So, you’re off on a once-in-a-lifetime trip (or even just a jaunt to the next town over) and want to start a travel blog? Here’s what I wish I’d known before I began my travel blog.
1. Define Your Purpose
People start travel blogs for many different reasons. Mine was initially set up to keep my friends and family up to date on my trip, provide a record for myself and scratch my writing itch. Other people want a place to showcase the best of their photography, to network with other travellers and bloggers and some people strive for fame and fortune. Whatever your goal, try to have a clear purpose at the beginning to help you position and design your blog for those needs.
Of course, your blogging purpose may change over time – after a year I realised I had enough experience and material to help other travellers, which seemed a better purpose than boring my friends and family with yet more intolerable tales of endless days on exotic beaches. If you think you might have it in you to keep your blog going long-term, try to develop your site with flexibility in mind.
2. Consider Your Audience
Initially, almost all blogs are going to be aimed at your friends and family but if you ultimately want to reach a broader audience, consider who your readers might be – family travellers, flashpackers, silver surfers, bargain basements backpackers, all of the above (now there’s a challenge). If you’re looking to get traction on your site, consider your audience and write with them in mind. Ultimately, your blog should be less about you and more about your readers and what you can do for/offer them.
3. Think About Your Blogging Name BEFORE you start
If you intend to blog under your real name and that name isn’t particularly common, you probably won’t have a problem. However, if you decide to choose a pseudonym, like ‘Indiana Jo’ (no, that’s not my real name in case you were in the slightest bit unsure…and I’m not even from Indiana), you should do some basic checks before you commit:
- is another blogger using that name (you don’t want to create blog and audience confusion)?
- is your intended blog name available on the social media networks you might want to promote your blog on (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc.)?
- is the URL available, in case you eventually want to buy your own domain name?
Unfortunately, I didn’t do too well on this front when I started out, using the snappily titled (or so I thought) ‘Jo Blogs’ pseudonym. However, not only was this already an incredibly popular name, the domain name was already owned by an employment agency ‘Job Logs’ (a waste of the domain name if you ask me!). As a consequence, I’ve been through at least one blog name re-brand, confusing my readers in the process and still don’t have consistency across social media networks to promote by blog name – this is still very much a work in progress for me!
Picking a blog name – I see lots of comments in forums from new bloggers that ‘all the best names are taken’. They’re not. That’s the beauty of creativity. You don’t need the words travel or wanderlust in your name. Have a beer with friends and do some brainstorming. I bet you stumbled across the best name. Ever.
3. Pick Your Platform
(Top marks if you figured out there are two #3s in this post…it took me a while. However, I’m just going to stick with it rather than cutting out some vital tips to get this back to a 10-list article!)
This is perhaps the biggest tip I wish I’d had. Before I started my blog, my computer experience comprised Microsoft Office and the use of Google to book holidays. Typing ‘start a travel blog’ into the aforementioned search engine blinded me with options and I settled with the one that, at the time, seemed easiest to set up (a platform called Weebly).
However, as I continued to blog, I quickly realised that my first choice of platform was too demanding for my impossibly slow Latin American internet connection prompting my first migration, to Blogger.
Over a year later and having stared in envy at the various plugins and whizzy features on other travel bloggers’ sites, I took the plunge and moved once (well, actually twice) more – to WordPress.com (first the free version, then the self-hosted version, WordPress.org less than a month later #fail).
In the process, being the I.T. novice that I am, I lost my RSS subscribers and the good Karma I’d generated with Google, which sent people to my site. In short, I committed blogging suicide (did I mention: #fail).
Although I’ve recovered my traffic, it involved a lot of hard work, I can’t emphasise strongly enough the importance of picking the right platform at the beginning. From my experience, the ‘best blogging platform’ is WordPress and for most start-up blogs, the free version will be sufficient, with the potential to migrate to the self-hosted, more technical and whizzy version down the line.
However, here are a few extra articles to help you decide which is the best blogging platform for you.
Blogger versus WordPress.com from makeuseofus.com
Whether to go with WordPress.com (free and hosted) or WordPress.org (paid of self-hosting but more whizzy) by Problogger.net
And, check out the comparison chart from MakeAWebsiteHub as well as a brilliant summary of the pros and cons of the latest blogging platforms.
What about hosting?
There are so many companies out there to choose from and making a decision can feel a bit like throwing an arrow at a target in the dark. I currently use BigScoots and I couldn’t be happier. They’re not the cheapest option but they are the best choice in my view. Instead of a large company, this small team is on hand to help whenever anything goes wrong. In my case, all problems have been ironed out within 24 hours. They even help with installing plugins so you don’t have to fiddle around. Also included in the fee is some development time each month so they’re constantly working on improving your site in the background. Perhaps best of all was the fact that they took my site speed from a 1-minute load speed to a matter of second. Vital if you want to rank well on Google and stop your readers clicking off.
If BigScoots is a bet too spendy for you right now, Blue Host is one of the most affordable and best value-for-money hosts out there and a very popular starting point for new bloggers.
Companies I would suggest you avoid (which I’ve used and regretted) include Go Daddy – the ex-CEO used to be a trophy hunter, proudly killing an elephant for fun. Urgh. I also signed up for a 2-year hosting deal with Arvixe and immediately saw my site uptime plummet with it going offline several times per day. My load speed also ground to a halt. Sure, the hosting is cheap but it’s a false economy. I ended up leaving only 6 months in with no refund.
4. Pack The Right Kit
I confess to being a bit of a techno junkie. My problem is that I never started out with a plan for what kit to take, resulting in me picking gadgets along the way with each performing a different function.
If I were to select my travel kit from scratch, I would suggest the following:
- a decent camera: you’re going to take a lot of photos and images are the most visually appealing part of your blog. I love my Sony Nex, now the Sony Alpha because it’s the right combo of high-quality shots thanks to manual functionality and interchangeable lenses, but with great portability (I can fit it in my handbag).
- a long-term writing device: ok, that may sound a bit vague, but as tablets and netbooks merge in function and size, personal preference can dictate your needs. If you rely on a tablet alone, make sure you have a separate keyboard (tapping out long posts on the screen can start to jar). Also, consider that iPads don’t have all of the functionality of a laptop, the main limitation being the inability to download software other than through iTunes, so consider whether an Android tablet or netbook is better.
- connectivity: at first, hostel and café Wi-Fi is likely to be all the connectivity you need to upload photos and publish posts. However, as you build your audience, you will want to keep them updated with more than just posts (pictures on social media on the move etc) so a 4G mobile connection can become important. I currently manage mobile connections via my iPhone and mobile wi-fi (with varying degrees of success).
Top Tip: make sure that your device is unlocked so you’re able to slot in a local SIM in each new country you visit.
What you don’t need – an expensive laptop. Although I own a Macbook Air, you don’t need to invest in expensive kit to get started.
Here’s what I travel with:
- MacBook Air
- Sony Nex
- iPhone
- Portable External Hard Drive (2TB for all those photos)
You can read about the 10 travel gadgets I wouldn’t travel without here.
You can find all the products mentioned in this post on my Travel Store.
5. Prepare For Hard Work
I had grand plans for my blog before I set off on my travels and the first few posts went up fine. But then my trip took over and without someone writing the posts for me, and with me too busy lazing in a hammock, I quickly realised that nothing was getting done. Cue: two solid days spent catching up on a month’s worth of posts.
The reality is that travel blogging requires a lot of effort. Even if you’re quick at generating ideas and committing them to screen, it still takes several hours per week to get a post live. If you do more than a couple of blog-worthy activities per week, it’s easy to see how travel blogging can turn into a full-time job. And that’s without any of the money-making stuff like pitching brands and affiliate marketing. Of course, blogging needs to be balanced with travelling – not an easy task to achieve. Which leads me to…
6. Be Consistent and Constant
If you don’t want your blog to turn into a full-time job, with your travels and fun suffering as a consequence, the best way to tackle this is to set a realistic schedule. For example, I used to post twice a week and I got into a good rhythm but it was too time-consuming. These days I post one longer article and spend the rest of the time on marketing and pitching.
To publish once a week when I’m on the road, I try to work in the morning and do sightseeing in the afternoon. If I’m out for a whole day one day, I make up for it with a whole day in the ‘office’ (a café/my hotel room/hammock). The rest of the time I will grab opportunities between activities/draft posts while I’m sitting in bed at night (as I’m doing now).
The key is to give your readers a constant drip feed of content. I was very bad at this at the beginning when months would pass without a single blog word…followed a long time thereafter by a blogging marathon. Fine, if that’s how you work best. Just schedule your bulk-written posts to give a more seamless and consistent view to your readers.
You might want to check out my articles on How to Work and Travel – 20 Tips for Digital Nomads.
A word on the look and feel of your blog
For at least a year my WordPress Theme was an ugly mathematics-style graph paper background with a lurid red logo. Did I choose it because it looked good? Hell no! There were plenty of prettier themes out there but the one I choose – which is the same theme I still use now believe it or not – had the right layout, font spacing and size and function I was after.
I later paid a friend around £250 to redesign the look and feel of my site, create a logo and pack of documents (Word for invoices, Powerpoint, business cards etc). If you have a friend who can do this for you or you have those skills yourself, do that. If not, there are plenty of design companies out there.
However, don’t let designing your site stop you from creating content. Some of the top blogs happen to be the ugliest things to look at but they’re not winning traffic for a pretty home page, they’re pulling in readers for their top-notch stories and travel tips.
7. Promote Yourself – Shamelessly
Unless you’re treating your blog like your personal diary (which is perfectly fine, though be sure you have your privacy settings high if you’re sharing really deep and personal stuff), you’ll want as many people as possible to read your blog. While it’s lovely that Aunty Mildred reads your every blogged word with enthusiasm (and provides the occasional one-finger typed response in your comments box), what you really want is other travellers, wannabe travellers and bloggers to read your stuff and say ‘Wow, that’s cool’ or ‘that’s helpful’.
Unfortunately, as a new blogger, traffic to your site can be low, which means you’re unlikely to pop to the top of Google’s search results when someone taps in ‘awesome travel blog’. So, it’s down to you to tell people about your blog and its awesomeness. Do this enough, sharing your work on social media platforms, and eventually, the traffic will come.
