How to start a travel blog, make money and live a dream life

Do you love sitting on the beach and writing stories about your amazing journeys? Like the idea of sharing your travels with others?

It can be an overwhelming feeling when you know readers will love your blog posts.

Even better, if writing a travel blog generates a steady income you can use it to fund your next adventure.

It’s a dream life most of us would love to live. But is it really possible?

Yes, it’s very much achievable!

Travel blogging can take you places you love to go without worrying about getting back to work. Because this is your work!

As fun-life as it seems, it’s a serious job. Like any other business, it needs lots of work, dedication, consistency and lots of planning.

We have seen a number of travel enthusiasts using some basic business principles and chasing the dream of becoming successful travel bloggers.

Their passion gave them a life they always wanted to have – to explore the world, have fun and make money while doing it.

You could do it too.

Leave the 9-5 behind and travel for a living while writing about it. We’ll show you how.

Our guide on how to start a travel blog extends beyond building a fantastic website.

It explains the reason behind starting a travel blog, how to turn it into a business, how successful travel bloggers make it work, and how to make money out of it.

So grab a cup of coffee and relax!

By the end of this guide, you will know everything you need to know to pursue your dream career.

Reasons to start a travel blog

Travel blogging has become a very saturated space. Newbies are joining the industry at an ever-increasing rate believing that it is a quick rich scheme and vanish just as fast.

If the “why” for starting a travel blog is only to make quick money, then you may need to reconsider your options.

It requires a lot of work and serious dedication to make it a success. It’s not just sitting on the beach and taking selfies. It requires many, many hours of effort.

Here are some of the reasons to become a travel blogger:

1. Passion is the key

Passion and consistency should be the driving force of everything you do. If you have the passion and the urge to regularly share your travel experiences through writing, photos, and videos, you have a reason to be a travel blogger.

Another strong reason to become a travel blogger is a passion to help others have memorable journeys.

2. Be unique

There are thousands of travel blogs out there, but only a few get attention. Your blog must offer unique travel content that your audience will enjoy.

If you can find a unique voice or viewpoint or offer something other travel bloggers don’t, it should help you gain readership and make a success of your blog.

Curb Free with Cory Lee, for example, is the passionate voice of Cory who travels the world in a wheelchair.

The award-winning travel blogger has been featured on CNN, National Geographic, Los Angeles Times and several other platforms for his heroic and unstoppable journey.

He inspires others who use wheelchairs as well as those who don’t.

He provides tips on how others can fulfill their travel dreams and turn perceived weaknesses into strengths.

3. Give back to the community

Whatever you do and achieve, if you want to give back to the community and help fellow travelers to make their journeys comfortable, you should start a travel blog.

You can help solve travel problems through your tips and guides and offer actionable advice for travelers. The community doesn’t forget when you help them.

4. Support the travel industry

A flourishing travel industry can help everyone grow together. As a travel blogger, if you are willing to play a role to support whatever segment of the industry you are in, travel blogging will pay you back.

For example, one way to help the industry would be to support small tour operators through your blog. Or if you are a wildlife photographer, highlighting conservation issues or other worthy causes can help the world at large as well as your blog.

5. Business acumen

Travel blogging isn’t about publishing your experiences and waiting for people to read them. It’s a complete business that involves planning, marketing, selling, and everything businesses need.

If you can learn the ins and outs of business skills and transform your blog into a successful online travel business, you have a stronger chance of success.

6. Willing to learn

Travel is a source of learning itself. If you believe in learning new things every day, travel blogging is a great way to provide you with that knowledge.

For example, as a typical traveler, you might ask your tour guide a few simple questions about who made the Eiffel Tower and when.

But as a professional travel blogger, you will likely be much more interested in discovering local stories the world does not yet know.

7. Travel and tourism are booming

While these reasons should be compelling enough for you to become a travel blogger, there is one more reason to consider it.

