What Should You Expect When Starting a Family Travel Blog
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So you are ready to start a family travel blog or maybe you already have.
Congratulations! You are in for a fun and amazing new adventure! But if you are like me, you may find yourself wondering what you should expect the first days, weeks, or months of your new journey.
I want to share with you my actual experience starting a family travel blog, not general ideas or vague statistics. Much of what I found when searching myself were from people who were professional at building websites who were talking about numbers in the thousands of visitors, and while I wish this for you it is probably not going to happen.
It is going to be small trickles these first few months and I want you to know that is ok! I want to share each product I used, amount of time I spent, and the real costs of this process. I also want to share any mistakes I made or tips I learned so that you can grow your blog and be successful!
*If you are looking to learn more about any of the tools I use check out Things We Recommend.
Pre-Launch Stage
I want to start out with stating that I have absolutely no history of starting blogs or websites and had to do research to learn everything from scratch.
I knew two things:
- If I was going to dedicate my valuable time as a Mom, I wanted to do it right. I wanted to go full in and learn everything I could from the beginning and actually reach people.
- There was no way I was going to be able to do this alone. I have been a stay at home mom for over a decade, and needed some form of course or mentoring to make this happen.
I began by using free articles online, but quickly realized that I needed something with a little more meat to it if I wanted to really learn what I was doing.
Choosing a Blogging Course
After looking at many online courses, I settled on the Blog By Number Course from startamomblog.com and was very happy with my decision. I chose this course because it had many great reviews and a great price. I wasn’t sold on spending hundreds of dollars on a course- so when I came across a program that was only $97 I jumped at the opportunity.
What I loved about this video course was that it not only took you through every step of the process of starting a website, but also so many other process I didn’t even know that I needed to know.
How to get started with an email list, using Pinterest to create traffic, creating images, and the basics of SEO- it all was covered! I really don’t know how I would have ever gotten started without it.
If you are interested, check it out here.
Even if you aren’t sure you are ready for the investment yet, there is an e-book option that is only $18 that would be a great way to see if starting a blog is right for you!
Hosting
The other important step in the pre launch stage is getting started with webhosting. After looking into a few options I chose Bluehost.
What I liked about them was that everything was covered with just one Bluehost account. I was able to set up a domain name, load a WordPress theme (making launching a site so easy), and set up my email within a matter of minutes.
I’m also they type of person who reads 50 reviews before I buy something as small as a toaster- and there are a lot of good ones for Bluehost. They tend to be really reliable and are known for having great customer service. Luckily everything has gone smoothly so far, but it is nice to know that if I need help with anything a real person will be there to help.
One thing to keep in mind is that although the advertised price as per month, the billing is upfront for 12, 24, or 36 months. Plans start at 3.95 per month and go up from there if you are interested in any extras or want to commit for a shorter amount of time. So the minimum upfront cost advertised on their site as of today would be the Basic plan for 12 months with no extras totaling $71.40.
I, myself did choose to upgrade my plan because domain privacy was important to me, and you may have other extras that are important to you. I recommend looking at each plan and individual add on item to see what will be the best fit for your blog.
If you are interested in learning more you can check them out here.
Pre-Launch Content
The course I used, Blog By Number, laid out a complete plan for having several basic posts ready before you launch your site. It also provided amazing templets to get you started. It even guided me through creating my first freebie 7 Secrets to Packing Like a Pro.
Whether or not you use a guided plan in starting a family travel blog, I think it is a great idea to have at least 4-6 posts before you launch your website. It just feels good to put something complete out there so that by the time you are in the swing of things and writing amazing niche content, you have a little bulk behind your blog. You don’t want a reader to find a post go “That’s amazing I think I’ll see what else they have” only to find you only have 1-2 posts.
I probably spent about 1-2 hours on each of these posts, which I thought was a lot then. What I learned is that great detailed posts take a lot of time, sometimes I work on them many hours over the course of a week. It was so great knowing that I could take my time creating quality new content because I already had several basic posts filling out my blog.
The First Month
The first month consisted mainly of housekeeping. I got familiar with using my website’s email, planned and wrote more content, and created social media accounts. The traffic was extremely minimal. I had a little over 100 users visit my site and the traffic was mainly from Pinterest, with a few organic search engine referrals from places like Bing and Yahoo.
There were a few things that I learned along the way I would like to pass along:
- Social Media– I was so happy that I took the advice I read so many places and focused in only a couple of social media platforms at first so that I wasn’t overwhelmed. While I created a Twitter account, I mainly focused on Instagram and Pinterest. This allows me to have more time creating content while still connecting through social media.
- Pinterest– It will take a while for Google to pick up your site, so Pinterest is a very important platform if you want to share your posts. A Warning: Pinterest is ever changing in their best practices so make sure you are using up to date advice on pinning if you want to achieve results.
- Good Content Takes Time– It is surprising exactly how much time it too to create certain posts. I know that there are others who are faster writers, but I’m sure they would all agree that good original content takes some time. Make scheduling time to write and create accompanying images a priority.
The Second Month of Starting a Family Travel Blog
The second month I began realizing that I was spending more and more time each week on the blog. This month was about finding ways to work more efficiently and at the same time drive more traffic. This month there was still no earth shattering amounts of views….. but I was able to more than double the users who visited the site.
The two big things I worked on this month were:
Beginning to use Tailwind
This service is a game changer. I can’t say enough about it!
Tailwind has so many benefits, but the main use is for scheduling your Pinterest pins so that they automatically post at certain times each day. In a matter of minutes you can schedule a week’s worth of pins. They will then be added by Tailwind to your boards each day. Not only does this save you time, but it allows you to slowly add to your new boards so that you won’t be marked as spam.
Another huge benefit is that they have communities you can join and share your pins with others. This makes it easy to find quality content to add to your niche boards while sharing your pins with others so they can add them to their boards.
An annual membership comes to 9.99/month, but they also offer a free trial you can use to see if you think it will be worth the cost. Hint: it will be!
If you are interested in checking out Tailwind you can do so here.
Pinterest Ads
In an effort to drive a little additional traffic, and hopefully gain more followers I decided to try a Pinterest ad. What is great about these ads is that you can set the parameters to just a few dollars. You can add to it later if you feel you are getting a great response.
I am by no means an expert on these, but I am pleased with the additional clicks my blog received.
The Third Month of Starting a Family Travel Blog
This is when things started getting really fun. I am now able to live out the purpose of this blog- travel and write about it! Now that I have established a few key pieces and written a few more posts, I can focus on specific travel topics and reviews in hopes of helping others. Growth was the same this month as it was the month before. The number of views doubling from he previous month.
The new things that happened in month three:
- Google– I finally started being picked up by google in search results. By tracking using Google Console, I can see where I am showing up in searches and what keywords people are using to find my site. I also can see when I get clicks through those results. Right now it is just 1-2 visitors per day from google search, but it is moving in the right direction. Traffic is still predominantly coming from Pinterest, but it is fun watching how things are growing.
- Running a Giveaway– I loved running my first giveaway. It was a great way to grow social media followers and drive extra traffic. I also loved being able to make someone’s day with a prize. Hopefully in the future I will be able to do this again.
Takeaways and Lessons Learned Starting a Family Travel Blog
It has been a really fulfilling experience so far, but there are some lessons I have learned along the way.
The first is that I wish I had started my social media accounts sooner. It would have been great to establish followers before the launch of the site so that there would be an existing audience to share new posts with. My advice would be to go ahead and start building Pinterest boards and posts on Instagram or twitter while you are still in the pre launch phase. It is much easier to gain interest when people can get an idea of what your site is all about through your social media posts.
The second is specific to the niche of family travel blogging. If your are looking to start earning income straight away, then there are probably many other niches that would work better for you. It would be great to be able to make enough to cover hosting expenses and fund more giveaways, but this is really just about sharing experiences and helping others. If you are really passionate about travel and love talking the ears off your family and friends about travel destinations, then starting a family travel blog is for you!
If you are starting a family travel blog, let me know below! I would love to check it out and help support you on your journey! Also feel free to link your site so that others can check it out as well!
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