Wondering how to start a travel blog, or even whether you should?
If you’ve always loved the idea of jet setting off to beautiful beaches or awe-inspiring mountains in a faraway land, and getting paid to do it, then starting a travel blog is definitely a viable option.
But in a post-pandemic, AI powered world, are travel blogs even a thing anymore?
The answer: absolutely.
Travel is a huge niche and there’s no reason at all you can’t add your own experiences and stories to the mix.
Just look at the word ‘travel’ in Google Trends, compared to say ‘entrepreneurship’ or ‘cryptocurrency’ – both huge niches in their own right.
Jeff Bezos once said;
“I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.”
So what won’t change in the next 10 years? Not withstanding another global pandemic of course, travel!
People will always go on holidays, extended breaks, staycations, etc.
And when they do they’ll want to know the best places to visit, the best things to do in their chosen destinations, and look for recommendations and stories from, guess who?
You! The experienced and interesting travel blogger!
So, if you’re currently just thinking about becoming a travel blogger, don’t delay! Learn how to start a travel blog today!
Read on for a step-by-step guide to starting your own travel blog that stands out from the crowd, attracts an audience, and generates life-changing income!
How to Start a Travel Blog in 8 Simple Steps
1. Choose a Travel Blogging Niche
Before you become too entrenched in learning the technicalities of how to start a travel blog, it’s essential that you define a clear identity, for yourself and for your travel blog.
In the earliest days of blogging, you might have been able to get away with writing a generic travel blog, and attracted followers and traffic just because you were talking about all things travel.
But now, there are thousands of travel blogs out there, each one angling for people to pay attention to their packing tips, city guides, and travel hacks.
In order to build a successful travel blog, you need a unique angle that will help you stand out from the rest.
The best way to approach choosing a niche for your blog is to think about what kind of audience you want to attract.
Sit down and write a page-long description of your ideal reader, answering questions like:
- How old are they?
- What’s their gender?
- Where do they live?
- What’s their travel budget like?
- What kinds of vacations are they into (luxurious beach resorts, backpacking off the beaten path, or somewhere in between)?
You don’t have to pull all this information out of your own mind, in fact, you’ll be better off if you do a little research before finalizing your reader persona.
Visit places where your audience might hang out, like social media groups and forums. Read Amazon reviews of travel books. Check comments on travel blogs that you already like.
What kinds of interests or problems jump out to you? What commenters do you resonate with?
Find patterns between them, whether it’s their demographics, common interests, or topics that seem to keep popping up.
Digging into real-world conversations surrounding travel can help inspire you to choose a travel blogging niche that already has a potential audience.
For example, you could choose a topical niche, like budget travel, food travel, or ecotourism destinations.
Perhaps there’s a personality trait or characteristic that you can approach all of your posts from, like being a parent, a “starving artist,” or a digital nomad?
Those things work as a niche too, since you’re speaking to a narrow audience that resonates with that characteristic or trait.
Use my customer avatar sheet to dig into the kind of person you want to attract to your travel blog. The most important questions to answer are – ‘What do they dream about?’, and ‘What’s their biggest fear or challenge?’.
Nail those and you’ll nail your content strategy.
2. Choose a Name and Your Travel Blog Domain
Next on your journey of learning how to start a travel blog, try to pick a blog name that’s both catchy and unique, and one that tells readers what to expect without putting you in a box.
For example, if you go with The Broke College Student, will that angle (and name) limit you once you’re in your late 30s and trying to land sponsorship deals from luxury resorts?
You may decide it’s better to choose an adjective that describes your attitude rather than a literal state of being that may change in a few years.
My advice is to focus on a core value or trait you hold that’s not going anywhere.
Maybe you used to be a lawyer, like Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads.
Or maybe you’re a plus-sized traveler and want to make the travel space more inclusive like Jeff Jenkins of Chubby Diaries.
