Published on July 2022
Updated on January 2024
If you daydream like I do, you’re probably wondering if it’s still possible to be a travel blogger in 2024. It’s oversaturated, almost everyone says. You haven’t been to the 50+ countries that most big-name travel bloggers, you didn’t study abroad, and you’re not a self-proclaimed digital nomad.
But you have stories to tell and wisdom to share with the world about your travels. And somewhere along the way, you want to make a career out of it.
I know, because that’s me too.
If there’s anything I’ve learned about travel blogging, it’s that you don’t need to constantly globetrotting around the world to be successful. In this post, I will share tips on how to be a travel blogger when you haven’t traveled much. These tips include the technical from setting up your site to learning SEO, and not dismissing staycations and mini road trips!
Disclaimer: This post uses affiliate links, which means I make a commission if you book through this post. If you do decide to book using my links, thank you so much for your support!
How to Get Started as a Travel Blogger
Find and define your niche
To me, a niche feels like an icky word, because I want to write about everywhere I go!
But to succeed as a travel blogger in 2024, you need to niche down. This doesn’t mean you have to write only about one specific place (but it can be). Your niche can be about a specific type of travel like family travel, beach travel, or ethical/sustainable travel!
My niche is “affordable luxury travel”, helping people find chic, comfy stays (even if they’re 3 or 4-star hotels), experience awe-inspiring cultural activities, and seek delicious food on a budget. I also write a lot about California content living here my whole life, and a bit about couples travel having been with my husband for 15+ years. And I will start shifting to writing more about the art scenes in different destinations, and tips for urban sketching/keeping a travel sketchbook.
My niche seems and feels more general than defined, and I probably would grow a lot faster and make more money if I niched down further, but I really don’t want to.
I will say that one advantage of having a location-based niche is that there is no pressure to travel to far-off places (so you’re saving time and money!). Your hometown is a travel destination to other people (although I have a hard time believing that Sacramento is a travel destination), and if you’ve lived long enough there, you’re an expert and you can draw on that when writing your posts.
Location-based niches are perfect for aspiring travel bloggers who haven’t traveled much! There are location-based travel bloggers who make six figures, like Shelley from Travel Mexico Solo. I know people who focus on specific small-town locations in the US and are still able to make their blogs a money-making machine.
How to find your niche
The best way to find your niche is to figure out what you love experiencing and writing about, all while being an expert at it.
For example, I am an expert in Sacramento since I’ve lived here for over 20 years, and some of my top-performing posts are about Sacramento (which kinda shocks me…people search stuff about this place?). But I don’t want to just pigeonhole myself into writing about Sacramento. Even though I will continue to write more about Sacramento, I don’t want it to be my niche. Because I still want to write more about other destinations. I am still open to the idea of creating a niche site about Sacramento.
At the same time, I would love to write more about Europe or Japan and have those destinations be my niche. But I’ve only been to Japan once and Europe three times, so I’ve barely scratched the surface of visiting those locations. While I still write detailed and in-depth guides about those destinations, I know others who live there know much more than I do.
So basically, what you love most + what you know most = your niche.
Examples of different travel blog niches
- Nina Out & About – Expat/moving abroad
- Jetset Christina – Luxury travel
- Solo Sophie – Historical/cultural travel based in Europe and the US
- Stuck on the Go – Adventure travel based in the South
- Foodie Flashpacker – Restaurants/eateries around the world
- Abby’s Hearth – Christian faith-based travel
- Emma Cruises – Cruise travel
Buy a domain and sign up for a self-hosted WordPress account
The easiest way to get started as a travel blogger is to look for a hosting provider that allows you to purchase a domain and host your site on WordPress.
Bluehost is one of the biggest hosting providers in the world where you can purchase a name and create a WordPress site, but I do not recommend them. I’ve had them for 6 years, but I had a terrible and traumatic experience with them towards the end because my site kept crashing to no avail, and wouldn’t load for days. I must’ve messaged and called their agents like 10 times and they couldn’t help me and even took my case to escalated support, and promised to call me when they never did. They are also a very greedy company.
Luckily, Setra Host saved my site. I LOVE their customer service and how seamlessly they migrated my site and domain from Bluehost to them. They actually took a lot of Bluehost customers who weren’t happy with their service.
Not only did Setra Host save my site, but they increased my site speed, which is SO important if you want traffic and for people not to click out. You need your site to load fast if you want to keep your readers’ attention.
Setra Host is also very affordable, and they have no hidden fees. They will hold your hand throughout the process when you sign up with them too!
