Travel blogging is awesome.

It’s creative, therapeutic, and entrepreneurial. It provides value to the world and holds the alluring promise of passive income.

But it isn’t easy!

Well, correction, starting a blog is easy.

Anybody can fumble together a post on a given topic and publish it on a website.

The difficulty lays in turning your travel blog ideas into a success.

I mean, 4 million new blog posts get published online every single day!

Standing out from that immense crowd and establishing a thriving blog that drives traffic and generates income is no mean feat.

So, I wanted to put something together to help anybody embarking on their blogging journey.

I decided to compile all the travel blog ideas and tips I wish I’d had from the start.

It turned into a monster:

100 essential suggestions that should streamline your path to blog success and help you avoid costly mistakes along the way.

Sound good? Check out the travel blog ideas and tips below! 🙂

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Heads up, this post contains affiliate links.

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100 Travel Blog Ideas for Cultivating Blog Success

Here we go: 100 tips and suggestions to grow your travel blog and make it a success.

Heads up, you might also like this post about the life of a blogger.

1. Get Started!

Dream of being a successful travel blogger?

Then, sooner or later, you’ve got to make it happen.

Too many people let their dreams stay in their heads. Don’t be one of them!

To paraphrase Lao Tzu, ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’.

So get excited! Step boldly into the coming adventure and take action- no matter how small it might be. Get the ball rolling and who knows where you’ll end up.

2. Define/Realise Your ‘Why’

Your first step could be figuring out your ‘why’.

I think this is vital.

Ask yourself why you want to start a travel blog. Is it to have a creative outlet? To forge a better life? To record your travels and provide value for others?

Maybe it’s to earn mega-bucks! Or, perhaps, to generate passive income and escape the rat race.

There’s a rollercoaster ride ahead of you whatever your intent. Knowing why you want to be on it will help you weather the storm and keep at it.

3. Decide a Niche

Figure out what type of travel blog you want to run.

Remember, there are already a million travel blogs out there. Selecting a category within a category within a category will be beneficial.

The narrower you go, the more chance you have of standing out and attracting a loyal following.

For instance, you could write an adventure travel blog for retired people living in Alaska. There aren’t many of those out there! And that’s good news.

4. Set Your Blog/Business Goals

• What do you want to achieve with your blog?
• When do you want to achieve it?
• Where will you be in 12 months’ time?

Set some realistic, achievable, time-constrained goals pertaining to traffic and income. They’ll be your north star as you proceed down the road ahead.

Orient your endeavors around those goals and refer back to them over time to see how you’re getting on.

Heads up, you might like this list of travel slogans for bloggers and businesses!

5. Treat It as a Business From Day 1

Looking to monetize your blog?

Well, you need to treat it like a business from the word go. That means prioritizing your efforts around generating income and turning a profit.

That intention will feed its way into all forthcoming blog-related decision-making.

Everything from the blog posts you write to who you write them for will be affected.

6. Formulate a Business Plan

Now you’re treating this like a business, it’s time to create a business plan!

This is about looking at your goals and planning how you’ll achieve them.

Research the industry, think about your audience (more on this coming up), realize potential obstacles in your way, consider your income streams, how you’ll market the blog, and so on.

Write everything down to refer back to as you go.

7. Consider the Side Hustle Approach First

I know what it’s like.

You get started on a blog, you’re super excited, and it’s all you can think about. You rush head-first into it and consider quitting your job to apply more time to it.

I’d caution against that if you’re starting from scratch.

You can expect it to take up to a year before you start seeing headway! If you lack the funds to tide you over that long, then working on the blog alongside a current job makes more financial sense.

Wait until you start making enough money from the blog before you jump in with both feet.

8. Tell People What You’re Going to Do

Definitely tell people what you’re planning, though (apart from your boss!).

Let your friends and family know about your new blog and where you want it to go.

Doing so will apply a level of social pressure on actually making it happen. After all, it makes any possible failure ahead public.

In order to avoid that eventuality, you’re more likely to apply yourself to the task.

9. Ignore the Nay-Sayers

You’re going to get some people who think you’re crazy.

Some might even try and talk you out of it.

Don’t listen to them. At the end of the day, this is something you’re passionate about. Drown out the voices of uncertainty (inside and out) and get cracking.

10. Get a Decent Computer

Oh, and get yourself a good computer too.

It’ll make an enormous difference to the old, slow, and prone-to-crashing one that’s currently on your desk.

You’re going to be creating content and publishing it online. That calls for good memory and fast processing speeds.

See this a new computer as an investment (and a business expense!). It’ll more than pay for itself in terms of both practicality and enjoyment.

Heads up, you might also like this post about adjectives starting with N!

11. Pick a Monetization Strategy

Decide early on how you intend to monetize your travel blog.

You’ve got a host of options available.

The two most common are affiliate marketing and advertising. However, you can also sell your own products, partner with brands in exchange for products/services/trips, and host sponsored posts.

Most bloggers do some combination of the lot! I could write an entire post on this. Research the options above to see what takes your fancy.

Doing this at the early stages of blog development helps you set yourself up for success. You can orient your efforts in line with the particular monetization strategy in question.

12. Define Your Audience

Your audience relates strongly to the niche you’ve decided to pursue.

It’s suuuper important that you understand them off the bat.

Ask yourself, who is your blog for? Who’s going to read your articles? And why would they come to your blog over the others on the internet?

13. Create a Buyer Persona

This tip relates to the last.

You need to get specific with your audience definition. But how can you know your audience if you don’t have one yet?

Two words: buyer personas.

Sit down and imagine your target user. Picture them in your mind’s eye.

What do they look like? Where do they live? How old are they? What are their interests? What do they wear? What political opinions do they have? How do they spend their time?

Take that buyer persona with you into your coming efforts. Make every decision with them in mind.

Would they appreciate that comment, that post, that phraseology, that color scheme, or that logo? If not, then pick something else!

14. Pick a Travel Blog Name

Now for the fun bit- decide your blog name!

I’ve got a post to help with that- here it is. Make sure the name is catchy, on-brand, and something your target audience would appreciate.

Oh, and make sure you like it too. After all, it’s going to be following you around for a while!

Here are 200 blog name ideas you can use for inspiration.

15. Pick a Platform

Deciding the platform on which you run the site is important too.

Generally speaking, you’re choosing between WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix.

Those three sites run the internet, but WordPress is by far the most popular. I use Squarespace and can recommend it, even though there are definite downsides (that I’ll save for another time).

WordPress is a safe bet that most people swear by.

16. Purchase Your Domain Name and Make a Logo

It’s time to get practical!

Having decided your travel blog name and picked a platform, it’s time to buy the domain name.

GoDaddy can sort you out, or head straight to Squarespace if you decided on them to run the site.

Oh, and don’t forget your logo. Use Fiverr to get a designer to sort you out if you lack the time or inclination to do this yourself.

17. Make Sure It’s a ‘.Com’ Domain

A quick one on the domain name itself:

If you’re trying to reach a global audience, then make sure it’s got ‘.com’ at the end. Google seems to prioritize these domains in search results.

However, anybody pushing for traffic from a specific country (other than America) should match the domain to it. For instance, if I was trying to drive UK traffic, then I’d pick a ‘.co.uk’ domain.

18. Select an On-Brand Theme

Each provider (WordPress, Squarespace or Wix) provides a mass of themes for you to choose.

They’re essentially the template for your site. The theme governs what the site looks like, how it operates, and the way it’s structured too.

Each has pros and cons. It’s about finding the best option for you given:

1. The purpose of the blog,
2. Your specific blog goals,
3. The brand image you’re trying to create, and
4. Your target audience.

Keep each factor in mind when selecting your theme.

19. Make Sure You Self-Host

Make sure you organize self-hosting!