Here are a few tips for choosing a name:
- Avoid cliches (“nomad,” “adventure,” and “wander” are all over-used at this point)
- Avoid making it hard to spell (which means you should avoid numbers, hyphens, or punctuation marks)
- Try to choose a .com domain if possible
- Include keywords that you want to rank for
- Keep your domain name length between 6 and 14 characters
- Use a trademark lookup tool to make sure you aren’t choosing a trademarked brand name
- Use sites like Knowem or Namechk to check whether the name is also available as a handle on all the major social media platforms
I love namelix.com for choosing a brand or blog name.
Simply add your main keywords, the length you want your blog name to be and then select a style.
Namelix, will generate a whole screen for ideas for you to peruse and choose a blog name.
Then head to a domain registrar to ensure the domain is available and to purchase your brand new blog domain name.
You’ll need to buy it from a reliable domain registrar, so make sure the one you choose is accredited with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Some of the most popular domain registrars include:
- Bluehost
- Namecheap
- Google Domains
- Domain.com
- NameSilo
Some web hosting platforms offer a free domain name if you use them, so before you pull the trigger, you may want to decide on which host you’ll use and see if you can get a domain through their platform.
3. Select Your Travel Blog Hosting Platform
My firm recommendation for your travel blog hosting platform is WPX Hosting.
It’s what this blog you’re reading now is hosted on and in my opinion is one of the fastest hosting companies on the web today!
Here’s how one of my chunkiest blog posts rates on Google page speed currently since switching to WPX.
Add to that they have the fastest customer service experience on the web.
If I have any kind of challenge at all, I simply logon, the live chat is available 24/7 and the customer service agent responds within seconds. It’s awesome!
Created by an online business owner for online business owners, the founder Terry Kyle, who started the platform after becoming disillusioned with the hosting options available online.
While it’s not the cheapest hosting company, it’s undoubtedly the best value for money, as speed is of the essence when it comes to search engine optimization and being found in google search.
The basic business package hosts up to 5 websites, so it’s unlikely your travel blog will ever need to go beyond the basic business hosting plan.
WPX also makes adding a self-hosted WordPress account super easy.
After you register for your hosting plan, you’ll simply click a button to install wordpress and within a few minutes you’ll have a brand new travel blog online!
WPX isn’t your only option of course (just your best!). There are many different hosting companies to choose from for your travel blog.
Here are some other popular (and cheaper) hosting platforms you might want to consider:
- BlueHost—The most popular solution in the US, UK, and Canada, especially with beginners. It has consistent performance and uptime. Plans start at $2.75/month.
- GoDaddy—This platform is great for beginners, with 24/7 phone support and a one-click WordPress installation. Shared hosting starting at $6/month.
- DreamHost—Very highly rated, customizable, and fast. The pricing is also very transparent, with a 97-day money-back guarantee. Shared hosting starts at $2.59/month.
4. Build the Foundations of Your Travel Blog
In the next stage of learning how to start a travel blog, it’s time to lay the foundation for your successful travel blog.
The simplest solution is to hire a cheap web developer, to design and build your brand new travel blog from scratch.
However, there are plenty of user-friendly website builders out there that let beginners create their own blog without any knowledge of coding.
I recommend the behemoth of the blogging industry;
WordPress
WordPress is the world’s most popular website building platform.
Keep in mind that there’s a difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com—but in a nutshell, WordPress.org is the better choice if you plan to build a large audience and monetize your travel blog.
It’s a self-hosted content management system (CMS) that gives you ownership over your site.
With WordPress, you can use one of the popular drag and drop page builders like Generate Press, Elementor, or Kadence to build your site and choose from 50,000+ free plugins to customize your wordpress blog even further.
The downside to WordPress is that the system has a bit of a learning curve compared to the other options below, including keeping up with updates, website backups, and plugin updates.
However, once you’re up and running the wordpress platform is the most customizable, intuitive, and user friendly blogging platform for travel bloggers.
Picking a WordPress Theme
You can either pick a free theme from your wordpress dashboard or pick from thousands of beautiful travel blogging themes using a simple page builder like Generate Press or Elementor. (I use Generate Press).