When you hear ‘travel blogging’, your mind probably instantly recognizes the numerous amount of blogs out there on the World Wide Web that is focused on delivering all stories surrounding travel. It’s such a huge community with many people emerging into this travel industry. Every one of them brings a unique twist with divergent sides of a story when one sets foot in their mystifying adventures.
Travel blogging seems to be a fun hobby to take upon but unbeknownst to many, with all the photo-taking and writing involved, it’s work just like any other occupation. With easy access to get our hands on social media and blog platforms, an Instagrammer can now call themselves as a “travel blogger” because let’s be real, there are captions that have to be well-thoughtfully planned and written. If you’re the type of travel blogger that owns their own website and write articles for it and also consider your blog as your brand, you’ve probably run into arduous issues that conflict your ability to perform and succeed as a consistent travel blogger.
You’re met with planning to write a post under a deadline you’ve strictly outlined for yourself, you’re wondering which photos should make the cut to your post, you’re stacked with endless ideas that you can’t pinpoint on when to truly deliver this to the public, and it becomes a puzzle that will have you feel as if you’re going back and forth solving a mystery. You’re running in circles, not escaping from this circle you’ve warned yourself from not being entangled in.
A travel blogger may also feel overwhelmed from the jobs and roles we hold in our life as full-time workers, freelance writers, parents, and more. If travel blogging becomes your business, you’re now an entrepreneur, so taking on the travel blogging duties is more serious to you. You’re now left with the choice to discipline yourself. Constant publication on your blog is key to get an audience engaged and to allow traffic to flow.
You’ve traveled many, many times. You’ve taken hundreds to thousands of photos and wondering if this is just a form of an art hobby you instantaneously signed up for along with travel blogging. As much as we love to say so, a travel blog post doesn’t always write itself. There is an author behind each one that is published, and you’re that author that needs to rely on just yourself. You’re basically a captain in control and under the care of a multi-million aircraft, as your blog site as an investment you can also control and be under the care of.
I’ve put together a few tips on how to become a consistent travel blogger and to always remember to put your blogging on the forefront of your brand.
Brainstorm an idea, write it down as soon as you can, organize it.
This is probably something you’ve already got down or mastered. It’s usually always the first step. But it can be easy to fall into the habit of writing a blog post out of the blue with no pre-planning ahead; this will not give your post as much structure. Writing a blog post from scratch though can have you write out different versions that you’re stuck with, and this is why when you brainstorm ideas, you can eliminate what may not work out and what can work out better with your targeted audience.
Organize the focus of your blog post. Do you want to write about 10 things people should see when they visit Morocco? List out those 10 things. Pick out the most professional and relatable photos of Morocco. Draft your social media captions. I personally love to use the Notes app on my iPhone, but a personal handwriting notebook works too. Keep this in mind as if this is a task you have to always do before you get into your workday, leading to my next point.
Think of blogging as an important part of your ‘workday’. Stick with a schedule.
Once again, I am reminding you that if you want to be this consistent and serious travel blogger, you need to see this like work. Make way for your day, or even once a week, to write a blog post. Let’s say you want to schedule your work as a travel blogger to only one day of the week for a few hours of that day, no problem. You’ll actually achieve results of consistency when you create a schedule in your head that you can fall back on.
Get to the task of actually writing your whole blog post and do not stop writing until you’re reasonably exhausted and need to take a break. Get all those thoughts out! Then get to double-checking your work in the very last part, don’t waste time doing it thoroughly as you write. Like work, you also don’t want to be bombarded with distractions with the turn over of losing production — get rid of those distractions and type in a quiet environment.
With this niche, never feel like you have “writer’s block”.
As a travel blogger myself, I can relate to the pitfalls of blogging. It’s important to brainstorm and write all those ideas out from the nitty-gritty details to the big picture. If you haven’t traveled for a while or don’t find yourself constantly traveling, which is a blessing in disguise because you have this period of recovery and period to get back into work if you’re not doing it on the road.
You can always refer back to your old adventures from a few months ago to a year. Try to question yourself: Is there a travel experience that really bought attention to my eyes? Is there a time of traveling that I can write about and provide value to my audience? Are there photos from my travels that showcase its beauty and culture? You’ll probably remember an experience that you didn’t get to share before, and this is your time to shine with that idea.
Get rid of distractions, once and for all.
When you’re blogging for your travels, you’re more likely writing at home or on the road. You’re definitely somewhere besides in a more disciplined, less laidback environment. This means that any part of your remote duties can be interrupted by distractions: the TV, the messy cluttered working space, Spotify and other music apps, the consistent check-up on Facebook, the spam email that makes you click away from what you were writing, the cat videos… We can all relate to turning our attention away to a see a “glimpse” of entertainment or other thoughts that pop up. It helps to not tempt yourself into them and just focus on finishing your writing.
Think of your next blog post as a goal you have to accomplish. Break this blog post into parts.
You started a blog website and you decided it’s a brand you’d like to keep up with. You want to keep your audience and you want to engage your audience. It’s only going to happen if you see everything that comes with a blog as a long-term goal. Better yet, think of each completed post as a goal. Or you can break down the parts of a blog post into milestones you can tick off to complete that goal: outline your headings, write 200-300 words under each heading, handpick your photos and edit them, design your Pinterest image, research keywords for your blog post and for your SEO, double-check and proofread all the grammar and structure of your writings, hit ‘Publish’ (or schedule it to be published), share your post through social media, and then BAM! Your blog post is completed to the bone.
Feeling stuck on blog production? Reward yourself to motivate yourself.
This is one of the most effective ways to get your travel blogging on! Reward yourself with the food you always wanted to devour, that item you always wanted to purchase, or the next trip you want to book. It doesn’t have to something big, either. It can be as simple as rewarding yourself to a nice night spent on the couch, binge-watching on Netflix. There are many and an infinity of little rewards you can treat yourself after some hands-on blogging work.
Feel inspired. Envision what’s next for you. Feel it through your soul and run free with it.
Traveling is undoubtedly a rewarding experience for many of us. It’s even gratifying when you have the ability to write and create about travel. It can allow us to find our passion or the desire to feel complete within ourselves by laying out value for not just yourself, but for others, through your art of content creating and writing.
When you find yourself traveling, you’ll always have this knack of creativity kicking inside your soul. Use that talent and drive to create, and staying consistent with travel blogging is a start. Understand, there will be many, many doors waiting to open when you allow yourself to feel that passion.
Great tips!
Thank you so much!