If you have travelled to anywhere in the past, you must have checked all about the place online. You must have checked reviews of the place, the activities that can be done, the best time to visit and how much does it costs for the trip. Knowing all this comes handy in planning the trip and to avoid any hassles.
Even you could write up your experiences in a blog and with some luck and hard work you can live in this dream job where you are paid to travel without spending a dime. But before you get overwhelmed with such an idea, you should know what it takes to be a successful blogger. How to get the attention of companies looking to work with bloggers? How to be so special and unique that readers flock to your page instead of the numerous others providing information about the same stuff. The starting point is, of course, the audience. The more readers flock to your page more you will rank up and money will eventually follow you. So without any further ado, let's get into the top 10 steps that you must follow to become a successful travel blogger.
1. Create a Niche
If you had started blogging back in the 2000's you wouldn't have to be cautious about being specific. There were only a few bloggers and the competition was very less. Fast forward to today and you have websites and bloggers who specialize in a very targeted niche. even if you start today with amazing content on common topics, you would rank way behind on Google search. Therefore, you need to be very targeted and focused on the topic you choose to blog about. For example, you can write about road trips on a motorbike rather than just road trips or you can write about Couple friendly hotels in Bangalore rather than just Couple friendly hotels. This kind of hyper-segmentation ultimately makes you an expert and you even make a name for yourself in that hyper-segment. People will turn up to you for information on that subject. So don't try to be the jack of all, instead be the master of one. Choose one or two areas that you are passionate about, that drives your will and keep playing within your expertise.
2. Always innovate
Always try to stand out from the crows. Think differently and follow that creativity even into your presentation. Try to make your blog a one-stop guide for all the information one might need. Try to be as specific and as detailed as possible. For example, you can inform about the hotels for unmarried couples in Bangalore rather than just couple friendly hotels in Bangalore. The key here is to present all that you have to in a manner that has not been done yet. Don't be a cattle in the herd. Rather lead the curve and do things in unique ways that haven't been done before. If others are being detailed, try to wring out more information and go the extra mile to be more informative. However, don't be too analytical. Present the details in a very subtle fashion so that the reader connects with it. Add some real pictures and videos to clear out any confusion. The point here is to connect with the reader at all levels. Make your blogs so interesting and interlinked that readers are bound to keep coming back for more information regarding the subject.
3. Do it yourself
We discussed how it is very important to write the details of all the subject matter. But you won't be writing everything if you haven't been to that place. So you need to be in the shoes of the reader to understand every aspect of the subject to be able to present all the details. Taking an example from the segment 'Road trip on a motorbike', you can only provide all the necessities for a road trip to Ladakh only if you have done it yourself. If you just copy it down from other websites, you will definitely lose on the originality. Go travel from Jaipur to Delhi, or from Bangalore to Ooty or stay in a hourly booking hotel and then jot down your experience in a story that keeps the audience spellbound. Your experiences will rank much higher on the originality scale which even the search engines rank up and as a result will be viewed by a much larger audience. Try to keep adding such original stories from you at regular intervals.
4. Know your audience
You won't be hitting the right chords always on your own. At some point of time, you will have to concentrate on knowing your core audience and then focus all your efforts on providing them with all they need, be it the presentation of your blog or your tone or the depth of the information.
You can use google analytics or google trends to get a sneak peek into what people are searching for the most. You can then customize your travel blog with that specific information. You can also use SEO or Search Engine Optimization to optimize your content for search engines. SEO involves finding out what keywords are being searched the most and then using those exact keywords in your blog. What Google or any search engine does is that it displays that page on top which is most appropriate. If the keyword is used more number of times on a page, it automatically ranks up in the display order. For example, if I have to attract couples looking for hotels in Bangalore, I will use the phrase couple friendly hotels in Bangalore numerous times in my blog. No need to be afraid of SEO. It isn't some rocket science. Just Google it and you would understand how it works.
5. Be innovative in building your blog
The sheer number of bloggers outnumbers content topics. With so many bloggers giving their 2 cents about almost everything it is very important to stand out of the crowd. For this, you need to pay attention to your blog right from its inception. Think of a catchy and appropriate name of your blog that not only conveys the theme of the blog but also is very trendy. There are a lot of platforms where you can start blogging. WordPress is the most popular and easy to use. Add some plugins that make your work easy, set up google analytics and you are good to go.
