Dear Aspiring Travel Blogger,
I know you are considering jumping into the world of travel blogging. I can’t blame you. Over the last five and a half years, my travel blog has opened up many doors that would otherwise have been closed to me.
However, before you dive head first into the rainbow and unicorn world of travel blogging, there are probably a few things you should know:
1) You will not have overnight success.
As in any field of human endeavor, you have to pay your dues before you can expect any success. Unless you already have some sort of online following, you will probably be starting from scratch with an audience of zero. Be prepared to put in several years of work before you start to see a payoff. Even those bloggers who have achieved some level of success aren’t becoming rich from their efforts.
2) You might never be a success.
Online, things tend to be distributed by what is known as a power law distribution. It is a fancy way of restating the 80/20 rule. A small number of blogs will garner most of the traffic, while the majority of blogs never get any traction. To get into that top tier will require a lot of hard work and determination. Many of the travel blogs which were popular when I started have either been abandoned or taken down. There is a very high rate of attrition among bloggers.
3) It is getting harder to become a success
Not to sound like the old guy, but back when I launch my blog in 2006 there weren’t as many travel blogs out there. I didn’t have to contend with blogs who had been around for years and had 10,000′s or 100,000′s of readers. Today the early mover advantage is gone. If you start blogging today you will find yourself in an extremely crowded marketplace and have to compete with bloggers how have been around for years. This is true for any niche you wish you blog about.
4) Running a successful blog is hard work
Running a blog is more than just writing. You also have to wear the hats of everyone else at a traditional publication: marketing, sales and circulation. In addition to being a writer you also have to be a photographer and maybe even a videographer. As with any traditional publication, good writing is just the beginning, not the end. If you have fantasies about sipping champagne on the beach, put those aside now.
5) Be prepared to travel a lot
This might sound like the glamorous part of the job, but the majority of the top single person travel blogs are run by people who travel for a living or began their blog during an around the world trip. Simply going on vacation periodically probably isn’t going to cut it. To get the interest of readers you need a travel portfolio that will grab people’s attention and provide you with plenty of things to write about. Also, backpacking in South-East Asia has been done to death. You will probably need to come up with something a bit more interesting.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there you have it. If you want to join the illustrious ranks of travel bloggers, you are more than welcome. Just be aware of what you are getting yourself into before you get started.
Sincerely yours,
Gary
Post Revisions:
- 27 April, 2012 @ 9:37 [Current Revision] by Gary Arndt
- 27 April, 2012 @ 9:34 by Alastair McKenzie
- 27 April, 2012 @ 9:34 by Alastair McKenzie
- 27 April, 2012 @ 9:33 by Alastair McKenzie
- 27 April, 2012 @ 9:31 by Alastair McKenzie
All very true.
With so much competition out there it is probably best to pick a smaller niche, a specific continent or maybe just a country, become an expert and stand out from the crowd.
Contextual and more specific definitions of terms like “payoff” and “success” would make this article even better.
Gary?
Anything involving money or traffic. Take your pick.
Bloggers don’t tend to have much of either.
Thanks Gary. I guess it’s all relative – compared to some niches, travel bloggers make less money and get less traffic. Compared to others, they do better.
Money is an interesting one – I know, from personal communications, that a lot of successful travel bloggers value measure other forms of success/payoff – such as making friends, helping others, and inspiring others with their words and photos. Not to mention, other “gigs” that may arise due to having a personal blog. Or even learning a new skill. This is not to take away from what you have said in the least – making “decent” money purely from travel blogging is an uphill battle, and the 80/20 rule of course applies.
As for traffic, and in the context of the travel blogger niche – I disagree. The Internet is a level playing field, and there is absolutely nothing stopping a blogger who starts tomorrow building up a level of traffic that exceeds all expectations, and indeed exceeds the traffic of many of the current “top” travel blogs. Quantity over quality, and SEO optimisation over content, will get you a long way with traffic. Or, you could pay for traffic. You could pay for advertising. (I don’t).
