Travel Blogging for Money

Getting Started Building Your Blog

By Matt Gibson

Getting paid to write a blog from your laptop while traveling the world may sound too good to be true, but it is possible. Few bloggers get rich, or even make a living, but many earn a reasonable side-income. If you hope to join the ever-growing ranks of globetrotting travel bloggers like Nomadic Matt and Gary Ardnt this article is where you start.

The first part of this article deals with issues that need to be considered before you set up your blog, the second part deals with the technical aspects of setting up a blog, and the third part deals with strategies for bringing visitors to your blog. 

Part I: Before Setting Up Your Travel Blog

Why will people read your blog? Your blog will be competing with Facebook, MSN Messenger, email, television, kids, chores, sex, work, and sleep for people’s attention. The best blogs employ several techniques to capture and hold peoples’ attention. 

In order to be successful, blogs:

• Offer unique information.
• Offer useful information (such as how-to articles).
• Offer a unique perspective.
• Are entertaining.

When deciding on the focus of your blog you should first ask yourself, “What can I offer that’s useful and unique?” Some travel bloggers simply write road stories, but they are a dime a dozen these days. If you try to do the same you are going to face some stiff competition. Others, however, focus very successfully on specific aspects of travel such as The Professional Hobo, who specializes in budget travel advice, and The Cranky Flier, who focuses on airline travel. What specialized knowledge can you offer? Perhaps you are a bird-watcher. You could write about your bird watching experiences and special equipment suitable for the road. Or perhaps you can carve out a niche that has nothing to do with travel at all. The key is to find your niche.

Part II: Setting Up Your Blog

Step 1: Choose and Buy a Domain Name

A domain name is a website’s address. For example, my website’s domain name is www.matt-gibson.org. Choose a name that reflects your blog, preferably with a .com or .net suffix.  You can search available domain names at www.checkdomain.com.

Step 2: Buy Your Domain Name and Hosting

Choose a web host from which to purchase your domain name and hosting. There are thousands of web hosts; three of the largest are NetworkSolutions, GoDaddy, and HostGator. It is best to purchase both the name and hosting together so that the company will automatically point the domain name to the hosting package (otherwise you may have to do this manually).

Step 3: Install Wordpress

Wordpress is a free open-source blog software package. It is probably the most popular blog software in the world. When installing Wordpress please relax and remember that working with computers can be frustrating and do not always work properly. Installing the software, however easy, requires several precise steps. Set aside a couple of hours for this step and follow the instructions carefully.

Most web host control panels have a button that will automatically install Wordpress for you. For manual, and other, installation instructions look here.

For more information about getting started with Wordpress, check out New to Wordpress — Where to Start. If you are having trouble installing your blog do not worry, Wordpress has comprehensive instructions for everything in the Wordpress Codex as well as support forums.

Step 4: Customize Your Blog

Appearance

It is easy to customize the appearance of your blog using a theme. Themes are like clothes for your blog, they change the surface appearance without changing the substance. Wordpress offers 1,000 free themes. They can be browsed and tested here. 

To install a theme, first log into your blog’s dashboard at www.yourdomainname.com/wp-login.php using the settings specified during installation. Next, click Add New Themes in the Appearance section of the vertical navigation bar on the left side of the dashboard. Then, search for the theme that you wish to use and click install. Last, click on the Themes link the Appearance section of the navigation bar and activate the theme that you installed. 

Voila! You have a whole new look for your blog.

Plugins

Wordpress offers more than eight thousand plugins that add different functions to your blog. They are easy to install. Find the plugin section in the vertical navigation bar on the left side of the dashboard and click add new. Then search for the plugin you want. When you find it, click install.

I suggest that you search for, and install, these Wordpress plugins:

AddToAny: This plugin adds a button to all blog posts that allows users to share the post with their friends using social networking websites. This is important for increasing traffic.

Google XML Sitemaps: This plugin will automatically create an XML map of your blog, making it easier for google to index all of your pages, so that people can find your pages via Google quickly and easily.

All in One SEO Pack: This plugin creates a form on your dashboard below the new post form. Fill out the form each time you write a post and the plugin will automatically submit the information to all the major search engines so that they will index it immediately.

Part III: Generating Traffic

Step 1: Get Some Links

Now that you have got your blog setup, you need to get links—of related content--to it on the web so that people can find you. You should also link back to them to improve your search engine rankings. One way to do this is by listing your blog on bloglists. You will have to sign up for each list, and put a snippet of code in your site to link back to them. It is a little time consuming, but worth it.  Here is a short list of bloglists that any blog can join for free. This list is not exhaustive. You should always be looking for new places to exchange links;

www.blogtoplist.com
www.blogtopsites.com
www.freeadlists.com
www.blogsrater.com

Ideally, it cannot be overstressed that it is very important to link to blogs which discuss related content.

Step 3: Get Your Social Networking On

Social networking is good way to bring visitors to your blog. There are tools that will automatically send your blog posts, or links to them, to both Facebook and Twitter. The easiest way to do this is as follows:

First, create a Facebook fan page for your blog. Then use a tool to link it to your blog such that all of your blog posts will automatically appear on your Facebook fan page.

Next, install a plugin on your blog called Twitter Tools. This plugin automatically feeds each blog post title and link to your Twitter account when you post it. Next, install the Facebook Twitter App to your personal Facebook profile and configure it. Now, your Twitter account will automatically update your personal Facebook status with your blog links as well.

Congratulations! You have finished.

Just kidding. You are just getting started. Now, in order to create a loyal readership, you need to write and post frequently, several times a day, if possible. You also need to network with other blogs and exchange links to increase traffic and search engine rankings. If you continue to post and promote diligently, over time you’ll build up a loyal audience that will attract advertisers.  Many bloggers put Google Adwords on their websites. Instructions on how do that can be found here. Below is a list of other advertisers that like to advertise on blogs. Now, it is time to see if you can make some money.

Matt Gibson is an adventure travel writer and photographer and the manager of the Flight Network Blog. Check out more of his writing and photography on his adventure travel blog.