How to Write a Travel Blog
Keep and build a real audience with these simple tips
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Know your audience. If you’re blogging to keep your mom updated on your whereabouts, then it’s fine to include everything you ate and when you last showered, but if you’re trying to appeal to a broader audience, you’re going to have to focus on more interesting experiences. Show them something they haven’t seen before.
Get ‘em in quick and make ‘em care. In travel narrative, it’s easy to start at the beginning and go from there, but sometimes the beginning is boring. Like any kind of writing, blogs benefit from a strong headline and a grabby lead. Put the juicy stuff first and pull people in right away.
Have a voice. There’s nothing more boring that a play-by-play of someone else’s vacation. Don’t just rehash. Have an opinion; give up some dirt. Dig in to more than just the “so there I was…”
But don’t ignore other people’s voices. You travel to see new places and meet new people, right? Bring them in and tell their stories. Make it about the things your see and the people you meet, not about you.
Avoid clichés. Is the view from your balcony in Hawaii “postcard perfect?” Then maybe you should send a postcard instead of blogging. When you’re in new, beautiful places it’s easy to slip into overused language. Don’t do that. Give your readers something new, and show it to them in a different way
Be a photo editor. You took a million pictures and Instagrammed the heck out of them. Awesome, but now cut them down. Images are important, but three good photos are much stronger than 27 mediocre ones.
Have a point. There are a zillion travel blogs out there, so why should people care about you? What’s your deal? Are you eating your way across Arkansas? Are you the first person to circumnavigate Iceland by Streetstrider? Are you so hilarious that they can’t ignore you? Find a niche and give people a reason to read your writing.
Keep it up. “Hey, guys, sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written, I’ve been traveling…” is not the way to suck people in. Be consistent and update frequently. Like, every day. We know you’re on the road, that’s why we care, no excuses.