Updated for 2019:
In the past 7 years, I’ve knee-jerked from one piece of advice to another, following social media platforms as they rise and fall, and losing valuable time in the process. I also spent my early blogging years using no social media, which was equally doomed because, with one Google algorithm change, I lost half my traffic overnight.
Here’s what I’ve learned about promoting my blog:
- You’re going to have to experiment and find what works for you – but don’t do this casually. Get Google Analytics set up (free course here) and monitor where your traffic is coming from.
- Find the social media platforms that work for you – it’s not a great secret that it will probably be the platforms you enjoy using. For me, that’s Pinterest. For a lot of people, it’s Instagram. Facebook used to be number one for bloggers but these days you get very little promotion on Facebook unless you pay. This brings me on to…
- Be aware that we’re moving into a pay-to-play world. So, pick your favourites but diversity. When Facebook stopped sharing posts that you didn’t pay to advertise, many bloggers were furious. Enjoy the ad-free platforms while you have them but don’t build your future on them.
- Don’t waste time on the ones that don’t work for you – yes, social media numbers are something you’ll need to grow, so start growing a base of followers on the main platforms but if a channel isn’t giving you clicks or getting you paid gigs, why waste your time on it? Focus on your strengths.
- Go for organic growth – Instagram is awash with people touting six and seven-figure follower numbers. Look closely and you’ll find most of those followers were bought to give the Instagrammer social proof. But brands and followers are getting smart to this, and they don’t like being duped. It’s a slower process but organic and engaged trumps big and bought.
- And leaving the most important for last – learn search engine optimisation. A Facebook post might get you some traction on Thursday but a post that shows up in Google search on page 1 is going to bring you a lot more traffic in the long term. Here’s a good place to start.
These days I focus my efforts on SEO and Pinterest and I’ve had posts go viral on each of them. I play around on Facebook and Instagram but they are not where my strengths lie so why bother investing energy to become mediocre in a space that’s already hyper-competitive? Play to your strengths.
Warning: the ‘if I write it, the readers will come’ is a great philosophy and it can work in principle, especially with promotion. However, remember that 428 pictures of you standing on a mountain or outside various cathedrals, together with a description of your daily routine will only gather so much interest (unless your daily routine involves getting dressed up as a purple gnome, which has a bit more interest to it). Write with your audience in mind – remembering that you’re there to help them and inform them about your travels, not bore the pants off them – and they should come back for more.
Tip: if you’re looking to manage your social media in one place and schedule social posts in advance, I like Buffer for its simplicity. And for Pinterest I use Tailwind.
8. Get Ready To Become An IT Expert
As I mentioned, my I.T. skills were somewhat lacking when I first started out. Domain names, self-hosting, Search Engine Optimization, 401 re-direction and Google Analytics were all foreign concepts to me (and, on occasions, still feel that way). However, unless you have magically managed to monetize your blog early on, you’re unlikely to want to spend cash on an I.T. expert to do the techie stuff for you.
Blogging is a wonderful activity, whether you choose it as a hobby, career, or something in between, but the plain reality is that behind every blog is a website and in order to run your blog, you need to get to grips with running a website. Depending on your technical dexterity, this can take anywhere from a little to lots of time.
But fear not, I would wholeheartedly say that if I can manage a blog, anyone can. There is plenty of information available online – it’s often just a case of time spent to work things out and, if you have techie friends, don’t forget to call on them. It will be a fair trade, because next time they want to book a trip, all they’ll have to do for destination inspiration, is take a look at your blog.
Data security on the road
I use Express VPN to give me a secure network when I’m working in cafes (especially if I’m fiddling around with money). It helps immensely that Express VPN lets me watch Netflix from any chosen country I want – hey, a girl can’t be working all the time (or if you want an alternative, try Nord VPN or Pure VPN). And for internet security, you might want to check out Avast or AVG.
9. Keep Your Wi-Fi Addiction In Check
I will admit to having turned down an adventure or two through fear I’ll be away from wi-fi or the internet for too long…and I realise in hindsight this was a mistake. Part of the beauty of travelling the world is getting off ‘the grid’, out into the backwater, up a volcano, into a valley, onto a hut-dwelling island or other remote place on earth.
If you engage in such activities, you’ll undoubtedly want to blog about them but don’t worry about connection – a pen, paper (Moleskine notebooks are the perfect size) and torch-light can serve you well when electricity doesn’t and you’ll be able to commit the experience to the web when you’re back to modern civilization. Take your blog seriously, but don’t let it define your travels.
10. Making money from your blog
Let’s be honest, many of us who start a blog have the hope or dream of turning it into a profession or at least earn a bit of money or some ‘freebies’ for all the hard work. And while you are unlikely to have your blog pay for your trip in the first year of starting out, if you are serious about becoming a professional blogger there are some things you can do.
First of all, you should think about getting some professional training. I paid for a professional course and I would say that move really shifted me out of hobby blogging and put me on the paid blogging path, and I’ve not looked back.
Some people write content for paying clients, others trade hostel work for beds, some work part-time as teachers, some others live off savings or do myriad online jobs like web design and translation. The important thing to do is manage your expectations. Your blog is very unlikely to fund your trip from the beginning or even in the short-term and you should plan your budget with that expectation in mind.
Want more? Check out these 10 Tips On How To Be A Better Blogger – this is the stuff I’ve gleaned from spending a weekend with some of the most successful travel bloggers in the business.
What now? Link to your blog in the comments below!
Of course, your next step is to go forth and blog (taking all the above tips into account). But don’t forget to leave a link to your blog below together with a bit about yourself – if nothing else, you’ll pick up at least one new reader (me!).
If you like this, you might also like:
- 15 Best WordPress Plugins for Blogs
- 20 Tips for How to Work and Trave -20 Tips For Digital Nomads
- Transitioning from Gap Year to Long Term Travel and the Challenges in Between
- Why I Don’t Regret Quitting my Job to Travel
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Photo credits: Keep calm
How might I change my trip without paying an expense? As indicated by Southwest change flight policy, You are permitted to change your trip in the span of 24 hours of booking with no flight change charge. Likewise, that relies upon the kind of your ticket and you will be expected to pay the flight change expense.
Hi Emily, it will all depend on what your airline offers. I’d contact them to discuss. Hope you manage to fix it.
Thank you for such an informative guide, lots of useful links for me to explore.
I plan to travel next year and thought it would be fun to make a personal diary, one where my friends could chose to view rather than having to view on Facebook. So my first job in hand is to get my thinking cap on and come up with a name …. how do I check if the name is already in use? ‘Google it?’.
Thank you
Hi Kerrie, how exciting and what a lovely idea for your friends and family and also as a log for yourself. You can use a domain registration company like 123 reg to check if a domain is already being used. They will also usually suggest alternatives if yours is taken. Good luck with your travel and blogging adventures 🙂
Thanks a lot….
You’re welcome!
Thank you so much for the informative article! There really are a lot of things to consider when starting a travel blog that I didn’t even think about before. You’re so right about choosing the right name before you start too. I couldn’t think of anything and was literally holding off on starting a blog just because I couldn’t think of a good name. Now, I just started a new travel blog named , so I hope I’ll still be happy with the name in the future. 😀
Thanks for all the great tips, I’ll definitely implement them in my blog!
Hi Lena, you didn’t include the name, ha ha. But anyway, congrats on finally hitting publish 🙂
Wow! Such an articulate post it is! I am a fan of your writing. Being a new writer, it’s always good to see inspiring posts like this. I am a management graduate and write for 12th pass students for various career options. I write for a good blog: I want to write about a lot of things out there, please guide me on how I can become a good blogger.
Hi Megha, happy to help. My tip would be to keep practising. See what works and what doesn’t. And enjoy 🙂
Hey Jo, First of all I want to say excellent blog! I am definitely going to use them in my personal blog
Thanks – have fun blogging!
Thanks Jo, for the great tips! Recently I have been thinking of starting my own travel blog and this has really helped me! Can’t wait to start now! thanks a ton
Hi Amit, happy to help and good luck!
And instead off placinng yor url as links use your pimary keywords as Anchor One way links.
Publish the blog with RSS feed and allow others to join for your informative substance.
Use Google to choose a site in order to do that.
You do need to take a little care about over-optimising your anchor text. I’d say that’s not one for newbie bloggers to focus on straight away but thanks for the tips and comment.
The landing page is absolutely crucial should you want to make
quiick money online. I located this book within the piles at the local
Salvation Army thrift store. Your page needs to
look professional with zero errors.
In 2021, I’d say your landing page needs to be fast and mobile friendly, which no longer gives much scope for landing page design. Zero errors is a great goal but I’d also opt for 80% perfection for the sake of getting something online.
Wonderful article. I really enjoyed reading it. I will definitely implement these useful tips in my travel blogging. Thanks fro sharing this informative aricle. Looking forward to reading more of these.
Thanks Stella, happy blogging.
Gute Seite. Danke.
Wilkomen 🙂
Not everybody can share their failure. I just start the way to be a blogger so you just help me so much. Thanks a lot very appreciate.
Good luck!
Jo,
Thanks for the blog. I am still confused. I just started my blog website (through dynadot) and am still not sure if I still need WordPress and why. I went on their website. It seems like wordpress is another hosting company. I did not see any option to install WordPress. What am i missing?
Hope to hear from You!
Hi Marko, it is confusing and it will depend what you’ve bought with Dynadot. Here are the common elements: 1) domain name e.g. IndianaJo.com 2) blogging software e.g. WordPress or Dynadot’s own software where you write your posts 3) hosting (the place in the cloud where your blogs are stored. The confusing bit – you can buy various combinations of these three elements. For example, if you go direct to wordpress.com, you can get all 3 together, often for free (if you don’t buy the upgrades). Dynodot might give you 1 & 3 and give you an option to use their software of WordPress’ software. Or you can get all 3 separately, which gives you the most control over your blog but is often too complicated when you start out. I hope that helps? Look back over what you’ve bought and installed and you should be able to unpick it. Good luck.
First off I want to say excellent blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you do not mind.
I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your
head before writing. I have had difficulty clearing my
thoughts in getting my thoughts out there. I do enjoy writing but it just
seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or hints?
Cheers!
