Judging by Instagram posts and Snapchat stories, travel blogging appears to be all fun and games from the outside. However, there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that most people don’t realize.
If you want to be a professional travel blogger (i.e. make a living from it) -- then you must realize that it’s a full time job, sometimes requiring 50+ hours of work a week. You are your own boss and you dictate your hours. The exciting part, just like starting any entrepreneurial endeavor, is the more work you put into it, the bigger the reward is. Once you realize that you can get paid from doing what you love - to travel the world - then it’s worth every second of your time and investment.
When I launched my first blog in 2013, Hungry Partier, I spent an average of 6 hours/day figuring our how to grow an audience. I taught myself everything from scratch. I was writing daily articles, networking with other bloggers, fixing kinks on my blog, trying to grow my social media channels, editing videos for youtube-- and that was just the tip of the iceberg. During my first 12 months of blogging, I didn’t make a penny and I worked more than 2,000 hours. My audience grew slowly, but I never gave up because I always looked at the big picture.
If you want to be a professional blogger, then you must realize that blogging is NOT short term success. It’s a roller coaster of ups and downs, highs and lows -- and you are in it for the long haul. You must be patient from the start and remain patient over the coming years.
You have to constantly motivate yourself and keep going even when times are slow. Find your voice, find your niche, and always be thinking of ways to stand out from the growing crowd of travel bloggers.
1. It’s all about your Audience
Your value lies in growing an audience that loves your content. You could be the best writer on earth, but if nobody is reading your content, then it’s essentially useless. I started small, focusing on growing a small engaged audience of 100 readers, then 1,000, and so on. Building die-hard fans is the fastest way to success and a tactic used by many top bloggers including (Tim Ferriss, Gary V, and Seth Godin). Kevin Kelly wrote about this concept in his essay, 1000 True Fans.
“A true fan is defined as a fan that will buy anything you produce. These diehard fans will drive 200 miles to see you sing; they will buy the hardback and paperback and audible versions of your book; they will purchase your next figurine sight unseen; they will pay for the “best-of” DVD version of your free youtube channel; they will come to your chef’s table once a month. If you have roughly a thousand of true fans like this (also known as super fans), you can make a living…”
The three areas I focus on growing audiences are my own blog(s), social media, and writing for other publications (like the Huffington Post).
Blog
Write! Start writing and publishing blog posts about your travels, people you meet, travel hacks you learn, and anything else that interests you. The more you write and publish posts, the faster you will find your voic.. Engage with people in your comments, ask questions, and have fun with it!
Creating a blog is incredibly easy and takes very little technical skills. There are an abundance of blogging platforms out there to get started:
Social Media
Growing your social media presence - specifically on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter - is essential to growing your network and gaining credibility within your field. Managing multiple social media channels and standing out from the rest of the noise online is challenging. Pick the channels you like best and build them first. Sometimes you have to throw content everywhere and see where it sticks. For me, I started with Facebook and Instagram, but I’ve found recent success with Snapchat.
Publications
Travel bloggers often overlook writing for other websites and publications, but it is very important. At the beginning, I wrote guest posts on other travel blogs, then I wrote for travel related publications and corporate blogs. Now, companies are reaching out to me and asking if I want to be a contributor. It’s full circle.
When you write for other channels you have the opportunity to have your content, name, and brand distributed to new audiences. When new people discover and enjoy your content, then your fan base grows.
When you write for other publications, be sure to refer people to your own website and social channels (i.e. link to your blog and social media channels). Be genuine, and ensure you are providing value to the publication you are writing for. If you goal is just gaining followers, then you will quickly dig yourself into a hole..
2. Network As Much As Possible
Making friends online (cough... and offline) is really important to becoming successful. I have become friends with many travel bloggers, worked with lots of different businesses, and written for dozens of big travel publications. The way I do this is by reaching out to as many people as I can -- via email, social media, my websites, and in person. It’s also great if you can attend big travel blogging conferences, such as TBEX, World Tourism Forum or New York Times Travel Show.
Learning to Work with Others
I have worked with a number of different people, brands and organizations. I have learned the hard way why some brands turned me down and what I needed to do to gain those same brands back as clients. In early 2015, I was rejected to work with an African Tourism company because my brand at the time, The Hungry Partier, did not represent the story they wanted me to tell (my site was to focused on partying and nightlife.) This rejection made me reevaluate my own brand and is part of the reason why I started my new site, Drew Binsky.
I approach working with everyone in a similar fashion, asking myself, “How can I help this person?” If there is a good fit, then we might get to work together. I try not to judge or create bias based on the amount of money a company has or followers another travel bloggers has. Smart people and companies know what they are looking for. Cloudbeds, a hotel software company, wrote a great post about what it’s like to work with travel blogger from a business perspective.
3. Find your Niche, and stay Consistent
Being a “travel blogger” is general -- you need to focus your content around a niche. It can be anything from “budget travel in South America” to “traveling as a couple” or “best bars in Europe.” Make sure your blog URL reflects on your niche, and try to stay consistent to your niche in your writing. For example, if you’re blog is about “staying fit abroad,” then don’t talk about eating fast food.
4. Content is King
There are hundreds of blogging strategies that I can give you, but having strong content is #1. Focus more time on being a creative writer than making your blog look nice and pretty. If your content is strong, then people will naturally link to it and share your posts with their friends, which is the best strategy to organically grow your blog.
For example, my blog post on 25 Travel Tips I’ve Learned from 80+ Countries was shared hundreds of times by people on Facebook because they enjoyed my content.
5. Have Fun With it
Having a relaxed mentality and being true to yourself are extremely important tactics to be a successful blogger. As I said, it’s easy to get frustrated or caught up, but try not to take it too seriously. Remember to look at the big picture for what you are blogging for - to make a living out of traveling the world - and then you should feel more at peace.
I hope this article has taught you a thing or two about what it’s like to be a travel blogger, and showed you a little bit of my life behind the scenes. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions, and I’ll be more than happy to share more advice!