with dedication to remain in the top rankings.

Start traveling

Start with your family and friends. They are your most effective promoters
Use social media and talk about your experiences
Build an email list and send people inspirational content
Be regular and publish on a schedule

Take the following route and you will eventually have a successful blog.

For promoting your blog you need to know what’s out there.

Your personal experience matters most. You can’t promote something you know nothing about. So start traveling and gather as much information as you can.

Take photos and shoot videos to share with people later.

Write engaging content

Write content that is yours . It doesn’t matter if your mom is the only one who reads your articles.

It happens to everyone. Be persistent and share your experiences on your site.

Friends and family network is helpful

People in your close network, your family and friends, will help you to read your blogs.

Share your content with them and ask them to give feedback in comments and share it on their social networks

SEO optimize your content

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial part of blog promotion. We mentioned above how Yoast can be helpful to get you started.

You can use its guidelines to optimize your blog posts to attract organic traffic.

We have a detailed guide on how to boost web traffic by optimizing your posts. It’s a helpful resource.

Use social media

Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube are all effective social networks for promoting content.

We suggest avoiding posting similar content on multiple social networks. Every social networking site or app has its own recipe.

Pinterest, for example, is best for sharing photos, and Instagram is best for sharing photos and short videos.

Don’t forget to use social share buttons on your travel blog. It’s a convenient way for your readers to share content.

If you wonder which WordPress plugin is most suitable for adding social share buttons, check out this in-depth best social media plugins guide.

Run ad campaigns

You might like to run ad campaigns to promote your blog. This will give you quick results but will cost money.

Google and Facebook have ad networks that can bring you lots of traffic. Use them effectively to target the right audience for your travel blog.

If you have written a huge post on the ‘X things to do in New York’ or ‘The X best tips to travel with family’, try running a campaign to spread the word.

Ad networks are available on almost every social platform, so use them wisely.

Newsletter will bring people back

Use an opt-in plugin and ask readers nicely to subscribe. If you have what they need, they will follow.

Use these techniques to build your email list and reach your audience effectively.

If you need guidance on how to create an awesome newsletter, here is the best available guide on how to create an email newsletter with WordPress for you.

Attend events and create a network

Social networks are helpful because they allow you to get to know more people online. Equally effective is to attend seminars and other networking events where you get to meet speakers and other famous bloggers and get to learn different things.

When you are a regular at events, you are likely to run into celebrities or influencers. You can build relationships and eventually use their social following to go viral.

Travel Massive , TBEX or similar platforms can give you a great opportunity to build your network and promote your travel blog.

Join travel forums

Don’t forget to join travel forums. They are the ideal places to connect with the right audience.

Engage with the audience and provide them valuable tips. This way you will be able to establish authority and people will want to learn more about you and hopefully, your blog.

How to make money from your travel blog

By now you must have realized that starting a travel blog isn’t about making fast money.

However, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it early. There are certainly ways to speed up the process to make money with a blog .

There is no one method that works for everyone. Every successful travel blogger generates revenue based on their expertise, choices and opportunities.

Below you will find a list that will help you create your preferences to generate revenue as you grow.

Display ads

This is the most common and effective way of generating revenue from your travel blog.

You, as a publisher, can be approached by advertisers to let your audience know about their products and services. They pay you for this.

The wider your audience, the more you can charge advertisers.

You can display banner ads alongside content on your website at different spots depending on your preferences and layout.

An advertiser can contact you directly which is called a direct deal. Or you can sign up with an ad network such as Google Adsense which is the most convenient way to display ads.

Affiliate income

One solid income stream for travel bloggers is affiliate marketing. Bloggers can promote different travel industry products and services on their websites.

Affiliate marketing is when you put a link to their product or service in your content. When someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you get a commission.

You can get in touch with brands directly or join an affiliate network for access to plenty of options in one place.

One such network is Travelpayouts . You can reach out to over 100 brands such as TripAdvisor, Booking.com and others.

Membership fee

You can offer exclusivity to your audience by giving them exclusive content.

Yes, content is abundant and you can read anything anywhere. There is still room for well-researched and quality premium content though.

You can create research papers, reports, eBooks or offer travel advisories for a monthly or annual fee. Users who value such content will not hesitate to pay you a small fee in return.

Even a small but active community with a few members can help create a healthy revenue stream.

Sell products and services

You can sell anything as long as it is relevant to your blog. The coolest part about your own product is that you keep every penny.

You can sell physical or digital products. The latter can be scaled, giving you more opportunities to earn more.

For branded t-shirts or mugs, you will need to incur production costs and maintain stock. For eBooks, you can sell as many copies as you want once the book as been created.

Besides, photos, videos and trip management services are also significant revenue-generating items.

Get freelance work

Your passion can get you extra work from admirers. You never know who subscribes to your blog.

These can be from an advertising agency or a corporate client who might contact you for freelance work such as copywriting, photography, or video ads.

This could become your major revenue generator leaving behind every other income source. If you deliver them what they want, they could become your regular clients. The sky is the limit!

Arranging tours

Travelers are not only talented storytellers, but they are also capable managers.

Travel bloggers visit places and look at things in their own way. They have a perspective that is different from the usual travelers.

They can dig deep and understand things better. Their passion can take them to the most exotic places.

Why not take advantage of that extra knowledge and offer it for commercial services?

You can arrange a group, use your industry connections, and establish a reputation. Instead of offering them to the public, you can focus on a small segment.

For example high paying customers who expect comfort, luxury and something adventurous.

Alternatively, you can organize budget tours that will save your client more than they could have imagined.

How much can you earn from a travel blog?

You can earn a lot of money every month if you work hard. Travel bloggers have multiple income sources.

The fact that they are not limited to a few standard ones makes this domain more profitable.

How much you can earn depends on your blog’s traffic, marketing skills, and business acumen and above all, patience!

You can start with nothing in the beginning. Then work your way up to a few bucks until you understand how to use your travel blog to make a handsome amount of money after a while.

Here is a list of a few professional travel bloggers who declared their monthly income at different times.

This will give you some idea of how much a travel blogger can earn.

These travel bloggers have been kind enough to share their income reports with the community.

A number of bloggers are too shy to share their income. It doesn’t mean they don’t earn much money. They simply have different priorities.

FAQs on how to start a travel blog

How do you write a travel blog for beginners.

You can write a travel blog for beginners similarly to how you wrote a few essays and stories back in your school days. It shouldn’t be a huge problem. There are certain tools to help you write a travel blog that people will love.

You can use Google Docs to write your travel blog. Its built-in dictionary helps highlight typos and other errors that you can easily fix.

If you need an extra hand, Grammarly is a handy English writing tool you can use to correct grammar and style.

How do I get content for my travel blog?

You can easily get content for your travel blog by writing about things you know. The information-gathering part actually starts way before you write a travel blog.

Before visiting a place, travelers do a lot of hands-on research about their itinerary, fare, means of transportation, accommodation and what they have to do once there. It all creates a basic structure that travelers follow.

Whether you write your travel blog during the trip or after you leave, it’s easier to use the information you gathered earlier and add spice for readers.

While traveling, we suggest making text or voice notes. They will help you when you sit down to write.

Final thoughts

Travel blogging has become one of the most lucrative areas of blogging. Traveling to places, meeting people, having fun and earning at the same time sounds like a dream job.

Though every traveler would love to become a travel blogger, it takes real commitment, and many sleepless nights to build an empire!

You also need marketing and business skills to create your name in this saturated market.

A unique style, a different perspective and a passion to help the community can help you get the attention of travel lovers.

What does travel mean to you? What do you want to do when you’re a travel blogger? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.

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How to Start a Travel Blog: The 7-Step Blueprint to Success

Want to learn how to start a travel blog? I’ve been blogging for eight years and have learned a thing or two along the way. Learn how to get started now, or skip ahead and learn some more advanced techniques.

To start a travel blog is to open up a world of endless possibilities.

I made my travel blog after I had already started traveling, and it has since changed the trajectory of my life, far more than the actual travel ever did. Six years ago I never would have guessed that I’d be getting paid to travel the world, working with some of the biggest names in the travel industry, and actually making a living from my blog.

If you want to create a successful travel blog, I’ll be honest with you—it’s going to take some work. But if you’re ready to get started, and you want to make money anywhere, travel for free, and partner with big brands around the world, well, you’re in the right place. That’s my specialty.

I started travel blogging eight years ago; since then the travel blogging landscape has changed dramatically. If you can devote yourself to learning some new travel blogging skills and putting them into practice, and if you follow this step-by-step blueprint to making a travel blog, I promise you can pull it off.

Trust me—if I did it, you can too.

There are seven fundamental steps to follow when learning how to start a travel blog. It’s important to do them in order as they will all lay the foundation for building a successful blog. If you’re just learning how to start a travel blog, keep reading. If you’ve already started, skip ahead using the table of contents below.

Pick a Creative Niche and Name

Before picking the name for your new travel blog, pick your niche. Your niche is going to define what your whole travel blog is about.

Let me clarify something— travel is not a niche . Travel is a subject, but it’s not very focused. Unless you’re planning on starting the next Travel & Leisure (good luck), you’re going to want to hone in on a more narrow topic and make it the whole purpose of your blog.

Picking a Niche

So how do you pick a niche? Think small. Pick a certain aspect of travel that you love, and focus your entire blog on that. Solo travel? It’s been done. Budget travel? It’s been way overdone. Adventure travel? Done a lot. Female solo travel? It’s popular, but the market is filled and there are a lot of travel blogs that already cover these topics.

So get creative. Some of the most successful travel blogs are actually about one specific place or idea. (Yes, you heard me—travel blogs can be about a single location.)

Are you going to be an expat in Korea? Learn how to start a travel blog and then write one just for expats traveling to Korea. Do you love scuba diving? Write your blog only about scuba diving.

Not convinced? Here’s why:

Would you rather be a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond? Travel blogging is a big pond, and it’s only getting bigger. Instead of flailing for the first couple years (like many do), start blogging on the right foot. Pick your corner now and dominate it.

A targeted audience of 1,000 people who care deeply about your niche and brand is much more valuable than a general audience of 10,000 who only care a little bit.

When it comes time to sell a product or partner with a travel brand (a.k.a. make money from your travel blog ), your niche and your targeted audience is the selling point. That’s what is going to give your blog value, and that value is what ultimately translates into dollars.

Picking a Name

Once you have a niche, the next step in learning how to start a travel blog is to pick a name. If you’re not sure what to call it, try this exercise: Write two columns on a piece of paper. In one column, write 20 synonyms for your niche. In the other, write 20 synonyms for travel. Now, sit back with a glass of wine and play mix-and-match. You’ll be surprised at how many good ideas you end up with.

With a few ideas in mind (and that’s the hardest part), it’s time to narrow it down. When you’re starting, the name of your travel blog should be unique, memorable, and easy to spell. You want a name that you can use as a brand without having to explain.

Imagine you’re on a talk show and you have 5 seconds to plug your blog—could you do it? Avoid hyphens or strange spellings—this makes your name more confusing to people when you tell them how to find you.

I picked TravelFreak because it’s short, brandable, and it’s memorable. It should mean something to you and it should bring depth to your style and your niche.

Once you’ve got a few ideas for names, let’s make sure the domain name is available. Your domain name is the address that people will type into their web browser. Use this handy tool to check if the name is already taken. If not, make sure you register it quickly!

Sign Up For Web Hosting

After you have a domain name, you’ll need web hosting. If your domain name is the address, your web host is the actual apartment that you rent.

When I was first starting travel blogging, I used Bluehost to host my website. They’re cheap, reliable, easy to get set up with, and they have 24/7 support in case something should go wrong. To start a travel blog, it only costs $3.95/mo (and they often run specials making it even cheaper).

They’ll register your domain name and set up your web hosting for you. This is the easiest step in learning how to start a travel blog and getting it up and running!

In the interest of full disclosure, I don’t use Bluehost anymore because my website gets too much traffic. They’re perfect for starting a travel blog but not running a really big one. I spend a lot more money on monthly web hosting, but that’s also because I’m kind of a computer nerd and I like fancy things.

If you’re just learning how to start a travel blog, or if you get less than 100,000 page views per month, Bluehost is an ideal choice.

If you’re ready to get started, just click the blue button above, pick a plan, and type in the name of your blog. The Basic Plan is only $3.95/mo and it has everything you need to get started.

Next, pick your term. You’ll have to pay for at least one year up front, but the longer you sign up for, the cheaper the monthly price. If you’re ever not happy, Bluehost will send you a refund for your unused time, no questions asked. They’re pretty good like that.

Finally, choose your add-ons. In all honesty, you don’t need any of these. You’ll definitely want a backup solution, but there are free ones on the market that are just as easy to use.

After you’ve registered with Bluehost, you should get an email with details on logging into your control panel.

Install WordPress

Now it’s time to set up WordPress!

WordPress is the software that your website will run on. It’s what actually displays the content of your travel blog, and it has a private backend where you write and publish your blog posts, upload photos, adjust the look, and change different settings. One nice thing about WordPress is that MILLIONS of people use it, and there is a huge amount of community support for it. If you Google anything about WordPress, you’ll find an answer. Plus, it was designed for blogs—it’s truly a blogging platform.

Luckily, Bluehost has a fully functional control panel which makes it a cinch to set up and install WordPress on your travel blog. Click the button that says Install WordPress from their control panel and install everything in just one click!

For more detailed instructions, follow their tutorial here .

When the install is complete, you should receive an email with all of your site login information. They’ll tell you where to go to login so you can start designing your site and publishing blog posts!

Spend some time now starting to learn WordPress. Watch some YouTube videos and read support documentation. Browse around the backend and see what’s what. The more you learn about WordPress, the better off you’ll be.

Choose a Theme

Once you’ve had a chance to look around WordPress, it’s time to design your travel blog. WordPress comes with a default theme which, especially without any blog posts, doesn’t look very good. You might be looking at an empty front page of your new blog thinking, “Oh, no. What have I done? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW!?”

Don’t stress. I’m going to run you through it.

Paying for hosting is unavoidable, but luckily there are loads of free themes available. All you need to do is look through the theme repository , pick one that you like, drop it into WordPress, and voila —your new travel blog looks totally different.

If you’re just learning how to start a travel blog, and you’re on a tight budget, I definitely recommend picking a free theme. There are so many amazing options, like Whitish , Orsay , and Divogue .

If you have a bit more of a budget, my recommendation is to use StudioPress Genesis to style your new blog. As a former IT technician, I think it’s one of the best theme frameworks that exists.

Yes, there’s a slight learning curve, but they have great documentation, and they show you, step-by-step, how to set everything up.

Their Altitude theme is an especially good choice for a travel blog, but any of them can be adapted to fit the travel aesthetic.

Once you have your theme, just log into WordPress, go to Appearance > Themes and upload the new theme files!

Depending on the theme you chose, the documentation should lead you through the steps on how to go about customizing your travel blog further.

Install WordPress Plugins

When you’re in the process of making a travel blog, plugins are one of the most important parts. In laymen’s terms, plugins add functionality to your travel blog. WordPress has a repository of hundreds of thousands of them that let you further customize your blog and make it work and look just the way you want it to.

Plus, they’re FREE! Everybody loves free.

Despite having easy access to so many plugins, try not to go overboard. Only use the ones you need. It’s easy to add a lot of plugins for the sake of adding extra features, but each plugin you add makes your site load a little bit slower.

These are the ones (all free!) that you definitely want to install.

Akismet – Akismet usually comes preinstalled with WordPress. Don’t delete it—this works like a spam inbox for your blog by putting spam comments out of sight and out of mind.

Jetpack – Jetpack is a single plugin with a TON of functionality. Jetpack has smaller “sub-plugins” that add various different functionalities to your travel blog. Traffic stats, beautiful photo galleries, extra sidebar widgets, and more, make this a plugin that everybody with a WordPress truly needs.

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded – When someone leaves a comment on your blog post, you receive a notification. Though it’s a bit silly, they don’t actually receive a notification when you (or anybody) replies. This plugin enables that functionality.

Sucuri – Sucuri is like antivirus software for your website. It scans and secures your website and lets you know if your site gets hacked.

TinyMCE Advanced – The standard post editing screen is good, but it’s not good enough. TinyMCE Advanced makes WordPress look a little bit more like Microsoft Word, which means you have more control over the formatting and style of your blog posts.

WP Smush – Images take up a lot of space, and especially on a travel blog, they’re going to be the number one thing that slows down your website. This plugin makes the file sizes of your images smaller without affecting the quality of the photo.

Yoast SEO – SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a very important part of travel blogging and makes sure your articles show up in Google searches. Yoast SEO is the gold standard plugin.

Advanced WordPress Plugins I Love and Recommend

If you want to further customize your travel blog, there are some more advanced plugins you can install. Most of them are free, but a couple of them do cost a few dollars.

Black Studio TinyMCE Widget – Create and edit sidebar widgets using the standard WordPress visual editor.
Cloudflare – Speed up and secure your website with fancy technology.
Easy Social Share Buttons ($19) – The most advanced social sharing plugin on the market.
Google Analytics for MonsterInsights – Use Google Analytics for advanced insights into your blog traffic.
Interactive World Maps ($21) – Create interactive maps on your travel blog.
Pretty Link Lite – Clean up affiliate links and track clicks on your blog.
Q2W3 Fixed Widget – Make a widget in your sidebar appear fixed, even when you scroll.
Relevanssi – Get more relevant search results from the WordPress search function.
Page Builder by SiteOrigin – A drag-and-drop page builder for your blog.
WP Retina 2x – Make your travel blog display sharp as a tack on retina displays.
W3 Total Cache – Optimize and speed up the loading time of your site!

Begin Writing, Building Your Audience and Promoting Your Content

Your blog isn’t perfect, I know. Think of it as a work in progress. This site has been through countless iterations, and I cringe when I think of how it used to look.

Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, is famous for saying, “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” This is sage advice to remember at all stages of making a travel blog—it’s never going to be perfect. And besides, perfection is the enemy of done .

If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late. Reid Hoffman

What to Write About

Just start writing. This is the most important part. Your blog is nothing without words, so write. Write a lot . Write like a maniac, even when you’re not traveling. In fact, write about travel especially when you’re not traveling.

Travel is a broad topic. That’s why starting blogging from scratch can feel daunting. With such a big canvas, it’s hard to know where to start painting.

So decrease the size of your canvas a little bit. You picked a niche, didn’t you? Good. This is where it starts to pay off.

When you’re writing a blog post, since you already have a niche, you know exactly the type of person that you’re writing for. You might be writing for expats traveling to Korea or for travelers who love to scuba dive.

Whenever you’re starting to write a blog post, try to answer one simple question: what value does this article provide? A three-day account of what you did is not valuable to someone else. A three day recommended itinerary, however, is very valuable! See how it’s basically the same article, but framed a little differently?

Building Your Audience

Let’s look at another example: packing lists. They’re a must when starting any travel blog, but depending on where you’re going, packing lists could have almost anything on them!

With a niche, however, you already know exactly what type of packing lists you need to create.

The fact is, even though your travel blog is all about you, in reality, your travel blog is all about the reader.

Again, what value does your blog bring? It’s an important question to ask yourself. In order to become successful at blogging, you have to show your readers that you care about them. So give them advice. Teach them everything you know. Once they see that you care about them, they’ll start to care about you.

That’s how you build an audience.

Promoting Your Content

But you have to get your content out there first. Unfortunately, if you build it, they will not come. You have to make people come.

This is where social media channels and SEO come in handy. And since there’s a lot to learn on the topics, I recommend the following articles to help when you’re just starting travel blogging. Don’t read them all in one day, though—it will make you dizzy. Come back, read them one-by-one and digest them slowly.

Blogging Tips

How to Be Smart in a World of Dumb Bloggers (SmartBlogger)
50+ Professional Bloggers Weigh In With Their Top Advice For New Bloggers (ConvertKit)
Here’s How To Turn Traveling The World Into Your Job (BuzzFeed)
Make Money Blogging: How This Blog Makes $100K per Month (SmartBlogger)

Content Creation/Content Marketing

7 Steps to Reverse Engineer Enormously Popular Content (Sumo)
17 Trigger Words That Work Like Cheat Codes for Getting Your Content Read (SmartBlogger)
A Complete Guide to Visual Content: The Science, Tools and Strategy of Creating Killer Images (Buffer)
The Advanced Guide to Content Marketing (Quick Sprout)

Social Media Marketing

Drive Massive Traffic From Facebook (For Free) (Sumo)
Drive Massive Traffic with Instagram Marketing (Sumo)

Search Engine Optimization

The Beginner’s Guide to SEO (Moz)
How To Do Keyword Research For SEO (SEO Nick)
The Noob Friendly Guide To Link Building (Ahrefs)
Link Building: The Definitive Guide ( Backlinko )
An SEO Driven Approach To Content Marketing (CoSchedule)

Grow Your Audience and Monetize

Your audience won’t grow overnight. Unless you’re a wunderkind, it’s going to take time, and you’re going to have to learn new ways to promote your content and reach new audiences.

But before growing your audience, stop and think for a minute. Ask yourself why ? Why does your audience need to grow? What direct benefit does that have to you and your blog? Are larger numbers going to make you money somehow?

Big numbers are pretty and a lot more fun to look at. And it’s (mostly) true that the more readers you have, the more brands will want to work with you. But making money from your travel blog isn’t only about working with brands. That’s one way, but it requires a lot of traffic, and it’s not really sustainable.

So, what good is an extra thousand visitors if it’s not directly making you money? This is where so many travel bloggers fail. They get stuck, sizzle out and die, disappearing into the oblivion, never to be seen again.

The problem is that they’re working tirelessly towards an intangible goal—bigger numbers—and they burn out, exhausted and broke, unsure of why their travel blog failed.

Try to think of it this way instead: If you only had 100 people coming to your website every month, how could you still make money from them?

Could you sell a product? A service? Ultimately, you need to sell something . Because that’s what a blog is—a marketing tool to help you sell. Your blog is not, in actuality, the product itself.

Taking Your Travel Blog to the Next Level

If you want to go deeper down the rabbit hole, there’s only one logical step forward—you need an insider’s guide to the business of starting travel blogging.

Superstar Blogging is the premier program for learning the ins and outs of running a travel blogging business, by one of the largest travel bloggers on the internet, Nomadic Matt. His website sees more than 1.5 million visitors every month and he makes a six-figure salary from blogging.

And yes, he writes about traveling on a budget 😉

My article on how to start a travel blog is only scratching the very surface—there is a lot more to learn on each of the topics I covered above, and believe me, Matt is the person you want to learn it from. I took The Business of Travel Blogging Course this year and, even as an established, “successful” blogger, he helped me come to some serious realizations about my business.

This is the course that taught me how to make real money from my travel blog.

I know—it’s not a business until you’re making money. And you might not have made any yet. But if you really do want to make money from your travel blog, you need to make a small investment.

Currently, Superstar Blogging costs just $199—an absolute steal when you think about how starting travel blogging could change the trajectory of your entire life.

Superstar Blogging has 10+ hours of expert interviews with huge names in the online marketing industry like Rand Fishkin, Derek Halpern, and Pat Flynn. It also has four blogger case studies from a selection of the largest and most successful travel blogs out there.

If you want to get serious about creating a travel blog, this is how you do it.

If you don’t want to get serious about your blog, that’s okay, too. But if you want to just figure it out on your own, take my advice— don’t . It will take you years to figure it all out. This course is a direct shortcut to everything you need to know.

I didn’t have this course when I started blogging, but I honestly wish I did. And I’m not just saying that.

Just remember, your travel blog is a direct result of the work you put into it. It’s going to take some hustle, and it’s going to take some knowledge, but you’re taking some big steps towards a very exciting future. I can promise you that.

Travel Blogging FAQs

How do i start my first travel blog.

The best way to start a travel blog is to create a WordPress.com site and just start writing. Make content and get it out there!

Do travel bloggers make money?

With time, luck, and some marketing savvy, travel bloggers can make good money.

How much does it cost to start a travel blog?

You can start a travel blog for free! There are tons of free hosting sites out there, and that’s a great way to get started.

How do I become a travel blogger?

The way to become a travel blogger is to travel, write about it, and post it online. Once you get started you can learn the skills to grow your blog.

Is travel blogging hard?

Travel blogging isn’t hard, but turning your blog into a successful money-making venture is.

Jeremy Scott Foster

Awesome! Love your blog and brand because it’s all about being free, and that’s exactly what I do over at my blog. Each tip is spot on and I dig the travel blogger network you shared with us. Having a framework, and a strong community in place, makes our jobs infinitely easier. Many bloggers have no idea how to make money online let alone making money blogging and need the instruction of pros and experienced vets to get on the blogging straight and narrow. Well done Jeremy!

I’d add to get serious about personal development. The mental game makes or breaks our money making exploits. Many travel bloggers mean well but think lack and limitation. I’m about stretching out a buck but learning how to make more money will you save money helps you enjoy your travel experience that much more. Also, you’ll never need to return home to work a job or to build up your savings again, if you develop your prosperity consciousness.

I’ve been a professional, full time traveling digital nomad for 43 months. I feel the inner game I played – meditating, getting clear, etc – has been the key to my success. I moved into prospering actions and met prospering folks and made more money and detached more from blogging outcomes by diligently working on my mindset. I got serious about doing the inner clearing and because of that my outer results fell into place quite naturally. It takes time and energy to get your mind right, but hey, I’m Blogging from Paradise so it was ALL worth it!

Jeremy, awesome dude! Looking forward to your updates and tweeting from Bali.

Thanks, Ryan! You make a good point. Personal development is a massive contributing factor. The right head-space is an absolute must for blogging! Congrats on your 43 months, and cheers to 43 more! 🙂

Great tips, but I’m wondering if the TRAVEL BLOG SUCCESS is what you personally used to become a successfully monetized and advertised blog? I assume that you didn’t just take these lessons and instantly become successful at SEO etc…Do you have any simple tips towards attracting new viewers?

Hi Adrian! Learning a new skill like SEO, like anything, takes time and practice. But there are a lot of lessons and some insanely valuable advice, tips and tricks which will help you to become a master at your craft.

Hi Jeremy, this post is very helpful and useful, very recommended to many beginners, Thanks mate

Great starting resource for new travel bloggers like myself. Thanks for taking the time to write this post and keep up the good work. One question how did you put together you sidebar banners? I have seen a lot of travel blogs switching over to this style and I like it. I was just on ytravelblog and I see they have the same style. Is is part of Sumome?

Hi Miguel! Are you talking about the four banners that scroll with the content on the sidebar? I created those banners from scratch and they scroll using a plugin called Q2W3 Fixed Widget. Hope that helps!

That was a great post, so helpful. I have been saying this to my partner for weeks! And everyone around me seems to think I am crazy for getting rid of one thing (I don’t use) a day.

It just proves once anything material things never makes us happy.

Again great post.

Sorry, I was talking about the carry on luggage post 🙂

Hey Jeremy, I stumbled across your travel blog as I was researching into my journey of the world and everything it has to offer. I was hoping you could give me some more insight on the basic necessities for traveling. What i mean whats a decent camera to start off with, and lap top. Do you use go pro to capture your travels as well?

Hey Michael! I actually just published a post on the best DSLR camera for traveling. Check it out here: https://travelfreak.com/best-dslr-camera-for-traveling-canon-eos-rebel-sl1/

Thank you, travelfreak! I opened a lil travel blog a few months ago, this article opened my eyes on that “Travel Blog Success, i will def chech it out!

I hope you like it and find as much value from it as I have!

I’m considering to get this started, as I’ve traveled to a few places and want to write about them as well. What type of companies should I try to work with in terms of marketing/promotions? What should I say to get companies to want to partner with me for advertisements/marketing?

You need to build an established brand and audience before trying to work with companies. You can’t just say magic words to “get companies to want to partner with you.” You shouldn’t be trying to dupe brands into working with you—you need to bring value to the table by providing a very real service to them.

Thanks for Travel blog step. I am flowing your 5 steps blog and It is very good. I have abide by this step and i have success. This blog has been very kind to me. I shall flow your any others blog post.

Great source of information Jeremy. This is really a big help on creating a successful travel blog. Thanks

Hosting with BlueHost, an EIG company, will more likely give you headache – not a successful blog! But I understand that they pay a really healthy affiliate commission for every sign-up you can create. I just find it a shame that travel bloggers still push them just for the money – that’s unethical. Specially since your own site in not hosted on Bluehost.

Hi Juergen, I’m sorry you had a poor experience with Bluehost. That’s never been the case for me. I’ve used Bluehost on many sites for many years and, in fact, I use them currently for a couple other sites that I run. I’ve always been transparent about my affiliate partnerships, and the fact that they pay a commission does not affect whether or not I recommend them. There are plenty of other hosting companies who pay much higher commissions, but I choose not to promote them because I don’t believe in their product.

To assume I promote a company ONLY for the commission is obnoxious and distasteful.

Personally I have always stayed away from all EIG hosts. I’m publishing online since 1997 and EIG’s business practices became common knowledge early on (at least among people who then used the internet for anything else but ‘hobby’). Currently I’m a member of enough blogging groups on FB to read at least once a week a new ‘horror story’ about EIG hosting. Things like excessive down times, Bluehost in particular having terrible support when it comes to security breaches (server getting hacked – not necessarily on the site affected by it, they just don’t know how to contain the spread of hacking attempts), HostGator having trouble with in-coming mail, resource management problems on almost all their hosts, etc.). If you’re interested in the latest downfall of a hosting company, Site5, which was bought by EIG last year, read this post https://reviewsignal.com/blog/2016/11/08/the-sinking-of-site5-tracking-eig-brands-post-acquisition/ Towards the end the author adds some interesting quotes from EIG’s own quarterly business report which highlights their internal philosophy.

I’ve really enjoyed following your blog myself! This line: “(plus I’m kind of a computer nerd and I like fancy things)” is broken up in such a way on the screen that I thought it was going to say, “Plus I’m kind of a big deal” and it made me laugh. : ) Glad you’re doing well Jeremy!

Haha you must be reading between the lines and filling in the blanks. I would totally say something like that 😉

Hope you’re doing great, Kelli!

it is really quite detailed article Jeremy. i’ve just started travel blogging, you are the one of my favourite travel blogs and hope to catch you soon 🙂 Thanks for the all tips and information it was good for me.

I’m glad it helped, Enes. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! Thanks for following 🙂

Great post and amazing tips you shared to start a travel blog. that is amazing way to make money with blog.

wow, this is one of my best articles I will ever read online about starting a travel blog, I start implementing this great tips to my blog, this article really helps, thanks for this amazing write-up.

I think this is so far the most practical guide to travel blogging I’ve come across! Thanks for sharing 🙂

I recently started a solo adventure blog and I’m loving it! Thanks for these tips! I can’t wait to check out all of these articles when I get the chance.

Wow! so beautifully explained.And your story of being a traveler and then a blogger and then finally making money out of it is awe inspiring .Certainly, it needs a lot of hard work and perseverance.Applause!

I agree these are the essential tips which can only make your blog, but the fact is you cannot achieve the success in one night. One must have to right and work for a but longer then definitely your work pays off.

I’ve just bought a new MacBook Pro and now I figured that all of my blogs’ images appear blurry on the Retina Displays 🙁

Thinking about sitting down and re-editing all of my images now… what do you do about this issue?

Also, what if in 5 years or so Apple brings out new Retina displays (like “Super Retina”), and once again these images look blurry – will you have to re-edit and re-upload once again? Would love to hear your thoughts on this Jeremy.

Cheers, Stefan

Hey Stefan! The same thing happened to me. I recommend the plugin WP Retina 2x, which is listed above under “Advanced Plugins.” Unfortunately you may have to re-upload anything that you want to appear sharp as a tack, but I’d say pick your top 5 or 10 posts, adjust them, and just focus on new posts going forward. Good luck!

Hey Jeremy,

Yes I did some research on the WP Retina 2x plugin before – but maybe it might be better to use a CDN service (faster loading times)? Like Mark Wiens is using SmugMug and it seems a better long term solution than a plugin. What’s your thoughts on this?

I read this article fully regarding the resemblance of hottest and preceding technologies, it’s awesome article.

Nice article. It has helped me get started. Thank you. I have just started a one year journey and was looking for a way to document and share my travels with family and friends more so than anything. Especially at this point. I really like your currently in section under your picture. How can I do that? I would appreciate it if you would share. Thanks a lot.

That’s a custom element I created using the [box] shortcode—check your theme documentation for further info!

can you tell us what wordpress theme you use for your blog? That would help a lot.

I’m using a heavily customized theme that’s out of date. A redesign is coming soon, though, based on the Genesis Framework!

I really appreciate you putting up this guide to help aspiring bloggers, such as myself. Thank you!

So glad it was helpful!

Thank you so much for your post, it is so helpful and full of useful content. We have started a blog and your tips and advice has really helped us. Thank you so much!!!

Nicely done you break up the content with graphics that pop and keep the reader engaged – you walk the walk

Thanks Blossom! I appreciate that!

This is really a great post and you shared amazing tips.

Thanks for the post !

Great post its really helpful for me and i will tell my friends about this blog.!

I think this is so far the most practical guide to travel blogging I’ve come across! Thanks for sharing ?

I’m so glad you enjoyed it and hope you found it helpful!

Great post Jeremy, some really helpful tips on here for anyone starting a new blog or updating an existing one. This is one of the most useful guides and advice I have seen online 🙂

Thanks, Kirsty! I’m glad it was helpful! 🙂

Thanks for sharing with us and i need to know either we can use irrelevant images in our travel blog, like images we have capture our self and thanks for sharing us such important tips with us.

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We get a lot tourist and traveling people here in Park City Utah. Thanks for sharing. Great Guide!

This blog has Some interesting valid points! I appreciate on your blog this is well written and the rest of the website is extremely good.

We want an increasing number of facilities for ourselves such as center of living a conventional life, having all the services readily available to us as well as many more.

Such valuable, real information here. Thanks!

This is truly a very good travelling blog, If you’re looking forward to start a travel blogs, this can be helpful for you to start off. Thanks for sharing !!

Hey Jeremy! Thanks for the great advice here! I’m not so sure about what my niche is yet since I’m honestly not sure what kind of traveler I am and I don’t want to pigeonhole myself into something I don’t want. What are your thoughts on a plan of throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks to then figure out what to focus on?

The whole thought of providing customers with rewards for loyalty may be going on for years. Customers will not likely send feedback until you come up with a request from your different people who’ve bought in you. If bid cost is high for a particular keyword, you just could possibly be unable to obtain the clicks you’ll need in your limited budget.

Hi Jeremy Foster

It’s a very useful article about “how to be a travel blogger”. You have provided a very brief information for a travel blogger. Thanks for sharing this article.

Nice guideline, it actually kinda works for other types of blogs too.

Absolutely! This guide to starting a travel blog could work for any kind of blog–food, lifestyle, fashion, anything!

Such a great article! Real motivator to keep going.

Cheers bro!

I’d recommend using GoDaddy instead. They have great customer support. Bluehost is cheaper however.

They might have great support, but as GoDaddy’s CEO is a known wildlife poacher, I won’t support anything they do.

Read more: https://science.time.com/2011/04/04/godaddy-ceo-on-shooting-an-elephant-im-not-sorry/

Bunch of great tips but i would recommend a different hosting provider. Just my two cents 🙂

Understood! To each their own 🙂

Thanks a lot for your advice. That just help me so much. Thanks

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How To Start A Travel Blog in 2024 + Free Printable Checklist

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This post may contain affiliate links to things like tours, hotels, Amazon associates and products. These help me earn a small commission at no additional charge to you.

I’ve always held off writing blog advice due to pesky feelings of imposter syndrome. That feeling of ‘but there are so many bloggers out there, why would anyone listen to my advice on how to start a travel blog?’.

Well, here’s to shaking off that feeling! Sometimes a few measurables can do you good. Hitting 50,000 monthly readers and qualifying for Mediavine ad network made me realise I must be doing something right.

Full disclosure – this post contains affiliate links for my web host company, Bluehost, which earn me a commission when you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.

I wanted to put together this guide because, despite the stresses and hours I pour into my travel blog, I genuinely love it. My blog allows me to share my experiences with those who are interested, record my adventures and be the sole creative on a project that’s ‘mine’ and that I’m passionate about. If I can help even a few other people take the plunge and enjoy travel blogging as much as I do, that’s a bonus! Another reason I wanted to put together this guide on how to start a travel blog?

I made all the mistakes so you don’t have to.

I started my travel blog back in 2015 as a travel diary but didn’t find my groove until 2017 when I was reunited with a computer, rather than the iPhone 5 that had been travelling around the world with me. I wanted to share my travel adventures with others, especially fellow solo female travellers who might find my words helpful or encouraging. It wasn’t until 2018 that I started thinking about my blog as a business. If you Googled how to become a travel blogger with notions of fast cast and Insta fame, the reality may be disappointing. Blogging is a ridiculous amount of work and you’ll start out by spending money, not making it. ( How much? Keep reading ). Most of my favourite travel bloggers started out with a genuine love of travel and monetised their blog later down the line. While I believe I started my blog for the right reasons, I could have started it better. I’m mainly talking about the things I didn’t do: the important areas I overlooked and should have worked on from the start. I could have got to this stage much quicker if I’d been smarter at the start. So, how to create a travel blog? Let’s begin…

How to start a travel blog in 2024

In this guide, I’m going to share my step-by-step guide on how to make a travel blog. Most of what I’m going to tell you can be applied to other types of blogs such as lifestyle, parenting, finance and more, but I’ll be including some specific tips on how to become a travel blogger when you’re still working a 9-5. When starting your travel blog, you’ll want to create social media channels. It’s important to think about your overriding brand and how you can keep it consistent across the platforms. Remember when starting a travel blog that you’re starting a brand, not just a website .

Related question – how did you teach yourself all this?

Honestly, I didn’t do anything specific, just put in years of time and effort. Many bloggers sell courses on how to become a travel blogger but I didn’t have the budget to pay for them starting out. I read a lot of articles, joined forums and used trial and error in writing my blog posts. The first thing I would recommend when starting a travel blog is…

Define your travel blogging niche

Try to find a travel blog that has no niche apart from ‘travel blog’. Maybe these cut the mustard ( um, what a fab expression ) in 2009, but not these days. You can niche down to solo travel and thousands of people will have done it. Niche down further to solo female travel and hundreds of people have still done it… I’m not saying you need a niche that no one has ever done before. But if you want to bring some fresh content to the blogosphere and find a space and audience for yourself, I suggest you think about…

The value you can bring

When I think about readers who have told me they like my blog, it’s never because I’m the best writer or photographer on Planet Internet and guess what? I don’t need to be. When people reach out, it’s because they’re similar to me – perhaps they’re a solo female traveller or a backpacker navigating the world on a budget – and something I’ve said has resonated with them because I have experience on those topics. That’s all niching really is. You don’t need to attract everyone on the internet, just the right people ( please don’t make me say ‘find your tribe’!!!) The first way to find your niche is to think about the value you can bring. What do you know more about than most people? Maybe it’s travelling with a toddler, maybe it’s cramming mini-breaks into your 25 days annual leave? Don’t get imposter syndrome! There’s definitely something you know more about than others. Just make sure it’s something you have a genuine passion for otherwise it will feel forced.

Travel blog niches

Luxury travel
Sustainable travel
Adventure/outdoors travel
LGBT+ travel
Food travel
Festival travel
Travel with kids
Couple travel
Specific location travel (your favourite country, home country or city).

I’m sure there are plenty more, too. You could combine two to narrow down further, for example budget solo travel (hello!) or luxury sustainable travel. If you’re struggling, turn your disadvantage on its head. When I started travelling as a freelancer, I had zilch money because who has money starting as a freelancer? I often had the frustrating feeling that I could be travelling better if I had a higher budget. I had to limit myself to living on $500 a month and subsequently, I had to find cheaper restaurants and forms of accommodation. Turns out I was not the only person in the world travelling on a budget. By creating guides of budget tips based on specific destinations, I found not only a niche but an audience.

Can you have more than one niche?

Absolutely! You can have one main niche but a handful of sub-niches to create content around. For example, I will always be first and foremost a solo female traveller but I’m also a budget traveller, a foodie traveller and I’m now extending into the world of blogging about blogging. There’s nothing wrong with having a few strings to your bow, but don’t overdo it. If you try to cover everything, you’re back to being a general travel blogger. I would say one main niche is ideal and up to 2-3 sub-niches if you can genuinely bring fresh and valuable content on those topics.

Related question – I don’t know my niche yet but I want to start my blog. Can I start and let my niche develop over time?

Your blog is ultimately going to grow with you over time and develop. I never considered writing about budget travel or sustainable travel but they grew into the blog as they became personal interests. But with that said, I would really suggest picking your main niche as early on as possible. It will affect everything from picking your blog name to buying your domain and knowing what to write about.

Picking a travel blog name

Welcome to hell. (I’m sure this is the helpful intro you were hoping for). Why is picking a travel blog name so difficult? I’m a testament to this as I first named my blog ‘Backpacks and Beaches’ which doesn’t tell you I’m a woman, a solo traveller or in fact anything . Then I agonised for ages over a new name. My tips for picking a travel blog name would be: Be original. In the world of travel blogging, there are a lot of words that are used time and time again. Look up synonyms for commonly used travel words and see if there’s something more interesting you could use. Note – never use the word ‘gipsy’ (or any other spelling of the word) as it’s nothing short of a racial slur . How to become a travel blogger 101 – Don’t box yourself in. Make sure it can grow with you. Try to avoid:

Locations: Unless you know for a fact you’ll always be blogging about that place, I’d avoid ‘Adventures in Asia’ or somewhere that will restrict you from creating content about other regions at a later date.
Ages: I’ve seen blogs with ‘twenty-something’ in the name rebrand after hitting the big 3-0.
Specific travel styles: Something broad like ‘luxury’ is fine but names that mention hostels, for example, could be problematic later if you stop staying in them.
Jobs: A friend recently changed her name from ‘The Bartender Abroad’ as she’s no longer a bartender. You get the idea!

Link it to your niche. This isn’t essential but I would recommend if possible using a name that gives something away. For example, the name of a person suggests you’re a solo traveller whereas ‘we’ suggests a couple travel blog and something like ‘The Adventure Journal’ hints at adventure travel.

Travel blog name ideas:

Descriptive nouns. Choose a word to describe yourself, for example traveller , backpacker or digital nomad and stick an adjective beforehand for example hungry , German or girl and ta-da, you have a name like ‘Hungry Traveller’, ‘German Backpacker’ or ‘Digital Nomad Girl’ which also describes your niche.
Your actual name. I also like blogs including the writer’s name, for example, the best travel blog name everrrrr, Where Goes Rose?

Check the domains and social media handles

To check the domain is available, type into your browser www.(name).com and if you’re taken to an existing website, sorry pal, it’s gone . If it says the website doesn’t exist, you’re all good . If it says ‘this domain is available for x’ this means some annoying company has bought the domain name in the hope that a newbie blogger like yourself wants it. You can see the fee listed and decide how badly you want it. If it’s available and you want to snap it up, do so on GoDaddy.com. The other option is to wait until you set up your web hosting (which we’ll cover next) and get the domain name for free with Bluehost. Check the social handles: It’s a pain when they’re taken. There are countless Instagram accounts just sat there not even being used. Your travel blog URL and social media handles don’t have to be the same but I personally think it’s best to be consistent. Also, potential followers can easily find you across platforms.

Does your travel blog have to be .com?

Well, no. But remember that ‘co.uk’ or the like may look familiar to you but could be confusing to people in other countries. I’d recommend getting a .com domain even if it means adapting your blog name slightly. I originally wanted ‘Where Rose Goes’ which was taken so I switched the last two words around to ensure the .com site was available.

Set up a blogging email address

This couldn’t be easier. You can just create a Gmail such as [email protected] but again, I would recommend checking it’s available beforehand. Of course, it looks more professional to have something @ your domain rather than a Gmail. Once you’ve purchased your domain, you can create a custom domain in Gmail . If you have bought your domain on GoDaddy, there’s the option to buy the email address there.

Picking a travel blogging platform

Next, I’m going to talk about the technical side of how to create a travel blog. Since you can’t become a travel blogger without a website, you’ll want to pick what we call a content management system ( CMS ) in which you can create and publish your blog. The idea is that you can write and edit in the back end and once you press publish, the pages and blogs will post on your website. There are a couple of options to choose from but I use…

WordPress is the oldest and still the biggest blogging platform. Most bloggers use it so it’s easier to find advice when you need it. You can use plugins (more on these later) that provide endless worlds of functionality that their rivals don’t. On the downside, the plugins and odd bit of coding can be tricky at first but just play around; you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Important note – if you are using WordPress, you need to set up hosting separately. More about this next.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org: This stumped me at first. Wordpress.com is a free and very basic version of WordPress that can be good for beginners to play with. However, if you’re serious about starting a travel blog, you will want to upgrade quickly to Wordpress.org which is what most bloggers use for design and functionality.

Squarespace

I’ve enjoyed using Squarespace in the past because it’s more customisable and better for design. You can drag and drop to give it to feel you want which is great if you’re a creative person. However it can be fiddly at first; I recommend saving constantly in case you move something which messes up the whole page.

This is a popular CMS I’ve not used but I would be curious to try since it always comes out well in blogging CMS comparisons . Users say Wix is super easy to use and very aesthetically friendly plus there’s customer support. The only downside is that you can’t change your theme (aka your design and look) at a later date.

Picking a hosting company

Unless you’re using a CMS that includes hosting, you will need to sign up with a host when making a travel blog. I’ve never really understood much about the world of hosting but luckily you don’t need to. Hosting companies create a space for your blog on the web.

In 2017, I created my travel blog with Bluehost who have a useful live customer chat feature where you can get help right away. Usually hosting is $7.99 a month but because I’m already a customer and affiliate I can offer you hosting for just $3.95 / £3.02 a month. Click the button below to get started or click here to get your discount and begin .

Note – this rate is for the first three years and is billed upfront in one go. For the following three years, the rate is higher.

Once you’ve followed the link above, click ‘Get Started’. I’ll run you through the next steps. Choosing your plan is the first step.

If you’re just starting a travel blog, the Basic package will do. You can always upgrade later. Next, it will ask you to set up your domain. You can click to do it later at the bottom if you’re still umming and ahhing. If you’re ready to purchase it, you can just type the username you want, for example ‘wheregoesrose’ into the box. Presumably, by this point you have already checked it’s available. If you already purchased it on GoDaddy, simply enter the domain into the box on the right.

It will tell you ‘success’ on the next screen and ask you to make a purchase. Here you are not only buying the domain but the hosting service for the next 36 months.

Bluehost package information travel blog

As you can see, there’s the option to purchase extras. I did the classic thing of being baffled by tech and purchasing their recommended ones (automatically ticked in blue) but the only one really need is privacy protection for 76p a month. Now all you need to do is enter your payment details and you’re good to go.

Linking up WordPress and Bluehost

Once you’ve created your Wordpress.org website, you simply need to log in via Bluehost. In the Bluehost portal, you will be asked your WordPress login details and ta-da – your newly-created travel blog is all linked up!

Log in to WordPress

Since you create content in WordPress not Bluehost, the next step is logging into your new WordPress website. Head to https://yourdomainname.com/ wp-admin and enter your username and password. Now you can play around on the dashboard and see how everything works. Down the left-hand side you will see ‘posts’ where you create articles, ‘pages’ where you can create ‘About Me’ pages and the like, ‘appearance’ where you can customise the look of your site, and loads more. Honestly, it took me ages to get comfortable using WordPress but just keep playing around.

Picking a Wordpress theme

When making a travel blog, you will want to think about the aesthetics of your site. A theme is like a skin for your travel blog. Different themes have different looks and functionality, although you can usually edit things like fonts and colours. WordPress displays a few themes which you can browse but these are fairly basic. I bought my first theme from Theme Forest for $50. There are loads to choose from. Once you’ve bought it, there are no future costs. As of 2024, I’ve changed to Flatsome which I can recommend as a fantastic, fast theme with drag-and-drop page builders.

Divi page builder: I’ve also heard good things about Divi which is a page-building theme that you can purchase from Elegant Themes . This costs $89 per year but allows you to design a much prettier website with front end drag-and-drop features. Follow the instructions that come with your purchased theme to apply it to your WordPress website. From memory, mine came as a compressed file which I uploaded inside WordPress. Next, you can play around and customise it. I didn’t love the fonts that came with mine so I downloaded the Google Easy Fonts plugin to change them.

Plugins for Wordpress

Even if you pick a lovely theme and customise it, your travel blog won’t have much functionality without plugins. These are pieces of software that add functionality to your website. These can be anything from adding clickable maps to your blog posts, displaying your Instagram feed in your sidebar and a million other things. There are even plugins to protect your website from spammy comments and hacks. Tip – too many plugins can slow down your website so be picky. Some of the most useful when creating a travel blog include: Google Maps: This lets you pull pinnable Google Maps into your blog posts and show routes and locations within a city or country. Sassy Social Share: This adds ‘share it’ buttons so your readers can easily share your blog posts to social media channels like Twitter and Facebook. WP Forms: This lets you insert contact forms so people can send you messages. This is great if you plan to work with brands later on. Yoast: This is a plugin to help with your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), something we’ll discuss later. Click ‘Plugins’ on the left-hand side of your WordPress dashboard. Click ‘add new’ and search for ones you want, then click ‘activate’. Go to the ‘settings’ section of individual plugins to set up the details.

Design your logo

When starting a travel blog, don’t forget to make a logo. Once you have it, you can display it in future content such as email footers, newsletters, media kits, business cards… If these sound overwhelming don’t worry, you don’t need them all right away. Start by just uploading it to the top of your homepage.

How to make a logo when starting a travel blog

Canva – If you have zero graphic design skills, don’t stress. I recommend using Canva which has loads of tools and drag-and-drop design elements. You can make something simple and effective without experience. You can always make a basic logo for now and change it later; just remember to update it everywhere. Fiverr/Upwork – hire a designer for a more professional look. Be sure to view the designer’s past work and reviews first. I had a bad experience when I paid someone $10 to make me a logo that came out looking like something from 90s clipart. People did say ‘What did you expect for $10?’ but who wants to throw money away?

Creating travel content

This is the fun bit when becoming a travel blogger. It’s also the bit that stumped me initially. What should I write about? If you’ve defined your niche well, this should be a bit easier. It’s ideal to create travel blog content around your niche early on. If you’re a sustainable travel blogger, why not write about the best destinations around the world for sustainable travel? If you’re a budget traveller, write about tips and hacks for travelling on the cheap. Creating some big guides on your chosen key areas is known as ‘cornerstone content’ and is ideal when it comes to telling Google what you’re an expert at, thus helping with your rankings.

Content ideas for creating a travel blog

Destination guides : for these I usually include headings such as where to stay, things to do, where to eat and how to get there. Basically everything you’d need to know if planning a trip to a new place.
Personal essays: is there something you feel passionate about? I’ve written before about why everyone should solo travel at least once, the effects of technology on travel , and why volunteering can do more harm than good.
How-to guides: maybe there’s something you’re especially skilled at like packing for a trip or finding cheap flights.
Packing lists: personally I find these super boring to write but I know lots of bloggers enjoy reviewing products and helping readers with outfit inspo related to their next location.

Vienna city guide starting a travel blog

Related question – ‘Do I need writing experience to start a travel blog?’

Of course it helps. Unsurprisingly, many bloggers are those who love writing or have a natural flair for it. Many copywriters and journalists move into blogging as they want their own platform. In terms of writing quality, there’s strong competition out there.

However there are plenty of successful blogs where, to be honest, the writing isn’t amazing it still works. It depends on your purpose. Some readers want information at their fingertips without an eloquent story first. If the purpose of your blog is to provide information, you don’t need to be a trained writer.

For SEO (we’ll get to this, promise), you do need to write detailed and well-researched articles. But you don’t need to be Charles Dickens.

To keep your followers and regular readers coming back, you’ll ideally be good at storytelling. So yes, writing skills always help!

For me, the best blogs deliver valuable information while also making it fun and enjoyable to read, throwing in a few tales and personal views along the way. This balance can take ages to strike so don’t stress; just practise!

Tips for well-written travel blog articles

All that said, no one would aim for a badly-written blog, would they? If you’re starting with no writing experience, here are my tips.

Define your purpose and tone

You’ll soon find your voice. While this will likely be consistent across your posts, it’s worth noting that different blog posts can have different purposes. For example, I often write informative itinerary posts which are light on personal details. Then, I’ll write opinion pieces, like my two year digital nomad round-up which are more like personal essays. It’s okay to include both as long as you…

Write great headings

If your guide is purely informative, make sure the heading matches it with phrases like ‘how to’ or ‘where to find’. If it’s a personal essay, use ‘I’ or ‘me’ or personal development terms like ‘learnt’. Use emotive words like ‘complete guide’ or ‘ultimate itinerary’ but avoid ‘clickbait’ (sensational or overly dramatic headings), to entice users to click. These are considered bad practice.

Break up text blocks with headings

For the love of God! When I read back my old blog posts, I’m frustrated to find incredibly long essays with no headings. The average internet reader has an attention span of 4 seconds (I made that up but you get my drift) so unless there are clear headings and photos dividing up the text every few blocks, they will switch off, however engaging your writing is.

Read, read, read

Don’t start a travel blog in the dark. Make it your business to read as many other travel blogs as possible. Never steal ideas or copy blogs but do take note of things you like and dislike whether it’s tone of voice, humour or techniques used to make you feel emotion. Ask yourself ‘how do I feel after reading this?’ then go back and work out what they’ve done to make you feel that way.

Tell a story

Remind yourself you’re not Lonely Planet and you don’t need to be! Be real . If solo travel was getting you down and you were feeling lonely or having a bad day, tell it, sister. I guarantee your readers will relate more than if you half-heartedly play the ‘I feel so empowered’ card. When telling a story, aim to place your readers there. Tell them not just how you felt but the elements that got you there: the smells, tastes and sights. Make your readers feel like they’re with you.

Tips for editing and accuracy when creating a travel blog

This is many bloggers’ least favourite thing. It can be tough if you don’t have an editorial background. The one thing I always do is take my right cursor and run it through my article slowly, reading each word and letter. Come back to an article a few days after writing because it’s easier to spot errors. The most useful (and only) tool I use for proofreading is Grammarly . You can paste text into the website and it will underline any errors and offer edit suggestions. You can also download it to your computer so it will show in all windows, even WordPress. It’s so useful and free, although there’s a pro version which might be helpful if you know you need extra help in this area.

Useful pages when starting a travel blog

About me page: Write an intro to your website and tell readers who you are. Share personal details and your travel story. Make it natural and chatty by telling people about your passions and travel style, which hopefully will link back to your niche. Optional – work with me: If you’re jumping straight on the hussle for sponsors and brand collabs, you can include a page mentioning your stats, audience demographics and past collabs. Personally, I’d leave this page until later as you probably won’t be working with brands on day one. Menus: Not a page as much but a way to organise your content. You want your readers to be able to browse and find related articles easily. I would suggest a menu with several dropdowns, for example ‘destinations’ where readers can click on the different countries or cities.

How to bring traffic to your travel blog

So, you’ve figured out how to create a travel blog and written your first article? Now how are you going to get your readers? Traffic is important because a certain number of monthly readers will attract advertisers and make you money. More readers also convert to more newsletter subscribers and social followers. But where does this mysterious traffic come from?

Read next: how I doubled my blog traffic in 4 months

Google is the world’s most popular search engine and the one you want to ‘talk to’ in order to attract traffic. Around 90% of my traffic comes from Google. Basically, the higher you can rank on page 1 of Google, the better. When you start blogging, you’ll unlikely rank for a number of reasons, one purely being that Google favours established domains. Don’t give up; old blog posts can jump up over time so even if your article is on page 10, that’s not to say it won’t reach page 1 later. Google are a little mysterious and have never explicitly said what they look for in a blog post and why some posts make page 1 and others don’t. However, many internet search experts have come up with some solid theories that you can follow in order to enhance your blog posts.

How to get Google traffic: SEO

Search Engine Optimization is a huge industry that essentially makes your website findable via search engines. I would attribute 90% of my traffic and monetary earnings to my learnings and efforts in SEO. Since this is a guide to starting a travel blog, I don’t want to go delve deep in this one particular area. For now, I’m going to direct you to this ultimate SEO guide and share a few beginners tips here. These are:

SEO tip #1: Keywords are your friend. As an exercise, Google something like ‘best brunch in Oxford’ and click on any of the top articles (but preferably mine, thanks!). Do a text search for ‘brunch in Oxford’ in the document and you can expect to see it several times. This is what we call a keyword or in this case, a keyphrase. It’s the idea that when a user searches for a word or phrase, they’ll find the articles that best answer their question and meet their needs. You need to use such keywords to tell Google that your article is that answer. SEO tip #2: Get KeySearch – this helps you find out what people are searching for. It’s useful because otherwise you could end up writing articles that no one on the internet is actually looking for. I pay $17 a month for this service and it’s genuinely the one thing I couldn’t live without (apart from matcha bubble tea, obviously). Note – there’s a pro option but I use the starter pack. SEO tip #3: Write the best answer that answers all parts of the user’s question. This may sound a little vague but it works. Focus on long articles that go in-depth and have an edge over your competitors.

Pinterest is unique because it’s somewhere between a search engine and a social media channel. You can build followers, but you can also search for specific topics and find articles like you would on Google. If you’re wondering how to start a travel blog and get traffic quickly, Pinterest is a gem. Not only can you generate clicks to your website right away (unlike via Google), but it doesn’t assess your articles. If you’re still building up your SEO skills, you can still get Pinterest traffic.

How to get Pinterest traffic: design and strategy

Now you know about keywords, I’ll let you know they apply to Pinterest, too. This may be a little advanced for starting your travel blog, but I highly recommend the Pinterest with Ell course on Teachable. Pinterest is all about aesthetics so you should create eye-catching graphics with Photoshop or Canva. I use the free version of Canva which is excellent. You can create professional-looking graphics with no design skills. 2022 update – Pinterest is a bit glitchy at the moment as their platform shifts towards story pins and shopping. I prefer to focus my efforts on Google but I’ll update this if things change.

Social media

Social media brings me the least amount of readers compared to Google and Pinterest. If you have a million followers or better yet, followers really engaged in your niche, it can be good but Google and Pinterest always trump it. If you have more than 10k Instagram followers and can access the swipe up feature, it brings a lot more traffic.

How to get it: followers

While Google and Pinterest both bring new people directly to your website, Instagram tools like hashtags and the Explore feed only attract new users to your Instagram profile. That’s why I say that you need a lot of existing engaged followers to attract website traffic from Instagram. For that reason, I don’t have any specific ‘tips’ for using Instagram to drive traffic for your blog. All I can suggest is building an engaged Instagram following and focus on reaching 10k.

Related question – how long should blog posts be?

I don’t want to say ‘as long as possible’ because I don’t want to encourage waffling for the sake of it. But as long as you are answering the reader’s question throughout, it’s optimum to create blogs that are as detailed as possible. I usually aim for 3,000 words for a city guide or 2,000 words for a specific attraction like a walk or market. I find these do really well compared to shorter blogs I wrote in the past of 1,000 words or less.

How to track your traffic

Google Analytics! For the first year after creating my travel blog, I used an analytics tool within WordPress which was quite basic but still a good indication of how my traffic was growing. However, if you want to track the success of different blog posts, you need Google Analytics. You access this separately from WordPress but you do need to connect your Google Analytics to your WordPress . Once you’ve done this, you can see your most popular posts for the day, week, month etc and how they’re changing over time, where your users come from, their demographics, whether they’re on a desktop or mobile… The list goes on!

Cost of creating a travel blog

The question on everyone’s lips! But in terms of the outright costs to start a travel blog, you’re looking at… Website hosting – $142 / $108 for the first three years with Bluehost. If you use my discount code for joining Bluehost, you can purchase them with the money saved. Add on the cost of a logo if you hire a graphic designer. I also pay for KeySearch monthly ($17) and a Shutterstock membership ($30) that gives me 10 photos a month to download.

Related question – ‘do I need to invest in a camera for starting my travel blog?’

My answer here is the same as ‘do I need writing experience?’. Honestly, it’s going to help! But it isn’t a dealbreaker. A lot of influencers will tell you you’re an unmotivated slob and need to ‘spend money to make money’ if you’re not prepared to buy 4 grand worth of their affiliate camera products. Firstly, mobile phones genuinely have amazing cameras these days. If you write engaging content, give useful advice and you’re smart with your marketing, you’re going to smash it anyway. But I’d be lying if I said we don’t live in a visual age so of course having a camera is a valuable investment. I use the Sony DSC-HX350 Digital Compact Bridge Camera which cost me £300 and has taken every photo on my Instagram feed as I’ve grown from 0 to 12k followers and every photo on this blog as it’s grown to 50k monthly readers.

How to make money as a travel blogger

I wouldn’t advise starting a travel blog for the money because honestly, it can take time and starts slow. But as you build over time, you can start building your blog income streams and even replace your full-time job. Some ways to monetise require a certain number of readers and you’ll need to wait to do, while others can start right away. So, how do travel bloggers make money?

Advertising

There are a few companies that will place adverts on your travel blog and pay you based on the number of times they’re viewed. There are two companies called AdSense and Ezoic which require lower numbers of readers and don’t pay as well. I held out for Mediavine, the best agency to make money as a travel blogger. The old threshold to apply was 25,000 monthly views but this has recently been increased to 50,000. I make $15-25 per 1,000 page views.

This is where a blogger promotes a product or service and if a reader makes a purchase, the travel blogger receives a commission for referring them. Some of the most popular affiliates for travel bloggers include Booking.com, Amazon Associates and Get Your Guide tours. You’d be surprised how many companies offer an affiliate programme. There have been times I’ve been promoting a company just because I like them and think my readers will find them useful, then discovered they have an affiliate programme I could have been benefiting from. Applying and keeping track of them all separately is a lot of effort and admin so I use Travelpayouts to create links to all of them and manage everything in one place! Signing up is free and takes 2 minutes . The good thing about affiliate marketing is that you don’t need a certain audience to begin. You can start using affiliate links to make money as soon as you start your travel blog. Important note – you need an affiliate disclosure so you can comply with guidelines and be transparent with your readers. If you need help writing this, just look at mine at the top of this page. Amazon requires you to mention them by name but most other affiliates do not.

How to start a travel blog when you’re not travelling

When I got back from Africa in 2017, I spent a year living at home, working full-time, saving money to go remote and building my blog. My biggest struggle was finding things to blog about when I wasn’t actually travelling. Whether it’s down to money, limited holiday days or family commitments, there are a billion reasons why you may not be travelling regularly but still want to start your travel blog. Tips for this include:

Blog about your hometown

I created so many Oxford blogs from 2017-18, even ones about the cafes I’d visit on the way to work and the food markets I’d get my lunch from. Your home city may not seem exciting to you but if travellers go there, it’s got potential. Even if it doesn’t receive international tourists, I’ll bet people stay over for work or the locals look up new places to eat and drink.

Day trips and weekend breaks

If your hometown doesn’t have potential, how far are you from a city that does? If you’re in the UK, it can’t be that far away. I find people are most likely to search for 1-2 day itineraries since you need to be more organised if you have limited time in a place. So if you have just one day somewhere, use that to your advantage and put together a one-day itinerary rather than a huge guide to everything to see and do.

Interview posts

Not travelling right now? Interview people who are. I was interviewed early on in a series about travel bloggers juggling full-time jobs. More recently, I’ve been interviewed as a digital nomad. People love to be asked for interviews as it brings them new readers. Reach out to bloggers you find inspiring and ask them if they’d link to do an interview-style post for your new travel website. I bet they’ll say yes. Check out my interview archives with other inspiring travellers!

Blog about specific attractions

When creating a travel blog, it’s best to be as specific and detailed as possible. So if you have limited time in a place or you’re in your hometown, rather than provide a vague overview to everything in a ‘Canada travel guide’ style post, why not pick one or two main attractions? Ideas include a specific walking trail, a restaurant review, a waterfall, a food market… Anything! Two of my highest-ranking posts are about a specific coastal walk in Sydney and a stately house near me at home.

Responsibility of becoming a travel blogger

When becoming a travel blogger, you may not have much knowledge about issues in the travel community or the power you hold as someone with an internet following. But as travel bloggers, we have a responsibility to leave places and communities as we found them and not do any damage while travelling or showcasing places or people. Educate yourself on White Saviorism . Don’t promote voluntourism . Don’t pose with children from developing countries for mindless Instagram photos. If you’re starting a travel blog, know it’s not all about websites and SEO; it’s also about responsibility and representation. You have power in the way you shape situations and conservations. Be wise! Make sure to follow @nowhitesaviors for important considerations and @barbiesavior for a satirical take on how not to start a travel blog.

How to start a travel blog questions and tips

Question – when should I launch my travel blog?

From a practical perspective, I would wait until you have an About Me page and at least two articles to launch. From a confidence perspective, whenever you are ready to take a leap! I was nervous about publishing my first blogs even though I had prior writing experience, and I know I’m not the only one. Followers have told me ‘what if no one reads it? What if people don’t like it?’

Try not to stress too much, although I know it’s easier said than done. Countless times I’ve published a personal post then anxiously spent the next hour editing it to sound less opinionated and reduce the risk of offending anyone. Share your blog with a few friends or family members and asking for their feedback before launching on social media. You could also consider sharing your first few blog posts with Close Friends on Instagram until you’re feeling more confident. If no one reads your blog at first, don’t stress. As you start using Pinterest and getting readers from Google, you will attract your ideal audience.

Question – how do you deal with criticism?

A website is a relatively safe place to be in terms of internet hate. I think I had a comment on a blog once saying something I’d said was inaccurate and I took it as a learning curve to fact-check better in future. If people are going to be mean, it will be on social media. How to deal with trolls: In the very unlikely event you get someone heckling or being horrible to you, ignore and block, my friends. What if people think your work is bad? They won’t. We all have self-doubt and imposter syndrome so it’s normal to feel this way. Start by posting what you’re best at, whether that’s a photography blog if you take nice photos or an opinion piece if writing is your main skill. For example, I never posted any graphics to start as I know design isn’t my strongest suit. What if you deserved the criticism? It’s easy to feel defensive and reply rashly if someone critiques you for something you’ve said or done. If what they’ve said is unnecessary or unfounded, ignore them. Take an hour to mull it over. Ask yourself, do they have a point? Perhaps you’ve phrased something badly or posted an opinion without thinking it through. Apologise and learn from it. There’s nothing wrong with seeing another person’s point of view and changing yours. If you have no experience posting to an audience, it takes time to get used to it. Observe how bloggers you admire present facts and opinions and how people respond to them.

Question – should you build a website or social media following first?

There’s no right answer. I launched my website first but in retrospect, I like the idea of finding your groove, travel style and photography style via Instagram and then building your website later. This also means you’ll start with a bit of website traffic when you promote on Instagram. There’s no right or wrong way. However my one warning would be…

Tip – invest in your website above your social media channels

Any wise owl blogger will tell you this. Your website is your baby. You own it. Your Instagram account is a page on a shared social media channel that you don’t own. Your account could randomly be marked as spam at any point, or users could migrate to a new channel. In five years’ time, your readers may be visiting a new social media channel rather than Instagram, but they’ll still be visiting websites.

