Starting a travel blog doesn't need to be complicated. There are a lot of great resources out there already today! When I started out over four years ago (no way it has been that long!), I watched some YouTube Videos on setting up WordPress, customising a template, writing (more or less structured) articles, editing images,… and I googled. A lot.

Picking the perfect travel blog name was probably the hardest part of all! And while I truly do not remember how I came about my name, I think to this date, it is genius and I love it!

It seemed very overwhelming tackling so many things at the same time whereas all I wanted to do was write and share my journey and travel tips.

Don't despair, when I started out working remotely as a freelancer and building my blog, I could hardly call myself anything, but highly experimental. No, I was no travel blogger let alone could I call myself a writer, my name hadn't appeared anywhere before but my passport and drivers licence. Back in the early days of my blog, I wasn't actually sure what I was writing about. Or what I wanted to write about.

As I travelled and explored new places, people started asking me questions about the places I had been to – where they could find accommodation in Chiang Mai, which places they had to see in Ubud or what they could see and do over a weekend in Amsterdam. Simple, I thought, because I'd been there, so I wrote away.

On the techie side of things it took me a while to wrap my mind around everything and in the beginning I changed my blog layout at least fifteen (yes 15!!) times and my logo appeared in a new look every month or so. Talk about consistent branding!

However, since I was immediately hooked on building and designing cool websites, I soon after decided to take a web design course in Bangkok to ramp up my game and become more professional.

Since the technical side is still forever changing with new tools and plugins released every day as well as design being always under fire for new trends, you will truly never stop learning once you dive into blogging and WordPress.

Even if you think the technical and design side isn't that fun, don't worry, to get started it really doesn't take much skill. Once you have a basic layout, it is all about creating great content and building a community of awesome followers. And the rest will follow.

So, how to you actually start a blog? What tools do you need to start building a successful blog?

#1 Brainstorming & Finding A Name For Your Blog

I actually do not remember how I came about my name so I'd like to say that one day it just came to me. Like we were meant to be. And since travel is such an integral part of my life, just like breathing it made totally sense and I still love my blog name until today.

Brainstorm On Topics

To get you started on finding your perfect blog name, I recommend you brainstorm in advance what you are going to write about, aka your niche. It's of course good to cover multiple relevant topics, so you have enough room to expand or change direction in the future, I wouldn't narrow down your name too much.

Also, think about who you want to write for: female millennials, travelling families, foodies, backpackers on a budget, etc. This could also be a specific region, maybe your passion lies in Portugal or you want to become the ultimate resource for travellers visiting Berlin. Think big and small at the same time, the sky is the limit here. I can also recommend using Ask The Public to find out what people want to know about a certain topic, which will give you some good content ideas ahead of time.

Picturing a specific audience or even better, a person which you are going to write for makes it a lot easier. Get a piece of paper, get creative and draw if necessary. Give your person a face and describe what he or she is interested about, what they like and what problems, desires and dreams this person could have. This could even be yourself. Remember, you yourself are part of many different audiences and target groups.

When picking a blog niche, I think it's most important that you are passionate about the topic since you will possibly write about this for a long time to come.

If you have found a niche, I'd always throw some related keywords into Mr. Google and see who else is writing a blog about a similar topic. Way to suss out your competitors before you even get your website up!

Here are some very useful tips on how to pick the perfect blog name:

  • Stand out from the crowd and consider overused words like travel, adventure, wanderlust, nomadic carefully – you may not be well remembered as the #100 Adventurous Mary.
  • Make sure you decide on an easy to remember URL, preferably without hyphens. As you will talk about your blog with friends, at networking events and who knows, maybe on the radio or TV one day, how will people find you if they cannot remember your URL! So make it short and memorable.
  • Check if the social media channels for your name are available (and reserve them), so you can use your blog name consistently across channels. I have seen it on other bloggers' business cards before – 5 different social channels with 5 different handles. Just daunting.

#2 Find Professional Hosting

Congrats, the first step is done! You have decided on your blog name and hopefully reserved the social media handles already.

Now, it's time to register your domain and buy hosting to setup your site. There are soo many options out there, but the one I like best is Bluehost. I have been hosting my own site with them for over 4 years and they have really good support over the online chat!

