Travel Blogging
Every traveler these days seems to have a travel blog. In a world that is connected in all ways imaginable we are constantly bombarded with happy couples in Paris, solo travelers backpacking in South East Asia, and Instagram stars on exotic adventures. With so many travel bloggers, and Instagram/Facebook celebrities it seems as if starting your own travel blog and traveling the world for free couldn’t be easier, this however is not the reality behind travel blogging. As one of the few online who can say I have some sort of success in the industry I can assure you that what travel blogging was created for and what it has become is a dark reality, but even though travel blogging has lost its ways there is still many out there who do it legitimately!
Quit Your Day Job and Become a Travel Blogger! Not Quite
As owner and founder of the Uncharted Backpacker blog I often get asked how I do this for a living. The simple answer to this is, I don’t. My travel blog does not pay my bills, it does not fill my bank account with copious amounts of cash to gallivant around the world nor does it fund the entirety of my trips.
As hard is this is to hear, making a living with a Travel Blog is near impossible, despite all the successful travel bloggers you might see online. The “successful” travel blogs are individuals who shifted from being bloggers that travel to bloggers who create a business on traveling. Many of the big travel bloggers don’t travel as much as they used to as now they have to run a business.
So, unless you’d like to join a heavily competitive market with very little chance of a large income, I wouldn’t quit your day job.
What’s wrong with Travel Blogging These Days?
Travel blogs used to be a great source of information you could trust from independent travelers who traveled because they love traveling. Now with millions of travel blogs online all trying to make it big it’s hard to decipher who is in it cause they love it and who is in it cause they want to make a buck. This is the biggest issue with blogging these days.
This is what is truly wrong with today’s travel blogging. I am not discrediting some of the big travel blogs however, many of them are run by very intelligent business minded people who love to travel and did start off as a regular backpackers.
If you are going to start a travel blog, start it off the right way. Make it for you first and to help others with your own personal accounts!
Can you Make Money Travel Blogging?
To simply answer this, is yes! But I’d be lying if I told you it was easy. Competition online is fierce and the consumers can easily spot someone who is trying to make money. Even if you are a legit traveler who writes amazing articles, the moment you start to try and make money people see you as losing your authenticity.
I created my blog to help with the high costs that come with adventure travel and it worked! I am getting exactly what I wanted from my blog and that is the ability to travel more often and top more exotic destinations, but even with this many travelers call me a fraud.
Be prepared if you want to make money it’s a long and shaky road!
Is Travel Blogging Worth It?
Most definitely! I highly recommend every single traveler to start a blog, but as I mentioned in the points before this, be sure to start it for the right reason!
Start a blog to keep loved ones informed or to make a profile of all your travel accomplishments! This way you are never disappointed when you don’t receive high traffic, SEO or money. Keep travel blogging the way it’s supposed to be, for you, your loved ones and to help others!
Why you should have a Travel Blog
This is the topic you should focus on before you take the plunge, what do you ultimately want with a travel blog? This will decide what you can do with it. Here is a list of reasons why I travel blog:
- Keeping family informed
- Helping Others with Travel
- Connecting with other amazing travels
- Creating a travel resume
- Learning marketing, photography, writing and expanding your knowledge
- Writing is therapeutic
- Using your travel photos
The Reality of Serious Travel Blogging
This one is what very few serious travel bloggers will tell you. If you decide to join the competitive travel blogging industry get ready not for success, but failure. Travel blogging is HARD and in order to get any form of success you will be faced with a lot of failure as well.
Travel Blogging introduced me to a whole new world of people, but unfortunately many of those people can be referred to as “trolls”. These individuals will follow you to every platform you are on criticising your success and demeaning anything you put your mind to.
Honestly I am a very strong willed person and name calling rarely takes its toll on me, but the internet breeds a whole new form of hate caused from resentment, jealousy and many other reasons. Regardless, these people will do everything they can to make you hate your life and want to quit doing what you do! Trust me, I even have my own hate page on Facebook after backpacking Afghanistan, a country I had always wanted to see.
The next issue many new bloggers don’t realize is this market is extremely saturated. It’s VERY hard to be successful in this industry, but if you set a goal, work at it, ignore the “trolls” and be realistic you absolutely can succeed!
My Travel Blog Uncharted Backpacker
Uncharted Backpacker is my legacy. I created it after I had already been backpacking the world for 9 years. Why did I start so late you ask? I never traveled because I wanted to make a business, I travel because I am obsessed with it. I love cultures, new landscapes, food, new ideas, I love everything about it!
My website was created to help me travel more! Not to travel full time, but to help me get to destinations I thought impossible and to show the world how great every single corner of this beautiful planet really is. I also write to encourage others to push the stigmas and get to wherever they want!
Uncharted Backpacker is also a “travel resume” of my life so that people can understand why I love travel so much! I highly doubt that I will ever become a full time travel blogger, but I also know that I will never stop blogging about the incredible places I have been because simply put, I love it!
Have Questions About Travel Blogging?
If you have decided to dive into travel blogging and need some tips or advice, feel free to message me. I would love to help those looking too grow their travel blog to a wider audience that can witness their creativity and potential. The internet is a great tool and it’s becoming ever more prevalent that we understand the best way to utilize it to our advantage.
It’s a big world out there and there’s nothing better than sharing it!
Interesting read. I share the same sentiment. And btw all of your picture are amazing. Keep up the good work!
Damn, this was a great and encouraging read.
I also started blogging about 2 years ago, not in the hopes of making any money, but simply because I love travel and wanted to record my adventures.
I love travel and doing what I do to continue to see this world.
Thanks again for a great article ????
I created my travel blog eight years ago, thanks to this one friend who consistently pushed me to make one knowing my penchant for writing my travel experiences. In my early years of blogging I looked up to a lot of famous travel bloggers … until I stumbled upon another travel blog which was so different from the rest of the pack. This blogger didn’t have too many followers, but he wrote so eloquently and I was so captivated by his travel stories. That’s how travel blogging should be, I thought to myself, hence the gradual change in my writing style. Today I’m happy that I’m still blogging just because I love doing it, not because of the prospect of earning extra income. It is actually my therapy from the stress of work, and for sure I don’t want to get further stressed out by becoming a part of the travel blogging industry. It might work for some people, but definitely not for me.
This is incredibly reassuring to read! I have a travel blog that I started a few years back to keep family updated whilst I was in exchange. I’ve kept it alive but have always been increaidbly put off taking It much by the overwhelming world of ‘professional’ travel bloggers. I would love to hear more of your experiences in blogging! (And your trips are amazing to watch!)
Very interesting details about travel blogging but unfortunately, for me… traveling is quite expensive. Even though I have a decent online business and freelance work, as a Filipino… traveling outside Philippines is 50x fold the cost in USD 🙁 but I do travel within Philippines 🙂