This is what gives you total control of the site, which is what you want. Go for WordPress or Wix and you’ll have access to a free version of the site, which is hosted by them.

The URL will have a ‘.wordpress’ or ‘.wix’ in there somewhere.

You don’t want it! Pay for self-hosting instead. Each provider is sure to have specific instructions provided on how to do it.

FYI, this isn’t an issue with Squarespace.

Their free site only lasts 14 days. After that, you decide if you want to go ahead with their service.

Then you pay a fixed monthly (or annual) subscription and they host the site for you.

20. Master the Platform

Make sure you understand the platform and how to get the most of it, whether you’re on WordPress, Squarespace, or whatever.

You’ll save yourself a lot of hassle down the line if you do.

Spend some time playing around with it. Mess with the features, experiment with certain plug-ins, and so on. Go ahead and watch tutorials online too

You’ll soon master the platform you’ve selected.

21. Make Website Navigation Easy from the Get-Go

The navigation of any site is of pivotal importance.

It’s all about prioritizing the user experience.

Anyone who ends up on your blog should be able to navigate around intuitively. It should be a joy to use and spend time on.

Avoid complicated layouts, unnecessary steps, and excessive images and text.

Keep it simple and you’ll keep the users happy and get in Google’s good books as a result.

22. Link It with Google Search Console (GSC)

Oh jeeze, this is something I wish I’d known when I first started out!

It was months before I came across Google Search Console when I first started a travel blog! I hindered my blog growth in the process.

Get your site linked up with it ASAP.

Every time you publish a new article you run the URL through it, essentially letting Google know about the post’s existence. Google will then crawl the page and index it in search results.

No GSC, no indexing, which means no ranking. In other words, your beautiful blog gets no organic web traffic.

23. Use Google Analytics for Blog Insights

Google Analytics (GA) is another platform to get set up with from the start.

Link it up with your site with a bit of code to gain access to crucial data. You’ll see key metrics about your blog, such as how many people frequent it each day and the source they’re coming from.

Alongside GSC, GA is essential for tracking growth and understanding performance (not to mention your audience).

24. Don’t Try Too Much Too Soon

Try not to take on too much at once.

Each and every single one of these steps takes time! Don’t feel like you need to be a pro from the get-go. Take your time figuring each thing out and rewarding yourself for every step you tick off.

More generally, it’s sensible not to spread yourself too thinly.

If you’re like most bloggers, you’ll want rapid growth. You try and do everything and be everywhere at once. You’ll end up trying to create, post, distribute, learn, and problem-solve simultaneously.

It’s a recipe for burnout and disillusionment.

Try not to get ahead of yourself.

Keep your fingers in specific baskets and master one thing before moving onto another.

25. Pick a Social Platform (or Two)

In the same way, don’t try and be on every social media platform at the same time.

Getting on social media is an important travel blog idea. You can reach people with ease, drive engagement, generate a following, and become an authority at zero financial cost.

“But, whether you use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok, each platform takes time to learn.”

Likewise, each platform caters to specific audiences.

Bear your audience in mind and do some research to see which one they use most.

From there, set about learning what works best (in terms of content and posting strategies) and establishing a presence on it. Become a master at it!

Only then should you think about moving onto another social media platform.

Go wide by trying to be everywhere all at once and you can expect average results (at best). Going deep on one platform promises better results.

26. Set Up Social Profiles to Protect Your Name

You should, however, set up profiles on every social media platform!

Now, you don’t have to do anything else on it.

But having the profiles set up ensures they’re there if you ever need them. Of course, this also means nobody can steal your handle/blog name from under your nose in the meantime!

27. Get On Pinterest

Absolutely get on Pinterest too.

I came to it late and, in all honesty, I’ve not given the site as much time as I should have.

Ask any blogger, though, and they’ll tell you how powerful it can be in terms of traffic generation.

Pinterest is effectively a visual search-engine. People search for things (recipes, itineraries, tips, photos, quotes…you name it) of interest to their ‘boards’, just as they would an actual notice board in their home.

Again, there’s a hell of a lot to mastering Pinterest for your travel blog.

As a bare-bones summary, though, you write a blog post on your site, create a pin for it (or multiple pins) and post it to your Pinterest boards (and those of others, via things called ‘group boards’).

People searching for similar topics on the platform can find that pin, ‘re-pin’ it to their boards, and/or visit the site.

All told, it’s a great way to drive traffic, even if you’re only just starting out.

Other traffic-generation techniques take time; Pinterest helps you get going off the bat.

Now, word on the street’s that it isn’t quite as effective at traffic generation as it might once have been. However, it’s still well worth investing energy in.

28. Read Up On Pinterest (Take a Course)!

I recommend putting some effort into learning how Pinterest works.

Like most aspects of travel blogging, the general idea is easy enough, but succeeding with it takes time, effort, and, most importantly, insight.

You’ll find a mass of books, guides, courses, and entire websites designed to help!

I’ve never taken one, but I’ve often considered it. If you want to take Pinterest seriously, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

For now, this free and comprehensive guide from Paul Drecksler at Travel Is Life is a great place to start.

29. Create Multiple Pins on Pinterest

Just a quick Pinterest tip from me, though:

Be sure to create multiple pins for each blog post you write.

Most group boards (again, you’re sure to learn about these as you read up on Pinterest) don’t accept duplicate pins. In other words, you can post your pin once and that’s your lot.

Having multiple pins (all directed at the same blog post) will help you obey this rule while continuing to leverage those boards over time.

Essentially, you share your blog posts more than once on each board by virtue of having multiple pins at your disposal.

30. Pay for Tailwind to Automate Distribution

As you get going on Pinterest you’ll start to realize how time-consuming it can become.

Approach it manually and you’ll be pinning and re-pinning 24/7. It’s a constant battle to distribute your pins and share those of others in return.

An automation tool called Tailwind is a life-saver.

It allows you to pin content (and distribute your blog posts) on auto-pilot.

Tailwind isn’t free, but it’ll streamline your Pinterest endeavours and save you endless amounts of time. That, for me, is worth its weight in gold.

You can also join Tailwind ‘tribes’.

These are groups of fellow bloggers working together to share each other’s content. They’re a mighty boon for getting your content in front of a wider audience.

I recommend getting on Tailwind as soon as you start taking Pinterest seriously.

31. Understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This is the biggie.

“SEO is by far the best way to drive endless streams of traffic to your travel blog.”

But it’s an ENORMOUS topic.

Entire businesses are set up around SEO! Don’t be put off, though- it isn’t rocket science.

Anybody can master the basic (and even the advanced) tenets of SEO and see their Google rankings improve in the process.

Because that, in a nutshell, is what SEO’s all about.

You’re taking steps to optimize your blog content in ways that help people find it in search engines (namely Google).

Or, rather, you’re optimizing content to help the search engines find it, understand it, and rank it on results pages. That, in turn, shoves your content higher up in results, which sends people to it.

You’re aiming for the top spot:

Number 1 (aka the first result) on page 1 of Google for a particular search term or set of terms.

That’s where the magic happens- the link that almost everybody who stumbles across it will click on. The best part?

Ranking through SEO techniques drives that traffic at zero financial cost.

I’ll say it again: nailing your SEO is essential to blogging growth.

Ignore it, and the only people who’ll read your blog will be your friends and family.

Now, there’s a mass of free content online to help with SEO. Understand SEO as best you can before you start writing any blog posts.

Take the time to dive into it. This post from Forbes is a good place to begin.

32. Understand Keywords

Keywords are a primary component of SEO.

I wish I’d known about them when I first started my blogging journey!

Basically, you can’t expect any old blog article to rank well in search engines. It just doesn’t happen like that (unless you get very lucky).

If you want to drive traffic through Google rankings, then you must figure out what people are searching for first.

Here’s how it works:

You find the particular words and phrases (i.e. the keywords) that people (i.e. your audience) are plugging into Google in their hunt for information.

And then you write your blog post(s) to provide the answers they want/need.

Examples of travel-related keywords include:

‘How to travel on a budget’, ‘North America travel tips’, ‘Packing tips’, and so on.

By ‘writing to keywords’ (as it’s known in the blogosphere) you achieve multiple things.

1. You help search engines find your article (remember, keywords are key to SEO).
2. You make your article relevant to your audience, which endears your site to them. And
3. You provide value (more on the importance of that later).

33. Conduct Keyword Research

Okay, so, writing to keywords is key if you’re going to win on Google.

The next step is finding them.

Once again, this is a major topic that’s well-worth its own entire article!

However, the main thing to know is that keyword research is the name of the game when deciding posts to write.

I should point out an important distinction here though:

The difference between long-tailed and short-tailed keywords.

Long-tailed keywords are those that contain more than 2 to 3 words (that’s right, most ‘keywords’ and actually ‘keyphrases’). E.g. ‘How to travel on a budget’

Short-tailed keywords are those that contain up to 3 words. E.g. Packing Tips.

The trick to effective keyword research is finding terms that are both popular and uncompetitive.

That means lots of people are searching for them AND few other blogs/sites have pre-written content targeting them.

Generally, the longer the keyword, the less competitive it will be to rank for.

Aka, ‘How to travel on a budget’ will be easier to rank for than ‘budget travel’

The downside is that they’ll be less popular too.

(I.e. fewer people are searching for them).

It’s a worthy sacrifice, though, especially if you’re trying to rank a brand new blog. Google favours older sites with higher authority (more on this later).

Realistically, the only way you can expect to rank in the early days is to pursue uncompetitive keywords.

In time, you can start punching with the big boys and wrestling for rankings over more competitive terms.

…The more I talk about keywords the more I realize how much there is to mention.

Don’t get overwhelmed! You’ll get there, it’s just a matter of time.

To help, here’s my number 1 key tip to success…

34. Sign Up with Keysearch

Without question, the most effective way to find quality keywords is this:

To leverage specialist keyword research software.

There are many free sources of keywords available (such as Google Trends and the suggestions you find in the drop-down box as you begin searching for anything).

However, nothing beats paid software.

I use Keysearch, and it’s bloody great.

Keysearch has helped me get my (relatively new) blog ranking to the top spot of Google on numerous occasions.

It’s easy to use and straightforward to understand.

You plug in a search term and it reveals, in seconds, how many people search for it per month and how difficult it’d be to rank for.

Even better, it produces hundreds of related suggestions to try as well.

You can create lists of keywords to use in the future and analyse your main competitors at the same time.

Throw in a host of other awesome features and it’s hard to go wrong.

I wholeheartedly recommend Keysearch as a go-to keyword research tool- no matter where you are in your blogging journey.

Click here to check it out.

(…FYI, the code KSDISC will give you a 20% discount at check out! Claim it now!)

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This full Keysearch review should help you decide if Keysearch is right for you! Be sure to check it out 🙂

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35. Save Quality Keywords In a Spreadsheet (or Keysearch Lists)!

Don’t forget to save the awesome keywords you find.

Saving them into spreadsheets (or to lists on Keysearch) means you’ll have a steady supply of quality keywords to write future posts around.

An hour of keyword research can supply a month’s worth of content ideas! For the sake of efficiency, make sure you save the keywords somewhere.

36. Don’t Stop at a Primary Keyword (KW)

Most bloggers target one particular KW for any given post.

This is known as their primary KW.

It’s the one they want to rank in Google for above all others. Generally, it’s the most valuable one, with the best popularity to competition ratio.

However, sensible bloggers don’t stop there.

There’s no limit to the number of keywords you can rank for in an article. The more you have in there, the better! Long articles could have literally hundreds of related KWs.

(FYI, these are called secondary KWs).

This is another reason I like Keysearch so much. It reveals, automatically, hundreds of other related KWs for you to use.

Incorporating them into your articles gives you the best chance of enjoying masses of traffic.

37. Put Keywords in the Right Place(s)

The trick to effective on-page SEO is putting your KWs in the right places.

Search engines have ‘bots’ that ‘crawl’ your website/blog pages.

Those bots are charged with understanding your content.

I mean, think about how much content is online these days! Google wants/needs to funnel the best of it (the most useful, the most relevant, the most thorough, and the most accurate) to the top of their search result

That way, they keep their users happy.

With no means of understanding content (and assessing its value in relation to others), there’d be no means of prioritizing it in search results.

That’s what the bots do.

And, among other things, they’re looking for the keywords you’ve included.

Your job is to make your KWs as easy to find as possible! Certain parts of your post are given greater attention than others.

By placing KWs in these spots, the Google algorithm will pick up on them more easily.

So, where should you place them?

Roughly speaking:

Titles, headings, URLs, image tags, article introductions, meta-descriptions (the brief synopsis of the post you see in search results beneath the link itself), and scattered throughout the article.

Just don’t stuff your content too full of them!

It’s one thing to help Google find them. It’s another to include them so frequently that it’s obvious.

Google always prioritizes user experience. Excessive keyword use makes your copy (your writing) clunky, awkward, and harder to read.

You risk being punished for including KWs too many times throughout the article.

38. Know That SEO Takes Time

You’ll learn to love SEO.

But it’s definitely a waiting game.

Done properly, SEO will drive traffic to your website. BUT, and it’s a big but (that’s why it’s in capitals), it’ll take time to take root.

An article that you’ve written to keywords and optimized effectively could take 4 to 6 months before it climbs the Google rankings.

Don’t be put off- nothing worth doing comes easy.

Remember your ‘why’, keep plugging away, and the growth you’re looking for will come.

39. Have a Purpose for Every Post

This tip relates to treating your blog like a business.

It speaks to two things:

Efficiency and effectiveness.

In other words, doing things right and doing the right thing, respectively.

With limited resources, everything you do for your blog must contribute to its growth and your goals. Think twice about writing any old article for the sake of it.

Ask yourself:

Will this post drive traffic, generate future income, contribute to my brand, and/or deliver value to my audience?

If not, then consider directing your attention to something that will.

A caveat I have here is if you’re running low on motivation. At the end of the day, you want to enjoy this process too!

And, in my experience, labouring too intently over your goals and beating yourself up for slacking has the opposite effect.

So let yourself off the hook (sometimes) too.

The post you want to write may stand no chance of ranking; it might have nothing to do with your income goals, and, maybe, be of no interest to your audience.

Logic would say not to spend time on it.

If, however, writing that post will provide a bit of happiness, then it’s well worth it.

Taking a step back every once in a while and writing for the joy of it will keep you motivated. Ultimately, that’ll keep you focused and help you achieve your long term goals.

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Running low on travel blog post ideas to write about? This post has 150 ideas that should help!

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40. Seek Inspiration from Competitors

• Short on inspiration?
• Unsure how to proceed?
• Can’t think of any keywords?
• Nothing going to plan?

I recommend looking at what other travel bloggers are doing.

See what they’ve been up to; what they’re doing well, what they’re writing about, how they’re marketing themselves, and so on.

Successful bloggers are an incredible source of inspiration and advice. Concealed in their sites are the secrets to success! Dig around a bit and learn from them.

I do this all the time to inform my own strategies.

41. Make Everything Easy to Read

Time for some specific writing advice for your articles.

I’ll start with this one:

Every single post on your website should be easy to read! That means simple sentences and short paragraphs.

People don’t want to read anything too complicated.

They’re usually looking for specific answers, which they want to find with ease.

Our attention spans are worse than a goldfishes’ these days! Anything too intense is too taxing; it won’t be read.