Tip – you don’t have to start it all at once

Are you even a blogger if you don’t have a YouTube, podcast, clothing line and branded t-shirts? Well, yes. Don’t go overboard and spread yourself too thinly. Most bloggers have a website and one or two key channels, perhaps Instagram or Youtube that they invest in heavily. Obviously, it’s nice to have a solid following across your channels but don’t stress if you build up slowly and if you never have a tote bag with your face on it.

Question – how can I connect with other bloggers?

It feels amazing to connect with people who do what you do and share the same hobbies and passions, plus you can learn a lot from other bloggers. Unfortunately, all too often Instagram is a place for influencers to show off their seemingly perfect lives. But lovely individuals are out there when you look; I’ve made many blogger friends through Instagram. How to find travel bloggers on Instagram – use hashtags like #travelblogger and the related ones suggested along the top bar when you search. Check out if there are any blogging groups in your area. I recently found out there’s an Oxfordshire Blogger Network that I never knew about when starting my blog here a few years back. But IG is more about building friendships than brainstorm blogging strategy. That’s where Facebook groups come in handy. There are groups depending on your niche, for example female blogging groups and ones aimed at SEO or Pinterest strategy. The ones I would recommend include:

Make Traffic Happen – SEO + Social Media Support – best for SEO tips
Female Travel Bloggers – best for community
Pinterest Travel Bloggers Club – best for building Pinterest traffic
Link Building + Guest Posts + Collabs (Travel Bloggers) – best for gathering backlinks to your site
Blogging for New Bloggers – best for beginner blogging questions
WPBeginner Engage – WordPress Help for Non-Techies – best for tech and website help.

Usually, you’ll need to submit your website domain and answer some questions in order to join. Once you’ve started your travel blog, it’s worth joining as many blogging Facebook groups as possible. You can always leave certain ones later if you find they don’t serve you.

Final note from Rose

I’ve just given you 8,652 words of advice but I just want to give you two much more important ones: ENJOY. THIS. If you go into this promising yourself to post 11 times a week, share to every social channel twice a day, hit the Mediavine threshold by the end of the year… Well, this is going to be awful. Blogging is so much fun: you get to share your opinions, be the sole creative and make like-minded friends. It would be a shame to stress yourself out and end up hating your blog and feeling disappointed if you don’t get instant success. You’ll burn yourself out. I say it because I’ve been there. I often find myself thinking ‘I need to publish this by the end of the week’ when usually I really don’t. Most of all, aim to enjoy blogging and play with your voice and creativity. I didn’t even think about SEO or analytics until two years in and yes, maybe that was a mistake. But maybe it wasn’t because I still love what I do. This is loooong. See you next time!

Free printable checklist

Don’t leave without your freebie. Download your ‘how to start a travel blog’ checklist’ here (it will open in Google Drive).

Follow for more blogging content on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter and YouTube .

I hope you have a better idea of how to start a travel blog! Drop any questions or comments below.

Check out my other blogging guides:

How to take photo of yourself when travelling solo
How I doubled my blog traffic in 4 months

Rose is a solo traveller from the UK who has been on the road since 2015. She wants to show other women that solo travel isn't scary and doesn't have to be expensive! Rose has lived in Mexico, Canada and all over Asia, seeking out food, bubble tea and street art wherever she goes!

10 thoughts on “ How To Start A Travel Blog in 2024 + Free Printable Checklist ”

Thank you for taking the time to produce this post. It is great and you make it so easy to understand. Do you find there’s a best time or day to post?

I find weekends are the best time to post purely because people have more time to read blogs and they get views straight away which is always a good start! I don’t worry too much about the time of day for the actual blog post but I would aim to promote it around the best times of day for the different social media channels I use ? hope that helps!

We loved this post so much! We have just started up our instagram (@skintyorkshiretravellers) and are in the process of sorting a blog. At the moment we’re just on the free wordpress.com but debating whether to go self-hosted this early on. We’re very much still in the early stages so these tips were so useful 🙂 Thanks! Hannah + Andy | http://www.skintyorkshiretravellers.wordpress.com xx

Glad you liked it, guys! Yeah it’s not a bad idea to be on a version while you play around and find your groove. Although I sometimes find once you pay for something, you feel more motivated to use it!

Wow great piece of information over there, the way you have used graphs and charts made it so easy to understand the content more clearly. Keep up the good work

Glad you found it useful, Arpita 🙂

“Welcome to Hell” Hahahah!!!! So, so, so accurate. I’m JUST getting my blog started and absolutely agonised over this. (As we all do) But what a relief when I got through that hump.. and onto the next massive mountain of making the website and content. It’s a never ending battle… but very very exciting and enjoyable. I appreciate the wonderful solo travel blogging women for creating these very helpful guides. Hopefully one day, I will do the same!

Hey Kay! Ah haha it’s so true 😉 and truly, it is so much work that people don’t realise! But incredibly enjoyable like you say. Good luck with it all!

Hahahah!!!! So, so, so accurate. I’m JUST getting my blog started and absolutely agonised over this. (As we all do) but Thanks learned and know a lot for sharing everything. Its helps a lot. Thank you very much.

Hi Satta, glad you found it useful!

How to Start a Travel Blog (& Build a Successful Travel Blogging Business)

How do you start a Travel Blog & Professional Travel Blogging Business

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. All hosted affiliate links follow our editorial policies .

When Mary and I came up with the idea for Green Global Travel at our lodge in Tortuguero National Park , Costa Rica , we had no clue how to start a travel blog.

It was the summer of 2010, and at that time we hadn’t even read a single blog. We knew nothing about html coding or social media marketing. We’d never even heard of WordPress, so we created our blog on a complicated content platform called Joomla. And unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of great guides on how to start your own blog at that time.

So instead, we relied on our professional and entrepreneurial experience. I had spent 15 years developing content strategy and editing magazines and newspapers, while Mary had spent 10 years managing a small corporate psychology business. Together, we had briefly run a successful improv comedy company in north Atlanta .

Today, I firmly belief that this business-focused approach gave us a huge leg up on building a successful travel blogging business.

Once GGT was established on the lists of the world’s best travel blogs , we made it our mission to help other bloggers learn how to build a better brand. We wanted to help the nascent travel blogging industry grow, because we firmly believe that more professional travel bloggers will mean better opportunities for everyone.

So we started the Business of Blogging Facebook group , offering free advice on blogging for beginners. We offered 1-on-1 mentorships on how to create a blog that will stand out and become sustainable long-term. We led workshops at travel conferences like TBEX and SATW , teaching everything from branding to SEO and content marketing.

In the meantime, the blogging industry has grown by leaps and bounds. These days, the best travel blogs bring in hundreds of thousands of page views a month. Top travel bloggers earn well over $100,000 a year, with advertising networks (such as Mediavine), affiliate sales, and paid partnerships making a 7-figure blogging income possible.

As a result, there are more and more people asking “How do I start a blog?” each year. So we decided to condense as much info about the travel blogging business as we could into one epic post.

Not only will we walk you through the process of starting a travel blog, step by step. We’ll also share the results of our in-depth survey on the travel blogging business, explore 10 steps in building a successful travel blogging brand, and share 20 great travel blogging tips for beginners.

This is a very long, very detailed read. Feel free to bookmark this page so that you can refer back to it as you embark upon your journey in creating a travel blog that could change your life in the same way Green Global Travel has transformed ours…

How to Create a Travel Blog: Step by Step
Travel Blogging Business Survey
10 Steps in Building a Travel Blogging Brand
20 Travel Blogging Tips for Beginners

How to Start a Travel Blog & Build a Successful Travel Blogging Business: includes step by step instructions for Travel Blogging Beginners, Travel Blog Branding, Travel Blogging Tips and results from a Professional Travel Blogging Business Survey via @greenglobaltrvl #travelblog, #travelblogging, #travelblogger, #starttravelblog, #starttravelblogging, #createtravelblog, #travelblogbranding, #travelblogbusiness, #travelblogbeginner, #travelbloggingforbeginners, #travelbloggingtips

HOW TO CREATE A TRAVEL BLOG

Starting a travel blog can admittedly seem a bit daunting at first, especially if you’ve never created a blog before.

But modern technology has made the process fairly simple… even for people like me, who get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about html coding.

In this section we’ll walk you through every single step in the process of creating a blog. We’ll cover everything from choosing travel blog names and the best web hosting provider to installing WordPress (including the best plug-ins and themes) and writing a blog post.

Step 1: How to Name Your Blog and Secure Your Domain

First and foremost, you’ll need to name your blog, which is arguably among the most important decisions you’ll make.

For some people, that’s exciting! For others, it’s the scariest part, and may take weeks or even months of research. How do you come up with a name that will stick with you for the rest of your blogging life?

Much like naming any business, product, or personal Gmail account, there are a few things to keep in mind if you want to find a successful blog name.

Choose a Travel Blog Name

Choosing your domain name is a major step in branding your travel blog. You’ll want something that’s easy for people to remember, and that resonates as closely as possible with your blog’s actual name. To that end, try to avoid using hyphens: mytravelblog.com is easier to remember than my-travel-blog-com.

Check Availability

Check Availability of Your Domain Name Ideas

Of course, since anyone can start a blog and anyone can buy a domain, there is a decent chance that the blog name you really want may be taken.

So before you buy the domain, you’ll want to check to see if the domain name is actually available . In the worst-case scenario, it’s best have a plan B, and perhaps even a plan C.

Once you’ve made sure that your desired domain is available, you’ll also want have a look at the various social media channels and make sure no one else has used the name there.

Your travel blog’s social media handles should also be easy for your readers to find and remember. So having something like @mytravelblog998 is not going to gain you as large a following as something simple, like @mytravelblog.

Use a Unique Blog Name

You should also have a look at other travel bloggers and try to steer clear of picking a name that is too similar to another blog.

Our advice is to steer clear of overused blogging cliches such as “nomad/nomadic,” “vagabond,” “adventurous,” and “ backpacker .” There are numerous veteran bloggers who have been around for many years and therefore rank really high for those terms.

You’re better off finding something original that will allow you to carve out your own niche. You want your travel blog name to be memorable, but not confused with other, similar blogs.

Plan for Your Blog’s Future

If you’re hoping to become a professional travel blogger long-term (as opposed to just documenting a round-the-world journey), your blog’s name needs to be able to grow with you.

You may only be able to blog about your home state or region right now. But if you one day hope to travel the rest of the world, then having a name like My California Travels is not a great idea.

We’ll talk about this in more detail in our Brand Strategy section below.

Register Your Domain Name

Once you’ve settled on the name for your travel blog, you also need to choose a provider to register your domain with. Domains are renewed annually, so this cost will not recur each month.

We originally registered Green Global Travel with HostGator , who was also our hosting provider at the time. They currently offer domains starting at just $12.95 per year.

When choosing your domain name, you will need to choose whether you want a .com, .net, or a different type of domain.

Domains that end with .com are the most popular. But if you’re writing for a targeted audience in your country, you may want a domain that is specific to your geographical region.

Step 2: Find a Blog Hosting Company

Finding the right hosting company for your travel blog is essential.

We once had a hosting company [whose name we won’t mention, but it rhymes with GlueGhost] that couldn’t keep up with the volume of traffic Green Global Travel was getting. This led to our site crashing over and over again, creating frustration both for us and our readers.

Your hosting provider package will determine not only the cost of having your travel blog online, but also the speed of your site and how much space you have to build your site on. There are countless different hosting companies available, so it can be difficult to decide which one to sign up with.

Obviously we can only recommend a company we trust and have had good experiences with in the past, such as HostGator . They offer extremely affordable rates, plenty of data capacity for travel blogging beginners, and make it very easy to set up a blog.

Learn more about Hosting

Their web hosting packages are designed to save you money . They offer three basic options depending on how many domains you want and whether you’re a hobbyist or need professional tools.

For each of those options you can choose to pay by the month or for up to 36 months in advance. The longer the web hosting package you sign up for, the cheaper your monthly rate is.

As we’re extremely thrifty with our budget, we recommend signing up for the longer option. First off, because it will save you a lot of money in the long run. But, perhaps more importantly, it symbolizes a serious commitment to making your travel blog a success in the long-term.

When setting up your web hosting account, you’ll need to enter your domain (or register one if you haven’t already) and pick the specific package you prefer. Then you just fill in your personal details as well as payment details. Pro Tip: Pay with a credit card that earns you frequent flyer miles!

Step 3: Install the Best Platform for Blogging: WordPress

There are many different platforms you can use when creating your travel blog. But WordPress is the common favorite content management system (or CMS) among most bloggers today.

WordPress is arguably the best blog platform out there. It’s easy for blogging beginners to get a handle on, has tons of free and easy plug-ins to improve functionality, and works well for getting your blog posts to rank well in Google search.

Don’t make the same mistake we made the first time we started a travel blog. We started blogging on Joomla , a competing CMS that isn’t nearly as simple for beginning bloggers to manage. We got very little Google traffic the first year, then had to pay for an expensive site migration to WordPress.

You can start your blog off on WordPress for free, then add premium and paid features as you need. There is also a fantastic community of WordPress bloggers worldwide. Going onto professional travel blogging forums on social media will help you to find the answers to most questions that you have.

How to Install WordPress on Your HostGator Hosted Blog :

Enter a username and password. This will be your details used to log into your site, so make sure it’s something you’ll remember. Then save the info in a secure file on your computer, phone, and even on paper in case your tech device fails.
Add your other details and ensure that the email address you entered is valid and working, as you’ll need to receive confirmation emails before your installation is done.
Click Install and you’re ready to roll!

installation-complete-wordpress-hostgator

Step 4: Choosing a WordPress Theme for Your Travel Blog

The overall look of your blog depends largely on the WordPress theme that you choose. You simply can’t create a good-looking travel blog without a good theme.

There are many different themes available on WordPress. Some are completely free, while others you have to pay a small one-time fee for. Sites like TechRadar do annual unbiased reviews of the Best WordPress Themes for Bloggers, which can walk you through the pros and cons of each.

To access the backend of your blog, type in your domain with ‘ /wp-admin ’ at the end, so the url (Uniform Resource Locator, a.k.a. web address) will look like this: yourdomain.com/wp-admin.

If you’re not quite ready to buy a theme, you can go to dashboard -> appearance -> themes -> add new. You’ll then see a wide variety of free themes on offer, from clean and simple designs with lots of white space to more cool and funky designs that reflect your personality.

If you’re determined to start off like a professional travel blogger, there are multiple places to find affordable paid themes. A paid theme comes with lots of extras, including support for any issues that you run into, as well as add-ons such as widgets for photo galleries, newsletter sign-ups, and more.

Most of these themes will have demos available, which offer you a more detailed template of what your new blog might look like. Demos make it easier to replace demo content with your own so that you can see the look and style of your site before you buy.

Some of the best travel blog theme websites are:

ThemeForest Elegant Themes CSSIgnitor Mojo Marketplace

Once you’ve paid for the theme, you’ll be prompted to download a zip file. That zip file can then be uploaded onto your site by using dashboard -> appearance -> themes -> add new -> upload file . Once that’s done, you’re ready to actually start your travel blog!

Mary Gabbett of Green Global Travel at TBEX Athens

Step 5: Set Up Your Travel Blog Website

Now that you have your domain, hosting, and WordPress installed, this is where the real fun begins! Building your website is really not as hard as it sounds. The great thing about WordPress is that you can be a total website-building beginner and still come out with a fantastic travel blog.

You’ll start by going to your travel blog’s login page. Here you’ll use the username and password that you set up when installing WordPress to log in to the backend of your site.

Now that you have your WordPress theme installed, you’ll be able to customize the look of your website. Insert your blog’s name and logo, as well as a tagline if you have one. We’ll teach you more about how to create these elements once we get to the branding section below.

Best WordPress Plugins for Starting a Travel Blog

Plugins are a great way to add functionality to your blog. Many plugins have free options as well as premium, paid versions. To add a plugin to your site, go to dashboard -> plugins -> add new.

You will see tons of plugins available. You won’t need all the plugins: Too many plugins can slow down your site speed, which affects the user experience and can hurt your chances of ranking well in Google Search. But adding certain specific plugins will make your life easier and your blog much better!

Some of the best plugins for a travel blog we would recommend are:

Askimet – This plugin will help keep your blog safe from spam comments and other security threats. Consider it like a bodyguard for your blog. Askimet has blocked around 1,169,192 spam comments on our site in the last 6-7 years.
Contact Form – This will give you simple and easy-to-use contact forms for your contact page. You’ll want to connect it to your preferred email (your HostGator shared hosting server will allow you to host your own email ) so that readers and potential business partners can contact you directly.
Jetpack – With this plugin, you’ll be able to see your site stats in a simple way, check who is viewing your blog, which pages and posts they are viewing, and where your traffic is coming from. It also adds cool widgets and opens up a whole range of free themes as well. Some bloggers don’t like Jetpack because it can slow down your site, but we personally feel the positives outweigh the negatives.
Yoast- Yoast is a blogger’s best friend when it comes to simplifying SEO. It tells you how your posts will do in the SEO world, using a simple checklist to ensure your target keyword is in your title, at least one header, text, and meta description. It also gives you suggestions on readability, as well as if there is anything missing from your post, such as images, sub-headers, etc.

There are plenty of other cool WordPress plugins, like the interactive map on our landing page that shows our readers the destinations we have covered. But, for beginning bloggers, it’s a good idea to start with the basics and then add more plugins once you’re more comfortable with the site.

Create Your Travel Blog’s Main Pages

Once you have the WordPress plugins installed, it’s time to start building the foundation of what you want your travel blog to look like.

Just as an architect draws out plans before constructing a skyscraper, you’ll want to plan out your blog’s appearance and navigation. Having great content is wonderful, but if your readers can’t find it, it might as well not exist!

You’ll want to start by deciding what information you’re going to display on what pages, and if/how they will interconnect. The most common pages are:

Home – This will either be a static page where you display the various elements of your blog (which is how we do it), or you can set it up to simply display your latest blog posts in chronological order. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. It’s all about what you prefer.
About – You’ll want to use this page to explain who you are, what your blog is about, how they’ll benefit from following you, and any other information you’d like to share. It’s also good to emphasize any expertise or relevant experience that establishes your authority. Have at least one really good photo of you (preferably without sunglasses) and your travel experiences.
Contact – This page is the perfect place for your readers to get into contact for any reason. It’s also great to have for when brands are wanting to collaborate with you. This page should include a contact form, as well as your email address, any other contact information, and links to your social media channels.
Content Categories- Everyone has a different way to organize content. But you’ll want some way for readers to explore the stories that don’t appear on the first page of your blog. Our advice is to have a few main categories, each of which breaks down into sub-categories, so that your readers can easily find what they’re looking for.

Bret Love teaching a workshop at TBEX Athens

Step 6: Set up Google Analytics for Your Blog

For those who aren’t very technically-minded (like us), this step may seem a little intimidating. But trust us, it’s not as hard as it may sound.

Setting up Google Analytics for your blog is an extremely important step in starting a blog.

It gives you great insights into what sorts of stories your audience is responding to, where your audience is coming from, and how much traffic you’re getting on a day-to-day/week-to-week/month-to-month basis.

How to Set Up Google Analytics on Your Blog:

Go to google.com/analytics.

You can either add the tracking ID manually or use a WordPress plugin, such as MonsterInsights.

With all of that done, you’ll be able to track your website’s analytics by logging back into Google Analytics at any time.

But our advice is not to obsess over your stats too much when you’re just starting a travel blog. It can be a rabbit hole of data analysis that distracts you from what you should be doing, which is creating killer content, learning how to do SEO keyword analysis, and using social media to promote your stories.

Bret Love & Mary Gabbett speak on Journalism Skills at TBEX Costa Brava

Step 7: How to Start Writing a Blog Post

Now– FINALLY!– you’re ready to begin the actual blogging part of starting a blog.

If you’re new to writing blog posts, having the Yoast plugin for WordPress installed will help guide you along the correct path. The best travel blog posts should be unique, authoritative, offer expert insight, and have quality images that will catch the reader’s eye.

The travel blogging field has gotten increasingly crowded in recent years, as more and more people see it as a viable professional career. That means you’ll have to work harder and smarter if you want your blog to stand out against the pack.

What travel stories can you tell that haven’t been told before? What new angles can you offer on places and experiences that other travel bloggers have already covered ad nauseum ?

Whether it’s a bad experience at the Dead Sea in Jordan , a he said/she said story about climbing Nigardsbreen Glacier in Norway, or interviewing a guide who worked with Dian Fossey while hiking to see Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda , writing a successful travel blog post is all about combining creativity with providing expert insights for your readers.

But writing a blog post and hitting publish is really just the first step in content marketing – an essential skill for beginning bloggers. Now it’s time to share it. Start with your friends and family, who should be (but aren’t always) your biggest supporters.

Create social media profiles for your blog on all the major platforms (including Facebook , Twitter , Pinterest , Instagram , and YouTube ). Use your blog posts to encourage readers to follow you there, and then use those channels to promote all your new content, using relevant hashtags where appropriate.

Some people enjoy engaging with other travel bloggers, whether in Facebook groups and on their social media channels. If you enjoy their work, you can comment and/or share it if it’s relevant to your audience. But it’s best never to do this with any expectation of reciprocation. Professional travel bloggers are very wary of beginning bloggers who ask them to share their work.

Much better is to reach out to destination marketing organizations (DMOs), hotels, restaurants, and/or tour operators you cover in your stories. Since they’re being promoted for free in your work, it’s in their best interest to share it with their followers. They don’t always do it, but it doesn’t hurt to ask politely.

Step 8: Use Keysearch to Get More Traffic

Though promoting your content on social media can have a significant impact on getting visitors to your travel blog, learning SEO ( search engine optimization ) is even more important. Especially for beginning bloggers who haven’t yet built up a following.

SEO is the process of affecting the online visibility of a website or web page in a search engine’s organic, unpaid results. The higher your story ranks on a search engine such as Google, and the more frequently your website appears in its search results, the more visits you’ll receive from its users.

Great SEO starts with choosing great target keywords when writing a blog post. For that, you have to do keyword analysis. In our opinion, KeySearch is arguably the single most important tool for bloggers who want to get more traffic from Google.

We started using KeySearch exclusively last December as part of a new strategy for SEO optimization of our old content. As a result, our traffic numbers have exploded, from 75,000 page views in November 2017 to more than 585,000 page views in November 2018.

We’ll go much deeper into how to use this keyword tool effectively in a future blog post on SEO and content marketing. But it basically allows for in-depth analysis of countless keywords in terms of competition and potential traffic benefits to your site.

KeySearch is very affordable for beginning bloggers (much more so than competitors like Ahrefs and SEMrush), with starter plans available for around $17/month. If you want to sign up using our affiliate link and discount code KSDISC, you’ll save an additional 20%.