The United States is among the top 5 tourist nations on earth. The country recorded 45 million tourists in 2020, ranking fourth worldwide.

In the same year, the US generated $84.21 billion in the tourism sector alone. This shows a lot of potential for anyone joining the travel and tourism industry.

In 2019, New York ranked 11th in the world for being among the top tourist destinations in the world, attracting 14 million tourists.

How to start a travel blog step by step

When we talk about travel blogging for beginners, it also includes website creation, customization, and optimization.

Here is a summary of what we will explain below, step by step:

1. Select a niche for your travel blog. It’s helpful to work on a topic you are comfortable talking about
2. Buying a domain is the most basic requirement for starting a travel blog
3. Web hosting provides you with a space where you can build your website
4. Setting up WordPress as the choice of platform is the right decision you will take for making a travel blog
5. Choosing a theme is a way to give your website a look you and your readers will love
6. Adding essential WordPress plugins will add the desired functionality and features to your blog

Follow this step-by-step process and you will have a solid foundation to begin your travel blog.

Step 1: Select a niche for your travel blog

Selecting a niche is the first and most important step you should take before setting up your online business. This is the reason we have put it on top of everything else on our list.

The niche is the topic your blog is about that you select to target a specific audience for your content.

For example, The Points Guys specifically blog about how travelers can best use their credit cards to get maximum reward points. Brian Kelly guides on boosting airline points, getting hotel rewards and several other hacks to tell how travelers can save cost and avail different deals.

Similarly, The Blonde Abroad is all about female solo travelers. On her blog, Kiersten (Kiki), focuses on women traveling and their fashion needs which makes her blog a go-to place for females who love adventurous lifestyles.

Similarly, Dan Flying Solo, Y Travel Blog and The Planet D are some of the top travel blogs you can find on the internet.

They all cover specific travel niches which is why they get attention from readers who like to read about those topics.

If this is the first time you are hearing about the term niche, we have a detailed guide that explains niches and how to select one.

Does it mean you should select travel as your niche?

No! We have many reasons not to select it because it is too broad and too saturated.

It would be difficult to compete with established websites that already rank higher and publish massive amounts of content.

An easy way to pick a niche is to break it down. This will give you better control over the subject and you should have less competition and more opportunities.

For example, if you select traveling solo by bicycle as your niche, you may be only targeting people who love traveling solo on their bicycles.

This might sound like creating content for a small number of people. But trust us when we say you will be the only one ranking in the search engines for any query related to this topic.

Down the road, you will be recognized as an expert on the topic and people will follow you everywhere.

Once you have a following and a solid reputation, you can always expand to include other travel niches.

Steps to select your travel niche

Selecting a niche should be easy if you follow these simple steps.

1. As a travel enthusiast, make a list of your hobbies, destinations you have traveled to, and places you wish to visit
2. Figure out what you enjoy most while traveling
3. Find out what your social circle thinks about similar information. You may be the one who enjoys food more than visiting remote places. Or you may prefer to track or hike solo
4. Find out what topics people look for that are closer to your hobbies and travel wishlist. Don’t forget to join groups and forums, read blogs and reports for similar information
5. Develop a pattern showing commonalities between what people are looking for and what you can do best
6. Build a list of topics, narrow it down and pick the one that matches your lifestyle
7. That is your niche!

As a reference, you may find topics like solo, family, group cultural, religious, educational, eco, luxury, and so on.

As long as you’re interested in that niche and can produce quality content around it, it’s all good.

PRO TIP

Don’t worry if you think you have no expertise in a topic. When you are a traveler, it’s easy for you to do research and gain knowledge on any travel-related topic. It will come naturally after a while.

Step 2: Buy a domain name to make your blog a brand

Once you’re done selecting a niche for your travel blog, it’s time to buy the domain name.

The importance of a good domain name

The domain name is actually your blog’s address. It is the text you type in your browser’s address bar to access the website.