Hi Ahmad, great question. It really depends what I’m trying to write. If it’s fiction, I jump in and go back and edit later, accepting that what I write first is only a draft and the job of the draft is to be terrible. For travel/non-fiction, I outline to break it down e.g. a guide for visiting the Statue of Liberty, I’d think of the sections I want to cover from what to see, how to get there, ticket types and visiting tips. If you’re really blocked, try conscious stream of writing for a few pages – no purpose to the writing just putting what’s in the head down on a page to clear some brain space. Hope some of that works. Also, 15 minutes is not a lot of time to waste! I’ve spent entire days procrastination. You’re doing well 🙂
Hi Jo! Your blog post is awesome. But I have a problem. I’m a Nigerian from West Africa. I have not travelled abroad before. But I have this profound enthusiasm for travel blog, tell me do I stand have a chance? Or what niche do you suppose?
Hi, have you thought about writing about your home town? Either for people who want to visit or for local people? That’s a good place to start if you’ve not travelled abroad yet. Hope that helps.
Hello! I just published my very first blog post and I found this, along with many of your other posts, very helpful as I’ve been searching for answers while taking that first step into the blogging world!
I will be posting new content every Friday, and as my blog grows I would love for you to make your way to my page if you find the time! Thank you!
Thanks Katie, I’ll check it out.
Jo, your comment on choosing a blog name carefully is 100% true. My old blog was living, breathing proof of that!
I started a personal travel blog titled “Microadventures with Nick” and I kept getting people on my Facebook page asking “who the hell is Nick?” It was a real shock to me but makes so much sense now. I changed the blog to “Southwest Microadventures” and now it seems like my content is taken more seriously than before.
I’m just starting out again but it’s so funny how choosing the right blog name makes a difference to readers! Plus I feel much more authoritative and confident now too!
Anyways, great article and site! Keep up the good work! I’ll be subscribing now for sure! 🙂
Ha ha. Glad you’ve got it sorted.
Glad it was helpful – I’ll stop by and check out your blog! Good luck on this new journey!!!
🙂
What is a sponsor or guest post price ?
Hi, I don’t sell sponsored posts or guest posts. Everything I recommend on here is a genuine recommendation from something I’ve tried and like. Sorry but I personally think sponsored posts are awful and trick travellers into buying things that are recommended based on money received rather than being genuine suggestions.
Great info, good thanks .
Thanks.
This was very informative. Thank you. I am a travel blogger from Kenya and my website is kemzykemzy com
I would love if you check it out and tell me what you think.
Thanks Kemzy, I had a look at your blog – nice design and layout. My top tip would be to get your site set up for https instead of http – google gives priority to secure sites. Your blog host will offer an SSL certificate and upgrade for you. Good luck!
Hi,
Excellent tips! Thanks for sharing this post!!!
You’re welcome. Good luck with the blog!
Hello dear
Love the inspirational list! Envious of these bloggers. Would love to start my own soon!
I am confused over blogger and WordPress. Since, blogger is free and it also allows affiliated links along with adsense so i am a little hesitant about WordPress. Since WordPress has more plugins and i can host my blog and there is no threat as google slap in case of blogger. But rest every thing i can do on the blogger like having custom domain name etc.Thank you for posting such a good article.
Hi Astura, taking the first step can seem daunting but you should go for it. The main difference between WordPress self hosted and the free options you mention is control. At the beginning this will matter less but if you goal is to monetise your site, you will eventually want WP hosted. There’s nothing stopping you trying blogger now and moving later. It depends whether you want to spend the time learning one platform then moving to another. If you do want to try it first, I’d try WordPress (free) which will be easier to jump up than crossing platforms. Good luck.
very interesting, good job and thanks for sharing such a good blog.
Thanks!
Thanks for this amazing information.
Thanks.
Thanks for the suggestion. Keep sharing. Travel blogging is not so easy as it seems to be.
Thanks
Hi,
Thanks for this! It was very helpful! I recently started a travel blog but been a bit slow on the content front! Also, I need to start using Pinterest!
Would love if you can check my blog and share your thoughts : talesandmiles
Hi Tejaswi, Ive just checked it out – I love the clean design. I’d just focus on getting a bit more consistent on your posting dates. Good luck!
Hey, this was super awesome and helpful! I am actually launching my travel blog today and so I’m learning new things everyday, but this was extremely helpful! Come check me out at Dianni Travels
Marvelous work!. Blog is brilliantly written and provides all necessary information I really like this site. Thanks for sharing this useful post.
Thanks 🙂
Thanks, Jo – what a thorough and helpful post! Having recently started my own travel blog, I really appreciate the candid view of the hard work that goes into it (my learning curve was rather steep as well). I definitely struggle with the tension between “writing just to write something” and “writing something I care about writing.” So far, I’ve elected to follow the latter because I have to write about what inspires me which is probably not the best for SEO and traffic, but it is what it is. 🙂 Not so good at the drip feed, either: “Here, let me throw up on the page for all of you with everything in my head.” Ha. I’m going to keep this post handy – the links will be helpful as my blog grows!
M Blake ( late flight out . com)
Hi Blake, I’ve just stopped by your site – it’s looking good! Almost 10 years after starting my blog, I still struggle to find the balance between writing for humans versus robots. Good luck with the blog and travels.
thanks for the information and very amazing post to look and very impressed to look.
Thanks!
very very nice
Thanks
Hey Jo,
Thank you for writing this article! It’s still relevant for all starting bloggers despite the niche they’ve chosen. I like your flow with words and I’d like to include you in an expert roundup about blogging. If you’re interested, I’d send you the details via email. If you even have the time, I’d be more than happy to do an interview with you about travel blogging.
Hi Katarina, thanks for your kind words. Please feel free to send me more details via my contact page.
nice blog
Thanks
This post is very important for us.
Happy to help.
I just wanted to say thank you for this really helpful article. I’m just starting out with my blog, cool footing. com
I need all the help I can get, it really is a steep learning curve.
Hi Anastasia, I’ve just popped over to your site. It looks good and you have an amazing 2019 of travel lined up. My only suggestion is to either compress your front page image as it takes a while to load. Good luck with the blog.
Thank you for this wonderful article! I have recently started blogging (or restarted it rather and more seriously) as a means to scratch that writing itch and to also promote my published book/s.
My blog is family friendly and has stories and observations from my traveling with my young kids, along with kids book reviews as well, as travelling and reading are two of my favourite things.
I’m like you as well, not all that IT-savvy, but have had to learned to manage my website very quickly. It was a steep and frustrating learning curve and even now, I don’t think I’m using the full functionality of Squarespace.
My blog link: storymummy . com
Hi Story Mummy, well done on picking up the blog again and on the books. Keep climbing up that IT learning curve. I’m still doing it every day.
hello i just started a blog www. escapes- escapades.com thanks for the info!
Congratulations, Angela. I’ll check it out.
Your travel blog information help me alot to write about travel ,it’s give such a great information which is very helpful.thanks for sharing such a grate ideas.
You’re welcome!
A huge Thank you, Jo! I came across on your blogging post through Pinterest which has prompted me to make the commitment to (finally) learn from my readings (noting I’ve been reading ‘how to guides on blogging forever’! It seems I’ve stumbled along with my blog but fall short of the end goal (financial sustainability) so will make a concerted effort to sort that and download Sharon’s ebook! Thanks for the tips! My blog has a strong Aussie focus, with a number of posts featuring the Northern Territory.
Hi Ann, I hope the blog is going well. It’s great to have a very niche focus. I recently started a niche site focused on a specific part of Italy and I’m finding my engagement is much higher. Good luck.
good article
Thanks.
Hi Jo! I had never considered blogging before, mostly because I didn’t think I had much to say. But now, I have to blog for a class I am taking at Illinois State University! I actually really enjoy it! I think I am going to keep up my blog, even when I am done with my class!
My class is only a four-week summer class, so it ends July 13. Any insight, or tips you have for me would be great and super helpful!!! (most of the posts I have are because they are a requirement for my class)
Thanks!!!
Sorry it took me. so long to reply – your course will be over by now! I hope you found it useful and inspiring 🙂
Great tip Jo! Blogging requires investment of time and effort, but slowly and steady it ‘ll pay off if one does proper marketing and SEO for it. Recently I’ve created travel blog on Pixpa, it was really simple if you not so good in technology like me 🙂
Hi, I’ve never heard of Pixpa and would advise the majority of people to stick with one of the well-known blogging platforms, many of which are free and easy to set up and, most important of all, provide a good platform for growth as the success flows.
Thank you for this! I just recently launched my blog and I am so inspired! I am being laid off from my job, so now is a good time to do what I have been wanting to do, which is live life abroad! Exposing my son to culture is important to me so we will be departing for a new home this August! Can’t Wait!
What an exciting adventure you have ahead. I hope the journey and the blog take off and you don’t have to return to a normal 9-to-5.
Hey thank you for all the tips. This actually inspires me to start my own traveling blog. I’ve been wanting to do it over a year now, and for some reason had no courage to take a risk. Well I have a summer ahead of me so I will defiantly take the risk now and see where it takes me. 🙂
Hope, you absolutely should because you never know where it might lead you 🙂
You’re making me think I should just do it!! I regretted not having gone to .org almost immediately too. You mentioned losing people…was this when you moved to the first time to wordpress.com or can you lose people between the two wordpress’s..if you see what I mean?! I’m concerned I might but then I think I should do it sooner than later anyway as I’ll probably end up wanting to at some point…..hmmmm I think you might have convinced me
Do it! Do it! I suppose you could lose your traffic moving from one WordPress to the other if you change your url structure – just make sure you don’t change it (or set up proper redirects). Good luck!
Really a nice blog, thanks for sharing this useful information.
Thanks!
Hi there, I really love the honesty of your post, I appreciate it when people acknowledge if they found something difficult, or of the times that they failed before they succeeded.
I am writing a family travel blog about our adventures…and misadventures as a family with 5 kids. We have left our old life and are traveling the world, one disaster or adventure after the next! I also began as a complete novice..(I think I still am) and I am just learning about how to reach a larger audience, so your post has been very helpful, thank you.
I enjoy real, raw and funny stories when I read travel blogs and that is what I am trying to achieve at Learningbrave. Before we left on our travels, I could only find accounts of how wonderful everything was for traveling families! Do you think there is a demand for stories, or is everyone mostly wanting travel tips and advice?
Thanks again, Skyler Learning Brave
Hi Skylar, sounds like you have a nice angle for your website. I can’t imagine travelling with 1 kid let alone 5 so well done. I’ll check out your blog. Good luck!
I just got started two days ago! Thanks for the tips!
