Travel blogging is an endeavor that I’ve picked up ever since my trip out west to visit Utah’s Mighty 5 National Parks. Since then, I’ve enjoyed being able to record my adventures in a way that will help others.
My blog aims to take experiences and convert them into actionable guides to help others have a smoother vacation, hike, or road trip.
During the first three months of my travel blogging journey, I have learned much about many different disciplines. The art of blogging online includes writing, developing a website, using social media, and marketing effectively. However, I have had to learn many more skills along the way to keep streamlining my hobby.
In the same format as a travel blog guide, I want to share my top 5 learning lessons during my first 3 months of travel blogging. For those who are also trying to start a travel blog, keep reading to make sure your first months go as easy as possible.
Travel blogging has been a hobby that allows me to integrate my passion, travel, with other forms of art like writing and photography. Writing for others has allowed me to develop my creative side while also sharing my expertise in travel knowledge! Here are 5 tips to help you start your travel blogging journey!
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Trying to capture the perfect shot for the travel blog!
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Don’t Be Afraid To Take the First Step – 5 Lessons of Travel Blogging
One of the things that kept me hung up during the early stages of the travel blog was making sure that my first post was absolutely perfect before publishing. Looking back, I can say that constantly going back to edit was my way to procrastinate posting my article and moving on.
There is a great quote that I have heard that I like to abide by when writing my blog posts:
“Perfection is the enemy of progress”. -Winston Churchill
This absolutely does not mean skipping out on quality when it comes to writing blog posts, but it does mean that there will never be a perfect blog post.
Throughout my first 3 months of writing travel blog guides and posts, I have found that certain edits within a post have different priority levels, and these levels dictate how much time you should focus on them:
- Highest Priority Edits: grammar, punctuation, spelling, fact-checking. These mistakes are critical and can deplete your credibility as they are the simplest of errors to fix.
- High Priority Edits: quality of content: The quality of your blog content will determine whether readers are more likely to read the article. However, content quality is subjective and should not be obsessed with during the first months of travel blogging. It is a skill that improves over time.
- Low Priority Edits: Pinterest pins, obsessing over images: Pieces of the blog article like Pinterest pins and images are parts that can add great touches to your post, but trying to perfect each and every aspect of the post will only prevent you from publishing it for the world to see!
In short, be sure to create high-quality content that includes images and correct grammar and spelling. However, keep in mind that focusing on perfection may hinder you from making progress on your blog.
Post your first article, move on, and check back on it later! Continuing to write is what drives improvement!
Travel Blogging takes knowledge, hard work, and most importantly, dedication!
Efficiency is Key – 5 Lessons of Travel Blogging
For many people, having unlimited time to write blog posts is not an option. This is true for me as well. In order to stay consistent, efficiency is a trait that must be learned to survive in the blogging world.
Take my first blog post for example. Here is a little insight into my workflow during its creation:
- Start writing content within WordPress.
- Upload and add an image.
- Caption and describe the image.
- Write more content.
- Format the content.
- Upload and add another image.
- Caption and describe the image.
- Continue writing content.
- Use images to create a Pinterest pin.
- Upload the Pinterest pin.
- Proofread article
- Upload Article.
These steps are only a part of the whole process of creating a blog post. From this list, you can see how disorganized my writing strategy was. It is no wonder that some of my first articles would take more than 2 days to complete.
It only took me a few weeks to start optimizing my workflow to create articles faster and more efficiently. Here are some steps that I now use to prioritize my efficiency when crafting a post:
- Write the post in Google Docs first: creating the skeleton of my blog post in Google Docs gave me a huge boost to my efficiency. Google Docs allows you to format headings, bulleted lists, and block quotes within the site. When the content is ready to be pasted onto WordPress, I don’t have to worry about changing each header to H1, H2, H3, etc.
- Batch images and upload them at once: When writing some of my first articles, I often grabbed images from various folders and uploaded them randomly, which caused a big decrease in my writing efficiency. To combat this, I now create organized folders that contain all images for a certain post. I use Lightroom to batch export the images with the correct sizes so they are optimized for my articles. This saves me the headache of trying to figure out where I pulled an image from if I want to make last-minute changes or adjustments.
