How to start a travel blog and travel the world

If you would like to know how to start a travel blog (or a more professional blog in general), I have written here a comprehensive guide. After reading this article, you will be able to set up a travel blog within 30 minutes. Of course, you have to know that maintaining a travel blog means dedication, scheduling your posts, promoting your writing in social media, etc. But for the time being, everything you need to know for your first steps is here.

Besides that, I am planning to enhance the content of this post whenever I come up with new ideas or current trends, therefore make sure to check it out once in a while. If you are interested in additional info about my budget, my gear, etc., do check my FAQ page. If you have any questions about blogging please leave me a comment at the end of this post. I’ll do my best to reply and give you some extra tips.

So, let’s get started with the guide on How to start a travel blog.

*Some of the links within the text are affiliate links. It means that if you purchase something after clicking them I might earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

1. Select your travel blog name

Before even signing up for hosting, you should think about the name of your travel blog. My advice is to write on a piece of paper a couple of ideas (10 or even 20, but definitely not 1,000) and then start reflecting upon them. You should go through a short evaluation period, and you should be clear with yourself: what would you like to achieve with this blog? Are you feeling comfortable under the name of your travel blog? Do you think that you can enhance its content without losing track, i.e., without the name being totally incompatible after a while?

As a rule of thumb, you should avoid names with numbers and hyphens because this will make the website less easy to explain and hard to remember. You should try to find a memorable name and when you do, check if the domain is available. In general, available domains are usually cheap; they cost approximately 10-15 euros per year. If your ideal domain is taken, you can always try to buy it, but I don’t recommend it: this can cost a lot.

Try also to avoid overused or entirely cliche words. “Nomadic” or “Adventurous” are beautiful words, but they are so overused that you might end up being just another nomadic/adventurous guy. People will usually stick with the ones they already know, therefore try to be creative.

Last but not least, think about the future. It’s fine to have a Wonderful[City Name].com website if you don’t plan to leave this city, but what happens if you change your mind? The name will look definitely funny. Therefore, keep an eye in the future when picking your name.

Update: I wrote a separate blog post with tips and techniques that will help you choose your blog name. Check it out here.

A personal tip

If you have a clear concept in your mind (like I had with the Letters to Barbara), try to keep the name as sort as possible. Avoid cuting words down because it might ruin the whole concept. For example, if I were about to cut the word “to” from this website, I would have ended up with LettersBarbara. This would have sounded more as if I was expecting letters from Barbara, instead of writing letters to her. So, while it is essential to have a short name (a lot of people might say: the shortest name possible), I would also suggest not to kill the entire concept by minimizing the URL in order to save 2-3 letters. If it serves your concept well, then keep it. On the other hand, you can probably imagine why, for example, TheLongLettersToMyVeryBelovedBarbara.com wouldn’t work well 😉

2. How to start a travel blog: Hosting your blog

That’s one of the most critical aspects of How to start a travel blog. What is hosting? It is actually where all your website’s data will be stored. Therefore, you should pick up wisely the provider because you definitely need your site up and running non-stop. Otherwise, you might lose traffic and of course money. I am suggesting Bluehost because I am very satisfied with their services; the Letters to Barbara never went offline and the customer support is excellent. Bluehost is offering the best shared-hosting services, and for the time being, you don’t need to consider a dedicated server (it costs several hundred euros/dollars per month).

If you do decide for Bluehost, follow this link and save up to 60%.

*Update: I wrote a very long and honest review about Bluehost and its hosting plans. You can read the review here.

Here is how the Bluehost page will look like when you follow the link.

Afterward, you should click on the green button (Get started). It will bring you to the next page. There you can see the pricing, including the current offers that I promised you above. It should look like this:

As you can see, you have three different options. For the Letters to Barbara, I decided on the Choice Plus program. This was because a) it had the same price with the Plus option and b) the Domain Privacy was included. The Domain Privacy merely means that if somebody searches the WhoIs directory, he or she will not see your address and all of your personal details. Instead of that, they will see the Bluehost address details. Between the “Plus” and the “Choice Plus” bundles, the Choice Plus is for me a no-brainer. However, if you are on a tight budget or if you are still not sure that you will stick with travel blogging then you should go for the “Basic” plan. Just keep in mind that if you need the Domain Privacy option, you will have to pay some money to buy it.

After you select your bundle, you will be prompted to check if your desired domain name is available. Remember, that the domain name is included in the price. It should look like this:

After securing that your domain name is available, you hit “Next.” You will be directed to the payment page. You will be asked about your personal information; you will be shown your package details and also you will be asked for your credit card details.

