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1How to Start a Travel Blog in 2017 (UPDATE: March 7th 2017)
How to Start a Travel Blog; A 5 Step Guide to How You Can Start a Travel Blog in Less Than 30 minutes…
Blogging changed my life, I went from being a broke English teacher in Asia to making over a million dollars, buying properties in London and Bangkok, Thailand, traveling to almost every country in the world, and now truly being free. That’s my honest story.I get invited to luxury hotels in every corner of the world, get offers to keynote conferences from Algeria, to Dublin to Hungary. TV shows, free gear, respect in my field. All from my blog. Starting my travel blog changed my life, now I want to show you guys how to start a travel blog too.
In this article, I’ll teach you how to start a travel blog in about 30 minutes tops, and for less than $70 total. Get ready to change your life….
After my story went viral, from Forbes, to Yahoo, to BBC and FHM, I’ve been getting emails and messages on my Facebook page and Instagram every single day asking how you too can start a blog, make money and travel the world.
So let me lay it out, step by step here, along with some very frequently asked questions and a tech glossary explaining all these weird tech words at the bottom.
I should add I’m AWFUL with technology, so if I can start a blog and make it popular, and make great money from it every month, as well as endless ‘free’ trips as a perk, then you really, really can too.
I personally think everyone should have a blog, whether its a travel blog, fitness blog, lifestyle, fashion, beauty or anything. Worst case scenario is that it’s a great diary of your life that you will have forever, and it gives you a voice, not to mention a great additional feature to a resume. Best case scenario is endless free trips, and six figures a year just talking about your life. Yes please. I’m going to teach you how to start your first blog.
With that in mind, let’s move on to how to start a travel blog, step by step. If you follow this, you’ll have a blog in about 30 minutes:
STEP 1. Choosing The Name of Your Blog
When working out How to Start a Travel Blog, this is super important, put some real thought into it. Your blog can define your online persona, and it’s here to stay. Here are some quick tips to keep you on the straight and narrow:
A) Don’t Pigeon Hole Yourself
The best advice I can give is to not pigeon-hole yourself with your blog name. “24yearoldtraveler.com” may sound good now, but next year it’s already out of date! Equally, you might think superbudgettraveler.com is a winner today, but 5/10 years later when your travel style is a little more luxurious, your blog no longer fits you. Be careful.
Choose something you can mould into something else should you wanna do that later down the road. Try to keep it general so your blog can mature/evolve just as you do. For me, One Step 4 Ward allows me to do that, I didn’t have a clue about online business when I started, but now my blog name allows me to incorporate that which is great. Be smart about your choice, you don’t want to have to change it later and start again.
B) Be Smart with Your Characters
Be careful with numbers, abbreviations etc. I WISH someone told me this when I choose OneStep4Ward.com. Most of my blog conversations now start like this….
“What’s your blog?“
“One Step Forward, but no, with the number four, yeah the digit, not the word ‘forward’… ermmm.. hang on I’ll write it down, eurrrgh“
I have this conversation daily, don’t make my mistake. Keep it simple as possible, and avoid numbers, abbreviations, hyphens if possible.
C) Be Professional
When it comes to working with big brands, luxury hotels and creating products – these businesses don’t want to be aligned with dubious bloggers so anything referencing drugs, getting drunk, having sex might seem cool now, but when Nikon, or the Four Seasons refuse to work with you 2 years later because of your branding, you will wish you choose something more professional. Think ahead.
STEP 2. Getting Your Blog Online.
First I’ll explain how it works, then I’ll take you through step by step….
How to Start a Travel Blog starts here! To get your blog online you need to set up hosting (see the next paragraph) and you need to buy your blog name (this is referred to as your Domain Name). It’s much better and easier to use the same company to both buy your domain name, and set up the hosting. Then when you have any issues, you only have one point of contact.
Hosting your website. Sounds confusing I know, but it’s not I promise. Hosting your website essentially means ‘renting’ the space on the internet that your blog will appear on. In the same way you may rent your apartment to live in, you have to rent the space for your blog to live in. Easy peasy. There are lots of companies – GoDaddy, HostGator etc and having used tried, fought with and left them all, I would only ever recommend, BlueHost. Their rates are super cheap at between $3.95 and $5.95 per month. They also offer a 30 day money-back guarantee, they have live chat to talk you through your tech problems (something I often need!) AND they let you have your domain name for free when you first register! Winner!
Buying Your Website: If your website is available (no one else has registered it before), then you buy the rights to the name, for example ‘YOURNEWTRAVELBLOG.com’. This roughly costs around $15 per year, BUT like i mentioned above if you go through my guys at BlueHost when you register your hosting with them too, they give your domain registration to you for free. Boom.
Ok, so now since thinking how to start a travel blog, we’re making progress already. You’ve chosen your blog name (from Step 1) , you understand what hosting and buying your domain is is (from Step 2) head over to the Blue Host home page and let’s get your travel blog started today. This is what you see….
PART A) Click the big ‘GET STARTED NOW’ button in the middle of the screen…
PART B) PICK YOUR PLAN:
Now you have to choose which hosting plan you want, the cheapest option is fine, I own hundreds of sites and have only ever chosen ‘starter’.
