As a newbie to the travel blog scene I thought I had it all figured out, how I would become a successful travel blogger. First and foremost let me define success because to every reader it means something different. I mean success as in more then your mommy is reading your posts and your site looks somewhat professional. My success does not mean that by taking these steps you will be able to make it rain dollar bills as you spread your travel tips and blips. So if you are looking for a get rich quick scheme then sorry, I don’t even have Google Adsense nor have I had a sole donor offer to buy me a friggin banana yet, let alone a pint of beer (which you can do by clicking here). So if you are still interested read on, because I might have some insight for you or better yet you might have some insight for me.
Find your Purpose
Is the force strong with you? Well it better be because if you don’t have a defined purpose and a pushing self-motivating drive behind it then you are surely going to flop. In the world of the internet everyone has free and equal access to web space so unless your blog has some focused content you’ll be lucky if anyone ever accidently stumbles onto your site let alone spends 30 seconds giving it a look over. Travel has a pretty large base of interest and followers so you better make yours a site worth clicking a second link on, including some long term goals. You aren’t going to have a successful travel blog by setting up pictures of your one time trip to Disney World.
Research
Fact is that nothing in this world created today is 100% original; it in some way is influenced by something or someone else. So figure out who is already successfully doing what you want to do, in travel blogging the heavy hitters are people like Nomadic Matt, Everything-Everywhere , Vagabondish , Almost Fearless and Go Backpacking. (For a more detailed list visit Off Track Planet) Read through their articles, explore their sites and evaluate what grasps your attention from these travel gurus. Your purpose is not to mimic them but use them to find your inspiration. Once you have explored the heavy hitters it’s time to find the fellow newbies, these people like you are new to the travel blogging experience and are more likely to assist you. These individuals have dedicated a lot of time to their own sites but haven’t hit the pro status so every fan/follower counts. They will be more grateful for your attention and are usually pretty good about reciprocating feedback, plus they are going through the same things you are so you can learn together. A prime example of some newbie travel bloggers to follow and learn from are Travels of Adam , Got Passportand A Pair of Panties and Boxers .
Network
People want to make sure you are a real person (or monkey) and not some spam-bot so get online and make friends. Twitter and Facebookare two great free ways to get your voice out there. So what do you do? Interact with people follow others and comment; if you establish a connection with someone they are more likely to follow up on your blog. This takes a lot of time and work but the biggest thing to know is don’t confuse your personal social networking accounts with your site one, it might feel like your living a double life at first but in the long run it pays off. The one benefit is that more and more so all of these social networking sites are becoming interlinking so one post can span multiple sites.
Invest in Your Success
Now that you have done the leg work it’s time to upgrade into a dot-com, purchase online storage for your files and upgrade your flickr account. If you are still in it to win it, you need to invest a little if you wish for any return. By now you should have committed enough time and energy to the idea of creating a site, and maybe even found some time to write a few articles but in order to make your site look like you want to be one of the serious players you might have to spare some change too. Luckily most of these services come relatively cheap and you can get most of the things you want/need for easily under $100.
SEO
No, that’s not CEO it’s SEO and if you don’t know what it is you soon will. It stands for Search Engine Optimization what it means is that the better your SEO is the more likely your page will show up on page 1 or 2 of your Google search instead of page 386. This works through various methods but if you are still inexperienced in tucking away meta-tags in your headers then it boils down to linking. A good site to explore some quick SEO tips is SEO Trends for starter tips that point you in the right direction and then just keep exploring from there. Another great free tool is Stumble Upon and even if you think you know what you are doing check out this great article on Travels of Adam for tips and how-to’s. Make sure to create links on the bottom of each post to places such as Reddit, Digg, Delicious, Stumble upon, Twitter, Facebook and RSS or Feed Burner.
Material
That’s right – write. You would think that first and foremost all you have to do is start pumping out stories but the truth is that until you understand the inner workings of web development you will be stuck showcasing your work to one fan, mommy. More than that, you need to add pictures and videos to your site so that it becomes more visually appealing, so on your travel adventures make sure you bust out your camera and snap a few interesting shots. Nothing proves more that your story on, oh I don’t know maybe say A Drinking Guide to Rio de Janeiro than a picture you took while there instead of one you grabbed off of Flickr.
I’m sure I’m missing many other important aspects of travel blogging but for now this is a good start on helping you find your way into creating a successful site. In fact I encourage you to share links to other tips you may have wrote about or give me a topic suggestion to expand upon. I’m always excited about feedback, in-fact in the world of monkeys flinging poo is an art-form so hit me with your best shot.