My blog is www. nadeonthemove .com
You’re welcome. I’ll check out your site 🙂
I just started a small family travel blog, thank you for all of these great tips. I’ve been getting caught up in too much information but decided today to just keep it simple.
Happy to help. Good luck with the blog!
Hey Jo. Your post has been so helpful to me as i am trying to design my own travel blog. As a new blogger, i have really taken alot of notes that are going to be very helpful. Thanks again
Love Esther from Uganda
Thanks – glad to help. Good luck with the blog.
Thank you for the post, great information! I am in the process of setting up a travel only blog. I have a lifestyle blog now where I have a section on travel: This is forty dot me I want to focus more on travel. I am a travel agent and I want to advertise as well as share experiences. My new blog is: 4t ickets to paradise dot com I haven’t pushed the launch button yet. I’m still in the research and design phase 🙂
I’ll check those out. Good luck running both blogs. I recently set up a second site and I forgot how much hard work it is.
Hi,
Thanks for sharing all of this information. It is very useful for us.
Happy to help.
These tips are so useful, thanks! Unfortunately number 3 (the second number 3) already got me with a stressful move from wordpress.com to .org! The rest of your tips are really helpful, I’ve just started my blog www. gotmybackpack. com – would love to hear your thoughts! Kieren.
Hi Kieran, yes it’s quite a learning curve moving between WordPress platforms but it’s worth the effort. Thanks for the link to your blog, I’ll go and check out.
Jo, thank you so much for the info. I’ll keep it in mind as I grow my own blog. I’m currently using Blogger but, now I feel I should look into WordPress before I develop too much further after reading your article. I started this project merely to share stories with friends and family, as you did. Now it feels like there are so many different elements to maintaining the blog and it’s difficult to do it professionally, alone. So, thanks for your guidance.
-Travel Light @
travellighttac. blogspot. com
Happy to help. I managed my website alone for many many years so it is achievable but it is hard work! Good luck!
I stumbled into your blog by an accident. Really useful tips for beginners! I was also struggling with some of the issues mentioned – like how to get the traffic or how to write in an attractive way. Fortunately, I’m was able to get on a right track ?
Hi, I’m so happy to help 🙂
Thank you for such an informative and honest post!
Grace
graceatthebarre dot wordpress dot com
Happy to help.
This is the most helpful post I’ve read of it’s kind! I’ve just started blogging as a hobby whilst I’m teaching English, but it would be great if I could move on and turn it into a proper blog in the future. Here it is: globalgoodyear. wordpress. com/
Happy to help. And I wish you every luck turning your hobby into something more. Just keep at it – persistence shouldn’t be underestimated. Thanks for the link – I’ll go and check it out.
Very good post! In fact, I enjoyed reading the back and forth in the comments almost as much as the main post itself (almost…) 🙂 This post really goes to the point of evergreen content. I try to focus more on features in my blog for that reason. You provided a lot of great takeaways and tips from your learnings. Much appreciated for that.
Thanks Mike. Glad it was useful!
Hey Jo! I’ve been reading up a lot of travel blogging lately, as I’m going to Hawaii in February and want to log my travels, and your post has definitely helped my understanding. I especially liked the information you included on choosing a name and domain name wisely. I would appreciate your thoughts on this guide I read recently for how to make a travel journal [commercial link removed by admin].
Hi Emily, I’m glad you found my post useful. I also enjoyed the article you linked to. I have removed the link because it was commercial and experience tells me you were trying to place a backlink. Still, I checked it out and enjoyed it. Personally, I’d never travel with an entire craft pack but it was a nice idea. Good luck with your personal blog. I’d appreciate it if we could stick to personal websites here (not promoting cruise companies). 🙂
Thank you, that was very helpful. My friend and I are just starting out and didn’t realize how much work it is from setting up our blog, maintaining it and posting our adventures but we enjoy it. Our site is Jack n Jill Adventures
Happy to help – I’ll check out your site!
That was a very informative post..thank you! I am just starting out, built some content in the last 3 weeks and planning to “push” the button to share it on Facebook this weekend. Its a travel blog, started to share our family’s travels and to provide helpful tips for other families on the destination.
Kids On Trips
Hi Rakshinda, good luck with the new blog. I’ll check it out.
It’s quite useful information. I have learned certain things from here. I started off my blog gotraveltipster.com just for fun but really want to use it for some serious business now. Thanks for such a great post.
Hi Victoria, good luck with the blog. I’ll check it out.
Quite informative & useful Post for new bloggers, we are also starting a blog soon. thanks for sharing this post
Happy to help. Good luck with the blog.
magnificent insight. I have added your website to my Reddit bookmarks
Thanks.
This is so fantastic. As I am in the beginning stages of creating my website, I am beginning to get a little bit overwhelmed with what goes into it. I am so passionate and determined to make my website successful (not just financially, but just something to be really lroud of and genuinely helpful to people). I love this post as it has brought me back down to earth and given me some ideas on what I should be focusing on at this stage. Thanks so much for that!
Jenna
Hi Jenna, it’s really easy to get overwhelmed in the early stages and it’s such a steep learning curve. I’m happy to have helped to bring you back down-to-earth. You have a great attitude for blogging and I really hope that you make a success out of it.
This is really helpful for new bloggers, all 10 information are helpful for travel and really so informative to easy way to understand.
Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome!
Wow so complated artciles. I like it and thank you so much
I hope it was helpful.
Great post! Here is a basic (maybe dumb) question. When starting your travel blog, do you start with your most current trip and continue to post working back a year or so, or vice versa? Thanks for sharing your expertise!
Hi Stacy, it’s not a dumb question at all. In fact, it’s something I deliberated over for too long when I first started blogging. My inner perfectionist wanted everything neat and chronological. However, I found I was travelling quicker than I was writing so I ended up way behind and stressed because of it. As soon as I gave up the chronological posting, things became easier. For search engine purposes, I try to write a chunk of similar posts with a theme e.g. Mexico. But that doesn’t always work. As my main goal is to have post show up in Google rather than from people following my homepage, I tend to write whatever inspires me on the day I sit down. I personally found this method leads to my most popular posts. And it’s also a more liberating way of working. I hope that helps.
I undoubtedly did not realize that. Learnt something new today! Thanks for that.
Great website. Plenty of helpful information here. I am sending it to some buddies ans additionally sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks in your effort!
Ahhh. Thanks, John!!! And, you’re welcome. This site has always been about you guys and girls who read my posts so it’s nice to receive comments like this.
Authentic and practical advice; great web links add further provenance for the novice blogger.
Thank you Jo,
Pauline.
Thanks, Pauline! Happy blogging.
Absolutely brilliant Jo. I clicked on the link you shared in Sharon’s fb group.
Thank’s Di – happy to help 🙂
Wow. I probably should have read this article a few weeks ago, BEFORE attempting to set up an entire blog site! I am not even traveling, just working my job, and trying to get all the basics laid out before the next trip. It has been so much more difficult, and required so much more learning, than I ever imagined. I have read several articles about start up, and have to say that you put it in the most straight-forward and honest manner that I have seen. I understand why this article is still so popular, after several years. I have already signed up for your newsletter, and intend to take Matt’s course as suggested, once I catch the finances back up from the hosting, web protections, applications, etc. I have already purchased. Thank you for the extra insight, and I look forward to learning more from your page. Attaching a link in my blogs we are reading now section. Wishing you continued success!
Roxanna, gypsywithadayjob.com
Hey Roxanna, glad you found the post helpful – even if it was a bit after the fact 🙂 I’ve just popped over to your blog (love the name by the way) and tried to leave a comment but there was a problem. You may want to test it. Let me know when it’s fixed and I’ll go repost my comment!
It seems I had comment approval checked in my settings, so I have unchecked that, and your comment did appear. am not sure it is all fixed, so need to check a couple more, Thank you so much for some feedback. It is nice to have a comment from someone besides my best friends, at this time, lol!
Thank you for setting out your information so clearly
Happy to help!
Nice Post, Thank You for the Tips.
Thanks.
Nice Post, Thank You for the Tips.
You’re welcome!
Hi Jo! I don’t usually comment on blogs but yours was really helpful and an easy read too. I enjoyed it and appreciated all of your detailed info. Thank you for spending so much time on it! As someone who has a travel blog I can really appreciate the time it takes to write a post. Right now my blog is really a journal for myself, family and friends but my husband wants to monetize it. We’ll see… anyway here’s the link for your own entertainment. (By the way, I love my blog name and it’s not that old so yes, there are good ones if you think hard enough) My Adventure Abroad (dot com)
Hi Amy, glad you found the post useful and yes, it does take some time to crank out a post. I actually did a quick ‘survey’ in one of the blogging forums and found that most people spent about a day, sometimes more, writing a post! I’ve just been over to your blog and you have a really nice, clean design going on. And I’m about to delve into your snow monkeys post – I didn’t see them when I was in Japan and I’m very jealous. Good luck with the monetisation. If I can help, drop me a line.
I’ve just read this while having a massive row with my partner sat in our hotel room in Cusco as to how much time it’s taking to keep our blog going.
I really want to forward him this link, but the argument is way too fresh for that! Thanks for your amazing tips, especially on management of expectations… we know we aren’t going to make a fortune, but it is soul destroying putting all this time in to only have our equivalent of ‘Aunty Mildred’ interested in what we’re doing!
It’s all about striking a balance… hopefully we’ll get there, and I’m more encouraged we will after reading your blog. Thank you, from the currently not talking to each other ‘Journeying Journos’!
I’ve already mentioned in a message to you that I have that row daily – with myself! It’s hard to strike a balance and it’s even harder to justify spending the time when your initial enthusiasm has worn off and the page views aren’t rolling in. But, it does take time and commitment is rewarded…eventually.
Fantastic tips. This post was so good. I have just started a blog about the best restaurants in dubai. I would love for you to check it out!!
Hi Moshina, do you have a link to your blog for me to check it out?
thank for share
Hi Jo,
Great article with lots of info. I am currently on a trip of my own, I did 6 weeks in SE Asia and I am now working on a farm in New Zealand. I have decided to start a blog but i have no experience with it. What you have written is really helpful but Im a bit unsure as to where to start still. Do I create a Facebook page first or start a separate blog and link it to a FB page? I have also never used twitter for my sins! Is it best to use twitter for current updates? Im probably not asking the right questions but its quite daunting when my online experience is FB and Email!