It is also the name of your blog, brand or company. So coming up with a good one will need your attention and some research.

It’s critical to choose a name that is relevant to your niche and that sums up what you’re about.

A carefully chosen domain name should have the following qualities.

It should be:

• Relevant
• Clear and presentable
• Easy to remember
• Easy to spell
• Be short
• Preferably a .com

PRO TIP

As a general rule, if you need to spell your domain name over the phone, it doesn’t work.

Ideally, the domain name and the name of your brand must be similar or at least your brand name should be a part of it.

The Astra example

A relevant example is our own WordPress theme, Astra. Our domain name is www.wpastra.com.

It’s short, memorable and easy to spell.

To understand the logic, you can dissect our domain in two parts to notice “WP” is actually the abbreviation for WordPress and Astra is the name of our main product.

Both words hold great marketing value: WordPress is the most popular website-building platform today and Astra has become the most popular WordPress theme over the years.

So you can imagine what we did before choosing our domain name. We made sure it met all our branding needs.

We can think of a few more examples such as Google, Amazon, Best Buy and Apple. They are all simple, short, and memorable brand names and their domain names are also similar.

See if you can come up with something equally memorable.

You can break rules if you want to

A domain name can be anything as long as it doesn’t imply something different from what your niche is about.

Check out the names of some of the top travel blogs. They are all popular travel brands and they have multi-word domain names:

• Legal Nomads
• Uncornered Market
• Alex in Wanderland
• The Blonde Abroad
• View from the Wing
• Oneika the Traveller
• Never Ending Footsteps

Try not to pigeonhole yourself. Your domain name should give you room to change things a bit when you need to.

Kiersten says on her blog that if she decides to change her hair color, the name The Blonde Abroad would no longer work.

If you think you need more details on the subject, we have a detailed guide on what a domain name is and how to choose one.

How to search for a domain name

Just like you created a list to pick a niche, make a list of ideas that can define what your blog is about.

If you feel you are short of ideas, you can take help from Google search, Thesaurus.com and Relatedwords.org.

In Google search, type any word related to your niche and scroll down at the bottom to see what comes under “Related Search”.

Let’s Google “adventure travel” and see what we get.

Note down the terms that appear. Repeat the process for different words.

Next, look for related words on Thesaurus and Relatedwords.

Note down interesting terms you come across.

This will help you populate your list with some great choices.

Choose the best domain name and verify its availability from a reputable domain registrar.

We recommend NameCheap, Domain.com, SiteGround, Bluehost and HostGator.

You can register your domain for as little as $8 – $15 per year.

If your desired name is not available, keep trying different variations until you find the one you like.

In the next step, we will buy web hosting for our travel blog.

PRO TIP

There are many web hosts that also provide domain registration services. Some of them offer free domain registration for the first year.

It’s a smart way to save money wherever possible at the start of your business.

However, we recommend you register your domain and hire web hosting from two different companies.

There are certain advantages to it such as:

1. Your web host might increase the domain renewal price which you will be forced to pay. It can appear difficult to leave a web host and transfer your domain to another registrar (it isn’t)

2. You can choose the most reliable registrar in town with an affordable plan

3. Choosing a separate company for domain registration provides you with better domain security. In case your web host comes under a severe attack, your website can run into trouble and become inaccessible. In such a situation, you can redirect your DNS entry to another web host and get your website going again with backup data.

Step 3: Set up web hosting for your travel blog

A web host is a company that provides you with space to store your website and make it accessible on the internet.

It’s a critical decision to make as your web host should offer speed, uptime, security, regular backups, timely updates and high-quality support.

You can find a web host for less than $3 a month but we suggest focusing on quality over the lowest price.

We recommend Cloudways, SiteGround, GreenGeeks and DreamHost as they are all great hosting partners.

For this tutorial, we will choose SiteGround as our web host.

SiteGround is a reliable web host for any website with managed hosting plans ideal for WordPress.

