Hello, people of YouTube.
I'm Kristin and welcome to Be My Travel Muse.
Today, I'm going to talk to you about how to start not just a travel blog that helps
you travel for free or get little freebies here and there but a travel blog that is a
real business, that makes money, that can change your life.
I've been a travel blogger for five years now.
Since then, I have made just about every mistake possible, but I've also learned a lot.
So, I'm here to share with you my top 10 tips for what helped me to become successful.
Now, if you don't know me, allow me to qualify myself first.
My blog, bemytravelmuse.com, focuses on solo female and adventures travel.
I am in the top 50 travel blogs by traffic.
I have been featured by "The Washington Post," by BuzzFeed.
I have over 100,000 followers on Instagram.
My blog received 1.5 million viewers in the past 12 months and, it is well known as one
of the top female travel blogs in the world.
So, now that I've sort of shamelessly promoted myself, let's have a seat, shall we?
And talk about the top 10 things that you can do to have a successful travel blog.
Most important thing number one about building a successful travel blog is, be original.
The most important thing that you can do is develop your unique niche.
Figuring out how you can stand out might seem super daunting.
Yes, there are thousands of travel blogs but if you think about it, there are also thousands
of restaurants all over planet earth.
Does that mean you shouldn't start and open a restaurant?
Or that a new restaurant can't be successful?
No.
Travel blogging is a super young industry.
It's only been about a decade now that people could actually make solid money with a travel blog.
So, when you think about it that way, if you can innovate and come up with a really clever
niche then you've got a really good chance of succeeding.
Really think about what is the one thing that you love so much that you're obsessed with it.
You're thinking about it all the time.
You kind of eat, sleep and breathe it.
That is the thing that can help you become successful because there are other people
who also are obsessed with that one thing.
The deeper that you can go into a niche, the more that you can find your tribe of people
who are also super into that thing.
Don't even know who originally said this anymore, "The riches are in the niches."
Basically, the deeper you can go into a niche, the better you can do at differentiating yourself
and finding that one thing that hasn't been covered yet that you can provide your unique
voice on.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, "I have no idea what sets me apart."
That's okay.
It may come to you as you start, when you're on the road.
If you don't know yet, just go.
Just get started, that's okay.
For me, it took a while to figure out what my niche really was.
I focused on Solo Female and Adventurous Travel.
The Solo Female thing just kinda happened because I'm a girl who travels by herself.
And the Adventurous side of me is something that I discovered it once I was out on the
road.
So don't feel like you have to know that right away.
But really think about what you are so obsessed with that you spend a bunch of time on it
whether people are paying attention to you or not, and that is the thing that you should
focus on.
Most important thing number two, write for other sites.
When I was first starting out, my biggest strategy was to write for anyone who would
let me, who was bigger than me which when I started out was absolutely everybody.
In the beginning, you've got time to write for other people.
You're not super busy with checking your email or responding to comments because you probably
don't have any yet.
So, when you're first starting out, use that extra time to your advantage by writing amazing
content for other sites that points back to your site.
This helps for search engine optimization.
This also really helps for getting an audience.
Now, the best way to approach people with your articles is to, number one, have something
really stellar that you've already written that has amazing images to go along with it
and that goes with the subject of their site.
So, someone writes about traveling in Southeast Asia, maybe it doesn't make sense to approach
them with an article about Spain.
Number two, if you've noticed that they feature other bloggers, there's a really good chance
that they may say yes to you.
But if you notice that their site only has stuff from them, maybe they're not as open
to guest bloggers and your time is better spent elsewhere.
The third important thing to think about is when you email them, have a clear pitch in mind.
If you just email someone saying, "Hey, I'm going to Paris.
Need anything?"
What are they supposed to say?
"Yes, I could use a baguette."
So, really think about if you were on the receiving end of that email, what would make
you say yes?
And lastly, make sure that you give the person time to respond before you approach other
people with the same article.
You don't wanna look spammy and like you're just trying to get backlinks because trust
me, whoever you're approaching gets a lot of emails that are like that.
So, you just wanna make sure that you come across as genuine, that they know that you're
also a travel blogger, and that you're not trying to sneak a link in their for a company
and that what you're providing is going to give them value.
Number three, probably the most important thing I'm going to tell you today is that
you should focus on serving your audience.
One of my favorite internet entrepreneurs is Pat Flynn, and his motto is, "Serve first."
And this is really good advice because if every time that you get started on something
you think about how it benefits others, you're more likely to find success.
Think about it.
If you write an article that is just about me, me, me, then other people might not necessarily
connect with it in the way that you're hoping for.
In order to have mass appeal, you wanna make sure that you're really providing something
of value.
Maybe that's something that's funny and makes people laugh and just brightens their day
a little bit.
Maybe that is the end all be all guide for whatever it is that you're writing about.
Another way is to make them feel really good about themselves and to be relatable.
So, if you write something that people can really connect with here, they're more likely
to think about you long after they've read the post and to wanna go back to your site
to see updates.
Put some soul into it and make it something that is appealing for people beyond just yourself.
Most important reason number four, be really clear on why you're doing it.
It should be really obvious that you need to have a clear reason why you are blogging
but a lot of people simply don't.
A really good place to start with this is Simon Sinek's Ted Talk and his book, "Start
With Why."