PART C) Buying your blog name (Domain Name)
After you have chosen your plan from the PART B above, you will be presented with this page, this is where you can check the availability of your blog name, and then go on and purchase it. Type the name of the blog you want to buy in the box on the left, and click ‘next’. If someone else has already snapped it up, don’t panic. Think of some alternative blog names, try those, you’ll find the right one for you. When you find your perfect available domain, click ‘next’…
PART D) Fill in your details
You can now choose to sign up your hosting for 1-3 years, with the prices varying from between $3.95 and $5.95 per month. If you’re a first time blogger, I’d say the 1 year option is best, but it’s up to you.
All the extra stuff you can add on? Remove it all. The only one you may choose to keep is domain privacy so no-one can find out who owns your blog. I don’t bother with it though.
PART E) Creating your BlueHost password
After you complete the filling your details stage, you’ll be greeted by this screen, click on ‘create your password’
This screen appears, go ahead and create your password
STEP 3. Making Your Blog Look Like a Blog – Installing WordPress
Great, so you were working on How to Start a Travel Blog and now already you’ve sorted out your domain registration (you’ve bought your blog name), and your hosting (you’ve rented the online space for your blog), you’re ready for it to actually be live, on the internet and look like a blog. Awesome, well done so far!
Here you need to install WordPress from your BlueHost control panel. WordPress is FREE software that allows you to publish articles, add advertising, change your design etc and it’s all super user friendly. There are other platforms – blogspot, blogger etc, don’t use them! WordPress is the one every successful blogger users, me included.
Ok, so how do you add WordPress, let me give you some screenshots to avoid confusion:
PART A) Bluehost has implemented a new feature that automatically installs wordpress as soon as you register for hosting.
PART B )
After WordPress is installed, input your domain name in the Edit Your WordPress Sites section.
PART C )
Once you input your domain and password, you will be sent directly to your new blog’s dashboard on WordPress.
Your blog is now on the internet. Your site is LIVE. See that was much cheaper than you thought, much easier than you thought and much faster than you thought, right? Awesome. Next stop… Hawaii. Ok ok, not yet, but you’re on your way!
STEP 4. Logging into your Site and Designing Your Blog
Now you need to install a design (referred to in WordPress as a ‘theme’) for your new blog. You’ve sorted out your hosting through BlueHost, now you have to renovate your site (by adding a theme on WordPress). If you to go to the URL (remember that the full version of your site, like https://www.onestep4ward.com for me, or http://www.YOURNEWTRAVELBLOG.com), you’ll see a super basic website. Now you need to make it a little sexier.
PART A)
Now go to: http://www.YOURNEWTRAVELBLOG.com /wp-admin…
Use your username and password from Part G in Step 2 and sign-in to the backend of your sexy new website…
The ‘Back End’ of your blog is like the control centre, where you can edit everything, publish blog posts etc. Only you can access this, not your readers. We call this the ‘Dashboard’
PART B)
Once logged into the backend of WordPress, you go to the sidebar in the left hand side, find ‘Appearance’, hover over it, and click ‘Themes’ when it pops up.
There are hundreds of free themes you can choose, so choose one you like the look of, hover over it, and click activate. Don’t worry, none of this is permanent, so you can try a few out, once you’ve chosen one and clicked activate, go to the address bar, type in your new website URL http://www.YOURNEWTRAVELBLOG.com and you can see your new theme. Done.
Choose a free theme, and click ‘activate’
PART C)
All’s left now is to publish your first blog post, so go back to that black side bar on the backend of your wordpress, hover over ‘all posts’, click on ‘add new’. Then title your blog post ‘My first post yaaaay!”, and in the subject box write something like “This is where my new life begins….”, click publish on the right hand side.
Now go back to the live version of your new blog onYOURNEWTRAVELBLOG.com!! And it’s live, CONGRATULATIONS!
NOTE: The free themes aren’t super duper sexy, but if you don’t want to spend any more money, then of course they’ll do. You can find some premium themes from major wordpress designs companys like Woo Themes, or you can hire someone to design it for you.
For me, I’m I’m awful at design stuff, am terrible at technology and generally it was beyond me, so I hired a freelancer to design my site for me. Now thankfully, since my blogging took off, I have a team of guys at my media company Step4WardMedia.com who do all my tech stuff for me. The good news is that they can design your blog for you too, we do cute, clean, basic designs starting at $300, so drop me a message on johnny@onestep4ward.com if you want my guys to do it for you.
PART D) Plugins
Plugins are useful little widgets that make your blog a lot better. Like an area for people to comment on your blog posts, or a way for people to share your content via social media. You can see the ‘plugins’ in the left sidebar, but for now make sure you install all these free plugins:
- Akismet – to stop spam
- WordPress SEO – this will help you rank better in Google, you’ll learn more about this in time
- WPTouch – to make your site perform better on phones and tablets
- Easy Social – so people can share your content via their social media
- Contact form – so people can get in contact with you
STEP 5. SOCIAL MEDIA, MAKING MONEY AND EVERYTHING ELSE
From this point on, there’s still a lot more to learn. How to Start a Travel Blog doesn’t stop once you’ve just started publishing articles! Pages, plugins, your menu options, networking, media packs, SEO, online marketing, affiliate marketing, monetizing. But you’ve done the hardest part, now blog and don’t give up.
PART A) Social Media
Make sure you create profiles for your blog in the following:
- Facebook page (this is different from your profile)
- Instagram Account
These 3 are absolute musts, you can/should also create profiles for:
PART B) About you
‘About Me’ rather. Create your ‘About Me’ page so people can hear your story. You can check mine out here too. If you can face talking to the camera, a video here is even better. Don’t sell yourself short, talk about your experience, about your hopes and dreams. Be open, be honest and most importantly be yourself.