Learn more about Keysearch

READ MORE: Using Journalism Skills to Build Your Travel Blog

TRAVEL BLOGGING BUSINESS SURVEY

If you start a travel blog with the intent of becoming a full-time professional, it’s extremely important that you start treating it like a business as soon as possible.

Working on both sides of the divide between PR/Marketing and professional travel blogging (as we do with our content marketing agency, Green Travel Media ), it’s been shocking to realize just how much miscommunication exists around the business of blogging.

PR/marketing reps in the travel industry often decry the lack of professionalism and poor ROI (return on investment) of their partnerships with bloggers. They share tales of diva-like behavior, rookie mistakes, irresponsible follow-through, and an overall focus on getting free stuff over business acumen.

On the other side, many travel bloggers feel undervalued by an industry that has been slow to adapt to digital media. They claim that these companies are simply choosing the wrong bloggers to work with. They blame brands for focusing on easily-gamed stats (traffic, social media followers, etc.) rather than more important intangibles, such as brand alignment, content quality, and professionalism.

According to a recent study conducted by Nielsen, influencer marketing content delivers an ROI 11 times higher than traditional forms of digital marketing . But both sides of the influencer marketing divide have ample room for growth in improving the business of blogging. So we decided to gather some data that might help us develop a better blueprint for professional travel bloggers.

In 2014 and 2017 we conducted in-depth surveys on brand/blogger partnerships for our talks at TBEX, the world’s largest travel blogging conference. We sent them to over 2000 travel industry PR and Marketing representatives, hoping to see how the industry evolved over three years.

These two surveys received over 250 responses from some of the world’s leading DMOs and travel brands. Many of these companies are at the forefront of working with travel bloggers. So we thought it would be important to get their insights on where brand/blogger relationships are now, and where they might be headed in the future.

Here, we’ll share some of our more significant data…

BUSINESS OF BLOGGING SURVEY RESULTS

1) in the past 12 months, how often have you worked with bloggers.

Travel Blogging Business - how often have you worked with bloggers?

Just 1% of our respondents said they’d never worked with travel bloggers before, and only 17% said rarely. But 39% of these companies had worked with bloggers more than once a month, and 26% had worked with bloggers constantly. In 2014, 36% worked with bloggers more than once a month, while only 19% worked with bloggers constantly. So these numbers are slowly but steadily climbing.

2) Do you anticipate you’ll work with bloggers more frequently in the coming year?

Travel Blogging Business - work with bloggers more frequently in the coming year

A whopping 84% of the brands we surveyed anticipated they would work with bloggers even more often in the coming year. This marks a 2% increase on our 2014 survey result. This suggests that there will be continue to be more and more opportunities for professional travel bloggers in the near future.

3) How do you find bloggers to work with on a given campaign?

Travel Blogging Business -How do you find bloggers to work with on a given campaign

Word-of-mouth was the most popular response, with 77% of our respondents using that method. Around 54% used professional organizations and events, such as the Society of American Travel Writers or the TBEX Conference. And 51% relied on a simple Google search. In short, the professional reputation of a travel blogger plays a key role in ensuring they get partnership opportunities.

4) On a scale of 1-10, how important are these stats when selecting which bloggers you will work with?

Travel Blogging Business-how important are each of these statistics when choosing which bloggers to work with

Unsurprisingly, Traffic and and Social Media Followers were ranked highest here, despite the fact that these two statistics are the most easily gamed by bloggers. Demographics and external freelance outlets ranked third and fourth, respectively. It seems that many PR/Marketing reps do not yet understand the value of Domain Authority , which measures the prestige of a website, the quality of its content, and how it will compete in search engines for a given topic. We believe this metric will become increasingly important in the future in evaluating a blogger’s true influence over purchase decisions.

5) On a scale of 1-10, how important are these intangible elements when choosing which bloggers you will work with?

Travel Blogging Business: intangible elements when choosing which bloggers to work with

One of our more intriguing survey results was the ranking of “Intangible” factors. With an average of 9.0, Content Quality rated higher on the respondents’ scale of importance than Traffic (8.8), while Influence/Engagement rated equally important as Traffic. And Professionalism, which received an average of 8.7, rated higher than Social Media Followers (8.4). We were pleasantly surprised to see so many of these intangibles ranking higher than some of the hard stats.

6) Which of the following services have you paid bloggers for in the last year?

Travel Blogging Business -Which of the following services have you paid bloggers for in the last year

The most important statistic here is one you won’t see on the chart: 46% of all respondents left this question blank, insisting in the comments that they don’t pay bloggers at all. Of those who did respond, 59% paid for Press Trips/FAM Tours, 56% paid for Branded Content creation (blog posts, photos, and/or videos); 39% paid for advertising (usually in the form of sponsored posts and paid social media promotion); 24% paid for Brand Ambassadorships; 15% for Product Reviews; and 13% for other things (including e-books, Instagram takeovers, and attending meet-ups).

7) What percentage of your marketing budget is earmarked for working with bloggers?

Travel Blogging Business -What percentage of your marketing budget is earmarked for working with bloggers

Here’s the bad news: 79% of our respondents said that less than 20% of their budget goes for paying bloggers, and many of those had no budget whatsoever. Around 15% of them use 21-40% of their marketing budget to pay bloggers for their services, and only 6% had 41-60% of their total budget earmarked for blogger campaigns.

Professional Travel Blogging Survey Insights

BUSINESS OF BLOGGING SURVEY INSIGHTS

There are some simple conclusions about the travel blogging industry that we can draw by comparing the results of our 2014 and 2017 surveys:

• PR and Marketing reps are working with bloggers more often now than they were four years ago, and most expect that frequency to gradually increase in the years to come.

• Bloggers’ traffic and social media followers remain important stats, but many companies are placing increasingly high value on demographics and other aspects of brand alignment.

• Intangible elements such as authenticity, authority, and professionalism are now considered just as important as traffic, which marked a major shift since our first survey. (Coincidentally, in 2018 Google updated its algorithm to prioritize EAT– expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.)

• There are more and more companies wanting to work with bloggers, but most of the brands we surveyed have little to no budget for paying them.

• Those companies that do pay bloggers primarily hire them for press trips/FAM tours, creating branded content, and advertising (usually in the form of sponsored posts or paid social media promotion).

The problem for professional bloggers is that, with thousands of new people starting a travel blog each year, there’s ever-increasing competition for a relatively small pool of paid projects.

Fortunately, we have developed our own strategy for long-term blogging success that’s based in the concept of business branding, which can help even beginning bloggers to stand out.

READ MORE: Bret & Mary- A Story About Lo ve (How Green Global Travel Was Born)

BRANDING STRATEGY FOR TRAVEL BLOGGERS

Branding , whether personal or organizational, is basically a means of communicating who we are and what we stand for. It’s about defining the unique identity that separates you and your business from everyone else.

Branding is an organic process through which you can build your business on a solid foundation, providing the roots from which your blog can grow sustainably over time. Think of it like a map: It’s not just about where you are now as a blogger, but a guide to help get you wherever you want to go.

Branding also provides a blueprint for every decision you make about your blog in the future. “Does this choice help me achieve my mission for my brand?” If the answer is yes, then go for it. If not, you may want to consider the Opportunity Cost involved.

Defined as “the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen,” Opportunity Cost is a way of examining the consequences of every choice we make, including the positives that result from our decision and the negatives that come from not taking a different path.

For example, were recently offered an all-expenses-paid press trip to Saudi Arabia for a major auto racing event being held there. But it’s not really eco-friendly, to say nothing of the sociopolitical ramifications of visiting that country , and therefore not the best fit for Green Global Travel.

Every decision we make for our travel blogging brand is either a deposit or a withdrawal from the trust invested by our readers. And like any investment, depleting the account balance causes people to lose interest. When it comes to our brand, we always prefer to put long-term strategy over short-term gain.

To put a finer point on it, branding provides a tangible way for people to understand and recognize your identity; differentiates you from others in your niche; communicates your values and ideas effectively; and distills all the elements of your vision for your business into an easily digestible whole.

It’s not about following everyone else’s path to success, but blazing your own trail. Here’s a look at the 10 most important steps in creating a brand that will lead to a long-term sustainable blogging business.

READ MORE: How We Quadrupled Our Travel Blog Traffic in 6 Months

10 Steps for Building a Brand For Your Blog

Mission Statement
Social Media
PR Outreach
Native Advertising
Freelance Work

1. Mission Statement

Your Mission Statement defines your purpose for existing, spelling out your goals and guiding your decisions. It should answer some pretty deep questions about your blog as succinctly as possible:

Who are you as a business? What drives you? Who is your target audience, and why should they care about you? What are the defining values that set you apart? The best brands always stand for something. This is a great way to explain what it is that makes you and your blog tick.

Our mission statement is the first thing readers see: We believe that Ecotourism– responsible travel that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people– is the future of travel. Our mission is to share our deep love for Ecotourism adventures, inspire people to travel and live more sustainably, and encourage everyone to do their part to make the world a better place.

2. Brand Name

It’s been said that choosing a Brand Name is only 20% creative & 80% practical. Your blog’s name is one of your most valuable assets, so it’s worth taking the time to research thoroughly. You want something that tells your story and helps you stand out in the crowd.

When we came up with Green Global Travel, we brainstormed a whole list of different ideas, researched which keywords were most search-friendly (and had URLs available), and then picked the one that sounded best in a linguistic sense. Green Global Travel just kind of rolled off the tongue.

One last suggestion: Make sure your brand name reflects your mission statement well, but try not to box yourself into a corner. You probably won’t be a 20-something, Solo, Nomadic, Round-the-World Backpacker forever…

Your Tagline is a like a 10-second elevator pitch in which you summarize what your brand is all about. When done right, it should clearly communicate your unique brand identity in 10 words or less.

Because our site focuses on conserving nature, wildlife, culture, and history, we started our blog with the tagline, “Saving the world, one story at a time.”

Taglines are the easiest part of your branding to change, so don’t be afraid to adapt it as your brand grows. Our current tagline is, “ Ecotourism is an adventure that changes lives.”

Other examples include our friends at the Center for Responsible Travel, who went with “Transforming the way the world travels,” while the Nature Conservancy’s tagline is “Protecting Nature. Preserving Life.” In each case, the tagline is short and easy to remember, and the mission is clear and concise.

Think of your Logo as the face of your travel blogging business. It should be a visual representation of yourself, your goals for your business, and your blog’s reason for being.

For Green Global Travel’s logo, we chose an African-inspired font to reflect the fact that I first learned about ecotourism in South Africa .

Then we incorporated a tree frog and hummingbird to pay tribute to Costa Rica , where we originally came up with the idea for the site. We used the colors green (trees and grass) and blue (skies and ocean) to symbolize Nature.

There are five different types of logos– wordmarks (such as Google), letterforms (Yahoo), emblems (LEED), pictorial marks (Apple) and abstract marks (Nike). Logos also evolve over time in order to stay current with design trends. But the best ones, such as IBM, remain virtually unchanged.

5. Web Design

Websites are considered the #1 branding tool– not just for blogs, but for business in general. And because web technology is changing so rapidly, Web Design is the branding element likely to change most frequently over time.

Many of the world’s top travel blogs undergo huge design changes every 3-5 years. We completely redesigned ours in 2017.

There are many things to consider when planning your site design, including the graphics, typography, imagery that reinforces your Brand identity, ease of navigability, and mobile responsiveness.

It’s also worth researching the psychology of color, as studies have shown that 60% of consumer decisions to purchase a product are based on color. How do the main colors of your site influence your readers’ feelings?

Content has been a HUGE factor in Green Global Travel’s success. As mentioned above, 91% of DMOs, tour operators, and PR firms we surveyed said that content quality is the most important intangible factor in determining which bloggers they want to work with.

So clearly, the stories we tell and the photos and videos we share on our blogs and social media channels are a critical element in the branding process.

Every story on your site should help to reinforce brand identity in some way, because Branding provides both you and your audience with a clear map of expectations.

To reinforce your brand with quality content, we recommend telling impactful stories that make it clear why readers should care; exploring storytelling forms that appeal to different types of readers in your niche; being transparent when there is sponsorship involved; avoiding too much self-promotion; and making sure that any guest posts align with your mission.

READ MORE: 10 Simple Wildlife Photography Tips

7. Social Media

To quote branding expert Matt Dunn, “ Social Media is an amazing tool through which we can build, energize and empower communities to support our Brand .”

Social media is not just about sharing your own stories and engaging with your followers; it’s also an opportunity to establish your brand as a leading authority in its niche.

We always recommend that our clients use social media to be a content curator, not just a creator. By sharing stories from other great content creators within your niche, you convey to your followers that they can trust you as an expert authority on the types of content they’re interested in.

Social media can also be strategic as well: Sharing stories from a company or blogger you want to work with is a great way to establish a connection. When we write about a DMO, environmental charity , or tour operator, tagging them on social media often leads to them sharing our stories with their audience.

8. PR Outreach

PR Outreach has been a huge factor for us in terms of creating sponsorship opportunities, press trip partnerships, freelance assignments, and more. Because of my print media background, connecting with travel industry PR people was part of our branding process from the beginning.

Before we even started our travel blog, we made a list of every company in our niche that we admired, aligned with ideologically, or wanted to work with. We included DMOs, tour operators, gear manufacturers, agencies, non-profit organizations, and media outlets.

Then we researched the PR/Marketing reps from each company to find their name, email address & other contact info, which Mary put into a spreadsheet. Whenever we have big news to announce–maybe a few times a year– we’ll send out a press release to our contact lists.

It usually takes at least 3 to 5 press releases to get someone’s attention. But by slowly and steadily cluing people into what your blog is about and marking the milestones on your journey, you eventually define your Brand in their mind as a leading authority. In essence, you’re helping PR reps do their job.

As a bonus, these press releases can also lead to media coverage for your blog, which provides broader exposure and allows you to reinforce your Brand message through other channels.

9. Native Advertising

Sponsored posts can be a thorny topic in the travel blogging world, and everyone has their own opinions about if, and how, they should be done. We’re not here to judge anyone else’s business model, but we believe in full disclosure and have found an approach that works for us.

A few years ago I became fascinated by the concept of Native Advertising , which is designed to be seamlessly cohesive with your blog’s other content. In these types of sponsored posts, the story isn’t really about the advertiser, but instead is designed to help your audience.

For example, we sold sponsorship of an in-depth story on the History and Different Types of Glamping to an upscale dude ranch. We sold sponsorship of a story on The Best Road Trips in the World to a company that rented camper vans. The best part is, once the sponsorship period is over, the sponsor’s name and link are removed and you still have a great post that can generate ad revenue for years!

We also sell sponsorships of our trips to companies who align with our Brand and want to reach our audience. The Oslo-based Helly Hansen clothing sponsored our Fjords of Norway road trip , while Enterprise Rental Car sponsored our trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park . Again, it’s all about Brand alignment and finding a natural fit that doesn’t interfere with content quality.

10. Freelance Work

For a long time, there was a significant portion of my Freelance Work that wasn’t well-aligned with the GGT Brand. But, as we discussed earlier, having freelance outlets is a HUGE factor for attracting press trips and other partnerships.

Over the last few years we’ve focused our efforts on only pitching outlets that would allow us to cover our core topics– ecotourism, adventure, conservation of nature/wildlife, and indigenous culture– for a broader audience than we can reach with our site.

We had to work our way up the ladder, which occasionally meant writing for less than our normal freelance rate or working for free (for non-profits such as World Wildlife Fund and Sustainable Travel International ) .

But, going back to what we said about considering opportunity cost when making decisions, this “free labor” was a strategic decision that paid off incredible long-term dividends. Our agency, Green Travel Media , signed a content marketing deal with International Expeditions in 2014 that was worth more than we made in all of 2013! And we’ve been their content agency of record ever since.

READ MORE: How I Became a Professional Writer

20 TRAVEL BLOGGING TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

Using these branding strategies and following our business instincts, we’ve made a lot of smart choices, a few dumb mistakes, and learned an awful lot about blogging along the way. Here, we share some of our best travel blogging tips for beginners. Hopefully, they’ll help you as you create your travel blog and embark upon the entrepreneurial adventure of a lifetime!

1. If you want to be a professional travel blogger, focus on your passion. Whether it’s a specific style of travel, a specific region, or a specific activity you enjoy in destinations around the world, make sure it’s something you’ll love long-term. The more unique your blog is, the more you’ll standing out.

2. It’s relatively easy to start a travel blog these days, but it takes a lot of work to build a sustainable blogging business. Strategizing a solid business plan will make things easier as your blog grows and evolves. Don’t worry about having a rigid structure: Just outline your big picture goals and the steps you foresee taking in order to achieve them. This can be a great map towards the future you want.

3. It’s not enough these days to be a solo travel blogger, adventure travel blogger, or responsible travel blogger. The industry has grown too much and gotten too crowded to rely on niche (or personality) alone. These days you need to build a solid brand. Make sure your blog’s name, logo, design, mission statement, and content all work together to define your brand, or others will define it for you.

READ MORE: European Travel Guru Rick Steves on Travel Blogging

Bret Love & Mary Gabbett Rappeling in Riviera Maya, Mexico

4. Quitting your job to travel sounds great, but most people who start a travel blog don’t make much money. In fact, 48% of professional travel bloggers make less than $15,000 a year, while 24.8% make less than $30,000/year. In short, 72.8% of all professional travel bloggers make less than $15 an hour. If you don’t have a lot of savings, keep another source of income to give your blog time to grow.

5. ALWAYS put your readers and the story first. Getting advertisers or sponsors are great, but building a strong community of people who are actively interested in your work is what will keep the advertisers and sponsors coming back to work with you. Focus on strengthening your storytelling by honing your journalism skills, and your brand will inevitably benefit.

6. It’s important to study what successful travel bloggers have done before. But this business is constantly changing, and it’s often the innovators rather than the imitators who get ahead.

READ MORE: Jeff Greenwald, the World’s First Travel Blogger

7, When it comes to blogging, nobody does EVERYTHING well. It’s important to know your strengths and weaknesses. Consider paying others to do the work you either can’t do, or simply don’t like to do. We’re good at content marketing and SEO , but we suck at web design and the technical side of running a site, so we hire others to do it for us.

8. Don’t be afraid to reach out to other bloggers to ask for help. One of the reasons we started the Business of Blogging Facebook group back in 2012 was that we saw too many veterans getting snarky with newbies who asked for travel blogging tips. Not every blogger will respond positively, but those who do tend to provide really sound advice based on years of experience.

9. Once you learn how to be successful in travel blogging, pay it forward. Sharing knowledge and sharing stories from other bloggers who fit your brand establishes good karma, makes you a content curator, and helps build a stronger travel blogging industry. As it grows, all truly professional travel bloggers benefit, and there’s plenty of work and money to go around.

READ MORE: Andrew McCarthy on Travel Blogging, Fear & the Journey of the Soul

Bret love and Mary Gabbett at Sunset in the Peruvian Amazon

10. Try not to waste too much time comparing yourself to others. There will ALWAYS be someone whose blog grows faster and becomes more successful than yours. Stay in your lane, follow your passion, and focus on building the best travel blogging brand you can build, and success will come in time. You’ll find that the biggest challenge is simply outlasting the competition.

11. Never stop learning about the business of blogging, because it’s always changing. Read articles about the specific skill sets you want to master, take online courses, go to conferences and workshops in order to improve yourself. We didn’t master SEO until 2017- seven years into our blogging career! Education, dedication, and persistence are the keys to growth and success.

12. It’s hard, but try not to focus too much on stats, especially in the early days after you first start a travel blog. It’s a distraction from what really matters, which is creating quality content. Then you can learn how to use the tools of the trade we discussed above to help build your traffic.

READ MORE: Don George on Travel Blogging, Writing & “Working for Exposure”

Bret Love & Mary gabbett Diving Panama's Coiba National Park, April 2012

13. Try to listen to all of the blogging advice that will inevitably come your way. But it’s also important to know when to ignore it completely. People can only tell you what works in their experience, not yours. You ultimately have to find your own path and define what blogging success looks like for you.

14. Please, for the love of all that is good and holy in this world, do not use the word FREE. If you’re getting a comped press trip, tour, or product, there is always an expectation of coverage in return. Call it a barter, an exchange, a trade of goods and services, but THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE.

15. The world does not need any more travel blogging divas. We heard so many horror stories about blogger behavior from our industry surveys, it was truly shocking. Nobody likes it (especially other bloggers), it makes you look like an asshat, and believe me when I tell you that word in both the blogging and PR industries travels fast . There really is a blacklist!

READ MORE: Peter Greenberg on the Travel Business, Travel Blogging & Budget Travel

Bret Love & Mary Gabbett in Emerald Pool Falls, Dominica

16. Starting a travel blog and traveling the world is an amazing thing, but it’s not the only thing that matters. We’ve watched a lot of full-time nomads get burned out and quit the industry entirely over the years. Finding balance is important if you want your blog to be a sustainable long-term business.

17. Travel blogging makes you a public figure, and everything you do (whether online or in person) is basically in the public domain. Conduct yourself accordingly (especially at travel conferences, where some attendees tend to party too hard), or you risk being derided as the Lindsey Lohan or Kim Kardashian of the blogging world.

18. Travel blogging can be a lonely life, so it’s important to find your tribe and be part of a supportive community. Facebook groups like The Business of Blogging, We Travel We Blog , and DNW- Making Money From Blogging are a great place to start, but small mastermind groups also work well.

READ MORE: Thoughts on Travel Blogging, Suicide and Living the Dream

Bret Love & Mary Gabbett in Wadi Rum Desert, Jordan

19. The more you succeed as a travel blogger, the more haters you’ll likely attract. And more often than not it seems to come from other bloggers! It’s important to remember that their hate is never about you, but about whatever is going on with them– jealousy, feelings of inadequacy, whatever. It’s important to understand it, but of course that doesn’t excuse it.

20. Your blogging brand– your website, your social media channels, etc.– are yours to control. Constructive criticism is one thing, but don’t let the trolls and haters be abusive or disrespectful of you, your brand, or your readers on your turf.

If you’ve read this far, we hope you’ll find this story helpful as you create a travel blog and build your travel blogging business. We wish you the best of luck with all your travel blogging endeavors, and look forward to meeting you at a travel conference soon! –Bret Love & Tammi Dooley

This post contains affiliate links. But our opinions are our own, and we will never compromise the integrity of our relationship with our readers.

About the Author

Green Global Travel is the world's #1 independently owned ecotourism website encouraging others to embrace sustainable travel, wildlife conservation, cultural preservation, and going green tips for more sustainable living.

We've been spotlighted in major media outlets such as the BBC, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian, Lonely Planet, National Geographic, Travel Channel, Washington Post and others.

