Starting a travel blog and choosing a memorable name for your blog is just the beginning. Once you have your travel blog set up and are churning out regular content, growing a travel blog is the next step.
In this article, we will cover:
- Travel Blogging is Competitive
- Experts Share Top Tips for Growing a Travel Blog
- Frequently Asked Questions
Travel Blogging is Competitive
Travel is a popular blogging niche, so there’s tough competition to win readers. However, by implementing the right strategies and following proven best practices, you can grow your audience, drive traffic to your travel blog, and become a leading authority in the travel space — even if your blog is relatively new.
To help you start growing your travel blog, we reached out to a panel of travel bloggers and blogging experts and asked them to answer this question:
“What’s your number 1 tip for growing a travel blog?”
Meet Our Panel of Travel Bloggers & Blogging Experts:
Experts Share Top Tips for Growing a Travel Blog
Keep reading to learn what our panel had to say about the most effective strategies you can implement to start growing your travel blog today.
Rehana Aslam
Rehana is a Marketing Assistant at Casa Theluxe.
“Focus on storytelling. People don’t just want to read about the places you visit; they want to feel like they are there with you.
Focus on storytelling in your blog posts, weaving in personal anecdotes, local insights, and cultural observations. This will make your blog more engaging and memorable. So focus on storytelling instead of just writing simple content.”
Anjali Chawla
An avid traveler and a passionate storyteller, Anjali runs a family travel blog named Travel Melodies, where she strives to inspire families around the world to travel more and better.
“Consistency and genuine intent to help your readers are the determining factors in the growth of a travel blog. If you consistently write authentic and good-quality blogs that recognize the needs of your audience, success will follow.”
Drew Mann
Drew Mann is the Founder of Drew’s Review.
“My number one tip for growing a travel blog is to consistently create high-quality, valuable, and engaging content that appeals to your target audience. This includes:
- Finding a unique angle or niche: Focus on a specific region or aspect of travel rather than something too general. This will help set you apart from other travel blogs.
- Tell a story: Share your personal stories. experiences and insights to connect with your readers on an emotional level. This helps to build trust and create a loyal following.
- Informative and actionable content: Offer practical tips, advice, and information that readers can use to improve their own travel experiences. This adds value to your blog and encourages readers to come back for more.
- Consistency: Post regularly and maintain a consistent schedule so your audience knows when to expect new content.
- Collab with other bloggers: Ask other bloggers if they would be willing to accept a guest post. Include your link in the post so that it helps build your domain authority, which leads to higher rankings.”
Mark Stoneman
Mark is the founder of Hello Door County, the premier destination website for Door County, Wisconsin.
“Use Google Web Stories to grow your blog. Google Web Stories have won significant traffic for my travel blog, HelloDoorCounty.com, a Door County, Wisconsin destination website.
Google Web Stories are tappable media, much like an Instagram story. But they are hosted on your website, and you retain ownership of your content.
Google doesn’t own your stories in the same way Instagram does. These appear both on Discover and in organic results for mobile users. They are a good way for even young blogs to get thousands of pageviews very quickly.
Here are some tips to get started with Web Stories for your travel blog:
- If you are using WordPress, install and configure the Google Web Stories plugin.
- Watch some of Google’s tutorials for Web Stories on YouTube.
- Make companion stories for content you’ve already written, and add a call-to-action to continue to the post.
- Target keywords like you would for a blog post, but go bigger. Since there’s a higher barrier to entry for Web Stories, you have a better chance of showing up for tougher keywords.”
Melanie Hartmann
Melanie Hartmann is the owner of the RV travel blog, Dreams Built In.
“Network with other travel bloggers and use white hat strategies to engage in backlink exchanges.
You’ll have better success during your outreach if you offer to write a relevant guest post or already have a top-notch article you’d like a backlink to.”
Sanne Wesselman
Sanne is the founder and editor of Spend Life Traveling. With a background in online marketing, she loves taking an analytical approach to blogging, which has helped her grow her blog into a full-time income. She has been traveling the world since 2008 and has been fortunate enough to call a diverse range of countries home over the years.
