It’s Time to Start a Travel Blog!
So, you see all these great travel blogs and your excited to start sharing your travel experiences with your friends, family and the world.
But how do you do it?How do you start?
Where do you start?
It’s Easy as 1,2,3 and 4
It’s not like what it was several years ago when you had to hand code everything from scratch – which sucked.
Today, anybody with a few bucks, a computer and an internet connection can start their own travel blog or online business.
I’ll show you how and walk you through it.
What is a Domain Name?
This tutorial is aimed at the Newbie Travel Blogger with little or no experience in setting up a WordPress Blog and Purchasing a Domain.
A domain name, simply put is the www.YourNewTravelBlogNameGoesHere.com.
Basically, it’s the name of your travel blog or website.
That’s it.
However, it is the first thing that your readers or potential reader will think of when they find and potentially come to your blog.
So, think of a good one!
1: Brainstorm!
The first thing you want to do is brainstorm.
If you are starting a travel blog then it is probably a good idea to think of something catchy or something that you feel describes or fits your personality.
Some good examples that come to mind are:
Try not to pick something boring like I did: MoneyForTravel.net.
Although, there is a rhyme and a reason for it, which I will discuss in a later tutorial.
Domainsbot
If you’re having trouble thinking of a domain name, head over to DomainsBot for some help.
DomainsBot is a very helpful tool when it comes to trying to think of a domain name.
To use DomainsBot you just type in the name of a travel blog or any website name that you are thinking of and it tell you if the domain is available for purchase or not and it will spit out several options and spins for you, on that particular domain.
For example, I type New Travel Blog into the search box and it spit out all of the following:
Type in a Domain Name and let DomainsBot do all the Hard Work for You.
DomainsBot shows if that domain is taken and what else is available.
A Few Quick Tips on Buying Domains
While these are not totally necessary, especially for travel blogs. You should still keep in mind and consider them before purchasing your first domain.
- Be short
- No-Hyphens
- Good Description
- Be Creative and Have Fun
Please do keep in mind most of these are subjective and aren’t too much of a concern for travel blogs.
Short domains are easy to remember, type out and spell, but they are also harder to find as there are far less available.
Using Hyphens in our domain name makes it more difficult to type out for the lazy web surfer and they are not as popular with Google.
They also don’t look as pretty in the web browser.
However Gary Arndt at everything-everywhere.com completely defies gravity and is probably traveling to the moon shortly so due take that advice with a grain of salt.
Think About Description!
If you are going after a certain type of travel blog, let’s say Adventure Travel, then think about possibly using that in the description of the domain itself.
Or, just forget about all of the above.
You can just be creative and have fun with your domain name. Find something that suits you, your personality, your travels and your lifestyle.
When it’s all said and done, if you have good content and good stories – that is all that matters anyways.
2: Register Your Domain
Registering your domain is when you pay for and buy your domain.
Head over to NameCheap if you are looking for a good place to find and register a new domain. Name cheap has some of the most competitive prices and their reputable.
I use NameCheap myself and highly recommended them.
3: Host Your Domain
Now that you’ve bought your brand spankin’ new Travel Blog it’s time to put it some where – that’s when hosting comes in.
Hosting is what makes your website live and accessible to the whole world.
I personally use HostGator – for instance, this blog that you are reading now is hosted with HostGator.
I find their service to be fast, prompt and reliable. I haven’t had any problems with them – if I did I would have left and found another service.
4: How to Setup Name Servers
This is the hardest part of registering your new blog.
Don’t worry though, it isn’t that hard – once you get through this, you can do anything.
For help, watch the following tutorial:
Watch the NameCheap NameServer Tutorial
When you bought your domain at NameCheap (or anywhere else) you will be sent two nameservers that need to be entered into your hosting account.
In this case if you chose HostGator for your web hosting, you would have been sent an email from sales@hostgator.com with HostGator.com :: New Account Info in the subject line.
This email will have your new name servers details. They would look similar to these:
- ns1.demo.domain.com
- ns2.demo.domain.com
All you have to do is copy and past the name server information that HostGator emailed to you, into the Modify Domain page on NameCheap.
The Rundown in Four Easy Steps
That’s it!
Once you’ve done all that you can now set up your WordPress Blog and start blogging.
Any questions, feel free to comment.
Cheers!
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