Who doesn’t want to be a travel blogger? Today, the idea of traveling anywhere with someone covering your costs can be quite enticing. But that wasn’t what made me start a travel blog.
You see, I was stressed at work so my friends and I would often go traveling on weekends. I had so many photos and stories to tell. Then, one day, I remembered about an article I read about blogging becoming a source of income.
So I said to myself, “Why the hell not?” And created Wander Era.
It was a spur of the moment kind of thing and I really didn’t know what I was getting into. I didn’t know that travel blogging is just like a job.
Travel blogging is hella hard. Most people only see the photos, and the good parts of it. They don’t realize that to get there, you’ll have to go through a lot of struggles.
Here’s some of the things I wish I knew before starting a travel blog.
It’s a saturated niche
Today, there are thousands of travel websites you’ll be competing with. Everybody wants to travel and become travel bloggers. They think that by getting a few readers and followers, they can ask for all-expense-paid trips or free stays at hotels.
But getting this far isn’t easy. Travel bloggers who received any special perks or compensation for that matter spend a lot of time building their blogs to get where they are now.
You’ll spend hours and hours behind your laptop
Before I started this blog, all I really knew was that I’d go travel, take photos, write and hit ‘Publish’. Then, people will come to my blog. But I was wrong.
I’d have to learn a ton of stuff such as SEO, graphic design, website development, social media marketing, and just about every single thing that wasn’t taught in school. All this combined together had me stuck in front of my laptop.
The good thing about this is you can use the skills you learned to freelance. This can help you make money to support your travels and your blog.
You won’t be earning a fixed income
Unlike your day job, travel blogging has no fixed income. That is both a good and a bad thing.
The bad thing is that there will be times that your earnings will decrease since traveling is somewhat seasonal.
The good thing is you can earn as much as you want. You can earn with Google Adsense, affiliate marketing, sponsored contents, ad placements, coaching, public speaking, and so much more. Heck, you can even sell on your travel blog.
There are bloggers who earn six digits with just their travel blogs. And there are those who quit after a few years. Only a few make money and it certainly is not enough to pay for all of their travels.
It can be lonely
Not everyone will understand what you are doing. My current base is my hometown and a lot of people think I don’t have a real job. But travel blogging is a real job, people!
Unless you have a network of people who also blogs, you won’t have a lot of people to talk to about blogging.
What’s next?
With technology constantly changing, you have to be always in the know of any updates in social media algorithms, search engine algorithms, as well as the current trends. Plus, if you’re a travel blogger, you have to be constantly planning for your next travels.
If you want to still be a travel blogger despite all the cons I’ve listed here. You should check out my other blog “How To Start A Travel Blog in 2019 (And Make Money)“.
You might also like…
- How To Make Money Online To Fund Your Travels
- How To Start A Travel Blog in (And Make Money)
- Travel Jobs List: 11 Jobs That Let You Travel The World
- 5 Tenets Of Marketing In The Travel Industry
- How Wander Era Was Born: Steps I Took To Make Travel My Job
hi Johanes,
I’ve been reading some of your travel blogs, I find them interesting and so are the places you go to and the tips you
provide are helpful. As you pointed out there is a lot that goes
on in the background in order to come up with articles, photos etc. before they are published but you’re doing a good job and
think of it in another way, you are learning new technology
related stuff as you go along which could come in handy should you decide to pursue other things down the road, Hopefully you will continue with “Wanderera” though. Anyway, keep up the good work and don’t let the ‘sometimes’ negative things get you down.
Continue to enjoy your travels !!!
Thanks Robert! 🙂