PART C) Making Money
I know, I know you all want to know about how to make a million dollars, but be patient. Just because now you know HOW to start a travel blog doesn’t mean you’re earning a fortune on day 1! Spend the first 6 months to a year creating quality content, learning the blogging ropes, building an audience (priority). DON’T WORRY ABOUT MAKING MONEY, DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT FOR SIX MONTHS OR MORE. Once you have an audience, then you can consider how to make money, but believe me when I say building the audience is the toughest part, once you have your audience, you can make money guaranteed. Here are the methods successful bloggers have monetized their sites:
- Affiliate Marketing
- Google Adsense
- Sponsored Posts
- Brand Ambassadorships
- Public Speaking
- Freelance Writing
- Ebooks
- Products/Courses
- Tours
There are a million and one ways to make a million and one dollars. DON’T FOCUS ON THE MONEY. Focus on making your blog popular, never forget this. Create value from your blog, and it’ll come back to you. I promise. Good luck and feel free to message me if you need any help.
PART D) Google Analytics
You want to track your traffic, and your journey. Google analytics lets you track every bit of data imaginable, but most importantly it lets you see how many hits and visits you’re receiving. You can see what kind of posts are resonating well, and which ones aren’t so much. It’s invaluable, and when it comes time to work with awesome hotels, and big clients, they’ll want all this info, so get it going from the outset. Sign up here, it’s free: https://www.google.com/analytics/
PART E) Be Yourself and ENJOY!
Perhaps the most important part of all of this blogging stuff is to be yourself, so after learning How to Start a Travel Blog it’s time to show your true self to the world. There’s never been a time in history with so much opportunity, so much potential freedom, so many chances to do things we could never have previously dreamt about. Blogging can be your key to that lifestyle. So find your voice and shout it loud. Let me know if I can help you guys in any way, blogging changed my life and I hope it can change yours too.
Johnny
FAQ
A) Can anyone really start a blog?
Yes, pretty much anyone. I know almost nothing about tech, coding, design etc and I have managed to do it. As long as you can sign up to a host, and pay for your monthly fees, then you can do it. So essentially, if you have a credit/debit card, and can spare $60 a year or so, then you can do it.
B) Do I need to speak English to start a travel blog?
Definitely not. If you speak Spanish, or Arabic then you can blog in your native tongue, there is a HUGE market out there for non-English speaking blogs. If you’re bilingual, then I’d blog in both languages, it increases your reach, and of course English has the biggest potential readership.
C) There are so many blogs, maybe I’m too late to start a travel blog?
There is ALWAYS room for a quality blog, ALWAYS. Don’t worry about the competition, if you take it seriously, then you can succeed. Simple as that. Travel blogging, and blogging in general, is one of the best ‘jobs’ in the world, it’s worth all the effort, I promise.
D) I haven’t traveled that much, can I start a travel blog?
Of course you can, you can document your journey. Planning to travel, prep for travel, the emotions of wanting to hit the road. Actually, it’s a great idea to start a blog before you hit the road, because by the time you hit the road, your site can be making you money.
E) How much does it cost to start a travel blog?
Very little. If you’re happy for a simple free wordpress design, then roughly $60USD per year or so. Super cheap.
F) But you can set up a free blog, right? Why would I pay?
Right BUT while it IS possible to get a free website from blogspot, tumblr and blahblahblah.wordpress.com. My advice? Don’t do this. You can’t make money from a free blog, you can’t build a big audience, people don’t read or trust free blogs, it’s restrictive with the design you can do. All-in-all, it’s unprofessional. I literally never open blogs that say .blogspot.com or .wordpress.com, or if it’s been done in wix.com. Avoid it. If you wanna make money online, and have a voice that people listen to, then pay the $50 or so per year, it’s worth it, honestly.
G) Can I really make money blogging?
Yes you can, really you can. But it won’t happen overnight. If you’re dedicated, then within six months or so you can get press trips, and travel without having to pay sometimes, within a year, if you take it seriously, you can live from your income, and beyond that it’s up to you. How ambitious are you? How dedicated are you? I was hungry, so I made it happen. I don’t want a ‘real job’ ever, so I made sure blogging worked for me. If you have that attitude you can do well.
H) OK, So how much money can I make from a travel blog?
First it was how to start a travel blog, and now already you wanna know how to get paid, right? Don’t worry, it’s normal! How long is a piece of string? Many bloggers make nothing, be aware of that. Successful bloggers can make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. For me, making the first $100USD was key, from there the limit is determined by you. I expanded aggressively and bought more and more blogs, which in the end made me more than a million dollars. If I can do it, so can you. Honestly. But it all starts here.
TECH CHAT GLOSSARY
Don’t worry, I didn’t understand so many of the terms when I started either, let me try to break it down for you guys. If you need any more explanations, comment on my facebook page or in the comments below and I’ll add those terms too, thanks.
URL: The actual name of your blog in the address bar, for example the URL of OneStep4Ward is https://onestep4ward.com/
DOMAIN NAME: The name of your website, so for me it’s onestep4ward.com
HOST: In simplest terms, your host is the person who provides your internet space, kinda like a landlord you pay rent to. For example, BlueHost are my host for all my hundred+ websites. They manage your server.
SERVER: Where your website ‘lives’, like the garage where you keep your car. Your host manages this on your behalf for the monthly fee you pay them.
