Whether you want to get paid to travel the world or share your tales with friends and family, starting a travel blog is a great way to do it. But once you’ve set up your blog and written your first few posts, you might wonder how to get people to read it. Here are four tips to help promote your travel blog and get a wider audience.
Social Media
When it comes to promoting anything online, social media is king. Create accounts on all the major social media platforms and share each new post on your blog. If you can, try to find relevant groups to join and participate in conversations. For example, if you’re writing about budget travel, there might be online groups for people who love to travel on a tight budget.
Using hashtags, you can highlight photos from your recent trip or even start a conversation by asking about travel. Invest in high-end gadgets so you can capture amazing photos and videos to post on your social media accounts. This will help you get more followers interested in what you have to say.
It is best to have a personal touch and interact with your followers as much as possible. Share your travel stories and photos, and ask questions to get to know them better. Ensure you’re being active and engaging with potential readers rather than spamming them with links to your blog.
Guest Posts
Guest posting is when you write an article for someone else’s blog or website. This is a great way to get your name and your blog’s name out there. Not only will you get exposure to a new audience, but if you guest post on a well-established site, you’ll also get a nice backlink which can help with your SEO efforts.
To get started, reach out to some of your favorite travel blogs and see if they’re interested in featuring a guest post from you. If not, don’t worry—plenty of other sites would love to have your content. You can also try reaching out to local businesses in the tourism industry, such as hotels, tour companies, or restaurants, and offer to write a review or feature them on your blog.
To find sites that accept guest posts, try searching Google using keywords like “guest post” + your niche. Since you’re a travel writer, you could search for “guest post” + travel writing. Just make sure that the site you’re guest posting on is relevant to your blog’s topic. If you have the budget for it and want to invest, find a company specializing in SEO and discuss with them the possibility of paying for a sponsored post and what kind of traffic you could expect from it. Shop around to find the best deal and ensure you’re getting quality traffic interested in what you have to say.
Giveaways
People love free stuff! Hosting a giveaway is great for getting people interested in your blog. Offer something related to travel, like points, discount codes for hotels or airlines, or even a gift card. The sky’s the limit! Having a contest or giving free stuff will get people talking about your blog, resulting in more traffic.
To find potential giveaway winners, you can use online raffle tools to help you select a winner randomly from all the entries. This is also a great way to ensure your audience that the contest is fair. Also, promote your giveaway on social media and other relevant websites to get as many people as possible to enter.
Collaborations
Collaborating with other bloggers is a great way to reach a new audience while building relationships with other bloggers in your niche. You can collaborate in a few ways—guest posting on each other’s sites, co-hosting giveaways, or even just interviewing each other for posts on your respective blogs. Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that will be of value to both you and the other blogger involved.
You can also try collaborating with brands or businesses in the travel industry. For example, you could offer to write a review of their product or service on your blog. They may give you a freebie or a discount code to share with your readers. This is a great way to get exposure for both you and the business, and it can also help you save money on your travel expenses.
Collaborate also with those outside your niche but related to your niche. For example, if you’re a travel blogger focusing on budget travel, you could collaborate with a money-saving blog or a blog about credit cards and points. This will help you reach an entirely new audience that may be interested in what you have to say.
Bon Voyage!
While there are many ways you can promote your travel blog, these four methods tend to be the most effective. Be creative with how you promote your blog—the key is doing it regularly so that as many people as possible will see it.