What I’ve Learned After One Year of Travel Blogging

Info: This blog post was written in 2020 which means it’s already four years since the launch of this blog!

Oh, isn’t it terrifying how fast time flies? I still can’t believe it’s been exactly one year since the launch of my travel blog.

So much happened since then and I’m happy about the development of my very own website.

Of course, it hasn’t been easy from the beginning and I had to put a lot of effort into it.

But now, a year later, I can look back on all the important things I’ve learned in one year of travel blogging.

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking.)

1. Blogging is More Than Writing Articles

Admittedly, before I created my website I had a super simple picture of blogging in my head: Set up a website in a short time and write some articles every now and then.

Oh, how wrong I was. Blogging is SO MUCH more than just writing.

First of all, before I could publish my written pieces, I had to set up a website. There’s the domain name, the web host, and the layout I had to think about.

Finding the right domain name was easy because I simply took the one I used on Instagram. However, finding the perfect web host was a bit more difficult.

After reading the pros and cons of the most frequently used providers, I decided to go with Bluehost.

Bluehost is the perfect hosting company to start with. You can get quality shared hosting for a cheap price of $ 5.95 per month.

Afterward, it was time to find a good-looking theme and create the layout. I spent hours designing my logo, finding the perfect color combination and installing different plugins.

Needless to say, this is an ongoing process.

I’m always looking for new plugins to improve the look of my blog or other tools to make it nicer.

As soon as I had the basic website set up, I finally started writing blog posts. However, there are other things I do on a regular basis besides article writing.

For every blog post, I need to edit the photos I’ve taken and resize them. Of course, it depends on the length of the blog post but it’s mainly between 1-2 hours.

Then it’s time to write the actual blog post which takes me another few hours – also depending on the topic and length.

It’s even harder for me because my mother tongue is German and I need some time to translate my thoughts into proper English. 😀

When I’m done with writing the hardest part of blogging begins: Getting traffic to your website.

And here’s the point where we move on to the second important thing I’ve learned in one year of travel blogging!

2. SEO is More Than Just Keywords

Wouldn’t it be great if you just have to optimize every blog post for one keyphrase to rank amongst the top 10 on Google?

Well, sadly that’s not the case.

I knew the basics of SEO before I even started working on my website. My main associations with SEO were keywords I have to include in my URL, blog title, text and so on.

Little did I know that SEO involves many more factors. For example, there’s a difference between on-page and off-page optimization.

On-page is the part with the keywords that I already mentioned or the website speed. Off-page SEO means everything I do outside of my website to improve my rankings, for example, backlinks.

Whereas on-page optimizations are easier to realize, off-page actions are more difficult and hard to influence.

Hereby it’s necessary to deliver high-quality content so readers will link to my blog.

Moreover, the age of the website and the up-to-dateness of my content matters too.

What should I say? SEO and I will never become friends, that’s clear. That’s why I switched my main focus to get traffic to a better and, in my opinion, more fun source: Pinterest!

3. Pinterest is a Blogger’s Best Friend

Ah, Pinterest, my loyal friend and traffic source. What would I do without you?

Seriously, in this one year of travel blogging, Pinterest has made it to the top of my favorite Social Media platforms.

More than 80% of my traffic comes from Pinterest alone. Without it, my blog would barely get 50 views a day.

I launched my blog in January but started using Pinterest later on in April. Back then I had NO idea how it actually works as I’d never used it before.

Hundreds of very useful blog posts later, I started creating my own pin layout, joined different group boards and set up Tailwind.

With the help of Tailwind, I can schedule pins automatically and don’t have to spend hours manually pinning. It’s another tool I could never live without!

As long as my SEO optimization isn’t on point (it will probably never be), I continue focusing on Pinterest to drive traffic to my blog.

The first results I could see from Pinterest were in July when I hit 3k views.

Since then my stats have been rising steadily and now I’m on a good way to hitting 10k views this month!

4. You Don’t Have to Publish a Post Every Single Day

Something I knew from the beginning of my blogging journey was that I won’t be able to publish a post every day. Luckily, it’s not entirely necessary if you want to grow and get traffic.

The most important aspect is to deliver high-quality, informative and useful content. I started with a routine where I published one post a week on a certain day.

I really tried to stick to it but sometimes it just wouldn’t work due to lack of time. Then again there were weeks when I managed to write two blog posts.

5. Patience is The Key

I’m the kind of person who wants to see results immediately after doing something. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen in the blogging world.

Another fact I’ve learned in the one year of travel blogging is that you have to be patient and wait to see some progress.

Either it’s a pin on Pinterest to go viral or a blog post to be crawled by Google. Or if you want to grow your Social Media accounts or increase your domain authority.

Things like these don’t happen overnight I wish they would tho. 😀

I learned that it’s important to never give up and just keep on working.

If you stick to it, try to learn new skills and improve yourself constantly, you’ll definitely be successful. And all the work I do on a daily basis pays itself in the long run, I know that.

6. It’s Helpful to Interact With Other Bloggers

Like so many other things in life, it’s easier to achieve something with the help of others and it’s the same in the blogging field.

In my one year of travel blogging, I reached out to SO many other fellow travel bloggers.

Whether I asked them about a special plugin, mutual shares on social media or how to solve some issues on my website – I always got help.

Moreover, I joined great communities on Facebook where I find tons of tips and tricks on how to take my blog to the next level.

I truly enjoy and love interactions with other like-minded people because I know they either went through the process or are in the same state as I am.

Seeing all their amazing work and everything they achieved gives me so much motivation to continue!

7. You Don’t Have to Travel Every Week to be a Travel Blogger

In fact, I traveled to only seven countries this year. Not really a great amount for a so-called “Travel blogger” but it wasn’t possible for me.

Simply because it was a really busy year due to my studies and a part-time job. However, I’ve published blog posts from almost 15 countries, but how?

Well, the answer is easy.

I had a lot of writing material thanks to the trips I did in the years before. Luckily, I’m that person who notes everything down and takes photos from everywhere.

Moreover, it’s not necessary to write only articles about destinations other than your home country. I have at least eight posts about different places here in Austria.

Even if you travel within your country, it’s still traveling.

Especially for people living somewhere else, it feels different and most of them neither know nor do they care about if you live there or not.

Looking back I can honestly say I’m proud of what I achieved. Travel blogging is a lot of fun but hard work people often underestimate.

Even nowadays, every time I tell them what I do they mostly don’t see it as a serious job.

That’s ok and I don’t even bother to start a discussion. For me, it’s my passion and it’s the thing I enjoy the most so I’ll keep on going no matter what.

And I’m super excited and I can’t wait to see where the journey goes! 🙂

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Do you want to travel like me?
Here are some of my favorite travel tips and resources:

Flights: I prefer using CheapOair or Skyscanner to book flights. The destination everywhere feature is perfect for finding some cheap deals!

Accommodation: Booking.com is my favorite site to find some great hotel deals. I do love staying at a local place as well, thus I book an Airbnb every now and then.

Travel Insurance: There are many reasons why travel insurance is important and I never travel without one. I use the simple and flexible one from SafetyWing that protects me against unforeseen events.

Tours: I love taking tours to explore destinations like a local. My favorite website to book them in advance is GetYourGuide.

Camera Gear: I use a Nikon D5300 camera with an 18-105 mm and a 10-20 mm wide-angle lens to take my photos.