So you want to start travel blogging. You want to travel the world, write about it, and get paid. Sounds pretty amazing, right? Well, I am here to tell you that while it actually IS amazing, there is a whole lot that goes into it, BEFORE you even sit down to write. From research to camera angles, your traveling life is about to be turned on its head. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
This article may contain affiliate links. If you click on those links and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you I will get a small commission. This will go a long way toward keeping this website running. As always, thank you for your support! Click HERE for more information.
I first started this blog a couple of years ago. I was still in Brisbane, Australia, working full time. I basically just wrote a few articles on my time off. Back then, the blog was going to focus primarily on Indonesia, which really made sense at the time. Simply because my first stop was going to be Bali, a place I had visited on countless occasions, and a place I knew I would spend a lot more time. Little did I know that when I finally started traveling as a full time blogger, Covid19 would hit and I would find myself in Bali for over 4 years (and counting).
This turned out to be a good thing, in a way. While was itching to breathe life back into my traveling life, I had the time to mature my blog. I explored every inch of Bali and now have over 90 articles on the island now, and dozens more about South East Asia. I also learned what it takes to find, explore and write about places that I visit, and that is basically what this article will be about.
Travel Blogging is a great resume
Are you interested in becoming a travel writer? Not everyone wants to start a travel blog, but I’m here to tell you from my own personal experience that starting a blog is a great way to move into bigger and better travel writing fields.
When I first started my blog, I remember telling someone, half as a joke, that maybe one day I’ll write for Lonely Planet. I’d only just come back from the bookshop where I’d spent my lunch break browsing the travel section and all the Lonely Planet books.
Well, guess what? Now, I’m a writer for Lonely Planet!
It all started for me when I wrote a simple article about hiking in Indonesia. A Lonely Planet editor who was looking for someone to write a similar article contacted me, and the rest is pretty much history. At time of writing this article, I’ve now written not just that article for their online platform, but I’m also co-author for the new printed Guide to Bulgaria, as well as the Guide to Indonesia.
The sky is the limit, and every single article that you post on your blog is an update to your own personal portfolio of brilliant travel content!
Travel Blogging – Ideas and Research
Every Travel Blogging article starts with an idea. Finding a new place to visit and explore. But where do those ideas come from? For mine, I have several places that I find them:
- Word of mouth
- Other blogs
- Google Maps
Each of these places have been a gold mine for me whilst I have been in Bali. So much so, in fact, that I have already begun to utilize the same places to build lists of the next countries and places I intend to visit. For now, though, let’s explore each of them.
Instagram – Social Media is an amazing resource for finding ideas. Once you know what destination you want to visit and explore, begin searching for accounts of people that are already there. You will find many influencers that visit these places, post amazing photos, but never write articles. That’s where YOU come in.
Facebook – Much the same as Instagram, but in this case search for groups. Join up and follow along with the popular topics. Search for trends and when something interesting pops up, have a look through the comments. This will give you an idea of what people want to know about the destination, and what questions they need answered. Solve their problems!
Word of Mouth – When it comes to Travel Blogging ideas, word of mouth is very under rated. It can also mean a couple of different things. Firstly, and most obviously, getting ideas from your friends. Find out places they have been and what they thought of them. Mostly, though, you should be looking for word of mouth from LOCALS. If you sit in a local restaurant or café and strike up a conversation with the proprietor, TELL him you are a blogger and ask him for recommendations. Ask if there are any great waterfalls nearby, museums, or hidden gems that only locals know about. It’s amazing how much they like to talk when you show interest.
Other Blogs – Why not check out people who have been there before you? You aren’t the first blogger to visit the country, after all. A big part of my research for a new destination comes from googling the location and reading other articles. Find out what was great about the place, and while you do, think about what questions you have that were NOT answered in the article. Then you are already getting an idea of what YOU can write about.
Google Maps – My personal favorite. I literally spend HOURS on Google Maps, poring over them, zooming in on areas I haven’t been or are thinking of going to. I have found SO MANY places in Bali that have never been blogged about before, waterfalls that have only just been opened to the public and no one even knows about yet. Google Maps is your best friend when Travel Blogging. So much so, that I will cover it in more detail below.
Making your plans
Once you have an idea, and know where you want to go, you need to make your plans. This comes threefold.
- When you will go and how to get there
- What you will want to learn – content for your article
- What media you will need for Social Channels and Blog
So now, let’s look at these things a bit closer.
When you will go and how to get there – This is a big one, and something that I do before I go anywhere. Now, this is not saying that you can’t be spontaneous. Anyone that knows me will know how much planning I put into something, then go right off track and end up doing something totally different! But that is just the fun of Travel Blogging. You have the time to do that! When it comes to planning, though, my favorite tool is Google Maps. Find the location on maps, mark it as a favorite, and then find out the best way to get there. How long will it take? Is this going to be a one day trip, or will you have to stay overnight? Will you have extra time on your hands to see anything else? Can you combine the trip with seeing another destination on the same day? So many questions! Google Maps is your friend…
What you will want to learn – This question is answered by two main things. First, what are YOU curious about? Why are YOU wanting to go there? Hint – the answer should NOT be, just so you can blog about it. There should be a genuine reason that you are interested in going. Think about that, and you will have the bones of your article already. The second answer will come from other blogs. Remember earlier when we looked at some other travel blogs and came up with extra questions that they didn’t answer? Well, now YOU are going to answer them. Look for those answers when you are there, then write about them.