Owned by Bret Love (a veteran journalist/photographer) and Mary Gabbett (business manager/videographer), USA Today named us one of the world's Top 5 Travel Blogging Couples. We were also featured in the 2017 National Geographic book, Ultimate Journeys for Two, for which we contributed a chapter on our adventures in Rwanda. Other awards we've won include Best Feature from both the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the Magazine Association of the Southeast.

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How to Start a Travel Blog (First Essential Steps)

By Author Jurga

Posted on Last updated: January 20, 2023

How to Start a Travel Blog (First Essential Steps)

Wondering how to start a travel blog? You’ve come to the right place! This one-stop complete beginner’s guide to starting a travel blog will help you create a travel blog right away. Read all the way to the end for some extra tips on how to start a successful blog and actually make money from travel blogging.

I wrote this post after just one year of blogging and already at that time our blog was growing quickly. At 3 years, Full Suitcase was read by 165,000 readers every month, at 4 years – almost half a million readers a month. More importantly, we turned our passion into a sustainable business and you can do too. This post is your guide to starting a successful travel blog from the start .

Before we go on and you will inevitably learn some new names and terms, let me tell you that I didn’t know anything about creating websites when I started. I just followed these steps and learned (sometimes the hard way) along the way. And believe me, if I can do it, you can do it too! Find out!

You may have Googled ‘ how to start a blog ’ or ‘ how to start a travel blog ’… and found tens of articles full of complicated technical explanations, words and abbreviations you’ve never heard of before… This post is not like that! I’ll try to explain the whole process of starting a travel blog in a simple language and to guide you through the essential first steps.

This is a beginner’s guide showing you how to start a travel blog or any kind of website. We talk about the practical and the technical side, before you actually start to write. Just follow the steps and you’ll learn how to start a blog the right way from the very beginning.

TIP: Starting a travel blog is not different from starting any other blog, so these tips also apply for other niches. No matter what your new blog is about, there are several steps you need to take before you can actually start to blog. And there are some common mistakes you definitely want to avoid in the beginning. Find out!

Starting a Travel Blog & Common Beginners Mistakes to Avoid

Here is a short overview of the process of starting a blog. You can click to jump ahead. However, I recommend that you read the entire post, so you don’t miss an important step on how to start a travel blog the right way !

TIP: Bookmark this post for future reference. I wish I had done it with some of the information I found when starting my travel blog! I couldn’t remember where I read one or the other tip and had to research the same information again and again…

How to Start a Travel Blog – Essential First Steps:

Choose a niche
Pick a name
Register your domain name
Buy hosting for your website
Install WordPress on your blog
Buy a premium theme to create your website
Install WordPress plugins
Do some blog planning and start writing
Other things to know when starting out
How to make money from your blog

1. Choose a Niche

Before starting a travel blog, you should consider what your niche is. Travel in itself is already a niche, you may think… But if you really want to succeed, you should probably define it even further.

Your niche might be backpacking trips, traveling with a baby, sustainable travel, adventure travel for 25-35-year-olds, travel with a handicap, or any specific destination…

Whatever your niche is, stick to it and try to be consistent. It doesn’t harm to write an article a bit off-topic once in a while (like this beginner’s guide to starting a travel blog), but you shouldn’t expect this off-topic content to rank high or make much money for you.

What is our niche? If I have to sum it up in just two words, it would be ‘practical tips’. Full Suitcase family travel blog is a website that not only inspires travel but also shows people how to make that dream trip of their own. We write for people who travel when their school/work schedule allows; for those who want to get the most out of their vacations and to discover the world rather than lie on the beach. We don’t backpack, we don’t lead a nomadic lifestyle and we don’t homeschool our kids. So we write for people like us. Our mission is to help our readers to make the most of every trip, thus the focus on the practical side of planning a trip.

2. Pick a Good Name

When you make the decision to start a travel blog, you can’t wait to start writing. You want it done as quickly as possible, preferably yesterday. And while you can start a travel blog just a couple of hours, hold on just a little bit!

Before you continue with the next steps, you have to pick a name for your blog . Choosing a good name is the single most important step when starting a blog. So take your time, give it a lot of thought, do a lot of research, think again, and only then do it.

Here are some tips for choosing a good name for your new travel blog:

Keep your blog name short and easy to remember. The shorter the blog name, the better. However, this is quite challenging as available short domain names are very difficult to find. Try two or a maximum three words and don’t get discouraged when the 257 options you’ve tried appear to have been taken. Be creative, be persistent and you’ll find the perfect name for your blog. Whatever you pick, make sure it’s simple, easy to spell, and memorable so that your readers can easily find you back.
Think long-term. Are you planning to start a family travel blog and think of using words like a stroller or a toddler in the name? Think twice: your kids will grow up and you will not be traveling with a baby or a toddler forever, so pick a blog name that will stand the test of time . On the other hand, if you want to focus on a niche like traveling with a baby and see yourself doing it for many years to come, then you may want to have the word ‘baby’ in the name.
Consider your market. If you want to start a blog in English, you may want to buy a domain name .com. If your new blog is aimed towards a specific audience in another country, it’s probably wiser to register a domain name with the extension that is used there, e.g. .fr for France or .de for Germany. Of course, you can also register the same domain name with different extensions (travelblogx.com, travelblogx.net, travelblogx.co.uk, etc).
Don’t take a name (similar to) someone else is using. While it might be tempting, don’t buy a domain that’s very similar to the existing one. So, for example, if VisitLongIsland.com is taken, don’t go for visit_long_island.com or VisitLongIslands.com or VisitLongIsland.net. You won’t be able to build a strong brand this way and will just confuse your readers (not even to mention potential legal issues).
Check if social media handles are available for the name you chose. It’s best if your social media accounts have the same name as your blog. If that’s not possible, try to at least get as close as possible. Also here, think of the potential confusion if your readers type in your blog’s name but end up on a totally unrelated account.
It’s best if your blog name matches your domain name. The domain name is the URL of your blog. Our blog is Full Suitcase, domain – fullsuitcase.com.

3. Register Your Domain Name

Before you just click on the first site offering to register your domain name, consider that it might be easier and simpler to first register with a web hosting company (more info below) and buy your domain through them.

Often, the domain name and/or registration is included when you sign-up for the hosting services. So you may want to look for a good web service hosting provider first.

I use and recommend SiteGround . They make starting a blog really easy and the domain name is included in the standard hosting package.

Some people say it’s better to keep your domain registration and hosting separately. If you prefer that, just search for ‘domain registration’ online and you’ll find hundreds of options. In many countries, GoogleDomains is a good option and their pricing is really competitive.

4. Buy Hosting

What is hosting and why do you need it? You pay a hosting provider a monthly fee to rent space on their servers so that people can actually find your website on the web. Theoretically, you can host your website on any computer or server. But if you don’t know anything about it, register with a reputable hosting company and save yourself a lot of stress.

What about free hosting? Why should you pay for hosting your blog instead of just choosing one of a hundred free hosting providers? Good question.

If you are looking to start a travel diary type of blog, then by all means go ahead and sign up with a free hosting company like WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org – see further). If, however, you want to have full control over your blog and consider monetizing it, you should start your own website and host it with a web hosting company. That way you are free to decide if and how you monetize it.

It doesn’t cost a fortune either, so don’t worry about that. For example, at SiteGround you can get a startup hosting deal from just 5-6 USD per month. You might find a cheaper hosting provider, but don’t just go for the cheapest option. You might save a dollar a month but get stuck with crappy service like I was (see further).

TIP: Sign up with a really good, reputable hosting company, like SiteGround , from the start. It will save you lots of frustrations further down the road.

How to find a reliable and affordable hosting company for your blog

For beginner bloggers, I highly recommend SiteGround as one of the very best price-quality hosting solutions available for those looking to start a blog. It was not my first hosting provider when I started to blog, but I switched to SiteGround after my site had experienced regular downtimes at Bluehost and I never looked back.

I originally chose Bluehost based on some recommendations I found on the Internet. But it appears that those recommendations were outdated and the quality and customer service at Bluehost has gone downhill ever since. I’ve heard nothing but bad experiences from other bloggers who are with Bluehost and most of them switched to SiteGround, just as I did.

Before switching, I wanted to be sure I was making the right choice and so I did a lot of research. I also consulted with a Facebook group of more than 6,000 web designers and tech guys and most of them recommended SiteGround as the very best shared hosting company. The prices at SiteGround are very comparable to most other companies, but the quality and the service are beyond comparison! SiteGround is faster, safer, and more reliable.

Once I had several serious issues with my site that were not related to SiteGround (but I didn’t know that at that time and neither did they) and they helped me to solve the problem even if it wasn’t really theirs to solve. Their customer service is just that good!

TIP: Choose the cheapest hosting option in the beginning. Upgrade if/when needed. Also, sign up for a longer period of time from the start – that way you can lock in competitive starter rates that you won’t be able to get later on. You have a 30-day money-back guarantee so you don’t have much to lose. And, of course, you can always switch to another plan or another hosting provider if your blog traffic skyrockets.

Our experience: We started FullSuitcase with Bluehost and experienced constant downtimes and terrible customer service. After a few months, we switched to SiteGround and were very happy with their service. We stayed with SiteGround for a few years, until our website reached about 200,000 monthly page views.

At that moment, it was high time for an upgrade. We could have stayed with SiteGround further (no complaints there at all), but due to lack of time, we decided to outsource our technical worries. We then switched to a managed premium hosting provider, and when that one went out of business, we looked for another similar solution. However, these hosting services are too expensive for a starting blogger. So if you are just starting out, choose to SiteGround and you can’t go wrong.

5. Install WordPress

Now that you have a domain name and a reliable hosting company, you can finally start a blog. There are several different platforms where you can build a website, but we recommend using the most popular one, WordPress.

What is WordPress and why do you need it for your blog?

WordPress is a FREE website creation tool. Basically, it’s the easiest and most powerful blogging and website content management system. More than 74 million (!) websites are created using WordPress. Take my word for it, WordPress is the best choice when starting a blog.

Please note that you need to use WordPress.org for self-hosted sites. WordPress.com is for free blogging solutions and you don’t want those if you are serious about turning your blog into a business. Every day I hear bloggers say that they wish they knew this and signed up with WP.org from the start.

How to install WordPress?

Install WordPress through your cPanel at SiteGround.

With SiteGround, WordPress installation is very easy through their cPanel. By the way, WordPress recommends SiteGround as one of the best hosting service providers and they work together making the whole installation process easy and simple.

Sign in to your SiteGround user area and go to the cPanel (cPanel can be found under ‘My Accounts’). Under ‘WordPress Tools’, you can find WordPress Installer. Click on it and follow the further instructions from there. It’s really as easy as it sounds. And if you get stuck, the amazing SiteGround support will help you figure it out right away.

TIP: You’ll need to choose a user name and password to access your WordPress panel. Don’t use ‘Admin’ or ‘YourBlogName’ or ‘YourName’ as your user name. Pick something that no-one could easily guess and make sure you choose a really strong password. Hackers trying to log into your website will become a daily reality, so protect your blog from the very beginning.

WordPress is a bit overwhelming in the beginning. So you’ll need to start reading and learning a lot. The good news is that there is tons of information out there and you’ll get there sooner than you think. If you want to create a really nice website quickly, you should get a premium WordPress theme.

6. Get a Premium WordPress Theme

In order to create your travel website on WordPress, you’ll need to get a theme. Also here, save yourself lots of time and frustration, and buy a premium WP theme .

Premium themes often come with lots of customizable templates that enable you to build a really nice website in a very short time. Furthermore, you get access to their support which is crucial if you have never built a website before.

What is a WordPress theme and why do you need one?

WordPress theme helps you to design your website. Changing your theme changes how your site looks on the front-end, i.e. what a visitor sees when they browse on your website.

Why can’t you just use a free WordPress theme?

WordPress comes with lots of free themes that you can use to create your website. Many websites and beginner’s blogs use one of the free WordPress themes. However, free themes come with many restrictions and you will not be able to customize many of the features. You’ll have a travel blog that looks like thousands of others and you’ll quickly get frustrated about not being able to customize your blog the way you want it.

I’ve tried two of the most popular free WordPress themes in the beginning but quickly gave up on them. I recommend investing in a premium theme from the start. A premium theme costs around 50 – 100 USD and it’s really worth the investment. Some of the better themes of the moment are Generate Press, Astra, X-theme, and many, many others.

Buy a WordPress premium theme

Do you know that an average web designer charges you at least 2,000 USD to create a (very simple) website? You pay for their time and experience, but if you have more time than money I recommend that you do this yourself.

I haven’t used any website design services for my website, but I purchased a premium theme – the X-theme – and started building my blog. I didn’t know anything about making websites. No html, css, php and other impossible words. It was really overwhelming in the beginning as I started from scratch, but I’m not the only one doing this and you can do it too.

Thanks to the great continuous support from the amazing team at X-theme and their extensive knowledge base and tutorials, I was able to create this blog all by myself. And while not everything is perfect (far from), and I continue changing and tweaking my site as I go along, I love the idea that I have full control over my site and I am able to solve most problems without any help by now.

7. Install Essential WordPress Plugins

Now that you have started your blog, have bought a theme, and have everything set-up, you should think of installing some WordPress plugins.

What are WordPress plugins and why do you need them?

When I started this travel blog, I had not the slightest idea of what plugins are and what they do. In human language, plugins are software, little programs, apps if you want to, that add different functions to your website. For example, you can have a plugin to extract your 10 most popular posts, to see how many visitors you get and what posts they read, or to protect your site from illegal login attempts.

There are tens of thousands of free and premium plugins available. And while it might be tempting to install one for every feature you want, keep in mind that they slow down your site and can create conflicts, etc. So only install the plugins you really need.

Don’t worry too much about it in the beginning – you’ll learn more along the way and you’ll know which plugins are best suited for your blog. You can always delete a plugin and/or add a new one.

Which plugins to use when starting a website?

As I said, I’m not a technical person and I’ve learned most of the things along the way. So this post is basically a summary of months of research, tips, and recommendations from web designers and tech geeks who use WordPress and create websites on a daily basis.

Here are some features you really should consider using from the very beginning. All the plugins I mention here are FREE and can be easily installed from your WordPress dashboard. When my blog was new and before I had a premium hosting, I used each of them myself. This is the basics, the plugins you need from the very beginning when starting a new website.

Wordfence Security plugin . This plugin protects your website from illegal login attempts. This is a must! This plugin also takes care of caching (=making your site faster) and that’s an added bonus.
W3 total cache is another highly recommended caching plugin, but if you use Wordfence, it might be unnecessary.
UpdraftPlus – WordPress Backup/Restore plugin. It’s the easiest way to always keep a recent backup of your site. Sign-up with Dropbox to keep your files on their cloud service and configure this plugin in such a way that it takes care of automatic backups. It only takes a couple of minutes of your time. You really should have a backup as you never know when things go wrong or you make a mistake somewhere. I’ve used mine several times already! Most hosting companies (SiteGround included) also keep at least one recent backup of your site, but it might be a bit more tricky to get access to it or to control when the backups are made, so I still recommend using this plugin.
Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions. This plugin helps you to keep the size of your website under control by cleaning up the older versions of revised posts, etc.
Yoast SEO. If you know nothing about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), but want readers to find your new blog on Google and other search engines, this plugin will help you do just that.
Google Analytics by MonsterInsights. This plugin allows you to track your blog’s statistics easily and always stays up to date with the newest features in Google Analytics.
Akismet . This plugin helps you deal with spam comments. You know your blog is out there when you start getting spam comments. Sometimes tens a day, even if your blog is new. You need this plugin from the start.
Jetpack by WordPress.com. It’s a multi-functional plugin with a huge variety of functions. It’s already installed when you first install WordPress, but it’s up to you if you want to keep it or not and which functions you want to use. I like their stats function to be able to quickly see what people read, etc.

8. Do Some Planning and Start Writing

And finally, when you have all the tech side set up, you can actually start blogging.

You may want to start with at least a few pages on your blog before your website goes live. Home page is important as are About and Contact pages. Start with this and create new pages as your blog grows. To create a page, log in to your WordPress account and choose Page – Add New.

Before your travel blog goes live, try to write at least 2-3 blog posts so that people have more to read than just the initial post they came to your site for. To create a blog post, login to your WordPress dashboard, then go to Posts – Add New.

Decide how often you want to publish and stick to your schedule. Be realistic about what you can actually do and keep in mind that researching and writing a good blog post takes lots of time. Unless you have no other commitments, blogging on a daily basis is just not feasible. At the same time, if you only publish once a month, it will be very difficult to build a blog.

Once your blog is established, it doesn’t matter that much how often you publish. But when you are just starting out, you should really try to be consistent and grow. Otherwise, you’ll never get to the point where your blog can actually turn into a business.

9. Other Tips and Advice for Beginners Starting a Travel Blog

Optimize image size.

Beautiful images are very important for any blog, but it’s especially the case for a travel blog. Photos sell your story. If you are not very good at photography, you may want to invest in professional-quality images for your blog (google ‘stock images’) or take a photography course.

To start with, check our article for simple, yet very effective travel photography tips.

One of the most common beginners’ mistakes is using high-resolution big size images on your website. It increases your website size tremendously and slows down your site. Do some research about image optimization for web use. Make sure all the images you upload are optimized.

I use Photoshop software to edit the pictures and to resize them for my travel blog. Most images I use on this website are 878 x 578 px. Before uploading them, I use the TinyPNG software to decrease the size of the images even more. This free software strips all unnecessary digital information that has nothing to do with the picture itself and helps you save 30-40% in image size.

Speed matters

Website speed is a very important factor, but it’s often overlooked. Speed up your website and get to the first page of Google!

Create social media accounts for your blog

As already mentioned, it’s best if your social media accounts match your blog name. So claim those accounts on all major social media channels immediately. You may not use them (all) in the beginning, but it’s advisable to reserve an account on social media with your blog’s name as soon as possible.

Social media is the best way to connect with like-minded people and create a community. Facebook is important, but I get the most traffic to my blog from Pinterest and I wish I had started with it earlier. I also use Instagram and also Twitter as well. But to tell you the truth, I have difficulties keeping up with it all…

Social media is important, but it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. In the beginning, it’s really overwhelming. So concentrate your efforts on the social media that makes the most sense for your blog and grow from there. If you’ll try to do it all as a one-man business, you’ll never be able to grow. So focus on one thing that’s the most important for you and maybe it’s simply your blog and no social media at all.

Started a travel blog – enjoy it!

Enjoy it! There is no point in figuring out how to start a blog and investing your time, money, and energy into it if you don’t love it.

If you are only starting a travel blog because you want to travel the world for free or think that you’ll earn big money quickly, you may want to reconsider. Travel blogging is tougher than it looks. Not just because of the work and the hours you put it in, but also because it changes the way you travel forever. You are never on vacation anymore…

Anyway, don’t expect an easy ride when starting a travel blog. Certainly not in the beginning. You will have your share of difficulties and frustrations and there will be times when you’ll feel like quitting. But if you are passionate about what you do, you’ll get there!

10. How to Monetize Your Travel Blog

If you want to make your blog an instant success, you may want to take a blogging course and jump-start ahead of others. Yes, it’s an investment, but it saves you time and can prevent lots of unnecessary mistakes.

However, there are so many blogging courses available out there that’s it’s difficult to say which ones are worth the money. Some might be great for beginners who know nothing at all, but feel like a total waste of money if you’re already familiar with the basics… Since I never took a course myself, I can’t really recommend one based on my own experience.

Let’s just say that a good course can get indeed you there faster, but you can also find lots of excellent information on YouTube and Google search for free. You just have to be willing to learn.

The best way to monetize your travel blog from the start is to join a few affiliate networks (e.g. AWIN or CJ) and sign up for several affiliate programs that are a good match with your blog. It won’t be much money in the beginning, but it offers a lot of possibilities. Many established bloggers get a lot of their income via these platforms.

Some of the most successful direct affiliate programs for travel bloggers are those of Booking.com , GetYourGuide , Viator , Amazon , and others. Signing up with a company directly is always better, so if an affiliate program is available with the company itself, there’s no need to go via affiliate networks like AWIN.

TIP: My personal favorite program as a customer and as an affiliate is GetYourGuide! Affiliate partners also get access to their great database of top tips for better conversions. Those principles can also be applied to other affiliate programs, so it’s a great resource for a starting travel blogger!

If you found this article helpful, I suggest that you bookmark it and/or save it on Pinterest for future reference. It might be very useful to consult it later on.

Not on Pinterest yet? Sign up right away – Pinterest is a big traffic referrer for many blogs and it’s well worth putting some effort into it.

How to start a successful blog from the beginning. Complete step by step guide to creating a website and avoiding beginner's mistakes.

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Tuesday 14th of April 2020

This helped me a lot .......Initially I was really tensed about starting my blog but you have made it so easy for me. THANK YOU !!!!

Glad to hear that, Sharade. This is not the best time to be starting a travel blog, but let's hope the future is brighter. All the best!

Friday 27th of April 2018

Easily one of the best guides I've seen on starting a blog. I like that you've taken your readers behind the curtain. Not to mention your growth speaks for its self. I started a blog around the same time as you did last year and it's nowhere near this far along. Congrats!

Hi Nick and thank you. I haven't updated this post in a while, so have to go back and see what kind of numbers I was talking about at the time I wrote it. :) My blog has grown incredibly fast and we now reach over 125,000 monthly readers. I can't even try to imagine how many real people that is... So I guess everything is possible if you work hard, find your voice, and reach people who are truly interested to read what you have to say. That and a bit of luck helps too. ;) Try not to compare yourself with anyone else as our blogs are just as unique as we are. Try to find your strengths, see what works for you, focus on things that give 80% result with 20% effort and you'll get there. There are so many tasks that one can and has to do in running a blog that it's easy to loose sight of what's the most important. And remember, what's most important for you might be very different from what works for other bloggers. Set goals, adjust as needed, work hard, and most important - enjoy it! All the best to you.

Thursday 9th of November 2017

Wow this is the most helpful "how to start a blog" article i"ve ever read. Thank you so much. Also, love following you on Instagram!

Thank you, Lisa. Appreciate your feedback

Sunday 6th of November 2016

This is a really good post and I wished I had known half this information before I started a blog, as it would of saved me so much time. I also use a premium theme and I was not sure at first about buying one but I love it. Thanks in regards to the plugin's as well as some of them I didn't know.

Tracy Collins

Tuesday 1st of November 2016

An excellent post Jurga! I wish I had known about downsizing images when I first started my blog. Only just started using the Tinypng plug-in now.

I know! I had to re-upload tens of pictures too in the beginning. Just glad I found it out pretty quickly. It's always easier to start the right way than to change something afterwards.

