One of the best ways to make sure your travel blog gets off on the right track is to spend time conceptualizing and planning it, or at least deciding which direction you want it to go. While some people prefer the convenience of planning every detail, others may like the freedom to adapt content on the fly.
Fortunately, there is room for both approaches when it comes to travel blogging. However, when you’re just starting out, it’s important to make some decisions to guide your future adventures.
Choose a blog style
Do you want to focus on domestic or international travel? Are you interested in all continents or is there a specific region you want to become an expert in? Do you prefer to post content “as a guide” or do you want to share experiences, memories and mishaps? Do you enjoy documenting the practical logistics of travel, or are you the type who likes to travel the world as a free spirit and take your readers on a spontaneous journey?
While the subject matter of your blog may change over time as you discover the tone, voice, and style that work best for you, consider letting the inspiration and desire to start your blog help you to build the initial backbone of your blog brand. What attracts you to blogging? What do you like most about travel?
You should consider what initial interests you would like to invest in. While successful travel blogging combines a variety of skills, there’s nothing wrong with leaning towards photography at first while developing your writing skills, or vice versa. Similarly, a travel blog focused on food and cuisine tasting will look very different from a travel blog devoted to month-long backpacking trips to the most remote areas of the world.
Figuring out these things also offers positive impacts beyond your blog content: it can help you decide what equipment to buy, what training (if any) you want or need to invest in, and what kinds of experiences interest you most. The more excited and passionate you are about your writing topic, the better your content will be.
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While much of your blog’s identity is something that will likely go hand-in-hand with finding your answer to content questions, finding your audience is important enough to warrant dedicated thought and research. . For better or worse, social media plays a key role in promoting travel bloggers, and when it comes to social media, you want to know what audience you’re writing, shooting and editing videos for.
A rule of thumb is to appeal to any audience you can relate to. Are you more at home as a solo traveler or do you always travel in a group or with your family? If you’re a young adult or student traveler, you might be writing for people like you, not retirees. Budget travelers may also have different content priorities than luxury travelers.
The difference in travel interests and priorities can be huge from demographic to demographic. In general, the more you have in common with your audience, the more your content will appeal to them. An ideal audience also has the potential to grow with you. Age is perhaps the most obvious example, but also consider hobbies: the audience for a photo travel blog will likely support a shift towards videography over time, while a blog focused on nature and wildlife may lose its audience if the content suddenly turns to urban jungles and the street. food.
Decide on a name
Once you’ve decided on the initial focus of your blog, it’s time to choose a name. While your content may change over time, your name is unlikely to, and if you’re a successful travel blogger, your name is one of the most important parts of your brand.
Choose something creative, memorable, and not too over the top (“nomadic” comes to mind as an overused word). Avoid anything that won’t age well or that limits you to a certain type of content: “21 and Traveling” or “American Adventures” are cute, but can be hard to spin once you get older or travel outside of America. Importantly, the name should be easy to share with others; numbers and symbols might look cool at first, but they do a lot less when you’re typing your blog URL over breakfast at the hostel in a place where hardly anyone knows your native language.
Once you have a good name, Google it to make sure no one else is using it. If there’s nothing out there, you’re probably in the clear. If you find something similar, go back to the drawing board, even if it stings. A new name is better than getting into any litigation action down the road.
Leave room for growth
Very few travel blogs (or any kind of blog or media project, for that matter) end up exactly as they were originally intended. Ideas evolve over time, and often for good reason. The exchange student you are in your 20s will have different interests, ideas, priorities and skills than the adult you are in your 30s. It may seem like you’re making big decisions right now, but don’t commit to hard and fast rules. implies “only” or “never”: This block is your boarding pass, not your baggage claim receipt.
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