Now might not be the best time to be promoting travel. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t talk about destinations we would like to visit when it becomes safe again to do so.
We can discuss our favorite destinations that are on the priority list for visiting first as soon as we’re able. Also, now is a great time to discuss future visits to some of the countries most affected by the pandemic that many people will likely be hesitant to return to immediately.
Countries like China, South Korea, Spain, France, and Italy will probably be stigmatized for years to come, even after it’s safe to visit. These countries will need our support to regain tourist trade.
Even if you are not comfortable promoting travel at this time, that doesn’t mean that you can’t still be writing about travel while the memories of your recent trips are still vivid.
I am completing blog posts about recent visits, and leaving the finished works as unpublished drafts. When the time is right to begin promoting travel again, I simply need to click publish, and I’ll have weeks’ worth of material to share with my audience.
Also, now is a great time to do a lot of backend work on your site if you’re not feeling inspired to write about travel.
You could do everything from those menial tasks that we never seem to find time for, like cleaning up broken backlinks or updating old posts, so that you’re better positioned from a search engine optimization perspective when people do start searching about travel again.
To clean up broken links, I use brokenlinkcheck.com. It’s a free site that will identify all of the broken links on your site for you to clean up. If you would like free resources to learn the basics of SEO and updating your existing material so that it drives more traffic to your site, check out: maketraffichappen.com/free-resources.
I know that learning about SEO seems complicated and overwhelming, but this site does a great job of breaking down the basics. And, now that many of us have so much extra time on our hands, this is a great opportunity to tackle some of these tasks that we’ve been putting off, especially since we know that they will benefit us long term.
You could also look at topics related to the main focus of your blog that might be more appropriate for you to write about under the current circumstances. For instance, I mostly write about food-focused travel. I’ve taken this time to finally start delving into recipe creation. It’s not off-brand for a food blog to share recipes, and it makes sense as most everyone is doing the majority of their cooking at home.
If you blog about hiking, photography, or anything that requires specialized equipment, you could publish a post detailing what gear you carry and find most useful. Be sure to include affiliate links so that you receive a commission on all the purchases your followers make. Product reviews and comparisons relevant to your primary blog might also be worthwhile, and give your readers continuing new material to hold their interest.
If you blog about a topic that that lends itself to personal consultation, you could consider creating a blog post offering your readers different consulting packages such as trip planning. Trip planning could include not just the basics like airfare and hotel booking, but also key points of interest at the destination, travel tips within the country, and so on.
I’ve seen other bloggers start Patreon accounts where they share more personal blog posts with members who pay a monthly fee to access the material. Still others have started podcasts where they discuss topics related to their blogs, either directly or indirectly.
There are plenty of ways to keep your blog updated to provide new and relevant content for your audience.