Being a travel blogger seems very glamorous. We’re traveling to all these exotic locations, working in French cafes, and exploring beautiful cities.
Okay, it’s not really all that glamorous, but it is a lot of fun and a great way to make money.
But what if you haven’t traveled much yet? Or you’re not in a place where you can travel at all right now?
Can you still be a travel blogger?
Absolutely. But not by faking it.
Let’s talk about a better way to start a travel blog: By writing about the places you know. Your hometown. Your state. The weekend trips you’ve taken. Your favorite theme park. So many options!
You don’t even need a passport to get started.
Can You Start A Travel Blog Without Traveling?
Nope. But you do need experience.
You don’t have to be a globe-trotting expert. You just need a story to tell, preferably your own.
Instead of trying to write about places you’ve never been, lean into what you already know:
- Your city’s hidden gems
- The best day trips within a few hours of your house
- What to pack for a weekend in your home state
- Local hotel reviews, based on your actual stays
- What travelers need to know before visiting your region
That’s all real, valuable content. You don’t need to travel the world. You just need to be helpful.
Now let’s walk through how to get your blog off the ground.
Where Should A Beginner Travel Blogger Start: Step-By-Step Guide
You might think all you need to do to be a blogger is to just start writing. Unfortunately, there’s a bit more to it than that, at least if you want to make money from your blog .
You need to set up your website properly, choose a niche, and make sure you’re writing about topics that you can compete for. Let’s go through the steps:
1. Research
The first step to becoming a travel blogger is to do some research. This applies whether you’re a jet-setter or if you want to start a travel blog without traveling at all.
Learn everything you can about blogging in general. It takes a lot of work to be a professional blogger. You’re also going to have to spend a bit of money upfront.
Make sure you know what you’re getting into before you spend very much money, time, and effort.
One thing in particular you need to learn about is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) . SEO is basically getting your blog posts to the top of Google.
There’s a lot to it. It’s not just stuffing in your keyword a hundred times. Google is pretty smart, so you can’t fool it.
By optimizing your blog posts, Google will see that you have good, relevant content. This is the number one way your posts are going to get to the top of Google.
You can’t possibly be a successful travel blogger without understanding SEO. Luckily, you can find many online courses about SEO .
I highly recommend a course called Scale Your Travel Blog. It covers SEO in great detail so you’ll be an expert by the time you’re done.
You should also start following other travel blogs. There are a lot of great travel blogs out there . Get an idea of what’s working for them.
2. Choose a Niche
Blogging is very competitive, especially when it comes to travel blogging. With the fast-growing digital nomad lifestyle , it seems more people than ever are traveling and writing about it. New travel blogs and vlogs are popping up all the time.
But that’s okay.
In order to compete, you need a niche. It needs to be more specific than just “travel.” This means your blog will focus on one or two specific and related things.
It can be a broad travel niche such as family travel or luxury travel. Or your niche could be a specific destination, like travel in Nova Scotia.
Once you get established, you can always branch out to other topics. But stick to one or two for now.
A good way to start is for your niche to be the city, state, or region you live in.
You can “niche down” even further by focusing on family travel in your city. Or road trips in Colorado. Or whatever interests you.
If you live close to Disney World, your travel blog could be all things Disney.
The choices are endless. Make sure it’s something you’re passionate about because you’ll be immersed in your niche.
Now think about your target audience. You need to know who you’re writing for so you can appeal to them.
As you’re deciding on your niche, check out the competition. If there are a lot of websites in the top spots on Google with a high domain authority (DA), you’ll have a hard time competing.
You can find a website’s DA by adding the free Ubersuggest extension. Then when you search for something, you’ll see the website’s DA.
These results are from searching for “Travel with dogs.” The top three websites have very high domain authority. A new blogger is not likely to be able to compete with them.
This doesn’t mean you can’t ever rank for posts about traveling with dogs. You just need to niche down a bit more. Maybe focus on traveling with dogs in a certain country.
3. Pick A Travel Blog Name
Choosing your blog’s name can be fun or challenging. Keep in mind that the name of your blog isn’t the most important thing. You can get blog posts to the top of Google no matter what your name is.
But here are a few tactics that could help:
Try to include your niche in your blog name. Hiking Colorado is probably already taken, but it’s pretty clear what that blog will be about. Most importantly, Google can see what the blog is about.
It could be something more general, like Travels With Casey, or Amanda Travels the World. If it’s general, it will be easier to change your niche if you decide to.
Be sure to Google the names you’re thinking of to make sure they’re not already spoken for.
4. Purchase A Domain Name
This step actually goes along with step three. As you’re deciding on your blog name, see if the domain name is available. The domain name is your website address, such as www. .
It’s a good idea for your domain name to match your blog name. It’s not necessary, but it does keep things simple.
I find GoDaddy to be an easy place to see what domains are available.
You can get a free domain name, but you’ll end up with an unusual URL extension (instead of .com it could be .tz or something). Check out Freenom to see if there’s something that might work for you.
