Travel enthusiasts make the blog one of their favorite sources of information. Consulting a blog is like dreaming about your next destination or finding the right addresses for your holidays. The reader, often informed, wants experience, concreteness and emotion. Writing a travelogue means giving a multitude of practical details, valuable assets for fine-tuning your itinerary.
You live your travels intensely. You arrive overflowing with enthusiasm with the desire to recount your misadventures or your memorable memories. In short, you feel like a blogger and create a travel blog becomes obvious. It’s true, it seems easy at first sight, but how to do it concretely to achieve it? And above all, how to sustain and monetize it?
Embarking on the blogging adventure: with what ambition?
Share your passion for travel
The story often begins like this. The feeling of living unique moments and the exaltation of discovery provoke an irrepressible need to tell. You want to share it with your family or friends and keep a lasting record of your wanderings. You get caught up in the game: your photos are neat, you note interesting places, while new smells and flavors still awaken your senses. The practical information, the route spiced up by the story of positive or negative experiences constitute a valuable roadmap for other travelers. The idea of sharing it with a wider audience came quickly. You already have in mind a myriad of articles on the budget to plan, the means of transport or the curiosities not to be missed.
Reveal your universe and enhance your image
This is the personal space where you talk freely about your passion. You can send the messages that are important to you on ecology or responsible tourism, for example.
But the blog is first of all the writing, a tone, a point of view, photos or music chosen in your image. The reader finds your imprint there and understands your motivations. He has the impression of discovering you, of following you. The interest thus aroused promotes membership.
It’s also a valuable tool for showcasing your skills beyond the blogosphere. The knowledge acquired in written expression, shooting or video reflects your dynamism, your desire to learn and create, decisive qualities on a professional level.
Creating a travel blog: the first steps
Overcome technical difficulties
Do not panic, it is possible!
Putting your blog online requires a content management system or CMS (Content Management System). If you are not familiar with digital tools, opt for one of the many platforms where the creation process is simplified (hosting, domain name, etc.). WordPress.com, Blogger.com or others, dedicated to travel, allow a smooth start.
The other possibility is the open-source version of WordPress, WordPress.org. You will pay for the hosting, the domain name, but it remains the ideal device to give free rein to your imagination and design a strong visual identity. The diversity of themes and functionalities provided by the plug-ins frees your creativity.
Once these steps have been completed, you can tackle the structure of your blog with headings and categories (ranking by continent and by country for example). In addition, the sitemap necessary for indexing on Google is essential.
Think about essential pages
The very essence of blogging is sharing. It is therefore important to introduce yourself, hook the reader and give him the opportunity to contact you.
In the “About” page, talk about the reasons that led you to create your blog, highlight the strengths of your story related to travel. Your specificities and your temperament must show through. You print your mark. Think about your editorial line. How do you approach your travels? What holidays are you like? This can be ecotourism, “slow travel”, luxury travel or backpacking. Or, you prefer a mode of transport: “road trip”, train, bicycle, etc., you roam around with children or solo, this is the particularity that you must highlight here. It immediately indicates your common thread.
Two other pages are more succinct: the “Contact” page where you leave your contact details. This is important for getting feedback and interacting with your audience.
Finally, the “Legal notices” page with the references of the host and information relating to cookies. You can also specify that it is forbidden to reproduce content without your consent.
Write a travelogue, content and form
Have you thought about your organization? ghostwriting services on the spot or with a little hindsight, on the way back from the trip? A blog must be fed very regularly to be visible on the internet.
If you write over your tribulations, your information will be more complete and still impregnated with your feelings of the moment. On the other hand, you will have to constantly monitor your computer. Otherwise, at least take notes each evening with your impressions, your addresses, your enthusiasms or your disappointments. Also mention what you missed, a point you hadn’t thought of in the equipment or in the organization. All the useful tips for the future traveler, the misadventures and comical details will hold your attention. A touch of humor or anecdotes will allow you to bring out your personality.
Take care of the vocabulary and the style without going immediately to an advanced SEO. The quality of the texts, a clear title and intertitles already make a difference. You can then train on SEO (Search engine optimization) to gain visibility. Blogs are proliferating. If your pages are well structured and your writing worked, travel enthusiasts will appreciate.
When creating a travel blog, also think about illustrations. You have surely escaped by looking at the photos of your favorite blog. Like you, your readers seek to feed their imagination. All these factors are elements of differentiation that impact the loyalty of Internet users.
Bring your travel blog to life
Promote your blog through social media
Once your blog is launched and has reached a certain maturity, relay your articles on social networks. Do not hesitate to post them several times at different times of the day to reach the maximum number of Internet users. Install the extension that allows you to place forward buttons at the bottom of the page.
- On Facebook or Twitter, encourage sharing with a “call-to-action”. Also read: The call-to-action button: everything you need to know
- On Instagram and Pinterest, highlight your most beautiful photos. Polish your posts with a catchy title and a snippet, a catchy phrase from your blog.
- Become more effective on Pinterest: Tips and tricks to be visible by publishing targeted content on Pinterest
You can also solicit bloggers to publish a guest article on their sites or comment on their publications. You will gain notoriety.
Finally, create an opt-in to offer your newsletter. You will collect the emails of your readers and will be able to warn them as soon as a new text is published. Build momentum!
Professionalize and monetize your blog
It’s another step. Your blog has come out of its break-in period. You publish at cruising speed. No downtime, when you are away, you schedule your publications. Your newsletter is in place and you are starting to gather a small community of fans. It may take a year or two, you have to be patient. This is when you can generate interest from brands and initiate affiliation. By recommending a product or service, you will earn a commission for each purchase made through your site.
A label can also order an article from you or a tourist office will offer you the travel costs in return for a publication on the destination. In this case, always mention that it is sponsored content. And above all, be honest, don’t betray your readers by advocating something you wouldn’t use yourself. I’m not talking about advertising which can have a counter-productive effect by interfering with reading or so, use it sparingly. In conclusion, living from your blog takes time. It is possible with a lot of work and patience. You still have to be able to support yourself in the meantime. Far from being obvious, the search for income is not what should guide you at first. Discussing your passion, allowing other travelers to benefit from your experience and participating in a community that shares your values and your desires, this is a sufficiently exciting motivation to create a travel blog and blog sustainably.
Keep It Simple
When you’re just starting a travel blog, quality matters over quantity. Don’t add menu options for galleries or topics you plan to create after you take your site live. Make sure any section or page you publish is complete, curated and intentional. Remember that although people want to hear about your experiences, they also want to feel a connection and trust with the traveler behind the website personalization is often a much better strategy for connecting with your readers.
