So you’ve recently been on a trip which you enjoyed immensely and on your way back, you questioned the direction of your whole life, getting sick just at the thought of going back to your regular life of slaving away in your office. You’ve probably also signed up to the notifications sent out from the mailing lists of a couple of travel blogs you’ve taken to reading lately, and now you’re wondering just what it entails to perhaps become a travel blogger yourself. It doesn’t take much really, but the travel blogger essentials which will give your travel blog the best chance of not becoming just another incomplete impulsive idea aren’t as straight-forward and obvious as many people think.
Here are the travel blogger essentials you need to make sure to one day turn your travel blog into something to be proud of, instead of something which you feel compelled to just bombard with information that keeps chipping away at your true traveller’s heart.
A Plan
Yes, it may seem obvious, but upon looking at it closer it won’t be so obvious. Many bloggers (not just travel bloggers) just head on over to Alphabet’s Blogger.com platform, choose a template and then start filling the template with pictures and some content. You need to have a real plan for your travel blog – in other words, what do you aim to achieve with it? Just sharing your experiences is a good enough plan, but then you should stick to it and not get carried away – it’s very easy to start getting pulled in all directions when you realise just how many different avenues you can take your travel blog down. A good plan for your travel blog is to one day have it generate money for you, especially since travel bloggers are travellers at heart and travellers would love nothing more than to make money doing what they love doing. Well, you can cross that from your checklist provided you ideate content that can attract maximum attention and incorporate better SEO strategies (see this page here for reference).
Travel Blogging Tools
You definitely need your own domain name, which really isn’t that expensive at all. If you don’t have the technical skills to design and develop your own website / blog, the likes of WordPress have some nice templates you can use, which are operated as Content Management Systems. This way publishing every new post is as easy as typing the content into the designated input interface and clicking on “publish.” For the hosting of your blog, after buying a domain name for considerably less than 10, you’ll just have to set aside around 1- 5 per month, with some major discounts if you pay once-off for the whole year (or even for 24 months).
So basically you need a blog which is YOURS, not something which you publish over what looks like a public platform.
Content
The web is becoming increasingly visual, but text content is still pretty much the main attraction of travel blogs. Don’t overdo it with the images, unless you’ve explicitly stated to be dedicating a certain section of your travel blog to an image gallery, otherwise one or two images per post is often enough. Readers that go on to subscribe to your travel blog or those who keep coming back to read new content return for just that – your content. They want to read about your personal experiences as a traveller, but perhaps even more importantly, they want to read about your insights into those travel experiences you’ve had personally and just those which you’d love to explore.
Travel Blogger Gadgets
All you really need as a travel blogger by way of your tech is your laptop and a good camera (your smartphone camera will often do just fine). A backpack will probably be in order as well, just so you can have your hands free when carrying some of your essentials around while out on your adventures. Get a laptop and not a tablet PC – you’ll realise why once you have a lot to write about and share with your readers, especially if you plan to eventually monetise your travel blog. If you’re looking to equip yourself on a budget, do what you can to get the best tools at a discount. See if you can find a good deal for what you need at Only Reviews where they’ll compare all of the different options available to you and show you the best and worst priced items, making it even more of a breeze to get yourself established as a travel blogger on a budget.
Happy travel blogging!
