What is a Travel Blog? Pro Tips from a 6-Figure Travel Blogger

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A TRAVEL BLOG?

If you’re asking what is a travel blog, then you’ve come to the right place to find the answer because I’m a 6-figure travel blogger. I have leveraged my know-how to create multiple successful travel websites.

👩‍💻 To help you with your travel blog, I highly recommend taking a course! Head here for info on the best travel blogging courses. If you want to read a full review about the best one I’ve done, head here.

Whether you want to know what the features of a travel blog are or if you wish to be a travel blogger yourself, this post will give you a foundation to build on.

Not only will I talk about what a travel blogging website is, but I’ll also share how to become a travel blogger and make money doing what you love.

What is a travel blog?

Travel blogs are also updated regularly and are usually written from the perspective of one person or a small group of people.

Unlike Lonely Planet or Rough Guides guide books, which are trying to please everyone, travel blogs usually provide in-depth information on a specific niche, like a region or travel style.

For example, my blogs Travel Mexico Solo and Tulum Travel Secrets are about Mexico.

Other popular travel blogs focus on luxury travel, vegan travel, RVing, cruise ships, traveling with pets, backpacking, etc. 

This means that travelers are more likely to find exactly the information they are looking for.

On a related note, if you’re wondering What is a travel blogger?, or What do travel bloggers do? — A travel blogger is a person who writes a travel blog 😊

What is a travel blog?

A lot of bloggers don’t have plans in place for making money with their blogs.

However, it is totally possible to monetize your travel blog 🤑 with the proper strategies. I’ll talk about them more later in this post.

What is a travel blog?

Those are all big-name bloggers who’ve been in the industry for years.

A travel blogging salary range will vary greatly from person to person. I personally earn $40,000 or more every month from my travel blogs.

In 2022, I made $272,175 from blogging 🤯

Other bloggers who are just starting out or have a less successful strategy may make anywhere from zero dollars to a few thousand a month.

What is a travel blog?

6 Tips for Starting a Travel Blog

Wondering how to start a travel blog? Or looking for travel blog examples? Or maybe you’re questioning how to be travel blogger?

Start with these six travel blogger tips and then go from there.

1. Be clear about your blogging goals

The first step to starting a travel blog is to be clear about your goals. Do you want to do this as a hobby or would you like to make money?

If you want to start a hobby blog, there are plenty of different tools and websites you can use to learn about travel blogging for beginners.

Blogging is a fun way to share your experience with friends and family.

However, if you want to make money 💰, you’re going to need to be very strategic.

Sign up for courses to gain the skills you need to be successful.

What is a travel blog?

2. Choose your niche carefully

Once you’ve decided on your blogging goals, the most important decision you’ll make is what niche to focus on and what to write in a travel blog that relates to your niche.

🤔 How to decide on a niche

Picking a good niche is crucial. Ideally, it should be something you’re passionate about, and also knowledgable about.

Ideally, it will have a unique twist, something only you can bring to the blogosphere.

Give it a domain name (a blog name) that relates to your niche, like Travel Mexico Solo, a blog I started about solo travel in Mexico.

However, it also needs to be something that appeals to a wider readership.

Think about who your ideal reader would be. Who do you want to write your blog for?

There are many types of travel blogs so having a well-defined niche will help you stand out as an expert, attract a loyal audience, and give you a well-defined focus on what to write about.

It’s also ideal for SEO 💡 as Google LOVES a clear niche.

What is a travel blog?

3. A theme & reliable hosting platform are crucial

Another important step in starting a travel blog is setting up a reliable web hosting platform and a WordPress theme.

I use the Kadence Theme on my websites, which has both a free version and a paid version. (I have the paid one, but you can start with Kadence Free.)

Why is this important? Because both your theme and your blogging platforms impact your website speed and performance.

Google will rank your website higher in search results if it is fast and optimized.

Don’t shoot yourself in the foot from the beginning by choosing a cheap web host. Choose one that is within your budget but has exceptional performance.

The same is true with your theme. Rather than focusing on making your website pretty, make sure it is functional and fast.

