A successful travel blog is the dream for any young person wanting to live wild and free and on the road. Travel blogging lets you explore the world, experience new cultures, and live outside that standard 9-5 job of our ancestors. But getting started takes a lot more than a passport and a laptop!
Create Your Travel Brand
When it comes to a travel blog, your site is about more than just good content and great pictures. The entire blog should be focused around your specific travel brand. In order to create this brand, you’ll need to indulge in a little planning and introspection!
Names, logos, and content come along later in the process but the first thing you’ll need to do is define who you are and what your overall goal will be. As your audience grows, your brand will end up standing out and being recognized more than your content. The way you make your audience feel, act, or speak is all part of your travel brand!
Take a look at where you want to go physically in the world and what you want to accomplish through your blog. Once you’ve got your brand defined and an overall goal created, you can develop a logo, get a great name, and start churning out content!
Get a Website and Social Media
Any great enterprise starts with a little definition! When it comes to starting your own travel blog, that definition is all rolled up into how you create your travel brand.
The first step to a great brand, whether it’s travel blogging or a multi-million dollar company, is coming up with a catchy name. Once people see your blog or hear the name, it should stick with them! There are lots of different travel terms that have been overused so get creative! Think outside the box and create a name that will stick in your audiences mind long after they’ve left the page.
Since your travel blog is all going to be online, your website URL should be easy to describe and even simpler to remember. Your brand should be catchy, stand-out, and simple to access for anyone searching!
Coordinate your blog with social media tags as you build your total brand! In today’s fast-paced technology forward world, your social media pages are going to be your blogs lifeline. Before you settle on a name, brand, and URL, make certain that the corresponding social media tags and names are available too! There’s nothing worse than trying to make a name for yourself online only to find that your name is taken!
Create Good Content!
What’s a blog without content? Your website may be flashy, your logo may look great on t-shirts, and your adventures may be glorious and out of this world, but your travel blog will be nothing if you don’t have some quality content!
Quality content should reflect your voice and show of your story, first and foremost! Spend some time writing drafts of your first few posts until you find a rhythm and voice of your own. Make it short, sweet, and to the point when it comes to individual stories and anecdotes! Audience members may love a good story but most browse the written word on their way through so make it easy to digest.
In addition to your written stories and adventures, a picture is worth a thousand words on your new travel blog! Spend time sorting through all the pictures you take and put up those that reflect the story and enhance it the best. Invest in a bit of editing software as well so you can make sure those pretty pictures stand out on the web!
Monetize It
While you’re not likely to be heading out on adventures just for the money, making a little extra cash through writing and sharing your story is a great bonus!
There are several different ways to monetize your blog but the most lucrative is through commissions. As you travel, you’ll find products you use and love and developing a partnership with the company can end up paying dividends for you! Choose products you actually enjoy and use out on your adventures and make sure they line up with your brand and your blogs culture!
Takeaway
Travel blogging is something that seems simple but there’s more than meets the eye! The actual travel for your travel blog is only one part of the bigger picture. To be successful at this enterprise, you’ll need to create a brand, invest in a website and social media, create great content, and then monetize the whole thing to support your travel habit!
Happy trails!