There’s something magical about the way the best travel bloggers share their stories and travel tips. You want to learn how to write a travel blog post that will have your readers planning their next adventure… and that’s why you’re here!
I have some experience with travel blogging.
My first blog was an outdoor adventure and travel blog. It ended up rebranding into a lifestyle blog when my travels switched to a mom life focus. Now, as a blog coach, I teach clients how to do create a well-written, profitable travel blog.
Travel blog writing comes with unique strategies and techniques.
You’ve probably started your travel blog recently, and you’ve got a list of great travel blog post ideas.
But how do you write and publish posts that will be successful?
By the end of this post, you’ll have a ready-to-go travel post outline that inspires and converts.
Let’s dive into what it takes to craft a travel blog post that grabs your reader’s attention and feeds their wanderlust.
DISCLOSURE: This post includes sponsored content from Travelpayouts. It also contains affiliate links, meaning if you click on a product or service, and decide to purchase it, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. All recommended products and services are based on my positive experience with them. For more information, please read my Disclaimer.
How Is Travel Blog writing Different From Other Niches?
Before we get into the basics of how to write a travel blog post, let’s look at what makes them different.
The truth is that not every blog niche is the same.
Here’s how they can be different.
Travel blogs tend to be informational and persuasive.
In comparison, a DIY craft blog is almost 100% informational with “how to” posts.
With a persuasive blog niche, your content will require something different: storytelling!
Travel blog writing needs to be compelling, and we’ll look at this in just a second. However, remember that within the travel blog niche, there are micro-niches.
So a travel gear review site may have fewer personal stories in comparison to those that include actual travel.
| RELATED: Tips For Choosing The Right Travel Blog Niche For You
Why Is It Important To Write A Compelling Travel Blog Post?
Other than positioning yourself as a knowledgeable expert in your travel niche, writing compelling travel blog posts is important for a number of reasons.
- 33% of US travellers check out travel blogs for advice
- We travel with smartphones and use them for research and booking
- Influencers are deemed more trustworthy than brands.
So, you want travellers to discover you and stick around on your site.
Credibility is an important factor for success. Travel blog writing done well helps you position yourself as a credible travel authority (think about Rick Steeves as a great example).
Ultimately, you want them to purchase through your affiliate links and your products.
| RELATED: Why It’s Important To Grow Your Personal Brand As A Blogger
How To Write A Travel Blog Post: The Basics
By now, you should know the basics of a good blog post, including:
- The introduction: hook the reader to read more
- A body: share your insights, tips and supplemental stories
- The conclusion: include a summary overview, final tips, recommendations and a call-to-action
But what should you be doing differently when writing a travel blog post?
If you plan to monetize your travel blog, you’ll need to start growing a targeted audience that loves reading what you’re sharing.
Let’s look at each section of a blog post and what you should include in each.
Start With Traveller Questions And Keyword Research
To write a travel blog post, you need a topic that readers are actually interested in learning about. There are several ways you can find blog posts. The best is to start with your topic clusters around your cornerstone or “pillar” post.
Here are your next steps:
- Select a subtopic
- Use Google’s autocomplete and People Also Ask to determine a popular evergreen topic
- Use keyword tools such as Keysearch.co and Keywords Everywhere to find the best high-volume, low-competition keywords
Longtail keywords are like: “top family-friendly restaurants in London.” Choose a main SEO keyword and a few secondary keywords.
1. What’s The Best Way To Start A Blog Post?
Let’s learn how to write a travel blog post that grabs the reader’s attention immediately.
But first, the headline title needs to be engaging.
Begin by using descriptive, powerful words that catch the reader’s interest.
For example, instead of “My London Day Trip” use something like “How To Plan The Ultimate Day Trip To London: 24 Hours Of Fun And Good Food”
Now that you have the headline completed, it’s time to look at the introduction section.
As usual, I always recommend using your SEO longtail keyword in the first paragraph. Get that out of the way!
Now back to the introduction…
Here are a few ways you can make your travel blog post introduction interesting:
- Introduce your destination or topic with a brief overview
- Add context and background information as to what they can expect (romance them with a hook)
- Share a personal anecdote or story that will make the reader learn more
- Ask a thought-provoking question on the topic
Always remember that you want the reader to keep reading!
| RELATED: SEO Tips For Optimizing Your Blog Posts
2. How To Write The Body Of Your Travel Blog Post
The next section of your blog post covers the key tips that you’re sharing, as well as the stories and anecdotes that bring them to life.
Here you’ll be sharing your experiences, insights, and adventures.
For a typical travel blog post the body can include:
- Places you visited: detailed descriptions, their significance and your personal experience.
- Who you met: share stories of people you met, their culture and lifestyle.
- The food you ate: local specialties, ingredients and flavours.
- Travel challenges: what made your trip difficult, and how you overcame the challenges.
Product or service review posts that include affiliate links are different.
You’ll still need to add your personal stories and feedback, but they are more structured.
NOTE: Remember to include headers throughout your blog post. These should be H2, H3 headers, used in a hierarchical way. For example: H2 – “A 12-hour Day Trip To Canterbury: Things To Do And See” ; H3: “What To Do First When You Arrive In Canterbury“; H3 “What To Expect When Visiting Canterbury Cathedral“, etc. Make the headers flow from one topic to another in a natural progression.
