➤ How to create a travel blog & earn money? (2024)

How to create a travel blog in 10 steps

People start travel blogs for a multitude of reasons. For example, some Love simply travel and want to start a blog to support their lifestyle. Others want to use a blog as a way to enter the tourism sector or become influencers - and there are dozens of intermediate reasons.

Here are a few reasons why you should start a travel blog.

Get free products : Travel bloggers usually get a ton of free stuff, including flights, hotel stays, sponsored trips, etc. It's a great incentive to start a travel blog for someone who loves to travel.
Earn money : If you follow the right strategy to build and develop your blog, you will soon be able to start earning real money with your blog through blogging courses, regular posts, announcements on social media channels, collaborations with other bloggers, etc.
Building an audience : For anyone who wants to build an audience in the travel industry, a blog is a great way to do that.
Share your experiences : If you're someone who simply loves to document your travels, you can use your brand new blog to share your travel blogging experiences and tips with the world and help others create their own.
Develop a community : When you start a travel blog, you can use it to create a community of readers who are engaged around the topics you discuss, like travel advice.

1. Determining the purpose of your travel blog

There are already plenty of travel blogs out there. But that doesn't mean you can't start your own successful and profitable travel blog.

All you need to decide how to start a travel blog is the right strategy and a simple, step-by-step plan to follow. This plan starts with choosing the objective or the managements of your new blog.

It's simply how you plan to position your blog. For example, you might decide to collaborate or create a community for travelers.

Maybe your main goal is to make money with your blog. Regardless, it's the first decision you need to make, as it will guide the rest of the process of creating your blog.

Here are a few ideas for how you can position your new travel blog:

Instagram influencer
Digital nomad
Addicted to adventure
Travel blogger”I literally don't have a house“.
Travel the world on a low budget
Focus on things like travel points, insurance, travel equipment, VPN, etc.

2. Choose your niche

The past few years have not been incredible years for the travel industry, but it's important to remember that the economy is one thing. Individual.

Some people don't make it at the best of times, and others build a successful travel blog and business at the worst.

If you're serious about getting into travel blogging, now might be the perfect time to do so in order to get out of the current global pandemic at the top.

Once you've decided on the purpose of your travel blog, the next step is to choose your niche of travel. A niche is a smaller, specialized segment of the market that you are going to focus on with your travel blog.

If you have a travel blog that tells everyone about everything and nothing, it will be difficult for you to rank on Google and other search engines because you will be competing with much larger sites. Indeed, you will be competing with much larger sites, which will prevent you from building an audience of engaged readers on your blog.

Instead, you need to specialize in a specific subject within a larger sector. In other words, pick a corner, and dominate it.

To help get your thinking started, here are a few ideas for travel blogging niches to consider:

Travel Tips
Create a kind of travel journal
Food//Evaluate restaurants while traveling
Safety when traveling to various locations
Assessment of accommodation during the trip
Travel necessities, such as insurance, VPN, etc.
Transport in different countries/cities

The list goes on and on.

You can even combine travel with additional aspects such as cooking, music festivals, historic sites, family vacations, traditional cuisine, etc. The theme of travel and fashion, in particular, is a trendy niche.

If you're having trouble finding a niche, consider travel sites and blogs that you love to visit.

Choosing the right niche will allow you to Finding the right niche products for sale on your website.

Make a list of the types of topics they talk about, and that should help you narrow down the number of topics you might be interested in writing about.

3. Choose your blogging platform

The next steps in learning how to start a travel blog can be a bit technical. But don't worry, I'm going through the technical aspects in a way that anyone can understand them, even those who don't have any experience designing websites.

Your travel blogging platform is the system that allows you to publish articles or posts on your blog. There are lots of different options to choose from, including free hosting platforms like Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, and blogging platforms. Paid.

Each option has its pros and cons, and while most newbie bloggers tend to choose a free domain name and free platforms, the fact is that these platforms have a ton of downsides.

Of course, they are suitable for anyone who wants to get a feel for the travel blogging experience without investing any money. But If you want to make an income from your own travel blog, you won't be able to do so using a free blogging platform.

On the one hand, these platforms look unprofessional (for example,”Mytravelblog.squarespace.com“against”Mytravelblog.com“), which will prevent you from gaining the trust of your audience, and people won't buy from you if they don't trust you.

Additionally, free platforms tend to display their own ads on your website, and these may not even match the type of content on your blog, which many readers might find unpleasant.

