How To Build A Successful Travel Blog – [Part 1 of 2]
A reader recently asked me what I thought was the most important thing to do in order to build a successful travel blog. While, I’m not – by far – the most successful travel blogger, I’d like to answer this question as best I can from my almost 3 years of experience. There is plenty of how to create a successful blog help on the Internet, mostly focused on monetizing.
Travel bloggers mostly agree that a successful travel blog is defined by readership and inspirational content. Let me start by saying there is no one single way to build a successful travel blog, but multiple facets.
Based on my personal experience, here is the first part of what you need to do to build a successful travel blog.
Allow Yourself to Shine
There are plenty of travel blogs out there and everyone has bland old advice about this and that destination. People don’t read travel blogs for photos, advice, and travel stories – they read travel blogs for YOUR photos, YOUR advice, and YOUR travel stories. If you don’t let yourself shine, you’re just another website with some words about traveling to Argentina.
Create A Unique Blog Persona
1. Use Your Real Name – If you’re not using your real name under your posts, social networking sites, or when you leave comments on other blogs, you are making it very difficult for other people to connect with you. I used to sign every post as ‘foXnoMad’ in the early days of this blog. I had people responding back to me as, Fox, F.Nomad, or Foxnomad – I realized that everyone was calling me something else, so it meant there was some confusion as to who I was. It’s simple, my name is Anil Polat – you should make it as easy as that for your readers too.
- You don’t introduce yourself to people you meet as Mrs. Interior Designer or Mr. Software Engineer do you?
2. Make It Easy To Contact You – Your email address or a contact form needs to be prominent on your blog. Often times I want to get in touch with another blogger and I can’t find anyway other than the comment fields to shoot them a message. I, and most everyone else, give up after a minute or so. It’s a good idea to have auto responders in place to let people that your responses may be delayed when you are actively traveling (mention where you are going in the response).
- Use either the Wordpress plugin WP-ContactForm or modify an out of office reply on your temporary travel email account.
3. Give Them Options – Offer your Facebook, Twitter, Skype, AIM, etc. screen names and let people decide how they want to get in touch with you. The more options, the more likely they’ll send you a message and get to know you better.
- It’s important for most blogs to have easily accessible authors, but having a travel blog generally means you’re traveling often. Make it easier on yourself (and your readers) by leveraging several social networking tools, including some geared towards travelers specifically, like TripSay.
Your Personality and Personal Stories Are Important
I can’t stress enough how important it is to let yourself shine through your travel blog (something I don’t always do). Nomadic Matt is looking for opinions on how to build a better website, and personal stories are a clear favorite. Posts like Erica’s 30 Travel Related Things About Me, One Giant Step’s around the world journey, and Christine’s Making and Breaking Friends in Caye Caulker put you in touch with the traveler and ultimately your blog.
As important as it is to bring your personality to your travel blog, you need to be able to focus your traveling into coherent thoughts and ultimately, effective posts that a wide audience can relate to and learn from. In How To Build A Successful Travel Blog Part 2, tomorrow I’ll share my thoughts on what to post, how to post it…and keep it all going.
[photo by: martapiqs]
Related posts:
My name is Anil, a traveler and travel enthusiast. I created foXnoMad to connect with other travelers, discover their world, and share what I’ve learned about mine.
Thanks for the link Anil! I agree with all your secrets to a successful travel blog – especially about personality and personal stories – that’s one of the key things I look for in a travel blog.
@ Gillian:
You’ve very welcome. I think the traveler’s personality, as well as personal adventures and experiences need to come out in each post and be the foundation of generalized posts.
It’s one of the reasons your blog is such a fun read, it’s a personal adventure we can all follow along with and enjoy!
Hey, I came accross your site through one-giant-step and was really glad I happened to come over to this post. Some great advice!! jen x
@ jen:
Wonderful to meet you and discover your blog as well!
These are great tips- thanks for them and the links!
@ susan:
I appreciate it – and thanks for leaving your link as well!
great advice
Thanks Matt!
Excellent point about people reading your blog because of YOUR opinion. I’ll keep this in mind.
Thanks for address my question, Anil! I suppose the one of the biggest challenges is balancing how much personality you bring to the table, and how universal an article can be. Though perhaps a win-win is possible, too.
@ Byteful:
The topics can generally be universal, but you and your voice should be in every post – otherwise it will be difficult for your readers to connect with your blog and read further.
I agree with Let yourself shine very much. It is hard to stand out from everyone else on the internet, but if you dig deep enough, you will see that you have something to offer that is unique. It is great to go to other blogs for inspiration, but ultimately a blog will succeed if you let your personality shine through. Great post!
I couldn’t have said it better.
thank for sharing this info…
im a novice blogger from the philippines and i just started my blog a month ago…
Nice to meet you and hear about your blog. I’ve got another site too that you might find useful:
http://travelblogadvice.com
Let me know if you need any help as you’re starting out. I look forward to your posts (just subscribed to your RSS) and Twitter as well.
thanks anil!