42. Forget Fancy Language

This tip follows on from the last.

Blog posts that are easy to read generally lack complicated language.

For instance, I write for an agency alongside my blog work. They literally tell us to write at the level you’d expect of a 15-year-old high school student!

Keep that in mind as you start creating blog content.

Using complex words and phraseology will back-fire; users will get bored and look elsewhere. Everything should be short, simple and snappy instead.

Here’s an example of a sentence that’s too complicated:

The lavish banquet of sumptuous sandwiches proved once and for all why this New York dining establishment trumps all others.

Write something like this instead:

The sandwiches they make are EPIC! They’re literally to die for, making this cafe a must-go lunch-spot in New York.

43. Keep Posts Light and Entertaining

Try and write fun, engaging, and entertaining posts.

That might sound obvious.

But you’d be surprised how dull some online content can be.

Nobody wants to read something that’s dry and boring. People will soon lose attention and look to another blogger for answers.

Light and breezy is the way only to do it.

I should point out that Google takes note of how long people spend on your website. It’s called dwell time, and it’s an important ranking factor.

Longer dwell times imply that users like your content.

After all, nobody stays on a page for long if it’s no good! Google registers that and rewards you with a boost in search results.

Do everything in your power to persuade users to stick around.

The best way to do that is usually to create quality content that people don’t want to stop reading.

44. Express Your Personality

Let your personality show in your writing too.

You’re the life and soul of your blog. If users like you, then they’ll keep coming back! You’ll cultivate a loyal following of people who can’t wait to read another of your articles.

But only if you let them get to know you through your writing.

Try writing blog posts as you would an email/DM to your friends. Be real and authentic and it’ll come across to your readers.

Show them your sense of humour! Reveal your neuroses! Acknowledge your faults and write as you’d talk! It’ll help endear you to the right people.

45. Practice Your Writing & Expect Improvement

Writing is a skill like any other.

It takes practice.

You have to figure out your ‘voice’ and your particular style, as well as get to grips with grammar, sentence structure, word-play, and so on.

That doesn’t just happen overnight. The more blog content you product, the better you’ll get at it.

In a few months’ time, you’ll look back at your first blog posts and balk in horror! You’ll realize how far you’ve come.

46. Write In-Depth Posts

It’s your job to create content that’s better than everyone else’s.

Don’t, and there’s no way to expect to beat them in search results. Why would Google put your post higher up in search if what’s already in place is better quality?

In simple terms, you have to earn the pole position.

But it’s not all about rankings. Seeing it in those terms is a recipe for trouble.

A better approach is to look at content in terms of value-added.

You’re trying to create content that provides value to your audience. Writing quality blog articles that goes deep on a given topic is the best way to do it.

Longer posts that entertain and solve problems (aka provide value) tend to rank higher in Google.

Aim to write articles that are at least 1,000 words each time.

47. Break Up Text with Videos and Photos

Nobody wants to be greeted with a wall of text when they click on a link.

It’s both daunting and frustrating!

You know the answer you want is probably in there somewhere. But you’re in a rush and can’t face working your way through it.

You can’t treat your blog posts like a book. They’re entirely different forms of media.

Remember: easy to read! Make that your mantra.

Breaking up your content with images, videos, and GIFs, and so on, is a great way to do it. You wave goodbye to walls of text and create attractive, engaging pages in the process.

48. Consider Creating Infographics Too

Infographics are great for driving engagement.

You’ve got tonnes of information in simple graphic form. It’s accessible, attractive, and useful.

That makes it perfect for incentivising shares and comments (especially on social media and Pinterest).

49. Don’t Be Afraid of Ad Spend

Running ad campaigns can be a daunting prospect.

With no prior experience, you can worry about wasting your money. When you’re bootstrapping your blog anyway, that’s an unappealing prospect.

Ads are definitely worth considering though.

Thanks to sites like Facebook, the barrier to entry is exceptionally low as well.

Watch a couple of YouTube videos on the topic, read through their guidelines, and chuck 10 bucks at it.

It’s well worth the money. The depth of targeting available means you can direct your content at specific groups of people.

In other words, you can put your content right in front of your ideal audience. That’s an amazing opportunity in terms of driving traffic and gathering key data.

50. Use Quality Photos

Everybody loves images.

Remember: a picture says a thousand words!

Using beautiful photos and graphics on your blog is a must.

But make sure they’re good quality and on-brand. Nobody likes a fuzzy photo. It makes your site look unprofessional. Try to use high-quality, un-pixelated images at every turn.

51. Use Gimp for Photo Edits

You’ll almost definitely have to edit your pics as well.

You might want to shrink them down, apply filters, adjust the brightness, crop them, and so on.

Photoshop is one option for doing this.

But it’s expensive! I use GIMP, which is free and does everything I need. I definitely recommend it for any budget bloggers out there like me.

52. Compress All of Your Images

Oh, and be sure to compress your images as well.

Large file sizes make your website run slower, which is bad for business (more on this later). Shrink them down before uploading them to the site.

Your blog posts will load quicker and keep your users happier as a result.

I use a free site called imagecompressor.com. I can’t fault it so far!

53. Post Articles at Regular Intervals

I’ll level with you:

I don’t know how important this tip actually is!

However, when I first started blogging I read a lot about the need to publish new posts at regular intervals. It was something to do with Google, which was said to appreciate the regularity involved.

For instance, you might post twice a week on particular days.

Keep that up and you could, from what I gathered, expect higher rankings. Whether or not that’s true I can’t say for sure.

However, regardless, one benefit you’d enjoy anyway would be the constant stream of content hitting the web.

Committing to a particular posting schedule helps establish a routine.

And people stick to routines! Routines turn to habits, which are key to success. The content keeps coming, the writing keeps improving, and the progress follows.

Find a schedule that works for you, stick with it, and you’ll see your growth start to snowball.

54. Consider Audio and Video Content Too

Written content is almost old-school these days!

Video is huge too, and audio content (such as Podcasts) has exploded in popularity as well.

Sticking to blogs will still drive results. It’s tried and tested and true. But mixing it up with vlogs and audio wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

“You never know what’s around the corner, and leveraging multiple forms of content opens the door to new traffic sources.”

Here’s something else worth considering:

The rise in smart assistant usage means voice searches are becoming more widespread. People use their voice to search online as much as words.

Having audio content to match that demand would ensure your blog changes with the times and remains relevant.

Just remember not to try too much at once though!

55. Build (Quality) Backlinks

If ranking on Google was a building, keywords would be its foundations.

And backlinks would be the scaffolding.

Getting other websites to link to yours is all-important. They’re like votes of confidence that tell Google your website is worth showing its users.

More links amount to more scaffolding; your building can expand to new heights.

Link-building is arguably the most pivotal aspect in growing a blog. Quality keyword research plus quality backlinks will skyrocket your rankings.

56. Build Your Domain Authority

Newbie blogger? Here’s another big concept for you to keep in mind:

Domain authority (or DA, for short).

“The way I see it, DA is a specific metric used online to determine the relative quality (or authority) of one site versus another.”

Think of it in terms of day to day life.

Who are you more likely to listen to on any particular issue? An expert in the field or a total amateur with no prior experience in it?

The expert.

They’re the authority, which means their perspective (usually) carries more weight.

It’s a bit like that online.

Authority websites are those with a well-established presence. They’ve been around for a long time, become known in their respective niche…

And, importantly, have lots of backlinks directed at them.

The result? Google pays them more attention in rankings. They assume, sensibly, that their users will benefit in the process.

You build your DA by getting backlinks.

In general terms, having a higher DA will help you climb the Google rankings; you get priority over sites with less authority.

In practical terms, your DA is a number from 1 to 100, where 100 is insanely good.