BROWSER: What you look at your websites on – internet explorer, safari, chrome.
NOTE: You should be using Chrome, both on your laptop and your phone, it’s so much better.
FTP: A username and password that will allow someone to access the files in your server and change it. Remember, the server is taken care of by your host.
SEO: Search Engine Optimisation. Basically making your site more appealing to Google and Google searches. If Google trusts you and your site, and thinks you’re creating helpful content for people searching, you will feature higher in the Google search results. Featuring higher = more visitors.
Affiliate Marketing: Links to products, hotels, courses within your blog. These links send your visitors to other sites like Amazon, or Booking.com and you make a small percentage of any of their purchases. If you have big traffic, you can make six figures a year with this. Honestly. And it’s passive income. The dream.
So you’ve been wondering how to start a travel blog, well now you know, so don’t hesitate. Start today, and if you’re serious about it, before long I’ll be seeing you on the road somewhere. Happy travels.
That’s it folks, feel free to message me on FaceBook.com/onestep4ward or Instagram.com/onestep4ward or Twitter.com/onestep4ward, or johnny ‘at’ onetep4ward.com. Feel free to bookmark my How to Start a Travel Blog article but there’s not time like the present to get started, it’s procrastination that keeps us from achieving our dreams. So make the move from the thought process of How to Start a Travel Blog to the reality of getting your blog live today! Good luck and let me know if you need help 🙂
As you know, blogging changed my life. I left Ireland broke, with no plan, with just a one-way ticket to Thailand and no money. Since then, I started a blog, then a digital media company, I’ve made more than $1,500,000 USD, bought 4 properties and visited (almost) every country in the world. And I did it all from my laptop as I travel the world and live my dream.
I have really enjoyed with your blog, such a great content to understand people start make travel blog.
Thanks a lot!!
Life time earning opportunity app: – goo.gl/k7hSXE
Thank you so much for your post, it is so helpful and full of useful content. We have started a blog and your tips and advice has really helped us. Thank you so much! https://truehoroscopes.blogspot.com
Thanks. What do you mean when you say you “bought more blogs” with your firs income? Did you start new blogs or buy other peoples and hire the writers?
both!
Great post, i have a some website https://www.tatilimden.com/Blog and i need a new strategy. Thanks for sharing with us
I am waiting for your reply. My wab site is there: https://www.bestlugage.com
Nice tips. I have Blog. I cannot maintenances the blog post design. Now how can I do for my new blog?
Its really a good blog on breaking news. I appreciate your article. Its important to get quality
breaking newes that make you alert. This blog is really helpful to give a light in this issue. So thanks for sharing all that important
information.
Hi,
I have searched so many places online, about the do-follow travel blogs, but in vain.
Thanks so much for providing such a long list of blog right at one platform.
Thanks again
Wow. Very detailed. Thank you for sharing this. I’ve been thinking of starting a travel blog since before but don’t know how to start. This is awesome.
Great Blog post – Thank you !
I wanted to understand better, you said “I expanded aggressively and bought more and more blogs”. When you say you “bought’ more blogs? What exactly does this mean ? Are you buying other peoples blogs and merging them into your?
Please help me understand ?
Brilliant!
You make money by endorsing and directing people to bluehost.com
Love to know how much do you get from bluehost.
if that was my main income, I’d be struggling to survive! I recommend bluehost because they’re so easy to deal with, customer service etc
Very useful, I am still a beginner ,, thanks
Found on MSN Money. Great easy steps to setup with no bull. I set mine up at http://www.moreincomeplease.co.uk for those wanting ideas for earning and saving. Thanks for the info!
For those of you who dont want to spend money on a website but still want a cool domain and who are STUDENTS (have an academic email address) you can set up a free .me domain (like travelguy.me) at namecheap.com . Then you will need very very basic web design skills for this. Not that difficult. Google “Jekyll github pages”. This is not wordpress, but it safer and easier and completely free
Hello Johnny,
Thanks for all your help in support in making me understand how the blog life works. I really look forward working on my personal blog & would reach you out if i need any help.
Thanks!
Rohan Ranpise
Thank you for your advise. I will follow your lead. Layout and Name already done. The part of this that I am not sure of is how we get paid. Is it only the percentage from recommandations. But keep giving advise it helped me decide this is what I really want to do
Woow, this looks really amazing,
This is really on my have to do list before i get into my 40’s
Keep posting,
Kind regards
Stefanie
Great info! Thank you. One little note, I think there is mistake in your reference In part A, step 4.
You write: ” “Use your username and password from Part G in Step 2 and sign-in to the backend of your sexy new website…” I believe you meant part E in step 2 cuz there is no part G.
This is great cause I’m really not a technology person but next year I’m gonna do a hole year of travels and want to star a blog. Primary for miself but I know every travel blogger dream is to be able to live from it. And if you that as me aren’t good with technology can do it that encourage me. What I’m scared the most is choosing the wrong name I’m from a Spanish speaking country so I’m not sure if I should choose a Spanish or an English name, I hope to choose the right one
i Hava a blog on wordpress.. but many people recommend blogger… so which one is best platform..?
Hey johnny! Such a wonderful article! Amazingly inspired by your story! I am a travel freak n love to travel! I travelled from my age of 18. Now im 28. I have visited just 4 countries but i have a lot of learning n experiences to share. The exposure i got to various cultures n met different people shaped my personality since my teenage. I stand out since then. But my crowd was such narrow minded people n gradually lost my confidence since this experience pulled me down Every day. But now i feel so positive about myself! Thanks a lot johnny! I got back myself with almost so much of a much needed help on to build a blog! I can jus say please keep up the good work! n i can’t wait to bog now!once again Many many thanks johnny!