At a later point of time, you might even consider investing some money into your website. Going professional would require work on several fronts such as designing, text editing, media editing etc, all of which would require more professionals. So don't consider any such expense as waste rather it is important if you want to leverage the growth. However, you must go slow and take one decision at a time. Remember don't keep all your eggs in one basket.
6. Keep writing and create useful content
If you visualize blogging as easy money you need to re-frame your lenses. You aren't just sitting on the beach and turning brown while you mint money but you actually devote a greater part of your day in blogging. You spend a lot of time into writing each blog and only after enough time has passed you slowly build a reputation and then the money flows in. Patience is a key virtue in becoming a successful travel blogger and you will definitely learn a lot.
Blogging is not just a career alternative, it is much more. You have to love travelling and writing about your experiences. Unless you are truly committed to this, you will not be able to inspire your readers. People won't be able to connect with your plastic views.
7. Go Social
It is all about spreading your reach. Social media provides the much-needed boost to your blog posts by notifying your subscribers about each activity of yours. Therefore you need to have your social media handles ready for increasing the reach of your blog. However, don't be glued to it as you may waste hours there without even realizing. You better schedule a time in the day to post and to respond to comments from subscribers. Social media platform provide direct interaction between you and the audience. Don't forget to be social and respond to comments on your posts. Several feedbacks can be picked directly from there. You will come to know more about the issues and problems which your audience wants to be resolved or want more information about. There are also many comments from fake profiles. Don't fall prey to criticism from such handles.
You can also utilize social media analytics to gain insights into various trends, data that will help you boost your post. You can also mail your blogs to your subscribers at a later stage. The subscribers are those people who truly enjoy your posts and are waiting for more blogs. A social media notification is more likely to be missed than a personal mail. The subscriber is more likely to go through the contents of the mail than on a social media handle. Thus, building up your email subscriber list and mailing increases your reach.
8. Promote yourself
You won't be able to drive much traffic to your website initially and therefore you may consider writing guest posts on other popular blogging sites that have a subscriber base. This brings you in the crosshairs of a much larger audience and probably some of them would switch to you as well if they like your blogs. You would also be established as a brand and you would gain credibility by an association with the famous blog space.
However, make sure you have the prior permissions and it is allowed to guest post on this site. A courteous relation with the blogger will be more likely to be approved rather than a direct submission of your post without any prior word.
9. Get featured on mass media
While doing all the above steps will help you achieve a greater audience, you would be established as a brand only after getting featured in mass media. The amount of reach electronic and print media has is unparalleled even today. You can try and pitch your story there rather than waiting to get noticed by someone. You can also connect with some renowned authors and editors on LinkedIn or Twitter without being too nosy with them. Share their work on your handles with a mention to them and hopefully they will also come across any of your blogs and compliment you. That's when you can start talking to them about new ideas and posts. If they find you interesting enough, you may even land an opportunity to cover something under the banner of that media outlet.
10. Advertise your Blog
Advertising your blog is not attracting fake promotion. Advertising your blog is a means to extend your reach to interested readers who aren't currently in touch with your work but tend to like about the things you are an expert. You can consider advertising your blog on popular social media handles such as Facebook and Twitter for a very modest sum. This investment is guaranteed to increase your reach and secure you a few permanent readers. Every organization be it a newspaper agency, magazine house or an NGO or an MNC all of them pay for advertising their content, product or purpose. So you too can opt this strategy. Don't start advertising on the very first day but once you start getting good responses, don't hesitate to invest in it.
11. Networking in bloggers community
You need to be part of any group to know the insider information, new developments and exciting trends. Same is the case here. If you are active in the world of blogging and hope to make a living out of it, you need to be a part of some bloggers community. You need not restrict yourself to the segment you write about but rather spend time and money to network with all kind of bloggers. When you meet new people and businessman via networking, new doors to exciting opportunities open that aren't there for people with no links. Well, it is logical to think that people will recommend someone over you if they know that person better than they know you.
Being successful in travel blogging is not a vacation. It is a full-time job and requires effort and dedication as any other job. Get into it only if you love travelling and sharing your experiences. You won't last long in this space if you aren't dedicated enough. Love what you do, Do what you Love is very true for blogging as well so get into it only you have the perseverance of a hunting lioness.
Read these travel blogs and keep an eye out for the details: 7 beautiful road trips from Jaipur that will inspire wanderlust