My advice to anyone wanting to start a new travel blog, is to go for it. I’ve been going only three months, and have already had some personal “successes” and “payoffs” that have encouraged me to keep going…for at least another three mnths ;)
Again, great article, thanks to Gary and Travelllllll.coom
Nate
I have yet to see “making friends” ever discussed at a conference or on a forum dedicated to travel blogging.
A nice benefit to be sure, but that doesn’t seem to be why people do this. There are many many other ways to make friends which require far less work.
The internet is not a level playing field. Established brands have a HUGE advantage over newcomers. Sure, anyone COULD do it, but that is true of anything with odds greater than 0, no matter how small.
I have been interviewed a good number of times recently and one of the questions is “give tips on starting a successful travel blog.”
My blunt answer is — don’t do it. Its a LOT of work for very little money at this point in time. Too many people are doing it that have no idea what does into making a successful blog and just have stars in their eyes.
If you are someone that just wants to travel around for a year or two, there are MUCH better options than travel blogging right now: learn how to be a poker/blackjack dealer, bartend, work at volunteer organizations, and so forth. There are great ways to travel around and not be tied up to a travel blog. Do up a blog for family and friends to follow along on your trip, post whenever the hell you feel like it, don’t get tied to Twitter/Facebook/Google+ and more, and sell a few hundred dollars of links each month to help pay for beer.
I always wanted to be a
Black Jack dealer! :P
Good advice Micheal, I’ve been around bloggers on assignment and seen how its sometimes so stressful that they can’t even really enjoy being at the location.
Very good advises. Totally agree.
The key is working, working, working… :-)
I guess if you consider popularity as a measure of success, then I think you have very little chance of becoming a famous travel blogger starting 2012. We write our own travel blog not only as an aide memoire but to share our experiences, and maybe if we are lucky, one day we’ll inspire one person to do the same. Hey, that’s what inspired me, following real travel bloggers.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
However, there are a great many bloggers who think they can turn this into a full time job.
Unless you’ve got massive resources at your disposal, and/or attract the serious patronage of a well established existing blogger, you’d be a fool to think you could break into this market commercially. There are teams of bloggers who dont even leave the office, let alone travel. Unless youve already made it, blogging is for the committed who like to share, if there lucky they’ll make a few hundred bucks here and there. People who crave top blogger status, and the monetary rewards that come with could approach overworked travel bloggers and offer freelance services whilst on the road in exchange for traffic and status. It’s flattering to get new followers and comments on a blog, but really unless your a pro it’s a guilty pleasure.
Sound all fairly reasonable and I know it’s true… But, I can’t help but dream!!
100% Agree!!
I’m curious as to what ‘success’ you’re chasing?
If you’re blogging to create an online magazine then the basic business principals of a magazine would still hold true. If you’re blogging to sell a travel product then the blogging effort becomes part of your sales and marketing function. Both business models have natural limits as to how much effort is justified for business results.
If your blogging to share great experiences and stories, and maybe enthuse others to get out and discover it for themselves then you’ve succeeded when people go travelling. And success can be measured by as little as one person doing something new in their life.
There are only so many objective criteria you can use in a blog to measure “success”: money, traffic and peer recognition.
Take your pick. All are extremely hard to come by.
If you want to blog as a hobby, then by all means go for it. Unfortunately, many people getting into this are not doing it for that reason.
Hi Gary,
Nice thoughts in deed, I wonder in what part of the world are you now ;-).
I will suggest include in your list:
- Be honest and transparent with yourself and the brands you get in touch. Do not forget social media it is open and transparent and you have a great and valuable work to offer, but it is really worthy to buy it from their point of view [DMO side]?.
- Work to be the best or at least to be percive as the best in your segment !. That means that you [and your work] have to become the best PR of your self.
- Succes is a mix of Humor+Profesionality+Determination+Networking+Good Luck. Remenber the phrase: “You’ve got big dreams? You want fame? Well, fame costs. And right here is where you start paying … in sweat.”
Take care amigo !
