How To Document Your Travels With A Travel Blog
If you are interested in sharing your own experience as a location independent nomad and want to start your own blog, let me assure you that you’ve come to the right place. I have created many blogs over the years, travel blogs being my specialty!
You’ll want to create a handle or screen name for yourself. This will be the name of your blog, your youtube channel, your social media accounts, etc so you’ll want to pick something that you like. Something you won’t mind hearing again and again.
Naming Your Blog Do’s and Don’ts
DON’T: Use the word “Gypsy” or any spelling variation thereof. It is a racial slur (Google Romani). If you wouldn’t name your blog “N-Word Travels” don’t use “Gypsy Travels” either. I would also shy away from using “traveler” specific as that is a very small sect of nomadic people specifically (Irish in origin I believe but not 100% sure. I do know Ireland has the largest population of them presently).
Do: Use Adventure, Adventures, Adventurer, Global, Flyer, Flying, Soaring, Ramble, Rambling, Nomad, Nomadic, Mobile, Roam, Roaming, Roams, Tumbling, Traveling, Travels, Wanders, Wanderer, Wanderlust, or any other version of “movement” words that will signify what your blog is about.
DON’T: Use your name if you ever hope to someday sell the blog and its social accounts.
Do: Brainstorm unique names or nicknames that can apply to anything or anyone.
DON’T: Name it the same thing that someone else already has. Copycats are not cool and if the other person has trademarked it you can get in trouble. For example, there are several people calling their Skoolie “The Magic School Bus” which is a trademark/copyright violation if they try to use that as a blog name or social media handle. It’s not cute.
Do: Research names by using Google’s search function to verify the domain name isn’t taken. Then check Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, Twitter and any other social channels (Snapchat and/or Tik Tok are still very popular) to make sure it isn’t taken there either. Last, a free U.S trademark search to verify no one has a pending or live trademark on the name or phrase.
Setting Up Your Blog & Social Channels
If you are not internet or tech savvy, there are several platforms that will help you get started. You have to pay for it of course but there are lots of things that are built-in, which is why I went with Wix. Even though I can build a website from scratch I got tired of having to do everything myself. Now I just drag and drop and boom, done! Easy enough. Squarespace or Weebly are other good options for something similar. I recommend Squarespace if you want a storefront and a blog, with the storefront being the focus and the blog secondary. You can have a storefront through Wix and Weebly as well but they aren’t as well known for it. Either way you go a storefront with a blog will cost you more per month/yearly.
If you want 100% control over everything, then setting up a self-hosted WordPress website is your best bet. I recommend using BlueHost for this method. Once you are set up, you can create your blog and if you need a storefront option you can add WooCommerse or any other plugin to create your own store. Blogging via this route, you will need to design a layout yourself or pay for one and they can get very pricey.
If you don’t care for control but don’t have extra money to throw around, Blogger is Google’s blogging platform that is free (you can register your domain separately). I used Blogger for a long time, as well as WordPress and they both have their merits.
After you’ve got that all squared away, run around to each prospective social media platform and register your handle so it doesn’t get scooped up. You’ll need to add a bio to almost every platform. Each one is a little different. I’ve got a free worksheet for you to download that helps you map out everything about your brand, business or blog to create a killer Instagram biography.
You can create a logo yourself with Canva or you can pay someone to make one for you. I highly recommend joining a few vanlife or nomadic fb groups and asking if anyone does graphic design – you know keep it in the family! Give someone who is already on the road some income. Plus, they know the lifestyle and will get what your brand is all about. Not to mention, if they share your logo with a link to your blog it gives you some eyeballs on your page.
After that, it is up to you on how to fill up your blog and your social media accounts with content. I will be covering how to plan out social media content on a later blog.< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ---