DOES ANYONE ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT YOUR TRAVEL BLOG?By Angelica Malin
The truth is: probably not everyone, but that should never, ever stop you from doing it. Some might roll their eyes when you say you’re a travel blogger (not another one), but what’s more worthwhile than seeing as much of this beautiful planet as you can while documenting your stories? So long as you’re doing it for the right reasons: you love it more than anything, regardless how large your daily readership is. At the end of the day, the success or failure of your travel blog really comes down to you and whether or not you think it’s bringing some good to the world.
Of late, it appears that travel blogging has taken a backseat to its more glamorous, sexy cousin – the Instagrammer. Posting images of your travels on Instagram is legit, as a £7,000-fee for one photo is completely and utterly normal in this day and age. Can anyone do it? Well, no. It helps when you’re young, attractive, carefree and have a good eye for what makes a gorgeous photo. There is a lot of sense to this career move, as taking in one image in the blink of an eye is by far easier than reading a 600+ word account of a trip to Vietnam.
Then why bother travel blogging at all? Because it should be for you, not anyone else. Does travelling the world and blogging suddenly become less fun when you didn’t get as many views on your article as you’d like? The point is that it really shouldn’t, and that the minute you think about travel as a business and less as a pleasure, then it could be time to rethink if you’re in the right game.
A good article, much like any writing or any form of art for that matter, is a priceless gift in of itself. Journalists in magazines, newspapers and even websites are often told what to write (and not always things to their liking), so to actually have your own travel blog and call the shots is not something to be taken lightly. So, gush about experiences in the Swiss Alps or brag about the beaches in California, but do it because you want to and it makes you happy, and anything that comes after that (i.e. money and a certain level of fame in the travel blogging community) is icing on the cake. Blog about it if you had a great time and blog about it even if you didn’t, as the truth is much more interesting.
It’s a glorious thing to travel, to write, and if you’re lucky enough, to get paid to do it again and again. You can even get .holiday domains now if you dare to be different, as it seems every good .com domain out there is taken. However, cutting it as a successful travel blogger is no easy feat, despite some who make it sound easy as pie.
Would someone ever get swept up with the notion of keeping up with the Joneses when it comes to travel blogging and forget what it’s really all about? Actually, yes, and it’s quite an expensive and sad story. Much like reality TV, people crave – absolutely crave – the idea that they could be the next big thing on Instagram. Stories of couples becoming copycat travel bloggers aren’t at all uncommon, and neither is faking the truth simply with the intention of gaining more followers, as this blogger perfectly exploited.
Why do so many people feel the need to show the world they’re doing just as well as anyone else? Instead, travel blogging should be genuine – write the world as you see it, not as others want it to be. Misleading anyone with your writing isn’t fun and the cold, hard truth is that the most honest and real blogs will always be the best, even if not many people read them. So, no, maybe not everyone in the world cares about your travel blog, but when you’re having a good time actually exploring the places you want to see and documenting the truth for your own pleasure, then why would you care what anyone else thinks?