Travel Blogging: 23 Things To Consider Based On Top Online Searches
From the surface, it might seem that being a travel blogger is one of the best career decision a person could do. Who wouldn’t like a life being paid to travel to exciting places?But maintaining a travel vlog or travel blog writing is one of the most expensive blogging business to be in. You need to spend money on travel and expensive travel vlog equipment like high end cameras.
Travel blogging for beginners is especially very difficult considering that there are already so many aspiring bloggers who have created a travel blog, tourism blog or a travel photography blog.
Here are a few things you need to consider and do if you are starting a travel blog:
Note: This research was based on WordStream’s Top 44 US based keywords related to travel blogging and on being a travel blogger.
23 Things To Consider:
1. Travel Blogging Statistics2. Do You Have The Time To Do Travel Blogging?
3. Do You Have The Money To Do Travel Blogging?
4. Are You A Travel Blogger Or Just A Traveler?
5. Can You Beat The Best Travel Blogs, best travel vlog, top travel blogs?
6. Women Travel Blogs
7. Solo travel blog
8. Backpacker blog
9. Couple Travels Blog
10. Family Travel Blog
11. Luxury Travels Worldwide
12. Adventure Travel And Adventure Blog
13. Bucket list travel world
14. Naming a travel vlog
15. Best travel hack
16. Travel Blogging Equipment
17. Travel Blogging Software
18. Online Travel Journal or Travel Apps
19. Travel Accessories
20. Travel Documents
21. Top Vacation Spots Actually Being Searched Online
22. Monetizing Your Travel Blog
23. Travel Blogger Salary
Final Words
The Details:
1. Travel Blogging Statistics
1.1 The majority of travel bloggers never profit from their blog. 59% give up as early as after the first year.1.2 Digital travel grew by double digits each year for the last three years. Search terms for travel are up 70% on Google.
1.3 Travel bloggers on average earn $5,000/month.
1.4 Long-tail keywords of over 2,500 word length posts are most likely to rank well on Google.
1.5 Digital travel content is growing by double-digits each year. (Expedia Group)
1.6 USD 200 is the average sponsored post rate for travel bloggers. (Optin Monster)
1.7 Ads revenue is the main source of income for 94% of travel blogs. (Optin Monster)
1.8 Users only spend an average of 1 minute and 45 seconds on a travel blog. (Similar Web)
1.9 75% of readers leave a travel blog site after only reading one page. (Similar Web)
1.10 Up to 59% of travel bloggers own another blog. (Optin Monster)
1.11 Travel is one of the top 5 blog niches. (Semrush)
Based on these statistics especially the attrition and income figures, we can see that making money from your travel blog is difficult and not many make money from travel blogging.
These statistics should remind you that travel blogging is a business which requires financial capital to start and a certain level of actual income to sustain itself.
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2. Do You Have The Time To Do Travel Blogging?
As the name implies, you need to do traveling either locally or internationally. Do you have the time? Creating your vacation blog can be fun but not when you’re spending a lot of working hours trying to profit from it.
Creating a travel blog means you have to travel, write blog, edit your blog, edit images or videos, and even prepare a YouTube video or podcast. All these take a lot of time which you may not have a lot of if you are also holding a job.
If you have assistants and freelancers you could do it but you need to spend money to pay for their services.
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3. Do You Have The Money To Do Travel Blogging?
Traveling can be very expensive especially international travel. If you are the kind of person who is barely making ends meet, perhaps travel blogging might not be for you yet.
Besides travel tickets, dining outdoors and accommodations, you would also need travel vlog equipment like high end cameras.
You might also need the services of assistants and freelancers like a tourist guide or a tour guide. You might also have to pay for car rental, boat rental and plane rental. You might also need to pay the driver of the vehicle.
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4. Are You A Travel Blogger Or Just A Traveler?
Do you want to travel but don’t have the money? Maybe you should get a higher paying job which could even be your dream job and travel rather than being a travel blogger alone.
Maybe you want to share your travels but not as a full time travel blogger. In this case, you would find it hard to earn money from your travel blog. Don’t invest a lot of money in your travel blog unless you are sure you want to make a full time business out of it.
Perhaps you just want to blog about travel destinations without traveling? Yes, you can. But don’t create personal travel blogs without actually traveling. Make it clear to your blog readers that you haven’t actually visited the travel destinations you are blogging about.
Note: Google can penalize you if they found out that you blog about a travel destination you supposedly visited but in reality you have not.
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5. Can You Beat The Best Travel Blogs, Best Travel Vlog or Top Travel Blogs?
Google Search, YouTube and Social Media are full of established bloggers which travel blog readers and watchers can easily choose from.
Just type the keywords: “best travel blogs”, “best travel vlog, “top travel blogs” and so on. Read a couple of these travel blogs and you would immediately see just how tough is the business of travel blogging.
Only the highest ranked travel blogs in Google make a lot of money. Can you beat these popular travel blogs which also happens to be the list of travel blogs to read according to Google?:
Alex in Wanderland
Be My Travel Muse
Bemused Backpacker
Breathedreamgo
Expert Vagabond
Goats On The Road
Hand Luggage Only
Hey Ciara
Hey Nadine
Honey Trek
Legal Nomads
Never Ending Footsteps
Nomad Revelations
Nomadic Matt
One Mile At A Time
The Blonde Abroad
The Poor Traveler
Travels Of Adam
Two Monkeys Travel
Uncornered Market
View From The Wing
Wandering Earl
All of these travel blogs have been recommended by other top traveller bloggers. Ask yourself now, can my travel blog be so good one day that other established travel bloggers would also recommend me?
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6. Women Travel Blogs or Female Travel Blogs
Women travel bloggers are one of the top search keywords in Google. Even in the travel blogs listed previously, a lot of them are from women travel bloggers.
This is good if you’re a woman. It is no mistake that although women spend less than men, they are the ones who mostly make the financial decision in relationships. You, as a female travel blogger can capitalize on this.
Here are a few top women travel blogs:
A Dangerous Business- Amanda Williams
Adventurous Kate- Kate McCulley
Alex in Wanderland-Alexandra Baackes Bucket List Journey- Annette White
Globetrotter Girls- Dani Heinrich
Hey Nadine- Nadine Sykora
Otts World- Sherry Ott
Runaway Juno- Juno Kim
The Blonde Abroad- Kiersten Rich
Young Adventuress- Liz Carlson
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7. Solo Travel Blog
The keyword “solo travel blog” is also well searched online. The word “solo travel” is prominently placed in the domain name and blog title and is frequently mentioned in the articles of the top blogs.
A more specific but related keyword “solo female travel blog" is also well searched online. Again, this highlights the significant influence of women in the travel blogging industry.
For example, a top website in the solo travel blog niche is from Solo Traveler (solotravelerworld.com). As you can see the domain name and the name of the website has the “solo traveler” keyword in it.
Most of the article titles in the website also contain the “solo traveler” keyword. As you can see, the website specifically caters to the “solo traveler” keyword niche.
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8. Backpacker Blog
Backpackers are a specialized type of traveler. Backpackers are usually characterized as young, not really financially well off travelers who travel from place to place for long periods of time.
Just like travel bloggers who double down on the “solo travel” keyword, The “backpacker” keyword is used by the top backpacker bloggers in their domain name, website name, and is sprinkled throughout their article name and contents:
Just look at some of the domain name and title of these top “backpacker” blogging niches:
Backpackers Wanderlust (backpackerswanderlust.com)
German Backpacker (germanbackpacker.com)
Nomadic Backpacker (nomadicbackpacker.com)
Tales Of A Backpacker (talesofabackpacker.com)
That Backpacker (thatbackpacker.com)
The Broke Backpacker (thebrokebackpacker.com)
The Savvy Backpacker (thesavvybackpacker.com)
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9. Couple Travels Blog and Travel Posts
Couples travel are also a niche in the travel blogging industry. The two keywords that are targeted by the travel bloggers are “couple” or “couples” and “travel”.
Although there are thousands of monthly searches online, I found not much websites whose domain name and/or website name has the word “couple”. However, there are plenty of travel bloggers who have blogs about couple travels.
This could mean that couple travel blogs as a travel niche isn’t yet that famous because there are not many travel bloggers yet who are fully dedicating their blogs to it.
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10. Family Travel Blog
If you want to combine your professional and family life together, then a family travel blog could be a good travel blogging option for you. Just like couple travels blog, not many bloggers use the word "family" in their domain name and/or website name.
However the keyword "family travel blog" features prominently in many of the top travel blogger’s titles and are also sprinkled throughout their blog’s contents.
Though not as profitable as a single person travel blog, a family travel blog can still make you a millionaire. For example, the family travel blog: It's A Lovely LIFE earns in excess of a million dollars per year after business expenses.