With SiteGround, you can choose the server location of your choice to target region-specific audiences.

For example, if your travel blog is mainly for the US audience, you would like to host your website on any server in the US.

Why did we choose WordPress? We will explain it shortly.

Buy web hosting

You can follow these steps to buy a hosting plan.

Select WordPress Hosting under the Hosting menu on their homepage.

Choose a plan that is affordable and offers the resources you need.

GrowBig is a wise choice for websites that need power and aim to grow. You can always upgrade your plan down the road.

Press the Get Plan button and proceed.

Enter the required information on the next screen, including payment information.

Select the duration of the hosting service and make any selections you want. If you are looking for maximum discount at the start, choose a longer duration.

Once done, press the payment button and let the system process your order.

After a successful payment, you will receive a confirmation email.

Step 4: Set up WordPress – the most popular blogging platform

WordPress is the most popular platform for any website whether a blog or an eCommerce store.

It’s powerful, flexible, and suitable for every budget and you can literally create a website for free.

It’s a huge ecosystem of free themes and plugins that help you create the most complex websites. The content management system (CMS) dominates with over 43% of websites using it on the internet.

You can set up a WordPress website in no time.

Let’s do it from inside the SiteGround dashboard.

After logging into SiteGround, go to the Websites menu and press the Add New Site icon.

Another way of doing the same action is by pressing the New Website button in the menu bar.

Select Existing Domain from the three options if you already registered a domain name.

Otherwise, select New Domain, choose your domain name and set everything up.

Press the Continue button to point the domain to the SiteGround server.

Press the Select button under the Start New Website option on the next screen. It will show WordPress as one of the choices.

Select WordPress and enter your login information for the WordPress admin area. Press the Continue button.

It will take a short while before you see the message, You Are All Set!

The wizard can redirect you to the WordPress admin through the Log In Admin button or you can type www.yoursitename.com/wp-login.php to access the admin panel.

On your way to the WordPress admin panel, you might come across a new wizard asking you to access a theme library SiteGround provides.

If you are new to building websites and don’t know what a theme is, let’s briefly discuss it here.

A theme consists of files, scripts and folders that you add to your website to customize its appearance and features.

WordPress offers a huge database of themes that you can access from the admin area. You can use SiteGround’s themes or use something else.

We recommend the latter.

Press the Exit button to cancel the wizard at this stage.

SiteGround adds certain plugins while setting up WordPress on your domain. These plugins add specific features to your website.

They also change the way the default admin panel screen appears.

We want to start from scratch and customize the website the way we want.

Therefore, once inside the WordPress admin area, we will need to remove these plugins.

Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins, select the plugin checkbox and press the Deactivate link.

Once done, press the Delete link when it appears under each plugin.

If you want to get familiar with WordPress plugins and how to install them, here is an in-depth tutorial to install a WordPress plugin.

Step 5: Choose a theme and design your travel website

WordPress comes with a default set of themes that lack a number of modern features your travel blog should have.

This is where Astra comes in.

Astra is the most popular WordPress theme in the world with over 2.7 million users.

With the help of the Astra theme and its supported plugins, you can give your site any look you want.

Astra is blazing fast, fully customizable and free to download from the website. You can also get it from the WordPress repository.

Astra is free but also has three premium versions. If you want to know more about what premium offers, check it out Astra pro here.

Let’s get back to our test website and add Astra.

Go to Themes, click Add New, and search for the Astra theme.

Press the Install button and activate it when the option appears.

Astra adds the necessary layout for running a blog. You can give your website a modern look and customize it for any niche without touching a line of code.

To do this, add the Starter Templates plugin.

Go to Plugins > Add New and search for Starter Templates.

Install and activate the plugin.

It’s Astra’s own plugin that gives you access to 240+ predesigned templates.

We will select the one that suits our travel blog’s needs.

To access the Starter Templates library go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.

