Travel blogging can be a great career. And yes, it can be a career.
But here’s the thing.
No matter how great you are at blogging or how often you travel, it takes a great deal of time to build a successful blog.
That’s why it makes perfect sense to start a travel blog while you’re still in school.
By the time you’re out of school, your blog could already have a following – and may be primed to start earning an income.
Here are some tips for becoming a travel blogger while in school.
Write about your local experience
This one works especially well if you’re studying abroad or in another state. But it can work even if you’re going to school near home. How? Well, you’d be an expert at your location, and you’ll be able to provide great resources for anyone looking to travel there.
Just one word of caution. Be authentic. Don’t pretend that you’re traveling if you’re not. You can absolutely write travel tips for your hometown, but don’t pretend you’re actually a tourist there. Authenticity matters quite a bit online.
And when you’re able to travel to other places, you can write about those too.
Take weekend road trips
Although you can start blogging about your hometown (or school town), you’ll eventually have to travel in order to have a successful travel blog.
But as a student, you may not have the budget for a weekend getaway to Paris. That’s okay. You can take a weekend road trip to some nearby destinations. Every destination is remote and faraway to someone. To someone in Manila, Minneapolis is exotic.
Load up your new VW Atlas and head to the most interesting town within driving distance – and then write about your experience.
Don’t compare yourself
There are plenty of successful travel bloggers who seem to have exciting lives of globetrotting. And that may be authentic. But that doesn’t mean you need to be doing the same.
Not everyone can afford to spend a month in the jungles of Costa Rica without a day job.
Full-time travel bloggers certainly can, but that’s not realistic to the masses. People often like to read about experiences they can reproduce, and you can provide them with those experiences. Anyone can take a weekend getaway, so your tips and insights are extremely relevant.
Set aside time daily
If you can’t seem to find time for blogging, try this: Get up at 5 am every weekday morning and write a blog post. This may not seem very appealing, but you’re going to have to work for what you want (whatever that is). Just like you have to work for your grades, you’re going to have to work for this success.
Stick with it
Consider creating an editorial calendar for your blog that coincides with the school semester. It’s too easy to quit at blogging, so it may help to look at it as part of your school work.
Most blogs fail because people quit too soon, so don’t let your travel blog become another statistic.
You can become a travel blogger while in school and start building an income that will help you repay school loans when they come due. Give yourself a head start by starting now.