Are you looking to start a travel blog in 2023? I love traveling and I have traveled to many places. I always wanted to share my experience with my colleagues, friends, and families by sharing pics and information.
If you need to start a travel blog then this is the right place where I can show you how you can start a travel blog in 2023.
You can start a travel blog in 2 ways. First, hire a developer and create a website, or Second, create your own website using WordPress.
Starting a travel blog is one of the easiest and best niche websites that you can create in 2023. I always wanted to start my own travel blog but never got time to do so. Wherever I travel I use to take photographs and share them with my friends. Though I’m not a professional photographer I use to take photos with my mobile camera.
Let’s take an example of a professional photographer named, Steve McCurry’s website. Steve has traveled to many destinations and taken some stunning shots and created his own travel website. You can see that Steve is a traveler and also a professional photographer which is a bonus to sell his photos and share his experience of traveling.
In this article, I will show you how you can start a travel blog in 2023. Most importantly, you don’t need to have any coding skills or high developing skills to start a travel blog.
So, without further ado, let’s start a travel blog to create mouth-watering dishes for everyone 😉
Decide the niche to start a travel blog
Starting a travel blog is one of the most trending things that you can find on the internet. You may find many types of travel bloggers promoting different photography and arts on Instagram. You may find some of their photos in art galleries and museums.
Some Wildlife photographers take some risky shots just to take the perfect moment of wildlife photography. They have so much passion for exploring they travel to different parts of the world and share photos. That passion could lead them to earn their livelihood by creating a small business.
Some of the best travel bloggers have their own websites where they can showcase their talent and share their images with everyone. Furthermore, travel bloggers can earn a tremendous amount of attention to their blogs and get paid for their photos.
If you are looking to create a travel blogging website then you should pick up the niche which suits and target the audience in your community.
Checkout Daniels’s website Dan Flying Solo. His blog is all about traveling where he traveled to different parts of the world.
Since your niche is clear about travel blogging you need to make sure that what type of travel blogging you will be publishing on your site. Some of the key niches that you can choose from the travel blogging industry are
- Travel Photography where you can take images wherever you travel around the world. Whether you are traveling inside a specific country or continent.
- Explore different cultures around the world. You can write about the African, Asian and Western cultures while traveling through different countries.
- If you are a Foodie and wish to try different cuisine around the world then you can write about a specific blog where you have traveled and share your mouth-watering experience.
If any of the niches suit the best interest for your travel blog then you can easily start a travel blog without any hassle. You can share your own travel images and contribute to television networks like the National Geographic channel.
Getting a domain name for your travel blog
Since you have decided on your niche and start a travel blog, then you should pick the best domain name for your website. Picking the right domain name will give you the identity of the users as what type of website or blog you are showcasing.
Choosing the right domain name is one of the most important parts when creating a website.
WHY?
Your domain name will be your website URL where your visitors type in the name on the web address and visit your site. You can check some of the best photographers where they have their name as the domain name of their website.
If you are a famous personality then you can easily choose your name as the domain name of your website. Even if you are not it doesn’t matter you are sharing your own experience.
Let’s see some great examples of travel blogging sites on internet checkout Lili’s website Lili’s Travel Plans travel blog. She sold everything, packed her bags and traveled to Tanzania.
You can easily create a free travel blogging site in free platforms like Tumblr, Medium or Blogger. Having a free blogging platform does not give the uniqueness in your domain name. Instead, I would recommend that you can buy your own unique domain name.
The free blogging platform would have several restrictions which will make your site look less attractive and distract users from ads.
Where do I get a domain name?
So, you would be asking yourself is where you can register or buy the domain name of your choice. Fear not, there are many domain name service providers where you can easily get the domain name with a very affordable price.
Some of the top domain name service providers are Bluehost, GoDaddy, Hostgator and many more. There are many domain extensions that you can choose for your domain name. Some of them include .com, .org, .net,.info and so on.