- Use speech-to-text when writing posts: Using my fingers to consistently type 2,000-word guides causes me to decrease my words-per-minute score. I now talk into my laptop to create text for my articles which gave me a huge boost to my writing efficiency. If you are a slow typer, or just get fatigued with typing, I highly recommend this strategy.
For an article that uses all of the strategies I highlighted above, check out my Ultimate Guide to Must-See Spots on an I-90 Roadtrip.
Searching for the perfect trail to write about in my Travel Blog
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Travel Blogging is More Than Writing – 5 Lessons of Travel Blogging
When I first decided to give travel blogging a try, I was very naive to the depth of skills required to produce a successful post. I learned very quickly that writing was only a part of creating a blog article and that much more knowledge was required to successfully run a blogging website.
For example, take web design. It is essential that you have a good-looking website to share your articles on. The design of your site will speak to your authority and will make readers more likely to engage with other posts.
I had never done anything close to creating a website before I started my travel blogging journey. However, I found it fun to learn about creating a domain, finding a hosting provider, and learning the ins and outs of WordPress.
Throughout my 3 months of travel blogging, SEO is also something I had to study in order to make sure my posts were being seen by other people. In essence, SEO, or search engine optimization, is making sure that my articles have the highest chance of showing up on the first pages of Google for readers to see. I will go more in-depth on SEO later in the article.
My travel blog takes me to places like the Portland Head Light in Southern Maine
Networking is Your Friend – 5 Lessons of Travel Blogging
One of the things that I have enjoyed the most about starting my travel blog is being able to make connections with other people who share the same passion as me. Apart from seeing inspiring trips that others have taken, I have learned a ton about travel blogging by asking questions and reading blog posts from more successful bloggers.
I have learned that many travel bloggers are eager to answer questions that you have, whether it be about blogging or which hotel they stayed at during their trip! I now make it a priority to leave a comment after each post that I read in order to make a connection with the author of the post. I find it fun to get to know the person behind the article.
Making connections in the travel blogging field also allows you to spread your brand by engaging in guest posts. Guest posting is where you can take your blog article and post it on someone else’s website. Not only do they get your great content, but you get to spread your name by having a link to your website on someone else’s page. It is a great way to contribute your knowledge and further your brand at the same time.
In short, always make sure to be engaging with fellow travel bloggers. Whether it is commenting on a post, emailing for a guest post, or simply liking an image, engaging with other bloggers will help create more opportunities to further your success and boost your travel blog.
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SEO is More Than Writing Good Content – 5 Lessons of Travel Blogging
During my first 3 months of travel blogging, I made it a priority to study SEO and learn about optimizing my posts for Google search rankings. I would often come across blogs and videos that would promote the same advice over and over for making sure that your posts rank high:
- Create Quality Content
- Write longer posts
- Add keywords to the post.
While these are very important factors for improving SEO within your post, not many articles mention domain rating (DR) and domain authority (DA). Even if your post is perfectly optimized for Google results, having a low DA will cause you to rank lower in search results.
Because of this, I have spent lots of time during my first 3 months of travel blogging on increasing my website’s DR. Doing this has helped me get some of my posts higher on Google’s search results. Here are some things I have done to increase DR on Curione Travel:
- Guest Post: guest posting has allowed me to create backlinks to my website. These links are crucial for increasing DR. Some bloggers offer do-follow links, while others offer no-follow links. Learn about the difference between these two links.
- Commenting on other posts: Leaving a comment on another writer’s blog posts does two things: it creates engagement with another writer, and sometimes adds a no-follow link to your blog page. Although these links are not as impactful as do-follow links, they can sometimes help boost your DR, not to mention potentially making a connection with another blogger!
Part of my inspiration for my travel blog came to me on Angels Landing in Zion National Park
Conclusion
The first 3 months of working on my travel blog has been an eye-opening experience. I have learned that writing blog posts is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making sure that other people are able to read your content.
There are so many strategies and tips that I have picked up in my first 3 months of travel blogging by engaging with more successful people in the field. By writing this guide, I wanted to share insight into what travel blogging is really about.
Make sure to leave a comment about any questions that you may have when it comes to beginning your travel blogging journey.
Also, save this to remember these tips to make your first three months of travel blogging as easy as possible!