Plus, you can get started for as little as $3.95 a month!

Just head over to the Bluehost website and click “Get Started Now”.

Bluehost start a blog

The next page will present you with three different options.

If you're just starting out, then the Basic plan will be enough. But if you have some ambitious goals, I highly recommend the Choice Plus, which will give you more space and also the best value for money.

Bluehost Pricing

In the next step, you will either get your domain name through Bluehost as well or if you have previously bought it from a third-party provider, you can also bring your name with you. Choose “I have a domain name” in that case.

Next, you will fill out all your details and put in your credit card. You get a free SSL certificate which is almost a must these days! I additionally can recommend you get domain privacy, this way your information will not be displayed on public records. Note that, by law, website registry information is public. Getting domain privacy will then display Bluehost's information not your and save you from spam, so-called experts who want to help you with SEO, design and what-not. No thanks!

Bluehost which package to choose

Submit and you're all done. Bluehost will email you your login details and you're ready to get started setting up your website!

Super Star Blogging

#3 Installing & Setting Up WordPress

Now that you got your domain name registered and hosting setup, you want to install WordPress, the actually backend where you write and edit your content and your website's design.

You can just use the 1-Click-Install offered by Bluehost. Enter your login information and then add your blog name along the way, but don't worry you can change that one later on as well. If you need more instructions on how to install WordPress with Bluehost, check out this article.

It shouldn't take long and you'll be taken right into the backend of your brand new website!

Essential Plugins You Need For Your Blog

After installing WordPress, I recommend you have a look into plugins and install a couple important ones. Plugins are awesome, because they add additional functionality to your website without you having to use code or get a developer to do it for you.

Here are the most important plugins I recommend to any travel blogger:

  • Yoast SEO: You want your site to be found on Google right? Well, Yoast is one of the most popular and best plugins to optimise your website for search engines completely.
  • W3 Total Cache: How fast your site loads is important to search engines and to rank higher on Google. I like W3 Total Cache as it compresses and caches your files for your visitors which reduces the loading time on your server and hence your blog will be a lot faster!
  • Google Analytics by MonsterInsights: Surely, you will want to know who is visiting your website, are they male or female, how long are they spending on your site and which articles are the primarily reading? And how do they find you? Google Analytics is amazing because you will get a whole lot of insights through it and learn about your audience and how your content is found and performing. Absolutely essential!
  • BackupBuddy: This plugin backups and restores all your websites content, because you won't want to loose all your hard work when things go wrong. Better be on the safe side, protecting your online work is absolutely critical!
  • Thrive ThemesLet me say it ahead of time – I am a HUGE fan of Thrive! They have a variety of awesome things going for them, as they have a theme but also some really cool plugins which work with pretty much any WordPress theme. So, I don't use their theme right now on this site, but I use Thrive Leads, a great plugin to build your email subscribers super fast! As well as Thrive Optimise for A/B testing landing pages and Thrive Ultimatum to create urgency!

#4 Getting A WordPress Theme & Creating Your Own Logo

It's time to make your website look pretty! Hell yes, I love a nice design on a website!

Now, you have two options:

  • You can choose a free theme – There are many many free themes for all the newbie bloggers out there. This keeps your startup cost low and you can test out where you are going with your blogging career first. And there are some good options out there, however, I have never actually had a free theme on my site. Most of the free themes are just not amazing, are limited with layout changes and functionality and over time, this becomes a big problem. Even more so, if you don't know how to code and customise this way. Or you'll need a lot of plugins to add functionalities, and then your site will become slow. If you are in for the long run, I always, always say, get a premium theme!
  • How to choose a premium WordPress theme – If you are ready to get a premium theme, you will pay a one-off price for so much more functionality and some more uniqueness for your website, that's what you want right? You also get some support with purchasing a premium theme, which is highly helpful when you start out and you don't know much about customising web design. It's all not as hard as it sounds, but it takes some time and learning curve to get the website looking good. Don't despair, enjoy and have fun with it.

The support you get with a paid theme is invaluable especially when you aren't so tech-savvy. The two places I buy premium themes from are ThemeForest and Elegant Themes.