“My number one tip for growing a travel blog is doing good keyword research.
Many travel bloggers start their blogs by writing personal travel stories without researching what people are actually looking for. These stories might be great, and well written, but if nobody is searching for this information, it will be difficult to grow your blog.
Write about things you love and are knowledgeable about, of course, but before you decide on the article topic, invest in keyword research. Keyword research helps you find out what your potential readers are actually searching for. What questions do they have that you can provide great answers to?
Learn how keyword research works. Learn how to choose keywords that you can rank for and that will get readers to your website.
Do this consistently, and your travel blog will grow.”
Patricia Palacios
Patricia Palacios combines her profession as a web and software developer with her passion for writing and traveling. She is the co-founder of España Guide, a travel guide dedicated to promoting her home country of Spain.
“My number one tip for growing a travel blog is to choose a niche and stick to it. Whether you decide to write about a specific destination or from a particular point of view, it’s important to define your niche and concentrate on it.
In my case, I’ve chosen specific destinations as my niche. First, I started as a Basque Country travel expert with Eusko Guide in 2013. After that site reached 1 million visitors per year, I decided to expand to the whole of Spain with my current project, España Guide.
By choosing your niche wisely, you will differentiate yourself, which is a key factor to be successful. If you stick to it, as time goes by, you will become an authority on the matter. This will make your audience grow.”
Aima Irfan
Aima Irfan is the Editor in Chief and Marketing Manager at InsideTechWorld. InsideTechWorld aims to deliver the latest technology & startup news, media events, and groundbreaking happenings to its readers across the world.
“Avoid doing sponsored content and press trips. People want originality. They are always looking for independent opinions on destinations.
Your audience wants relatable content that can give them the feeling that they can do it too. Although sponsored trips will help you build a profile, they will not create relevant experiences for people. This will stop them from coming back again.
Sponsored content and partnerships also dilute the authenticity of travel bloggers. Hence, create content for your travel blog in a way that could offer concrete advice to consumers and legitimate opinions.”
Rana Good
Rana Good is the founder of Naïra, a digital magazine for women of color which covers diverse voices in travel. She’s also a travel writer for Forbes, Travel + Leisure, and Coveteur and is an SEO expert.
“Everyone will tell you that SEO will help your travel blog grow, and that’s absolutely true. However, what people don’t tell you is how helpful integrating visuals — in particular short-form video — into your blog posts is and how quickly it can help you index in search engines.
As a travel blogger, if you can, add an embedded short-form video in the form of a Reel, YouTube Short, or TikTok to help boost your post and rank you closer to page one of the search results.”
Steph Dyson
Steph Dyson is a bilingual travel writer, guidebook author, and blogger who’s an expert on Latin America and writes for publications including National Geographic Traveller, CNN, and Lonely Planet. Her website, Worldly Adventurer, is dedicated to sustainable adventure travel in the region and receives nearly two million pageviews annually.
“My biggest tip for growing a travel blog is to become an expert in a destination or region and build your blog around that area.
Now that Google is focusing more on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness), you need to really prove that you know a destination well. A parachute visit of just a week isn’t enough; you need to become the authority on that place.
This works twofold as a strategy. One, it really pays from an SEO perspective. My website, Worldly Adventurer, has a strong focus on Patagonia, as well as the wider Latin American continent.
New articles I publish can be indexed by Google and ranked on page one within a day. Google knows I have strong expertise in the destinations I write about and that I’m a trusted, authoritative voice deserving of those prized positions at the top of the search results.
Two, and most importantly, my clear expertise about one destination — not the entire globe — ensures that my readers can really rely on the information I give and the suggestions I make. I’m a trusted source they remain loyal to when exploring the region.”
Henry Purchase
Henry Purchase is the lead organic growth of Menuzen, a digital platform that helps restaurants scale their operations by providing them with a comprehensive system for managing their menus, prices, and promotions.
“My first piece of advice for expanding a travel blog is to provide audience-relevant, high-quality material.
This combines exquisite images, excellent writing, and original travel encounters. Additionally, networking with other bloggers and using social media platforms may help broaden the audience for your site.”
