I admit that the title is a bit provocative, because the main question is: what defines a successful travel blog?
Let’s say that this depends a lot on the type of blog you open, the language you write in and your target market.
To understand us, a fashion blog and a travel blog will never have the same numbers, unfortunately for us! Anyway the Web is one of those few aspects of life where meritocracy exists, if you have something good to say and you know how to say it, people follow you, this doesn’t mean that you become rich and with a butler, but at least you will have an interested following.
These are the advice I feel like giving to anyone who wants to start the best travel blog:
Find your niche for successful travel blog
The most important thing about a blog, and in this case a travel website, is your audience, your niche. And if you really want to become an successful travel blogger, you should know your readers.
We could never write something that everyone likes, if everyone likes you it means that you have no taste, like water!
On the Web the important thing is not to be found by everyone, but to be found by those who are looking for the information we give, who are interested in us!
So, even if you often think the opposite, a site has more power of penetration if it speaks to a few people rather than many, because the voice of that blogger is more influential.
Before you create your first travel blog, think about a niche you feel you own, such as luxury travel, backpacking, couples travel, solo traveling, cycling and trying to get out as little as possible, the more you stay consistent with your niche the more authoritative you become.
Choose the language for your travel site
You may not know this, but language on the Web is already a niche in itself.
There is a difference if I write in English, Italian or Spanish and do not believe that it is a disadvantage to write in your own language.
Writing in English allows you to be reached by more people, but this means that you have much more competition and above all that your commitment in writing posts and optimizing the site will be greater, so if you are not more than fluent in another language, do not try. A good example for this is a young Bulgarian girl who doesn’t speak English very well, so she writes in Bulgarian. If you want to check her site, here it is: https://bezpasport.com/.
Many people have a travel blog with the name, url and theme in English and then write in another language. I find this a big mistake, first of all in terms of indexing and SEO and then also in terms of reader care.
If you are going to write a part of the site in another language, I suggest you to use a multilingual plugin, to separate the environments in a different language, otherwise you will have big indexing problems and will also bother the reader.
Be a curious traveler
A travel blogger must mainly travel, but if at certain times this is not possible, you can also write about the city or region where you live, producing high quality content.
The important thing is to keep the same style, to read your territory with the eyes of a traveler, with passionate eyes, to make those who have never been there fall in love.
No matter if you travel to Germany or explore Ireland, want to visit Egypt or wondering what to do in Costa Rica, you should show your passion to travel and to write.
Write travel content of value
There is no doubt that having many articles will help you in the search engines positioning, but having empty articles that do not give any kind of useful information, full of photography, will not interest anyone, better one post less but of quality.
If sometimes you lack ideas try to see the same place from different points of view, for example a route on foot or by bike, sleeping in a hostel or camping, obviously try as much as possible not to betray your niche.
Keep an eye always open on SEO
To be read you have to be found, ergo you have to think about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). That is all those activities aimed at obtaining the best detection, analysis and reading of the website by search engines. Every website needs SEO, no matter if it is the best travel blog or the worst company website.
Even if you are describing your exciting climb to Everest. At least in the title, url and description, try to insert the most suitable keyword.
I often ask myself “what would I type on Google to look for this information?”, if you want further help, also check the Google Adwords tool for keyword suggestions.
Create your personal brand
If you want to become a successful blogger, you have to write not for those who come to your site once, but for those who read it every day, for those who follow you.
Readers follow you, not a name, a url, a logo, but you, your face, your hair, your style, sometimes shown, both physically, in photos or videos, and between the lines.
Humanize your travel website, this will strengthen the bond with your readers and will make you successful travel blogger.
Learn to make a good storytelling
More than 70% of the emotionality of a blog is linked to the moment of travel, people don’t care too much about reading your posts written months later, they want to dream through you, they want to know what you are doing on that particular day of travel.
Every successful travel blogger must know how to use social networks well, choose Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest. Know the different kind of language of each one, maybe even the different publication times.
I advise you not to use all of them, if you don’t have time, focus on the ones that are easier for you, at least at the beginning.
In the story of a journey, storytelling makes you dream, creates a bond, a union between reader and blogger, shows you in a place where others would like to be and creates expectation for the posts that people will read and for their future research.
It often happens to me that people write to me saying “I remember you wrote about the best things to do in Sintra last year, you tell me where I can find the most beautiful beaches in Spain“.
Emotions anchor memories, that’s why storytelling is so important at the moment, because it helps to make branding, even if you are not a company, but just a person!
Storytelling makes sense only if done in real time, and preferably in the same time zone in your reader, that’s why when you’re traveling, I suggest you buy a local card to use in your smart-phone so you can tell your experience in a completely impromptu way.
Reply to conversations
Blogs and social networks are a different way to talk about topics of common interest.
Whoever manages a blog has, I would say the obligation, to always respond, possibly in real time, to reader communications on their own channels.
Responding to a comment or a tweet recognizes the value of the person who wrote it, and therefore will tend to write more because they feel taken into consideration.
The success of a travel blogger is linked to how much he or she can understand the needs and interests of his or her audience. So if you notice that there are often frequently frequently frequently asked questions or similar comments, read the need or requirement they stress and respond with an ad hoc post.
If someone has misunderstood a behavior or an argument and has stressed their disappointment, explain yourself better, maybe highlight your point of view in a new way. I think the best approach is to never put yourself in a position of superiority over the reader, but always at his service, in the sense that a blogger’s work is based on satisfying the reader’s needs and not vice versa!