Personally, I have used a variety of themes across my own and clients websites, but my favourite by far is Avada! So many cool demo website you can easily upload and just replace the content and do some branding with it, and hello unique new website! It's SEO-optimised, super fast and also is ecommerce enabled through WooCommerce, in case you want to sell your own products down the line. Otherwise, Divi Theme by Elegant Themes is totally awesome too.

Once you have decided on a theme that's perfect for your site, go to your WordPress backend, click Appearances > Themes and simply upload the .zip file in here. Click activate and off you go customising!

Getting A Logo For Your Website

I have changed my logo and brand colours a lot in the beginning. I created them myself with Photoshop (I am not a pro but it looks alright), but I was never really happy with it, simply because I am not a graphic designer and I have no idea what colours go together and what would make my brand stand out and look unique.

Finally, I took the leap and got a professional on board to create the brand logo and colours as you see it today. I love them, they go so very well with my brand and what I'd like to portrait, so I would absolutely vouch for getting an expert on board if you have some money to invest into your website, it's the single best thing you can do in the beginning. It has helped me shape my content across social media and overall image of the brand tremendously and I wouldn't underestimate a great logo and brand, even when others say that you can do it on the cheap. Sure you can, but does it really speak what you would like to say?

I recommend you check out Upwork and Fivrr to find a graphic designer who can help you design an awesome branding!

#5 Write Professional Blog Posts

Your website now has a sparkling look and you're ready to start writing! Your theme most likely already has the most important pages set up, but I recommend you at least have an About Page, Contact Page as well as Privacy Policy Page.

To create a new blog post, go to Posts > Add New. You are here to create some awesome content and you want people to read it too, right? I recommend you check out Neil Patels post on this, as it will help you understand how good blog posts are structured, how you choose an eye-catching title and he also explains keyword research. Don't feel overwhelmed thought, it's totally okay to just get writing in the beginning. I do however recommend you read articles on SEO and content marketing, just so you acquire additional knowledge, as this will make your blog successful in the long run!

It might also help to enrol in a blogging course. I have done so many courses over the years to continuously learn and improve my knowledge and I recommend you check out Nomadic Matt’s Superstar Blogging Course, if you are serious about becoming a professional travel blogger. The course teaches you in-depth how you start, grow and monetise your website and gives you all the behind-the-scenes, including detailed analytics, tricks and secrets about creating a highly successful blog that actually makes money!

Super Star Blogging

#6 Make Money Blogging

Now, I am sure you didn't just become a blogger to sit and write for nothing. You want to score partnerships, make money with affiliate marketing or even sell your own products. There are so many opportunities to make money from blogging!

However, if I was starting all over again with blogging, I would've focused A LOT more on building my audience and growing my traffic during the first 6 months. Only when you get some consistent traffic does it make sense to monetise your blog. I urge you to be patient, it will pay off, you just need to invest some time and keep going.

I have found that building an Email list right from the start is the single most important step to monetising! Also, social media can reap you rewards and partnerships much faster. My favourite social media channels, that I recommend to all travel bloggers, are Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Of course, if you are into video, definitely consider YouTube as well. I heavily use Instagram Stories and love video, but still learning professional editing skills.

Here are some ideas for monetising your blog:

  • Earn income by suggesting products through popular Affiliate Programs like Amazon.com and Booking.com. There are many many out there, make sure you only sign up to those that fit your audience and that you stand behind 100% as you don't want to promote something you don't believe in and loose your readers' trust.
  • You could also display ads with Google Adsense. This way, other companies are able to post banner ads on your site and you get paid by click.
  • Establish brand partnerships, become an Ambassador, write for travel magazines, offer coaching, workshops, create products…

When it comes to making money with blogging, the sky is the limit, however, it does take time and strategy! I often get asked how much you can make as a travel blogger. Usually, after a year of blogging on a weekly basis, travel bloggers make a couple of hundred or couple of thousand dollars, all depending on your personal effort. I think were the real rewards are with blogging is the connections you make, partnerships and community you build, who you can then launch products to, that's where you make the real $$$.

How to make money blogging

Good luck! You can totally do it and there was truly never a better time to get started building a blog now!

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