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Turn Your Love of Travel Into a Paycheck: Step-by-Step Guide to Starting a Travel Blog

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You love to travel. You also love to tell people about amazing places to visit — where to go, places to avoid, and practical advice on how to make the most of their trip. Basically, you have all the makings of a great travel blogger.

Check Out: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

But there’s a problem: You don’t know how to start a travel blog. And do travel bloggers get paid? The good news is that many travel bloggers can and do make thousands of dollars per month from their travel blogs. And most of them, if not all, had the same questions you have right now. Fortunately, we have answers. Here are the steps to becoming a successful travel blogger.

Choose a Niche

It’s a big world out there, and you might think that you need to write about as many destinations and topics as possible to be a successful travel blogger. But that approach could slow your success, said Shelley Marmor, a full-time, professional blogger who has five blogs, including Travel Mexico Solo and Travel Blogging 101, where she teaches blogging courses. “I often hear that people don’t want to pigeonhole themselves, or limit what they write about,” she said.

But if you want financial success in a shorter amount of time, she said sticking to a well-defined niche is the way to go. “Google will eventually see you as an expert in that niche, and start to show you in their search results,” she said. So go ahead, embrace your love of 17th-century cheesemaking, the world’s best train rides or vegetarian restaurants in the South. Chances are if you are interested in it, others are too.

Choose a Name for Your Blog

This is a choice that can get first-time travel bloggers hung up for days, if not weeks. But believe it or not, said Marmor, your blog’s name is far less important than you think. “While many people will rack their brains to come up with a cool, funny or clever name, I personally think direct blog names work best,” she said. For instance, her blog that covers Tulum, Mexico, is simply named Tulum Travel Secrets. The name is simple and descriptive, and it took only a few minutes to come up with. Stick to this formula, she said, and Google will know what your blog is about immediately, leading to better search results for you.

Here are three important things Marmor suggested you keep in mind when naming your blog:

Leave your name out of the blog title, because if you ever sell your travel blog, you’ll have to sell it with your name attached.
Make sure you can grow with the blog. For instance, stay away from names like 20-Something Travels or Traveling With Two Kids, because eventually you will be 30, and you might have a third child.
Don’t get too clever and cross into confusing. Tell someone who doesn’t know you well and see if they get your name without an explanation.

Consider Taking a Blogging Course

If you have never written professionally or created a website, you might want to take a course on blogging or travel blogging. It is by no means necessary; however, it can help. In fact, Marmor, who was a professional journalist before starting her blog, took a travel blogging course herself when she was starting out and said it was one of the best moves she made. “There is a formula that works when it comes to profitable blogging, and you either know it or you don’t,” she said.

Many people are under the false belief that search engine optimization involves merely finding keywords that launch their site to the top of Google’s list, or at least on it. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. SEO is very complex, involving not only keywords but site organization, loading speed and a host of other elements.

Learning SEO, at least at a fundamental level, is important to your blog’s success. “I believe that SEO is vital to blogging, and I’m pretty sure the vast majority of bloggers would agree,” said Marmor. “If you want to get free traffic from Google and other search engines, then you need to learn the language search engines speak, and that’s SEO.”

Decide on a Length for Your Blog Posts

This might seem arbitrary and unimportant. And to some extent, your blog posts can be any length. The important thing is that each post fully answers the reader’s questions about a destination or activity. While there is no exact agreed-upon or even recommended length for travel blog articles, Google tends to favor long-form content that thoroughly answers the user’s query, said Marmor, whose own blog posts tend to run 2,500 to 4,000 words.

Choose a Hosting Platform for Your Travel Blog

This is another area in which a new blogger could easily find themselves falling down a rabbit hole. Do a search on Google and there will be a vast array of advice, each seemingly suggesting a different list of the best hosting platforms for travel bloggers.

But, said Marmor, don’t sweat this too much. Just make sure you choose a reputable provider that makes building your travel blog easy. Remember, you want most of your energy going into writing. “As long as you aren’t choosing a bottom-of-the-barrel host, you’re fine,” she said. “No hosts that I know of are specific to travel blogs, so just read reviews before choosing,” she said.

Decide on Your Blog’s Cadence and Write Posts Consistently

This is your blog, so you get to decide how often you write a new post. But in today’s world, more is usually more. So a good rule of thumb is to write as often as you can, without burning yourself out, said Marmor.

“When you burn out you’ll quit, so if your life doesn’t allow it right now, don’t set an unrealistic expectation that you’ll write and publish 15 blogs per week,” she said. Instead, she advised, concentrate on making each and every blog high quality. “If you can get one high-quality blog done per week without burnout, that’s great. If you can get five done per week without burnout, even better,” she said.

Add Photos and Videos to Your Travel Blog

Much of the attraction of travel is seeing the sights, so photos and videos are great additions to your blog. They enhance the user experience and keep readers engaged and coming back.

But, said Marmor, when you are starting out, you might want to keep your vlogging in check. “Doing both [blogging and vlogging] can expand your reach and your audience, but doing both well is like having two full-time jobs,” she said. “When you’re making enough in passive income from one, you can start thinking about starting the other.”

Promote Your Travel Blog

The good news is that in today’s world, self-promotion is fairly easy to do, thanks to the vast social media landscape. The bad news is that that landscape is absolutely littered with noise that makes breaking through difficult. So while outlets such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, might seem like a necessity, Marmor warned that they can also become a drain on your time. “I do zero social media, and have no interest in ever doing it,” she said. “If the day comes when I feel I need it for my business, I will hire out.” She believes that no platform benefits a blogger more than spending more time traveling and blogging.

Incorporate Affiliate Marketing Into Your Travel Blog

Affiliate marketing is a marketing model in which you, the travel blogger, incorporate links and promotions for goods and services on your website. When one of your readers clicks through and makes a purchase, you are rewarded, usually in cash. If done well, it can be extremely lucrative. In fact, said Marmor, about half of her monthly income is from affiliate marketing.

Marmor, who writes about and teaches classes on affiliate marketing, said that different affiliate marketing programs have different criteria. When you have a sufficient amount of blog posts live on your site — at least 10, she said — you can apply to these.

Partner With Brands You Love

Another monetization opportunity is partnerships with companies, where they pay you to promote their products and services. These take time and readership, however, because companies will want strong metrics showing that many people visit your site each month, said Marmor. “It will take time to build that up to a number which will make companies take notice, and be willing to pay you to promote them,” she said.

She also cautions to only endorse brands you use yourself and stand behind, as she does. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing the trust of your readers, the worst thing possible for your brand.

Be Patient — Making Money From Your Travel Blog Takes Time

While travel blogging can pay off, don’t expect success to come overnight — or even in a year. Marmor tells new bloggers to expect it to take about two years of consistent work for your blog to make money . “It can take slightly less, but that will really depend on how fast you work, and more importantly, how smart you work,” she said.

Marmor saw success quickly, but she said that’s because she worked full time on her blog with a devotion to becoming her own boss. If family, work or other obligations won’t allow you to devote 40 hours a week to your blog, be patient and keep typing.

Remember the Most Important Rule of Travel Blogging

Sure, you probably want to become a travel blogger so you can turn your passion into a paycheck . But to do that, you need to provide a service. As Marmor so succinctly put it, “No one cares where I’ve been in Mexico — and I’ve been to a lot of places — but they do care about how I can help them have the best vacation ever in those same places.” So, she said, in 2024, it is vital to the success of your travel blog that it helps readers gain valuable information they can use to improve their travel experience. Do that and the cash will come.

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7 Ways to Start A Travel Blog And Make Money On a Budget

O ne of the questions I get asked the most frequently is “how do you afford to travel so much?” For the most part, when I travel these days its for brand deals/ I have comp’d hotels – but it wasn’t always this way! When I was first starting, I was traveling without any sponsorship. I am a firm believer that anyone, regardless of their ability to afford luxury travel, can start a travel blog and make money, if they have a passion and drive to do so!

Many aspiring travel bloggers believe that travel is too expensive to pursue their dreams. The truth is that you don’t need a huge budget to start a travel blog and embark on exciting adventures. With strategic thinking and cost-effective tools, you can start a travel blog and make money quickly, create impressive travel content and connect with others. Here are seven practical tips to help you run a successful travel blog on a budget, making your travel dreams a reality.

1. Specialize in Local Adventures

When starting your travel blog, focus on exploring and showcasing the hidden gems in your local area. Specializing in local adventures sets you apart from others and allows you to offer unique insights and experiences.

I live in the New York/ Philly area – so I have created TONS of content centered around the “best of” these areas and have worked with local photographers to get some great images right in my hometown!

As you grow, you can expand your reach to cover your state or even your country, supporting local businesses and contributing to the economic growth of your region.

2. Use Your Smartphone for Photography

You don’t need an expensive camera to capture stunning travel photos. Modern smartphones offer impressive photography capabilities.

The majority of my photos that grew my Instagram were national park photos I took on my iPhon. Apps like Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop Express can enhance your smartphone photography skills.

3. Travel to Less Expensive Destinations

Stretch your travel budget by choosing less expensive destinations. Look for budget-friendly options (hostels!), research affordable flights, accommodation, and off-peak travel seasons to save money while still enjoying enriching experiences. (I spent a lot of days in the desert in PEAK heat seasons, aka, slow seasons – when prices were considerably less than they are during the fall/winter).

We went to Zion in the heart of the summer – it was HOT, but hotels were cheap!

4. Look for Web Domain Deals to Start A Travel Blog

While starting on social media is an option, having a website with a proper domain gives you more control over your content. Look for discounted deals from top web domain service providers to save money when purchasing a domain. Keep an eye out for discounts offered by creators with sponsorships and partnerships on platforms like YouTube.

Here is a discount code for Bluehost, the webhost I use! I signed up when I saw a discount code another blogger posted.

Bluehost is one of the most established and well-known hosting brands on the internet. They host over 2 million WordPress sites and are excellent for beginners and starting websites because their platform is easy to use. Click here to sign up for as little as $2.95/month (this discount deal is only available to my readers through my blog!).

5. Use Social Media Wisely:

Utilize social media platforms to connect with potential readers and promote your travel blog. Choose platforms that align with your target audience and focus on building a presence on one or two networks to maximize your efforts. Experiment, remain consistent, and learn from your experiences to grow your social media following organically.

6. Show Your Readers How to Travel on a Budget:

This is a great one! If I was starting over, this is what I would do. Position yourself as a budget travel expert by sharing tips and insights on how to travel affordably. Cover topics such as staying in hostels, finding local eateries, and experiencing destinations like a local. Offer practical advice and unique recommendations to engage your audience and provide value.

7. Put Together a Saving Plan for Future Trips:

Dream big and plan for bigger trips in the future. Set aside money specifically for your bucket list destinations and consider ways to increase your income, such as negotiating a pay raise or taking on higher-paying freelance clients. Utilize savings features offered by mobile banking apps to help you reach your travel goals.

Running a successful travel blog doesn’t have to be expensive. Anyone can start a travel blog and make money pretty quickly! By specializing in local adventures, using your smartphone for photography, choosing affordable destinations, leveraging social media wisely, providing budget travel tips, and planning for future trips, you can create a thriving travel blog on a budget.

Don’t let financial limitations hold you back from pursuing your passion for travel. Start your blog today and embark on exciting adventures while inspiring others to do the same.

Do you want to start turning your posts into profit?

Not sure how to start getting paid for your posts? Where to start? What to say to brands?

Running a successful travel blog doesn’t have to be expensive. Anyone can start a travel blog and make money pretty quickly!

Online Business

10 Useful Tips for a Travel Blog

We live in a global world where millions of people travel every day. The Internet allows them to discover interesting new destinations to visit as there are many websites that recommend where to go and what to do. Some of these travelers share their experience afterwards, usually in a personal blog. Today, we will share what you need if you want to start a travel blog as well. There are certain good practices you can follow to make your blog more appealing. Some of them apply to most types of websites, but others are relevant specifically to travel blogs.

So, why a travel blog?

Are there any challenges, how to start, ten useful tips for your travel blog, find the right niche, choose an appealing name/brand/logo, find a good design theme, choose the right plugins, choose the right style, reply to comments, optimize your photos, create an appealing about page, be consistent, promote your blog.

The obvious answer is to share your experience with the world. This is the easiest way to tell people where you have been, what you have done or tasted there, what people you have met. Of course, there are other reasons as well:

Preserve memories. You probably have a lot of memories and pictures from your travels, but will you remember all the small details from your trip? Writing blog articles about your experience is a great way to preserve your memories. Your blog will be like an online journal of your adventures.
Find fellow travelers. Sharing your experience with the world can help you to find people with similar interests who can travel with you in the future or who can advise you about a future destination from their own experience. If you have a blog, such people can easily find you, especially if the blog visitors share your articles on social media or via instant messengers.

Improve yourself. Blogging about your travels can help you to get a better insight on your experience. You can look at your adventures from a different perspective when you write about them. Writing articles regularly will also help you to improve your writing skills.
Monetize it. Last, but not least, you can make some money from your blog. Depending on its popularity, you can make just enough to pay for the hosting service, or you can make good money. There are different ways to monetize it – display ads, participate in an affiliate program for related products/services, sell merchandise, etc. You may even find a sponsor in exchange of mentioning their name or displaying their brand name on some of the photos from your travels.

Of course there are. If it was easy, everybody would have created a travel blog. Some websites are more successful than others, and this is valid for travel blogs as well. Here are some things you should consider before you start:

It takes time. Writing quality articles and adding photos takes time. The more content you want to add, the more time you will need for that. It is possible that you may reach a point where you must choose whether you will travel or you will write articles. You will have to find the right balance, if you don’t want other people to help you with the writing. Otherwise, you may have to travel less to have enough time to write about your previous trips.
Many travel blogs already exist. You will find lots of travel blogs online. Some of them are well established, with lots of content, and even a whole team managing them; others have only a handful of visitors. Of course, this isn’t something that should discourage you. With the right content and a good strategy, you can build a successful travel blog.
Planning may be difficult . You have been to a number of places, and you have posted articles about them. What follows next, though? If you want to keep writing, you should keep traveling, and this could be a challenge. Regular posts require regular trips, which involve time, money, and careful planning.
You need Internet access. If you want to publish articles regularly, you will need Internet access. This way, you can publish your impressions of places, events, and people while they are still fresh. The alternative is to keep a written or a digital diary and write one or a few articles when you are back. The lack of Internet access could be a problem if you take a longer trip (or you may have to pay a significant amount of money for it).
You may need a team. If you don’t have the time or the skills to set up the blog, to proofread articles, edit photos, or plan trips, you may need a team. If you are a solo player, it could be challenging to find the right people. Your expenses will be higher as well.

Since you want to create a travel blog, you need blogging software. You will find some online services that allow you to start a blog with ease. They have certain limitations, though – no access to the files, no email service, or limited customization options, for example. This is why we recommend using WordPress, the most popular blogging platform out there, together with your own web hosting plan and domain name . As soon as you install the application, you can go ahead and start composing your first post.

If you use our web hosting services, you can install WordPress with a couple of clicks. Using our WordPress MultiManager , which is available in the Account Panel, you can keep your blog updated to avoid security issues and to use new features from your themes and plugins.

The WordPress Manager, which is available in the hosting Control Panel, will allow you to generate on-demand backups as often as you would like to make sure that your content is always safe.

You should find a topic that will keep you engaged for some time, not just for a few articles. Consider your interests. Think about what you like to do or where you like to go. Having a travel blog does not necessarily mean going to exotic locations. You can explore local villages, hotels, food festivals, adventure parks, family-friendly locations, etc. Find a niche that will fit your lifestyle and will not require too many changes. Consider your potential audience as well, as this can help you to choose what to write about.

Do some brainstorming to shortlist a few good names, and then consider the most suitable one. It should be unique, and it should describe your blog. Avoid generic names or names that are very similar to those of existing blogs. The blog name and the domain name you choose can include the brand, your name, or something connected to your travels.

While you can use any theme you like, there are themes that were created for travel blogs in particular. You will find free themes in the WordPress repository , and paid ones in theme marketplaces such as Envato / Theme Forest or Creative Market . The advantage of using travel-oriented themes is that there may be demo content and useful plugins already included. Premium themes are often bundled with paid plugins, so you can save some money.

You don’t need many plugins for a travel blog as you should focus on your content, but there are a few useful ones, which can help you to manage the blog. If your theme doesn’t suggest what plugins to use, or you want to use additional ones, here are a few you should consider:

MapGeo – Interactive Geo Maps . Create responsive maps with color regions to show where you have been.
Travelers’ Map . Geolocalize your blog posts on a dynamic map.
Travelpayouts . Add a flights and hotel search on your site, which allows you to earn a commission.
Comments Not Replied To . Make sure that readers’ comments are always replied to. More about that below.
Akismet . If comments are enabled on your blog, make sure that you have this handy plugin to fight spam. It usually comes with new WordPress installations, but it is not activated by default.

Of course, you can also add general-purpose plugins for SEO, content caching, image optimization, etc. These plugins are not travel-specific, so it is up to you which ones you will use.

Content is important, but so is the look of the site. Choose 2-3 colors for the design and 2-3 fonts for the text content to make sure your blog looks neat. If you use more colors or fonts, your visitors may be distracted.

This is something quite important if you want to create a loyal community. Some bloggers have disabled comments under their articles, but others engage in exciting discussions with readers. People may have an interesting insight into your experience or may simply want to know more about your travels. They will be more likely to follow your blog regularly if they see that you reply to their comments. Such conversations can give your site a small SEO boost as well.

A good travel blog should have images. People may like your stories, but nobody likes seeing a wall of text. It is up to you whether you will have in-line images, or you will have a larger gallery between paragraphs. Make sure that you optimize your photos. Use web-friendly formats and proper sizes that will not slow down your blog. Use descriptive names and alt names to give your blog a little SEO boost. Names like IMG12345.jpeg that cameras use by default are not suitable for a website.

Best File Formats for a Website and Five Tips for Your Images

It is important to show who you are and to tell people why you want to share your experience with them. Giving the page a personal touch will show them that your travel blog is not just another website on the Internet. Share what you like to do, why you want to travel, and why people should follow you. And of course, add a personal photo. Your visitors should see that you are a real person.

Try to post articles regularly. It may not be possible to always do that, but your audience will probably expect a new article every week or every month, depending on what you are writing about. If people visit your blog a few times and there is no new content on it, they may not come back again. If you have a few articles ready, post them over a certain period, not all at once.

Nonetheless, quality is more important than quantity, so you should avoid posting content just for the sake of it. Always proofread your articles before you publish them.

Attracting visitors is not an easy task. Search engines may bring you some organic traffic, but you should be active on social media as well. Create pages on your preferred social networks and update your profiles regularly with text and images. Add social media buttons for easy sharing, so your followers can easily share your articles and galleries.

Sometimes you may be more active on social media than on your blog, especially if you don’t have much time. If this is the case and you use Facebook or Instagram, you can take advantage of our SocialSync service. You can add the social feed to your travel blog, so you will have all your content in one place. In addition, SocialSync will back up your posts, so they will be available online no matter what.

A travel blog is a great way to preserve your memories and to share your experience with the world. You can also find fellow travelers for your next trip. You will find various platforms that allow you to start a travel blog, but WordPress is the most popular one. You can install it with ease, and then choose a good theme and suitable plugins that will add various functions to the blog.

Make sure that you present yourself well on the About page and always reply to comments to show people that you care about your blog and about their opinion. If you choose the right niche and write good articles, your travel blog can quickly become a successful one.

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How to start a travel agency.

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If you love to travel, are highly organized and enjoy working directly with people, becoming a travel agent is an awesome career choice.

You’d think with the ease of using search engines on the internet; the travel business wouldn’t be thriving. But it is.

According to statistics, a person may spend (waste) 20 hours on internet research before booking a flight. The internet is clogged with info, which is why the benefits of using a travel agent will always be valuable to most travelers.

What is a Travel Agency Business?

A travel agency is a company that provides travel and tourism booking services and planning for people. This can include making arrangements for things such as air travel, vehicle rental, hotels/lodging and travel insurance. Before you get started, find out how do travel agents make money and see if you can find out new ways to generate income.

Travel agencies can offer a wide range of services, including:

Booking flights and hotels: Travel agencies can help you find the best deals on flights and hotels. They can also book your transportation and accommodation and even help you with things like visa applications and currency exchange.
Planning itineraries: Travel agencies can help you plan your itinerary, taking into account your interests and budget. They can also recommend popular tourist destinations and activities.
Offering travel insurance: Travel agencies can help you purchase travel insurance, which can protect you in case of flight cancellations, lost luggage, or medical emergencies.
Providing customer service: Travel agencies provide customer service to help you with any problems that may arise during your trip.

There are two main types of travel agencies:

Retail travel agencies: These agencies sell travel packages to the general public. They typically have a physical location, such as a storefront or a call center.
Wholesale travel agencies: These agencies sell travel packages to other businesses, such as airlines, hotels, and tour operators. They typically do not have a physical location and operate online or through a call center.

Starting a travel agency business can be a great way to turn your passion for travel into a successful business.

How Much Does It Cost to Start a Travel Agency?

The cost of starting a travel agency can vary depending on a number of factors, including the size of the agency, the location, and the type of services offered. However, in general, you can expect to spend anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars to get started.

Here are some of the expenses you’ll need to consider when starting a travel agency:

Business license and permits: You’ll need to obtain a business license and any necessary permits from your local government. The cost of these fees will vary depending on your location.
Travel agency software: You’ll need to purchase or lease travel agency software to manage your bookings and reservations. The cost of this software will vary depending on the features and functionality you need.
Marketing and advertising: You’ll need to invest in marketing and advertising to reach potential customers. The cost of this will vary depending on the channels you use and the reach you want to achieve.
Office space: If you plan to have a physical office, you’ll need to rent or lease space. The cost of office space will vary depending on the location and the size of the space you need.
Staffing: If you plan to hire employees, you’ll need to factor in the cost of salaries, benefits, and training.

In addition to these expenses, you’ll also need to factor in the cost of travel, meals, and other expenses associated with booking travel for your clients.

The good news is that there are a number of ways to reduce the cost of starting a travel agency. For example, you can use free or low-cost marketing channels like social media and email marketing. You can also start your agency as a home-based business, which can save you on the cost of office space.

How Much Can You Make Owning a Travel Agency?

The average salary for someone working for an established agency is $19 per hour. The average annual earnings for independent travel agents is $36,000. That varies depending on your geographical location and the type of travel business you’ve chosen as a specialty.

18 Important Steps to Start Your Own Travel Business

Here are key steps to take to get your start in the travel industry. You should decide early whether you want to work for a travel company or work on starting a travel agency.