Wow! That is awesome. So informative. Thanks for inspiring and keep on inspiring. Kudos!
This was the most amazing part of my trip. Great tips you shared with us. Thanks.
Thanks , for this great topic , to work at home , or monetize a blog is very hard , know , you must make a marketing seo for traffic you domain , or blog the best backlink quality domain for you domain adult or sexy ,premium..
http://www.sex.run (adult domain) for you business ; great business domain video ..wordpress is a best for your domain but you must have a big server… Thank for sharing you post travel domain sexy…
Some great tips here, wish I had read them before I started my blog – well done on your amazing money-spinning blog!
Hi Johny thanks for your tips. This is new to me, I might try some of the above for my blog
I’ll be waiting then :)) Good luck with everything!
I’m living in third country right now, trying to experience culture and lifestyle, one country at a time. I’m almost always broke but the travel goes on. I set up a new travel blog to share my experiences. I made the mistake of making a free blog on blogspot.com with a stupid domain name and realized it over an year later, and had to buy a new domain and hosting and create it all over again. Useful tips mate. Enjoy your travels
Hello Johnny
Maybe you will not answer me but to try 🙂 I have one question for you :
“can I travel with you” 🙂
if you cn catch me!
Hey Johnny, your success story is very inspiring. I see you say within 6 months it’s possible to monetize and within a year it’s possible to live full-time off your blog. I know that obviously this will have a lot of variables in play, but I’m curious to get your opinion on how much daily/monthly traffic you think is necessary before monetizing?
Hi, I am going travelling in a few weeks time for several months and wanted to set up a travelling blog. However I am travelling via bicycle and carrying a laptop is’nt feasable. Would you say that blogging from my phone is doable?
Thanks.
Hey Johhny,
I started my blogging journey couples of month back (thankfully following most of the steps as described above 🙂 ) and I am updating my content regularly now. I have a question regarding readers. I have scoured the internet and every blogger describes this differently.
The question is: how to generate a good reader’s base. Can you advise me with your experience. Do you suggest guest posting as a good strategy to gain the initial reader base. I found some bloggers saying – just keep writing good content and at one point of time you will start seeing traffic coming your way. I am really in a mess thinking about how to shape a strategy.
Your comments and advise are highly appreciated.
Hi Johnny, thanks for this but sorry for the question, I’m curious how do I exactly earn from blogging?!
a million ways! it’s all in my free ebook when u sign up 🙂
signed up! 🙂 will look for that free ebook 😀 thank you
Hello johny, im just reading your blog today how to make a blog, just tonight after i watch some videos about traveling and one videos make me inspired its called the poor traveler, they start nothing and now they live in there dreams and it make me inspired a lot cause i thought it would be imposibble for me to travel around the world and make my dreams come true, so i decided to go in google to search how to make a blog and how to make money from it and i saw your blog and its so interesting , and i think this is a good start for me, i need your help to make a my first ever blog, and how to make it successfully,, hope i can hear from u soon, thanks for this opportunity!
Hey Johnny!
Just read the blog and i also recently started a website of my own. I took a bit of a different route and went with blogging about Real estate. I cant wait to read more stuff from you and get advice on what to do next!
My blogs url is https://buyandhold.blog/
Would you suggest writing several posts before launching a blog?
I’d suggest starting it, then dropping LOADS of content in the first couple of months 🙂
Thanks for sharing. Have a travel blog http://travel-jaunts.com and will definitely try WpTouch plugin.
Hi! Thank you for the very informative article. This might be a silly question, but is it possible to use Bluehost on an already existing WordPress site? I have a blog and a portfolio that I want to make more professional. Thanks! Annetjie
yes it is!
Wow. I love your pictures! I’m thankful you share your favorite places so freely with information about how to have similar experiences! Thanks for sharing it.
Definitely used this to get started on my own – http://mehndidesignvideos.blogspot.com Thanks for the advice.
hello, some great advice, huge fan Johnny! Ive started a blog any advice from anyone on getting traffic?
https://mrpaulblog.com/2016/08/24/jet-lag/
Thanks for this post! It’s really informative. Almost all the questions I have in mind are answered and all the more I am inspired to work on my blog. I do have a wordpress blog, which I have not touched for a year now, but I would very much like to work on. I dream of travelling and making money, so, yep, wish me luck! 🙂
Thanks for writing the informative article
Hi,
It’s a great and impressive article, you did a great job
Thank you
Hi Johnny, thanks for the great post very helpful. I was just wondering whether you would still choose the the ‘basic’ plan on bluehost as they’ve changed the plan slightly.
Thank you, Lily
yup, still basic 🙂
Thanks for sharing such a comprehensive guide. Wish I’d such a helpful content when I started my blog
http://thetravelingengineer.com/
Though I don’t plan to monetize the blog any time soon, I find your tips regarding making money from the blog helpful.
Keep all those cool blogs and pictures coming! Happy travels!
Johnny, I just do the same thing by launching my own blog http://www.bahtiyar-world.com
Hello, thanks for a great post. I would also like to add something. We should keep in mind that there are loads of people who want to start a travel blog, however, they are not able to start traveling. It is necessary to understand that launching a travel blog without traveling is absolutely possible. You do not necessarily need to travel in order to start a travel blog. There are many options to launch a travel blog.