And If the host website were to go down, you would lose all of your content, and all of your hard work creating a travel blog would have been for nothing.

So what is the alternative?

I recommend using self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org). Here's why.

Reasons to use a self-hosted WordPress blog platform

The WordPress platform can be downloaded and used for free
It's easy to install WordPress in one click.
There are thousands of free and paid WordPress plugins to extend the functionality of your site.
There are affordable and premium themes for customizing websites without code.
You can monetize your travel blog in a number of different ways with a self-hosted WordPress account.
When you set up a WordPress blog, you get access to a fantastic customer support team.
Useful WordPress dashboard with everything you need for your site summary and status

Now that we've established that installing the WordPress web blog platform is ideal for your new blog instead of free hosted platforms, let's move on to the next step.

4. Choose your domain name

The next step you need to learn as you try to figure out how to start a travel blog is choosing a name for your travel blog.

The name you choose will serve as the basis for your brand, so it's essential to take this step seriously.

Try to stay away from buzzwords like “Wandering,” “Wanderlust,” “Vagabond,” “Nomad,” “Roaming,” etc. Instead, find unique, non-cliché words that will set you apart from other travel bloggers.

When choosing a blog name, you need to be creative while keeping some best practices in mind. I've written an article with all the advice you need to help you Choosing the perfect name for your blog.

Here is a brief overview of the main points of the article:

1. Buy a domain. com

There are lots of domain name extensions that focus on travel, including .travel,. guidebook,. Vacations, etc. But the best thing to do, in my opinion, is to buy a domain.com. It's the foundation of the web and it's what your audience will remember most easily.

2. Choose a broad name

The travel sector is vast and, although you should choose a niche Specific to this sector, you should still maintain a broad travel blog name in order to give yourself the opportunity to grow in the future; and remember to avoid choosing the wrong domain name or using the free domain name which will be a challenge for your reader.

For example, if you name your blog”Weekend Travels“, it's too narrow, and you will be limited in the number of topics you can discuss since it will only be about trips that can be taken during the weekend. On the other hand, a name such as”World Travels“will give you more freedom to write about more topics.

3. Be brief

It's always best to be short and pleasant. Make sure your name is easy to remember. To come up with a unique blog name, people often end up including long, complicated, or even foreign words.

But that's never a good idea. So instead, keep it simple for your audience to easily remember and type your blog name into their browser.

4. Use alliteration

If you can, use alliteration for the name of your travel blog. Alliteration is the act of having two or more words in a row with the same first letter or the same sound. For example, your travel blog could be called”Travel stories“or”Travel wonders”.

5. Get creative with your domain name

Most of the domain names you want will already be taken, especially short names that are one or two words long. So you'll need to get creative if you don't want to end up with a super long blog name.

One way to do this is to use a thesaurus, type in every word in your blog name, and get different words that have the same meaning to find something that fits together.

6. Add additional words

If all else fails, just add additional words like” the club “, "the hub “,” the world”, etc. For example, if you want the blog name to be”Packable Life”, you can add”The“to make some”The Packable Life.”

7. Think of a concept

When choosing a domain name for your travel blog, you should also think about a concept for your new website. Try to imagine what it might be like in the future and how it might be marked. This will help you come up with relevant name ideas.

8. Use name generation tools

If you're still stuck and can't find a name for your website, you can use domain name generation tools like Lean Domain Search, Name Mesh, and Instant Domain Search. All you need to do is type in a word, and these tools will provide you with dozens of ideas that you might not have thought of otherwise.

9. Don't buy a domain name

It's one of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to figure out how to start a travel blog. They see that a name they like is being offered for hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars, and they buy it.

It's a bad idea. You don't have a business yet, so why spend so much on a name? Instead, when you start a travel blog, you can buy a regular domain name for just $10 or $20 per year and then spend the rest of your money creating content for a new business.

Later, when you are profitable, you can then consider buying the domain name of your choice.

10. Don't get stuck at this point

A lot of people and most bloggers spend so much time trying to pick the perfect domain name for their new travel blog when learning how to start a travel blog that they never get past that stage. Don't let that happen to you.

Use the tips above to find a name you like for your travel blog site, then take the next step.

Don't spend more than two hours on this topic when you've started blogging. Otherwise, you will be plagued by excessive analysis, which is very stressful and a waste of your mental space.

5 examples of travel blog names (and why they make sense)

Here are a few examples of popular travel blogs to give you ideas when starting a travel blog, along with a brief explanation of why each domain name makes sense.

