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A Guide for Travel Brands: How to Build a Solid Following
Hit by the travel bug? Traveling is fun, and if you want to share your adventures online, why not start a travel blog?
Creating a travel blog helps document your experiences so other people can learn from your travels. It's also a terrific way to earn money on the side. Sounds intriguing, right? If you want to start a travel blog, here are some helpful tips:
Set Up a Blog
Choosing a Blogging Platform
Setting up a blog is the easy part. You can get a free blog through popular website platforms, customize a paid blog layout, or create a design from scratch. The most popular blogging platforms are:
- WordPress
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Showit
- Weebly
Get Web Hosting
This service makes your website live online so visitors can access it from around the world. The biggest hosting sites are:
Apart from choosing a popular web hosting service, you can get a self-hosted WordPress site or choose a website builder that comes with a hosting service. Showit, for example, offers a range of subscription plans that comes with a WordPress blog.
Once you’ve chosen a hosting service and a website builder, it’s just a matter of coming up with a relevant domain name (the shorter and on-point, the better) like [Your Name]travels.com, [Your Name]Adventures.com, Nomadic[Your Name].com, etc. and customizing the blog theme to suit your brand.
Design Your Layout
Your blog design or layout is a matter of preference; just make sure that the layout makes your content and visuals look good! You can choose between a template layout or design one from scratch. You’ll also need to develop your brand color scheme, logo, and font style for better branding.
To improve the functionality of your blog site, you’ll have to add plugins. Plugins enhance the functionality of a website without hard coding or technical know-how. WordPress is an excellent place for third-party apps that you can use to improve the user experience of your website. These plugins let you add maps to places you’ve been, create a gallery to showcase your visual content, etc.
Must-have plugins for a travel blog include:
- SEO plugins
- Caching plugins
- Block plugins
- Social share button plugins
- Security plugins
- Contact form plugins
Once your website is up and running, you can start writing your first post and promote it to increase your exposure and perhaps, make some money off it.
Now here’s the thing, to profit from your travel blog, you’ll need to build a solid following. How to build an audience as a travel blogger? Try these tips:
How to Build a Solid Following as a Travel Blogger
Stick to a Consistent Posting Schedule: Consistency is everything when you’re trying to build an audience. And this goes no matter what topic you’re covering. You need to publish several posts in a week so stick to a schedule to keep your blogging journey organized.
If you're on WordPress, you can write a blog post by going to Posts > Add New from the WordPress dashboard. To add images, videos, and other media, click “Add Media.” When you’re ready to start blogging, aim for publishing at least two blogs a week.
Promote on Social Media: One of the best ways to promote a travel blog online is through popular social media sites. But, not just any site will do. You need to figure out what social media sites your core audience goes to frequently. Some of your readers may prefer Facebook; others go to Instagram. You’ll have to check your website analytics to see where readers are coming from to figure out the best social media platforms to use.
To promote on social media, you’ll need to create an on-brand social media profile. Be sure to present all the information about your blog on the About Us page, including a link to your travel blog. From here, you can share your latest blog posts, upload images, and create a safe space where readers can learn from your experiences and share insights. Customize every post and introduce topics that travel fans find interesting or helpful for maximum engagement.
Optimize Your Blog Posts: Good ol’ SEO is still the best strategy to build an audience online. Optimizing your content with your main keywords will improve your rankings on the search engine results pages. This will increase your viewership and strengthen your online presence!
You can’t set and forget SEO – it’s something that you need to do regularly to maintain your search rankings. You need to publish blog posts relevant to your audience to enjoy a wider viewership continuously.
Guest Posting: If you’ve been trying and yet still cannot get visitors outside of your core audience, try guest posting. It’s a terrific strategy for promoting your travel blog to a new audience and showing what you got!
To start, you need to find a blog site in the same industry or with an audience that will find your guest post helpful. Email the website owner and propose a guest post. Once you get the greenlight, produce the content, ensuring that the quality is *chef’s kiss* Don’t forget to add a couple of your website links to promote your website.
Different website owners have different guidelines for guest posting. Be sure that each blog you submit for review falls within the guidelines for faster approval.
Leave Comments: The comments section is the best place to spark a conversation with people. We’re not just talking about leaving comments on your website’s comments section but also other people’s blogs and social media.
The comments you post should be informative, helpful, and insightful. If you often leave interesting comments, people are more likely to check out your blog link. This will potentially lead to more readers and greater exposure. This strategy also works if you want to score a guest post with website owners. You might get a collab invite if they see that you are getting people hooked with your comments.
Connect with Other Travel Blogs: Connecting with other travel blogs is key to gaining new followers and scoring potential collab opportunities. Network to gain connections within your niche industry and build meaningful relationships that could lead to more business opportunities. Don’t focus too much on promoting your own travel blog because this might harm your reputation. Be sincere and let the connection deepen naturally.
Join Online Communities: Joining online communities gives you plenty of opportunities to promote your travel blog, get exposure to a new audience, and meet your fellow travel enthusiasts. You can share your experiences, provide insights, and give advice to people asking travel-related questions. You can use your blog posts as a way to answer some questions. And the more you share your insights, the better your reputation becomes.
That said, avoid promoting your website too aggressively because online communities have their own set of rules that all members must stick to. The last thing you want is to be booted out of an online community because word travels fast.
Try Paid Advertising: If you want to give your marketing efforts a boost, try paid advertising. Promotions through paid advertising are a quick and effective way of building a customer base, especially if you’re new.
Paid advertising puts your blog at the top of the searches, where it will get a lot of exposure. This is a terrific strategy for reaching new audiences. Paid advertising is available on social media platforms or through Google, where your blog will be posted at the top of the search engine results page.
Ways to Make Money Off Your Travel Blog
Thinking of ways to make money off your travel blog? There are so many ways to choose from!
Affiliate marketing
Join an affiliate network and use affiliate links to promote and sell different products. We suggest sticking to affiliate products that match your travel blog.
Google Adsense
Google-generated ads are posted on your travel blog that readers would click. You will earn with every click!
How-To Guides
Creating premium content like a travel guide of the places you’ve visited or travel tips, personalized advice, etc., is a great way to earn on the side as a travel blogger. You can offer this on your website as an ebook or as part of your members-only program.
Sponsored Content
Check out travel-related brands and find ways to write for them for a fee. If you get popular enough, brands will be flocking to your inbox for writing opportunities and collab. Just be sure to be as transparent as possible.
Workshops
Offering travel-related workshops is a great way to earn money as you become more influential in your niche industry. You can create instructional videos that people could subscribe to for a fee, livestream the classes, or conduct the workshop in person.
Travel blogging can be pretty competitive, so it’s essential to market your blog well to stand out from the rest. The goal is to provide something helpful, valuable, and interesting to your readers. With these tips, we hope to have inspired you to finally make your dream of becoming a travel influencer come true!
The author’s expertise shines through as they provide practical tips and strategies that are not only informative but also unique in their approach. The article emphasizes the importance of authenticity, storytelling, and engagement, which are crucial elements in establishing a loyal community for travel brands. I particularly appreciated the emphasis on leveraging social media platforms effectively and the suggestions for collaborating with influencers to amplify brand reach. Overall, this article is a valuable resource for anyone in the travel industry looking to build a solid following and create meaningful connections with their audience. Kudos to Gillian Sarah for providing such valuable insights!