Thank you, Johnny. By the way, your travel blog really deserves to be called “the best travel blog”. It looks truly gorgeous! Good luck! Wish you new levels of success!
Awesome post! I think I read this post in March when you released it and I’ve been working hard on my blog since. 6 months later I’ve finally started to build a small audience, it’s a great feeling! http://www.retiredofitall.com/
thanks mate!
Your site is amazing, except for the 4. kidding. Well this is rather inspiring, Ive been trying to make my own site as well and im half way thru it. Im actually in the stage of building reliable material for my site. Anyhow, See you on Philippines if ever you are headed here!
Hey, great post. I guess the biggest question for me would be how did you get people to come to your site initially and grow your audience?
Hi Johnny,
thank you very much for sharing this amazing content with the world! I found your article very helpful, but I still have one question which is related to setting up a blog in my mind. If I go online with my website/starting my own blog/ et cetera… how can I make sure that I don’t contravene any rights of other companys. Is it legal to recommend products from apple for instance or name other prodcuts and companys which I like or prefer in general? What is about rights/trademark rights? How can I make sure that my content I want to share belongs to me after I shared this?
As you can see I’m interested very much in the whole law topic. Do you have some advice for us to share?
Thank you very much and greetings from Hamburg!
Sam
Did you have to register a company initially or later on only?
later mate
Thanks for the advice. I hope it could help. 🙂
Actually, you can buy the domain onestepforward.com and have it redirect to your current onestep4ward.com without actually changing it. It will help with your Step 1 B problem.
the only problem is it costs 39888 US$ http://www.domainmarket.com/buynow/onestepforward.com
Contact your city government to find out about hazardous waste disposal options.
Thank you sooo much! I’m definitely going to use your advice to hopefully start a blog. The hardest part is choosing a name!
Hi Johnny,
Thank you for your valuable information, it’s very useful for me even I’m a computer science student who supposed to be familiar with the tech stuff. I had thought about which hosting service would be the best choice, I think I will choose Bluehost now because it is a winner as you said. XD
May you also share your experiences on how hiring people as your staff to help expand your business? It sounds very intelligent.
Best Wishes!
Definitely used this to get started on my own – http://www.expatdennis.com. Thanks for the advice.
I didn’t understand about it please tell me what is it?is it for people who already are travelling around the world or also helpfull for those who want to travel around the world and want to make career?
My name is Mrs Bridget Biel.I am living in Juba,South Sudan, and i am a happy woman today? and i told my self that any lender that rescue my family from our poor situation, i will refer any person that is looking for loan to him, he gave me happiness to me and my family, i was in need of a loan of $100,000.00 to start my life all over as i am a single mother with two kids I met this honest and GOD fearing man loan lender that help me with a loan of $100,000.00 he is a GOD fearing man, if you are in need of loan and you will pay back the loan please contact him tell him that is Mrs Bridget Biel, that refer you to him. contact Dr Ousman,via email:(kumaresaneasyloan@mail.com) Thank you
Thank a lot buds. This is a perfect guide for me and for everyone.
hey johnny i have just stumbled upon your blog whilst trying to research a roadtrip through africa. love your blog its super interesting. Very similar to you, I have self funded 5 years of travel through WHV in canada australia and japan (im from the uk), saving hard while working then making that money last on 2-3 month backpacking/ roads trips through usa central america and asia. I have met people on the road that have always asked “whats your blog” to know how I did it. I have never had one as I, my self don’t use them (until i found yours), and wasn’t that aware that people used them etc. I’m considering starting but i’m not sure about content, i cant remember details like money, bus times and where I stayed, but I have my stories and adventures and tips that I have shared with heaps of people on the road. would writing up stuff i did almost 4 years ago or even 2 have value and relevance. Like I say, I dont read many blogs so im not really sure what people are looking for 🙂 any help or advice would be grand.
Hey Johnny!
I’m having trouble with the first step, thinking of a name. Every travel related name I think of is already taken, I did have a good thought of calling it ‘whalesharksleeping.com’ I think this would be something people could remember and it is a joke which I picked up along my travels. I’m also a SCUBA instructor so it kind of makes sense. I’m not sure it sounds travel related at all, do you think this would be problem?
Hope to hear from you
Screenshot of websites is the way to go! Starting a blog couldn’t be explained any simpler. I hope to start blogging soon. I already “googled” about these domain,web hosting,SEO stuff but i did not understand it clearly until I read your blog. Thank you for this techdummy-friendly post. Kind regards and happy travels!
Sorry for possibly repeating a question that may have been asked before, but what do you mean when talking about buying blogs? And how do you do that? Many thanks.
Same question here. That’s what I really can’t get my head around.
Hi Johnny,
Great aritcle…..I see I’ve been made a mistake blogging on blogger. Your sense of intuition is quite high…”OK, So how much money can I make from a travel blog?” is a question that would be on an aspiring “Johnny Ward’s” mind.
Thanks for sharing! It’s a great article. I have been blogging for a year now and I could not get through the traffic. My post doesn’t seem to exist at all in Google search but your blog inspire me. Guess I need to work harder. Thanks Johnny!
-ray- http://www.travlestory.com/
Thanks for the comprehensive list. As a new travel blogger this was great to see where I can improve. I love all of these tip articles and really appreciate you writing this.