Of course, .com websites are still the most respected. Buying a domain name isn’t very expensive in general, although the prices vary.
5. Self-Host Your Travel Blog
Obviously, you’re going to need a website for your blog. It’s best to self-host your blog. If you self-host, your blog is your property.
If you use a host such as Wix, you don’t actually own your blog. If Wix disappears, your blog will go with it. Wix also makes it very difficult to move your website to a different host. (I did this with my copywriting website and it was a chore.)
By self-hosting, you can sell your blog down the road. It’s your property and an asset that can increase in value. This is also a good reason to have a somewhat generic name. It will be more marketable later on.
I love Lyrical for hosting my website . They have great security and customer service. They are also one of the best for site speed and security.
You can purchase your domain name through Lyrical when you sign up. Or if you already bought it somewhere else, you can easily transfer it to Lyrical.
6. Set Up WordPress
Lyrical hosts my website, while I use WordPress.org for the website itself. It can be a little confusing, but think of it as your website (WordPress) is your set of books. Lyrical, or another host, is the library where your books live.
Pretty much every blogger will tell you to use WordPress. Make sure you’re using WordPress .org , not .com. They’re different. You need to use the .org site in order to be self-hosted.
Setting up your blog is a bit tricky. That’s one of the reasons I recommend Scale Your Travel Blog so highly. Laura walks you through each step. You can watch her and do it yourself at the same time. It saved me a ton of time.
Laura shows you all the tricks, like the best line spacing, how to use the sidebars to maximize ad real estate, font size, and so much more.
7. Generate Content
You’ve got your name and website. Now you’re ready to start writing your first blog posts!
Keep in mind that it’s going to take some time for your posts to get onto Google searches. You’re a new blogger and Google doesn’t trust you yet. The more you post, the more you show your authority.
Google wants to know you’re an expert on your topic. That’s why choosing a niche is so important. If you have ten articles about travel in Upstate New York, Google will trust you more than if you have ten articles about completely unrelated things.
Gather Content From Existing Sources
The Internet is a great source of travel information, and you can use it to gather content for your blog. There are many websites, social media accounts, and blogs dedicated to the travel industry and you can use these sources to get ideas for your blog posts.
Be sure to look for blogs that talk about the specific destinations you’re thinking of covering. You’ll need new material, of course, but you’ll see what kind of content is popular.
Find Local Sources Of Information
If you don’t want to go too far, you can also find interesting content closer to home. Visit local tourist attractions and document your experience for your blog.
Make sure to take a lot of photos. You can always use free stock photos but it’s best to have your own original photos if at all possible.
You can also interview locals about their experiences. By talking to others, you can get a new perspective you hadn’t considered.
The best way to start may be a post about the things to do in your hometown or state. Or you could write about the best time to visit your city. Or the best places to visit. Or the best way to get there. Ultimate guides are always popular. There are so many options!
Start Networking With Other Travel Bloggers
Networking with other established travel bloggers is a great way to get ideas for your own blog. Many experienced bloggers are more than willing to share their knowledge and experience with newbies, so don’t be afraid to reach out!
You can also join online travel forums where you can ask questions and get advice from other travelers. This is a great way to stay in touch with the latest trends in travel and get tips for creating unique content for your blog.
When you sign up for Scale Your Travel Blog , you get access to a private Facebook group that is absolutely invaluable. I learn so much there from both Laura (the owner) and other bloggers. It’s a very supportive group where we get to cheer each other on.
Keyword Research
Before you start writing, do some keyword research. You need to make sure your topic is something you can rank on.
If your topic has too much competition, it will never get on the first page of Google results, so no one will see it.
If you’re just writing for fun, that’s fine. But if you want to make money from your blog, you must do keyword research.
As a new blogger, you won’t be able to rank for Things to Do in New York City. But you might be able to rank for Things to Do in Upstate New York With Kids in the Fall.
There are both free and paid keyword research tools. I swear by Keysearch. Ubersuggest has a good free tool.
Invest In Yourself And Your Travel Blog
Like I said, there’s a lot involved in creating a travel blog. Make your life MUCH easier by enrolling in Scale Your Travel Blog . In fact, this should be the first thing you do. I took this course and it made all the difference.
Laura shows you step-by-step in great detail how to create your website.
When I started, I didn’t think I needed a course. After all, there’s nothing you can’t learn online for free, right? Well, yes and no. I started setting up my website so it looked pretty without any consideration about site speed or anything else.
Then I took Laura’s class and had to completely redo my website. I wasted a lot of time and effort trying to figure it out myself. Sure, it was pretty, but it wasn’t good for SEO or anything other than looking nice.
You also learn all about SEO, which is absolutely vital to learn in order to be a successful blogger. Laura is a total SEO pro.
Plus, you get ongoing support and personalized attention. The class includes a website audit, keyword research, and blog post outlines.
Yes, you may be able to figure all this stuff out on your own, but it will take you ten times longer to make money, if ever.
I see people in the private Facebook group all the time saying they’ve been bloggers for years, not making any money before finding Laura’s class.