No one is going to wait five seconds for your gorgeous website to load. It’s honestly better for your site to be ugly and load quickly.

For hosting, many people use Bluehost or Hosting.com (formerly A2 Hosting) — but I use Lyrical Host, and have since 2021.

They’re slightly more expensive than most cheap website hosting companies, but you’ll be rewarded with a super speedy blog and 5-star customer service. 

What is a travel blog?

4. Create quality content

What’s going to set your blog apart? Quality content.

Readers don’t want to struggle through a long post full of grammar mistakes, repetitive phrases, and confusing syntax. When you write — write well ✍️

Part of writing well is meeting user intent.

That means if someone is searching for “best food tours in Antigua Guatemala,” your post provides them with exactly what they are looking for.

If they want a travel guide to Hierve el Agua, give them all the information they need to have an amazing trip.

If you’re wondering Is travel blogging beneficial for readers?, the answer is most certainly yes — but only if you’re creating useful content.

Be the last click. That means if someone clicks on your post, they don’t have to return to the search results. They’ve found everything they need in your post.

What is a travel blog?

5. Master search engine optimization

One thing that will make or break you as a travel blogger is search engine optimization (SEO).

Writing with SEO in mind means you optimize your content so that Google will bump your post to the front page of search results.

You cannot succeed as a travel blogger without SEO. Become an SEO pro, and your travel blog will be positioned for success.

💡 Note: You do NOT have to be active on social media platforms in addition to mastering SEO.

Social media channels are a bonus, but not as essential as some people will insist them to be.

If you want to learn how to find keywords with big potential to earn affiliate income, check out my How to Find Affiliate Marketing Keywords Class.

What is a travel blog?

6. Monetize your blog early on

A lot of bloggers don’t have a plan for how to make money. Don’t make this mistake.

If monetizing your blog is your goal, then have a plan for how to monetize your travel blog from the get-go.

To be clear, you won’t make lots of dough from the beginning.

It’s going to take time and effort, but once you have a certain amount of traffic, there’s no reason why you can’t start making 💰

If you are wondering how you can start earning affiliate marketing money from day one, I’ve written an article all about it here ► How to Monetize Your Blog from Day One.

What is a travel blog?

5 Ways to Make Money with Your Travel Blog

Wondering how to make money with your travel blog? I’m going to cover the most popular ways to monetize your blog below.

Of course, you can get as creative as you wish (the most successful people usually do think outside the box), but these five are a good place to start.

1. Affiliate marketing

Do you know what affiliate marketing (especially as it exists in the blogging about travel sphere)?

It’s basically recommending a product, a tour, a restaurant, or anything you’ve loved to another person — and earning a commission when they purchase it.

For example, I add affiliate links to these products or services I recommend on my websites, like travel gear, tours, hotels, car rental companies, and travel insurance.

When someone clicks the link and makes a purchase, I earn a small commission. Over time, those affiliate sales can really add up.

The best part about affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to have a ton of traffic to make some money.

In fact, I made over $160K from affiliate marketing in 2022 🤑 ($163,706 to be exact) — and I can show you exactly how in my How to Find Affiliate Marketing Keywords Class.

What is a travel blog?

2. Advertisements

Another common way to make money from a travel blog is through advertisements, or display ads on your sites.

If you’ve noticed the ads on my sites (including this site), they account for 35-45% of my blogging income 🤑

The great thing about ads is that they are 100% passive income.

I am making money while I swim at the beach and even while I sleep simply by having them on my website.

🤑 How much I make on Ads: In 2022, I made $85,130 from Mediavine ads on my sites.

What is a travel blog?

3. Sponsored Content

Sometimes a tour company, hotel, or other travel-related company will offer to pay you to write a blog post about their product or what they offer.

They want the post in your voice so it’ll appeal to your audience, and they pay you to write it.

You can even reach out to companies that you love and suggest they pay you for a sponsored post.

📝 Note: If you do a sponsored blog post, it’s essential for SEO to mark it as a sponsored post on the back end of your website and check that all links are no-follow.