Click the See Library link under Starter Templates to launch the import wizard.

With the Starter Templates library, you can choose the page builder of your choice from the WordPress block editor, Elementor, or Beaver Builder.

Select a page builder and type “Travel” to see relevant Starter Templates.

Case 1: Create a personal travel blog

For personal traveling experience, Astra theme offers several Starter Templates based on the WordPress block editor (Gutenberg).

We will select the block editor from the list and choose the Travel Blog template.

The next screen will ask you to upload a logo if you have created one.

You can use Canva to design a logo for free or use premium logo design services like LogoContest, Looka Logo Design or Logaster Logo Generator.

You can add the logo now or come back at a later time. It’s easy both ways.

Here are some interesting tutorials from Astra on adding or editing logos:

• How to add a logo, favicon and site title with Astra
• How to create a correct format SVG logo
• Now resize your logo on the fly!

Change the font on the next screen and press the Continue button.

Enter essential information on the next screen and press the Submit & Build My Website button.

You will have a beautifully designed travel blog in a few moments.

Case 2: Create a travel blog to offer professional services

Changing a template is an effortless task with the Starter Templates plugin.

There is another way to access the plugin.

Click on the Starter Templates menu item under the Appearance menu to launch the import wizard (Appearance > Starter Templates).

This time, we will choose the Elementor page builder which offers a huge variety of travel-related templates that we can choose from.

All are great designs with specific needs. We will choose the Outdoor Adventure template and continue with the wizard.

On its way to installing the new template, the wizard will ask you to delete the previously imported template and its data.

Check all of the boxes and press the Submit and Build My Website button.

As you can see, the Outdoor Adventure template lets you offer travel services.

For example, if you also plan to arrange tours and earn money from the beginning, this template is enough to give you a good start.

Step 6: Make your travel blog powerful

Creating a blog is one thing, but optimizing it requires additional features. That’s why we love WordPress for its robust ecosystem of diverse plugins.

Here are some plugins that will make your travel blog journey more enjoyable.

Ultimate Addons for Elementor

If you imported an Astra template based on Elementor, Ultimate Addons for Elementor will help.

You can use lots of widgets and sections that present travel journeys beautifully. It can show your Instagram feed and gives you a lot of control over how you want to show it.

Overall you get 40+ widgets and extensions, 100+ website templates and 200+ section blocks to power up your blog.

Spectra

If you haven’t installed Spectra yet, you are missing a lot of advanced features. Spectra is a free page builder that significantly enhances the functionality of the default WordPress editor.

You can customize your website, build beautiful pages and use templates effortlessly with Spectra.

The page builder also offers over 100 prebuilt templates so you don’t need to design pages from scratch.

Yoast SEO

If you want to take the correct SEO measures from the beginning of your travel blog, Yoast SEO is your go-to plugin.

Yoast is used on over 5 million websites which shows the trust of the WordPress community in the plugin’s performance.

The plugin can improve your technical SEO right off the bat. It automatically creates an XML sitemap and lets you easily manage title, and meta description tags anywhere on your website.

Schema Pro

When it comes to better ranking and a high click-through rate (CTR), the schema needs to be correctly handled.

You can publish different types of posts on your travel blogs such as how-tos, reviews, articles, and sell products and services.

Each post needs to have a proper schema to communicate with search engines about the nature of the post.

The plugin can implement schema markup in a few clicks without coding skills. It integrates nicely with Yoast SEO. Together, these two plugins can level up your game without any outside help.

WP Portfolio

As a travel blogger, you’ll display pictures and videos to share your journey.

WP Portfolio is a multipurpose plugin for creating picture and video libraries across your website the easy way.

You can show them anywhere with the shortcodes, change the way how they look and use tons of built-in features to improve the user experience.

SureMembers

Having a loyal community is a very effective way to monetize an online business. Travel is no exception.