At those heights, you’re looking at Wikipedia-esque websites with crazy amounts of links going their way.

It’s worth mentioning that it gets harder to increase your DA over time.

Let’s say 10 backlinks will take a blog up to DA 20.

To get from 20 to 30, though, you might (and this is by no means based on reality) need another 20 backlinks.

The rungs on the DA ladder get further apart as you ascend it.

57. Create a Backlink Strategy

Thankfully, there are many ways you can earn backlinks to your website.

I’ll go into some of them in more detail later.

It’s your job to keep accruing them over time by virtue of a strategy. In other words, make a plan as to how you’ll collect backlinks over time.

“Guest posts, collaborative posts, comments, and email outreach are four primary approaches.”

Don’t worry- I’ll go into these in more detail throughout this article (so keep reading!).

I should also note that DA is by no means the be-all and end-all.

In my experience, having a higher DA definitely helps. And, in truth, many bloggers take their DA seriously as a result. They see it is paramount to the growth of their blog.

However, you’ll come across lots of bloggers who pay it less attention too.

For one reason or another, they do perfectly well online without worrying about their DA.

I recommend striking a balance.

Put in work, but don’t let it come at the expense of your other efforts (or sanity).

I mean, DA is annoying. It fluctuates all the time.

Slight changes in one algorithm or another can see it take a tumble; all that hard work put into building links and growing your DA can seem pointless.

Take it with a pinch of salt and don’t let it get you down.

Know that the backlinks you get aren’t just worthwhile in terms of DA. From what I can tell, you’ll still see your rankings climb, even if your DA doesn’t.

58. Use the Skyscraper Technique

Pay special attention to this one.

The Skyscraper technique is a powerful strategy for boosting your rankings and driving traffic.

The process is fairly straight-forward too. It goes like this:

1. Find keywords you want to rank for.
2. Look at the content online that’s currently ranking for those terms.
3. Identify areas that could be improved upon.
4. Create content that’s exponentially better than what’s already ranking.
5. Look at the websites that are linking to the articles that are already ranking.
6. Reach out and inform them of your new and improved article.
7. See if they’d want to take a look, and, if so, send your post to them.

If all goes well, you can get a host of backlinks coming your way.

Here’s a full guide on how it works from the guy, Brian Dean, who invented it.

59. Write Lots and Lots of Guest Posts

I think guest posts are the best way to generate backlinks for your site.

The premise is straight-forward:

You write an awesome article for another blogger and don’t charge a dime. It’s totally free- except for the backlink (or two) that you insert into the copy.

It’s a win-win.

You get backlinks from authority websites; they get free high-quality content.

Guest posts are great because you leverage someone else’s audience. Any blogger who publishes your guest post is effectively putting it in front of their readers.

That’s a big deal.

They could have worked for years to build that following!

Publishing your post is a sign of trust; it’s also why you should seek to provide value with the articles you contribute.

Your blog enjoys newfound exposure, as well as traffic from anybody who clicks the links through to your website.

Guest posts are my primary means of generating links for this site. I write a bunch of articles to keywords and then set about finding homes for them.

Alternatively, I’ll pitch an idea to a high DA site and see if they want me to write it.

Either way, writing lots of guest posts is a great way to generate links and see your authority grow.

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A Quick Note on Guest Posts:

Aim to write for high DA websites (you can find out their DA score using moz.com, or simply ask the webmaster- aka, the owner of the website- what their score is!).

Links from high DA sites (think 35 to 40+) are far more beneficial than those from lower DA sites.

They give you a bigger shove up the rankings (and give your own DA score a greater boost too).

As you pitch guest post ideas to websites, or find homes for pre-written original content, aim to get them published on sites with the highest DA possible.

Just be aware that those webmasters will expect content of the highest quality to make the exchange worth their while.

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60. Put Links Up High On Each Guest Post

This minor tip can make a big difference.

And it relates to guest posts…

Be sure to include the links that you want back to your website as high up the article as possible.

Links that are up top are available for all to see- including Google’s bots. The result?

They carry more weight in terms of rankings and DA.

It’s helpful in terms of traffic as well.

Keep in mind that readers won’t always ready an entire article. They might stop after the intro, half way through, or as soon as they find the info they were after.

If your backlinks are at the top, then people are always going to see them.

That facilitates click-throughs to your website, which is important.

After all, guest posts take time to write and you do it for no financial gain! It makes sense to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Wondering how to include the links in your article?

You need to know about anchor text. This post can help with that.

(Heads up: that clickable piece of coloured text I just put in the last sentence is a backlink! It takes you to someone else’s website, which is good news for them; ‘this post’ is the anchor text I used for it)

(Heads up #2: that link will take you to Neil Patel’s website. He’s a major authority in the digital marketing niche, which means his site boasts an impressive DA; I definitely recommend reading his blog for quality SEO and marketing advice)

61. Remember Comments Section Backlinks

Okay, back to backlinks.

An easy way to get them is to leave comments on other blogs.

See the comments section at the bottom of this article? You can link to your website from the box available, which will give your site a small boost.

Nicely, many other blogs and sites have these sections as well.

Leave enough comments pointing back to your website and you’ll soon see an improvement in rankings.

However, don’t expect major leaps.

“Most comment boxes leave what’s called a ‘no-follow’ link (as opposed to a ‘do-follow’ link).”

Don’t worry too much about the definitions here.

Just know that do-follow links are generally what you want to get. They deliver more ‘link-juice’ (i.e. a greater boost for your website).

No-follow links are better than nothing, and definitely have an effect.

But it’s always better to seek do-follows where possible.

(FYI, you’d always expect do-follow links from a guest post)

The good news is that the occasional website will provide do-follow links from their comments sections!

The trick is finding them.

Thankfully, you’ll find handy chrome extensions out there (such as ‘Automatic Backlink Checker’) that reveal whether the links you come across are do- or no-follow.

Use those extensions to tell you what type of link you’d get from the comments sections you come across online.

62. Employ Email Outreach

Onto another way to get back-links:

Email outreach.

It’s exactly what it sounds like. You put the time and effort in to finding the email address of a website owner and contacting them about your site/content.

Let them know about your latest awesome blog post and see if they’d be interested in seeing it.

“If they’re open to that, then you can send through link. And, with a bit of luck, they’ll enjoy it enough to link back to it.”

This is where the skyscraper strategy comes into its own.

Realistically, the only reason someone will take the time to read your email and insert a precious link back to your content is if it benefits them somehow.

The content must be incredible and promise genuine value to their readership.

Why else would they do it?!

High-authority sites (like the ones you’ll be emailing) are getting hundreds of these requests and enquiries every day. Most get ignored.

Only those offering genuine value from real people will get through the net.

Expect a terrible success ratio here! I’d be stoked if I got 1 link for every 20 emails I sent. Outreach does work, but it takes time.

In all honesty, I recommend writing guest posts instead- especially while you’re learning the ropes and figuring out how to write quality copy.

63. Don’t (Try to) Cheat the System

This tip is super important.

It boils down to this:

Blogging is hard and success takes time.

Unfortunately, most of us aren’t very patient. We want results quickly and easily.

Which is why many aspiring bloggers try and cheat the system. Or, in other words, they employ questionable strategies that break Google’s terms and conditions.

They risk punishment in the process.

In reality, you can cheat in a wide number of ways (most fit the bill of ‘black hat SEO strategies’).

For instance, you can overstuff keywords into your articles to get bots to crawl and rank the article quicker, or purchase backlinks from dodgy sources.

Both are against the rules!

Get caught and Google will punish you. In worst case scenarios your site will be de-indexed (aka taken offline).

You wave goodbye to all your hard-work in the process.

64. Follow Google Guidelines

This tip links with the last.