Andrew Helling
Andrew Helling is the founder and editor of Travellers Worldwide, an online resource that helps inspire travelers to find their next big adventure. When he’s not in the office, you’ll find him flying, hiking, or relaxing on a beach with his wife and son.
“Here are things that I think made my own blog grow so quickly:
1. Post With a Purpose: This may run contrary to what happens in most marketing departments, but the best way to earn traffic is to first determine what your readers are searching for. It’s not enough to just write about things you’re passionate about, as nobody may be searching for that topic.
You can do this a number of ways, but tools like Ahrefs or Semrush are my favorite, as they estimate traffic to various search queries. If you don’t want to pay or need this level of data, Google makes a free and simple keyword planning tool that shows traffic trends and estimated searches, along with estimated competition. Simply put, the less competitive the search, the easier it will rank in Google’s organic search results.
2. Post Consistently: Another mistake I see bloggers make is not publishing consistently enough. Google values consistency, as it signals that your content is being regularly updated. If they’re going to send traffic to a blog, they want to make sure that it’s accurate and up-to-date.
In my opinion, one of the best ways to do this is to pick a publishing timeline and stick to it. Simply put, source your content and then publish it at the same time on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
3. Establish E-E-A-T: Establishing E-E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) is critical to ranking in Google and getting organic traffic, especially given the recent algorithm updates that they’ve just rolled out, placing more weight on these metrics. But don’t overthink it. If you’re writing about someplace in Mexico, demonstrate you’ve been there or at least have a deep level of understanding.
Write about the best dishes at the local restaurants, what beaches you’ve loved, and maybe even a few mistakes to avoid making when visiting. All these things demonstrate that you’re not just writing your blog to rank in Google, but you’re doing it to help your reader have the best trip possible. Trust me, this one goes a long way.
4. Win Powerful Links: Last but not least is the power of links. I believe one of the most important ranking factors for earning a spot on the first page of Google (and thereby increasing traffic to your blog) is to have links.
Think about it: would you trust a blog you’ve never heard of? I know I wouldn’t. And neither does Google.
But getting a mention in Forbes, the Washington Post, or another publication signals to Google that you are an expert in your field, thereby establishing authority. And with authority comes ranking increases, and that results in traffic.
The best way to get mentions in or links from big publications is to pitch on HARO, a service that connects reports and writers with sources who are experts in their field. In fact, that’s how I got this mention and link to my site! It’s really a win-win because the writer gets quotable material to help with their story, and you get a mention, a link, or both.”
Melissa Trachtenberg
Melissa is a fourth-generation New Yorker who has been lucky enough to live in New York for over 35 years. The idea for the NYC Insider Guide came to her when she tried to help an international friend plan her New York City vacation. With all the online information about NYC, little of it was targeted to visitors wanting to live like a “real New Yorker,” a more sophisticated traveler or someone who had already been here and seen most of the typical tourist attractions.
“My #1 tip for growing a travel blog is to keep it fresh and updated.
Simple tweaks like changing the page title can increase traffic and CTR by 20% overnight. Last
week I tweaked a page by 1 word, and the CTR, as well as rankings, impressions, and page views, went from 3.5% to 13.4% overnight.
The more fresh content you have, the more images you add, the more things to do or events, the more SERPs will crawl your whole travel blog, and you never know what term people might be searching for that week.”
Matthew Meier
Matthew Meier is the Founder and Director of MaxTour.
“I have been working on our travel blog for more than 6 years, and there is one simple tip we have used to grow the blog: Go after uncompetitive keywords.
We try to find relevant keywords that don’t have posts currently answering the question or problem posed targeting that keyword. It makes it easy for our optimized post to jump to the top of the rankings. For example, our post titled ‘Why is Circus Circus So Cheap?’ ranks #1 and gets hundreds of visitors every month.”
Jon Morgan
Jon Morgan is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Venture Smarter, a leading consulting firm specializing in helping startups and small businesses scale and grow. In addition to his consulting work, Jon is also a sought-after speaker and author.