You can build a travel-loving community and create a number of compelling reasons to receive payments from them. Reasons such as paid content, selling travel products and services, digital products and more.

SureMembers allows you to create content paywalls and set up secure digital downloads in no time.

With SureMembers you can create multi-level access for members to limit them to anywhere and any way you want. The plugin works perfectly with SureCart, Cartflows and Astra.

Convert Pro

Building an email list is an effective way to remind your visitors of the latest posts or travel plans you want to share through emails and newsletters.

A newsletter is a very effective way to boost readership and sales.

The WordPress plugin provides you with a drag and drop editor for creating opt-in forms that work perfectly on any device type.

Convert Pro integrates perfectly with any email marketing service provider. You can use predesigned templates to create several types of highly interactive opt-in forms.

Presto Player

If you’re a fan of sharing videos, your travel blog should provide a way to easily publish and play them.

Presto Player is a powerful choice that offers a lot of control over how visitors view and share content.

You can attach multiple video sources, show a sticky video player that draws more attention, create video chapters and generate leads via emails.

Presto Player can help you create a Call to Action (CTA) on your videos which you can use to increase user engagement.

The built-in analytics and reports module is a great way to tell how your videos are performing.

Step 7: Set up the necessary pages for your travel blog

Every website requires a set of essential pages that tell people what they need to know.

Among all the essential pages a website must have are an about page, a contact page, a privacy policy and a 404 page.

You can add as many pages as you like, but these are a practical minimum.

WordPress provides an easy way to create any number of pages you want to create. However, this is not always enough.

These essential pages should be well-designed and highly interactive.

Having Astra on your website gives you a number of benefits.

Each template comes with the necessary pages and you can also access a huge library of professionally designed pages.

For example, we would like to create a new contact page.

To do this, add a web page from Pages > Add New.

Once you reach inside the page editor, press the Template Kits button located on the top bar. This will open the template library.

Each kit has multiple pages inside such as contact, about and a homepage.

You can import a complete set of pages or choose any one of them as required.

Alternatively, you can also type something in the search field to reach the desired page templates.

We will type ‘contact’.

Choose any page that suits your needs.

Press the Import “Contact” Template button.

Once imported, press the Publish button.

You can use these predesigned templates and patterns to create a number of beautiful pages this way.

Top travel blogs for inspiration

There are successful travel bloggers and there are VERY successful travel bloggers.

It’s a huge domain without boundaries, which is why we see plenty of travel bloggers making their mark.

Here is a brief list of some of the top travel bloggers who have earned a reputation, built a loyal community and who make a significant income each month.

Nomadic Matt

Matthew Kepnes is the man behind Nomadic Matt – one of the oldest blogs on travel and a true travel guru. He makes lots of money from his blog which attracts over a million visitors a month.

Over the years, Matt has successfully created multiple revenue sources for himself such as Travel Media School, content creation courses, eBooks and travel services.

His estimated yearly income is around 6 to 7 figures in USD.

Global Viewpoint

Jon is behind Global Viewpoint who started a career with a 9 to 5 job. Soon he realized he wasn’t made for a desk job and embarked on a self-growth journey.

He spent nights and weekends establishing his travel blog, and never looked back. He travels to different continents and shares travel tips, photos and videos with his audience.

On Global Viewpoint he makes over $20,000 a month and lives a dream life.

The Planet D

This amazing blog is about the adventures of Dave and Deb, a couple married for 20 years. They entered the travel space in 2007 with a motto “Adventure is for everyone”.

Since then, they have traveled to 115 countries on all 7 continents. Their blog proves that traveling is accessible to anyone, no matter age and income.

They have been featured in famous publications and made it to the Top 10 Influencers of the world list of Forbes

Their estimated income from being a travel blogger hovers around $17,000 monthly

How to promote your travel blog

Now that you have read about how to create a blog and heard a few inspiring stories about successful travel bloggers, let’s now share some tips on how you can promote your blog.

