Starting a travel blog is exciting, but it can feel overwhelming when you’re trying to figure out exactly what tools you need. Speaking from experience, I set up my blog and it took me almost 11 months before I was able to start treating it seriously as it took me that long to get to grips with it all!
Here are the exact tools I use (and recommend) to keep blogging simple, professional and fun.
Some of these links are affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you decide to try them out.
Tools Section
- Website Hosting & Domain
- You need a reliable hosting domain and to have your own name to be professional and memorable. I use Bluehost domain which is super simple for novices.
- Blog Design & Graphics
- Canva is the easiest to use for templates, logos, social posts and even Pinterest graphics (more on this later.)
- Canva can be used for free but there is a lot more content accessible if you pay – it is approximately £10.99 a month and in my opinion is worth it and it is easy for non-designers
- Pinterest – this is an absolute game changer in promoting and sharing your blog.
- This course is a a bargain in teaching you how to utilise Pinterest. Within 2 weeks my views were at almost 2k, 30 outbound clicks and my blog views doubled! Pinfluence Mastery Course
- Link in bio tools for Social Media
- I prefer to use beacons. I have also used linktree and Stan store previously but I have found beacons has the best value for its usability.
- It is perfect for in your Instagram and Tiktok bio to drive traffic to your blog and your freebies.
- here is my link to give it a try: https://beacons.ai/signup?c=ourunlimitedchoices
- Email Marketing Platform
- I prefer to use Mailerlite for this, again simple to set up
- You can use Mailerlite for free up to 500 subscribers, once you hit 500 you’ll have to pay.
- A mailing system is essential for building your email list which is your blogs number 1 asset.
- Affiliate Network in Travel
- There are multiple different affiliate networks within the travel industry such as booking.com and expedia however, there has been a lot of unrest amongst other travel bloggers of late where these companies have changed their terms etc with no warning.
- I instead decided to partner with another company which offers exclusive hotel rates of up to 70% off, exclusive trips, esims and much more which just made sense to me to share to other travellers on this blog.
- Grab the info on it here!
- Tracking Tools for growth
- If you are seriously wanting to grow your blog then a tool to track and analyse your data is going to be super useful. I couldn’t find exactly what it was I was looking for, so I created it. You can get it on my store for just £2.50. Get your blog analytics tracker here.
Start simple, do not overwhelm yourself to begin with. What do you hope to achieve from your blog? Is it just a hobby, something you enjoy doing? If so then you aren’t going to need to dive into affiliate links or want to study Pinterest. However, if you are looking to monetise (and why wouldn’t you?!) then get yourself set up from the offset.
Prioritise a mailing list with a freebie as a lead magnet to build, a travel affiliation which is going to allow you to show your blog readers and social media followers how they can receive their travel discounted (and you can too of course!) and Pinterest.
Do not sit on Pinterest, my top piece of advice. It is like google, a search engine. Utilise it well and it will work for you for YEARS!
These are the tools I wish I had started with when I first launched my blog. Which ones will you try first? Let me know in the comment’s and don’t forget to grab the links above to get started today,
Francesca xoxo
