Building a travel blog can be a fun side project for anyone. You can work a full-time job and still create a travel blog. When you create a blog about something you love, it is fun and doesn’t feel like work. It’s also a great way to get connected with like-minded people.
Blogging does require a lot of work and dedication. It is definitely not for everyone. Building a blog takes years to develop.
The nice thing about building a blog is that is will always be there. I was still working full-time on another blog of mine, Health Manifested when I started the Travelers Bliss blog. As your blog grows you can focus more on what you love and even do freelance work to supplement your income until your blog is able to bring in the income you need. The most important thing when blogging is, it needs to be your passion or you won’t stick with it.
How to manage a blog
Plan
The first thing you are going to want to do is pick a direction. What do you want to blog about? Who is your audience? You want to get a clear picture in your mind of what you want to do. It can help to look around on google and see other blog sites and find one that you resonate with.
Schedule
It is really important to set up a schedule. Having a schedule will help you post consistently. Set up a least one time during the week where you will always do something to improve your blog. Remember you are important. Give yourself time to relax and enjoy life otherwise you will burn yourself out.
Planning ahead is important. It helps to make the content flow.
Make time
There is a lot more to blogging than writing quality content. It is helpful to know how to edit photos, graphic design, blog maintenance, social media marketing. If you are not familiar with how to edit photos, use graphic design software and are new to social media marketing I would recommend signing up for Lynda.com. They have courses for anything you would need to know to be a blogger. They even have courses on securing your website.
Write in Bulk & Expand Content
Give yourself time to just write.
Try to take each experience you have and turn it into 2-3 blog posts. You can write about the photography experience, the experience itself and what you learned for example. You can write about the restaurant experiences, your favorite places you visited, packing for the trip, your itinerary and more. You can write many articles about one trip or vacation. Planning ahead is really helpful.
Guest Posts
It is ok to have other people help you create content for your website. Other people may have valuable content that you aren’t an expert in. The more valuable the content the more the readers will keep coming back. This will also allow you to have more time to travel and relax. You can also take on some freelance writing jobs to get experience, promote yourself and get some exposure.
Backlinks are extremely necessary and beneficial when trying to increase the SEO ranking for your blog. You will need to get other sites to link to your content. Guest blogging is a helpful way to increase your SEO ranking. If you do guest blogging make sure you ask for “DO-FOLLOW” links to your website. Another option is, you can also hire a ghostwriter to help you get more content and get more content out there quickly. UpWork is a great place for hiring freelancers.
Stay Committed
It can seem like an immense amount of work but it’s worth staying committed for the long haul. One of the main reasons that bloggers don’t get very far is that they give up too quickly.
Blogging is all about trial and error. Play around with schedules and posts and social sharing on different platforms and see what works for you! Once you find a schedule and process that works for you, it will be that much easier to stay committed.
Take Breaks
Even though you need to stick with a blog for the long haul, it is important to give yourself breaks. Take time out and relax, have fun with it. It will always be there as long as you remember to pay for the domain name. If you become overwhelmed and need time away take it. Your health and happiness comes first.
If you want to create a blog, I so go for it. Follow your dreams. I had everyone telling me in my life that you can’t make money as a blogger, go get a real job. After 7 years of not following my dream of creating a Travel Blog, I did it and it was the best decision I ever made. Follow your dreams. You deserve to live a life you love.