What Media you will need – Knowing all of these things BEFORE you set out will save you a lot of time, but also, it will save you from kicking yourself when you get home and realize you didn’t get THAT shot or THAT angle. Trust me, it still happens to me. You would be surprised how many time I have visited a location, taken 500 photos, but not ONE of them is suitable for the cover of my blog article. Or the other way around, and I take so many photos for my blog, that I have totally forgotten about my Instagram post, or Reel. Be ready and know everything before you go, and like a good Boyscout, Be Prepared!
The Trip
Aah, the trip. The fun part of Travel Blogging. The ACTUAL travel. This is why we are all here, isn’t it?
I have a little news for you, though. While the travel is amazing, and will never be anything but, you will NEVER look at travel the same again. Now, it’s all about gathering information, getting the best camera angles, and digging into the bones of the place. You want to know as much about the location as there is to know, and then more.
Remember the days that you could turn up, smile, enjoy the view and leave? Yeah? So do I.
This is why you have to be prepared. If you already know what you need, then you hardly have to think about it when you are there. Generally, when I arrive, I concentrate on getting it all straight away. The best photos from every angle. Information from the guides, locals, other travelers. I get everything I can as fast as I can, then I will sit back and enjoy myself. And this bit is important, because I have been guilty of it before too.
Make sure you enjoy yourself.
Don’t go somewhere, take your photos and leave. Remember why you are Travel Blogging in the first place. You want to enjoy the travel, and get the most out of it. It’s not ALL work. Being well prepared will help you with this, and you will better be able to separate work from play.
Travel Blogging – The article
Once you sit down to write your article, you should have everything ready. Your photos and videos should be ready to go, and all the information lined up nicely in your head. If you are anything like me, the article will be half written already.
One tip. I find that you shouldn’t write the article on the same day you do the trip. There can be several reasons for this, but for me it simply comes down to the fact that I like to think about my article first. Usually after a full day of travel, I’m too tired anyhow. What works for me is to do a few days of travel, or even a week, then take a few days to write articles. This may be different for you, though, so try a few different methods on and see how they fit.
Now, this isn’t an article about WordPress, or SEO, or anything like that. Although it is about Travel Blogging, it was always going to be mainly about the other aspects of Travel Blogging. But, let me just quickly touch on the way that I create my articles. This process has come through trial and error, but even though writing an article seems pretty straightforward, by streamlining it, I have gone from taking 4 hours to write an article, to less than 2.
So in order, here is what I do from when I sit down at the computer/laptop.
- Find my images and move them into their own “temp” folder
- Open them one by one and resize them, save and delete originals from temp folder
- Optimize my images using TinyPNG website. Download them again.
- Upload to my Media file on WordPress
- Write my article, and put my images in place
- Do my internal and external links
- Optimize my article SEO using Yoast
- Proofread, check, and publish
So you can see, writing an article isn’t just as easy as typing a few paragraphs and hitting Publish. A lot more goes into it than you first think. Some of the above steps I have only just figured out for myself, and I actually spent an entire week in Lock Down recently Optimizing over 70 articles that I had previously written. Get it right the first time, and it will save you a lot of work!
As I already said, I will not go into more detail about those steps and writing articles, but if that is something you are interested in, then drop me a note in the comments for this article and I might look at doing that in the future.
For tips on how to become a more consistent Travel Blogger, take a look at THIS article.
Write for people, not search engines
This section, essentially, is an update as of April 2024. It comes on the back of a couple of Google Helpful Content Updates, and is VERY important if you want to succeed as a travel blogger.
Google has made some updates that have affected bloggers in all niches worldwide. It’s really impacted on travel bloggers in particular though, and I must say that I’m one of them.
What Google wants is authority. While we all see ourselves as an authority, we have to tick a few more boxes these days to qualify in the eyes of the search engines. Simply traveling the world and writing about it isn’t enough.
So what do we do?
First of all, even though keyword research is still important, don’t focus too much on it when you are writing your article. Make certain to write for people, NOT search engines. This means the focus should be on helping people, answering their queries and hitting their pain points. Forget about your search engine ranking for a few minutes, and think more about the reader.
While this is all well and good, the jury is still out with SEO’s on what Google really needs and wants after their recent updates. But as a good travel writer, all we can worry about is out readers, so focus on them first and foremost.
Other good tips to help placate Google, and raise your authority are to make certain to use original images in your articles. This shows your readers and Google that you’ve actually visited the location you’re writing about. Also, use pronouns such as “me, I and us” instead of “you and your”. This points to the fact that you’re working from your own, personal experience.
Summary
So, that’s my thoughts on Travel Blogging. It is not a glamorous life, generally. But it IS what you make of it. Traveling is fun, and what can be better than getting paid for it? If you are interested in Travel Blogging for a living, or even a past time, then I hope that my thoughts and tips in this article help you out.
Just make sure that you are PREPARED, and have a plan. Things go a lot smoother if you do!
Cheers
J
Did you enjoy this article? Then sign up to my newsletter below to be the first to see future posts!
Leave a reply