How long would one of your posts cover? So would 1 or 2 days constitute 1 post? Any help would be appreciated!
Cheers!
Hi Craig, what a fantastic experience you’re having in New Zealand. Generally Facebook and your blog are separate spaces and although you will want to post links to your blog on your ‘Blog Facebook page’, I’d start with the blog first. If it helps, check out my blog and then my Facebook page and you’ll hopefully see the difference.
In terms of how long my posts cover, it really varies. I might write an itinerary that covers 2 weeks of travel, with just the highlights or just one day, covered in detail. There is no magic number so I’d say just write what you think feels right and you can carve it into smaller chunks if it gets unmanageable. Hope that helps.
Thanks for sharing the tips. Have a travel blog already but the greater challenge at present is to promote. Would follow your tips for sure. Thanks again
Thanks Hooma, good luck with the blog. Promotion can be difficult but eventually it will happen 🙂
You article about “So, You Want to Start A Travel Blog? 10 Things I Wish I’d Known” is very interesting and good linked with article information and image info too. Great experience for me thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
Glad you found it helpful 🙂
Wow! that’s a lot of info. Thank you for sharing.
Hopefully not too overwhelming, Bryan. Just take it one point at a time and drop me a line if you need any help!
Hi Jo, just curious what you think of doing a travel Instagram? My biggest concern is the South American internet connection that you mentioned before, but I figured Instagram would cope with it better than WordPress or other proper blogging platforms. Do you think Instagram would be ok over there?
Hi Katie, brilliant question. I guess it depends what your goal is. If it’s keeping friends and family up to date, make sure they’ll install Instagram and I’d say go for it. And even if you’re interested in creating a following and maybe getting some business from it, there are plenty of Instagrammers who are being invited on press trips purely off the back of their Instagram account. I was last in South America the year before last, so 2014 and the wifi/internet situation had improved dramatically compared to when I was there in 2010, 2011 and 2012. And the beauty of Instagram is that you don’t need connection for long in order to be able to post, so your web requirements are lower. In the vast majority of places (jungles excluded) you’ll find somewhere to post. Also, look into scheduling services which let you schedule a few posts at a time and then pushes them out at set times. I like the simple interface of Buffer (though I only use it for Twitter). This article lists a few to look at:
Let me know what you choose to do because I’ll follow you. And you can find me on Instagram at
Good luck and have an amazing time in South America!
Great Information . I like it thanks .
You’re welcome.
This is fantastic and very helpful. We (Feed The Couple) Have just started blogging and taking all the tips we can into practice! 😀 Loving the rest of your blog.
Thanks and you’re welcome. I’ll go and check out your blog – cheers for the link.
thank you for the tips
Glad to help.
I absolute do agree with the “blog ideas” on your post’s header image 😀 Anyway what was your really problem with WordPress in self hosted mode? Was it attacked or something else? I read “8. Get Ready To Become An IT Expert” that’s why I think maybe you had something IT security on your previous WP self hosted blog.
No IT security issues – just the fact that I used to be a lawyer and had zero tech skills 🙂
great ,travelling is my passion ,i am starting my blog.
Well done, Susan! I hope it goes well 🙂
Hey Jo. Just letting you know that this article came up on first page of the search result on Google. Thanks for sharing these tips! It’s really useful for an aspiring travel blogger like me!
Awww, thanks. Hope the blogging is going well.
Wow! Thank you so much for this article. For years I’ve dreamed of getting into journalism, but a year or two ago I dropped out of university to work full time to earn enough to fund my extensive travel plans. I let myself become distracted and never seemed to find the time to actually sit down and simply write! I found this post utterly inspiring, and actually, quite motivational. At 20, I think it’s now time to do this properly! I will definitely be following your blog (once I get mine up and going, haha!) x
Hi Tamara, I know this is a slow reply so apologies. I do like to reply to all comments even if it takes some time – hope the blog is going well. And if you became distracted again, perhaps this is a timely reminder to get back to it 🙂 ha ha
Hi Jo, the article is really helpful. We started our journey with blog a month ago and are quite surprised with the response on social media so far (numbers of followers, Google Analytics etc. in our opinion – we thought we will have 3 of them and it turned out there is quite a few). We don’t know yet what is a good number however it motivates us to write more and try different social media. My question is what do you think about considering ourselves as a travel blog while we are posting mostly about dogs, spending time outdoors and being active (but having a full time job in UK and live here for a while)? We never considered ourselves as travellers but we did some journeys before (again, is it worth to write about our past instead of posting about here and now while we kind discover only surroundings for now (will see what future brings)?). So many questions, but probably we need to find one definite answer. What is a purpose of our blog and who we want to write to. And the other question is what do you think about Youtube? It is a power now, however requires so much work – we actually don’t know shall we focus on it as well (we have videos about dogs so far, but have lots of ideas)or it is better to stick to those social media you’ve mentioned? (Twitter and instagram are our bests now, there is some response on facebook and google plus). Haha, I should probably just write a private message to you now, but maybe next time 🙂 Do you have any advice for us? Please visit our blog: llamteurs. Thanks in advance!
Hi Llamateurs, sorry for the slow reply – I’m so pleased things have been going well for you. It’s a job of persistence (which is why I’m sat here on a Friday night replying to comments and not out in the late season sunshine in a beer garden somewhere). I’ll go and check out your blog…
I read your post and it was really helpful. I opened a blog recently and I need some advice about it since I am not a professional blogger and I.
traveltophotograph
Greetings
I followed you on google plus! I find social media so overwhelming and tricky to navigate. Which platforms do you think travel readers use the most? I’d also love to hear more about your twitter experience, I find it super overwhelming. I feel like an old lady (at 32) for just getting on that train!
Ha ha – old at 32 – ha ha (I’ve just turned 40!) 🙂 Thanks for the follow on G+. I think different blogs have different experiences on different social media platforms and it depends what you want to do. For me, I want to engage with readers so I tend to focus most of my time on Pinterest and Facebook. Twitter I use largely for connecting with brands and tourist boards. I play around with Instagram for fun but it rarely to never translates to click-throughs to my blog. Google Plus is pretty much dead (so I should probably update this post)! If you like pics and videos, Snapchat is very popular but it’s not for me. Yes, it is a minefield and I’d recommend picking one and trying to master that while maintaining a presence on the other platforms. Don’t worry, it takes time – be patient with it.
Not sure if a blog is more ambitious than what I need. In past trips, I send 2-3 pics and 2-3 sentences per pic to 5-6 people each day via email. Any advantages to creating a blog or should I stick with email?
A blog doesn’t have to be a huge beast. A bit like a photo album, some people print out all of their snaps and spend hours curating a story. Others print out their favourite pics and just slap them in. The main advantage of a blog is having all of your trips kept in one place and also the ability for friends and family to go back years later and reread what you posted – most people won’t do that with an email. If you need any tips on getting started, let me know.
Hi thank you for this greate article. I saw the post is from 2013 but I think most or almost all of it has not changed, yet. The hosting is something that have become more diverse. Beyond WordPress I found some travel related blogging services like travel pod, travelblog.org and traveloca. I have chosen for myself. But i mention that I am not really a professional blogger. I primarily write about my trips for my friends and family from Germany (and maybe some others). But for me it’s more than enough.
Sabine
Thanks for sharing your experience Sabine – you’re right. It’s all about finding the best blogging platform that works for you. Good luck with your blog and happy travels.
Great tips. I’m trying to get my niche travel blog about cat cafes going before I travel for 2 months this summer. I find the visual aspects to be the hardest. I can’t decide on a logo! I’m at Latte Cats
What an amazing travel blog niche – love it! Sorry it’s taken me a while but I’ve just been over to your site and it’s looking very slick. I’d say images are going to be a huge part of your site, especially for their Pinnable content so I’d get that aspect optimised above all else. Yes, logo selecting can be hard. I ended up paying a graphic designer. Good luck with the blog.
It is true! I did not realize how much work I need to do just to set the basics of my blog even if it looks very easy… Anyway I really enjoy in describing my pictures in a form of a small true stories so I would be glad if you can check it also and give me your opinion.
Hey Greg, well done on the blog and yes, it is quite a lot of hard work! I’ve just checked out your site – looks like you’re having a great trip. It would be great if you could install a comment function (I was going to comment on one of your photos but couldn’t). Happy blogging!
I am a new travel blogger and your article has been very helpful for me to read, so thank you!! It is so much more work than I expected when I first started off, but I am having a blast doing it. If anyone would like to check out my blog, please visit anderlustallday.com!
Glad it was helpful – I’ll stop by and check out your blog! Good luck on this new journey!!!
wow! Thanks for sharing this wonderful post!
You’re welcome!
Thanks for the post Jo! Loved it 🙂
I have this blog where I share my personal experience backpacking in India.
It’s quite new but I think it could be helpful for some. Plus it is crazy and funny.
Let me know your thoughts 🙂
Thanks Jane, glad you liked the post and thanks for the link, I’ll check it out – happy blogging!
Hey, great post!
I have a love-hate relationship with my blog – currently we are on the hate side. I started 7 months ago, had some engagement, but now I’m kind of in a dead end (thinking to quit and just enjoy my travels). I’m on a round the world trip and I totally underestimated, how much time would I need for all the content I want to share. 🙁
If you would take your time – check it out and tell me what you think. Thanks and lovely greetings,
s xx
These were really good tips! They’ve actually inspired me to start! Thanks for giving such good advice and I look forward to continue to read your blog!
Thanks Olivia…I’ll go and check out your blog now. Glad you found the article helpful!
This made for great reading. Really helpful for a newbie like me! Thanks :). Feel free to drop by: theroamingphoenix.WordPress.com
Glad to help – I’ll just swing by and check out your blog…
This is such a great post! Really easy to follow, step-by-step guide ideal for all of us would-be bloggers! I’ve just started a wordpress.com site and am thinking about investing in a domain name, so it’s really useful to know what I need to think about once I’ve got one!
Happy to help! Good luck with the blog 🙂
Great tip learned so much! Just started my blog, hoping to apply all the stuff I learned there! Check it out guys 🙂 Mitchadventure.com
Thanks, Mitch – I’ll stop by and check it out.
What an awesome resource, thanks very much! I’m a Kiwi living in Abu Dhabi, trying to get out and about as much as possible. I’ve always enjoyed reading your blog 😀
Thanks, Sarah!
