Starting a travel blog requires effort and sacrifice because travel bloggers often give up their first year to tour around the world. During the first year, travel bloggers earn little or no income from their travel blog. It goes beyond writing and uploading posts, you must know every detail involved in traveling to a particular destination, and you must be familiar with key locations around the place.
Although blogging is digital work that takes time to yield income, you can start earning immediately if you are smart about it. The majority of the students have often gotten it wrong when writing about their traveling experiences because they get too excited in revealing every detail, including those that come across as irrelevant. However, you can buy cheap custom essays written online to get a quality travel write-up. Below is a step-by-step guide on how you can start your travel blog right away.
Step1: Determine Your Niche
The mistake many bloggers make when starting up their blog is not having a niche to follow. Niche is vital in blogging if you want to get your blog ranking on Google Metrics and easily seen by readers looking for information on your niche. Even when some bloggers know the niche, they find it difficult to stick to it, whereas a travel blog should cover a single specific location.
For example, your blog can be about “China Travel Blog,” it may even be something gender-specific like “Female Travel Tour or Lesbian Couple Travel Guide.” Once you know your niche, you have a solid foundation to start on and build further.
Step2: Come up with a Unique Blog Name
This is the critical part. Your blog name is the attraction that helps your audience find you. However, before you name your blog, take a deep breath and take your time to determine what you want to name your blog. If you find it difficult, get a platform that can help you choose the right name which gives expression to your niche. Remember, a niche is useless when your blog doesn’t have a proper name.
Tips on how to pick a good blog title
- Check if no one has used what you have in mind.
- Keep the name simple.
- Do not use a famous name. Find a unique one.
- It is ideal to use .com or .net as they are straightforward to find.
Buy the Domain Name and use WordPress Optimized Host
This is the crucial aspect of blogging, buying your domain name, and from a reliable host. A trustworthy blog host over the years has been WordPress. For clarity, a web host is a platform where your blog is built for your audience to view. It is through the web host you can upload necessary documents and design the templates of your choice. And when the design is done, you can begin to upload your write-up contents.
Also, the domain name is what you intend to name your blog, and it is your identity on the World Wide Web (www). It is the name people tend to find you with, and it is the popularly known abbreviation called URL (Uniform Resource Locator). For example, if your desired name is American Travel Guide, your domain that will appear on the web domain is https://www.americantravelguide.com. There are two types of hosting:
Types of Hosting
- Shared Hosting: It is a hosting platform where your website is hosted with other websites. An example is Duda, Kajabi, Godaddy, etc.
- Virtual Private Server (VPS): It is a hosting platform meant for your website only, and that is why it is advised to use WordPress. Other examples are BlueHost, WPEngine, Cloudways, etc.
After you have done this, update your site to use the latest PHP version through the following steps:
- Login to your cPanel account
- Click on 1H Software section -> PHP Version Manager
- Click on the directory you would like to modify, the blog PHP version. It automatically applies to the sub-directories.
- Click on the directory name
- Choose the highest PHP version and click Save
This helps your website to get into Google Analytics for a good ranking. Also, install plug-ins like Yoast SEO, Jetpack, Akismet, AutoOptimize, and Contact Form 7 to help analyze your content to see if it is well-written for SEO ranking.
Pick a Beautiful Theme to Design Your Blog
Remember, it is a travel blog, which means you must use a design that portrays it as a travel blog. The exciting part is that you will find professional themes in WordPress free, which you can choose from. However, if you want something more advanced as your theme, you will have to choose from the premium, which costs around $60. Get someone who understands WordPress design to put you through this if you do not know about it.
Design a Smokin’ Logo
A well-designed logo is your trademark for your travel blog. Therefore, consult a professional graphic designer to help you design a professional but simple logo. Remember; keep your logo simple so that anyone can easily relate to the content.
Write Awesome and Unique Content
The purpose of a blog is to share information, and your travel blog is not excluded. The following things are compulsory and essential in your blog post:
- Create a Landing Page: It is the entrance to your blog whenever a potential client visits. Therefore, ensure it is filled with eye-catching posts that can stir the reader’s curiosity to inquire further.
- About me page: It provides a glimpse of what your blog is all about and the ethics it is operating on. It is a direct message to your audience about your blog and area of specialization.
- Blog posts: This is write–up that gets you ranking in the SEO metrics, and they must be travel-related. It must be focused on the area your blog is centered on and must be written in clear language.
Important Notice
Write a unique blog post. If your post is not unique, Google will de-rank your blog. Also, use optimized images that will quickly load your blog when viewers are trying to read.
Build an Online Presence
A blog can only grow if it has a strong online presence aside from Google ranking the blog. The ideal way to boost social media presence is through social media, and these are the platforms you should focus on:
Running a blog is not an easy task. Therefore, you must be mentally prepared for the challenges that may come your way. However, what frustrates travel bloggers mostly is the writeups they put on their blog. It is essential to have a good grammar foundation because it helps your readers to comprehend your work. You can check for a free online writing course that can help improve your writing ability.