“My number one tip for growing a travel blog is to create engaging and high-quality content that resonates with your audience. Travel blogging is a highly competitive industry, and the key to standing out is to produce content that is unique, informative, and visually appealing. Here are some specific strategies that can help:
- Tell a story: People love stories, and travel blogging provides a great opportunity to share your travel experiences in a way that is compelling and relatable. Use descriptive language, share personal anecdotes, and give readers a glimpse into the local culture.
- Use high-quality visuals: Besides great writing, high-quality visuals are essential for a successful travel blog. Use photos and videos to showcase the beauty of the places you visit and provide context for your stories.
- Be consistent: Consistency is key to building a loyal following. Set a regular schedule for posting content and stick to it. This helps your readers know when to expect new content and ensures that you are regularly engaging with your audience.
- Engage with your audience: Building a community is important for growing a travel blog. Respond to comments and messages, ask for feedback, and encourage readers to share their own travel experiences.
- Collaborate with other bloggers: Collaborating with other travel bloggers can help you reach a wider audience and build relationships in the industry. Consider guest posting, participating in blogger events, and collaborating on social media.”
Tory Jon
Tory Jon is the founder of Camper FAQs, a leading resource for all things travel via RV.
“When it comes to growing a travel blog, the key is to invest heavily in keyword optimization.
Your keyword strategy should include a mix of short- and long-tail keywords to be able to attract both a broad and more targeted audience. It should also focus on all elements of the blog, from titles and posts to your bio and descriptions, as well as image tags.
There are a surprising number of places where you can strategically use keywords, so be sure to take advantage of all of them and be sure to focus on adding the most relevant keywords to your blog post titles, as that has the most significant impact in search engines.
You’ll want to do a lot of research on keywords as well so that you can be sure that what you’re adding will be successful in driving the right traffic to your blog.”
Umar Ali
Umar Ali is a seasoned blogging expert with a passion for travel, entertainment, and lifestyle. As the owner of several websites dedicated to these areas, Umar specializes in providing readers with valuable resources, advice, and insights to help them make the most out of their experiences.
“My number 1 tip for growing a travel blog is collaboration. By collaborating with other travel bloggers and brands, you can leverage their networks and audiences to expand your reach and attract new followers.
- Guest blogging: Guest blogging is a popular form of collaboration where you can contribute posts to other travel blogs to showcase your expertise and gain exposure.
- Social media takeovers: Social media takeovers are also becoming increasingly popular, allowing you to take over someone else’s social media accounts for a set period and engage with a new audience.
- Brand partnerships: Lastly, brand partnerships can be highly beneficial, offering opportunities such as sponsored content campaigns, press trips, and exclusive perks that can help you establish yourself as an authority in the travel industry.
By focusing on collaboration through guest blogging, social media takeovers, and brand partnerships, you can grow your travel blog and reach new heights of success.”
Jim Campbell
Jim started Honeymoon Goals in 2019. After spending dozens of hours planning his trip, he started HoneymoonGoals.com to help others plan their honeymoons more easily. He loves helping people find their perfect honeymoon destination and exploring the destinations with his wife. Jim also started RingGoals.com to help men buy engagement rings and WeddingGoals.com to help people plan their dream destination weddings.
“As someone who started a travel blog and has grown it, I’ve found that the best way to grow a travel blog is by writing about exactly what you love.
That may sound like a no-brainer, but I think it’s important to remember that not all topics are equal. If you’re going to spend time writing about something, you want it to be something that you’re genuinely excited about and invested in.
When I started my blog, I was already an avid traveler who had been to over 20 countries at the time. So when I started writing about my experiences, it was easy to be authentic and genuine with my posts.
I didn’t feel like I had to try too hard or worry about what people would think of me. I just wrote what felt right and let my passion for travel guide the direction of my content creation.”
David Leiter
David Leiter is an American travel blogger and photographer who has done many famous hikes such as Everest Base Camp in Nepal and solo traveled to almost every country in Asia, Central America, and the Middle East.
“My number one tip for growing a travel blog is to write a LOT of content, consistently, with as much variety as possible to keep it interesting.