Don’t forget affiliate links! Here’s a tip for travel bloggers: use Travelpayouts to get access to over 110 of the best travel brands, all on one affiliate marketing platform.
It makes it easy to join, manage and track your affiliate marketing activity, and also faster to get paid for your successful efforts!
You can join Travelpayouts for free and set up your account in a matter of minutes.
| RELATED: How To Make Money Faster With Travelpayouts – My Review
3. How To Conclude Your Travel Blog Post
Writing travel blog posts that are well-structured means you need a conclusion.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen bloggers finish their posts with just the body of their post.
The conclusion is where you can summarize your experience and key reasons for travel or purchase:
- Why the reader should visit a destination,
- Reason for a specific activity
- Why buy a product or service.
It’s also where you can include a strong call-to-action: signing up for your free guide or travel planner for your newsletter subscription, or sharing your post with others on Pinterest are just two examples.
You can also include a few additional sections here:
- FAQ section: Use the Rankmath plugin for Schema to make it discoverable
- Travel accommodation and travel recommendations: A perfect place to include affiliate links.
- Table with cost savings and tips: Make it easier for them to plan their trip
- Call-to-action to follow your Instagram/TikTok account: Build your following
This is also where you can leave your readers with a final thought about your experience. Perhaps it’s an emotional lesson learned, an interesting twist or a quote that sparks their interest to travel.
| RELATED: How To End A Blog Post In An Engaging Way
How Long Should Travel Blog Posts Be?
Depending on the topic, sometimes a post can be inspiring at 700 words. However, most top bloggers are making their travel blog posts approximately 1,500 to 2000 words.
When you’re learning how to write a travel blog post, the last thing you should obsess about is the post length.
Consider all of the tips, and recommendations you can provide in a standard “guide to [Destination]” type of blog post.
If your post is photo-heavy, do try to balance it with text that tells the story more fully than just the images.
How To Come Up With Interesting Travel Blog Post Ideas
Coming up with fresh ideas can sometimes be hard.
We all come up against “writer’s block” as bloggers at some point.
Aside from checking out my travel blog post topics, here are some other ways to come up with your very own posts.
- Look at your own experiences. Consider all of the blog posts you can write based on them.
- Read other bloggers’ general travel posts: write on the same topics but better.
- Use Google itself. SEO tools like Keywords Everywhere give you an idea of what the popular blog topics are that you can recreate.
- Use your old travel journals for inspiration
Just remember to always be authentic! If you haven’t gone somewhere, you shouldn’t be writing a guide when you don’t have firsthand experience.
How To Make Your Travel Blog Posts Stand Out
What will make your travel blog posts such a great read that people want to follow your blog?
That you become a well-recognized expert in your travel blog niche?
Here are some ways to make your travel blog spectacular:
- Tell vivid stories. Use your own voice, as if you were telling the story to somebody. Avoid generic, vague content that doesn’t bring to life your travel experience. Make the reader feel like they were there with you as a spectator or fellow traveller. Romancing the experience is a persuasion tactic that smart travel bloggers use.
- Use a unique angle. Share a lesser-known activity or attraction. Or share a personal anecdote or a travel quote that offers a fresh perspective that’ll capture your reader’s interest.
- Use high-quality photos. Learn how to take the best photos using a quality camera. Edit your photos with Lightroom and make sure they are optimized to load fast on your site.
- Include practical tips. Make sure you balance your stories with factually correct information that will help your reader make a travel decision, purchase or plan. From hotel recommendations, restaurants and activities, as well as staying safe. You’ll become a trusted source.
- Be authentic. Use your own personal brand voice. Tell real stories and give your personal opinions on your experiences, including the pros and the cons. Readers want the full picture, not just the positive promotion of a destination or travel service.
Avoid These Common Travel Blogging Mistakes
When writing travel blog posts you need to avoid common mistakes.
These are extremely common, so don’t beat yourself up over them. We all make them!
- Writing thin content that’s generic. Bring your post to life with personal stories, anecdotes and photos.
- Overusing stock photos. Use your own if you can.
- Not optimizing your blog posts and not updating your posts regularly.
- Adding prices – these change regularly. Use “starting at” because this leaves it open to price increases
- Not including personal anecdotes: Keep a travel journal to help you enrich flat travel blog post content with storytelling.
There you go! Avoid these common travel blogging mistakes and you’ll have a great site on your hands.
Writing Travel Blog Posts – A Fine Art
Now you have all the details for how to write a travel blog post that your readers will find interesting, useful and inspiring.
Here are some fantastic travel blog post examples:
- 22 Best Places To Visit In Sicily – Adventurous Kate
- Staying at Casanova dei Boschi: An 18th Century Farmhouse in Tuscany – The Blonde Abroad
Before you go, grab my free Pinterest templates for your gorgeous travel post pins.
I hope your travel blog posts are going to inspire some GREAT trips!
QUESTION: What do you think is the hardest thing about writing travel blog posts?
