Travel blogging is a hugely popular practice in today’s world. With influencers popping up left, right and center, anybody with a camera and a creative flair can become a travel blogger. Traveling the world can be extremely rewarding and exciting, whether you are exploring, learning or on business matters. It sure is no secret that travel broadens the mind, helping to increase awareness of different cultures, become more mindful and experience new concepts. In order to make a successful business out of a blogg, you will first need some skills that you can use to give your blogging career a headstart.
1. Find your audience
Learning to find your audience is a great place to start in your travel blogging journey. While it may seem that travel blogger simply fall into a ‘travel’ category, there are sub-categories which you may fall into. For example, there are luxury travel bloggers, who may recommend the best yachts to rent in Saint Tropez, or how to find the best floating villas in the Maldives. Of course, a luxury travel blogger most likely won’t find their audience by marketing to college students or those who haven’t left school yet. It’s all about finding your audience who can relate to your content. Another example may be ‘affordable travel’ – this is a popular category where bloggers find the best deals or excursions while on a budget. Of course, this category of travel blogging can be very popular, with consumers demanding more and more affordable vacations. This makes it quite a competitive category to involve yourself with. You may choose to specialize in extreme adventure sports around the world, for example. Find your niche and try and attract individuals who share similar interests and aspirations which may find your content useful.
2. Create well-written content
While this may seem obvious, some bloggers jump straight into creating a website without knowing how to create an engaging sentence. Consider a writing course or at least some online research about how to successfully structure a blog post or informative article. You’ll need a certain flow of writing to keep your content engaging and your readers wanting more. This may require consistent practice and learning as you go to find out which articles are most successful. This is one of the best ways you can grow your travel blogger’s reputation. Creating well-written, authentic and inspiring content will help keep readers sticking around for more.
3. Identify an SEO and digital marketing strategy
With the age of digital marketing in full swing, it is vital you hop on to the new methods of marketing. Gone are the days of discarded leaflets and door-to-door sales – as a travel blogger, your platform is online, therefore you will need to understand the ins and outs of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) in order to grow your travel blog through organic searches. This way, new readers will find your blog through search engines such as Google and Bing, which helps to increase your influence in the blogging world. This can be a tricky concept to navigate at first; it might be worth investing in an online course such as one from this website. This can help you to fully understand and utilize your new online venture and make the most of search engine marketing and social media.
4. Take lots of photos
You can never have too many photos. As a travel blogger, you will benefit from lots of photos to break up text and better demonstrate your adventure. Not to mention, these photos are excellent for social media too, to showcase to your audience your experiences and what you enjoy doing. Let’s not forget the obvious one too – travel photos are beautiful. There’s nothing better than looking at photos of gorgeous serene blue oceans, dense and earthy rainforests or icy ethereal glaciers with cascading waterfalls. Everybody loves a beautiful landscape photo; take lots of them wherever you go.
5. Put in the time and effort
As with many ventures in life, you will not see results immediately. We all need to put in effort and perseverance in order to see success, no matter what the scenario is. This is no different with travel blogging. In fact, to be a successful travel blogger, you’ll need to be persistent after you realise that success won’t’ happen overnight. Many professional travel bloggers tell of the long nights and working evenings to keep producing quality content in line with a consistent schedule. Many fall off the bandwagon and find it disheartening, however, many professionals have explained the secret is persistence.
6. Research new and interesting places
Your audience is going to get a little tired if you visit or write about the same sorts of places over and over. It’s important to keep things fresh as a travel blogger. Find somewhere new that hasn’t been talked about yet in the industry; do some exploring and find something off the beaten track. This way, you’ll be providing new ideas and set yourself apart from other travel bloggers. You will stand out and potentially gain new inspired followers while keeping your existing followers interested.
7. Remember to enjoy your time
It can be easy to get tied up in being successful and earning a living from a travel blog. However, for most, starting a travel blog comes from a place of passion and inspiration. Most importantly, it’s vital to not lose sight of this passion and enjoyment. If you find that you’re getting overwhelmed or uninspired, take a little bit of time away from your blog in order to refresh. As with any profession or job, it can be easy to get burnt out, so step away and return to your writing and marketing when you feel inspired to do so again. After all, if you’re not enjoying it, you might as well be back at your 9-5 job. Refreshing your inspiration will help you return to your content creation with a fresh mind and new ideas.
So, these are just seven tips that you can use in order to improve your chances at becoming a successful travel blogger, or if you would like some tips before starting in order to see what is involved. Whether you choose to take an online class or learn through practice and experimentation, that is up to you. If you have a true passion for travel blogging, give it a go and see how it goes – there’s nothing worse than looking back and regretting that you didn’t try something. Indeed, you might find it works well for your lifestyle and you can make a good living out of it. Why not give it a go?