1. Complete Relevant Training

Colleges and business schools offer associate and four-year degrees in tourism. There are some independent educators, such as The Travel Institute , which offer certifications.

All these studies will include courses in business management, marketing, accounting and customer service. As part of ongoing education, you should also keep tabs on international affairs and weather events.

2. Look at the Competition

Agencies in the travel industry typically offer all types of services but specialize in a certain niche. For example, some travel agencies focus on luxury travel, and some focus on the adventure travel industry.

Savvy travel agents know their competition well, especially before starting their own business.

3. Choose Between Host Agency, Independent Travel Agent, and Franchise

Under the umbrella of a host agency, you can work as an hourly or salaried employee. In addition to your regular pay, you may be eligible to earn commissions.

If you’re starting a travel agency, you’ll be working independently. Your source of pay will be the fees you charge clients plus commissions you earn from travel suppliers – such as airlines, hotels and rental vehicle companies. Some businesses function solely as online travel agencies, often focusing on arranging corporate travel.

You can also opt to purchase a franchise, such as Dream Vacations . A franchise will provide training programs. Both a host agency and a franchise have the advantage of existing vendor partnerships.

4. Find a Specific Niche and Target Market

Maybe your idea of a dream vacation is renting bicycles and traveling to an Inn in New England. Or you might prefer canoeing wilderness rivers, and staying in tents. Maybe you’d like to book an all-inclusive trip, where the price includes airfare, lodging, food and beverages.

Your preferences aren’t what’s most important. You need to think about your potential clients and customers. Learn the demographics of your local community area and the average income of potential customers.

5. Choose a Business Name and Register Your Travel Agency

Before you lock in on the name, go to the website for your secretary of state. That’s where businesses are registered. You can check to make sure the name you’d like to use isn’t similar or the same as a travel agency already in existence before you spend money on business cards or a website.

6. Write a Travel Agency Business Plan

Here are some helpful tips for making your business plan. A business plan should include key elements of a business plan for travel companies:

New business name and website
Business physical location
Business Structure
Niche in the industry
Forming partnerships (cruise lines, hotels, rental companies, etc.), especially once you’ve been a travel professional for over a year
Plans for marketing/expansion in the industry

7. Open a Business Bank Account

Opening a business bank account is a fundamental step for any budding travel business. It not only separates your personal finances from your business transactions but also enhances your professionalism.

When selecting a bank, consider factors like fees, transaction limits, online banking features, and customer service quality. Additionally, look for banks offering perks for small businesses, such as waived fees for the first year or low minimum balance requirements.

A dedicated business credit card is also advisable for handling business expenses and potentially earning rewards.

8. Make Sure You Have the Licenses and Permits Required in Your State

General Business License as required by your business location.

Travel Agents License – If required by your state.

Federal employer identification number (EIN) is needed for paying business and payroll taxes, if you have employees. You’ll need the EIN when you file taxes.

Zoning – If you’re working from a home office, you must make sure your residence meets the zoning requirements for home-based travel agents.

9. Create a Travel Agency Website and Choose a Location

You may start your own travel agency with the glitziest, most informative and most gorgeous website imaginable.

But its use will fail if it hasn’t been correctly linked – called search engine optimization. Unless you’re very savvy about this, it will pay you to hire a professional to make sure clients find your new company and social media accounts. That’s a key part of your marketing strategy.

10. Sort Out Your Accounting Software

You’ll need to manage travel contracts, travel bookings, invoices and receipts, vendors and more on the financial end. Here are some of our recommendations:

Fresh Books
itouroperator

11. Choose a Business Structure

You’ll need to choose a structure for starting your travel agency. Many travel agencies choose the Limited Liability Company or LLC. The LLC allows you to protect your personal assets, especially if you’re operating in your own home.

Other common structures chosen by many businesses in most states include partnerships and corporations.

12. Get Your Taxes in Order

Understanding and managing your tax obligations is crucial for a travel business. Firstly, obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for tax purposes, especially if you plan to hire employees.

Familiarize yourself with the various taxes you’ll be liable for, including sales tax, payroll tax, and income tax. Use reliable accounting software to keep meticulous records of all financial transactions.

Consider consulting a tax professional or accountant to navigate complex tax regulations, ensure compliance, and identify possible tax deductions specific to travel agencies.

13. Purchase Business Insurance

There are common insurances needed, such as BOP (business operators), professional liability, commercial liability, errors and omissions, and general liability insurance.

If you’re going to sell travel, you need to offer travel insurance. What if travel restrictions suddenly impact a location? What if a natural disaster destroys the plans for a beach wedding destination?

14. Join Travel Associations

Here are a few which will serve as additional resources for you (help you with finding customers):

American Society of Travel Advisors
Association of Independent Tour Operators

15. Set Up Your Office and Invest in Equipment

You’ll need typical office equipment such as computers, software, internet, phone system and fax. If you’re offering travel services face-to-face, you’ll need comfortable furniture, a conference room, and ample parking.

16. Marketing

Effective marketing is key to the success of a travel business. Begin by identifying your unique selling proposition and target audience. Develop a marketing strategy that includes a mix of online and offline tactics.

Utilize social media platforms to engage with potential clients and showcase your offerings. Create informative and appealing content, such as travel guides, tips, and destination highlights.

Consider email marketing to keep your audience updated with the latest deals and offers. Attend travel expos and network events to build relationships and partnerships. Always track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts to refine your strategy.

17. Find Partners

Partners can include elements of a destination – a motel, B&B, restaurants, or spas, for example.

A partner can also be a media company, such as a newspaper, radio, or television station. You buy advertising with them and negotiate a reduced-price trip for an owner or manager.

18. Build Trust with Your Customers

Building trust with your customers is essential for the longevity and reputation of your travel business. Maintain transparency in your dealings, clearly communicate travel plans, and be upfront about costs and potential issues.

Provide exceptional customer service by being accessible, responsive, and empathetic to client needs and concerns. Encourage feedback and reviews from customers to improve your services. Develop a system to handle emergencies or unexpected travel issues efficiently.

Consistently delivering on your promises and providing memorable travel experiences will foster customer loyalty and lead to repeat business and referrals.

How to Compete with Big Brands in the Travel Industry

The travel industry is competitive, and it can be difficult for small businesses to compete with the big brands. However, there are a number of things you can do to give yourself a fighting chance.

Here are some tips on how to compete with big brands in the travel industry:

Focus on a niche market. Instead of trying to compete with the big brands on everything, focus on a specific niche market that you can specialize in. This could be a specific type of travel, such as ecotourism or adventure travel, or it could be a specific group of travelers, such as families or business travelers.
Offer unique experiences. Big brands often offer the same generic travel packages. To stand out from the crowd, you need to offer unique experiences that your customers can’t find anywhere else. This could be anything from a private tour of a hidden gem to a customized itinerary that’s tailored to your customer’s specific interests.
Provide excellent customer service. This is one area where small businesses often have an advantage over big brands. Big brands can be impersonal and bureaucratic, while small businesses can provide more personalized and attentive service. Make sure your customers feel like they’re valued and that you’re going above and beyond to make their travel experience as smooth as possible.
Use technology to your advantage. Technology can be a great way to compete with big brands. You can use social media to connect with potential customers, use online booking tools to make booking their travel easy, and use analytics to track your performance and make improvements.
Be creative with your marketing. Big brands often have big budgets for marketing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t compete. Be creative with your marketing and find ways to reach your target audience without breaking the bank. This could include using social media, running contests, or creating original content.

Here are some additional tips that you can follow:

Build relationships with travel suppliers. This will give you access to better deals and will help you to provide your customers with a more personalized travel experience.
Stay up-to-date on the latest travel trends. This will help you to offer your customers the most in-demand travel experiences.
Be flexible and adaptable. The travel industry is constantly changing, so you need to be able to adapt your business accordingly.
Never give up. The travel industry is a tough one, but if you’re passionate about travel and you’re willing to work hard, you can succeed.

Competition in the travel industry is fierce, but it’s not impossible for small businesses to succeed. By following these tips, you can give yourself a fighting chance to compete with the big brands.

What are the legal requirements for starting a travel agency?

The legal requirements for starting a travel agency vary by country and region but may include obtaining the necessary licenses, permits, and registrations.

How do I choose a niche or specialty for my travel agency?

Consider your interests, expertise, and target market to choose a niche, such as adventure travel, luxury vacations, or corporate travel.

What technology and software do I need to run a travel agency?

You’ll need travel booking software, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and a user-friendly website to handle reservations and inquiries.

How can I build relationships with travel suppliers and vendors?

Attend travel industry events, join travel agent associations, and establish strong communication with suppliers to build beneficial partnerships.

How do I market and promote my travel agency to attract clients?

Utilize digital marketing strategies, social media, content creation, and collaborate with influencers to increase your agency’s visibility.

What financial considerations should I keep in mind when starting a travel agency?

Plan for initial startup costs, ongoing expenses, and potential fluctuations in the travel industry. Budget for marketing, staff, and technology investments.

How can I provide exceptional customer service and stand out from competitors?

Focus on personalized travel planning, attentive communication, and 24/7 customer support to create a memorable experience for clients.

Image: Depositphotos, Envato Elements

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Welcome to Venice. That’ll Be 5 Euros.

Starting this month, tourists intending to visit the city on busy dates will be required to register on a website, and those coming for a single day will have to pay an entry fee.

People take photos and selfies from a bridge overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice.

By Elisabetta Povoledo

Reporting from Italy

On its busiest days, Venice swells with tourists who clog the city’s narrow streets, leave behind piles of garbage and often frustrate locals. So the canal-crossed city is fighting back.

Starting on April 25, and for another 29 days scattered mostly around national holidays and weekends through mid-July, day trippers to the historic part of Venice will have to pay 5 euros, about $5.40, a measure that city officials hope will encourage people to come during less busy times.

All visitors to Venice will also have to register their presence in the city on the specified days, filling out an online form that will help officials gauge how many visitors to expect and strategize about how to handle them.

“It’s not about making money — the costs of the operation are higher than what we’re going to make,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told reporters on Thursday as Venetian officials kicked off a global advertising campaign.

Instead, said Michele Zuin, the city official in charge of budgeting and economics, the aim is “to better manage the numbers of tourists and disincentivize mass tourism, which is what creates, let’s say, the difficulty of living in this city.”

Visitors staying overnight in Venice will not have to pay, nor will those traveling there to work, to visit relatives or to study. Anyone born in the city is also exempt , as are minors under 14. And Mr. Brugnaro said there would be no cap on the number of visitors allowed in.

Rising improbably from the waters of the Venetian lagoon, the city is as delicate as it is beautiful, and in recent decades it has struggled to protect a uniqueness that is threatened by climate change and rising seas, as well as by mass tourism .

To counter that figurative and literal erosion, the city has installed giant gates at four mouths of the lagoon to keep seawater out and pavements dry, and banned cruise ships from the inner canals. Those efforts helped keep Venice off UNESCO’s list of “World Heritage in Danger” even after experts at the agency raised concerns last year that Italy had not done enough to protect the city.

From 1976 until this year, Italy had allocated funds to help safeguard Venice, and on Thursday, Mr. Brugnaro chided the country’s central government for not renewing that funding. He said he had asked the government for €1.5 billion for the next 10 years to help preserve a city with a unique heritage that requires continuous maintenance.

“We need that financing,” he said.

Occasionally, days have been so busy with tourists that the city has had to limit some streets to one-way pedestrian traffic.

Simone Venturini, the city official in charge of tourism, said of the new measures, “We will be the first city in the world to know exactly how many tourists will come to Venice that day — whether exempt or paying, they have to register.”

After registering on the website, visitors will receive a QR code — valid from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. — that they will be required to show when entering the city at points like the train station, Piazzale Roma, the municipal parking lot, some beachfront locations and St. Mark’s Square. There will also be spot checks throughout the city.

For now, anyone arriving in Venice without a QR code will be allowed to buy it at the last minute, either on a smartphone or at kiosks set up leading up to the access points, officials said.

Transgressors will face fines of €50 to €300 plus a €10 fee, Mr. Zuin said.

The initiative is being introduced on a trial basis so that city officials can see whether the system works and how it can be improved, he said. In the future, the entry fee could be calibrated — “a sliding scale of prices,” Mayor Brugnaro said — depending on the day.

“We’re asking for collaboration,” Mr. Brugnaro said, adding that the data accumulated during the 29 days would be made public. He said that officials from other cities around the world had contacted his administration to find out more about the access system.

So far, more than 50,000 people have registered through the website — about a third of them paying for one-day visits, officials said.

“The entire world wants to come to Venice,” Mr. Venturini said at the introduction of the advertising campaign, which included a video message of the mayor speaking in various languages using A.I.-generated speech translation.

In the video, Mayor Brugnaro apologizes for any inconvenience that the new system might create. But, he said, “the city has to be protected.”

Elisabetta Povoledo is a reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years. More about Elisabetta Povoledo

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How to Start a Travel Blog: 5-Step Easy to Follow Guide (+ Video Tutorial)
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COMMENTS

How To Start A Travel Blog (2024 Guide)
Either way, this step involves purchasing the URL—the address—of your new blog. Domain registration fees depend on the registrar and the domain name extension (for example .com or .org) but ...
How to Start a Travel Blog (Step-by-Step Guide for 2024)
What You Need Before Our 'How to Start a Travel Blog' Guide. Step 1 - Pick Your Name and Brand. Tips For Picking A Travel Blog Name. Tips For Defining Your Brand. Step 2 - Get Hosting And The Domain. Domains vs Hosts. Our Favourite Host is SiteGround. Managed WordPress Hosting. Step By Step Guide With SiteGround.
How To Start A Travel Blog: An Easy Step By Step Guide
5. Download A Professional Theme. Your new WordPress blog comes with a couple of standard "themes", or designs for your site. While this is ok for playing around in the beginning, if you want to take this seriously and eventually make money with your travel blog, you should buy a premium design.
How to Start a Successful Travel Blog in 2024
Step One: Deciding On a Name for Your Travel Blog. Finding the perfect name sounds as though it should be one of the most challenging aspects of starting a travel blog. A lot of new travel bloggers spend days and weeks agonising over finding the name that feels just right.
How to Start a Travel Blog in 2024
Select your domain name from the drop-down. Leave the "install/path/here" field blank. Enter the name of your blog, an admin username (make sure the admin username is hard to guess), your name, and your email address, and then agree to the terms and conditions below. Then click the "Install" button.
The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Successful Travel Blog
1. Come Up with a Name. Think about names that can grow with you. If you name your travel blog "A Month in India," it might not be relevant in a year. Remember that your name is part of your brand, and you'll likely stick with it for the lifetime of your blog. Aim for something that isn't limiting and is memorable.
How to Start a Travel Blog: The Complete Guide
Color palette: Have a set of 2 to 3 complementing colors (anything more would be distracting). Fonts: 3 at most. Think one for your logo, one for headings, one for body copy. Images that reflect what you want your blog to evoke when visitors drop by your site.
How To Start a Travel Blog In 2024
Choose the type of travel blogger you want to be. Pick a blog name and secure your domain name. Select your travel blog template. Create a blog logo. Prepare your footage. Write your first blog posts. Engage with your audience. Network with tourism partners and brands. Monetize your travel blog.
How to Start a Travel Blog, Successfully (in 10 Steps)
Click the Install button. Choose the domain name to install it to. In the field next to the domain, you can enter a subfolder such as 'blog' or leave it blank if you want the site's main page to be the blog. If necessary, you can edit the email address, username and password for the new WordPress installation.
How To Start A Travel Blog (Properly!)
Then press "install". The set-up might take about 5 minutes — time to make yourself a cup of tea or tell a good travel story to your cat. Come back to your computer and WordPress should be all set up now. Step 3. Sign in to your blog! Okay, there isn't really a step 3.
How to Start a Travel Blog: Complete Guide from the Experts
Read more about SEO for travel bloggers here. Make it easy to pronounce, spell and remember. Avoid double letters, hyphens, and long-winded domain names. Keep it unique and on-brand. Make sure your domain name is reflective of your blog's identity and stands apart from everyone else.
How to start a travel blog
Step 2: Register your domain and buy hosting. To get a website online you need to register a domain (like travelbloggersguide.com) and rent hosting space (the company that keeps your site online). These are two separate items, though many hosts will sell both domain and hosting.
How To Start a Travel Blog: The Complete Tutorial (2024)
Under the "Choose Installation URL," select the domain you want to build your travel blog on. I also recommend using an "https" protocol, which stands for "Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.". This protocol utilizes a Transport Layer Security or TLS to encrypt communications conducted through your website.
How To Start a Travel Blog: Complete Guide for Beginners
How to start a travel blog step by step. Step 1: Select a niche for your travel blog. Step 2: Buy a domain name to make your blog a brand. Step 3: Set up web hosting for your travel blog. Step 4: Set up WordPress - the most popular blogging platform. Step 5: Choose a theme and design your travel website.
How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money in 2024
Step 2: Choose your blog name. Your blog name creates your audience's first impression of your online business. Ensure your blog name is unique and appropriately reflects your brand. For example, if you're a solo traveler, you can name your blog "The Lone Traveler" or "Wanderlust & I.".
How to Start a Travel Blog (and Monetize It!) in 2024
Picking a Name. Once you have a niche, the next step in learning how to start a travel blog is to pick a name. If you're not sure what to call it, try this exercise: Write two columns on a piece of paper. In one column, write 20 synonyms for your niche. In the other, write 20 synonyms for travel.
How to Start a Travel Blog in 2024
Install a WordPress Theme & Plugins - Establish the the look, feel, and function of your blog. Start Writing Blog Posts - Begin writing about your own travel experiences and prioritize writing real, helpful, human-first blog posts. Publish Your First Blog Posts and start sharing them on the right social channels.
How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money: Step-by-Step Tutorial
One of the most popular travel blogs around: Nomadic Matt. Here's your step-by-step guide to start a travel blog: Step 1: Pick a niche. Step 2: Select a domain name. Step 3: Purchase WordPress hosting and install WordPress. Step 4: Choose a travel blog theme. Step 5: Install helpful plugins for travel blogs. Step 6: Create and add content.
How To Start A Travel Blog in 2024 + Free Printable Checklist
Table of Contents. How to start a travel blog in 2024. Define your travel blogging niche. Picking a travel blog name. Check the domains and social media handles. Picking a travel blogging platform. Picking a hosting company. Picking a Wordpress theme. Plugins for Wordpress.
How to Start a Travel Blog & Build a Travel Blogging Business
1. If you want to be a professional travel blogger, focus on your passion. Whether it's a specific style of travel, a specific region, or a specific activity you enjoy in destinations around the world, make sure it's something you'll love long-term. The more unique your blog is, the more you'll standing out. 2.
How to Start a Travel Blog (First Essential Steps)
Start with this and create new pages as your blog grows. To create a page, log in to your WordPress account and choose Page - Add New. Before your travel blog goes live, try to write at least 2-3 blog posts so that people have more to read than just the initial post they came to your site for.
How To Start a Travel Blog In 2024 ( A Complete Guide)
How to Start a Travel Blog. What is a Blog- A blog is a type of website or part of a website that features regularly updated content, known as blog posts or entries, typically displayed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent post appearing first. Blogs can cover a wide range of topics, from personal experiences, hobbies, and travel to professional advice, industry news, and ...
Turn Your Love of Travel Into a Paycheck: Step-by-Step Guide to
Basically, you have all the makings of a great travel blogger. Check Out: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000 But there's a problem: You don't know how to start a travel blog. And do travel bloggers get paid? The good news is that many travel bloggers can and do make thousands of dollars per month from their travel blogs.
7 Ways to Start A Travel Blog And Make Money On a Budget
Here are seven practical tips to help you run a successful travel blog on a budget, making your travel dreams a reality. Continue reading. 1. Specialize in Local Adventures. When starting your ...
10 Useful Tips for a Travel Blog
Ten useful tips for your travel blog. Find the right niche. Choose an appealing name/brand/logo. Find a good design theme. Choose the right plugins. Choose the right style. Reply to comments. Optimize your photos. Create an appealing About page.
How to Start a Travel Agency
Zoning - If you're working from a home office, you must make sure your residence meets the zoning requirements for home-based travel agents. 9. Create a Travel Agency Website and Choose a Location. You may start your own travel agency with the glitziest, most informative and most gorgeous website imaginable.
Venice to Charge Tourists an Entry Fee to Discourage Overcrowding
Welcome to Venice. That'll Be 5 Euros. Starting this month, tourists intending to visit the city on busy dates will be required to register on a website, and those coming for a single day will ...

How to Start a Travel Blog (The Ultimate 2024 Guide)

Tips For Picking A Travel Blog Name

Step 1 – Pick Your Name and Brand

Step 2 – Get Hosting And The Domain

Step 4 – Pick A Free Theme

Step 5 – Download Essential Plugins

Travel Blogging Tips

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How to Start a Successful Travel Blog in 2024

What You Need to Know About Travel Blogging in 2024

Step One: Deciding On a Name for Your Travel Blog

How Did I Choose Never Ending Footsteps?

Step Two: Setting Up Hosting

Step Three: Installing WordPress

Step Four: Logging In to Your Site

Step Five: Finding a Theme

Step Six: Getting Yourself a Logo

Step Seven: My Essential Plugins for Travel Bloggers

Step Eight: Your First Blogging Steps

How Do You Make Money With a Travel Blog?

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Travel Blog?

Is It Too Late to Start a Travel Blog in 2024?

Now Get Blogging!

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How to Start a Travel Blog

Step 1: Pick your domain name

Step 2: Sign up for a host

Step 3: How to Install WordPress

Step 4: Setting up your website

Step 5: Install your theme

Step 6: Create your main pages

Step 7: Join our blogging program! (optional)

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Choosing a Niche

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Coming up with your Blog Name

Setting up the Blog

Choosing a Blogging Platform

Choosing a Reliable Web Host

Customizing the Blog’s Look

Increase Blog Functionality with Plugins

Content Creation

Tips to Optimize Content for SEO

Photography

Travel Blog Monetization

Ways to Make Money from Your Travel Blog

How to Start a Travel Blog

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How to start a travel blog in 2024

How to start a travel blog

01. Choose the type of travel blogger you want to be

02. Pick a blog name and secure your domain name

Securing your domain name

03. Select your travel blog template

Travel blog website template 1 features:

Travel blog website template 2 features:

Travel blog website template 3 features:

04. Create a blog logo

05. Prepare your footage

06. Write your first blog posts

Editorial calendar

07. Engage with your audience

Social media

Word of mouth

08. Network with tourism partners and brands

How to reach out to brands:

09. Monetize your travel blog

10. Learn from the best (travel blog examples)