If you’re a frequent traveler or just love traveling, starting a travel blog can be a great way to share your experiences with others. WordPress is the perfect CMS for travel bloggers, as it’s easy to set up and there are plenty of resources available to help you get started. In this article, we’ll take you through the steps you need to follow to set up your own travel blog and recommend some themes and plugins that will help take your blog to the next level.
1. Get Inspired by Other Travel Blogs
Before you start setting up your own travel blog, it’s a good idea to get inspired by other travel blogs. There are plenty of travel blogs out there, so it can be hard to pick just a few to highlight. Look for blogs that are beautiful to look at and offer a unique perspective on travel. One great example is Stuck in Customs, which offers stunning travel photography.
2. What You’ll Need for Your Travel Blog
To set up your own travel blog, you’ll need a few things:
– WordPress: You’ll need to install WordPress either locally or on your web server.
– A theme: Look for a travel blog theme that suits your taste and offers built-in support for maps.
– Plugins: Consider adding plugins for SEO, maps, social media, and more.
– Beautiful photography: Half the fun of travel is the pictures, so make sure you have plenty of high-quality photographs on your site.
3. Get a Good Hosting Plan & Install WordPress
The first step to setting up your blog is to get an instance of WordPress running either locally or online. We recommend using a managed WordPress host like WP Engine or Flywheel, or a budget-friendly option like Bluehost. Once you have WordPress set up, you can start looking for themes.
4. Choose a Travel Blog WordPress Theme
When choosing a travel blog theme, pay attention to the layout and how it uses images, as this will be vital to your storytelling. Look for themes that offer built-in support for maps and consider using a flexible and feature-rich theme like Total or a bold and modern theme like WPVoyager or Expedition.
5. Add Helpful Plugins for SEO, Maps and More
WordPress offers plenty of plugins to help you optimize your travel blog for search engines, add maps, and more. We recommend installing Yoast SEO for search engine optimization and Akismet for spam protection, as well as adding in Google services like analytics or captchas. You might also want to consider a social plugin to help you share your content on social media.
6. Add and Optimize Your Images
No travel blog would be complete without high-quality images of the destinations you’ve visited. However, images can take up a lot of space on your website, which can slow it down. To optimize your images, use the right size and image format and consider using an image optimizing plugin.
Conclusion
Creating a travel blog with WordPress is easy and can be done quickly using a beautiful theme and some plugins. Follow the steps outlined above to get started and share your adventures with the world. If you have any questions or suggestions, let us know in the comments below!