1. Nomad Revelations

This name was chosen to attract travelers who want to experience the nomad experience with advice from travel bloggers. It covers a wide range of locations across six continents.

2. Expert Vagabond

This travel blog has a unique and exciting name, which fits well because the creator produces content of the same caliber.

3. Thepoortraveler

This domain name makes it clear that the travel blog is for people who want to travel the world on a shoestring budget.

4. Alex in Wanderland

This clever word game helps create a memorable travel blog name.

5. The Points Guy

This travel blog is focused on travelers who are financially concerned, as the name makes clear.

5. Buy your domain name and hosting

Now that you've chosen your domain name, it's time to buy the domain name, as well as domain hosting from lots of different hosting companies, when you start a travel blog.

A domain name is simply the online address that visitors will type into their browser to access your travel blog.

Domain hosting is an online service that hosts your travel website files on its servers to ensure that your WordPress site is always available online.

As a travel blogger, I've created a detailed guide to the entire process of buying your domain name and hosting from hosting companies.

6. Choosing and installing a theme for your travel blog

Once your WordPress is installed, it's time to choose a theme for your travel blog.

Learning how to start a travel blog will always be a challenge, and choosing and installing your theme has proven daunting since a theme is a design model that determines the appearance of your blog.

A theme is a pre-established design for your blog that allows you to create your travel blog. Precisely like you want it, with menus, layouts, a logo, featured images, and various other design elements.

This way, you can create a blog that is unique and engaging for your target audience.

You can choose between free and paid themes when you start a travel blog. However, I recommend choosing a premium WordPress theme because it comes with a ton of benefits that will help you build a successful travel blog.

Here are a few things to look for in a good theme when creating a site:

Vitesse
Beautiful designs
Mobile responsiveness
Customization features
Known brand
Positive reviews and ratings
Reliable support

The good news is that all WordPress themes meet these criteria, and the best thing about them is that you don't need coding experience to create stunning professional websites. Instead, you can use a simple drag-and-drop editor to customize different aspects of your theme.

To help you in your search for a new theme, I've listed some high-quality WordPress themes below to create unique travel blogs.

WordPress Travel Blog Theme Options

1. wpVoyager - Travel Blog WordPress Theme

It's a premium travel blog theme for WordPress. It has a bold modern feel designed to appeal to eager travelers.

Among other features, it has Google Maps integration, which allows you to present different maps from around the world.

It also supports KML, a file format for displaying geographic data in mapping applications like Google Maps for mobile.

2. Roam - Travel & Tourism Theme

This SEO-optimized travel blog theme from Envato is perfect for all types of travel businesses. It comes with free plugins, including Slider Revolution and WP Page Builder.

With a single click, you can import a complete Roam demo site, and the powerful admin panel makes managing the site extremely easy, even for non-technical people.

3. Trawell - Travel Blog WordPress Theme

Trawell is a superb travel blog theme with all the smart features to build a unique travel blog, including a wide range of page templates carefully designed to suit different personal tastes.

With this theme, you'll be able to take your travel story to a whole new level thanks to layouts that are flexible, highly customizable, and fun to set up.

4. Travel Tour Booking WordPress Theme

This is a professional travel blog theme designed for travel agencies, tour operators, and travel bloggers of any size.

It offers great flexibility for creating circuits, allowing you to include as many circuit attributes as you want. You can then use this data to set up a search form on your website.

The theme is responsive and has unlimited color schemes. It also comes with lots of integrations with marketing tools like Mailchimp, WooCommerce, WP Page Builder, and more.

5. Backpack Traveler - Modern Blog

This travel blog theme is powerful and easy to customize. You can integrate Google Maps into any of your blog pages with a single click and pin the destinations of your articles directly to the map.

You have a wide range of amazing article variations, including beautiful, unique article templates, as well as a variety of blog list styles. You'll also find eye-catching blog sliders and features for editing videos, audio recordings, and much more in the theme.

7. Create essential pages and a logo

Once you've installed a WordPress theme, the next step in creating a travel blog will be creating the essential pages and publishing them so that your audience can easily find the information they need on your site.

Navigate to your WordPress dashboard and click Pages > Add New to add a new page. You can then name your page, add content, and click “Publish.”

Here are some of the essential pages to include:

Home page

This page allows readers to find out more about you. There is no need to go into details at first. Just give them the basic information, like who you are, why you started a travel blog, your goals for your blog, and so on.