The opposite of cheating is playing by the rules. Steer clear of ‘black hat strategies’ and stick to the ‘white-hat’ variety.

It takes longer. It requires hard work and commitment. And it isn’t always fun.

But you win in the long term.

65. Remember Internal and External Linking

So far I’ve only talked about backlinks.

But another important part of effective SEO is linking on your website more generally. There are two types of links to know about: internal and external.

External links are those from your website to another (aka, a backlink).

They’re helpful for your users.

You direct them to other sources that relate to your post. Maybe it’s a scientific study you’ve cited in the post, or another article pertaining to your content.

Google rewards you in your rankings for essentially being a good citizen! You also help it understand your content in relation to other posts on the net.

Internal links are those from one page of your website to another.

Remember the importance of easy navigation I mentioned yonks ago at the start of this post?

Well, internal links come into play here. You’re essentially pointing readers in the direction of other points of interest on your site.

For example, maybe someone reading your article about ‘things to do it New York’ might also be interested in your post about ‘the best restaurants in New York’. You’d pop an internal link from one to the other.

However, it’s also vital for Google-related stuff.

Internal links between the different pages of your site create something of a street map for Google bots. They follow those links to better understand your website as a whole.

No links mean no connections.

The bots get stuck and can’t join up the dots. Your site suffers in the process. Always remember internal links as well as the external variety.

66. Keep Your URLs Short

Your URLs are an important part of your blog posts.

Optimize them properly and they’ll help you rank!

First off, remember to put your primary keyword in there. Google will pick up on it and shunt it up in the rankings.

Secondly, keep the URL short.

I don’t know why it’s the case, but Google favours content with shorter URLs.

For instance, take these two URLs for a hypothetical article:

1. https://www.whatsdannydoing.com/blog/23/3/2020/successful-travel-blogging-101/xpyshk?
2. https://www.whatsdannydoing.com/blog/successful-travel-blogging

The second URL would have a better chance of ranking. It’s also shorter, neater, and clearer, which sends the right message about your blog to users.

67. Provide High Value to Your Audience

Your primary blogging intent should be to provide ultimate value to your target audience.

That’s literally what it’s all about.

Write high-quality, in-depth, and engaging content that solves a user’s problems and you stand every chance of winning.

The more value you can provide, the better results you’ll see.

“Google will take note and reward you in rankings. More people will visit your site and come back for more.

You’ll grow out your brand, generate more revenue, and enjoy newfound exposure; your audience will tell their friends about you and come to you for answers.”

In time, you’ll turn yourself into an authority in your niche.

Fail to provide sufficient value and you can never expect to beat the competition (of which there is an abundance!). Your blog will be average, at best, and never rise to the heights you’d like.

68. Test, Test, Test

Testing is important too.

It should be at the heart of all decision making for the blog; it should inform what you choose to add, alter and/or remove. Why?

Because the decisions you make on the blog must be based upon data. Otherwise you’ll forever be shooting in the dark.

Let’s say you’re tired of the colour scheme on your blog and fancy a change.

Well, instead of committing to a change of colour with no forethought, consider a ‘trial period’.

Take note of the current rate of traffic or newsletter subscriptions you’re getting. Change to the new color and see how the numbers look after a week, or a month. Has it gone up or down?

If it’s gone up, then great! Keep the new colours. If not, then think about changing it back, or trying something new.

Don’t do anything that’s somehow risky without a justification for it.

Always test. Always search for new data. Always analyze the data you have available for answers.

69. Experiment Constantly

Likewise, always seek to improve!

You’d be amazed at the effects seemingly minor changes can have.

Altering a single word in a call to action (for example: ‘sign up here’ instead of ‘sign up now’) can have a profound impact.

In that example, you might find that the number of people signing up (to a newsletter, or something similar) skyrockets- or plummets.

You don’t know until you try.

Play around with your blog, your copy, your ads, your social media posts- whatever- to see what works best.

Use experimentation and data collection to discover what works. Hone your efforts over time to get the most out of your blog.

70. Keep Your Website Running Fast

Speed is a driving factor to the success of your blog.

Again, it’s all about the user experience.

Slow sites suck! You want to see what’s on the page, and you want it now. The last thing you want is to wait around for the page to load.

Chances are high that you’ll click back to find another site for help instead.

And you’re not alone. Everybody does it!

Make sure your website loads as fast as possible. Aim for 3 seconds (5 seconds max). If possible, get those pages loading at 1 second or less.

If it doesn’t, and users keep clicking back, then Google will push your site back down the rankings.

Here’s a post explaining how to do it (FYI, there’s some technical blogging stuff in there that might be confusing).

71. Ensure Your Site’s Mobile-Friendly

Your website MUST work 100% effectively on smartphones.

All content should load, adjust, and operate as normal on mobile. In other words, the blog must be ‘mobile-optimized’. Why?

Because most content is consumed on mobiles these days.

Knowing that, Google created a ‘mobile-first’ policy. It means mobile-optimized content gets prioritized in search.

It effectively gives a head-start in rankings for sites that work on smartphones.

Or, to put it another way, sites that don’t work on your phone will find it harder to rank.

Thankfully, if you’re on WordPress or Squarespace, your site will automatically adjust to different devices (be it a computer, phone or tablet).

It’s worth making sure, though, just in case.

72. Leverage AMPs

AMP is short to accelerated mobile pages.

They’re stripped-back, simple versions of content that load at lightning-fast speeds on mobiles.

That 1 second target? No trouble if you’re on an AMP.

Again, Squarespace does this for me- they convert most of my blog posts into AMPs anyway, which is a nice bonus. I’m afraid I don’t know how to do it on WordPress, but you should definitely look into doing the same.

I mean, you’re basically killing two birds with one stone: fast pages and mobile optimization. That’s good news all-round.

73. Always Include Calls to Action (CTAs)

On blogs, as in life, we often need to be told what to do in order to do it.

Calls-to-actions are commands in your copy that do exactly that. You’re instructing your audience to follow a particular command.

It might be to ‘sign up here’, ‘download X now’, ‘check the price’, ‘read more here’, or ‘get in touch below’. You’d then combine those commands with a link to a particular form, piece of content, or anything else.

If you don’t include CTAs, then you can’t expect anybody to do what you want.

They don’t know what they’re meant to do! Always include CTAs in your content. Intersperse them on pages and in posts to achieve particular goals.

74. Think Twice About Sponsored Posts

Looking to monetize your blog?

Sponsored posts are one of the easiest ways to do it.

Remember how backlinks provide link-juice that gets you ranking higher on SERPs? Remember, too, how getting backlinks takes time and hard work?

Well, many site owners don’t want to go to that effort.

With more money than time, they’ll pay people for those links instead.

Some will even provide a pre-written article with the links embedded in there. You publish it on your blog and they’ll give you money for it.

That’s a sponsored post.

Another form of sponsored post is one that a brand pays you to write.

They want their product/service promoted to your audience. They’ll give you an idea of what they want written, you write it, and they’ll pay for it to be published on your site.

In my experience, the first type of sponsored post is most common.

And they’re very tempting!

A blog with decent authority can get good money for publishing them. The downside? It’s not, technically, permitted by Google.

It’s one of those bad practices I mentioned above. You can get a slap on the wrist if you get caught.

After all, people are basically cheating Google’s systems by buying link-juice instead of earning it. You get to number 1 because of cash, not (necessarily) quality.

Lots of bloggers do it anyway though.

It’s a great way to get some blog-related cash coming in quite quickly (compared to the other income strategies). Just think twice about it.

It’s very much short term gain; you jeopardise the long-term earning potential of your website.

75. Include Affiliate Links from Day 1

Affiliate marketing is another common monetization strategy.

The basic idea is to advertise a product/service of a particular company.

