Imagine waking up to the soothing sounds of the ocean waves hitting the rocks in the Maldives, a camel-back ride through the magnificent pyramids in Egypt, and swimming with the dolphins in the magical island of Wasini in Kenya.
Enchanting right? Well, for many travel bloggers, this is the reality. However, travel blogging is not all rainbows and sunshine. But regardless of that, some people are not only doing it but living their best life while at it. So you too can do it. If you’ve always wanted to be a travel blogger but have no idea where to start, here are few tips to get you started.
1. Identify Your Passion
Passion is the secret recipe to success not only in travel blogging but also in all other areas of life. Therefore, before you take the plunge, keep in mind that travel activities run a wide gamut.
So evaluate yourself and determine what you like most about it. For instance, is it meeting new people or are you more about wildlife? Is travel to you more about the food and culture, or are you more into unearthing the story behind the magical places you visit?
Whatever sets your heart on fire about traveling, go for it because that will be the fuel to your success in travel blogging. It will help you enrich your travel experiences.
2. Experiment
If you can’t determine what area of travel you want to focus on right away, that’s okay. We are not born with our paths carved on stone, and neither should be your travel blogging journey. During the first stages of this exciting career, take time to experiment with all the different sides of travel blogging. This will help you identify what you like most, so you can direct more of your energy to it.
3. Strike a Balance between Sponsored and Independent Content
One way that travel bloggers make money is by working with brands. For instance, a resort will pay you or sponsor your stay to churn amazing content about it. This is a great way to enjoy traveling to more destinations, and you should maximize it.
However, ensure you also create great independent content. Why? If your blog is full of sponsored content, readers will start feeling as if your opinions are biased because you are being paid.
In other words, your readers want realistic and independent content too. They want to learn about traveling on a budget. They want to know how traveling with Xpirient has helped make your world-class experiences affordable. They want to learn how you manage to travel without getting sick, how you get the best flight deals, and the likes.
So as much as sponsored content gives you money, independent content keeps your readers hooked and grows your blog. Keep in mind — you get sponsors based on your reader’s base. Therefore, to make everyone happy, learn how to strike a balance in your content.
4. Read!
As a travel blogger, part — if not most — of your job involves writing. That said, you want to create content that’s both informative, engaging, and at the same time, fun. So take the time to read as much as you can. Read other travel bloggers’ blogs to get ideas and to boost your writing skills.
Other than that, keep in mind that even though you’ll no longer be reporting to your boss, travel blogging is a business. So also read books that will help you add value to your business, such as marketing, self-development, and business strategy books. Read on what successful bloggers you look up-to did to get where they are today, learn from their mistakes and apply tips you find most helpful into your blog.
5. Remember, it Won’t Be Easy!
At a glance, travel blogging may seem like a glamorous job. After all, it’s characterized by endless sunny days on some of the world’s most beautiful black sand beaches, ice skating in Dubai ice rink, and cliff-diving in Thailand’s pristine locations. In reality, there is a lot of work that goes into it. So it won’t be easy. However, you’ll be living your dream, and that should be enough to keep you going.