That means covering all kinds of destinations and also writing different types of guides (hiking, safety, photography, budget tips, things to do, etc). This will give you a good portfolio and a strong foundation to start building followers and repeat visitors who enjoy your content.”
Jenna Nye
Jenna Nye is the CEO & Founder of On The Strip, a travel site and blog focusing on Las Vegas.
“Create posts that are a mix of timely and evergreen content. Evergreen content is great for long-term traffic generation.
Timely content can help drive traffic to your blog in surges. If your timely content is well-written and informative, it’s a great tool for conversion because it can prompt people to…
- stay on your blog longer and read additional content;
- sign up for your newsletter; or
- simply bookmark your blog to come back and read again later.”
Chris Atkins
Chris Atkins is the founder & owner of Central America Fishing. They are a boutique, luxury
outfitter that organizes sport fishing vacations to Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Guatemala, and Brazil.
“We haven’t done any paid advertising in two years, so all of our clients come organically from our website. On our site, the blog is the main driver of organic traffic.
The core of our website features pillar content like the accommodations and packages we offer, but the blog is designed to create content that answers commonly searched questions. In the travel industry, this can be related to the best seasons for the products you offer, expert tips, and in-depth guides that demonstrate you are the expert in your field.
By creating quality content with that mindset, we attract not only new website visitors but also generate backlinks without any extra effort from our side.”
John Willis
John Willis is the founder of Convertfree. John is a senior software developer on a mission to pursue knowledge and skills to better aid his colleagues and the products they develop. While his professional background lies in software development, his true passion lies in the exploration of diverse cultures, breathtaking landscapes, and the thrill of embarking on new travel adventures.
“The number one tip to grow your travel blog is to find a good balance between meeting what your readers want and staying true to yourself. It’s important to understand the interests and preferences of your target audience. However, it’s equally important to stay authentic to your voice and experiences.
By striking this balance, you can build a loyal following of readers who appreciate your genuine perspective while also finding value in what you have to offer. To serve your readers genuinely, it is crucial to engage with their comments, suggestions, questions, and answers.
When you focus on providing quality content and helping your readers by being your authentic self, you can strike a good balance.”
Allison Sicking
Allison Sicking is a travel blogger with a passion for Spanish and a love of Latin America travel. She created the travel blog Viva La Travelista after moving to Playa del Carmen, Mexico to empower others to travel safely and confidently in Spanish-speaking countries.
“My number one tip for growing a travel blog is to invest in a solid SEO strategy and continually create long-form quality content that outranks the competition.
Travel can be a saturated niche, but there is still a lot of potential for growth if you take the time to invest in learning SEO and finding gaps in the competition. The essential components of a successful SEO strategy include:
- Writing content that satisfies search intent
- Researching relevant keywords
- Optimizing your headers, blog post titles, and URLs
- Building backlinks
Before writing a new blog post, it’s important to analyze the competition that is already ranking on the first page of Google search results for your target keyword. Take time to understand what gaps are missing and where you can provide additional value from personal experience.
You’ll outrank the competition by writing the most thorough SEO-optimized blog post, drawing from personal experience, using original images, and answering all questions a reader might have about the particular topic. And once you understand how to get your content to rank on Google, doing it over and over again is the key to growing and scaling your travel blog.”
Anna Hamilton
Anna is the founder of Spain Inspired, where she shares insider tips and hidden gems to inspire visitors to take the road less traveled and explore Spain like a local. Now living in Valencia, Anna’s mission is to help fellow travelers experience the very best of this stunning country.
“My number one tip for growing a travel blog is to focus on creating content hubs. This refers to writing everything you think someone could be interested in knowing about a particular topic.
For travel bloggers, this will include things like where to stay, where to eat, and what to see and do in a particular place. Articles should be quite specific — that is, while you should have a general article on what to see in a certain city, you should also consider writing specific articles on each of those sights.
This has been shown to be great for helping your travel blog rank in Google, as it ensures your site is seen as an authority on that particular topic. This, in turn, will help more people find your site, giving you even more traffic.
It’s also helpful for attracting links to your site, as people are going to be more willing to link to your specific articles, which further helps in boosting your authority and helps to make your travel blog a success.”