They provide you with a personal link that takes consumers to a sales page. If one of your readers clicks that link and makes a purchase, then you get a commission.

Do it right and you can earn serious money this way.

It’s worth signing up to the various affiliate schemes and inserting those links from the beginning of your blogging journey. From there, set about writing the content and working the links into the copy.

Doing this from day 1 will:

1. Get the money coming in as soon as your content starts climbing the rankings, and
2. Mean you don’t have to spend hours going back through old content in future to insert links into them.

In essence, you generate income sooner and save time in future.

This is a major topic though! This post from Passive Income Superstars should help you wrap your head around it better.

76. Build Your Email List from Day 1

An email list is a collection of names and email addresses of the people following your blog.

It’s super important!

I’m not going to lie, though: I’m rubbish with this. I’ve got a bunch of people on my email list, but, up until now, have don’t very little to engage with them.

The idea, though, is to cultivate a relationship with your subscribers.

It makes sense.

After all, with an email list, you have direct contact with people who are interested in your content! That’s invaluable.

You can share your latest blog posts, advertise your newsletter, send them useful bits of travel information, or promote an affiliate link.

In time, and with enough email subscribers, you can drive significant traffic and sales this way.

Start an email list from the very beginning.

You could advertise a newsletter on your site with a form where readers can input their details (name and email address).

Remember to use a call-to-action to increase your chances of them signing up!

77. Create Content Upgrades

Content upgrades are a great way to attract email subscribers.

These upgrades are useful little additions to a blog post that your readers might want.

For instance, you could write a quality article and offer a PDF printout of it. Readers who don’t have time to get through the article straight away could download it for later

Offer the PDF in exchange for their email address. They input their details and get a link with which they can download the content.

Boom. You’re building your email list.

Get enough traffic coming through to the article and you can earn serious numbers of subscribers this way.

Be sure to include them in every article for which you’re getting traffic. Convert those readers into subscribers! From there, you can build up trust via useful email updates. In time, you’ll develop a loyal following who can’t wait to hear from you.

78. Create Lead Magnets

Lead magnets share similarities to content upgrades.

The intention is the same:

To get people to hand over their email address.

This time, though, you take it one step further. Those content upgrades can work well, but they’re designed to be quick and easy ways for you to attract emails.

The ‘prize’ on offer is good, but it isn’t great.

That all changes with lead magnets.

Here, you’re offering something awesome. You put together something that your readers will find hard to refuse! Likewise, it might have nothing to do with a particular piece of content.

Giveaways are a good example.

Put together a prize (such as flight tickets, free accommodation, awesome travel gear…) and advertise it on social media and your blog.

Ask people to provide their email address in order to enter (you could also ask them to follow you on social media). With a top price, they’ll be happy to hand over their details!

Now, lead magnets take more investment from you in terms of time, effort and money.

But they should attract more subscribers, which makes the return on that investment worthwhile.

79. Create Pillar Posts

Pillar posts are epic pieces of content.

They’re super detailed, in-depth, and provide extraordinary value. They might be between 6,000 and 7,000 words (or more).

Those posts provide a cornerstone for your blog.

They become go-to articles that drive lots of traffic and help turn your site into an authority. Pillar posts should also be useful ways to attract email addresses.

You could offer a content upgrade for them to maximize the ROI you get from them.

80. Have an ‘About Me’ Page

About me pages are surprisingly important.

Imagine stumbling across an awesome article online.

Maybe it was engaging, helpful, funny, and full of personality.

It’s natural to want to find out more about the author! Seeing an ‘about me’ page, you give it a click and read more about the blog and the human being behind it.

This happens all the time!

So make sure you have an ‘about me’ page that people can visit. Let readers learn more about you and the blog. Tell them who the blog is for, what it’s all about, and why you write what you do.

Go into some detail about who you are, where you came from, what you’re interested in, and so on.

This will help cultivate trust and intrigue. As a bonus, you might find people subscribe to the blog or newsletter as a result.

Here’s mine if you want an example- or to find out more about me!

81. Definitely Include Contact Information!

Have a contact page as well.

You want people to be able to get in touch if/when they ever want to.

As your blog grows, you’ll find companies and brands sending you enquiries about partnerships and paid working opportunities. You don’t want to miss out on those!

82. A Personalized Email Address Is Best

Don’t use a personal email address though.

Get one that matches your blog. It’s far more professional, and lends a sense of credibility to your website you might otherwise lack.

For instance, my email for this site is danny@whatsdannydoing.com (feel free to contact me with any questions!).

83. Have a Marketing Strategy for Every Post

Remember way back when I said each post you write should have a purpose?

Well, it should also have a marketing strategy to back it up.

That means you should have an established plan in place to distribute your blog content and get people to read it! Without a marketing strategy, you’ll hinder your chances of seeing the growth you want in the time-frame you’re hoping for.

For instance, my primary marketing strategy is SEO. I do lots of keyword research, write in-depth articles that offer lots of value, and optimise them in accordance with on-page and off-page SEO.

From there, I’ll market via Pinterest as well (FYI, you might consider having a Pinterest strategy too!).

I’m rubbish with social media, but should really put more effort into that as well.

It’s up to you how you market your articles. Just make sure you have a plan in place for doing it.

84. Always Keep Your Brand in Mind

You might think branding only applies to big companies.

Like Nike, Apple, or McDonalds.

Unfortunately, that really isn’t the case.

Branding applies to everybody who’s trying to attract an audience and turn a profit. Without a brand, it’s exponentially harder to succeed in business.

Your brand is everything.

It’s your badge and uniform, the reputation that precedes you, and the way people think and respond to you and your content.

In practical terms, your brand impacts everything from your writing style and font selection to the layout of your content.

Not to mention where you distribute it.

Think about your chosen audience and how you want them to think about you. From there, make every single little blog-related decision with that in mind.

Do so, and you’ll find it easier to grow your audience, keep them coming back, and cultivate all-important trust that’ll help you drive sales and traffic.

85. Focus On Cultivating Trust

That word ‘trust’ is vital to your blogging efforts.

Think about it.

Why would you take travel advice from a source you don’t trust? Why would you listen to their opinion on a specific location, piece of travel gear, or a company they’re recommending?

You wouldn’t! You’d look elsewhere instead.

The same goes for your audience. Cultivating trust with them is the secret-ingredient, the special sauce, for getting them to listen to and like you.

Without that, you’ll find it hard to leverage affiliate marketing or ever sell your own products via the blog.

86. Never Mislead Your Audience

Trust forms over considerable time.

You have to provide constant value for months and even years. You have to be genuine, authentic, and improve peoples’ lives somehow.

In other words, trust is tough to cultivate. But it’s all too easy to lose! One wrong step and months of work can be lost.

Never mislead your audience.

Don’t promote a product that’s no good just because it offers a great commission.

Be open and honest about your affiliates and partnerships. Provide genuine accounts of places you’ve been to around the world. Never lie, take shortcuts, or manipulate readers in any manner.

You might gain something small in the short term, but you’ll lose in the long run.

87. Always Upskill Yourself

You never stop learning with blogging.

There’s still oodles of stuff that I don’t know, or don’t know enough about! It’s a constant process of upskilling yourself and putting in work to improve.

Try to invest in your learning whenever possible.

Set aside a portion of each day to read up on key blogging topics (especially those you don’t understand).

88. Take (and Possibly Pay for) a Blogging Course

Consider taking a blogging course as well.

It’s a sure-fire way to upskill yourself and avoid the problems/mistakes that could occur along the way. You’ll enjoy swifter success and enhanced understanding in less time.

You win in every sense.

There are masses of courses out there too. In fact, the real trouble can be selecting the best course to take- especially if you’re going to spend money on it.