A personal tip

To make the most out of the offers, I do recommend buying the 36 months option. This seems to be the sweet spot of saving. For example, in the basic plan, the 12-month-plan costs currently $5.95/month and the 24-months-plan costs $4.95/month. The big discount of $3.95/month comes with the 36-months-plan. Their 60-months-plan comes with no further discount, and it costs still $3.95/month.

*Billing is now available in the following currencies: EUR, GBP, CAD, and AUD.*

More or less, you will see this:

Bluehost is offering some package extras. I didn’t buy the Bluehost SEO Tools Start (I will talk later about a useful free plugin), but I did buy the Sitelock Security. This increases the spam and malware monitoring. If you think you don’t need it, uncheck the box. As you can see, there is 60% off the final price by following the link.

Adding your payment details straight ahead, it means that you are now the happy owner of a website! Congrats!

Other web hosting providers

There are lots of web hosting providers out there offering excellent services at competitive prices. Among the most famous and reliable ones are Siteground and Weebly. These were actually the other two providers I considered when I was about to start running this travel blog. In the end, I decided for Bluehost but both of these are legitimate services and they receive praise from their users. If you’d like to see the current web hosting offers by Siteground and Weebly just click on the banners below.

3. Install WordPress

So, we’re now entering phase two of How to start a travel blog.

You are now having total control over your website, on how it looks and you can, of course, monetize it! Bluehost is offering a one-click install of WordPress, which is the biggest and most reliable blogging platform. You will be asked for a password for your account, and then you pick up a theme. Don’t lose too much time on that: you can change the theme at any time. Just follow the quick instructions and make sure to choose “Business” and not “Personal” when you are asked what kind of website that is. I suggest “Business” because I assume you’d like to monetize it. If not, then go with the personal option.

A personal tip

If you don’t have any idea about blogging on WordPress, I have found two handy websites. They cover pretty much everything, from your first-steps questions up to more advanced topics. They both helped me a lot, and they still do sometimes.

Spend some time to familiarise yourself with WordPress and find all the answers you might need on the websites mentioned above.

4. Find a professional theme for your travel blog

You are already serious about travel blogging; therefore, you must have a professional theme. They usually cost anything between 20 and 70 euros. Professional themes will give a more elegant and serious appearance to your website. I have bought mine from ThemeForest, and I can highly recommend the platform. They have tons of themes for every style. Of course, you can also go to your WordPress Sidebar on your left and hover over “Appearance” and choose “Premium Themes.” There you can find loads of themes, too. However, I was tempted by the themes I’ve seen on ThemeForest, but it’s up to you! As I mentioned above, several platforms are offering professional themes, but since I haven’t used any of them, I prefer not to write something that might be invalid and not based on my experience.

A personal tip

Whenever I searched for professional themes, I kept an eye on two critical factors. The first one is that the theme is Responsive. This means that the theme will be customized automatically for smartphones or tablets. Most of the people nowadays use mobile devices, and the last thing you want is a messy website when a visitor is using his/her smartphone! The second factor I paid lots of attention was the maturity of the theme. I prefer to stick with older themes, at least a year or so. Also, I was checking when the last update of the theme was performed.

New themes might look very modern, but quite often they are full of bugs. Also, a serious chain of updates shows that the developer still pays attention to the theme. Older themes that are being constantly updated, translates to a bug-free theme. Subsequently, a smoothly running theme means also that you can create more easily your website, without technical distractions. In conclusion, I would check if the theme exists for more than a year, and if the last update was performed within the last 3-4 months. If that’s the case, I’d go for it.

5. Download some plugins (but not too many!)

The beauty of WordPress is that it comes with an enormous amount of plugins. On the right sidebar of your dashboard, you will see the section plugins. Hover over, and you’ll find both the pre-installed plugins as well as the “Add new” section. In the beginning, you will probably think that you need each one of them. This is extremely tempting, of course, but keep in mind that if you overdo it, your website will become very slow. You should stick with the essentials, i.e., the plugins that will offer something significant to your website. Below you will see a list of the plugins I’m currently using.

Of course, if you think that you need more plugins, you should simply install them. The installation process is straightforward, you just hit the “Install” button, and pretty much that’s it. After you are done, hover over Plugins and check what you’ve added.

Yoast SEO . This is one of the best plugins out there and the reason I didn’t buy the Bluehost SEO tool (check above). It will help you optimize your website for Search Engine Optimization. Every time you write a post, it will advise you about keywords, about readability, about pretty much everything you need to boost your content in search engines. There is a premium version with even more capabilities for 79$. Start with the free version; it should be enough for the first months or even years.