Hi Jo! Just came across this website when Googling blog improvement tips – really useful advice, thanks a lot! If you’re interested, I’d love to hear your thoughts on my travel blog, that I just started a few months ago as a hobby: maps and magnets
I wanted your advice – I was thinking of migrating to a self-hosted site, but dot come is taken. How important is a .com extension? I can use mapsandmagnets net but wondering if that reduces SEO traffic etc? I really love the name so wouldn’t want to change it. This will still remain very much a hobby blog 🙂
Hi Mehek, I’ve just popped over and I love your site – great name, writing and photos! My main comment was going to be to get your own domain if you’re in any way interested in taking your blog a bit more professional. In an ideal world you’d own the .com, .net and a few other domains for your site. Personally, I wouldn’t want a .net of a site that already exists in case it confused my readers (people tend to search for a .com first in my experience). As you know (from reading the above), I went through a significant name change because I couldn’t get the url and I don’t think you should be afraid of a name change if that’s what it take. I agree that maps and magnets is nice but a) the magnets part isn’t that integral to your site e.g. it’s not about collecting magnets and, in fact, there didn’t seem to be any magnet references in the content; and b) you’re a wonderful creative being and I’m sure you can come up with something just as good. That’s just my opinion. If you’re wedded to maps and magnets, get the .net and go forth and make it work. Wishing you a happy blogging year.
Hi Jo! Thanks so much for your advice! I decided a .com was pretty important after all, and just bought mapandmagnets.com, and a few related domains 🙂 A small name change won’t be so bad after all! In the process of designing the whole thing, can’t wait to share it with the blogging community soon! Thanks again! Happy blogging!
Nice domain and I’m pleased you went for the domain.com – some people don’t care but the fact you were asking the question makes me think you’d be frustrated not having it. Look forward to seeing the updated design.
Hi Jo, I have just started the travel blog and have gone live last week. Today I came across this post of yours and cannot agree more with basically all the points you have mentioned here. Now I have to promote my blog “shamelessly” :-). I also realise that it will be ton of work to constantly and consistently churn out the posts after posts. I understand that I need to take many steps to promote my blog, can you tell me what are two things that I should be immediately doing to promote the blog. Thank you for this very informative and inspiring post.
Thanks for such an incredible guide Jo! Been looking for hints and tips and this is the best by far 🙂 I’ve only recently started blogging so am a newbie at all this, so if you have any pointers or comments please let me know! Thanks again!!
As many others, I also started my blog, and have been googling about blog improvement when I stumbled upon this post. It was pretty helpful as I was missing some of the points you’ve emphasized here.
Thanks so much. If you happen to have time to check my blog and make a short comment on what do you think in general I would be very appreciative.
Thanks a lot,
Anca
Hello Jo, I just came across your 10 + 1 tips for travel blogs. I just started blogging on my travel trip. I just blogged on Asia and food places in Singapore currently. I would appreciate it if you could visit my blog and give me some advice! Thank you in advance! 😀
Hi Jaydn, congrats on starting your blog! I’ve just been over and some of your food pictures make me want to hop on a flight! Just a couple of thoughts – have you thought about really focusing on food and travel, it’s more of a niche than a blend of both food and travel stories and will let you showcase your photography more. If you prefer to stick to both, have you thought of weaving some of your storytelling style that I saw in your “story” post into some of your travel pieces? Over time you’ll find your footing for sure. Good luck and welcome to the blogging world!
Hi Jo, thank you for your 10 tips! I have just started out on my traveling blog, and it came as a handy guide for my blog. I was wondering whether u could visit my blog and give me some feedback. I blogged mainly on Asian destinations as of now. Thanks!
Thanks for the great advice — so helpful as we start out on our adventure! If you are interested, I’m at: .
Navigatorof4 – I’ve just checked out your blog and I have to say I’m really impressed – you have a real writing talent (IMHO). If you can stick with the blogging while you travel, I think your stories will be amazing. And on a personal note, I’m pleased you’re seeing more of the UK than just London 🙂
Thanks so much for the encouragement, Jo! Just getting online again since we headed out. Will be writing again soon. So much to tell, so little internet connections!
navigator4, that was my biggest frustration when travelling back in 201 – it would take a day to write a 30 minute piece and get it uploaded with photos…though I was in Latin America and I really have noticed a huge improvement in internet speed since then. If you can, spring for a coffee in a place that has fast wi-fi and just get it done there, it can save you half a day. Good luck writing and happy travels.
This is so true. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome, Kara!
These are such great tips! Your advice is very fresh and genuine – I like it. Keep up the great posts x
Thanks, Rebecca. Glad it helped.
On the brink if starting my own travel blog, this has been of tremendous help turned RESOURCE! Thank you! And I look forward to reading much more from you…..
So glad to be able to help, LaTasha. Good luck with the blog!
Thanks for the great tips! Recently been thinking of starting my own travel blog and this has really helped me! Can’t wait to start now! 🙂
Glad to help, Megan 🙂 Good luck and happy blogging!
Hi indianajo!
I am just starting out with my tra el blog. I have facebook, instagram and tumblr. I’m working on pinterest amd after reading your tips I think wordpress may be a better option than tumblr.
Please follow me 🙂 any advise or tips on generating traffic/followers would be very appreciated.
Thanks , Bec 🙂
Bec, I’ve never used tumblr as a platform so can’t comment from experience. However, I find blogging so much easier now I have moved to WordPress. Good luck with the blog!
Jo, I read your 10 (11 really) steps with great interest… I recently did a 3 month travelling stint through Asia updating Facebook all the way and was told that I should have done a blog instead. I’m now sorting myself out for another travel from Russia to China in February and thought this time I would take the challenge of doing a blog…. hopefully it will be as good as yours 🙂
Thanks for the nice words, Staurt. Exciting trip coming up – it’s one I’d like to do myself so please do come back and post a link so I can have a read once your blog is up and running and let me know if you need any more tips! happy blogging.
Thanks,
I just used these 10 steps to write out a very rough first plan for my travel blog!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Sophie, great news! Keep up the good work. Remember – consistency is key!
Hi Jo,
Thanks for this useful information. I recently started a travel blog and do realise it is a lot of work. With articles like this one, it really helps to focus on the important things first. Anyway, it’s lot’s of fun, even though the website still looks a bit “naked”, the comings weeks / months / years, it will be filled with lot’s of interesting news, articles and advices (I hope). Thanks for writing this article to help out the newbies 🙂
Sabine, you’re welcome – I’m glad to help…on that note, I hope you don’t mind a bit of specific feedback…I’ve just removed a lot of my old “news” posts from my website. I thought it would be a good idea to post about current travel affairs but I later found that the traffic/appeal for those posts died as quick as the news pieces. I don’t want to discourage you, just sharing my experience – non-newsy “every green” content i.e. timeless advice has worked better for me over the years. Of course, give it a go, but just keep longevity in mind. Happy blogging!
Very helpful post, me and my wife are looking for tips to manage our blog so this worked just fine! Thanks
If you are interested in checking our blog is , it will be really nice to have some feedback from an ongoing successful blog =)
We are trying to mix videos from our trips with writing text and we have a youtube channel as well
Thank you in advanced!
Thanks Marcelo – happy to have helped! And thanks for the blog links. The site looks nice. And video is a real bonus if you have skills in that department (I don’t!). Good luck!
Great tips! I really enjoyed reading this post – and learnt a thing or two. Some time ago I was also considering migrating to wordpress but in the end i decided to stick to blogger because i wasn’t willing to get myself in such a tech mess and the free version was not really that ahead of blogger.
Irene, good decision – you have to work with whatever platform works for you and if that’s Blogger, that’s great. Also, I agree that there is little between Blogger and WordPress in terms of the free products. As an aside, were you aware that you can buy a domain name (without having to pay hosting) for around $10 which will let you get rid of the .blogspot in your blog name? Just an idea. Happy blogging.
Hello Jo,
I started my blog a few months ago. Nothing to serious, as I was in my last semester at uni and had lots to do. It was a good start to get me knowing what I want to do exactly with the blog. I had too many hobbies to choose from and now I have things sorted. Reading your post and many others, now I’m sure to convert to wordpress. It’s better late then never. I also want to self host my blog but I found some of them to be too expensive, specially because I have to pay all of it beforehand. Do you know any host that doesn’t have this policy and also supports wordpress? What host are you using?
Hi Matin, congrats on finishing your uni semester and getting your blog set up. Yes, hosting can be difficult. I started with GoDaddy for no particular reason than they offered a starting deal price but I would urge you NOT to use them. Although the service was fine, I subsequently found out that one of the senior members of the company was an African trophy hunter. Vile. So, I moved immediately when I found that out. Now I’m with DreamHost and I couldn’t be happier. They were affordable, have great support and are easy to use. I’m going over to your Facebook page now and will send you a link because there is a Dreamhost offer on at the moment I think you might find useful. Good luck and happy blogging!
I really enjoyed your blog post Jo!
I was planning starting a travel blog too. Do you have any suggestions on great places to blog about?
Thanks. I think it’s important to write about any place that inspires you and absolutely somewhere you have been, even if it’s close to home because that way you will able to convey the real texture of the place.
Hi Jo,
Thanks for your article, it was really informative and has given some great points to consider. I am trying to start a travel blog, my first few blog posts are too lengthy and story-like so I am trying to write them in a more captivating and interesting way.
Thanks again,
Heather-Ann
Hi Heather-Ann, glad to help. As an extra tip, my articles (apart from this one) are actually very long and story-like and still I get a nice number of readers. So, I wouldn’t assume long and creative is a bad thing. I’d just suggest making sure your stories are interesting (that’s also a “note to self”!) and add in a lot of headers to break up the content for those who want to scan read. Good luck!
Thanks so much for all the help! I’ve been vlogging for about a year now and I’m currently doing a lot of research in preparation to start my own travel blog. I haven’t gotten a site up and running yet…still in the planning stages, but I did link my YouTube channel, if you’re interested in checking it out 🙂
Thanks, Stephanie. Vlogging – wow, I have so much respect for the bravery and effort that goes into that tangent! I’ll check out your you tube channel!
So I’m going to say straight up that I’ve had this page open in my Chrome browser for about two weeks while starting my travel blog after 10 years of traveling. I’ve probably read it at least 6 times. I initially struggled with trying to customize wordpress to my liking, but I’ve pretty much given up on that in order to just get the ten years of content out. I love your site and I’ll keep coming back for tips!