Get a theme that’s fast-loading (and still aesthetically pleasing)
The next thing you want to do after you set up your blog is to look for a theme. I don’t recommend getting a theme builder like Elementor because they slow down your site and add extra unnecessary code.
I use GeneratePress, which is a super-fast and light theme that allows me to customize and edit as much as I can. Since switching from Elementor to GeneratePress, my page views and readership have increased. Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of having a fast-loading site.
GeneratePress has a free theme, but they offer a premium version for $59 a year (or a one-time payment of $249) if you want to be able to customize your site more. I think it’s worth it, but then again, I’m a graphic designer and am very particular with how I want my site to look and feel.
Learn the ins and outs of SEO
If you want your site to be seen by different eyes and to make money out of it (whether through ads, affiliate links, or other streams), you have to learn SEO (search engine optimization). This is not an option.
SEO is the process and practice of increasing your site’s chance of ranking in the search engines (ex: Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo). There are different ways of optimizing your site, like sprinkling specific keywords for your posts, researching keywords before you even write, interlinking your posts, etc.
Even having a fast-loading site improves your SEO.
There are a lot of SEO courses out there on the internet, but I highly recommend a course specifically tailored to travel bloggers. I am taking Nina’s SEO Roadmap course and I can’t recommend it enough. I knew the basics of SEO, but taking her class made me realize there was so much I didn’t know. Her lessons are so in-depth yet easy to understand.
It doesn’t feel like she’s a teacher either, but more like a friend giving advice. She also covers affiliate marketing, e-mail marketing, and how to run your blog like a business.
And by implementing her strategies, my views have skyrocketed immensely.
Her course is pricey, but I’d say it’s worth the investment. If you’re not ready to spend the money, I recommend her 6 Months to 50k Sessions course, which is a mini-course putting you on a fast track to increase your page views to get you into Mediavine. If you don’t know what Mediavine is, it’s an ad network for bloggers that pays big money, but you have to have 50k monthly sessions to get accepted (hence her course name). This course is about a fraction of the price of her SEO Roadmap course but still contains a goldmine full of information to help you jumpstart your blog.
And if you still don’t feel comfortable forking out money to a stranger, Nina has A TON of free resources on her site, She Knows SEO and her YouTube. I’m constantly eating up her posts and videos, as I find them valuable.
Other ways to leverage yourself as a travel blogger with limited travel experience
Change your perspective
Sure, you can’t boast about joining the Travelers’ Century Club or backpacking all over Southeast Asia. But you’ve probably done more than you think compared to people around you. Some people have never left the U.S. or rode on a plane! So don’t feel bad when you find yourself comparing yourself to those who are jet-setting every month, or so it seems. Don’t let others make you feel like you’re not a “real” traveler. At the same time, don’t turn your nose to those who have traveled less than you.
Don’t dismiss road trips and day trips as your travels
Who says you have to go thousands of miles, abroad or even across the country to experience adventure? You can explore on the road a few hours away or even nearby! All the trips Cecilio and I take to San Francisco are travel, even if it’s only 90 minutes away. I can’t also disregard the trips to LA, San Diego, Monterey, and Santa Cruz. We’ve been to San Francisco a billion times and there are STILL activities we haven’t done. We barely scratched LA’s surface.
You may not be able to hop on a plane now, but you can always drive to some cool destinations nearby! In fact, I’ve been dying to revisit the places I’ve mentioned 😉
Take a staycation and travel to your hometown
I have to admit, I have some hang-ups about living in Sacramento. Yes, it’s California’s capital, but it’s constantly overlooked by San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. It’s never on any traveler’s radar for their California itineraries. It doesn’t even have that coolness of other mid-sized cities like Nashville, Portland, or New Orleans. Hell, I even find Kansas City to actually be cooler in some ways too. There’s also an inside joke here where you know someone is from Sac when they talk shit about it constantly. That the only thing we’re known for is not who we are as a city but where we’re close to, such as Lake Tahoe, Napa, and San Francisco.
I have to admit there are some things that make Sacramento unique. This includes the food, beer and coffee scenes, historical sites, museums, and access to outdoorsy activities.
I cover a lot of Sacramento content here because I don’t really have a choice, but this is the place I have lived in for 20+ years. This is where I spent middle and high school, met my husband and best friends, adopted our dogs, graduated college, etc.
And maybe one of my other missions is to show people how cool Sacramento can be too. I hope I can inspire you to look around you and find what makes YOUR hometown unique.