Do yourself a favor and invest in this course.
Before you commit, you get a free class that gives you a ton of great information. You will really see what you get in the course. If you decide not to buy it, you’ll still get some great information you can use.
And yes, these are my affiliate links so if you buy I will get a commission. But even if I didn’t, I’d still recommend Scale Your Travel Blog. It really is that good.
Do Travel Blogs Make Money?
Absolutely! I personally know travel bloggers who are making six figures. They aren’t special. They worked hard and followed all the best practices.
It’s going to take some time. Expect at the very minimum six months to see any income from your blog. More likely it will be at least a year.
There are several different ways to make money from your travel blog. Let’s look at the three primary methods:
Join an advertising network . The biggest ad network is Mediavine . You need 50,000 visitors to your blog every month in order to get on Mediavine.
That means you need a lot of great content that is ranking high on Google. I’m told you need around 150 blog posts minimum to get this kind of traffic.
I’m currently in the SHEMedia ad network. They have a lower threshold to get accepted. I’m not making millions, but I am getting a decent amount for the number of page views I have.
There are other ad networks with lower traffic requirements. Talk to other bloggers about their experiences with them. Some slow your site down so much that it’s not worth it.
Affiliate advertising . Also known as affiliate marketing, this is potentially a faster way to make money. Basically, you recommend a product or service, and if people buy it using your affiliate link, you get a commission. Many of the links in this post are affiliate links.
I only recommend companies and products I use and love, or that people I know personally use and love. Don’t be shady and recommend things just for the commission. It will hurt your credibility.
Sell things on your website . I just bought an affiliate blog post template. I’ve also purchased pre-made spreadsheets. If you have a great ebook or something similar, you can offer it for sale.
Many travel bloggers do all three of these things.
But before you can make any money, you need to get visitors to your site. And to get visitors to your site, you need great content.
Frequently Asked Questions: Starting a Travel Blog
Do I need to be on social media to be a travel blogger?
No. You don’t need any social media accounts. However, these days, Google seems to like bloggers who are on multiple platforms, so having social media may help you.
Can I be a travel blogger if I have a full-time job?
Yes! If you’re dedicated, you can fit blogging into your life. It might take longer to get a lot of visitors to your site, but it’s definitely possible.
How do I join affiliate programs?
Some programs may not let you join until you get some traffic to your website. Others aren’t as picky. I’ve had great luck with TravelPayouts . They work with a bunch of companies, such as booking.com and Viator.
Otherwise, just search for the business name + affiliate program.
How soon can I start affiliate marketing?
There’s no reason not to start now. As long as you can get accepted into a program, go ahead and start adding links to your posts. Just don’t expect to start making money right away.
What makes an awesome travel blog?
In order to have an awesome blog, you need to provide a great user experience. Always consider user intent as you’re writing. Is the reader looking for the best hotel, or are they just researching whether or not they should visit a place? Both of these are different user intent.
Do I need to know graphic design?
Absolutely not! In fact, no technical skills are needed to have a travel blog except basic computer skills. Any designing you need to do can be done in Canva.
Is travel blogging saturated?
Yes. Actually it is. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be a successful travel blogger. The key is finding the perfect niche. And then writing better content than already exists.
How long will it take for my blog to make money?
There are too many variables to answer this question. How long will it take you to write 150 articles? Not just any articles, but good, high-quality articles. Once you do that, you should be able to get some decent ad revenue.
Of course, you can make money sooner than that with affiliate marketing.
I recommend planning not to make any money for at least the first year. (So don’t quit your day job just yet!)
Do I need to know coding to make a website?
Absolutely not! Website building sites are super user-friendly. Once you learn how to navigate through the features, it’s mostly a drag-and-drop situation.
Where can I find free stock photos?
There are many places where you can get royalty-free photos for free. I like Dreamstime, Pixabay, and Unsplash. Canva also has a lot of free photos you can use.
Can’t I just get a photo from the internet?
No! Don’t just download photos you see online. You could get into big trouble. Use a reputable site to get royalty-free photos. You can also email hotels, museums, etc., and ask for photos. Sometimes they’ll give you permission to use photos from their website. Other times, they send links to a photo library you can use.
What is the best travel blogging course?
Scale Your Travel Blog . 100% the best course. It’s not cheap, and I don’t like spending money when I don’t have to, but I can’t recommend this course enough!
Wrap-Up: How To Start A Travel Blog Without Traveling
You can start a travel blog without traveling. You just need to be creative about what topics you write about. And, of course, like all bloggers, you’re going to need to put in the work.
Start looking at everything around you like a blogger. Could you write about it? There’s a good chance you can!
The key is to start now. Blogging is definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme! But you can make good money, even without traveling.
Ladies, join my free, private Facebook group, Women Over 50 Digital Nomads . It’s a safe place to connect, learn, and thrive as a digital nomad. You don’t need to be over 50 but you do need to be a woman.
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The post Can You Start A Travel Blog Without Traveling? Yes! Here’s How! appeared first on Digital Nomad and a Dog .