This can help you conceptualize how you can come up with a really clear purpose because
when you have a clear purpose and you always go back to this purpose you can clearly communicate
that to other people and inspire action from them.
That is linked below in the blog post which you can find in the show notes.
Reason number five.
Don't be afraid to spend money.
Businesses need money to grow.
What do I mean by that?
I would invest in a course.
I just had to self-teach myself everything that I learned.
It took me about two months of constant study of various blogs and reading the comments
and just trying to figure out, how are people doing this?
If a course had existed back then, I could've saved myself so much time.
I have tested out the two biggest courses in the market and I highly recommend Nomadic
Matt's "Superstar Blogging."
Spirit of full disclosure, I am an affiliate for this course but I wouldn't recommend it if
it hadn't helped me.
He takes you through the basics of how to build and start a travel blog using WordPress,
how to grow it with search engine optimization and social media, and how to really approach
it from the right angle from the beginning.
Basically, you can throw a stick these days and hit someone who has a course on "How to
get rich real quick" on the internet.
How do you know that you can trust these people?
You don't.
But the thing is Matt has been around for 10 years.
He has the top travel blog and he makes good money with it without playing games.
Yes, you could spend months self-teaching yourself how to do it on your own.
You could do that with quantum physics, too.
There are reasons for taking courses, you learn from someone who really knows what they're
doing because they've put in the time, they've tested all of these things themselves, and
they know what works and what does not work.
Most people are not willing to do that, they wanna do this in the cheapest way possible.
So, by spending 200 or 300 bucks, you can jump way ahead of the curve.
Most important thing, number six.
Don't be afraid to hire things out that you don't know how to do.
I've had people helping me out since the very beginning.
I know the places where I am stronger and can shine and that's where I want to focus
my time.
It's much better for me to hire out the things that don't have to be done by me and that
can be better handled by someone else.
So, in the beginning, you probably will be bootstrapping and doing most of this on your
own.
But as time goes, don't be afraid to hire other people to help you.
That's how you can grow.
Number seven, hone in on your unique gifts.
What I mean by that is, in the beginning, you might feel like you have to do absolutely everything.
"Oh my God, I have to have a blog, I have to have Youtube, I have to have Twitter, Pinterest,
Instagram, a podcast?!"
Calm down, focus on your unique gifts.
If you try to do everything at once, you're just going to be able to give a little bit
of attention to each thing.
But if you focus on the things that you are really good at and just make maybe two things,
in the beginning your main focus is...your main foci, your main focusses, I have no idea.
Focus on the things in the beginning that you are good at and that you really feel like
you can put a lot of time and energy into.
And then focus on the other things a little bit later on.
But in the beginning, it's super important to give as much of your attention as possible
to the things that you want to be your main events.
Most important thing number eight.
I don't see this advice in a lot of places.
Not to pay attention to your competition.
In the beginning, I do think it's important to do some market research.
See what other bloggers are doing that works for them, ask questions in the Facebook groups,
become part of the community so that you at least have an idea of what the current environment
is like.
But once you establish yourself, don't pay attention to what anyone else is doing anymore.
It can kill your creativity when you're comparing yourself to other people and no matter what,
the more that you look at what other people are doing, the less you're going to have your
own unique light shining.
Logging onto Facebook or reading other blogs can suck hours and hours of your time without
you even realizing it.
I'm not saying you should stop reading blogs for pleasure.
I am saying that there is a line at which point it starts to be unhealthy for you and
your brand.
Instead of trying to do what everyone else is doing, do you.
Do what you do best and don't worry about the competition.
I'm not always successful in this.
In fact, this is one of my biggest struggles but it is something that I've been really
focusing on over the past month and it's amazing how much more time in the day that I have
when I'm not on social media.
Most important thing number nine, resist the urge to fake it.
I know that it is really tempting to buy followers because it's hard to see really small numbers
in the beginning and feel good about it.
But what's the point if you're not making real connections with real people.
For me, there is no point.
So, the most important thing you can do to try to find those real followers is again
to hone in on your niche, find your unique gifts, really develop those gifts without
paying too much attention to what other people are doing and not playing games to look like
you're more popular than you actually are.
All through the last five years, I've seen people doing black hat techniques either to
look like they have more readers than they do or more followers and engagement than they
actually have.
Well, those people don't really last, they might look super popular now because they
shot up real quick, but these stars burn out fast because they're not actually stars.
It's not about having millions of fake followers.
It's about having 100 real followers.
If you can do that, that is already huge.
Number ten most important thing, never stop learning.
I spend more money on courses and books than I ever did before these days.
The industry is changing really fast, always.
So, the more that you can learn and innovate, the better you can do.
Again, that goes back to being willing to spend on courses.
Some podcasts I really like are Smart Passive Income, Entrepreneurs on Fire, and read "The
4-Hour Workweek."
I know it got a lot of buzz but if you follow the advice on there about being efficient
with your time, it honestly can be life-changing.
These are my best tips for how to become a travel blogger.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I hope that you enjoyed this video.
If so, give it a thumbs up.
If you would like more videos like this or you still have more questions like exactly
how to make money or if you want a little bit more on my personal journey, let me know
in the comments below and I can make more videos like this.
Make sure that you subscribe for new videos every Wednesday just so that you don't miss
any incredibly helpful advice, and I'll see you guys soon.
Bye.