. This is one of the best plugins out there and the reason I didn’t buy the Bluehost SEO tool (check above). It will help you optimize your website for Search Engine Optimization. Every time you write a post, it will advise you about keywords, about readability, about pretty much everything you need to boost your content in search engines. There is a premium version with even more capabilities for 79$. Start with the free version; it should be enough for the first months or even years. Akismet . Another recommended plugin. It protects you from spam comments, and it blocks them automatically by using a particular algorithm. (**August 2019 Update. I have disabled Akismet on my website. While the plugin has indeed blocked spam comments, I have received a lot of e-mails and DMs on my Social Media from people saying that they couldn’t leave a comment. What made me disable it? Well, the fact that I couldn’t access the blocked comments and see for myself if among them there were also genuine ones. It’s true, Akismet is probably the best anti-spam out there. However, do keep in mind you won’t have access to the blocked comments; if a comment is marked as spam, it’s gone.)

. Another recommended plugin. It protects you from spam comments, and it blocks them automatically by using a particular algorithm. (**August 2019 Update. I have disabled Akismet on my website. While the plugin has indeed blocked spam comments, I have received a lot of e-mails and DMs on my Social Media from people saying that they couldn’t leave a comment. What made me disable it? Well, the fact that I couldn’t access the blocked comments and see for myself if among them there were also genuine ones. It’s true, Akismet is probably the best anti-spam out there. However, do keep in mind you won’t have access to the blocked comments; if a comment is marked as spam, it’s gone.) WPTouch . If you have a responsive theme, you don’t need it. But if you don’t have a responsive theme, this will optimize your content for mobile devices. I don’t use it because my theme is responsive.

. If you have a responsive theme, you don’t need it. But if you don’t have a responsive theme, this will optimize your content for mobile devices. I don’t use it because my theme is responsive. Easy Social Share Buttons . It does what it says: integrates social media buttons on your website for easy sharing on social media. I don’t know if it’s the best out there, but it works fine for me. I got the pro version for 20$, which includes tons of social media plus analytics.

. It does what it says: integrates social media buttons on your website for easy sharing on social media. I don’t know if it’s the best out there, but it works fine for me. I got the pro version for 20$, which includes tons of social media plus analytics. UpdraftPlus . It has a free version that works fine. It will back up your website so you won’t lose anything if something goes wrong. By using that backup, you can also restore a previous version of your website.

. It has a free version that works fine. It will back up your website so you won’t lose anything if something goes wrong. By using that backup, you can also restore a previous version of your website. W3 Total Cache . This is a performance plugin. It will improve the speed and overall experience of your website.

. This is a performance plugin. It will improve the speed and overall experience of your website. WordFence Security . The WordFence has a good free version and an advanced Premium one. It protects your website from malware and viruses — a very good Firewall option.

. The WordFence has a good free version and an advanced Premium one. It protects your website from malware and viruses — a very good Firewall option. Get Grammarly. This is not a WordPress plugin but one for your browser. Grammarly is something that every writer would love: it corrects your texts automatically and it is also suggesting changes to your posts. It has a free version, which I used from day one, as well as a pro version. I recently bought the pro version and I wish I had it from the beginning. It’s extremely useful, especially if English is not your mother language. Learn more about Grammarly here.

A personal tip

The free versions of the plugins work pretty well for a beginner. At a later stage, you might consider buying a full version. I still use the free versions (unless otherwise stated), and I’m totally satisfied with them.

6. Start writing.

If you’ve followed all the above steps, it means that you are done with the technical part of creating your website. Right now, you have a platform ready to accommodate your content. And that’s exactly what you should do: write.

Write your About section.

If you are an introvert, write like one. If you are the most social person, prove it. Don’t try to hide. Show who you are and what are you willing to achieve with your travel blog.

Publish your first post.

Now it gets serious and, above all, fun! Apart from being your first post ever, it will also help you to arrange the photos, check the headers, insert links, use the Yoast SEO tool, etc. Don’t think for ages what your first post is going to be: it can be anything. About yourself, about your brand new travel blog, about your travel plans, about not having currently travel plans.

Set up your social media accounts (if you haven’t already).

I know, you have doubts about social media. But hey, this is one of the best ways to promote your content for free. Set a posting schedule and start sharing your stuff. Try to keep your social media name the same as your website. On the other hand, do not sign up for every available social media channel if you don’t have the time to deal with it properly. In my opinion, it’s better to have 1-2 social media accounts that you spend adequate time to build your fanbase, instead of being on 20 social media channels and having them in sleep mode.