Joantxo, I’m in Hong Kong today :)
Hi Gary
I’ve been following everything-everywhere for a while now. That is some very sound advice. I travelled quite a bit in my younger days and was not a picture person. I did not even keep journals or document my travels.
Sometime last year, I thought maybe I could try travel bogging but looking around the blogosphere I realised that’s just not going to happen.
I feel this post is an honest ‘eye-opener’ and is telling people to be realists. Thank you.
I think nailing a good niche is key in today’s blogging scene. I appreciate that your advice is realistic, if not a bit obvious. An idea to take away is definitely that running a website is hard work– make sure you enjoy it!
I completely understand your point, but I think the confusion is setting in because you’ve chosen to lump together all “aspiring” travel bloggers before identifying what their actual motives are. Your assuming that anyone who wants to start a travel blog is expecting to make a viable income as a result, which isn’t always the case.
I don’t disagree that there are an overwhelming number of people motivated by the naive idea that their current income can be replaced/increased by becoming a travel blogger, which couldn’t be further from the truth, but there are also plenty of people like myself who just want an outlet to share their experiences. If it leads to something more lucrative in the future, then fantastic! If not, that’s ok, too :)
I understand that. Not everyone is in it to make money or become famous. Using a blog as a diary or even as a resume for your travel writing is perfectly acceptable.
Nonetheless, many (if not most) people do want some level of objective success in terms of traffic or money. That is very hard to do.
Gary, you raised an interesting “success” metric that goes against your earlier comments here: starting a blog as a resume (or better off, portfolio) for your travel writing.
Some people start a travel blogger looking to become a professional writer or blogger, but not on that blog. It’s a stepping stone, and their “success” metric is getting other gigs because of their writing and then perhaps leveraging those into leaving their job and travelling full-time.
I think this is actually more of the goal or trend these days in (serious) aspiring bloggers and travel writers. The blog platform gives people a quick way to create clips they can send to editors, and mastering WP, HTML, and social media through their own site makes them more attractive candidates for corporate blogging positions.
Though I wouldn’t go so far as to say the myth of becoming a self-sustaining travel blogger is dead, I think that this post is the death knell of the open, opportunity-filled phase of the blogging like Tim Leffel’s much quoted Seven Myths of Being a Travel Writer and Leif Pettersen’s post on the reality of travel writing.
Regardless, there are a lot of bloggers in other niches who have become “overnight” (really one-year) successes, largely through the support of the A-List Blogging Club. Take Carol Tice and her Make a Living Writing Blog. She hasn’t been around for long and now draws a huge income from her site. Just the annual income on her membership group alone is over $100K.
The key is “other niches”.
Also I never said it is impossible, I just said it is difficult.
Duly noted.
I agree that success is relative. I started blogging to increase travel opportunities. The influx of new friends, improved writing ability, increased self confidence and entrepreneur skills were unexpected.
I would suggest anyone start the blog of their choice. Sometimes, the rewards you gain aren’t the ones you wanted, but they are just as valuable.
I’m not going to be a financially successful travel blogger for a lot of reasons you cite, but primarily because I’m not willing to post every day, and I’m certainly not willing to spend any more time on Twitter looking at too many posts that barely exceed the “Happy Friday!” level. I would put in the work, but that’s not work. It’s torture.
So, and because I wasn’t an early adapter in this space, I’ll find another niche, and in the meantime, live off the niche I found a long time ago. In the meantime, I’m going to write and photograph for my blog, and try to put enough into it that the people who are interested in such things will, I hope, someday find me.
And, I’m going to use it for practice for a couple of books I’ve got in me, which are not necessarily travel-related. (Ok, one of them is.)
Also, I’m going to spend a lot more time in Spain, which beats Chaing Mai all to hell.
BTW, although you may attribute much of your success to your early start, you’re a good thinker, a good writer, and a good photographer. I realize all of those sort of follow from working hard at your craft, but hard work plus talent is a lot better than hard work without it. That’s why I keep reading you.
I think too many people opt for the blog when larger projects like a book or video might do much better.