What is a travel blog?

4. Offer Paid Subscriptions or Consulting Services

Another option for making money from a travel blog is to use it as a marketing tool for coaching or consulting services.

For example, if you have a course on email marketing, you can use your blog to send people to your webinar and from there get them signed up for the course.

You can also offer paid subscriptions as a way to bring in more money.

What is a travel blog?

5. Sell Travel Itineraries, Books, or E-Books

Selling travel itineraries, books, and e-books is another creative way to bring in income from a travel blog.

Matthew Kepnes of Nomadic Matt started making $50,000 to $60,000 a year in 2010, and e-book sales were a massive part of his income.

What Is a Travel Blog: Frequently Asked Questions

With proper strategy and skill, it is entirely possible to make money from a travel blog. I’ve done it, and I’m not special, so I know you can do it too.

If you implement the suggestions in this post, you’ll be well on your way to monetizing your blog.

What is a travel blog?

Travel blogs are no longer prolonged journal entries about one person’s experience riding an elephant in Thailand or answering the question of what solo travel teaches you.

Now the focus is on providing quality in-depth information so that other people can have the same experience you did.

While there is still room to share personal experiences and travel perspectives, being helpful and informative takes center stage.

Now if you’re asking the question of how to start a travel blog without traveling, then I may caution against this because you won’t be able to provide authentic first-hand travel experience.

More and more Google has started to prioritize E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

And if you haven’t traveled before, it will be pretty hard to convince Google to take your blog seriously.

What is a travel blog?

The goal with blog keyword research is to find a search term that many people are looking for, and that your travel blog site can rank for.

Next, you should look at other blog posts that rank on Google for that search term and create an outline based on what the user wants to know.

Finally, write the content as concisely and completely as possible. This is basically your travel blogger job description.

What is a travel blog?

This can include travel tips, restaurant recommendations, tour reviews, suggestions on where to stay and what to do (also what NOT to do), entertainment, humor, and more.

All of the information in a blog post should be clear, concise, and flow well.

A good travel blog is beautifully written, well-organized, and easy to read.

Most of all, it provides the information people need to travel and experience a place themselves.

What is a travel blog?

Of course, it isn’t all sipping cocktails on a tropical beach and taking Instagram pictures — though that is sometimes part of it 🍹

In fact, many travel bloggers quit after a year because it takes time and a lot of effort to see results.

If you are willing to stick it out for the long haul, work hard, learn continuously, and implement new strategies, you have a higher chance of success.

What is a travel blog?

You can choose a template, personalize it, and start sharing your journeys.

However, if monetizing is your goal — investing in a self-hosted blog with a paid domain name and dedicated blog hosting is the MUCH smarter move.

What is a travel blog?

Remember, Instagram is a platform known for micro-blogging — short and sweet posts.

It’s also a good idea to have a website where you can share longer travel stories.

In Conclusion: What is a Travel Blog — And is it Worth Launching One?

A travel blog is a website all about travel. Most travel blogs focus on one specific sub-topic, or a niche related to travel.

You can find a wealth of travel blog description examples to get an idea of how diverse these niches can be.

The options are endless and can range from a blog about Wisconsin to blogs about budget travel, camping, glamping, national parks, family travel, and travel for retired folks.

Starting a travel blog and turning it into a successful business will require a lot of time, hard work, and perseverance — which quite frankly, isn’t for everyone.

However, if you’re passionate about traveling, online business, investing in yourself, and travel blog writing about amazing places — travel blogging can certainly be worth it. It has been for me 👍

Don’t forget to look at what is travel writing examples for inspiration and to improve on your own work.

In the end, if you’re still thinking, I want to be a travel blogger, then go for it!

If you’re ready to start your profitable travel blogging journey, I suggest investing in these courses for travel blogging.

• Scale Your Travel Blog to Six Figures: This is the hands-down best general blogging course, and best SEO course for travel bloggers available today → Sign up for the FREE webinar here to learn more.

• How to Find Affiliate Keywords that Will Make You a Ton of Money: The Best Affiliate Marketing Course