Contact page

On this page, share information that will make it easier for your audience to contact you, such as your email address, phone number, Skype, social media credentials, etc. Add a form of contact so that readers can contact you without leaving your website.

Privacy Policy Page

Any blog that attracts readers from jurisdictions with privacy laws should have a privacy policy page that describes the types of information you collect on your blog and how you plan to use that data.

It is a good idea to have a privacy policy written by a legal professional to ensure that you are in compliance with laws protecting the privacy rights of your readers. You can also create a cookie policy.

Create a logo

Once you've created your essential pages, it's time to create a logo for your travel blog. A high-quality logo will make your blog instantly recognizable to your readers, and you can use this resource to create a free travel blog logo.

If you need high-resolution logo files, you have the option of paying a minimal amount to access them, along with a few other items that will help you build a stronger brand.

8. Start blogging

When it comes to creating content for your travel blog, you may think that with the number of travel blogs that already exist, everything has been said about all the exciting destinations that one can visit.

But that is not true. While there aren't a lot of undocumented destinations, even the most popular ones haven't been documented by YOU.

Your journey is unique, and if you can add your unique personality and style to spice up your stories and adventures with your brand of storytelling, your travel blog will stand out from all the others.

Here are a few suggestions for topics you could write about:

List items or list items : You can create lists of the best destinations to visit for readers in your niche.
Interviews : Conduct interviews with famous travel bloggers in your niche.
Image or video posts : Not all posts require text, and some of your blog posts may consist of images or videos from specific destinations.

When you start writing useful articles for your blog, try to choose topics from different travel categories. Make sure you have articles that focus on travel and topics in your niche, as well as the informational content.

Remember that people use the Internet to answer questions and solve problems. Therefore, share as many of your extraordinary adventures as possible and ensure that your messages help your audience in some way or another.

For example, maybe you can help them create similar experiences for themselves by showing them how to get there, giving them all the information they need, including:

Addresses
What trains should I take?
What stop to get off
How much do tickets cost?
Where to buy tickets

... and any other great tips you can share to help them create their own exciting travel experience.

If you can't find topics or categories to write about, simply visit other successful travel blogs in your niche for inspiration. Also, check out their social media to see which posts are the most shared and are getting the most engagement.

Write and publish at least 10 articles on your blog before promoting anything, so that first-time visitors to your site don't find a blog that's sparse and unprofessional in appearance.

You can write exclusive travel tips, chat with a successful travel blogger or professional travel blogger, and build a personal brand to make money blogging and doing what you love!

The more quality and diverse articles you have on your blog when you start promoting it, the more attention you can draw to your content.

Pro tip : As a travel blogger, you need to master the art of photography.

You need to take good photos and learn to edit them because no matter how talented you are as a writer, your words will never be enough to describe a destination and you will need to show your readers images of the place you are talking about. The easiest way is to find downloadable photos and to start using photo editing software to edit them.

9. Promote your travel blog

Publish and prayis not the best strategy for your travel blog. Learning how to start a travel blog wasn't complete without promoting it. Luckily, there are lots of ways to promote a blog, and below I've listed some of the most effective methods that work particularly well for travel blogging.

Tell your friends and family

The easiest way to start promoting your blog after it's live is to share it with friends and family.

It's a great way to get the word out about your new travel blog and start attracting visitors. To quickly become a successful travel blogger, you can ask everyone in your network to share it with their own circle of friends and family to give you even more exposure.

Social networks

The social media marketing remains one of the best ways to promote a new blog. If you already have profiles on various platforms, use them to promote your new travel blog.

If that's not the case, create profiles on the platforms where your target audience hangs out and start publishing interesting snippets, images, etc. from your blog post in order to direct readers to it.

Pinterest, in particular, is a great site to use as a travel blogger: moreover Pinterest allows you to automatically create pins.

Unfortunately, your Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook posts will soon be buried under newer, fresher posts. However, your pins have a much longer lifespan, making this social media site essential for putting a travel blog in front of more people's eyes; even Google Analytics can help you search for critical information to post on social media.

Groups and forums

Social media groups and online forums are great ways to promote your new blog. Search for [your niche] + [group/forum], and join relevant groups in your specific travel niche.

Interact with other users, and over time, you'll be able to include a link in your bio or discussion posts to get people to visit your blog.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the best ways to attract traffic to your blog. However, it takes some time to start seeing results, especially if you are a beginner.

