Stop Treating Travel Blogs as Memory Books
Get your Ego out of the way, please. It’s blocking the view.
Did you start your own travel blog but you see no traffic coming your way? You had big plans for your new travel blog but nothing seems to work? You keep sharing your memories and experiences from all your trips, but all you get is two or three likes? We have the solution for this!
Now the World of Travel Blogging looks a little bit too overwhelming, right?
It’s true that in the beginning, it can take ages to attract people’s attention. Although you are doing everything right, there is no significant growth in your new Travel Blog. As a matter of fact, you only get next to zero followers and low sharing actions.
Do you want to know why? Are you sure that you are ready for this?
Travel blogging’s aim is to focus on the concept of traveling. It is not about you but about Travel Storytelling.
Let’s see which blogging trap has blocked your precious little baby’s growth!
Share More About the Travel Experience
I bet that you have read that your blog should have your personal voice. It’s true but it doesn’t mean that your Travel Blog is all about you and only you. Stop sharing only your personal memories from your trips. Find a balance between useful information and personal stories.
Travel blogging's aim is to focus on the concept of traveling. It is not about you but about Travel Storytelling. So try to write and present more about:
- the travel destination
- the traveling process
- info about the location
- info regarding how to reach
- talk about the people
- how to deal with common issues
- give ideas on how to spend time
- where and what to eat
- what kind of outfits may need
- weather info
- essential behavior guidelines
- some language tips
- cost of everyday life
- emergency stations
- suggest solutions
- connection with local groups or activities
- and all extra info about little know secrets
Really, nobody cares about your fight with your best friend or your belly ring or about the 20 photos of the sunset just because is “sooooooo romantic!!!!”. We’ve got it, with the first 2 pictures.
Personal involvement inside travel blogging content should be present as little as possible. Think of yourself as the element of salt. Add a little bit of salt, just enough to make it tasteful and enjoyable, but not too much to destroy it. Get to know the balance of this game!
Be the Golden Source of Information
The main theme of the story is the location and not your personal life. So try to write about the way you see and experience a certain location. Keep out all the juicy details about you and your partner or your family or your affairs. Share solid facts, useful information, and golden tips that can save time and energy for the following travelers.
Write Outstanding Headlines
After all, headlines are half the story. Also, headlines are the entrance door to your blog.
Choose witty and interesting headlines, with a solid idea of what to expect in your content. If someone has made a query on Google search machine: “Trip to Greece” and your headline declares “How to Enjoy your Trip to Greece” it’s most likely to pop up as an organic (not paid) result, even at the first two Google pages.
But, to keep the visitor and the Google machine satisfied you should apply these four essential rules:
- Be focused and relevant to the headline-topic
- State the facts and useful information
- Use original and professional photos and videos
- Apply all SEO best practices
If visitors spend on your website more time after a specific query, is an evidence that your website is trustworthy. That will make Google love your blog and eventually will show it to new visitors.
If your travel storytelling adopts all the above you will see your Google quality score rise and after some time you will taste the warm feeling of success. When Google recognizes a source ( in that case a publisher aka your blog) as authentic and preferable by the audience, it tends to give it an organic boost as a trustworthy source of information.
Make it Easy to Share
Social Media friendly language and visuals are really important. The more social media shares you get, the merrier!
When people share your posts or articles, the circle of your audience spreads widely beyond your network. That means your blog will get more followers and will increase its referral and influence score among the competitors. High scores attract Google’s attention, build a new audience and finally increase traffic to your blog. And the circle starts again. Did you get the whole picture, now?
New post >> Apply 4 rules>> Strong headline>> Authentic Content>> Social Media friendly>> Shareable Content>> High Quality Score>> Google Organic Boost>> Trustworthy Source>> New Audience>> More Followers>> New Post>> The circle repeats again, and again…
Use friendly and everyday language as if you are describing an amazing experience to a friend. Think of yourself as the link between a person and a location. Put yourself in their shoes. Recall the first impressions you got as soon as you set your foot in that new place.