A basic rule is, you have to network, meet people out there and tell the world what you do.

Promoting a travel blog requires you to remain active and utilize certain techniques with dedication to remain in the top rankings.

• Start traveling
• Start with your family and friends. They are your most effective promoters
• Use social media and talk about your experiences
• Build an email list and send people inspirational content
• Be regular and publish on a schedule

Take the following route and you will eventually have a successful blog.

Start traveling

For promoting your blog you need to know what’s out there.

Your personal experience matters most. You can’t promote something you know nothing about. So start traveling and gather as much information as you can.

Take photos and shoot videos to share with people later.

Write engaging content

Write content that is yours. It doesn’t matter if your mom is the only one who reads your articles.

It happens to everyone. Be persistent and share your experiences on your site.

Friends and family network is helpful

People in your close network, your family and friends, will help you to read your blogs.

Share your content with them and ask them to give feedback in comments and share it on their social networks

SEO optimize your content

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial part of blog promotion. We mentioned above how Yoast can be helpful to get you started.

You can use its guidelines to optimize your blog posts to attract organic traffic.

We have a detailed guide on how to boost web traffic by optimizing your posts. It’s a helpful resource.

Use social media

Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube are all effective social networks for promoting content.

We suggest avoiding posting similar content on multiple social networks. Every social networking site or app has its own recipe.

Pinterest, for example, is best for sharing photos, and Instagram is best for sharing photos and short videos.

Don’t forget to use social share buttons on your travel blog. It’s a convenient way for your readers to share content.

If you wonder which WordPress plugin is most suitable for adding social share buttons, check out this in-depth best social media plugins guide.

Run ad campaigns

You might like to run ad campaigns to promote your blog. This will give you quick results but will cost money.

Google and Facebook have ad networks that can bring you lots of traffic. Use them effectively to target the right audience for your travel blog.

If you have written a huge post on the ‘X things to do in New York’ or ‘The X best tips to travel with family’, try running a campaign to spread the word.

Ad networks are available on almost every social platform, so use them wisely.

Newsletter will bring people back

Use an opt-in plugin and ask readers nicely to subscribe. If you have what they need, they will follow.

Use these techniques to build your email list and reach your audience effectively.

If you need guidance on how to create an awesome newsletter, here is the best available guide on how to create an email newsletter with WordPress for you.

Attend events and create a network

Social networks are helpful because they allow you to get to know more people online. Equally effective is to attend seminars and other networking events where you get to meet speakers and other famous bloggers and get to learn different things.

When you are a regular at events, you are likely to run into celebrities or influencers. You can build relationships and eventually use their social following to go viral.

Travel Massive, TBEX or similar platforms can give you a great opportunity to build your network and promote your travel blog.

Join travel forums

Don’t forget to join travel forums. They are the ideal places to connect with the right audience.

Engage with the audience and provide them valuable tips. This way you will be able to establish authority and people will want to learn more about you and hopefully, your blog.

How to make money from your travel blog

By now you must have realized that starting a travel blog isn’t about making fast money.

However, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it early. There are certainly ways to speed up the process to make money with a blog.

There is no one method that works for everyone. Every successful travel blogger generates revenue based on their expertise, choices and opportunities.

Below you will find a list that will help you create your preferences to generate revenue as you grow.

Display ads

This is the most common and effective way of generating revenue from your travel blog.

You, as a publisher, can be approached by advertisers to let your audience know about their products and services. They pay you for this.

The wider your audience, the more you can charge advertisers.

You can display banner ads alongside content on your website at different spots depending on your preferences and layout.

An advertiser can contact you directly which is called a direct deal. Or you can sign up with an ad network such as Google Adsense which is the most convenient way to display ads.

Sponsored posts

Brands want to present their products and services to loyal audiences on different blogs and news websites.

Sometimes they ask publishers to review their products or sometimes it is a simple press release that they provide. Either way, brands pay bloggers for publishing content on their websites.

