Its amazing how little thought some people put into the photos they take on the road.  It may seem like a hassle to spend a minute or so getting a good shot, but one of the worst things in the world is coming back from a trip, going through your pics are realising how little quality you have.  Once you get into the habit of taking good travel photos, it becomes second nature.  Here are some tips that I follow:

1. Carry a Camera Everywhere – my camera of choice is now the Apple iPhone.  Before that I took a small Canon point and shoot.  Now these aren’t the two best cameras, and if you’re really after quality than nothing compares to a Digital SLR, but an SLR is big and bulky.  An iPhone and easily slip into your pocket, and the recent models have really good cameras.    Carry your camera with you all the time.  Get in the habit of taking it out and taking a shot.  Don’t just wait until you arrive at the destination to take a picture.  The journey is often the most interesting bit.
2. There Are a Million Pictures of the Eiffel Tower – Your picture of the Eiffel tower will mean nothing if it doesn’t have any context.  Don’t just point and shoot at a popular tourist attraction.  These pictures are boring and will have no emotional impact on you in the future.  ADD CONTEXT!!!  Take a picture of your family in front of the Tower.  Take a pic of the other tourists, capture the weather, the crowds, the people you are with.  This is what makes a picture exciting.
3. Capture Life – Continuing on from my last point, try and capture “life”.  I’ve found some of the most interesting shots I’ve taken are of the locals.
4. Use Instagram – Don’t be afraid to use tools like Instagram, which is available on your iPhone.  This tool will add filters and effects to your photo.  Remember, a photo is NEVER an accurate representation of location.  Instead its a representation of how you saw the location.  For example, on a dull and dreary day I like applying a slight grey/blue filter to match the image I have in my head.

Regularly updating a travel blog in the middle of a trip can often seem more like a chore rather than a pleasurable experience.  Furthermore, finding the time can often be the hardest past.  So here are some easy tips I use to make sure my travel blog is always up to date.

Take Lots of Photos

You’re probably already taking a lot of photos on your trip.  These can easily be turned into a blog post with minimal fuss.  In fact, a travel blog without photos is usually pretty boring.   Upload your photos to your WordPress blog and create a post from a series of photos.  Wordpress has some pretty good built in tools for managing photo heavy posts, but there are also many Gallery plugins you can use as well.

If you use photos for your blog posts, you won’t feel like you’re having to write an essay every couple of days.

Keep a Notebook

Throughout the course of each day, you’re bound to come across many exciting things.  Use a notepad to jot down notes.  I like to use a Moleskine which I carry around with me.  I write down a quick note whenever I come across an interesting cafe, dish, sight etc. At the end of the day I can flick through the notepad to find one of many post ideas.

Link Out to Other Blogs

Every now and then you’ll find your motivation to write a new post has been zapped.  I use this time to create a post that highlights some interesting content on other peoples blogs.   This is a good chance to connect with other bloggers as well as providing your readers with some extra reading material to discover.

Make Full Use of Airport Time

The nature of modern air travel means that no mater what, you’re going to be stuck in airports from time to time.  Be it an hour or 6, use this time to craft a blog post.  I like to use this time to create a buffer of posts – that way, when I am not in a writing mood, I can use one of my backup pieces of content.

What About Internet Access?

Well the good news is, these days, pretty much anywhere in the world you’ll find internet access.  It may be at your local hostel or it may be at a cafe or internet cafe.  If you’re trekking out into the wilderness then don’t expect to be able to update your blog.  But you can still craft post ideas offline or with a notebook and then transfer these across to your blog when you stop by civilisation.

Writing a travel blog is not only a great way to record your adventures, but it can also be profitable.   Many of my fellow full time travellers, run their own travel blogs.   And some of them even make a full time income.

Now, don’t expect to suddenly be able to make a full time income from blogging.  In fact, I know many travellers who have been blogging for years, and have excellent blogs, but only make a few dollars here and there.  Some choose to make nothing at all.  But if you do want to make a real go at it, and are willing to stick at it, then travel blogging for profit can be done.

The Travel Blog Success Course

There are quite a few resources available online, that will teach you how to blog for money.  But there aren’t that many that are travel blog specific.    By far the best resource for learning how to setup a travel blog and profit from it is Travel Blog Success.

Travel Blog Success is the definitive guide to travel blogging.  The course will teach you how to setup a blog, create content, grow traffic and monetize this traffic.  If you’re serious about setting up a travel blog with an intention to make money then you definitely need this course.

Download The Travel Blog Success Course.

We’ll Setup Your Travel Blog For Free!
Want a travel blog.  Don’t want to set it up yourself.  We’ll install a blog for you as well as a premium theme, free.  Find out more

Many people keep a blog while travelling.  Its a great way to keep in touch with friends and family back home (and make them all envious), but what many people don’t realize is that travel blogging can also be extremely profitable.

Many of my friends, who are full time travellers, earn there income from travel blogging.  Some make just enough for a flight or two each year, where as others actually earn a full time income.   Although writing a blog for an audience of just your friends or family is fun,  having an actual readership, who interacts with your content, follows along with your journey, and even makes you money, is so much more rewarding.

So for those thinking about starting a travel blog, I always point them in the direction of Travel Blog Success.  This is an online blogging course made just for travel bloggers.    You don’t need to know anything about blogging to get started, and don’t be put off by the term “course”.  Its not like going to school.  Its just the best guide to getting a travel blog setup, getting visitors and most importantly monetizing your site.

There really isn’t any other course or book like Travel Blog Success.  It fills a unique niche and comes highly recommended.  We loved it – and still, to this day find the content as well as the included support forums, and invaluable asset.

Download Travel Blog Success

We’ll Setup Your Travel Blog For Free!
Want a travel blog.  Don’t want to set it up yourself.  We’ll install a blog for you as well as a premium theme, free.  Find out more

Did you know that you can actually get paid to travel.  Imagine travelling the world for a whole year without having to spend your own money!  Its a pretty good dream isn’t it.  But amazingly, for many people, it isn’t just a dream.  Thats right, there are people being paid to travel the world.

There are many different ways to get paid to travel.  Some like being a Tour Guide or a Writer for Conde Nast, is an extremely hard route to take.  The chances of that happening is quite slim.

Travel Blogging

For most people, their best bet is to start looking a becoming a Travel Blogger.  Many of my friends are travel bloggers.  Most of them earn enough to pay for a trip every once in a while.  But some are also full time travel bloggers.  They have built up amazing websites, full of incredible articles about exotic destinations and adventures.  These websites are visited by thousands of people everyday and they earn enough money to be a full time traveller.  Of course, it does help they are also frugal travellers and know how to travel the world at little cost.

Where to Start

Making money from travel blogging unfortunately doesn’t happen overnight.  It will take commitment and dedication – but the results are obviously amazing, so why wouldn’t you give it a go.

The best place to start is get a blog setup and start posting content.  You don’t even have to be travelling to start your blog.   I love reading about peoples experiences saving up for a big trip (i’m sure you’ve got some tricks to share), as well as the planning process.

Making money from a travel blog is the next step.  The best place to learn about this is at Travel Blog Success – they have put together an incredible resource that will actually take you through the entire process of building a profitable travel blog.

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