We are settling in the same place for the next two months, starting on Monday. If the book isn’t done by the end of that time, I’m gonna probably have to kill something. About a third of the way right now–the easy part.
All you say makes perfect sense to me Gary, ever more so from the perspective of someone that has been working hard as a travel blogger since 2007 like myself. But I can’t help thinking that we are living extraordinary times where the whole publishing industry is redifining itself, and things are changing/evolving at an amazing pace.
There is still a chance to jump in for those that are starting right now (albeit a very little one), IF they learned from our mistakes in the past, know what they are doing and are extremely focused.
Who knows how all this will evolve in a year… So go for it!
Manuel, I could just as easily wrote a piece talking about how things are changing in the industry. Both would be equally true.
While I do think the loser will outnumber the winners, if you aren’t playing the game you have no hope of winning.
It is lots of work, however we’ve found that we enjoy the “work”. And we enjoy telling people about our different way of travel.
I just wrote my own post like this, and I was afraid I was being overly negative. I guess I wasn’t! I completely agree with all of your points, but number 4 stands out as the most important. I love my blog, but it IS work. A lot of work. And I don’t ‘get’ anything from it (other than a sense of accomplishment and a pretty cool group of people I’ve met through it, which to me IS ‘getting’ something!) Fortunately 1, 2, and 3 don’t bother me because I’m not super interested in becoming a success–nor do I really know what that would look like for me, as I’m not a full-time traveler (I own a home). But I still love writing my blog and I still love the things I’ve been inspired to do in order to feed my blog.
I think what makes me a bit sad is seeing all these 20-somethings heading off to travel the world – yet the very fact you can read about every step of their journey across their blog, Twitter, Facebook and G+ makes me wonder how much they’re actually seeing and experiencing, or if they’re shunning the chance to meet people in hostels because they’re sat at a laptop updating their blog, or or videoing that cave instead of taking in the sight and smells. It’s like tweeting a TV show, or watching a concert through a viewfinder – you never watch the whole thing. And travel is so dependent on the senses, the here and now.
Anonymous comments make me a bit sad :(
As someone who has been traveling and blogging for 5 years, I don’t feel like I’m missing out.
Yes, it takes time to work on my blog, but it makes me cement and think more clearly about what I’ve seen and experienced.
Gary – I conducted a poll on what defines a successful travel blog in late 2010 in preparation for my presentation at TBEX Copenhagen:
http://www.europealacarte.co.uk/blog/2010/10/15/successful-travel-blog-travel-blogging-tips/
It seems to me that everyone and their Granny thinks they can be a travel blogger. Well yes they can but earning a living from it is an entirely different matter. IMO there’s far too much hype about quitting the cubicle to travel the world making money travel blogging.
Of course, these aspirations are fanned by some bloggers not really making money from travel blogging but hoping to earn from telling aspiring travel bloggers how to make money blogging. However, there’s always been more money in selling the shovels than digging for gold.
So true everything you’ve mentioned! It’s easy to believe sucess is easy when we see folks living the dream life. Blogging is still fairly new, so there’s no one to tell you the real statistics.
There is still a lot of room for travel bloggers to grow into niche markets, especially in the realm of sustainable and responsible travel, including extended vacations where the traveler really has time to sit and relax and enjoy a new culture. The world is waiting for more opportunities like this.
This is a great post, it puts things into perspective with a realistic approach. Blogging is a great way to meet new people and get excited about living/traveling to new places because it makes you more conscientious about your activities and keeps you engaged with others. Blogging is and probably always will be a hobby for us, the idea of monetizing it really doesn’t make sense, at this point at least.
After a few years away, I started reading travel blogs again about five months ago. What’s mainly stood out is just how bad many of them are, even those that appear, at least on the surface, to be bringing in at least a modicum of income. That ‘s a whole ‘nother topic but I’m sure lots of aspiring bloggers see these and think, ‘I can do that, too.’ Which leads to other problems/observations that are marginally related:
- Many blogs are simply copies of each other. They use very similar content, headlines and cliches, and even the same layout and design.