Interested in learning more about Sacramento? Check out these posts below!
32 Romantic Date Ideas in Sacramento
11 Fun Things to do in Old Sacramento
Your Guide to Apple Hill’s High Hill Ranch
Experiencing Christkindlmarkt at Sacramento Turn Verein
Dine Downtown Sacramento: The Porch Restaurant & Bar
Don’t be afraid to write about destinations you visited years ago
As long as the photos are decent and you make sure your content is up-to-date. My posts from visiting Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty in 2015 and Xcaret in 2017 were written in 2020, and I have gotten a lot of engagement from both of them. I put together a week-long guide to Playa del Carmen, where Cecilio and I spent our honeymoon in 2017 (which includes Xcaret).
Another thing you can do (and I have been doing) is go back and update your old posts to make them more SEO-optimized, and add affiliate links if you’re interested in monetizing your blog.
Actually plan your next trip
Well, you want to be a travel blogger but you haven’t traveled much in your life, correct? Well, you’re going to need to plan your next trip! Don’t just dream it, do it. Plan the destination you want to go to, the activities, and your budget. What are some things you can cut down on in order to save for your dream vacation? Do you really need to spend $100+ at Target? Tell your boss in advance and make sure all your projects are finished before you leave.
I know it’s easier said than done. It can feel discouraging after dealing with a pandemic. But I believe that if there’s something you want in your life, and you work hard to make it happen, it will happen. I also believe that with God (or whoever/whatever you believe in) by your side, you’re pretty much unstoppable.
My story: A travel blogger…who hasn’t traveled much?
For some time, I felt the pull to switch over from beauty blogging to the travel niche. A little after Cecilio and I booked our trip to Europe, I found myself on my Notes app writing out more travel post ideas. I even Googled “travel blog topics” or “how to be a travel blogger when you haven’t traveled a lot”. I didn’t have much luck with the latter.
Sure, I’ve done some travel posts from 2018 and earlier, like Disneyland during the holiday season or my trip to San Diego with Cecilio for our 1st anniversary. But they were more like diary entries, and certainly not SEO-optimized.
I slowly started writing more travel posts before the Europe trip and went all in when we came back. That trip inspired me to write more about our travel journeys while still helping readers. Cecilio and I were starting to plan trips for 2020. Then the pandemic happened, leading me to post only a few times in 2020 and twice in 2021.
One of the reasons I was so hesitant to make the switch was that I felt like I had barely scratched the surface of exploring the world. I have only been to 9 12 countries (that includes the U.S., and the Philippines where I was born) and 13 states.
Who would want to listen to me when there are so many other established bloggers who got to visit 20+ countries, almost all the continents, and live abroad? I never backpacked or studied abroad at my university.
Even my mom, who was a flight attendant, got to visit 15 countries and live in Saudi Arabia and Thailand. I got my wanderlust from her, and I am thankful that she took my sister and me on our first trip to Europe in 2013. Oh and for all the Hawaii trips!
Cecilio cannot take time off during February, May, and November (due to the nature of his job in a news station). He is also very budget-conscious and has pretty specific places he wants to visit. Whereas I’m like, “Let’s go here, here, there” as we’re looking at a map or watching someone’s travel vlog on TikTok. Also, we have two dogs and we don’t like being away from them for too long.
But somehow along the way we’ve been able to make it work, even when I worked a 9-5 (that I’m no longer in, but that’s another topic for another post). While everyone measures success differently, I am celebrating my little wins and am on track to become a successful travel blogger with all the tips above that I implemented myself. Also, when you want something so bad, you work as hard as you can for it even in the face of struggle.
I first wrote this post in the summer of 2022 and have updated it in 2024. Since then, I’ve visited more countries, cities, and states, while learning more in-depth about each place I visited. My goal is to share everything I know and learn with you!
I hope this post encourages you!
When you feel like you’re too late in the travel blogging game, save this post and reread it as needed. Share it with those who are interested in being a travel blogger but are afraid to take that next step!
By the way, I have a list of 134+ travel content ideas you can use for your blog and/or socials if you sign up for my newsletter below! Never get stuck in a rut again with 5 pages worth of content ideas!
Hannah is a travel writer, graphic designer, and the founder/editor of Hannah on Horizon. She is based in Sacramento, California, living with her husband and two adorable dogs. She shares tips on how to experience luxury travel on any budget, and how to maximize time at each trip or destination, no matter what your budget or amount of vacation time at work. She enjoys making you feel like you have visited each destination with her through her storytelling and informative writing style.