Running a travel blog is the World Dream. Something like the American dream except it’s for the whole wide world. You wake up from the dream with the realization that you can be successful as long as you’re willing to work for it.
Yes, you can make money with a travel blog – or what others call travelogue blog, personal travel blog, travel diary blog, and so on. It looks glamorous on the outside but it’s really a lot of work. However, you’ll know that it’s totally worth it if you ask any successful travel blogger if they would rather do something else for a living.
This is how you do it.
Perfect for your personality but it doesn’t have to be perfect for everyone else. You’ll find all sorts of advice on what to do and what not to do. Heed the advice if it makes sense to you. Otherwise, don’t worry about it. It won’t hold back your world dream if you have what it takes.
Set up Your Travel Blog
Setting up your travel diary blog includes setting up web hosting and installing WordPress.
Everyone knows how to set up web hosting these days. If not, get out of your comfort zone and just do it because you’ll have to get out of your comfort zone a lot to run a travel blog. WordPress is the easiest yet most powerful blogging and SEO tool, so don’t even think about anything else.
Roll up Your Sleeves and Work on WordPress
WordPress is easier than you think. Use the free WordPress Lessons tutorial. Learn how to move around the dashboard, how to post and how to tweak your site settings and you’re all set.
WordPress comes with a few free themes but you should consider getting a professional-looking theme. Among our favorites are Elegant Themes, TemplateMonster, ThemeTrust, and ThemeForest.
Download and Install WordPress Plugins
Download plugins in the plugin section of your dashboard. The essential plugins to have are Akismet, Yoast SEO, Digg Digg, and Contact Form 7.
Akismet is the defender against spam comments. Digg Digg adds social media sharing buttons to your articles. Yoast SEO helps you optimize your content for search engines. Contact Form 7 makes it easier for your visitors to reach you.
Set Your Travelogue on Fire by Creating Enticing Content
This step includes creating an About Me page, writing your first post, and pretty much just blogging about your kickass trips. If you still haven’t reached your desired destination, you can write about your travel preparation. You don’t have to be overly cute, just be yourself. Write about things that haven’t been talked to death.
The quality of your content is essential. You want your content to spark wonder and curiosity and engage your readers. It also needs to be error-free so you should ideally have somebody go through it before you publish. If you think that your content needs polishing, you can always turn to professional article writing services to make your blog posts spot on.
Take Stunning Photos on Your Adventures
Awesome content needs awesome visuals, so be prepared to take some stunning photos during your travels. Photography is an amazing skill that takes time, patience and practice to master, but keep in mind that sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words so you simply cannot have a travelogue blog without photos. Perhaps your smartphone camera will do just fine, or you maybe want to invest in a top-of-the-line DSLR, it’s all up to you.
Build Your Audience – It’s Rewarding and It Pays Off
The amount of money you can make is proportional to your blog traffic. It takes time to build an audience and the best way to do it is with quality content and some paid advertising.
To make money with your travel blog you’ll need an AdSense account. Then there’s Amazon Associates and other affiliate programs, too. AdSense is about displaying ads on your site and earning money with the pay-per-click model. With Amazon Associates, you’re like a sales associate for Amazon – you get paid when someone clicks on the link and actually makes a purchase. The other affiliate programs work in the same fashion. Useful affiliate programs for a travel blog are Booking.com (rooms) and World Nomads (travel insurance).
And that’s it. We don’t have to tell you past performances do not guarantee future returns like a mutual fund prospectus but we will anyway.
There are expenses associated with running a travel blog and it could take you years to turn a healthy profit. The world top bloggers make six-figure incomes from their personal travel blogs. There are plenty of lists of top travel blogs in the world. You’ll find misnomers like The Poor Traveler, bloggers turned best-selling authors like Nomadic Matt, sexy references like The Blonde Abroad, and many others.