You can choose any of the extensions that you like according to your site that you have created. Moreover, some of the best hosting service providers like Bluehost or Hostgator will give you a domain name for free, if you buy their hosting service.
Since they provide both the domain name and hosting service you don’t have to go anywhere else to get the domain name of your choice.
Choose the right web hosting
Once you have registered your domain name you need to choose the right hosting service for your website. The web hosting service is where you can host your website to connect users and websites through the World Wide Web.
It is important to note what type of website hosting service that suits yours needs to start a travel blog. There are many hosting service providers that you can choose from but I recommend Bluehost. It is one of the best web hosting services for creating a web site.
Bluehost has small scale plans to huge business plans which you can choose to host a website. You don’t need to buy or spend a huge amount of services that you don’t need or plan for hosting your website. When purchasing a hosting service you need to make sure that you look for better service for your travel blogging site.
You should look for are simple, secure, support and low-cost hosting service. Bluehost provides all these features and awesome services that I need. Moreover, you can choose any type of services that you need like Shared Hosting, Cloud Hosting, VPS and Dedicated hosting service.
Bluehost is affordable, secure and provides support 24/7. It gives you assurance and guidance that your website is safe. It will also guarantee that your website gives you the best performance on any search engine.
Since you have given so much dedicated time and energy on creating your dream website you should feel that your website gets secured. You would be needing assurance that your website could not get into the wrong hands or gets hacked by intruders.
Choosing the right platform for your travel blog
Although, you have bought the domain name and hosting for your site. You would still be looking at how you can start a travel blog in 2023. You would be looking if you need to hire a developer to create your own website and start a travel blog or use a CMS platform.
Instead of spending thousands of dollars in hiring a developer, I recommend you can choose the best CMS platform. But wait, which is the best CMS platform to start a travel blog? There are many like WordPress, Joomla, Wix, Drupal, and Squarespace.
One of the best CMS platforms that you can choose is WordPress. It is by far better than one of the best CMS platforms as compared to its competitors like Joomla and Drupal.
When I started creating my first blogging website I couldn’t decide as to which platform is best. Then I opted for WordPress which is easy to manage and create any type of website in minutes.
Is WordPress easy to use?
I have been recommending WordPress because this is how I created my first website and it was very easy to use.
Moreover, it is FREE, YES you heard it right it is free, and it is an open-source platform even for beginners for creating a website.
According to w3techs.com, 35% of websites get created using WordPress. You see more than 990+ websites created every month using WordPress. Moreover, it is one of the fastest CMS where more than 70 million new post gets created every month using WordPress. (WordPress.com Stats)
If you are new to WordPress then you can refer WordPress for Beginners. I have mentioned the basics of how you can install and use WordPress for your site.
The main reason that I recommend using WordPress is it is easy to use and one of the best CMS platforms. Once you master WordPress you can create any type of website.
Choosing the right theme to start a travel blog
Finally, you have your own domain name and hosting for your website. You are convinced and decided that you would be choosing WordPress as the blogging platform to start a travel blog in 2023.
Now, it’s time to choose the right theme for a travel blogging site. But first, you need to do some search by looking at some of the same niche sites or checking on other travel bloggers. You need to see what type of theme they have used to start a travel blog. List down all the points and start looking for the WordPress theme that suits your needs.
With WordPress, you will have thousands of Free & Paid themes. There are thousands of free WordPress themes that you can find on the WordPress repository. But choosing a free theme would only give you limited features and functionalities to start a travel blog.
So, you should choose a premium or paid WordPress theme for your travel blogging site. There are many WordPress theme providers from which you can choose to get the best travel blogging theme.
You can find a theme that is flexible and adapt changes according to your needs. With a perfect WordPress theme, you can find many theme options and customization features that you can put in place on your site.
Free vs Paid Theme
Mostly, people would prefer going for Free WordPress themes as compared to paid ones. Moreover, you might be thinking I’m out of my budget and cannot take more on investing in purchasing a premium theme.