Jeyn Dashner
Jeyn is the Founder and editor at Wander Fever. Jeyn has worked in the travel industry
for the past 13 years, both on the editorial side and the blogging side of things.
“My number one tip for growing my blog is to consistently create high-quality and engaging content. I believe that captivating my readers with unique and valuable information about the destinations I explore is essential. By sharing my personal experiences, insider tips, and captivating stories, I strive to inspire my audience to embark on their own adventures.
Other than the obvious tips like creating compelling content, being consistent, SEO, and maintaining a social media presence, it is important to harness the power of User Generated Content (UGC). I feel the best way for that has to be through guest posts and rewarding social media mentions by your readers. I also feel preparing a reliable content schedule is something simple and productive but widely overlooked.”
Jurga Rubinovaite
Jurga Rubinovaite is the founder of Full Suitcase, a family travel blog featuring travel inspiration and experience-based tips for a big variety of destinations all over the world.
“My #1 tip for growing a travel blog is to provide really useful information that helps your readers to plan their trips.
There are so many generic websites with travel guides that are written by freelancers who never set foot in a place they write about. So the only way to stand out and grow a personal travel blog is by being genuine, trustworthy, and truly helpful.
Plus, interact with your readers, answer their questions, and they’ll become your biggest fans and will return to your blog every time they plan a new trip.”
Izzy Foxx
Izzy Foxx is the author of Wildly Animals. Izzy combines my passion for travel with her love for wild animals to provide accurate information about their behavior and habitats. With her experience working closely with different wild animals, she offers a unique perspective on their symbiotic relationship with nature.
“My most valuable tips for growing a travel blog are:
- Incorporate storytelling: Share personal anecdotes, travel mishaps, and unique experiences to make your blog more relatable and engaging. Storytelling adds depth to your content and helps your readers connect with your travel experiences on a deeper level.
- Utilize captivating visuals: Travel is a visual experience, so make sure to include high-quality photographs and videos in your blog posts. Visual content helps to engage readers, evoke emotions, and showcase the beauty of the destinations you’re writing about.
- Attend industry events and conferences: Participating in travel-related conferences, workshops, or networking events can provide valuable opportunities to learn from industry experts, network with fellow bloggers, and establish connections with potential partners or sponsors.”
Phillip Flippo
Phillip Flippo is a professional nature and wildlife photographer based out of Wasilla, Alaska. He writes about travel-related content for The Alaska Frontier and shares about the beauty of Alaska and why someone should make the trip to the Last Frontier.
“Our number one tip for growing our travel blog has been to be authentic and actually share real pictures. We do this with our website, as well as on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Our social media pages have 420,000+ followers, which also helps build our brand. This is where we can share our authentic pictures and videos, driving traffic to our website.
I believe that being real with our audience is something that will have more value as AI-generated content starts to infiltrate the internet. People will want to see real people, sharing about the places they have been and not just read something that could have been generated by some kind of AI bot.”
Julie Roller Weeks
Julie Roller Weeks is the Director of the Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“Partner with your local (or any!) Convention and Visitors Bureau.
We’re happy to host writers and share your posts and stories (links to your blog) with our audiences. It’s a wonderful partnership.
Visit Abilene, Kansas has hosted over 50 travel writers in the last seven years.”
Michelle Halpern
Michelle Halpern is the founder of the women’s travel blog, Live Like It’s the Weekend, where she shares destination guides and itineraries to beautiful places around the world, with a focus on California travel.
“There are seemingly endless strategies that go into growing a blog, but the #1 most important piece — especially from the beginning — is to get savvy with keyword research and seek out long-tail keywords that you’re able to rank for.
You could have the most amazing photography, writing skills, or knowledge about a topic, but if you aren’t targeting the right keywords to gain traction with Google, all of it could be rendered worthless.
I learned the hard way starting out that blogging about topics just because you want to write about them won’t cut it if your goal is to turn your blog into a business. Each piece of content must be intentional, and finding low-competition keywords for which other newer sites are ranking is a great place to start building momentum.
