Are you interested in exploring the travel lifestyle? Perhaps you want to head out to an exotic location each and every month. You may have seen people with this type of luxury lifestyle online and wondered how they do this.
Well, it all comes down to finding the right funding option. There are lots of ways that you can fund a luxury travel lifestyle. One of the best options is a travel blog. In this guide, we’ll explain everything that you need to consider to set up a successful travel blog and the key steps that you should take.
The First Steps
Choosing A Name
One of the first things you need to do when it comes to setting up a travel blog is to think of a catchy name for it. The name of your blog is everything as it will be what people remember when they come across it. You want a name that isn’t too long or easily forgettable. It should also be something personal rather than a name that is completely random and unrelated. The blogs with the forgettable names don’t get very far and will remain unread with very few subscribers. If you are struggling to think of one then you might want to use a name-generator website to help you.
Using A Website Builder
Once you have selected a name for your travel blog, you need to use the right website builder to bring it to life. These days, you can use a website builder to create a new blog in minutes. There are countless templates – both free and paid – that you can explore here.
To select the best website builder consider one that is user-friendly and provides access to the key features that you need. You will also need to customize your template as well. By customizing your template, you can guarantee that your blog does stand out and feels unique. This will help you get more attention online.
Selecting A Hosting Service
Next, make sure that you are choosing the right hosting service. Without the online hosting solution, you will be limited in terms of the information and data that you can add to your website. This will restrict your growth opportunities and cause your blog to stagnate. There are lots of hosting solutions worth exploring. You just need to find one which matches your budget.
We’ll explore this more a little further down. A hosting service can ensure that all your pages load in less than two seconds leading to a better experience for your users and visitors.
Investing In The Equipment
It’s important to invest in the right equipment that you’ll need to become a successful travel blogger. For instance, you might want to consider buying a high-quality video camera. While you can use your phone, it’s important to guarantee that any pictures or videos are crystal clear. As such, it can be worth paying more for a pro piece of equipment. Headphones with a mic are also useful if you are thinking about expanding your brand further in the future.
Of course, the main piece of equipment that you’ll need is a laptop. This should be lightweight and easy to transport to different locations. It also needs to be robust. You don’t want to run the risk of your laptop getting damaged on one of your travel adventures.
Once you have chosen your laptop, you should also kit it out with the right accessories. This includes a travel case as well as a mouse. A high-quality mouse will help ensure that you’re not at risk of developing RSI while working as a blogger.
Don’t forget, a travel blog is a business. As such, you can claim back on any equipment or services that you need to purchase as a tax deduction.
Working Out Your Budget
Without a good amount of money, you won’t be able to get your travel blog off the ground. You may have heard that people have set up blogs with nothing previously, while this is true it is almost impossible. There will always be something that needs to be paid for when you set up your travel blog, especially as you are going to be jetting off to some amazing destinations.
When your blog gets a high amount of numbers you will probably be sponsored to visit various destinations, until that happens it will be coming out of your own pocket. Work out how much you have coming in each month and how much you can afford to put away for your luxury travel trips. Bear in mind these aren’t cheap so you will need a high amount in the beginning.
Creating Content
Once you have set up your travel blog, you need to add the right content. There are lots of options that you can explore when creating content. However, to ensure that it provides benefits, you’ll need to follow the right steps.
Make It Unique
First, it’s important to create content that is completely unique to your blog. It should go without saying but you should never copy work from an existing blog online. You should only use other blogs for research.
This isn’t the only way that you can make sure that your content feels unique. You should also ensure that it matches your brand voice, whatever this may be. Once you find your voice, you need to keep this consistent across all the content that you create for your blog. This is a great way to build up your brand identity.
Create Content For Your Audience
You do need to make sure that you are creating content that is specifically for your target audience. If your content isn’t targeted, then your audience is quickly going to lose interest in your blog and move on to other websites online. The best way to create content for an audience is to complete the right amount of research. Using Google explore the current topics that are trending in the travel sector. You should create evergreen content as well. These are articles that your audience is constantly going to return to or that will always be relevant. Examples include tips about what to pack, information on planning flights, or ways to save money on a new travel adventure.
