The idea of traveling, talking about your travels, and even making money from it is no longer surprising to anyone. But rushing into such an adventure without thinking, but simply because it’s cool, is so-so. After all, real travel blogging is also work. And it won’t be simple and carefree, especially if you don’t have the necessary skills. We’ll tell you what you need to travel and make money from it.
Select Format
If you plan to keep only a text blog and post photos and stories on Instagram, that’s one thing. You can only get by with a smartphone with a good camera and battery. Recently, printed publications have become very popular and can be distributed through tourist cafes, travel agencies, transport companies and in taxis. Moreover, today you don’t even need to be a designer to make such a magazine – just download the magazine mockup and add your photos. For a beginning travel blogger, this is a great way to understand how you cope, how you get by with little money, and whether you want more. And it’s easier to write when you have something to say. It is enough to use beautiful photographs of nature or interesting locations.
However, if possible, you can start with video blogging. Sooner or later, most travel bloggers come to him. Either they accumulate funds from earnings from the previous method, or use this format from the first steps. And this is where the hard part begins. Let us immediately warn you that this is a more complex and time-consuming task. But let’s take a closer look.
Provide yourself with income
There are plenty of examples when a person simply started a tractor and went traveling without money in his pocket. But this path is risky and not suitable for everyone. To spend the night anywhere, travel by passing cars, and freight trains, ask for food and help from the locals – you need to be able to do this. We don’t argue that the stories of such travels are always interesting and full of emotions. But let’s face it – not everyone is ready for such challenges, and in order to travel comfortably, in any case, you will need funds. If there is an apartment that can be rented out, great. It’s equally great if you’re a freelancer and can work from anywhere in the world. Money will be needed for all household needs, plus unplanned ones, plus clothing, equipment, flights/trips, etc.
Buy equipment
The more tools you use and the better your skills in using them, the more opportunities you have, the more varied the content, its presentation, and the opportunities for development. Action cameras, steadicams, quadcopters, microphones, licensed programs, training courses – all this will require investment and a lot of time to upgrade your skills. And all of the above will be combined into one thing – a laptop.
Learn and develop
Just imagine how much everything you will need: public speaking skills, the ability to handle a bunch of equipment, the skills of an author, screenwriter, director, photographer, and video editor, and the skills of a marketer, and content manager. Some people spend their whole lives working in one of these areas of knowledge, and you will have to pick up and improve on the fly to always be a relevant, interesting, and modern blogger. Therefore, you can start now reading and watching blogs of other girls and guys, remembering successful techniques, styles, tactics, and strategies for conducting media activities. You will have to develop continuously, and it will be difficult. But this is great – try to find the same activity that gives you so many new abilities and skills that can be applied in other areas of life.
No matter how cool the thing you make, you still need to be able to sell it. You can make money on your channel, Instagram, and Twitch, stream with donations, integrate advertising, and monetize your text blog. You can even provide yourself with everything you need for free by negotiating with manufacturers and using their equipment (or, for example, clothing and accessories) on an ongoing basis, featuring it in videos and mentioning it in the text. But all this will be possible only with a sufficient level of development of your sites – and this is another huge task that deserves a separate volume of articles. But we hope that the available information will help you achieve your goal, whatever it may be.