Aww, thanks Guerrilla Gallivanter – it’s comments like this that motivate me to sit down and share my thoughts, so thanks for the support in return! And 10 years of travel – wow! Now I bet there are a lot of stories to be told. If it makes you feel better, I had a deeply unpleasing site design for around 9 months because I also couldn’t get my head around WP. I just pressed on with my content and when I finally got the chance to breathe, I improved the site design. I confess I ended up paying someone to do the design for me then had someone over on Fiverr (love that site – I’d recommend checking it out), do all the technical stuff. Good luck with the blog and I’ve love it if you came back and shared your stories!
Fiverr looks like an awesome site, I had no idea about that! How would I go about sharing my stories with you? I can send them by Morse Code – the way I’ve been writing my blog – or in envelopes filled with glitter.
Thanks again!
David, I’m all for Morse Code – I love a good brain twister. Although, now you mention it, glitter filled envelopes are always going to win 🙂 I’d definitely check Fiverr out. I have a few guys I’ve used if you’re looking for WordPress or virtual assistant work…equally, you can pay someone to sing happy birthday to you or mediate for an hour about enhancing your personal wealth. There’s a lot of, errrr, “quirky” stuff on there!
Thanks for the tips! I’ve been blogging for a few years now and it helped give me some needed direction and perspective.
Hey Jeannie, glad to be able to help. Finding direction and perspective can be tough – I think I’m still searching but the quest continues!
Hi Jo!
Thanks a lot for posting this. I’m currently setting up my own travelblog (on paper that is). But i still didn’t have the courage to go in the deep, take the challenge and post it online.
After reading your post, i got a little bit more courage 🙂
The tips are superb and are helping me out a lot to get things straight.
I’m leaving to Southeast Asia the 21th of June. Doing a backpack across Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos un til septembre. So I hope i can get my blog online by the end of may.
In the meanwhile, i’m gonna keep enjoying your stories 🙂
Thanks Jo!!
Hey Yuri, glad you enjoy my stories and also my tips. I’ll share another blogging tip with you – it’s possible to set up a blog online and place the privacy level as private so only you can see it. I recommend this for when you do get the courage to make it public – it will all be there, ready to go and if you decide to keep it private, that’s fine too! Amazing trip you have planned. I love that part of Southeast Asia – is it wrong (and greedy) that I’m always jealous of other people’s travel plans when I have so many of my own 🙂 When you do get your blog online (and I have EVERY confidence you will), do come back and post a link. I’d love to follow your adventures!
Hi Jo!!
Wauw thanks for the very quick answer and the tips offcourse.
And no, i don’t think it’s wrong to be jealous. I have the same thing with my best friend. Eventhough i’m going on a 2,5month trip, i’m jealous of him going to Australia. But it is a good kind of jealous as we all know 😉
Well, the moment I have my blog online, i’ll give you a headsup.
Another thing. If ever, you feel the urge to travel to Belgium, give me a headsup aswell. Why? I’m Belgian (obviously), Antwerp..a very nice city in this little country. And eventhough not a lot of people know the country, it has a lot to offer. So i’d be glad, to guide you trough our streets, or fix you a place to crash. So if you ever get interested…;) just so you know
Yuri
Hi Yuri, I am wholly embarrassed to say that I have NEVER been to Belgium! I know…I know…it just seems to close 🙂 But, I’ll definitely get in contact when I decide to head that way – it’s always nice to have a local invite, so thanks for that! As for your blog – looking forward to seeing it go live…whenever you’re ready (of course!).
Great blog post!
Thanks, Adam!
Hi –
Thank you for this article, found some tips on how to promote our new blog. 🙂
Sheila, glad to be able to help 🙂
Hi there!
Fantastic tips. This post was so helpful. I have just started a blog about the Middle East and Abu Dhabi. I would love for you to check it out!!
Thank you!
Lizzy
Hi Lizzy, thanks for stopping by and I’m glad you found this helpful. I don’t have your website address – can you please post it here and I’ll pop over and check out your site 🙂
Indiana Joe!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post. I came across it by typing in ” How to start a travel blog” on Google search, and there you were, with pointers and assurance that I too can do this blogging thing that I have been wanting to do for a while now, but have been terrfied to start and get hung up along the way. You see, like you at the beggining, I am not too savvy with techie stuff. I know the basics of how to work a computer: check my email, post on Facebook, look for videos on Youtube, Microsoft Word, etc. But a blog was way out of my comfort level. I now feel more confident in my ability to actually pull it off. I am currently in Bali, Indonesia for the month of February and heading to Thailand next. I want to share my traveling experiences with more than just my friends and family on Facebook. I believe I can reach a wider audience as I am a professional, 42 year old female with no children, husband, or mortgage to speak of (to the horror of my family and friends. They think I’m a bit, if not a lot crazy.) who stored my few valuables (I’m a minimalist), took my savings and hit the road with no particular itinerary in mind other than to travel SE Asia “on a shoe string” as Lonely Planet puts it. I invited several of the people in my life to come along and all but one turned me down with a million and one excuses, and the advice to get my head checked, because what I was about to do is just absolutely insane in their opinion. And so, with all that in mind I proceeded to do it anyway. So, here I am in Bali, with my dear friend Patrick, ready to launch that blog I have been contemplating for a while now. I originally was considering Tumblr as it was suggested by a friend who blogs, but for me, after reading your post and further research, Word Press is where it’s at. Your advice and assurance on this post has catapulted my desire, energy and confidence to a whole new level. Thank you once again from the bottom of my heart.
Sincerely, a very grateful,
Aida Mercedes Cabrera
P.s.
The name I have chosen for my blog is: The Compass Rose Chronicles
Look for it soon, and please feel free to give me all the feedback you wish.
Until next time.
Thanks, Aida. What a lovely adventure you’ve taken yourself on! I’ve come to realise over my travelling years that there is a solid core of “crazies” like us who have taken to the road instead of perpetuating the routine that has become our 21st century world. It’s very different living life this way and sometimes it can be hard (for the past 30 minutes I’ve been sat in a courtyard trying to avoid the rain in really cold temperatures so I could send an email!) but the vast majority of it is pure experience and enjoyment. I hope you find blogging your adventures to be a rich and rewarding endeavour. There are likely to be some challenges along the way but I always find it to be worth it; especially when people like yourself drop by to say they’ve enjoyed something they’ve read. Nice blog name! I’ll definitely come over and check you out when you’re up and running. Let me know if you have any questions along the way. Good luck and enjoy the journey 🙂
Thanks for your article. I’ve also started a travel blog & run into a few difficulties in blogger. I didn’t know that cutting & pasting from word etc uses up loads of memory. As a result I have lost my contact by email link. Some blogs are slow to load as I have plenty of photos ( use low resolution). But it is fun & I am getting a few advertisers & lots of free travel!
Mike, good to know I wasn’t the only one experiencing trouble with blogger – sucks about losing your link but sucks less if you’ve managed to swing some free travel! Happy blogging.
Thank you for the precious tips! I’m just starting with my blog and I’ve already planned a Spain-tour for the next months!
Have a nice day!
Thanks, Alice. Glad to help! Good luck with your blog and let me know if you need any tips for you trip to Spain!
Great blog! I just started a travel blog not too long ago and I’m glad to have chanced upon yours. Great tips that I’d bear in mind.
Thanks, Lisa. Glad to help. Good luck with your blog!
Very informative post Jo. I too want to start a blog. I am confused over blogger and WordPress. Since, blogger is free and it also allows affiliated links along with adsense so i am a little hesitant about WordPress. Since WordPress has more plugins and i can host my blog and there is no threat as google slap in case of blogger. But rest every thing i can do on the blogger like having custom domain name etc. What would you suggest? I intent to choose blogging seriously.
Suman, ultimately it is down to personal choice. Here are the main differences I see based on what you have said. It’s worth recognising that there are 2 wordpress options – 1) wordpress.com, which is free and similar to blogger and 2) wordpress.org, which is more advance and isn’t free because you need to pay for someone to host your website for you. Plugins you will only find on wordpress.org (some plugins are included on wordpress.com but you don’t have the full range or control as you have on .org, i.e. there is no ‘plugin’ function: . Blogger restricts you to adsense. On .org you can do what you want. In the early stages I honestly wouldn’t get too focused on adsense or the wordpress equivalent. A common misconception is that simply by having ads on your blog, you will generate income. Not true. You need people to actually click on the ads. So, I always then ask, when was the last time you clicked an ad on a blog? The answer for most people is that they rarely do. The upshot – most blogs need a lot of traffic to generate any income. In my first year of blogging on blogger (admittedly I was only posting about once a month and had very low traffic), I earned 10 US cents. Barely enough to buy a bite of a hamburger. I’m not saying it can’t work for you, but something to think about. I get the impression you instinctively prefer blogger so I would suggest starting there – you need to enjoy your platform and its interface so that blogging isn’t a chore. The beauty is that you can fairly easily move between the platforms (though do some research first and NEVER change your url links – I did that, traffic disappeared). I hope that helps, but contact me if you want any more tips.
Hi Jo, am so glad I found your site. It’s very well written and easy to understand. I’ve been overwhelmed with a lot of information and jargon about how to market your blog, SEOs, etc, available on the net these days. And quite frankly, I did get a bit lost.
I started a blog a few years back but it was mostly for my own consumption and for my family and friends who would usually ask me to share information about my trips. But like you said, it’s hard work to keep up, and as you can see, my blog is now a bunch of misc formats, e.g. photo gallery, highlights, trip reports, reviews.