Notebooks should become your best friend! For sure, are mine! Keep notes and use them later! Try to write down different unexpected issues and how you handled them. Open a file with all related links, contacts, addresses, names, maps, timetables, directions, tips from locals, photo albums, and everything that no one will ever find in a travel guidebook. You are a kind of an investigator. A Travel Investigator. Remember to take as many photos and videos as possible.
Whatever sounds silly at a precise moment could become the golden detail while editing your next travel post. Remember that you are collecting small elements to create your story for your readers. Ask yourself: “Would I need to know this if I was planning to visit this location?”
When editing your posts remember to preview all the changes you add. See it from the visitors’ side. Check it several times!
Choose the Right Categories & Tags
Categories support the need to group an entire set of posts under one specific section of interest. Tags enhance this specification to become more clear and to the point. For example:
Category: Marketing [main topic]
- Tags: Digital Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Outbound Marketing, Content Marketing [secondary main topics]
Treat them as close friends that help you sort out your content inside your blog or website. WP Beginner has published this Support Guide about Categories and Tags Use at WordPress. Spend 15 minutes to read it here and thank me later!
It’s worth mentioning Hubspot because it is one of the strongest Digital Marketing Players with tons of experience and countless successful projects. HubSpot is an inbound marketing and sales platform that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers. During my research for this post, I discovered this well–written article by Sophia Bernazzani: The Anatomy of a Perfect Blog Post.
You Only Have One First Impression
The introduction area is the first two lines. Those two lines are your only chance to persuade people to keep reading your post. Say it all with 10–30 words; include the main topic and the top keywords. Make it stand out. Tease and play. Attract readers’ attention.
Did you notice how the introduction [of this post] affected your impulse to read the rest of the post?
Did you start your own travel blog but you see no traffic coming your way? You had big plans for your new travel blog but nothing seems to work? You keep sharing your memories and experiences from all your trips, but all you get is two or three likes?
Let’s break it down:
- Tease: start your own travel blog
- Pain point: you see no traffic coming your way
- Feeling: we know how you feel
- Main keyword: Travel Blogging
- Create an expectation: Trigger: Travel Blog tips
- Talk about the real need: but all you get is two or three likes?
And you are here with me — the last 5 minutes — reading this post. If the introduction got you up to this point, it means that we did something right, didn’t we?
Choose the introduction/featured image to meet the visitor’s expectations. A picture worth 1000 words. Hook the interest with all you’ve got. Show your story in this one picture. This picture will be your front face all over social media and the internet. Original and high-quality photos are most recommended.
Yes, Size Matters
Whenever you post something on your blog should have more than 600 words. Less than that equals digital silence for SEO. If you have a strong pen then go for 1500–2500 words per post. Add appealing visuals and astonishing (valuable) content. Then share it, send it with emails, invest at least $10–30 in boosting and ask people to enrich your story with their point of view.
Do the extra mile
- Reach out to influencers and ask for their opinion.
- Introduce local business owners and ask them to share your blog post with their followers.
- Participate in popular Travel Facebook Groups.
- Interact with fellow bloggers that have a similar mentality.
- Update your content regularly.
- Be open to speaking at events.
- Offer free advice.
- Do and host-guest blogging.
- Have a fine-tuned digital and social media presence.
- Use great quality videos.
- Having a Mobile-friendly website/blog is the only option.
- Use Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube to share your content.
Top SEO Copywriting Tips
Do you want to drive more search traffic to your site? Use these Top SEO Copywriting Tips to create content that both your audience and the search engine machines will adore!
One of the biggest challenges that content creators face is how to balance between the best SEO practices for search engine machines and the need to satisfy the eyes of real human beings. Crafting appealing content both for people and machines is not as easy as it seems. That’s why is important to apply all SEO copywriting principles when creating new content for your website or blog.