Sponsored posts are a viable source of revenue if you have decent traffic.

Make sure you disclose the fact it’s a sponsored post to your audience.

Not telling them about promotional content can turn into a trust issue down the road and we don’t want that!

Affiliate income

One solid income stream for travel bloggers is affiliate marketing. Bloggers can promote different travel industry products and services on their websites.

Affiliate marketing is when you put a link to their product or service in your content. When someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you get a commission.

You can get in touch with brands directly or join an affiliate network for access to plenty of options in one place.

One such network is Travelpayouts. You can reach out to over 100 brands such as TripAdvisor, Booking.com and others.

Membership fee

You can offer exclusivity to your audience by giving them exclusive content.

Yes, content is abundant and you can read anything anywhere. There is still room for well-researched and quality premium content though.

You can create research papers, reports, eBooks or offer travel advisories for a monthly or annual fee. Users who value such content will not hesitate to pay you a small fee in return.

Even a small but active community with a few members can help create a healthy revenue stream.

Sell products and services

You can sell anything as long as it is relevant to your blog. The coolest part about your own product is that you keep every penny.

You can sell physical or digital products. The latter can be scaled, giving you more opportunities to earn more.

For branded t-shirts or mugs, you will need to incur production costs and maintain stock. For eBooks, you can sell as many copies as you want once the book as been created.

Besides, photos, videos and trip management services are also significant revenue-generating items.

Get freelance work

Your passion can get you extra work from admirers. You never know who subscribes to your blog.

These can be from an advertising agency or a corporate client who might contact you for freelance work such as copywriting, photography, or video ads.

This could become your major revenue generator leaving behind every other income source. If you deliver them what they want, they could become your regular clients. The sky is the limit!

Arranging tours

Travelers are not only talented storytellers, but they are also capable managers.

Travel bloggers visit places and look at things in their own way. They have a perspective that is different from the usual travelers.

They can dig deep and understand things better. Their passion can take them to the most exotic places.

Why not take advantage of that extra knowledge and offer it for commercial services?

You can arrange a group, use your industry connections, and establish a reputation. Instead of offering them to the public, you can focus on a small segment.

For example high paying customers who expect comfort, luxury and something adventurous.

Alternatively, you can organize budget tours that will save your client more than they could have imagined.

How much can you earn from a travel blog?

You can earn a lot of money every month if you work hard. Travel bloggers have multiple income sources.

The fact that they are not limited to a few standard ones makes this domain more profitable.

How much you can earn depends on your blog’s traffic, marketing skills, and business acumen and above all, patience!

You can start with nothing in the beginning. Then work your way up to a few bucks until you understand how to use your travel blog to make a handsome amount of money after a while.

Here is a list of a few professional travel bloggers who declared their monthly income at different times.

This will give you some idea of how much a travel blogger can earn.

Blog	Month	Income
By Leah Claire	Aug 2022	$7,569
Amy Filinger	Jun 2022	$4223
Adam Enfroy	Jun 2021	$281,776
Happily Ever Travels	Nov 2020	$591
The Atlas Heart	Jan 2020	$948
Living the Dream:	Dec 2021	$9,872
Ashley Abroad	Sep 2019	$2,112

These travel bloggers have been kind enough to share their income reports with the community.

A number of bloggers are too shy to share their income. It doesn’t mean they don’t earn much money. They simply have different priorities.

FAQs on how to start a travel blog

Final thoughts

Travel blogging has become one of the most lucrative areas of blogging. Traveling to places, meeting people, having fun and earning at the same time sounds like a dream job.

Though every traveler would love to become a travel blogger, it takes real commitment, and many sleepless nights to build an empire!

You also need marketing and business skills to create your name in this saturated market.

A unique style, a different perspective and a passion to help the community can help you get the attention of travel lovers.

What does travel mean to you? What do you want to do when you’re a travel blogger? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.