One of the greatest thing about traveling is there are so many new experiences to write about! Learning how to write a travel blog is a fun process. Everyday is an adventure and you’ll find yourself noticing everything ; the mundane will all of a sudden seem fresh and new. You’ll experience the taste of foods more, notice little details in things you wouldn’t and find yourself totally present way more than you’re used to.
With all this inspiration, this is the time for your to write a travel blog so you can keep a record of all your experiences. All your friends and family at home will want to read it while you’re away, plus as your traffic grows you’ll get a worldwide audience of people interested in your travels and wanting to get the inside scoop of what you thought of different places! Knowing how to write a travel blog is something every traveler should know about!
What you’ll need for your travel blog
1. A digital camera (with a charger and a USB connector to upload to the Internet)
2. A Blog Website
That’s it.
Discovering how to write a travel blog, and continuing to improve it is something you gain while doing it but there’s a bit of prep work before you go. You’ll discover your own unique style along the way. Some people think they’ll need a laptop and have a lot of fancy gear, but the truth is unless you really want to bring your laptop or you’ll be traveling somewhere extremely remote, for most places you’ll be able to find an Internet cafe where you can log into your blog. In Europe and North America Internet Cafes are very common and most hostels will have a computer you can use for a fee. The most important thing is to write while you’re there and you can always make changes to the blog when you’re back.
The most important thing is that it has photos and great info about the places you’ve visited or are planning to visit.
Setting up the blog
There are a number of options. For all of these you will be able to log in and write wherever you are as long as you have access to a computer and the Internet.
If you want free and don’t mind less, control and a url that isn’t your own you could try wordpress.com (you’ll have to learn to use wordpress) or getjealous.com (less work for setting up and provides free travel blogs).
If you are a big more serious and are less interested in how to write a travel blog but rather setting up something you can expand on, want your own url, may want to have more than more website after a while and may want to earn money on your site in the future with ads or affiliate marketing, you can get your own hosting account which will give you your own domain name, email address and many have a button you can push to setup wordpress, joomla or whatever content management system like those just listed you prefer. Knowing how to write a travel blog is a skill that can soon expand into blogging about other interests.
For hosting a good choice for wordpress blogs is a2 hosting. It offers the following
- an easy interface for setting up websites,
- one button you push to install a wordpress site
- you can get a hold of someone if you need help live 24/7 (with chat after hours)
- you can have as many websites as you like for the same price (you just pay for any extra urls).
Once you’re website is setup, make sure you can log in and create articles.
The Writing. While You’re on the Road
The two main things you’re going to be adding to your blog while you’re on the road is writing about your experiences and uploading photos.
You can write about anything from the train ride, buying your tickets, your hostel bedmates, the amazing scenery and the totally weird food you just ate that you didn’t know what it was. There will be no shortage of things to write about. If you’re concerned because writing is difficult for you at home, have no fear, your writing will flow naturally and you’ll be surprised at just how easy it is to write with everything going on and what’s around you.
Along with this its easy to include reviews and general information about your travels, the hostels, transport, tours and attractions. This really helps out your fellow travelers and they’ll appreciate a heads up of how it was and learn a lot from reading about what you.
How often to write? You’re going to want to write as you’re traveling, so write a journal entry everyday, couple of days or whenever you feel like writing. Just remember the more you write about, the more vivid details about your trip you ‘ll have when you get back home. I’ve heard people ask why didn’t anyone tell me and show me how to write a travel blog before I left?! Pat yourself on the back if you’re reading this, you’ll be prepared.
It’s best upload photos regularly, just in case something happens and the camera gets lost or damaged, then your precious photos will be safely stored online. Also, doing this regularly will ensure a shorter upload time since you’ll only have an extra 25 pictures to put online, rather than 500. Note: this is nice if you’re paying 8 Euros/hour at an Internet cafe In Venice.
Note: Be sure to setup and practice uploading pictures to BEFORE you go, whether it’s on your blog or straight to your host. You may want to set up a photo album in wordpress, joomla etc. before you go.
Once you’ve got the site and you’ve uploaded photos and written a few posts you have what you need for how to write a travel blog and you’re ready to go travel! The writing on the road will be fun and you’ll be so glad you have your memories written down!
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