Baby Steps Towards Starting a Travel Blog

Scared of the harsh truths of travel blogging? Here’s how to start a travel blog, step by step.

As a blogger, you need to come up with an area of specialization. That is the first thing in your starting point that you should think about. When starting a blog from nothing, it might be fun but there will be difficulties at some points. One of the easiest and enjoyable areas you can ever choose to blog on is traveling areas. The most successful travel bloggers emerge successful because they know how to entice their readers and they add personal experiences in the blogs.

Travel bloggers don’t look like they are trying to be authoritative or force anyone on where to travel. They deliver their content in a cool, interesting and enjoyable manner to their audience. They always know what the audience wants to hear and they ensure they include that in their blogs. As a beginner, how will you know what is required for you as a travel blogger? Below are some guidelines that will help you start a travel blog from nothing and how you will run it.

Good Name

Before starting a travel blog, you need to get your blog a fancy name. You have to come up with a name that will make new people interested in reading your blogs. Good names are the best way to get people involved. The name should be easy to read and pronounce. It should be short and easy to remember. If you find a name that rhymes, even better, because it will be easier to remember.

Also, do not restrict yourself to ideas around you. If you will run your blog for a long period, do not sound stereotypical. Do not talk about one place only. If you find a name that you think is good enough for your blog, run it through Google and check whether there is another blog with the same name as yours. If there is no one, you are done with part one. Congrats!

Host Your Blog

The next stage is hosting your blog. You can visit a domain service like NameCheap. Here, you will buy a domain name and a hosting package. These two will be needed if you are to run a blog. An example of a domain name is www.mytravelblog.com. The link you are given is the domain name. You should ensure it is easily understandable and memorable. When it comes to hosting, we mean the place where your blog, website data, images, and the content will be hosted. You might end up getting good programs that are of high quality at a throw-away price. However, you should put your investments in an affordable one that can, later on, be scaled.

WordPress Installation

The installation of WordPress should be the next step. If you choose a good hosting package, you will get a feature that you will only click once and you will automatically install a blank WordPress. If that does not work, you can go to the official WordPress page and look at the download and installation details that are needed for a manual WordPress installation. If you are using a PC, it should be an easy process.

After installation, choose a theme that is of good quality. If you have a tight budget you can consider the Ruta WordPress Theme. Besides being a smart theme, it is sleek and free ensuring that your blogs have a good website layout for hosting your blogs. A good quality layout goes a long way in getting you more audience.

Accessories

To transform your website, you need s number of plug-ins. Plug-ins help in that they take your normal WordPress facilities making it stronger and easier for you to work with them. To make that easier, I would advise that you get new accessories and plug-ins which will help make your site safer, easier to navigate and will also improve its functioning in general.

If you are starting, you can consider the following add-ons:

• Akismet: This helps in that it shuts up spamming people in the comments section. It also helps in reducing the time you need to moderate pointless spam.
• Jetpack: This helps in the security of your WordPress site by the use of updated security tools. It also helps in increasing your traffic besides increasing your reading ability in different ways. Most travel blogs that want to be successful must have this add on.
• Yoast SEO: This helps by allowing you to get more visitors to your site. It does this by optimizing your content so that it can be read well and the keywords are also optimized.
• Google Analytics: This helps by showing that your site is performing well. It also allows you to access analysis in people visiting your site, page bounce rates among more.

Social Media

Almost all successful travel bloggers get to social media often. It is advisable that as a travel blogger, you visit your social media platforms on a daily routine. You should use a username that is uniform among all your platforms. You should also ensure that the name you use has a close relation with your blog name.

Next, you need to identify who will be your readers. You find out what their age will be, their interests and how much they earn. You can even get the information from social media and ask people where they work and find out what they like and catch their attention.

Ensure you share your blog posts on all your social media platforms. Don’t be spammy by sending people links all over and sending tweets on twitter every time. You should know how to link up on all platforms in the right away.

Your new blogs should be treated like a baby, nurture them. Treat them as your passion and be passionate. Consistency and a lot of patience are also required. While it may take time to become successful, the results will be rewarding. You need to build up slowly without giving up. You should take your blog very seriously showing commitment and passion.

Originally published on pixelvise.com