How to Start a Travel Blog for Free: A Beginner’s Guide
Travel blogging is fast becoming an emerging trend, with professionals being those who make photography their passion and travel around the globe every month. But even on a smaller scale, a weekend trip, exploring your village and discovering a new city can all be a part of incredible travel stories that can be shared.
If you are a great explorer and love to document your travelogues, then you can consider starting a blog. You can begin your travel blog for free with a smart device and an internet connection.
1. Find your niche
Before jumping into the world of travel blogging, define the kind of blogger you want to become in order to better identify what you want and need from your blog. Travel blogging can be categorised into several niches, and you can choose the one that you are most passionate about.
Some of the categories include budget travel, solo travel, foodie, luxury travel, hidden gems and more. If you are passionate about discovering new places in your state, Tamil Nadu, for instance, you can create a blog about your experiences in different cities, the food you stumble upon, the history of the places and overall, every travel aspect concerning TN.
You can also combine multiple categories to form your blog. Your niche will be a great indicator of who you are as a person and the kind of content you will produce.
2. Choose your blogging platform
There are several blogging sites that are perfect for hosting your travel blog, and you can choose one that you are most comfortable with. Some of these sites charge you according to your preferences, while others allow you to blog for free.
WordPress. com provides a free blogging platform; Blogger is a Google platform that allows you to publish your travel stories for free as well, while Medium is best for writers who are more into writing than blogging itself.
When it comes to Wix, you can use it to design your own site and publish for free. If you are not into design, choosing WordPress or Blogger would be best, as they provide great themes that can be applied when blogging for free.
3. Come up with a unique blog name
This might sound ridiculous but come up with a name that is easy to read and spell. The name should resonate with who you are as a blogger. Some of the best blog names ever include The Wandering Notebook, Miles and Memories and Postcards from Somewhere. Once you have come up with a good name, it is time to come up with an introduction.
4. Start posting
You do not need to go around the world to post an interesting blog. Begin with the interesting places you have already been and document your stories there. Post about anything and everything you experienced and learned at that particular place. Ask yourself questions like: How was the travel experience? How did I get there? What was the food like? Did I meet any interesting people? What are the best places to visit?
Always include travel hacks and random details that could be useful to someone visiting the place you are blogging about. Instead of writing, "I went on a weekend trip to Yercaud", for instance, write about your experiences and the events that took place. The eventful experiences of bloggers are more likely to go viral as opposed to simple stories of visiting places.
5. Capturing the perfect shots
The art of travel blogging is in the capturing. Great pictures can be taken with your smartphone, so make sure to capture nature, architecture, food, cityscape and people. Make sure to capture the true essence of the location and use filters to make your images pop. Always remember to uphold the privacy and honour of the people you decide to capture and ask for permission before clicking pictures of people.
Apps like Canva and Snapseed can help you edit the pictures you capture.
6. Making your blog discoverable
Great articles need to be made discoverable by search engines. Make sure to use eye-catching titles and include keywords so that your articles can be found easily. Instead of writing My Wonderful Trip, for instance, write A Weekend Travel Guide to Yercaud: Places, Food and Budget Tips.
This way, people searching for weekend getaways in Tamil Nadu will easily discover your blog. Other than that, make sure to share your blog on social media sites like Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, as well as travel groups in order to make your blog more discoverable.
7. Keep writing and exploring
Your blogs might not go viral right away, but that is okay. Blogging is a process that requires you to find your niche, understand the audience you are targeting and discover who you are as a blogger. Once you begin posting about your travelogues, you can keep writing every week or month. You can also begin considering your blog as a business and monetise it through affiliate marketing and sponsored blogs.