- Many bloggers seem to be writing for each other instead of a wider audience.
- And alarming to me, someone who comes from a news background, is that increasingly lots of bloggers (and many of their readers) can’t differentiate between a blog post, an op-ed or a journalistic piece.
I’ve gone a bit off-topic here, my apologies. I’ve been in heated discussions all week about how the web continues to lower the bar on just about everything. I’m reminded of that each time I surf a few dozen travel blogs with the naive hope that I’ll find one that stands out. Those are few and far between.
My curiosity was renewed when I made the decision for some long-term travel of my own which will begin after the first of the year. I’ll be blogging but I I have no illusions that I’ll be making any money.
Yo Gary,
Your journey and blog have been an inspiration.
I appreciate the candor of this piece. Too much BS exists about how darn easy blogging is.
But I know this already. I’m more curious about your unique perspective on how travel bloggers CAN be a success in the current blogosphere.
Rock the world!
I had a sneaking suspicion about #5…glad to know that you noticed the trend, too. But damn! Now the secret’s out! Everyone, disperse!
Blogging is hard work for little return for even established travel bloggers. I publish two blogs, one very niche-oriented; a guide to horseback riding vacations, and it has yet to turn a reasonable profit.
Mamma, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys or travel bloggers!
so true gary! i started my blog 7 years ago, and while i have a respectable following, i doubt i’ll ever be in your league or nomadic matt’s, to name a few:) still, i love doing it! and i kinda like wearing all the hats of writer/photog/videographer/marketing/ PR, but that’s just cuz i like to micromanage! hahahah
high five!
I can’t say whether I agree or not becasue I’m new to blogging, but one thing is for sure…it’s a lot of work. I do it to share my travels. I started for my friends and family and now I have a bit (a very small bit) of a following. I have no illustions that I will make enough money to quite my job and travel forever, but it’s been good experience for me. I’m becoming a better writer, photographer, and business person…becoming…not there yet.
Hi Gary, great article indeed. I have experienced much of this while starting my own blog 5 months ago and running it since I’ve been in New Zealand.
The first two months I recieved very little traction, but I was blogging non-stop. By the 3rd month I received my first paid article and my first sponsored trip (fully paid for, all activities included across New Zealand) but at this time I was putting in nearly 8-10 hrs a day writing. My hair was beig pulled, my body was aching, my mind was worn. But, I had “success” in the fact that I multiplied my site views but 6-7X and hit over 10,000 views by the 3rd month.
Now I have taken on a job at a kiwi Packhouse working 10+ hours, 6 days a week and have been lacking the energy to blog. My views have obviously tanked since I’m not established, and the growth was because I had the time to write. It is a full time gig.
My point is, you can find some measures of success (sponsored posts/trips) early on, but this is something that will take extreme amounts of time and effort to build, and you may lack time for ANYTHING else.
My advice which scored me some “success” would be to think outside the box. I got a sponsored trip (worth over 2k with bungy jumps, etc. included) because I offered to create a personality for Nomad Hostels Camel mascot, and wrote as a camel or myself on the adventures.
But sustaining yourself on freebies and sponsors won’t cut it. Like any job, if you want to be the best it will take hard work, commitment and some magical mojo. It is possible, and I don’t think it should be discouraged, but don’t start a travel blog thinking you can make a living any time soon, especially if you are lazy.
Good luck to everyone starting one, hobby or hopeful job: it is what you make it. The best will succeed by the sweat on your brow and the arthritis in your little blogging fingers!
Great article.
It’s important to have a niche but more important to have a consistent style & angle. We’ve only been live for a month and we are still working through how to bed down those two crucial elements. It’s a tough gig. And even tougher when working a 9-5 and coming home to write articles. Nothing spells the end of a social life than a job AND a blog.
Looking from a ‘glass half full’ perspective though, if travel is something you are truly passionate about and your wanting to embark on a steep learning curve – there is no reason for why you cannot be successful. Be positive, work hard and you never know where you will end up… much like travelling itself right?