To find out more about What is SEO, numerous articles will help you on this blog as well as numerous growth tips.

Numerous SEO software will give you simple tips to improve your SEO such as SEMrush and SE Ranking.

Guest Posting

The Guest posting In blogging it's about writing for others blogging in your niche in order to strengthen your reputation thanks to Backlinks and to increase traffic to your own site.

Search on Google line”Guest posting” + travel,”Submit an article“+ travel, or”Write for us” + travel, etc.

Then, make a list of a few popular travel blogs and sites in your niche that you'll be writing about over the next few weeks or months.

This makes your content available to a whole new audience, and the more consistent you are with this method, the more traffic you will bring to your new blog.

Paid ads for your blog posts

Google is the main source of traffic for most beginning travel bloggers. But, if you have the necessary budget, it's always a good idea to invest in bringing a steady flow of traffic to your new blog.

It will help you develop at a much faster pace. You can start by advertising on social media, including Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Twitter Ads, and more.

10. Start earning money

Once you've mastered the art of driving traffic to your travel blog, it's time to monetize those visitors using some of the most influential monetization methods for travel blogging.

These include:

Advertising networks

To start earning ad revenue, you can sign up for Google AdSense or others advertising agencies like Ezoic, Media.net, Adsterra, etc.

Once your account is approved as a growing and successful blogger, the ad network will start serving ads to your blog visitors and you will get paid for each ad view or click. Over time, this will become a steady flow of passive income that will grow as your blog and audience grow.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is critical to creating a successful travel blog.

It consists of promoting other people's products or services to the audience of your own blog. Each time a sale is generated, a commission is paid to you.

As a travel blogger, you can join affiliate programs for travel blogs like TripAdvisor, Booking.com, and Amazon Associates to sell anything you want, from flights to hotel stays to travel gear, insurance, and more.

You can also sign up for sponsorship programs for websites or apps you really like, and promote them on your blog. For example, the Honeygain app offers a referral program, where you receive a share of the profits for each referral you make. It's perfect for bloggers who have an audience, and it's also a completely passive way To earn money.

Product feedback

As a travel blogger, you can monetize your blog by writing product reviews for various brands. Generally, successful travel bloggers get a ton of free products, including hotel stays, flights, travel gear, etc. and you'll find that your chances of getting free products increase as your blog and audience grow. You can even use Google Search and Google Analytics, which offer detailed analytics to help you find products to evaluate and gain audience.

Selling travel related products

Another effective way to make a profit from your travel blog is to sell travel-related articles that your readers will enjoy. These could be e-books, courses on blogging, travel, webinars paid, travel photos, printable documents, virtual tours, travel applications, etc.

Besides digital products, you can also sell physical products such as clothing, mugs, diaries, and notebooks, as well as branded items, while maintaining a travel blog.

Members-only content

Another way to monetize your travel blog is to create a membership portal where paying members can access unique content and resources, such as stock photos, videos, how-to guides, tips, tricks, etc. that you don't post on the rest of the blog.

It is an effective way to create a source of Recurring revenue while blogging travel, but it requires you to create membership content regularly.

Freelance Writing Travel Blogs

Successful travel bloggers supplement their blog revenue by writing for other publications. The travel industry often pays well, and you'll find lots of work on websites like Matador Network, Lonely Planet, Go Nomad, Transitions Abroad, National Geographic Traveler, and more.

Besides freelance writing, you can sell lots of other services on your new blog.

For example, by working to build your travel blog, by creating a blogging course, by writing travel tips, by joining a support forum, you will develop numerous marketable skills, such as social media management, web or graphic design, word-of-mouth marketing, email marketing, Google analytics, SEO, and many more. Additionally, you'll be using additional tools such as theSPF authentication for emails, social media coverage, planners, etc.

There are lots of people who are willing to pay for these skills, and this will help you make money while your blog continues to grow.

Summary

Starting a travel blog can be scary, especially if you're doing it now, when the world is still struggling with the effects of the global pandemic.

But, with this strategy in hand, you have everything you need to build and grow a profitable blog.

And remember that travel blogging takes time, and the hard work you put in now will deliver phenomenal results in the months and years to come.

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Other recommended reading: If you want to go even further, you can read my article on the best affiliate programs, the best travel affiliate programs, the best website creation tools Or even the AI copywriting tools to write more effectively.

How to create a travel blog & earn money? (2024)