Travel blog for beginners
“Always be a beginner at something, and always be in love with what you are beginning.”
— Bill Buxton
Do you read travel blogs regularly and wish that you had one of your own? Do you want to document your trips and memories?
It is time you should start travel blogging. A good beginning is half the task. Combine your traveling passion with the love of blogging.
Blogging is a platform where writers share their views on an individual subject. An overwhelming 77% of Internet users regularly read blog posts. (Impact)
Travel Blogging is writing diary-style travel entries, adding photographs and videos of your trips, and self-publishing it online.
People mostly read blogs because they’re looking for solutions to the problems, learn a new skill, get advice, update themselves, and more…
Beginners should know that the average reader only spends 37 seconds reading a blog post today. Readers scan for the information they’re looking for and are not likely to read a full blog from start to end. Hence, you should have rich and searchable content that will have answers for what they are looking for. Another important thing to remember is that Travel blogging is a crowded world, and you should stand out! You should provide useful, valuable, and accessible travel content to people.
The most important part of blogging is undoubtedly the content creation, the writing. Do thorough research on Google about the current trends in Travel and Tourism. Study the pattern, understand what the readers are asking, read various blogs, and find your niche and expertise.
Let us now understand how to start a travel blog. It is relatively easy.
Step 1: Define your purpose
Step 2: Choose a perfect domain name
Step 3: Set up hosting for your blog
Step 4: Install WordPress
Step 5: Log in to your website and understand the dashboard
Step 6: Install a wonderful theme of your choice
Step 7: Have a professional Logo and Banner
Step 8: Install important and essential plugins
Step 9: Create main pages of your travel blog
Step 10: Write your first-ever post
Each step is important and may feel overwhelming. Take it one step at a time.
Have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve from the blog. Blogging can be done as a hobby or you can earn money from your blog. Travelling is your passion and now you can share this passion with like-minded or share it to inspire. You can also choose to raise brand awareness by generating more traffic to your travel website. You can generate leads for your travel and tourism products or services. Clarity of purpose will help you choose a good domain name for your travel blog
Your domain or website name should suit your aim and your personality both. The name should be short and simple. The URL you choose should be easy to remember. It should stand out and convey your purpose! Book your domain with the company of your choice; the popular ones are Godaddy, Namecheap, BigRock, Google, Dynadot, etc.
Check if you can get the .com domain as much as possible. It is not mandatory but people are used to searching with .com extensions. Also make sure that the name of your site is available on social media networks, mainly Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Once you purchase your domain name, you need to register it online and buy hosting. Hosting is a space on a server or computer so that your blog can be accessed on the internet. You will have a wide choice to choose between hosting companies like HostGator, Hostinger, BlueHost, A2 hosting, and many more.
The next step will be to install WordPress – an open-source content management system (CMS) and free Web publishing application. It is a blogging platform built by a community of developers and contributors to make it easy for people to blog!
It is the biggest platform in the world, with unlimited plugins, add-ons, layouts, and numerous ways to design your blog. There are more than 82 million active users of WordPress. Your hosting company will give the necessary directions to install WordPress. You will generate the username and password for accessing your travel blog.
Go to yourdomainname.com/wp-admin and log in with the username and password.
The welcome screen of the dashboard will be seen and you are good to go.
On the left-hand side, you have all of the important tools:
Dashboard – The main administrative area for your blog
Posts – To write your travel articles
Media – To add and view your media libraries like trip photos and videos.
Pages – To add useful information like an about me or contact page. These are fixed, static pages on your site
Comments – To approve, reply or spam comments on your articles
Appearance – To change the look of your blog. Install a new theme to suit your taste. Add sections to your sidebar
Plugins – To add extra features and functionality to your travel blog
Settings – To change your site settings
A good blog needs both, a good content and a good design. The first impression is of utmost importance. You can choose between a free WordPress theme or a Premium theme. You can check the themes from OceanWp, Themeforest, Rarathemes, Elegant Themes, etc.
To install your theme, you should go to the left-hand column, click Appearance –> Themes
Create a logo for your travel blog. It is very important to have a professional logo, header, and a banner. Try to use the same on your social networks to show the connection and it also helps to brand. You can create a logo by yourself using free tools on the internet or by hiring a professional designer.
Akismet – It helps reduce spamming and the junk comments on your site
SEO plugin – Choose any of the best SEO plugins for your travel blog. Yoast SEO, All in One SEO, Rank Math, SEO Framework are the popular ones
Google Analytics – Very important for any blog or website, Google Analytics helps you to know who your readers are, where are they from, and which content of your travel blog is more popular.
Social Sharing Plugin – You will need a good social sharing plug-in for your readers to share your interesting content. The popular plugins are Novashare, Social Snap, Social Warfare, Mash Share, Easy Social Share, etc
Jetpack – This multiuse plugin can be a spell-checker or used to add contact forms, extra widgets, and much more
Interactive World Maps – A paid plugin that helps you have a map on your blog and showcase the places you have visited
The reader needs to know who the blogger is, what does s/he does, why this blog, what should they expect in the blog, and where to get in touch with the blogger. Adding this information is the most important step before you start writing your first post.
Create the following pages
About Page – Tell your story, what your blog is about and how it will help your readers
Contact Page – Details of where to get in touch with you
Privacy Page – Create the standard user agreement page, cookie policy, and applicable laws
Copyright Page – Let readers know that you own this work and not to copy it.
Most of the things are in place now. You can start writing your first post. Let it be about the topic which you are passionate about. Tell the readers why you like to travel. What is your motivation, where have you traveled, where will you be going next? Once you’ve written it, start sharing and publicizing it on social media — Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Choose readable fonts
Check your grammar. Grammarly is a great tool
Plan and organize your layout
Make your post easy to access and easy to scan
Use high-quality images and videos from your own trips
Consider the page loading time
To summarise, in travel blogging your aim should be to become a great resource for your readers… your writing should be both trustworthy and unbiased. Travel Blogging will keep you on your toes… You want your readers to come back to your blog and find something exciting and fresh to read. It will make you do something worth writing and sharing. You will be attentive and very observant on your trips. You will take note of the smallest details as you will know the importance of the same. You would like your readers to know it all beforehand. Your travel blog will be a great way to let your family and friends know exactly what you do when you travel and what you write. It will also be a host to memories to look back on in the future.
Keep blogging and write about all your trips. If you choose, it will eventually open doors to freelancing, free hotels, free trips, extra money from advertisers, and help create an amazing lifestyle. A lifestyle which others envy!
Mr. Hanif Sama has recently started a wonderful travel blog http://heartofawanderer.com to share his travel experiences, tips, reviews, photos, and videos to help you in planning your travels. He was a successful Tour Leader and has visited about 43 countries in his travels of over 10 years.
His blog is surely an inspiration for anyone who wants to start a travel blog to share their experiences and inspire others. His notable posts are – How to Plan a trip to Russia and Selecting the right Eurail pass both a must-read.
The links are as given below.
So, that’s an inspiration to start travel blogging… Today !
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