Why You Should NOT Start a Travel Blog
Thinking of Starting a Travel Blog?
Is starting a travel blog on your list of New Year’s Resolutions for 2021?
Do you enjoy travel? Me, too!
Enjoy reading about travel? Me, too!
Have you considered starting a travel blog? Me, too!
Sure! Why not! You just travel and write and then good things – no – GREAT things fall in your lap, right?
Travel blogging looks SOOO easy! Anyone can do it! Should you just start a travel blog in 2021? Is it on your list of New Year’s resolutions?
If you are considering starting a travel blog in 2021 as a part of your New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 you are in the right spot!
Every travel blogger has heard comments like “Wow! You got _________ from travel blogging? I think I’ll start a travel blog.” I know, I know, I know….travel blogging, or blogging, in general, seems like the perfect gig.
You can blog in your pjs….at any hour of the day or night….blog when you feel like it and more importantly, not blog when you don’t feel like it.
You can write anything that comes to mind! Write your honest opinion! Write only about the things you want to learn. Put photos of your family….or only of the backs of their heads if you worry about privacy.
Your audience will laugh at your jokes and they will clamber to sign up for your newsletter and like your Facebook pages and most of all  – they will tell all their friends who will then tell their friends.
They will support you by liking all of your Instagram photos and retweeting all of your tweets! Do you post on Pinterest? They will follow you! They will share your pins!
So….why doesn’t EVERYONE a travel blog? Well…… in short, they have it seems.
Truly – you really shouldn’t start a travel blog – and here is why.
1 – You’ll be one in a million.
Actually, that is being kind. There are seriously more like 3,830,000,000 that is 3 BILLION. So, not only are you not one in a million – you are one in 3 BILLION.
Think about that for a second and let it soak in. Literally, hundreds of travel blogs are started each week.
I wish I was joking but I am not. Each week retirees and college students and people at all the life stages in between start blogs. Then, on top of that – other types of blogs, like mommy blogs, fashion blogs, and fitness blogs are adding travel sections.
2 – Your post ideas are not new.
If you have a great idea for a blog, and I’m sure you do, google your idea.
You might want to do it with an adult beverage in hand, wearing your favorite PJs and slippers because you will be surprised that 8 bazillion other people have already had that same idea.
3 – Competition is brutal.
Unless you love the thrill of cut-throat competition, travel blogging is not for you. Aside from the unfair stuff, which granted exists in every portion of human life so it really would be unfair to mention it, the legitimate competition is fierce.
4 – It is a numbers game.
This portion is the biggest surprise to me.
Not just how many
It is all about the numbers such as:
How many views do you get every day?
How many new people visit each day?
How long do people stay on each page reading?
How do your readers act?
How many people read one page and then leave vs the number of people who read and then go to another one of your pages and continue to read?
What time of day do they visit?
How many people have signed up for your newsletter?
What? Don’t have a newsletter? You’d better get cracking!
How many followers?
How many Facebook followers do you have?
How many likes do you have on Facebook?
Where are those Facebook followers from?
How often do those Facebook followers comment and share your posts?
Which social media platforms?
What? Don’t have a Facebook page dedicated to your travel blog? You need one!
Ditto……google+, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest among others!
Feel like you don’t have enough shares, likes, comments, and followers? You are in good company because pretty much, no matter how many you have…it is never enough. You are always on a quest for more!
5 – You will work your butt off.
You had better join groups to help with all the stuff regarding numbers in #4 above.
You’ll spend hours every week commenting, sharing, pinning, tweeting, and liking on Instagram all the work that other people do…..so they’ll do the same for you.
They will do the same for you except for the cheaters in those group who never reciprocate.
And…unfortunately, cheaters exist in all areas of the blogging world and they are hard to keep track of. They know who they are but have the moral compass of a fruit fly and/or were raised in a barn and just don’t think cheating is bad enough to quit doing it.
6 – You will seriously have to up your photography game.
Let me stop you right here.
Unless you are
a) a professional photographer (or are married to one) or
b) an Instagram ‘model’ willing to spend tons of time on lighting, makeup, clothing and literally – LITERALLY show your boobs, panties or bare behind. I have examples from the web but won’t show them here. I know you’ve seen some crazy stuff without my help.
If you can’t do one of those things then just accept you won’t be able to compete in the photography arena.
7 – “They” will always make more money than you.
Lots of bloggers make money and a few make a lot of money. BUT, out of literally 3 BILLION travel blogs, you would expect at least some would make money.
But….define money. If I make enough for a cup of tea… isn’t that still making money?
Ironically, the travel blogs that make the most money are the travel bloggers that teach others how to travel blog.
So, if you subtract the money those bloggers make from teaching you….do they still make money?
Will you make enough money to quit your day job? In all honesty, probably not.
8 – Your friends and family will not support you like you think they will.
Oh, they’ll be supportive and back you up. But they won’t like every single post and pin every single Pinterest post and retweet every single tweet.
Why?
Because they are friends and family – not groupies! They do have other things to do. You are not the center of their universe. Liking every single Facebook post and commenting on every single post and retweeting every single tweet and liking every single Instagram photo takes a lot of time! They don’t have that extra time.
So, STILL think that you want to start a travel blog? You SHOULD!!
Yes, I know I just completely and utterly contradicted myself there. But, if you know what you are up against and want to do it anyway then you should. Life is short and who knows what you can accomplish if you don’t try!
Besides….someone has to be the top travel blog – why not YOU??
If starting a travel blog is on YOUR list of things to do in 2021 – yeah you! You won’t know if you can before you try so give it a go! It is better to look back and realize something wasn’t a good idea than to never have tried it at all.
If you want tips on how to get back links for your new travel blog see these posts on blogging.
Happy Travel Blogging!
Natalie, The Educational Tourist