But I would like to mention here that there are many WordPress theme providers who provide premium themes at a very affordable cost. While some of the Free themes have their own limitations as compared to a paid theme.
Once you have purchased the hosting and domain name you would find an option on how you can install the purchased theme on your WordPress site.
If you are not looking for a high rated WordPress theme then you can create one by yourself using drag and drop page builder plugins.
One of the best and most rated page builder plugin is Elementor. Moreover, the plugin is free, and using any WordPress theme you can design your own custom page templates as per your needs.
Using a page builder would give you flexible enough to create your own page templates and customize any theme as per your needs. You don’t need to have any coding skills or technical knowledge to design your own theme using the Elementor page builder plugin.
Install Plugins for your travel blog
Since you have installed the premium theme to start a travel blog then you won’t need any plugins installed on your site. But adding a plugin would boost some additional functionalities on your travel blogging site.
There are thousands of WordPress plugins you can find on the WordPress repository. You can find plugins for any type of functionality that you need for your travel blogging site.
Like premium themes, you can find many premium add-ons or plugins which you can use to extend the functionality of your travel blogging site.
But beware not all the plugins are helpful and give you better performance. Some of the plugins need large resources and service space that will slow down your travel blogging site. So make sure that you choose only the plugins that you need to start a travel blog in 2023.
Here are some of the few WordPress plugins which I use and recommend to you to start a travel blog.
- Yoast SEO – This plugin helps you to optimize your site to rank high on SERPs
- WooCommerce – Since you are starting a travel blogging site you will be selling some ebooks or products in the near future. You can create your own online store and sell your images online using your travel blog.
- WordFence – WordPress is a free and open-source platform therefore it is necessary to add some security to your website. There are many WordPress security plugins that you can use to secure your travel blogging site.
- UpdraftPlus – To keep regular backups of your travel blogging site.
- WPForms – You can use this plugin to create contact forms, signup forms, and any type of newsletter form.
Customize the travel blogging site.
When you buy a theme you will install it with the demo content data like sample posts, default logo, footer credits, and many things. You need to adjust according to your needs by changing all the default settings and options.
Many theme providers provide settings or options to change this on the customizer options. You can change these settings on the backend of your site Appearance >> Customize section. You can change the Site Title and Tagline as per your needs.
Once you change that you can change the color of your travel blogging site according to the destinations that you travel. Furthermore, you are staring as a travel blogger so you need to make sure that you have all the necessary pages to start a travel blogging site.
Some of the important pages that you need are:
- Homepage
- About Us Page
- Contact Page
Homepage of your travel Blog
The homepage will be the first page that every user will see of your site. It should be clean and distract free. On the homepage, you will see the logo of the site, social media icons, search form, and many more details.
Let’s check out an example and see Stephen and Sebastein blogging site Nomadic Boys.
You can see the beautifully designed logo, social icons, and well-organized menus to navigate to the inner pages of the site. You can see they have added a little bit of biography and also a newsletter form so that visitors can subscribe and read about their stories.
About us page of your travel blog
Having an about us page is one of the most important pages that you need for any website. Whether you are starting a travel blog or an online eCommerce site an about page is a must. An About Us page defines what type of information and your story that encourage to start your own website.
Check out an example of Chris’s Backpack Banter where he has mentioned all his overall journey.
You must include your story as to how you started your journey. Furthermore, you can mention where have you been and when is your next trip? And so on.
Write your heart out so that your users can feel about you. Chris has also added a FAQ section where you don’t have to wait for your answers.
Create a Contact us Page for your travel blog
The contact page is also one of the important pages for your blogging site. It is where your visitors can easily get in touch with you. There are some users who would be looking to ask a few questions, blog queries, sponsored post and many more.
Let’s check out an example and see Stephen and Sebastein blogging site Nomadic Boys.
If you have different email accounts you can list down them for different purposes.
Having social media icons will be an advantage if your email doesn’t reach you your users can reach you via social media accounts.
