If you’re looking for a step-by-step guide from where you can learn how to setup a travel blog? You’re definitely in the right place.
When I first started travel blogging, I spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours reading blogging guides, studying other travel blogs and even buying several e-books.
I don’t mind researching things, but what frustrated me the most during this time was that there was no place for travel bloggers to go and learn the trade.
After months of frustration, I finally decided to build one myself.
I’m far from an expert in travel blogging. In fact, I’m only just getting started and I learn something new every day. This article is merely a compilation of everything I’ve learned, a place for me to document everything as I go while also giving me the opportunity to share that knowledge with you as well. Let’s get started:
Step-By-Step Guide to Setup a Travel Blog
- Choosing a Blog Name
There are many things to think about when choosing a blog name. You might have already chosen a name, or you might have been trying to think of one for the last 3 weeks; whatever the case, make sure you consider all the possibilities.
- You could possibly use your name
- You could use part of your name.
- You could create your own travel brand.
- You could use a search engine friendly name.
In the end, only you’ll know if it feels right. Go with your gut – it never fails.
- Choose a Web Host & Register Domain
If you want a travel blog, someone is going to need to host it for you. This will cost some money.
Yes, there are free hosts out there like tumbler and wordpress.com. However if you want to build a serious, successful travel blog these are simply not an option.
Tell me, which looks more professional,
Not only that, free hosted blogs are far more difficult to customize and even harder to monetize. If you’re just blogging for fun, then yes, I’d highly recommend you use a free service. If however you want to build a serious and successful blog, there is no substitute for self-hosting.
- Installing WordPress
By far the most popular blogging platform for travel blogs is WordPress. WordPress is free and has great support all over the web, so unless you have a personal vendetta with them there really isn’t any good reason not to use it.
Installed? Awesome. Let’s start blogging.
- Choosing a WordPress Theme for your Travel Blog
Now that you have WordPress installed, you can start creating your website!
Every website on WordPress runs on something called a “theme”. A theme determines how your website is laid out and makes it easy for you put together a good looking website with a few simple clicks. In this post we’ll talk about how to install a theme, and the pros and cons of using free, paid and custom made themes.
When it comes to themes, you get what you pay for. Some free themes look great but there are downsides to this:
- Your design won’t be original because thousands of other people will be using the same theme as you
- Sometimes developers of free themes stop updating them so you’ll be left with an outdated theme
- They’re generally not quite as pretty as paid themes
- The support for free themes is usually lacking or non-existent
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with starting out on a free theme until you know exactly what you want your blog to look like.
Most successful travel bloggers use a custom made yet paid theme. This ensures your website is unique to you, which oozes professionalism. Wandering Earl is a good example of a travel blog with a custom theme.
Developers are typically very expensive, with some charging up to $100 an hour. The best advice I can give you here is to outsource! Freelance websites such as Fiverr or Upwork are full of excellent WordPress developers at a fraction of first world prices
- Creating Pages & Posts
Some pages that your travel blog must have are:
- About page – Tell your audience about yourself, who you are and why you are writing for them!
- Contact page – Tell your readers that they’re welcome to contact you and your details (an email address is fine).
- Resources page – Most travel bloggers give travel advice, such as how to find flights, accommodation, travel friends etc. If you plan on doing this, it makes sense to have a resources page, where you can list the tools that you use and recommend.
Now that you can create pages, you need to learn how to write a post.
It’s important to organize your posts into categories, which helps your readers find what they’re looking for. How you categories your posts is up to you. Some bloggers categories by destination, for example:
- Europe
- Africa
- South East Asia
- South America
Others categories by subject;
- Travel tips
- Travel stories
- Travel news
However you categories is up to you, but just make sure it’s suitable for your content. Also remember, posts can be put into one or more categories, so if you had a post about travel advice in Africa, it could go in both the Africa category and the Travel Tips category.
- Find Your Identity as a Blogger
Probably the most important thing to consider before writing your content is this:
Who are you?
What’s your message? Why would anyone want to read your blog? There are literally thousands of travel blogs out there. Do you think people really want to read another generic blog post about “10 things I did in Amsterdam”?
Of course not.
So you need to ask yourself, what do I want to be known for? What will I be an expert on?
Some overpopulated travel topics:
- Thailand
- Backpacking and budget travel
- South East Asia
- Just travelling in general
- Round the world trips
Some underpopulated niches:
- Travel cooking (especially traditional foods)
- Africa
- Travel hacking
- Cruises
- Middle East
- Volunteering
You’ll be able to see the themes here – everybody loves going to Thailand, and it’s a hugely popular backpacking destination, so is it any wonder that pretty much every single travel blog has posts about Thailand?
By comparison, hardly any travelers venture through the Middle East, learn to cook traditional food, or volunteer, so there’s only a handful of bloggers who write about this. This is what will make you unique and bring readers to your site.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should never write about Thailand, and that you can only start a successful travel blog if you write about Africa. It just means you should think about what makes you original and why people would choose your blog to read.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you’re passionate about your chosen niche because if you’re not, your blog will never last. Blogging is hard work, but it should be fun too, so make sure you enjoy what you’re writing about.
Conclusion
You’re finally ready to start writing!
Remember – travel blogs take months or even years to become successful. That means you should take your time. If you’re a writer, take the time to write epic content.
If you’re a photographer, take the time to handpick epic photos. Make sure your blog starts off filled with great content. If you do, you’ll definitely start with a bang, and that content you launched with will still be bringing in traffic several years from now.