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11. Luxury Travels Worldwide Blogs
With the standard of living of many people worldwide increasing. Luxury travels worldwide is also increasing. The Luxury travel industry is expected to reach about USD 3 trillion by 2032.
Also, the average luxury traveler travels 25% more than the common traveler.
For example, The Luxury Travel Expert has a very popular luxury travel blog and YouTube Channel. The YouTube channel’s yearly ad revenue alone is worth nearly USD 100,000 as of the time of writing this article.
This travel niche is getting so popular that there are entire travel blog websites that have been adding the keywords “luxury” and travel in their domain name and website name.
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12. Adventure Travel And Adventure Blog
“Adventure” is a popular keyword in the travel blog industry. There are even travel bloggers who add the word to their domain name and website name. Of course, the word “adventure” is heavily sprinkled in their article names and article content.
In fact, a lot of travel bloggers like to identify themselves as ”adventurer” which is a very appealing word because almost everyone wants to have an adventure.
However, adventure travel as a keyword attracts more online searches rather than adventure blog. This is why it is advised that you use the adventure travel keyword instead.
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13. Bucket list travel world
While not as popular as the other travel blog keywords, “bucket list travel” does attract more than a hundred searches per month. But don’t let this fool you. There is good competition for the keyword.
This means that although travel bloggers are not naming their blog domain name and website name to something like bucket list travel, many of them are writing plenty of articles with the words ”bucket list” and travel repeated over and over.
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14. Naming a Travel Blog
Many aspiring travel bloggers are searching for tips on how to name their travel blog. In fact, if you searched the keyword: how to name a travel blog, you would usually see a generic article with tips on how to name a travel blog which applies to other blog niches as well.
For the most part, most of the articles online would also give a list of suggested names for a travel blog. This shows how much this topic has been well covered already. Making one yourself as a new blogger can be an uphill battle.
However, there are still tried and true tips in naming a travel blog. If you’re targeting “digital nomads”, then it just makes sense to have the keywords “digital nomad” in your domain name, website name, article name & contents.
Another popular keyword for travel bloggers is “Wanderlust”. This is why ”Wanderlust Blog” themed travel blog domain names and website names are popular.
So, if you are planning to use these two keyword terms, think again. There are already many established travel blogs with the “Nomad” and “Wanderlust" themed domain names and website names.
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15. Best travel hack
The keyword “hack” is a very popular keyword. This includes the travel industry. There are thousands of monthly searches for the “travel hack” keyword. This is because people love getting supposedly “insider information”.
If you want to create articles dedicated to travel hack, then you must create a list of travel hack. Travel hack lists are the top articles in Google regarding the keyword “travel hack”.
Although a lot of travel bloggers have already covered the subject comprehensively, it still pays to create travel hack list articles just to establish your authoritativeness as a travel blogger.
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16. Basic Travel blogging equipment
16.1 Almost everyone in the world owns a Smartphone these days even young children. Also, YouTube doesn’t only have a video upload feature but also a video creation feature. You cannot complain that you don’t have any equipment for travel blogging.
16.2 You can also invest in a Smartphone Gimbal Stabilizer which improves the cinematography of your travel video and travel image. Nowadays, you can’t be called a professional blogger without owning a smartphone gimbal stabilizer.
16.3 Even though smartphones have apps now that allow you to edit your videos and images to make them better, nothing still beats laptops except iPads in terms of video editing, image editing, word processing, spreadsheets and so on.
16.4 Many technology experts claim that unless you are into high end photography, you shouldn’t buy cameras anymore especially DLSR cameras. You should instead buy a smartphone with superior cameras and invest in photography accessories.
15.5 Investing in a high end microphone is especially important if you are travel vlogging or podcasting.
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17. Travel Blogging Software
17.1 You need a good Image Editor and Video editor when producing your travel content. Your images and videos of exciting travel destinations is what drives your audience to travel.
17.2 You need a Word Processor to create your text content. This shouldn’t be a problem since many software companies offer free word processor softwares and apps.
17.3 Word processors already have Sentence Checkers but premium software by the likes of Grammarly can really elevate the quality of your text content.
17.4 You need Stock Photos. Free Stock Photos sites like Pixabay should provide most of your needs. But if you need really high quality and specific photos, you should invest in premium stock photos site like Shutterstock.
