Travel writing is a rewarding career. Breaking into the field, however, can take time. The benefits of blogging are many. Not only does it prepare you for travel writing, it also helps you get a foot in the door of the publishing world.
Years ago, blogs were like online diaries. Bloggers would spew their personal stories with little regard to niche, theme, search engine optimization, or page ranking. But with the changes in technology over the years, blogging has become a professional tool for travel writers to showcase their personal and published writing.
It can help you win over an editor when pitching a story. And it undoubtedly gives you additional writing experience. We all know that practice makes perfect.
Confused and overwhelmed with all the information out there? Don’t be. Think about the following things when starting your blog, and you’ll be well on your way to a great travel-writing career in no time!
Blogging lends you credibility as a professional
Blogging, like writing for any publication, should be treated as a professional endeavor. Editors look at your blog if interested in a pitch. The design tells them a lot about you.
Choose a theme that can grow with you. But don’t worry if you don’t get it perfect the first time—you can always change the branding later. The idea is to have something for editors to see that showcases your writing.
Blogging focuses your niche and gives you a platform
A niche is important. With so much information competing for your readers’ attention, you must attract readers with something unique. Your niche is travel—better still, a specific type of travel, like traveling with young children, or tourist destinations in your hometown—so focus your blog posts on travel-related content, but don’t let that limit you. There’s a travel angle to almost anything.
Select your platform with a result in mind. Become the expert in your niche—it’s as easy as writing about it with authority. Editors often review past blog posts and will see your expertise as well as your voice.
Blogging improves your writing habits
It takes between 21 and 66 days to develop a new habit. In blogging, I’ve found the latter to be more accurate, but it does vary. When you write often, you improve: writing in an active voice, paying attention to grammar, editing your work, and more. Writing with these things in mind makes your stories for other publications better.
Writing is a muscle, and using it regularly leads to improvement—a key to your success.
Consistency is important in blogging and improves your writing skills
Set a schedule for posting and stick to it. Consistent posting ensures that your writing skills will continue to develop. The more you write, the better you become. Consistency also shows editors you are committed and can meet a deadline—even if self-imposed.
Blogging gives you bylines for a jump on travel writing for other publications
Something many new travel writers find difficult is getting bylines. Before pitching to go on press trips—the holy grail of travel writing—you should have a few bylines under your belt. Your blog gives you built in bylines to jump-start your travel-writing career.
Blogging is an excellent way to get off the ground as a new travel writer and get free trips faster. There’s no better time than now to get started.