Some people want to be a travel blogger but they procrastinate for days, months and even years before taking action. Some end up not even doing it. The sad part is that it is so easy to do, doesn’t cost anything, and only takes 5 to 10 minutes to get it all set up.
If you’ve always wanted to have a blog where you can write about your vacations, share cool pictures with friends and family, pen your opinions about a country you’ve just visited, or rant about the crappy airport where you’ve been stuck at for the last 10 hours, then wait no more.
Do It Now
You don’t need to be a tech geek who knows how to write code, nor a creative graphic designer who can come up with awesome visual designs. All you need is the ability to type and have something worthwhile to say. If you’ve also got a camera or a phone that can snap photos, you already have all the essential tools to start creating a great blog already.
Just head over to Blogger.com or WordPress.com, click on ‘Register’, ‘Start a New Blog’ or follow whatever instructions there are on the site, and you’ll be the proud owner of a brand new blog within minutes. Yes, you will literally have your own travel blog immediately. No payments needed, no approval process, no nonsense.
Meaningful & Memorable Name
All you have to do is to choose a name for your blog, and you will be given a free website address (also known as a URL) such as http://yourblogsname.wordpress.com, or in the case of Blogger, your blog will be located at http://yourblogsname.blogspot.com.
You can also spend $10 to get your own domain name (at Godaddy.com or any domain registrar) and give your blog a more professional web address like http://www.yourblogsname.com, but if you’re after a completely free solution, then you can stick with the freebie offered by Blogger or WordPress.com first.
So what’s the catch?
Not much. Millions of blogs are published on these free blogging platforms that offer users a web address for their blog, free hosting, and an easy to use blog publishing software that is accessible online and packed with lots of features to get novice bloggers started.
The only downside is that there may be limitations to what you can do on your blog, the type of files you can upload, the type of content you can publish, and some of them may insert advertisements or some other sort of internal advertising messages in exchange for providing the free service to you.
But if you’re just starting out, looking to write about travel related topics, and want to get an immediate result without paying anything, then you can’t go wrong by taking the plunge so that you can begin focusing on what’s important, which is the awesome content you’ll be posting.
Eventually, when you need features not offered by these free solutions, and you’re willing to invest some money to set up your blog properly, you can move the blog onto your own hosting account and get a unique web domain too. Ideally, it is better to set things up the right way from the start, but if you prefer to test with a free option first, you can certainly upgrade later.
Note: Choose a Name for your Travel Blog before Setting It Up
One thing you’ll have to decide when you’re setting up your new blog is the name, or the name to be used for the free website address you’ll be given. If you don’t have a name yet, it’s a good idea to find a name you like and choose one before proceeding to register the new blog.
A lot of people make the mistake of trying to select a good name (on the fly) while setting up the blog and end up with a terrible one that they don’t like. Creating the new blog may take 5 to 10 minutes, but choosing a great blog name may take a little longer, so get yourself prepared and do some homework before taking the leap.
You can start by reviewing the naming strategies you can use and then get inspired by some of the names of top travel blogs.