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Summary
Travel Blogs today are more popular then ever before. And this is no surprise: with the pandemic the world has totally changed in just a few years, making remote working a new normality while nudging us more focus on our work-life-balance and personal wellbeing. The idealization of traditional hard-working white-collars as role models is being questioned and new ways of working such as digital nomadism are rising to the top of desired lifestyles. Especially the younger generations find the new lifestyle attractive, giving them a perspective how to balance work with more fun.
And while we may not be the youngest anymore, that lifestyle has cached us and the day we ditched our 9-to-5s we started our own travel blog and prepared for a new stage of life. If you are thinking about starting a travel blog in 2023, then we have some valuable information about our lessons learned.
We hope you enjoy our travel stories, guides and tips! If so, please consider supporting our work.
What You Need to Know Before You Start
Let’s start with the good news first: Starting a blog has never been so easy as it is today. There are a ton of platforms available for you to create your very own travel blog and most of them are free to use. The most popular according to Forbes 2023 are Wordpress, Wix, Weebly, Drupal, Squarespace, CMS Hub and Medium. That being said, using those platforms will help you a lot to get your first blog started – even if you have little to non development experience.
However, and now comes the downside, competition is as high as it never has been before. Assuming that one day you want to monetize your blog you will need to put a lot of effort in creating valuable, authentic and relevant content (and have a beautifully crafted and responsive website) – without seen any to only a little reward.
We started our blog in 2023 because of our long-awaited world travel and surely had a tough start. We didn’t bring a strong social media following, neither did we sit on a million dollar that we could spent – and initially we created Along Sandy Beaches because of our family and friends.
Looking back, not having a clear strategy on where the blog will go is definitely our number one lessons learned. Hence, before you start your own travel blog, make sure what you want to achieve – and that will be different for everybody.
Ask yourself the questions: Do I want to build a business or is it more a hobby project? Did I build the knowledge on how to create a blog? Do I have content to share that will be relevant for others? Do you like writing articles and are you good at it? And most importantly: Do I have the time, commitment and dedication?
TIP: Starting your own blog takes a lot of dedication and time-commitment. It's not necessarily the main challenge to create a blog, but to create unique, relevant and authentic content that will set you apart. Social Media Marketing and SEO are core skills that you need to learn for your blog to be found.
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How We Started A Travel Blog (2023)
Now that you are still reading, let me tell you a little about how we started our travel blog, Along Sandy Beaches.
When we decided to go on a world trip and become full-time traveler, we discussed a lot about whether we should start writing a travel blog or not. Will anybody actually be interested in our travel blog? Will we have enough time to publish regularly without counteracting our time abroad? Will we have the right skills to build a blog? And will we be “instagrammable” enough to actually gain some traction?
We soon decided that we will start building a travel blog, not because we want to fell for another “get rich quick” or “make money online” sheme and become millionaires by tomorrow (that’s what they say, right?), but because we actually wanted to document our journey for ourselves, our family and friends. And if one other traveler will get lost on our blog and we could help him – then we’re happy.
To make a long story short, here are our high-level tasks we did as part of creating a successful travel blog. Keep in mind that this is a summary only. We are currently working on a more in-depth blogpost about how to create your own travel blog.
1. Make a Strategy
– Make the decision to become a travel blogger.
– Think about what you will share and who will be your audience.
– Get inspiration from other travel bloggers from Social Media or their travel blogs.
2. Create your Blog
– Think of a catchy name, make sure your domain name is still available.
– Register it, choose your blogging system and hosting provider.
– Choose a design, customize it and start writing valuable and relevant content.
3. Let People know about You
– Market your Website on Social Media (Facebook Groups, Pinterest, Facebook Groups, Reddit, TikTok,…)
– Collect feedback from your audience to become a better travel blogger continuously.
Our Top 10 Travel Blogs
Inspiration is key when it comes to creating your own successful travel blog. Believe it or not: There is always someone that does something better than you. You may have awesome content, but do you have the most appealing design? You may have the best programming skills, but do people like your writing style? You may have a large Social Media footprint, but do you have the best blog, but do people find it?
And yes, as always, you don’t need to score 100% in every category, but we found that becoming a successful travel blogger is a constant learning process. That’s why we’ve collected a list of our Top 10 Travel Blog resources that we found very informative and helpful. Not only do we want to thank those great minds that do deliver awesome content, but have a reference for you how a successful travel blog website can look like.
1
Travel Blog by Nick & Hannah, two creatives from The Netherlands
– Beautiful custom design
– Built on Wordpress
– Responsive, mobile-friendly website
– Content about a ton of Travel Destinations
– Emphasis on current Travel Topics
2
Travel Blog by Andrew & Emily from UK
– Minimalistic and clean design
– Built on Squarespace
– Authentic, self-written stories
– A ton of content about almost everywhere
3
Travel Blog by Female Solo Traveler Kiersten from US
– Aesthetic and creative design
– Built on Wordpress
– Great travel tips for each country
– Resources to start your own travel blog
4
Travel Blog by Male Solo Traveler Will from UK
– Fairly basic design
– Built on Wordpress
– Very open and authentic content
– Focus on backpacking and budget travel
5
Travel Blog by Jackson from Australia
– Minimalistic design
– Built on Wordpress
– A ton on content from his travels
– Focus on adventures
6
Travel Blog by Torre from US
– Very creative design
– Built on Wordpress
– Not the usual “travel blog”
– Brilliantly written and illustrated
7
Travel Blog by Peter and Kia from UK
– Simple and clean design
– Built on Wordpress
– Emphasis on Outdoor Activities
– Professional author and backpacker couple
8
Travel Blog by Lea and Jeremy from US
– Colourful and creative design
– Built on Wordpress
– A lot of travel stories from America
– Funny and honest writing style
9
Travel Blog by Vins and Yosh from the Philippines
– Simple and clean design
– Built on Wordpress
– Emphasis on travelling smart, not cheap
– Professional blog with supporting team
10
Travel Blog by Aileen from the Philippines
– Beautifully crafted design
– Built on Wordpress
– Emphasis on Digital Nomadism, Full-Time Travelling
– More than 400+ blog posts
Although we have done a thorough research, we for sure have not seen every travel blog that exists. That’s simply impossible, as nobody can watch every video on YouTube (that would set you back 1,780 years of lifetime, by the way ;-). So, if you think you know a blog that is doing better, maybe even your own, let us know as we are updating this list regularly.
We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our start as travel bloggers, get some inspiration about other popular and well-made travel blogs or even get some motivation to kick-off you own journey.
So before you leave (or continue reading our stories), let me give you one personal advice: Travel Blogging is “not dead”, but consistency and motivation is key – you need to love what you are doing. Remember that large traffic follows great content and not the other way round. So just keep on going, don’t let website analytics, search engines or costly ads set you back. People still love reading captivating travel blogs that are personal and authentic and not AI-generated.
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