Every person who loves to travel knows, at least intuitively, that travel is good for them. The excitement of going to new places, doing new things, and meeting new people will revitalize you like nothing else. Even scientists would agree that traveling has plenty of benefits, including lowering risks of depression and relieving stress.
But people also need to share their experiences with other people. Social media is the go-to solution for travelers who like to let other people know what they were up to. But it’s not the only solution. If you are a person who likes to travel, and you want a way to share your adventures in a more in-depth way, blogging could be the right choice for you.
Blogging is also really useful for business and especially so for travel businesses such as vacation rentals or tour guides. Blogs can tell prospective clients all about the business and local information along with tempting offers and great photos – all good sales tools.
Taking the First Step — Finding a Concept
Starting a travel blog is much easier than you would imagine. It’s so easy, in fact, that many other people are doing it right now. The most important thing you need to understand about starting a travel blog is that you will face a lot of competition. You will be fighting for an audience against people who are years ahead of you in terms of blog development.
That shouldn’t discourage you, however. It should make you work smarter. You will need a way to stand out from the crowd. That’s where having a concept, or picking a niche, comes in handy. If you like a minimalist travel style, you might focus on that as your niche. You can also try to find another interesting angle that will help you differentiate your blog from the others.
Pick a Good Name for Your Blog
Your blog will need a name. Choosing it is a crucial step in creating your blog because your blog’s name will also serve as its domain name. There is a whole set of guidelines and best practices for picking a great domain name. You should keep in mind that your name should reflect your niche. It’s also not something you want to change often, if ever, so pick well.
A sound strategy when picking a name for your blog is to come up with several options. You can then use a domain name search tool such as whois to ensure that your name of choice is not yet in use. Having a backup name in case your first choice is already taken is a good idea. Having a backup name in case your first choice is already taken is a good idea. Once you have determined that your domain name of choice is available, you will then have to register this before your blog goes online.
Choose a Platform
The most popular platform for blogs, websites, and online stores is WordPress. You can look up the list found here for all the reasons why WordPress is so great. The fact that around 30% of all websites are made using WordPress should be convincing enough, though.
WordPress will allow you to set up and customize your blog easily. You don’t even need a lot of skill to do it, although you will eventually have to learn a lot about WordPress and blogging. Plus, you can improve WordPress functionality by installing plugins that can help with everything from search engine optimization to social media automation. There’s also the option of using a booking plugin to streamline your calendar with your client meetings.
Start Putting in the Work
Up to this point, you have had it easy. You chose a niche, a name for your blog, you registered a domain name, picked a hosting provider, and settled with WordPress as your platform. Now you can start doing the real work of starting a blog.
If you want your blog to hit the ground running, you should already have a couple of months’ worth of content. For a travel blog, content should be in textual as well as photographic and video forms. These types of content require time and money. If you want your blog to be successful, you cannot write subpar articles and post bad photos. You need to practice your writing skills, and you need to invest in a decent camera or at least a smartphone that has one.
And it doesn’t end with that. Besides having to create content, you will also have to do a couple of things to promote your blog online. You should set up social media pages for your blog, you should learn at least the basics of SEO, and you might even want to think about getting paid ads on social media or search engines. Any of these methods will give your blog a much-needed increase in visibility.
When all the pieces start fitting together, working on your travel blog can become an incredibly rewarding experience. You can create a nice community around your blog, meet new people, and create a space where people will be able to share knowledge and experience. If it goes really well, you can even start making money off of your blog. But you’ll never know if you don’t take that first crucial step and start thinking about how you can create a travel blog unlike any other that’s already online.
