Its the question I’ve been asked most out of all and its about time we dissected how I get paid to travel and how you can to. This year I’m working on producing more Youtube content (check out my channel here) and between travel vlogs and how-to pack videos, I wanted to take some time to sit down and chat with you about the business side of blogging, photography and videography tips and all the bits and pieces to help you start your own travel blogging journey!
Watch the Video:
How I Started
As you’ll see in the video, I started my blog 6 years ago at then end of 2012 when I was still at school. I was writing about old trips I had taken years prior as a way of keeping all my recommendations in one place, mostly for my parents’ friends who would ask for help planning their trips.
I started on Blogspot and after a short time navigating the limited options on that platform, migrated over to WordPress back in 2013. You can read my full guide on setting up a WordPress Website here.
It didn’t take longer than six months until my blog was profitable and before I knew it, travel blogging had become my full time job. That was almost six years ago and I’m still here all these years later travelling the world and (pinch me!) getting paid to do it.
Watch the full video here for a full run down on my story and how I started travelling.
How You Can Do It
But readers don’t ask me how I get paid to travel the world for the sake of it, I’m sure you would love to know how I do it so you can do the same! The video has a full debrief on the steps you can take to starting your career as a travel blogger, with a brief breakdown of these steps below:
- Everyone starts somewhere
- Choose your platform (blog, influencer, youtube?)
- Define your niche (how can you be different to stand out?)
- Do your research (learn how to take great photos, video editing, etc.)
- Quality over quantity
- Connect with your audience (the most important step to ensure longevity!)
The most important thing to note here is that the market is a lot more saturated now than when I started. But you know what? It will be even more saturated in two, three, five years time.
There is no better time to start than now.