I haven’t taken it myself, but I’ve heard lots of good things about Sharon Gourlay’s Digital Nomad Wannabe blogging course.

Called Build Blog Freedom Fast Track, I know for a fact that it’s highly-reputed among bloggers and will walk you through the whole process of finding growing a blog and turning it into a source of income.

Having read tonnes of Sharon’s content and learned masses from it, I feel confident recommending her course. Click here to check it out.

I’d go as far as to say I wouldn’t be anywhere near the blogging level I’m at now without Sharon’s Digital Nomad Wannabe content. I suggest that anybody serious about their blog should check it out.

A great way to get a taste of her stuff is to take one of her FREE blog boosting challenges. I like the 7-Day SEO boost challenge, which you can sign up to here.

89. Engage With Fellow Bloggers

Work hard to meet other travel bloggers (both online and in-person).

Introduce yourself, start a conversation, share blogging stories, and get involved with their communities. Follow them on social media, leave comments on their blog posts, and email them to say how much you like their content…

And so on.

You benefit from doing so in all manner of ways.

For one thing, you get your name out into the blogosphere! People start to know you and your blog, which is always a good thing. You can also learn, ask questions, and seek support.

Blogging can be lonely as well!

You might be the only person you know in real-life doing it.

Friends and family might not understand; they might actively discourage you from investing your time on it.

Getting involved with other bloggers, in any way shape or form, can keep you motivated and reduce any uncertainty you have about the process.

Furthermore, networking of any description is good for business. You make connections, encounter new opportunities, and forge relationships that benefit you down the line.

90. Join Blogging Facebook Groups

One of the best ways to interact with other bloggers is via Facebook groups.

There are masses out there- all filled with helpful people at every stage of their blogging journeys.

Sign up with them and you’ll have access to everything from essential information to specific blogging opportunities. You can ask questions to serious issues and get a heap of answers from top bloggers in moments.

Search something like ‘travel blogging’ on Facebook and sign up with a bunch of the most popular ones. I can’t overstate the value you’ll get from doing this.

91. Ask for Help If/When You Need It

Blogging is hard.

There’s no two ways about it.

I’ve had moments where it’s all seemed totally pointless. Nothing I’ve been doing has worked. I’ve been stuck, deflated, and unsure if I’d ever see any iota of success.

I still have those moments! And, absolutely, I’ve still got a long way to go.

I also know that I wouldn’t have made the progress I have without asking for help. Through Facebook groups or direct outreach, getting support from fellow bloggers has been a lifeline.

Everything from technical problems to motivational slumps can be handled with a simple quest for help.

92. Leverage Collaborative Posts

Frequent blogging Facebook groups for long enough and you’ll come across collaborative posts.

These are articles that bring together lots of different contributions from bloggers on a particular topic.

Here’s an example from my blog.

In that post, I asked (on Facebook groups) people to suggest a top hike from countries around the world. I ended up with over 40 bloggers to write a short description of an epic hike, and compiled the results.

It was a relatively simple way to get content I would otherwise have been unable to write (without masses of research!).

In exchange for their contribution I linked out to their social media pages and websites.

You can use collab posts for two things:

1. Putting cool content together by asking other bloggers to contribute something, and
2. Getting quick backlinks to your own content by contributing to other bloggers’ collabs.

93. Reach Out to Influential Bloggers

I mentioned outreach before in terms of getting backlinks.

However, it’s worth suggesting again in relation to bettering your blogging understanding.

You’d be surprised at how open top bloggers can be.

These guys get hundreds/thousands of emails every single day. But they’ll often still respond to you in a lovely, friendly, and helpful way.

That’s awesome when you’re trying to learn more about blogging.

You can ask specific questions, see what it takes to succeed, and even enquire about specific ways to partner up. Maybe you can write a guest post for them, or otherwise contribute to a project they’re running.

94. Attend a Blogging Conference

One of the best ways to meet bloggers in real life is via a blogging conference.

I haven’t been to one, yet, but plan to at some point in the future.

The two main ones seem to be TBEX and Travelcon.

They both seem like amazing ways to meet influential bloggers, network, and learn from leaders in the field.

I’ve also heard many bloggers say they got their break from attending them. Through forging connections and/or being in the right place at the right time, the conference was what it took to get their blogs to the next level.

95. Outsource the Tasks You Hate

Blogging is hard for lots of reasons.

But one of the main ones is that there’s so much to do.

Bloggers juggle multiple roles in one go. They’re writers, marketers, social media whizzes, photographers, and so on.

That all amounts to serious workloads.

And, annoyingly, lots of that work can be mundane:

Responding to emails, reaching out to fellow bloggers, sending messages to influencers on Instagram, editing photos, searching for keywords, creating pins for Pinterest, publishing articles, and so on.

It can quickly get overwhelming and even lead to blogger burnout.

Think about outsourcing some of the work you least enjoy doing. Remember, you want blogging success- but you want to enjoy the ride as well! It just so happens that some of what’s involved in getting success is dull and time-consuming.

Do enough of it and you might lose enthusiasm overall.

Cash-rich and time-poor? I recommend paying someone else to do the menial stuff. Hire a virtual assistant!

96. Expect Setbacks

Growing a blog is something of a rollercoaster.

For every high there’s a pretty nasty low! You can expect to struggle, to experience setbacks and issues (some inside your control and others out of it).

You’ll want to give up and feel like this blogging business will never work for you.

It’s natural. I’ve never heard of a blogger who hasn’t been through the ringer on the way to success!

Just know that there’s a hell of a lot of good stuff to look forward to as well.

97. Be Patient and Keep At It

The real keys to successful blogging are patience and perseverance.

Success takes time and the journey to it will be full of ups and downs.

You have to be able to ride out the tough times, keep your chin held high, and trust that everything will be okay (alongside putting in the hard work and seeking to learn at every opportunity).

Everybody’s journey is different.

But, from all accounts, you can expect it to take 12 months or so before you start seeing progress. It might be another 12 months before you begin to notice serious growth.

Be patient and keep at it. We’ll all get there eventually!

98. …But Evaluate Progress

You can’t afford to rest on your laurels though.

The reason your blog isn’t growing might simply be down to time. But you might also be doing something wrong, or have technical issues that need addressing!

Make sure you’re monitoring progress.

If you’ve followed the tips and suggestions in this article, then you should see steady and consistent blog growth!

If 6 months to a year go by and you’re still seeing nothing of note, then start wondering why and looking for answers.

99. Take It Slow & Steady

This is one I have to remind myself of constantly!

There’s no rushing this business and there are only so many hours in the day.

I might want success as quickly as possible, but there’s no point killing myself over it. I’ve had my fair share of 12 hours days on this blog and it doesn’t do much for my mental health!

I tell myself to see this as a marathon and not a sprint; that I’ll get there in the end. The last thing I want to do is burn out and stop enjoying the journey.

I recommend everybody in this situation takes the same tack.

100. Remember to Travel Too!

Oh, and the travel’s important as well!

I came across this quote a few years ago:

“For art to imitate life, you have to have a life.”

If you’re writing a travel blog to help other people travel, then it’ll help you if you do some travelling alongside all the blogging!

Get outside and have adventures.

You’ll feel more inspired to share the experience and help others do the same. You’ll remember why starting a travel blog was so desirable in the first place and rediscover your motivation for it.

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Put These Travel Blog Ideas to Action

There you have it: 100 travel blog ideas, tips and suggestions to help out on your blogging journey.

I really hope you found some value in them somewhere!

Keep them in mind throughout your blogging endeavours and you should enjoy a smoother go of things.

Now I’d love to hear from you!

Got any questions about this article and the blogging tips in it? Drop a comment below and I’ll try to answer them. Oh, and subscribe to the blog as well!

You’ll be first to hear about future posts to help out with your blogging efforts.

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