Focus on the ones that make you feel more comfortable. Also, the ones that bring traffic to your website (that’s the objective!) and/or bring job opportunities. For example, I never really enjoyed twitter, but I liked spending time on Instagram.

Last but not least, have a posting plan. You don’t have to write two posts every day. On the other hand, uploading new stuff every second month will never grow your website. Three times a week, two times, even once per week is fine. What matters the most is the quality of the content, not the quantity. A well-written post means that the reader will spend more time on your website, will follow you on social media, will return back. Stay focused and keep on creating excellent content. It always pays back.

FREE Travel Writing Course!

Did you know that I have written a totally FREE Travel Writing Course? It consists of 5 e-mails in 10 days that will help you improve your travel writing rapidly. You can subscribe to it here. I promise that it will help you and it will give you several tips, too. I think that there is no complete guide on how to start a travel blog, without a travel writing course. And mine is free, too 🙂

A personal tip.

It’s always tempting to spend money on social media promotion. You dream of lots of new followers and traffic. The reality, however, is much different. Do not overdo it with social media advertising. Keep your ad budget low. Never forget that you are here to create content. This means that if your budget is not unlimited, you need this money for traveling, for equipment, for website maintenance, for food, etc. For example, let’s say that you have a traveling budget of 5,000 euros this year. Spending 100 euros per month in social media promotion it means that this year you have 1,200 euros less for traveling. For my traveling style, this means 2 to 3 journeys less. Be wise about spending -it might not even deserve it.

7. Monetize your travel blog

If you are willing to monetize your blog, there are a few standard ways to achieve it. Remember that it’s not only essential to know how to start a travel blog, but also how to make it profitable for you.

Ads.

A good place to start is Google Adsense. You can create an account and start adding snippets of code in your posts. Google Adsense will try to show ads relevant to your website. You will receive a small amount of money per click. In the very beginning, your income will be a few pennies. Do not get disappointed: monetizing is a long-term process.

Affiliate marketing.

Whenever you add a link to a favorite product of yours (book, camera, music, etc.) you can place a direct link to Amazon for example. If somebody clicks the link and buys that product through your website (or any product within 24 hours), you will get a small commission. Amazon Associates is an excellent place to start. The same goes for hotel recommendations (linking websites like Booking.com) or air tickets (linking to Momondo for example). Once again, don’t expect miracles. But this is definitely an excellent way to create some passive income.

Sell banner space on your website.

This is not an easy one, but you can always try to sell some banner space on your website. When you reach some decent traffic levels, you can always contact companies (or even better: be contacted) and set a price for advertising a company constantly on your website.

Other ways of monetizing.

This can be a variety of things: from being an ambassador for a brand to run a social media campaign. Or, to write about a publication/newspaper/magazine that would like to pay you for an article. The list is endless here, and you will hopefully discover everything as time goes by. Last but not least, you can create and sell your own products: ebooks, Lightroom Presets, etc. Check my travel shop for a few ideas.

A personal tip.

Do not use affiliate links of services or products that you haven’t used yourself. It’s lame. Yup, it is. Your readers are here to get first-hand recommendations, and if you cheat on them, they will simply walk away. Hard but also fair. That said, I never promote any affiliate websites if I am not a long time user. I am shopping from Amazon since 2010; I book hotels from Booking.com for almost a decade now. Websites like Agoda might be fantastic, and all but the truth is I have never used them. How could I drive my readers there? By now you know what it is: It’s lame.

How to start a travel blog: An Epilogue

If you have made it all the way down here, it means that you are either interested to know how to start a travel blog or that you have already created one and you are ready to write your first post. Owning and running a travel blog might be the most beautiful journey you’ll ever have. There will be many ups and downs, but if you enjoy writing and traveling, it sure worths it.

Make sure to check back this page every once in a while as I might add some new content, depending on current trends or new ideas. Also make sure to read the 12 things I learned after six months of travel blogging: it contains extra tips and advice based on my experience. Also, for the first anniversary of the Letters To Barbara, I have written a very comprehensive post about my experience after one year of travel blogging. Check it out too.

I have also written a very long post on what travel blogging gear you’ll need. The post is intended for minimalists (i.e. traveling light) but I’m sure it applies to everyone. You can see my blogging gear equipment here. If you are interested in professional hosting, then I can highly recommend Bluehost. I have reviewed the Bluehost’s services here and you can check the current Bluehost offers here.

Lots of people keep e-mailing me and ask me how to start a travel blog. Well, if you follow this step by step guide I think you’ll create your blog quickly. Then, all you have to do is to start writing (read here how you can become a writer).

All the best and keep me posted about your blogging process.

Last updated: September 2020

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