Important Lessons to Learn Before You Start Your First Travel Blog
The world of travel blogs… it seems so congested now, doesn’t it? Almost to a point of not wanting to start your own travel blog. It can feel that way at times but that’s no excuse to not start one. Sure, there are tons of travel blogs out there but if you actually take some time out to look at some of them, you’ll see they lack a lot of substance.
A lot of these travel blogs just have pretty pictures and scream “Hey, I’m on a mountain!” or “Hey, I’m on a beach!” There’s just no substance to them, and that’s where so many travel bloggers go wrong with their websites… they don’t provide helpful information to their readers. Yes, it’s great to know you had a great time visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace in
Note: It’s great to share your experiences but sometimes, in order to captivate your readers, you want to create content that will give them the same experience you had in a destination in case they decide to take your advice and visit that destination as well.
In order to build and run a successful travel blog, there are a few things you need to know and understand from the very beginning. Once you can come to grips with these things, your travel blog endeavors will be successful.
What You Need to Know Before Starting Your First Travel Blog
You’re Going to Experience Failure
One of the most important things for you to understand up front is that you’re going to fail, and that’s perfectly fine. In fact, lifehack.org states that failing is the very thing that’s going to help you succeed, so you might as well embrace it.
Failure isn’t this terrible thing you need to avoid. Why? Because failure is one of the best teachers you will ever have. Maybe you decide to host a webinar in India and no one shows up for it or maybe you make a post about your experience swimming with dolphins and no one “likes” it… That’s okay and it’s certainly no reason to give up on your travel blog.
What people fail to realize about failure is that it makes you look at something that didn’t work in a different way, it helps you grow and inspires creativity, and if nothing else, it’s going to be a huge part of your success story. So embrace your failures when they happen.
Blogging is Not Easy
As mentioned earlier, there are travel blogs out there where the bloggers just write “stuff” but it has no substance. Can you guess why those travel blogs are so terrible? It’s because they’re not invested in it.
In today’s world, having a reliable internet connection is crucial for remote work, and this holds true for travel bloggers as well. In case you thought that you could just start a blog and start writing “stuff,” you may want to rethink your decision to start a travel blog, especially if you’re planning to work remotely. Blogging is very hard work and requires a consistent and reliable internet connection.
There’s a level of discipline you must have in order to actually sit down and work, even when you don’t feel like it. In doing that, you’re going to have to be disciplined enough to invest a sizable amount of time to work and get things done, which may not always be easy when you’re traveling and relying on the internet for remote workers. And lastly, you’re going to need to put forth the effort to get the work done.
Treat Your Blog Like a Business
As a travel blogger, it’s understood that you have a deep love of travel, so in order to keep your love for travel alive, it’s going to be very beneficial to you to treat your blog like a business. What does that mean exactly? That means that in addition to sharing your travel adventures and providing helpful information about travel, you’re going to want to also look at different ways to earn multiple streams of income through your blog.
One of the best ways to have the best of both worlds of traveling and earning an income through your blog is to build your website on a platform that allows you to build a fully-featured website. This means that you’ll not only be able to sell products but it also comes with a blogging platform as well.
In addition to that, you’ll also have the option to create profits through affiliate marketing, banner ads, and sponsored posts. You can also earn through selling other products and services like these:
- Ebooks
- Consulting services
- Online courses
- Photographs
- Presets (like my presets below for example!)
Through your travel blog, your earning potential has no boundaries. Take some time out to really think about the overall feeling you want visitors to your site to have and how you can take that and turn it into a profit.
People Will Have Good and Bad Things to Say
This is an area that people have a hard time digesting at times… people’s opinions. You already know that people are always going to have something to say about anything, and you’ve been on this Earth long enough to know that you can’t take to heart what other people say sometimes…
But it’s not as easy with your blog… hurtful words sting a little more because your blog is something personal and it’s something you worked very hard on. So when people say negative things, you feel personally attacked. This is an understandable feeling to have but you’re going to have to learn to develop a thicker skin.
People are going to have good and bad things to say about your blog and that’s okay because some people are just miserable. You just keep traveling the world and blogging to your heart’s desire!
Your Writing Skills May Be Rusty at the Beginning
You know how you grow as a person as you get older, well the same thing happens with your writing as you get to know the type of writer you are and understand your writing style. Once you’ve had your travel blog for a while, you’ll be able to go back and look at your “old stuff” and see just how advanced of a writer you’ve become… you’ll just sit back and laugh, and probably think “good grief that’s terrible!”
It’s okay… it happens to the best of us; the main thing is that you can actually see progress and growth in your writing. You want to know something funny? Your readers and followers will be able to tell too. Believe it or not, the readers who interact with you will actually mention it. It’s almost like they’ve gone on your journey of growth with you… that’s a pretty cool feeling to experience.
Are you ready to start your own travel blog?
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