A corporate address or your office address if available you can add it on the contact page.
Having a disclaimer that you won’t be able to respond as quickly as possible.
Bonus Tips
Add images and videos
It is said that a picture says a thousand words. Well, that’s true having high-quality images will attract your users to stay longer on your website. Apart from that adding videos and graphics would be a bonus.
So, where you can find high-quality images? or how you can add images on your travel blogging site?
Here are some of the options that you can try on your travel blogging site.
Take your own photographs for your travel blog
If you are not a professional photographer it’s ok you just have to take pictures of your traveling. In between you can take a selfie as well as have some fun, this will make your photographs more real. Though I’m not an expert I would recommend getting a high DSLR camera and proper audio equipment for your blog.
Promote your travel blog
You have your first blog published and in the upcoming weeks, you have published 15-20 blogs on your travel blogging site.
Now what? You would be thinking that how can I promote my website? Is there any easy way to do that?
I would say that Yes, there is an easy way.
Here are some of the common and most useful methods that you can use to promote your travel blogging site.
Share your website on Social Media
One of the easiest ways that you can promote your website is by sharing your site on social media. Today, social media has become of the major tools for promoting any business and increase traffic on your site. This requires no cost and no effort you can simply share your content on social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Start building an email list
Email marketing is one of the cheapest and best methods where you can easily share your blog with other users. You need to email the users who have subscribed to your website using the newsletter forms. Sending in them regular updates about your travel destinations makes theme eager to visit your website more often.
Moreover, they will also be sharing your blog on their personal social media profile. You can use tools or plugins like Mailchimp for WordPress plugin and add a newsletter form on your site and get users to subscribe to your website.
Making money from your travel blog
This must be the final step once you have published your travel blog. You would be looking at how you can earn or generate income from your travel blogging site. I would say that your motive should be to spread the travel destinations and places that you have visited.
You need to make aware to other travel bloggers who are traveling to the destinations that you have visited before. If you keep your passion for discovering then you can easily get more attention and enough traffic to make money from your travel blogging site.
Making money would always be a secondary concern since your travel blog is totally new and not getting enough traffic.
Some of the methods that you can use once you have high traffic on your site:
Showing Ad Banners
This is one of the simplest methods which you can use to get paid by displaying advertisement banners on your site. One of the best ways is to use Google Adsense on your site.
Some of the businesses need to market and promote their business. They will send their banners to get displayed on your site. You can use the Text widget to put on the banner ads and add the custom code to display banner images. Furthermore, a link to their website will be redirected when anyone clicks on the banner image.
Become a brand Ambassador of any channel
There are many television network channels like Nikon where you can collaborate.
Check out this amazing website of Ami Vitale. She is the Nikon Ambassador and National Geographic, where she has traveled more than 100 countries and taking amazing shots and perfect moments.
Sell your own products
Just like that, you can sell your images, travel experience ebook and publications on your own website. You can see Ami’s website where she is selling her imprints wherever she has traveled around the world.
Selling your images or writing ebooks and publish on Kindle or Amazon would be another way you can earn from your travel blogging site.
Work as a freelancer
Check out this beautiful website of Gloria’s The Blog Abroad. She has worked with brand ambassadors, video hosting, freelance writing, reviews and many more.
If you are enthusiastic then people will approach you to write a great review about their place on your blog.
Furthermore, many people will ask you if you can speak about the places that you have visited and if it is safe for travel and all.
Conclusion
Phewww!!! Finally, we have walked through how to start a travel blog in the year 2023.
Just in case, you are looking to start your own travel blog then this is the right place for you. Whether you are an explorer or destination photographer you should start a travel blog.
If you are a non-techie and don’t know about WordPress then you can check out my Beginners Guide on WordPress. I have mentioned a piece of detailed information about WordPress sections.
So now over to you. Are you a travel blogger? Did you start your own travel blog and how was your experience?
Please share your thoughts and comments below I would love to hear from you.
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