I actually appreciate your tip #1 and tip #3 which is maybe what I have to re-assess. I’ve been doing a bit of input on AFAR.com and TripAdvisor, and I enjoy seeing people benefiting from my tips, or reviews, or simply sharing my itinerary. I am curious you mentioned TripAdvisor to promote my blog. I wasn’t aware of how to link them to my blog. I was hoping to revive my blog again so that fellow travelers can actually benefit from the more detailed information like trip reports, etc but I’d like to build traffic so that people can actually see them 🙂
Oooh, the Japanese food on your blog looks sooooo good. I miss Japan…sorry, back to blogging (I’m easily distracted!).Thanks for the kind comments about my site – it’s been a long process getting it to this stage.Yes, there is so much information out there about SEO and blog promotion. At one point I was online around 16 hours a day blogging and researching and I’m not sure I was that further forward. I probably actually need to update this post a bit. At the time I was getting some traffic from forums (people see the link to your blog on your profile and pop by), but I wasn’t as engaged with social media as I should have been. That’s changed now and Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and Pinterest are the main ways I promote my content. Guest posting on other sites and commenting on other blogs are also good ways to introduce yourself to the world. I try to think about promotion as having two parts – the shop front (readers) and the stockroom (what google and search engines see). Play around with social media for promoting to readers while keywords, SEO and getting linked to on other blogs and sites will help with your stockroom. Of course, the one item that is good for readers and google is great content. I get the majority of my traffic from organic google searches which means that people are coming to my site because they want to read my content. You need a strategy that involves promotion and content but I genuinely believe that content is key. I don’t always get it right. I’ve spent a long time writing posts I’m proud of only to find they lacks interest or umph for others. It happens. I learn, I move on, write more, write better. Cross fingers. Repeat. I don’t think it matters that you have different kinds of content – it keeps it interesting, but if you can develop them into themes e.g. Photo Friday, it will help you focus and let your readers develop an understanding of what they come to your site for. Your readers will undoubtedly cheat on you with other blogs but so long as they come back for those things you do well, you will have succeeded (according to my measure of things!) I hope that has helped. Your blog has a nice look and feel to it. Stick with it and eventually it will grow.
Hi Jo, great advice! I’m only a newby to the world of travel blogging and can already see that it is more difficult to get noticed than I originally anticipated. Lucky for me I have some decent saving to travel on and am currently doing it for the love of it and at the same time learning so much about running a website (about SEO etc.)! Hopefully I might get more traffic in the future.
I’m glad it helped. When I first hit publish on my first post I sat in anticipation of the millions of follows who would naturally find me and follow my every word…even after years of hard work, I’m still waiting 🙂 But, like you, it’s the love of it that drives me to keep posting. And finding out about SEO! Good luck – been over to your site and really like it, especially your blog name. Keep up the good work.
Hi Jo, great advice! I’m only a newby to the world of travel blogging and can already see that it is more difficult to get noticed than I originally anticipated. Lucky for me I have some decent saving to travel on and am currently doing it for the love of it and at the same time learning so much about running a website (about SEO etc.)! Hopefully I might get more traffic in the future.
Super helpful! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this out. Luckily we started on a good platform, but still looking for a balance of location reviews & experiences that strike the right chord with readers. I just want to be interesting. lol. Good to hear I’m not the only one that struggles.
Jess, if you ever master the skill of being interesting, let me know your tricks 🙂 I think it’s something most bloggers struggle with. I find my collection of handwritten trip notes fascinating, but I have come to accept that most people don’t. Sigh. But seriously, your voice will develop over time and just keep getting stronger! Good luck with your venture and I hope it goes well. I pop in and check out your site…
I stumbled into your blog by an accident. Really useful tips for beginners! I was also struggling with some of the issues mentioned – like how to get the traffic or how to write in an attractive way. Fortunately, I’m was able to get on a right track 🙂
All the best in a New Year!
Hi Justyna, glad you found the tips helpful. I’ll confess I sometimes re-red them myself when i get into a black hole of “why am I doing this?”! I used to agonise over traffic…still do, a fair bit, but along the way I realised that persistence and time are often the key. Glad you’re on the right track – hope it continues that way! Happy blogging.
Hey Indiana Jo,
Love your writing.
Thanks 🙂
I just stumbled across your blog on a random Lonely Planet search and am so happy I did! What a great post.
thanks!
Brooke
Thanks, Brooke!
Very useful article and great tips. Something I-should’ve-read-before-I-started-our-blog lol! Well I really enjoy blogging but more I read about platforms, I feel less confident about picking Blogger. As its a simple blog, I haven’t found a reason yet to migrate to WordPress but hopefully, I never have to.
Another requirement imo is pre-knowledge about SEO as I’m spending a lot of time on it now. No commercial goals for me but I’d love for the blog to fare better (at all!) in the page ranking which I think a lot of bloggers will want too.
Thanks again for the great article!
Shraddha, if Blogger is working for you and you see no reason to change, then I say stick with what you’re happy with! SEO is a tricky one and I’ve touched on it in two other posts: which practically guides you through SEO for each post. Not sure if there is an equivalent for WP.com or Blogger? I used to write a lot more for SEO, now I’m veering back towards more natural content, with SEO playing a secondary role. Play around with it and see what works. Ultimately, you still need to have fun if you want to stick at it and hopefully in the long-term the constant posting and the following it should attract will help your rank. Glad you liked the article!
Greetings from Singapore.
Thanks for sharing these great tips!
You’re welcome 🙂
Great post! I’m new to the blog scene and already i can relate to what you wrote.
Thanks, Yana. Glad you liked the post. Keep at it – blogging can be a battle, but if you get into a routine of posting it becomes (a bit) easier!
Thank you!! I’m going for it. I didn’t have any problems from blogger to wordpress.com so keeping fingers and toes crossed this will go ok *eek*!! Thank you for all of your help 🙂
Excellent – let me know how you get on, I will have my fingers crossed!
I’m a big fan of lists so why don’t you make a list of the reasons you want to move to .org. For me it was the plugins, having control over the site to keep it ad free and the flexibility to own and be able to better change the design (not that I’ve done it yet!). I already had my own domain so that was no problem. I lost traffic in the move from Blogger to WordPress.com – apparently it’s common because Blogger has a different format for its permalinks (the blog urls). You can set up a redirect to point one to the other, but I didn’t know what the problem was, I just saw my view numbers fall off a cliff 🙁 I think if you’ve already done the migration to wordpress and had no problems, you should be fine. Here’s an article that helped me figure out (after the fact!) what I’d done wrong –
If you make the move, I hope it all goes well, just do your research first and you should be fine!
Great and informative post, thank you very much for sharing all of this…I made the exact same mistakes with choosing a platform…and I’m currently with wordpress.com and wondering, after a month, if I should already make the leap to .org!!
I’m debating the exact same thing at the moment globalmouse!
Maybe we should both do it and can console ourselves if it all goes horribly wrong??! 🙂
It’s funny, Globamouse, as soon as I migrated to wordpress.com I regretted not making the jump straight to .org. It can be scary stuff but once I figured it out and took the plunge to go self-hosted I didn’t regret it for a minute. I’m no expert and found it easier than I imagined. Be really careful with your urls, but if you’ve already moved to .com, I’m sure you’ll be fine. Just think of all those amazing plugins you will get to use as a reward for the change 🙂 If you need any help, let me know.
You’re making me think I should just do it!! I regretted not having gone to .org almost immediately too. You mentioned losing people…was this when you moved to the first time to wordpress.com or can you lose people between the two wordpress’s..if you see what I mean?! I’m concerned I might but then I think I should do it sooner than later anyway as I’ll probably end up wanting to at some point…..hmmmm I think you might have convinced me….!!!
Hi, great post and very useful tips. Thanks for sharing! I just started my own blog and this post gave me a lot of answers to some of the questions I had.
Your blog looks great too! 🙂
Thanks, Nina. I’m glad someone can learn from my newbie glitches! I discovered today that my old blogging name (Jo Blogs) is on the market Out of interest I asked about the price – $4,000! For a domain name!!! I politely replied that if I had that amount of spare cash I would spend it on travel…or diamonds…or both 🙂
This is an absolutely fantastic post. Although my website/blog is four months old now and I am beginning to get the hang of things, a lot of things you said really resonated with me and gave me a few things to consider too. Thank you.
My website has a dual purpose, the secondary aim of promoting and selling my published series of travel books (which is getting added to as I write), but primarily to inspire people to travel and to provide the inexperienced backpacker with the advice, hints and tips they will need to make their dreams a reality.
If you want to stop by, I’d appreciate any comments or thoughts you may have? Or even any criticisms? (But please be kind!) ;D
Thanks for the kind comment, Mike – pleased to offer some food for blogging thought. As I come fresh from just having accidentally deleted an FTP file (thankfully recovered), it’s a good reminder that I’m still getting the hang of things too. I’ve been over to your blog – looks good! I may be in contact for some tip as I’m musing with the idea of my own eBook 🙂 Happy blogging and good luck with the book sales!
Thankyou very much! I’m glad you liked the site! I’m open to any and every bit of advice on how to improve it if you have any after seeing it? You should definitely write your book! Please feel free to drop me an email anytime, I’ll be glad to help if I can.
I may take you up on that 🙂 And I’ll drop you an email if I have any thoughts on your blog!
Hi, thanks for this great article. It has opened my eyes about my blog. I guess what started out as a place to share stories probably ended up being a whole lot of “look at me me me” that probably drove away interest from friends and family (except my parents). I really should have made it more about how my travels can help teach something to those out there reading. I will keep this in mind going forward.
Hi Ken, glad to help. It can be a difficult balance to strike. My blog also used to be a place to share stories then I started writing lots of tips and guides, losing my non-travelling friends and family as readers in the process (thanks to my Uncle Dave for the insight!). I think the key is a blend of personal and helpful. I’ll let you know if I ever get that blend right 🙂 On the plus side, every blog we post teaches us something.
Great tips! Thank you for sharing!
Glad to help!
Very useful guide, anyone can learn something about blogging.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and helpful tips on blogging. As I’m sitting here in Paris trying to figure out how to redefine my own travel site, your blog came in handy as a reality check for me. So thank you!
Tanya, you’re welcome. Glad the post helped. I had a conversation with another traveller yesterday about how much work blogging involves, which is oddly comforting knowing other bloggers don’t always find it plain sailing either. Your blog looks good – keep at it.
I love the tips and the honest feedback on setting up s travell blog and trying the fund your own trip. Your insight and how you use the technology to run your blog and been every helpful and is it great to know my ipad is able to do the job for my own blog projects.
Thanks, David. I’m always happy for people to learn from things I think I could have done better 🙂 Good luck with your blog and feel free to send me a link!
Excellent tips, Jo. And yes, travel blogging is a lot of hard work!
Thanks, Chris – I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds travel blogging requires continual effort! I see from your blog that you spend a lot of time in Asia. Any insider tips always welcome. I’ll be in Bangkok later in summer for the 3rd time so will do more exploring then.