There are some really helpful keyword research tools out there, ranging from free (like UberSuggest) to my personal favorite, Keysearch, which is moderately priced. Tools like Semrush are much more of a financial commitment but provide a full suite of SEO tools well beyond keyword research.”
Colleen Lanin
Colleen Lanin is the Founder and Editor of Travel Mamas, a top travel blog for parents and caregivers of kids from babies to teens and beyond.
“Since most blog traffic comes from web searches, it’s extremely important to gain a solid understanding of SEO (search engine optimization). There are lots of online articles and classes you can take to learn about SEO.
Another great source for blog optimization is The Blogging Millionaire Podcast and his handy RankIQ, an AI-powered SEO toolset. I suggest using this subscription along with one of the top-ranking SEO platforms: Semrush, Ahrefs, or MOZ. These provide more data but are less user-friendly, especially for beginners, than RankIQ.
Many people (myself included) learn best from in-person classes and interactions. As someone who taught blogging classes for five years, I recommend signing up for blogging classes at an extension program through a local university, at a nearby community college, or through a writing school in your community.
You will likely learn information not only about SEO but also about social media, writing, editing, photography, and more. Such classes did not exist when I first started blogging in 2009 but would have saved me a lot of mistakes and headaches.
In-person blogging conferences are also invaluable. I have been blogging for over 14 years and learn something new every single time I attend a conference such as TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange), the largest conference and community of travel bloggers in the world.”
Whether you’re just starting your travel blog or are ready to start growing a blog you’ve been working on for a while, these expert tips and best practices will help you gain exposure, attract readers, and keep them coming back for more.
Not every tactic for growing a travel blog requires a lot of effort or expertise. Installing social media share buttons on your blog, for example, allows your readers to help you grow by sharing your articles with their social media connections. They’re easy to install and simple for your readers to use, helping you expand your reach and attract new readers effortlessly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do travel bloggers make money?
While many travel bloggers make money, many others do not. Some travel bloggers don’t blog to make money but to share their passion and experiences with readers.
Among travel bloggers who do make money, the amount of money they earn varies significantly. Some travel bloggers earn a few hundred dollars per month, while others earn a few thousand dollars per month. Some travel bloggers even make tens of thousands of dollars per month.
You can also find hourly and freelance travel blogging jobs. According to Zip Recruiter, the average pay rate for a travel blogger in the United States is $35/hour as of June 2023. The average rate for beginner freelance travel writers is $0.05 to $0.08 cents per word, while experienced travel experts typically charge between $0.75 to $3.00 per word, according to ClearVoice.
The amount of money you can make from travel blogging depends on many factors, such as:
- How old your travel blog is
- How frequently your blog is updated
- Where your blog ranks for popular keywords
- How many visitors visit your blog each month
- What monetization strategies you’ve implemented
Is it worth starting a travel blog?
Yes, starting a travel blog can be a fulfilling experience if you’re passionate about traveling. It can also potentially provide an income, depending on your goals, how much effort you put into growing your blog, and your readership.
However, if you’re only starting a travel blog with the goal of making it your primary source of income, keep in mind that it will require consistent effort over time to grow your travel blog.
Is travel blogging too saturated?
Travel blogging is a popular niche, so there is tough competition for the top rankings for popular keywords. But that doesn’t mean you can’t build a successful travel blog.
There are many passionate travelers in the world, exotic locations to explore, and travel tips and adventures to share. If you find a niche and consistently put effort into building and growing your blog over time, you can become one of the most trusted travel bloggers in the competitive travel industry.
How do you make a living with a travel blog?
To make money as a travel blogger, you need to monetize your blog. There are many possible travel blog monetization strategies, such as:
- Display advertising
- Sponsored posts
- Affiliate marketing
- Membership programs or subscription-based content
- Selling digital products, such as ebooks or printable travel itineraries
- Selling merchandise (known as “merch”) such as t-shirts and mugs with your blog logo
- Creating and selling online courses
- Offering your expertise as a travel consultant
- Accepting donations or tips on your blog
You’re not limited to one monetization strategy. In fact, you can implement all of them simultaneously. Experiment with a few to find what works for you, or implement as many monetization strategies as possible to maximize your revenue potential.
