Are you an aspiring travel blogger?  If your 2017 new year resolution was to set up your own travel blog you will find these tips by established travel bloggers very useful!  

– TAKE THE TIME TO FIND YOUR OWN STYLE
Lucy from On the Luce began travel blogging and freelance writing in 2011, to develop a more flexible lifestyle.  Her top tip for – “Don’t be afraid to try different things out, especially when you’re just starting out. It takes a while to find your own style, but it takes a while to find an audience too, so it’s the perfect time to try out different formats and subjects to see which suits you and which people enjoy (and if you have any disasters then you can always go back and delete them!)”

Claire from Weekend Candy has been sharing her tried and tested weekend breaks on her travel blog for two years.  She shares a similar view to Lucy – “You should start your first 6 months just having fun with writing and publishing posts. It’s in these first 6 months that you find your voice, discover what blogs you aspire to be like, and start mastering the techy bits and bobs. If you make it past the first 6 months and you’re still passionate and enthusiastic about blogging (most bloggers quit after 6 months) then you can start to make firmer plans for your blog’s future.”

– FIND YOUR NICHE
Emma & Keri from Ladies What Travel started blogging four years ago as novices – “Neither of us knew the first thing about running a blog but we thought it would be a good excuse to get out and about, meet new people and try new things. After starting to blog about anything and everything, it quickly became apparent that our favorite (and most popular content) was our travel-related posts so we ended up concentrating on that, eventually settling into the niche of affordable luxury for part-time travellers.”  The duo recommend – “Be yourself – there’s a million other bloggers out there so it’s key to have your own voice. Lots of the information about destinations is already found in guidebooks and online but what makes your article unique is your stories and experiences of that particular place.” 

– CHOOSE YOUR BLOG NAME WISELY
Tracey from Williams World has been writing about her family’s adventures, (and general family life,) for just over three years.  She advises wannabe travel bloggers to – “Think carefully about your blog name. Will it still fit in with your family and travels in say 10 years time?  Also learn about SEO.  I just used to write my articles and press publish, not really thinking about how I would promote the post or get people to read it. Thank goodness for my mum who was probably my one and only reader back then!”  

– CONSIDER HOW YOU SET UP YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Lisa, Editor of Trips100, set up Travel Loving Family 18 months ago after following several travel bloggers online.  “I’m really thankful that I set up a separate Facebook account to run my blog Facebook page from, which allows me to keep my personal life and blogging life separate.  I also set up an email account for the blog, rather than use a gmail or hotmail one, which I feel looks more professional when dealing with PR companies and travel brands.”

– PRACTICE AND BE PATIENT!
Clare from My Tunbridge Wells set up her travel blog to assist parents in the West Kent, East Sussex area.  She advises “Start off by blogging about some of the places you have been to already which you enjoyed and ensure you tag the place/venue in on social media when writing about it.  Don’t expect too much too quickly – brands and readers may take a while to realise that you are in it for the long haul. It’s better to build up your content / portfolio of blog posts rather than jumping in straight away and trying to pitch for paid work.”

Family travel blogger Claire from Tin Box Traveller also advises on taking the time to work on content – “Sad fact: unless you come from a travel writing background you are not going to be offered press trips overnight. You have to work at your content. Write about places you’ve been and really showcase your skills. The offers will come!

– IT’S OK TO HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE OF BLOGGING TOO!
Joanne is the Editor of family travel blog – Kids Days Out Reviews.  Due to family commitments she is unable to travel as much as she wishes to and shares her advice regarding fitting life in around travel blogging – “You won’t always have something to blog about and that’s ok. Life happens and you can’t be travelling all of the time!  If you don’t have any content for a few weeks, or even months, your blog is not going to disappear and the world will still turn. Don’t feel pressured to be constantly outputting work.”

– PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS
Jane from Practically Perfect Mums believes it is of vital importance to use personal strengths – “Don’t be disheartened if you don’t have the best stats or rankings at the beginning. Play on your strengths which in my case is video. We’ve been hosted by hotel chains and tourist boards because they like what we do and we offer a specialist service which has a lot of value to them.”

– NETWORK
Kara from Are we nearly there yet?  had a lot of valuable advice to offer.  Kara started with a parenting blog and set up her travel blog after realising it was something that was of interest to her and her family.  One of her top tips is to “Join linkies, read what other bloggers are doing, where they are going and comment and share their posts too – interaction is key to building relationships.”

– PLAN YOUR TIME EFFICIENTLY
Chloe shares her solo and luxury adventures over on Wanderlust Chloe.  She quickly realised when she started her blog in 2014 that – “Blogging regularly is a big commitment (but an amazing one!)  She now dedicates time to planning out her adventures and prioritising her workload.

– MOST IMPORTANTLY, ENJOY WHAT YOU DO!
Carrie, former flight attendant and now family travel blogger at Flying With A Baby gave the following advice –  “Enjoy it first and foremost. Your passion will shine through!”  She also recommends aspiring travel bloggers – “Attend travel events like WTM and Traverse to meet like minded people. You meet some great people!”

This article is part one of a series featuring expert travel bloggers sharing their top tips for setting up a travel blog.  Check back next week for part two…  Our experts will be sharing what they would change about their blog if they could go back in time!  

Do you have any tips for aspiring travel bloggers?  Or do you have a question we can assist you with?  Pop them in the comments section below!