Thanks for the honest realism. Wish travel blogging as a career would be more lucrative, but it isn’t that easy.
I always learn from you Gary, and I appreciate that you share your thoughts, experience and advice. But, you know, telling someone not to pursue their dreams of travel writing / blogging is like telling someone not to fall in love! It is good to know the reality — especially about how hard it is and how long it takes to achieve just about any measure of peer or commercial success. But people need dream, and the lucky ones get, or make, the opportunity to follow theirs — and it doesn’t really matter what the outcome is. At the end of life, I believe we regret what we didn’t do, not what we did do.
See you in Colorado!
I’m not telling people not to do it, I’m just trying to tell them what to expect.
Lets just start doing things for fun, many of us will have to work in something else for a living so … just keep it up and enjoy sharing your travel experiences without waiting for an income!
interesting post, i appreciate your honesty and while some people seem to disagree, i think it’s true that the majority will fail. I think this is something that needs to be a deep seeded passion.
So so true. Blogging is hard work. But for me, getting up to go to a job I hate everyday is a lot harder so I buckle down and work my arse off on my blogs. The 80/20 principle will always apply, you just have to be determined and committed to get to the top.
It is all consuming and it gets even harder when you throw in the travel side to it and for us, two children. Having a second mummy blog has helped us a lot and we have some really awesome opportunities coming in for us now because of both of them, so it has been all worth it.But it has been an incredible amount of work and sacrifice to get there. I think you really have to think larger than your blog space and look at the potential of where your platform could lead to. How can you strengthen your brand and make it unique?
There is always room for quality at the top.
stay adventurous, Craig
Thanks a lot for the insight. I’m barely planning on getting started with travel blogging and this surely helps to put a realistic perspective into it.
Hey Gary,
From what I’ve seen in the past 14 months since I discovered travel blogs, you are spot on! LOTS of hard work for a very long time. LOTS of competition to grab readers’ interest and advertiser’s dollars. And have to wear many hats, as you said. Gotta love most of it, I reckon, or you’re gonna quit. I’m still on it. Love writing, photographing, editing, learning, growing a business, helping people travel… all good, just lots of work.
Here’s to blogging adn traveling~! cheers, Lash
I spent several years as an editor at Playboy Magazine, and during that time, we received thousands of over-the-transom fiction submissions (probably 20,000, if not more). Out of those submissions, we bought three. Common sense would suggest that no sane writer would have bothered to waste postage submitting a story to Playboy, but the three aspiring short-story writers who got checks for $2,000 and their bylines in Playboy were happy that they ignored common sense and sent in their manuscripts.
I haven’t made one single penny out of my site, I admit I’ve had some offers but didn’t want to compromise the content nor sell space for non strictly travel-related ads, so I can only agree with Gary that it’s extremely hard. This is why I write for different outlets and about many topics (I started as political journalist in the first place), and I have the opportunity to travel both for work and for pleasure, keeping my blog always up and running. Obviously, I can’t manage to update every day, and to be honest I prefer to upload twice a week interesting posts, rather than twice a day uninteresting articles just for updating sake.
Hi Gary,
Tanks for this post, as I could be directly targeted :-). I’m sure you’re right about niche and work hard would ever make the difference. So
You make some very valuable points Gary. I can’t imagine it is an easy thing to do. Have been working hard at my blog for over a year now…but the traction is certainly slow at coming. Niches are great…but then, I have never been interested in only one place…so random and crazy is how I like it! May have to try a little videography…seems to be something that is becoming more valuable. Maybe that broken camera in Pamplona that forced me to upgrade on the spot will come in handy! Thanks for the perspective.
Thank you for this valuable advises. I just started blogging 3 weeks ago and I can already see it will be a long way to monetize the blog. But I’m willing to go that way because it’s my life dream. My first article was about Philippines and has been liked on Facebook almost a 1000 times. I hope, I’m on the right way.
Let’s hope 2013 will be my year. Good luck to all writers and travel bloggers. Happy new year!!