How to start a Travel Blog in 3 Easy Steps
In this article I will teach you how to start a travel blog in 3 east steps (it will take you just 30 minutes and it’s a lot cheaper than you might think). To help you start a travel blog I have personally negotiated a discount with Bluehost on your web hosting so that you can start a blog for cheap. When you use the link you will also receive a free blog domain.
Three years ago I was sitting right where you are now. I saw other people doing things I could only dream of and decided I want that! After thousands of hours spent behind my laptop ‘Blogging changed my life.’ I’ll never have to work in an office again unless I want to. I travel a lot, take time off when I want and can stay in five star hotels for free. I really enjoy my life.
That last sentence is the most important.
In my opinion you’ve already taken the first step.
You’ve decided you want to make a few changes for the better in your life. Pat yourself on the back, you’re already part of the 1% who aren’t just going to complain. You’re willing to do something about it. High five.
I’m looking forward to doing this with you.
How to Start a Travel Blog
I recommend choosing Bluehost for your first site. Bluehost is one of the top Internet web hosting companies in 2016. You can start your own blog for as little as $3.49 a month. You’ll get a free domain name with the hosting, which normally costs $15 a year. This comes with the 12-month plan.
If you are serious about making your travel blog a success then hosting a WordPress website with Bluehost is a good investment. If you look at my income reports you can see how I have turned my blog, which runs on paid hosting, into a successful small business.
There are a number of reasons why I recommend using Bluehost. Here are a few reasons I regularly recommend Bluehost to my friends:
- It’s really easy to launch your blog with Bluehost. You can launch yours today by just following this tutorial.
- Bluehost offers 24/7 technical support in case you have any problems.
- Bluehost is one of the cheapest hosting companies online. The hosting service starts from just $3.49 per month.
- You get a free blog domain valued at $15.
- Bluehost has a money back guarantee, so you can always cancel the hosting if you have second thoughts.
- Your blog is self-hosted, so you can make money from advertising.
- You’ll appear more professional to your readers and companies you want to partner with.
You will need to head over to Bluehost to get started. I’ll cover how to start a travel blog below. If you have any questions or you are confuse about anything in this guide you can always email me directly or leave comments below (I’ll be happy to help you with anything you need). Click the button below and I’ll explain how to get started.
Step 1: Registering Your Domain Name
The very first thing you will need to do before you can start a blog on Bluehost is choose the domain name. You should put some thought into this. Discover Your Indonesia for example is location specific. This means Discover Your Indonesia is great for talking about Indonesia, but it wouldn’t work as a world travel blog.
So before you choose a name, decide what you want to be known for. Do you want to be a blog for budget travellers, for luxury travellers, for people in their twenties or is it a personal travel site (in which case make the name very general so you can grow with it).
Good Name Ideas
One of the best ways to create a memorable website name is by combining two loosely related words. There are lots of famous examples out there:
Face + Book You + Tube Holiday + Backpack Hotels + Combined
Website names that combine two words are easy to remember and normally sound good. When you start using three or more words or add hyphens and numbers things get complicated. Your first time visitor is a lot more likely to forget the name of your site (and never come back).
After you’ve chosen your domain name you are ready to start your blog. Remember, as long as you buy a 12-month webhosting package you get your domain for free through Bluehost.
Step 2: Selecting the Hosting Package
1: Choose the Hosting Plan
Bluehost has three standard hosting plans, Basic, Plus and Pro. For just one website I recommend the Bluehost Basic package, which starts from $3.49 a month. The Basic package covers everything you need for your first WordPress blog.
Don’t start with more than one website. You’ll need to stay focused to make your first site a success. I made this mistake and chose the Plus package, which cost $5.95 a month. Looking back I regret this.
2: Enter Your Domain Name
When you’ve selected your hosting package you are taken to the next screen where you enter your domain name. If you enter a domain name that is already in use then an error message will appear. If the .com version of the url is not available you can always try the .net. People still trust .net and it’s reasonably easy to find good domain names with .net.
3: Length of the Hosting Plan
There are three standard hosting plans for Bluehost. There’s a 36-month plan, a 24-month plan and a 12-month plan. Through my link the 36-month plan starts from $3.49 a month. The 24-month plan is $3.95 a month and the 12-month plan is $4.95 a month.
Don’t choose the monthly plan (unless you really are on a budget). There’s a reason for this… Google gives better rankings, which means more traffic, to websites it knows are going to be online for a while. If you’re paying month by month you’re telling Google, “I might quit next month.”
If you are unsure which plan to get I recommend the 12-month plan for your travel blog, which costs $59.40 a year. This is an affordable price and it includes the domain name for free, which normally costs $15 a year.
4: Optional Extras
Bluehost offers a number of additional upgrades to the basic hosting plan. You don’t need most of these optional extras. You can get Domain Privacy Protection (this hides your contact details, which otherwise get published online). The cost of the Domain Privacy Protection through Bluehost is 99 cents a month.
Quick Review
Let’s quickly review the signup steps you need to take to get started. Just follow these 5 steps to start your travel blog.
- Go to Bluehost and click the “Get Started Now” button.
- Select the package that’s right for you.
- Enter the new domain name for your blog.
- Enter your personal information and your payment information.
- Create a password and save it somewhere safe.
It’s as simple as that. Blog hosting for a year for the Basic package through Bluehost costs you just $59. If you choose the three-year contract then the cost drops to just $125, which is a great deal.
Step 3: Install WordPress
Now you’ve paid for your hosting through Bluehost you are one short step away from having your blog on the Internet (and it’s a very simple step).
The first thing you should do is go to your cPanel (you can get the access details in your welcome email). When you are in the cPanel click on the Mojo marketplace.
After this click the “One Click Install” button followed by the WordPress icon. When you press start the installation will begin.
During the installation process you need to decide which domain you want to install WordPress on (this will be very simple as you only have one domain). From there click on the “Advanced Options” and choose the username and password for you WordPress website.
Make sure to create a unique and difficult to crack username and password. You will get people who try to hack your website and you don’t want to make it easy for them (I get about 50 attempts a day).
Click “Install” and you are done.
Thumbs up ☺ You now have a WordPress blog. Now you just need to choose a theme and start posting your content.
If you sign up to Bluehost and you have any questions about the process or encounter any problems let me know. Just send me an email or leave a comment below this article and I will be happy to help you out.
To help you get started with your new blog, here are a few tips for using WordPress.
– To sign into your website you need to go to the url yourwebsite.com/wp-admin. – When you want to add new content to your blog go to posts and click “Add New“. – If you want to add images to your blog click on the ‘Media’ button and upload the images from your computer.
To start your own blog click the button and sign up with Bluehost.
Do you run a website? Share your blogging experiences in the comments below or leave me any questions you might have.