Hey I just thought of something, If I pay a little money for my own space on the web, though small, it’s still a recurring payment? Sounds great but if I die and then can’t pay it. my site would would be deleted??
but if I had a free wordpress or blogger, then if I died. It wouldn’t be taken down next year because it’s free and people could still happen upon something that I created on the public web.
So, If you die in the future what would become of this website? would other people pay for the hosting, just to keep it up? Even though there would be no new post, there’s plenty of great old ones for possibly even future generations to discover.
I have been putting off getting my blog started for ages because I didn’t comprehend how do just do these little things and thanks to you, I’m on my way. Our lifestyle is a blessed life- I’m excited to share the little I know. Thanks again for a perfect, HELPFUL, and easy to follow article.
Hi Johnny – you’re truly an inspiration and I wish I had read something like this 10 – 15 years ago! Although, I have to say, my “desk job” has afforded me to do a lot of traveling and live a lifestyle that I love…I envy the life that you live. First and foremost, congratulations on all of your accomplishments and thank you for sharing your experiences with us! This post had me going back to your blog beginning. What adventures! Secondly, you’ve encouraged me to start my own blog (as you have for many, it seems, posted above – another awesome accomplishment!)! In following your instructions, I’ve created my blog space however, I have a question. In your instructions about plug ins / widgets you list free options to download. I am unclear as to how to do that. I looked on BlueHost under the plug ins and extensions and they all seem to cost money. You mentioned free options that work well for you. Am I missing where to do that? My blog is http://www.4points5senses.com. I literally just created it, so it is vanilla. Looking forward to building it out and following many of your tips and tricks!
Thanks again for your expertise and sharing your stories!
Go to wordpress.org and search there for free stuff.
Hey amigo!! I am planning on starting my blog which will probably be a combination of my travel experiences, future plans, and perhaps teach Spanish if people are interested in the language along with making the blog in two languages. With what you posted, I have some questions. So you really cannot make money when your blog has .wordpress.com and it needs to have a host to begin to eventually start making money? Also is there an importance on whether you choose .com, .net, or even .org for your domain name? How do you acquire more blogs? Did you purchase them from other people? Did you also personally make more than one blogs?? Thanks for sharing the info it was overall really helpful. Hope your weekend was awesome!
Trying to explain a travel bog set up or advertise blue host?
Johnny! You’re brilliant. This is very inspirational! I’ve just started travelreverie.com which I hope it to end up as a Vice styled travel-info blog and am unsure of whether it will be successful but no point doing anything but trying my best! I do need some help though, I have spent hours researching to answer a question that must be too simple to find on the web: I paid for my domain through WordPress and it’s .com. According to forums, wordpress.org needs a host and wordpress.com has a host? I just chose to make it travelreverie.com so do I have a host or do I need a host?
Cheers buddy, keep up the incredible work, you’re an inspiration.
Sam 🙂
What helpfull post, now I want to try this blogging stuff, not only for travel, my ideas are exploding now
Hey Johnny,
You said that “I expanded aggressively and bought more and more blogs, which in the end made me more than a million dollars.”
Could you mind share how purchasing the blogs make more moneys? Thanks!
If u have an advertiser coming to u for one site, u can upsell him to two sites, or twenty sites = twenty times the revenue, minus a little discount 🙂
a very interesting and inspiring post that i have ever read.thank you so so so much johnny.you know johnny i’m so exited and eager to start blogging.but there is one thing which holds me back from getting in to blogging.you know i am from Ethiopia and i don’t have a credit card to pay for blue host.so how can i do that??!i hope you will point me the way!!!thank you!
You’ll need to borrow a friends buddy, it’s impossible without a debit or credit card
its funny though, you have a siteground advertisement! 🙂
what do you mean?
They are probably getting an ad served based on cookies (your saved history) from previously visited website…so siteground ad will be displayed if i’ve visited siteground. For me, I got a random insurance ad as I have been shopping for insurance.
Thank you so much for most important rules for a perfect travel blog write and its a very helpful and easy to follow one by one . If any people want to write on travel blog then your blog is really helpful for him/her.
Hey Johnny!
Huge thank you for the email. I wanted to thank you for all this amazing info (free of charge) 🙂 I am finally chasing my dream , my passion ….Travel . I am currently taking courses to gain knowledge to be a Travel Counselor. Soon i will be running my own business 🙂 as a Independent Travel Agent. Im very excited! I specialize in Honeymoons & Wedding Destinations. Being independent with no 9-5 is great. I have ran my own salon for 6 years and love the freedom but now its time to TRAVEL!!!!! I reseached travel blogging awhile back and it has stuck with me I love writting! SO after coming across onestep4ward, It has added fuel to my fire LOL. I do have a question, can I use my travel business name for my blog? or something similar to it?
for sure u can mate, no probs there 🙂
Hi Johnny!
It’s funny because I was actually looking into starting a travel blog yesterday and then I said forget it, and then I get your email to this article this morning. I have to say, thank you for publishing such an in depth review of how to go about this. It’s painful for me that I actually bought an ebook that said everything you said from another travel blogger. I really want to start a travel blog, but honestly the only thing holding me back is that people may steal my pictures and say they are their own. How do you prevent something like this?
watermark it, it’s all u can do :S Let me know if u need help with starting ur blog tho 🙂
Hi Johnny,
Would you recommanded to write the articles with I went…. and I….. or in a more neutral style? Does people want information about the place the will visit or did they want to know the story of the author? I can’t i can’t figure out which’s the best writing style.