17.5 You need Stock Sounds or Stock Audio as well. Pixabay also provides free music and sound effects which should suffice until you need more tailored music and sound effects from premium providers.
17.6 Spreadsheets come into play when you’re creating charts and tables which greatly enhances the visual appeal of your travel blog. You would also need it if your doing accounting for your business.
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18. Online Travel Journal or Travel Apps
There are many free, freemium and subscription based online travel journal apps for both travelers and travel bloggers. Though they are useful, online monthly searches of them barely break over a hundred.
However, if you want to establish your authoritativeness as a travel blogger, you should at least make a few articles about online travel journals.
Another thing you need to consider is that plenty of travel bloggers are already covering the subject.
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19. Travel Accessories
Travelers and travel bloggers need travel clothes, toiletries, food and other things when they travel. These are products you can sell in your blog. In fact, there are several thousands of searches done online for such items.
Big sellers are travel bags, travel backpacks, luggage and similar items. There are over a hundred thousand online searches per month for them. You can make good money if you sell or promote them in your travel blog.
Depending on your location and the travel destinations you are going to, you might need to buy or rent a truck, car, motorcycle or even just a bicycle to reach your destination. You could also need a boat or a plane. You can sell and promote these vehicles and services as well.
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20. Travel Documents
As a travel blogger and even just a traveler, you would certainly need almost all of these travel documents: Passport, Visa, Medical Examination, Travel insurance and Airplane tickets.
But you can make money from them as well. You can promote companies that process these travel documents as a service.
In fact, there are several hundred thousands of online searches each month for these travel documents. It could be a lucrative source of income for your travel blog considering that some affiliate programs offer up to 50% commission on sales.
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21. Top Vacation Spots Actually Being Searched Online
As of the time of this writing, which is April 2023. These are the most searched area specific travel blogs:
20.1 Greek Travel Blogs
20.2 Japanese Travel Blogs
20.3 Travel Blog US or USA
20.4 European Travel Blogs- More specifically: Travel Blog Barcelona and Travel Blog Venice
As a travel blogger, you should learn how to search for the top searched keywords in Google and YouTube instead of just travel blogging randomly. You could start using Google Trends and free keyword research tools.
For example, you could type the keyword: top vacation spots being searched online to get an idea of actual travel destinations being searched online.
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22. Monetizing your Travel Blog
You can monetize your travel blog via displaying ads from ad networks and affiliate networks. You can also sell sponsored content and product placements on your travel blog.
You can also sell digital products and merchandise in your travel blog. You can also sell digital courses as well as face to face tutoring.
You can also sell subscriptions and newsletter content to your followers.
You could also license the contents of your travel blog and even sell your travel website.
I have a more detailed article regarding how to monetize your travel blog which is essentially similar to website monetization: How To Make Money From Your Website: 11 Most Common Ways.
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23. Travel Blogger Salary
Here is a sampling of how much some successful travel bloggers earn:
It's A Lovely LIFE- Heather Delaney Reese- USD 2,233,236.40/year as of 2019
TWO Wandering Soles,- Katie and Ben Zweber- Around 24,000/month
Local Adventurer- Esther JuLee and Jacob Fu- USD 302,940/year as of 2019
Club Thrifty- Greg and Holly Johnson- USD 22,000/month
Goats On The Road- Nick Wharton and Dariece Swift- USD 20,000/month
The Planet D-USD 17,000/month
A Dangerous Business- Amanda Williams- USD 15,000/month - 2020
Wandering Earl-Derek Baron- USD 12,000/month
Practical Wanderlust- USD 10,000+/month
The Travel Hack- Monica Lucy- USD 10,000/month
Two Monkeys Travel- USD 10,000 to 15,000/month
Living The Dream- USD 6,500-12,000
There are other traveler bloggers who are reported to earn more than a million dollars each year but don’t publicly give out their earnings figure.
As you can see, just like any business, if you are lucky enough to be at the top of your game, you would earn a lot of money. You can even become a millionaire.
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Final Words
Think carefully if you truly want to become a travel blogger. You might have the time and money to be a travel blogger but you might be more interested in enjoying your travels and not travel blogging about it.
If you think travel blogging is for you, you can select a “personality” you want to promote in your travel blog. You can be a solo, woman, backpacker, couple, family, luxury and an adventurer type travel blogger.
As you can see, travel blogging just like all businesses is already a saturated industry. But should you make it, you would have the opportunity to actually be paid well by just traveling.
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