Pick a domain name
Pick a domain name. There are pros and cons when picking a domain name. When you pick a domain name that has your name in it, the pro is that it will aways be yours and it give you credibility. The cons can be that you would want to be very careful what you right for future employers and if you decide to no longer be a travel blogger, it would be hard to sell the business because it is based on you.
If you decide to pick a domain name that is based on a specific destination you may want to rethink that. Although it is great to have a niche and be very specific make sure before you decide on a specific destination that you do not have any plans of moving. If you ever decided to move your blog would no longer be relevant. When picking a domain name it is easier to be recognized in search engines if you pick a name that is SEO friendly. For travel blogs picking domain names with the word travel in it can definitely help you rank faster. The con for picking a SEO friendly name is it can come across as not having a person touch. It is much easier in the future to sell a domain name that is topic-specific though. It is ideal to pick a domain name that is undefinable about travel. Being unique can really help you stand out. The less complicated the domain name is the easier it will be for people to remember it. I would highly recommend purchasing your domain name through Godaddy.com. They offer a great service and is easy to use.
Get HostING
Hosting a website is basically picking a server you want to put your website domain name on. I highly recommend SiteGround. There servers are SSD, which basically means they are super fast. I have been very happy with thier service. I have built websites since 2013 and I am extremely impressed with thier customer service and hosting.
Install WordPress
I highly recommend WordPress. It is easy to use and has been around a long time. You can also hire programmers that are very affordable to help you if you have any issues. WordPress is one of the world’s largest publishing platforms. It’s very easy to use, it’s used by multimillion-dollar publishers and will have anything and everything you could ever need.
Picking a Theme
I personally like to work with Genesis themes with StudioPress. They are very easy to work with and have a lot of free helpful documentation on the web.
Install Plugins
Plugins are a must-have when building a WordPress site. WordPress is the foundation and plugins are what really make the site amazing. Once you get your WordPress site installed you will see in the Admin area on the left hand side “Plugins.” Click on Plugins and add a new plugin at the top. You can do a google search to find just about any kind of plugin you would ever need. I really think the most important plugin you use to get your site seen by search engines is “Yoast SEO.” They are by far the best Search Engine Optimization plugin out there. I have been using their plugin since 2013. Contact Form 7 is a free and easy to use contact form. Analytify is a free and easy to use tool to see how well your site is doing in Google. Akismet is great for getting rid of spam. WooCommerce is great and easy to use when you are building a site where you sell products. Social Warfare is also a great plugin for Social Media Marketing.
Get Social media Names
Get your desired social media names from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. I even create an account on LinkedIn to reach the working crowd. If you are looking to offer a service you might want to create an account with Patreon and if you are interested in creating videos you might want to create an account with YouTube.
Mailing List
Aweber is a great option. MailChimp is another great option and good for beginners.