Optimize It
It’s not enough to just create great content. You need to optimize it. Optimizing your content will help it to rank online and garner even more attention. Optimizing content can seem simple but it’s important to follow the right strategies here. You might want to start by researching Google’s E-E-A-T. These are basic guidelines that will help your website to rank in the future. You can learn more about Google’s E-E-A-T by looking at articles on digital marketing websites.
Add Fresh Content Regularly
When it comes to your travel blog, you don’t want it to become tired too quickly. In order to avoid this happening you need to ensure you are always adding new content that will keep your readers engaged. There are so many travel blogs out there that you will need to have interesting content to win followers from your competition. Content for your website could be anything from reviews on various travel destinations to the best items of clothing you need to take abroad. Try and avoid adding content that is too similar to existing content, if you do this, get rid of the older content first.
Hire Professionals
Once your travel blog starts to grow you should consider hiring professionals to create content for you. This is a great way to help ensure that your website is always providing valuable information to users.
You can hire freelancers to write articles for you. You just need to check their reviews and ensure that they can deliver the high-quality content your website needs.
Expanding Your Brand
Use Social Media
Sometimes it just won’t be enough for you just to use your blog site to engage your readers and followers, especially with new travel blogs coming out all the time. You need to stay on top of your game and use other forms of marketing to get your blog out there. This is where social media comes into play, you can use whatever platforms you think will benefit you and your blog. Think about your target audience and who you envision your readers to be, if you think the majority of them are aged between 25 and 35 then Facebook will be the best one to use. The good thing is you can link from your main page to your social media pages and your readers can always like and share your page with their friends and family.
Set Up Live Feeds
If you want to ensure that your audience feels more connected to your brand then you can think about creating live feeds. Live feeds will mean that you can connect to your audience directly. They’ll be able to ask you questions and find out key things that they want to know about you as well as your content. You can even set up live feeds on location. This is another great way to ensure that you stand out from bigger, well-funded rivals.
Podcast
You could also think about setting up a podcast. A podcast is another great way that you can provide more value to your audience and grow your blog at the same time. There are countless podcasts already available to audiences that are interested in travel. As such, you need to find a unique hook for your own podcast that will resonate with your readers and users. Podcasts are another way to earn money traveling but that’s a topic for another day.
Monetize Your Blog
Finally, you need to think about the key steps that you can take to monetize your blog and ensure that you are turning this into a successful financial venture. In doing so, you will be able to fund all your travel plans.
Add A Work With Me Page
If you are interested in expanding your blog and making money from it then you could include a work with me section on your page. This is common for bloggers as they enjoy working with other people with the added benefit of making a bit of extra money from it. You need to have an idea of the type of people or companies you want to work with before you include this on your site. You don’t want anyone and everyone contacting you to work with you, it can quickly become tiresome having to trawl through queries.
Partner With Companies
As you become well-known in the blog writing industry there will be companies that want to work with you to sell their products to your readers. You will often find they get in touch with you offering the product for free. In return, they get publicity on your site and an honest review regarding their products and services. There are plenty of companies out there that are always on the lookout for fresh travel blog writers to work with them. This could be anyone from travel agents who want to spread the word about their business or restaurants looking for new publicity.
Review Locations, Products, And Services
Something else you could consider when it comes to expanding your brand is reviewing various travel locations, restaurants, vacation products, and other services used in planning the most amazing vacation. This will give you some more content to place on your website while also giving your readers some inspiration when it comes to planning trips away. Your main goal and the end result should be to inspire your readers. You have a shared interest so make sure you take advantage of this fact.
We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you should take when setting up a travel blog. By exploring this option, you can fund a fantastic luxury lifestyle that will allow you to go to exciting and beautiful locations each and every year.