10 Top Tips to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money

Having a travel blog is fun but how to become travel blogger! You get to pack your bags, see corners of the world you always dreamed of, and you still get a chance to showcase your trips to other people. But what happens when your travel blog needs maintenance? If you are always on the go, you clearly do not have time to manage the blog. You most certainly do not have time to work on maintenance.

It is then that the under construction page mode might help you in specific situations. Luckily, there are WordPress plugins that will solve this problem.

How to quickly generate a professional page? It is always hard to start without having a good picture of what you do want to create. Today there are millions of helping tools and everyone is empowered to create a blog. The only question that is still hovering in the air is - how to start a successful blog?

Travel is one of the most rewarding experiences in life. Whether you roam near or far, there are things you can only discover about yourself and the world by getting out of your comfort zone. Keeping a travel journal is an important way to not only remember your adventures but heighten your travel experience while abroad

Start a Travel Blog and Make Money

So let’s go - here are some tips for those who are just starting and even for those who already have a blog. Let us show you how to quickly create your travel blog, but still have everything personalized.

1. Choose your blog niche


It’s easy to start a blog if you already know what you want to talk about but even if you don’t have your own topic, don’t give up - there are numerous bloggers who started with one idea and ended up with the other one. You are creating a company or have a product? Writing a blog about it could become a great marketing strategy that would drag more attention to your business.

2. Have something for the start


A lot of people start a blog without even knowing what to write about, it’s not the end of the world but surely you can do better! Before starting a blog, gather up some materials around you that can be used in the blog - photos, some thoughts written down. Having something for the start obligates you to create a blog and not procrastinate with only thought about having it.

3. Select an interesting domain name


Forget all the boring ones and find a name that stands out. There are some interesting TLDs for your domain, you don’t have to use .com, with imagination you can make even .online TLD attractive! Also, these tips can help to select the best domain name for you. Make the domain memorable - keep it short and simple, you can use domain checkers to help you find the one that fits you best!

Know your audience - domain target keywords are really important to your audience so make it relevant. Less but better - avoid any hyphens, numbers or non-unicode characters in the domain name. It could be too difficult to remember or hard to understand. Check for popular keywords - with the domain checker you can find domains with popular keywords.

Also, it can help you find domains with the same name and variations, buying those can help you to protect your brand. Protect your privacy - make sure that privacy protection is activated for your domain name. This will hide your private data from the WHOIS database. Be fast to be first - hurry up as the domain you want can be bought within seconds!

4. Analyze the blogs you like


It is so much easier to start with an example getting some inspiration and finding successful methods. Don’t forget to analyze which blogs are getting the most traffic - SimilarWeb can help you out with that. If a blog is getting a lot of traffic, research what could be the key factors of that. You can even analyze the SEO strategy of other websites!

5. Design the page


Once you install the plugin, the first you will want to do is to design your maintenance page. If you navigate to Design tab, you will be able to create a new page or select a template that you will be able to edit. If you're in a rush, choose a template you like. Then you will just need to make a few change to make the design more personal.

By using a drag and drop editor, you will be able to quickly add elements to your page. You can add different titles, images, videos, social icons, newsletter and contact form modules, and much more. For a travel blog, having a Google Maps is a must have so don't forget to add your current location to the under construction page.

The plugin connects to Unsplash and brings you more than 300,000 free images you can use on the page! So, even before you get to your traveling destination, you can have images of the location. If you have some extra time on your hands, the plugin allows you to customize every detail of every module. But don't worry; if you are just about to miss your flight to a new destination, templates will get you covered.

6. Allow people to see your normal site


If you have friends and colleagues who still need to access your standard site, you can quickly whitelist them. You can choose their usernames, roles or even add their IP addresses to whitelist them. If you need more control, you can always create direct access links and send those to people who need to see your site.

7. Start the Under Construction mode


Once you're happy with your design, you can quickly put your site under construction by going to the main tab or by clicking the button in the admin bar. But if you want to schedule the mode because, for example, you won't have internet access at your new location, you can set the start date and time. In that case, the plugin will put your site under construction on the selected date.

You can also set the end date, and the entire thing will be set automatically, while you're burning your skin on that awesome beach in the middle of nowhere. Choose the best WordPress plugin when it comes to creating coming soon, maintenance, and under construction pages.

If you are not in a rush, you can create much more complex pages. By creating a new page, you get complete control over all elements. It is even possible to include custom HTML and CSS elements if you know how to code. Connecting your forms to MailChimp, Zapier, or actually any other 3rd party autoresponder is a piece of cake. You need to provide API key or the form and the plugin will do the rest.

There are also some advanced settings to be found so you can change status codes of your pages, add Google Analytics, export and import settings, and do so much more.

8. SEO is important but Content is the king


No one ever got traffic without doing anything BUT it doesn’t mean that expensive ads will give you what you want. The most important thing here is content and you need to make sure it’s rock-solid, though SEO is also playing a huge role in blogging.

9. Set up social media platforms


Online presence is important and using social media can help you increase your user engagement. It’s the best tool to notify people about new articles and plans. Facebook and Instagram can help you grow and receive feedback from your readers directly. Also, you can implement the links from your blog post to Facebook and Instagram to gain more followers there and create a community for them.

As social media channels (and even effective ones) the personal profiles can be used too. A lot of bloggers have their blogs linked in the “About me” section of their Facebook and Instagram profiles. Self-promotion for friends and followers can increase traffic and popularity.

10. Create a top-notch design


Even when content is so important, you have to make sure that your visitors can easily read it and find it. The eye-catching design is a must to keep the readers in the blog for more than a few seconds. You can create a design yourself, or you can use existing templates - WordPress has a lot of them! If you have no idea about the latest trends, give a shot for a minimalistic look. It will make your blog look more professional and easy to navigate.

Congrats! Now your blog is ready to storm the internet. Be sure to keep it updated and it will stay on the successful path. Here Google Analytics and other platforms that help to track your blog growth or plan its future will come in handy. A goal without a plan is just a wish, so make it real and enjoy the journey!
Kalyan Panja