Since you can’t share a drink with me, share this post with others!
January 5th, 2010 at 2:42 am
Thanks for the shout-outs. And you know, for a monkey, you’re awfully bright!
I’m having a lot of fun travel blogging and learning a bunch of these new skills. SEO is the next big hurdle, I think.
January 4th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Thanks for the shout-outs. And you know, for a monkey, you’re awfully bright!
I’m having a lot of fun travel blogging and learning a bunch of these new skills. SEO is the next big hurdle, I think.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:54 am
The shout-outs are well deserved, I thought I knew the ins and outs of stumble upon but still learned a few interesting tidbits from your article. And SEO seems to always be a pushing issue from the newbie to the professional travel bloggers.
January 4th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
The shout-outs are well deserved, I thought I knew the ins and outs of stumble upon but still learned a few interesting tidbits from your article. And SEO seems to always be a pushing issue from the newbie to the professional travel bloggers.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:20 am
Good post mate, I think I’ll forever be working out SEO let alone stumbleupon but taking it one day at a time is working for me so far
January 5th, 2010 at 12:20 am
Good post mate, I think I’ll forever be working out SEO let alone stumbleupon but taking it one day at a time is working for me so far
January 5th, 2010 at 5:22 am
Thanks for including Go Backpacking as a “heavy hitter” as it certainly didn’t start out that way 3 years ago this month.
If you want a laugh, look through my archives – you can definitely see how I was listing about, trying to figure out how to blog effectively. Eventually, I learned the value in establishing a focus, or niche, for one’s blog.
“If you are still in it to win it, you need to invest a little if you wish for any return.”
I couldn’t agree more, and aside from a domain name and web hosting which I already had in place, I was very rigid about spending a single dollar on info products or themes the first few years. I figured if you can get stuff for free, why pay?
Eventually, I experienced the benefits of premium themes, and investing in yourself and blog (through buying info products, such as ebooks). At a minimum, everyone should buy a unique domain name.
Going to check out Adam’s article tomorrow. Thanks again!
January 5th, 2010 at 12:22 am
Thanks for including Go Backpacking as a “heavy hitter” as it certainly didn’t start out that way 3 years ago this month.
If you want a laugh, look through my archives – you can definitely see how I was listing about, trying to figure out how to blog effectively. Eventually, I learned the value in establishing a focus, or niche, for one’s blog.
“If you are still in it to win it, you need to invest a little if you wish for any return.”
I couldn’t agree more, and aside from a domain name and web hosting which I already had in place, I was very rigid about spending a single dollar on info products or themes the first few years. I figured if you can get stuff for free, why pay?
Eventually, I experienced the benefits of premium themes, and investing in yourself and blog (through buying info products, such as ebooks). At a minimum, everyone should buy a unique domain name.
Going to check out Adam’s article tomorrow. Thanks again!
January 5th, 2010 at 5:31 am
Nice post, Cornelius! You’re right about content – any kind of media, especially if it’s tastefully done, is almost a requisite these days for travel blogs. Text just isn’t doing it anymore.
Look forward to following your updates.
Alan
January 5th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Nice post, Cornelius! You’re right about content – any kind of media, especially if it’s tastefully done, is almost a requisite these days for travel blogs. Text just isn’t doing it anymore.
Look forward to following your updates.
Alan
January 5th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
SEO seems to have been on the top of my list of things to do and learn for a while, and the more I learn the more I realize I need to do and learn.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:22 am
SEO seems to have been on the top of my list of things to do and learn for a while, and the more I learn the more I realize I need to do and learn.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
I will be sure to check out your older articles, maybe that is something I should have already done, a fast track view of how you got to where you are today. I’m also reading through everyone’s 2010 expectations and hmm I have a long way to go as I finish up mine.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:25 am
I will be sure to check out your older articles, maybe that is something I should have already done, a fast track view of how you got to where you are today. I’m also reading through everyone’s 2010 expectations and hmm I have a long way to go as I finish up mine.
January 5th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
I learned that right off the bat, the first critique I received was, “You need pictures and maybe some videos.” So I am slowly working on improving that aspect of this site. If I had Photoshop at home it would make it a little easier, till then I’m learning Gimp.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
I learned that right off the bat, the first critique I received was, “You need pictures and maybe some videos.” So I am slowly working on improving that aspect of this site. If I had Photoshop at home it would make it a little easier, till then I’m learning Gimp.
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