Thanks for sharing with us you experience
Regards
at the start people want help alone, because they don’t know you. As you build an audience, then you can mix it up 🙂
I’ll start from my own country… India..
You said you have hundreds of blogs… What exactly do you mean by that? And is that why/how you make money?
i mean i own loads of blogs 🙂 they have writers creating content, and i make money selling advertising on them 🙂
Hi Johnny, great step my step article – I have had my travel blog a while (5 years or so) however it has been dormant for at least two as I have had no time to write (and I was treating it more as a hobby), however my circumstances have changed and I have started writing again. I would love an article on actually getting people to read your blog, find your blog, build a regular readership. I am not sure whether I should try and use paid advertising i.e google adwords / facebook to draw more people to my blog – what would you recommend or is it just about consistently posting / good seo / social media engagement?
Social media to start, and posting on other people’s blog, also try to get published in major publications, perhaps even for free 🙂
Hey Johnny. Love your blog, very interesting and inspiring! I was wondering whats your opinion of blogging about past travels? In my previous job 3 years ago i visited 40 countries. However i have bein home and settled since, do you think its something people would find interesting as i wont be able to leave my job and go travelling just yet as much as i would love that.
Absolutely you can do that Chloe, remember the information you publish will be found on the internet forever, so whatever I publish today will be out of date in six months anyway, so for sure you can blog about past travels 🙂
Thanks man!!! I couldn’t ask anything better…a lot of usefull and clear information!! Now I just have to get it started and make it real!!
good luck bro, u can do it 🙂
Many many thanks for sharing with us these valuable tips! They are very descriptive, it´ll be of great help!
thanks for reading Patricia, hope it helps 🙂
Hey Johnny! Does using a Macbook as a means for blogging is an advantage? Or Windows OS Laptop will do?
Anything that you’re comfortable with is fine George, Windows is fine, personally I prefer Mac tho 🙂
Hey Johnny, thanks for the full guide to start blogging. When did you start getting your first money in your blog and how?
I hope you can complete 196 countries this year! And after that? Any plan?
Ruben
That’s the plan 🙂 First money? Maybe nine months in or so, it was a sponsored post 🙂
Hi ! can you please tell who gave you support in creating your custom theme in wordpress? how much roughly should I spend for a wordpress theme customization ? Should I rely on companies or freelancers? Thx
You can use a free theme if you want, or pay for a premium theme. Or you can hire a designer, freelance or a company – it’s up to you, freelancers are cheaper but you don’t know what you’re getting 🙂 Let me know if you need any help 🙂
Hi, Could you please advise how I can choose the topics of my blog. What should I tell the audience.
Is it really necessary to travel place to place to to find the topic and write the blog.
Tell them your experiences buddy, your feelings, your opinions 🙂 The topics? Choose what you care about most 🙂
Good article for getting it going but where I have hit a dead end is really understanding and utilizing SEO. It seems there are a million angles to go at it from, where do you recommend starting? Is there an online resource you find particularly helpful or useful? I try and research at least 30-60 minutes a day but all I ever get is very vague information on the technical, and in my opinion most cirticial, side of blogging.
SEO is important of course CJ, but it’s really not the ‘be all and end all’, I blogged for two years, ranking well without even understanding what it stood for. Focus on building your social media and writing engaging, sharable content, that will take care of all your SEO needs – then of course keep learning as you go 🙂
What a really great and thorough article. I just recently set up my own blog and I I chose to go with Hostgator as many people recommended. I wish I had known about BlueHost as their customer service seems much better. The several times I’ve had to call HG I’ve had hold times of an hour or more each time. I would appreciate if you have the time to have a look at my blog and if you have any input/suggestions/criticisms I would love to hear them. Thanks so much and safe travels! http://www.foodieflashpacker.com
Yeah mate, I had the same problem with those guys, BlueHost are the best – the live chat is awesome. Your site looks good mate, but i’d consider buying a premium theme to be honest, just to give it a little extra kick and stand out a little more
Thank you! Any that you would recommend specifically for that type of blog? That’s the Magazine Pro theme that I purchased from Studiopress.
maybe customise it a bit, still looks too much like a standard wordpress blog
Thanks for the great tips! I started a blog and havent been active for a while. Your article gave me a boost to continue what i started. 🙂 One question, I have a wordpress account & have posted a few articles, can I buy my domain name via bluehost and use my WordPress account name? So not to loose the contents.
Hey Danielle, what’s your website? Send me a message on my facebook.com/onestep4ward page and I’ll help u out 🙂
Excellent article, Johnny. Thanks for the tips and FAQs, very appreciated. Blog is on its way, now to learn how to work in Word Press, seems super techy! I can’t even customize the theme I have chosen. 🙂
thanks Vlasta, glad it helped. Let me know if you want my guys at step4wardmedia.com to help you 🙂
Awesome Tips 🙂
Thanks Megan 🙂
Thanks for sharing! Brilliant advice – first thing I have to do then is change my host from wordpress!
What do you mean Heather? WordPress isn’t a host :S
WOW! That’s so comprehensive and well explained! Wish i had this as a guide when I started! it ould’ve given me more confidence!
I’m still new though, so I can use a lot of your tips still!
Thanks for taking the time to do this!
Keep travelling!
Thanks buddy, wish I had something like it when I started too! But it’s a great first step for any people who wanna start blogging too, hope it helps 🙂