How To Make a Travel Blog in Under 25 Minutes

Tampa, Florida vibes! #takemeback

Hello Travelers! It’s Christa here, and today I’d like to share with you guys how to make blog for travel, to make some income online or otherwise all in about 20-25 minutes.

Think of this blogging guide like a round-trip flight to professional blogging land and back, and I got your tickets 😉

In a delicious pistachio nut shell, if you want to start a blog for hobby, to make money blogging or otherwise, you’re in the right place. We’ve walked the walk first, and now it’s time to talk the talk.

So if you can spare me about as much time as it takes to watch an episode of Friends, keep on reading and I’ll share my blogging story with you then walk you start to finish on how to create a blog.

Just want to skip the introduction? Click here to go to Step 1 on How To Make a Blog >>

My Adventures with Blogging

So, 7 years ago, I started a blog on WordPress.com where I shared my stories from study abroad in Australia living near Gold Coast, surfing, dorm life, relationship drama, food, and friends.

Australia was an amazing experience, but sadly WordPress.com was not.

I couldn’t edit very much at my WordPress.com blog and do you know how many blogs come up if you Google “Christa wordpress.com blog” … it’s impossible to be found out there?

Luckily, I found myself on a rooftop in my home town sharing my blog with an interested observer, “James,” who turned out to be my blogging partner in crime. James showed me that serious bloggers who wanted to blog for a living do their work on WordPress.org.

James showed me it’s actually pretty easy to run a WordPress.org blog like over 3M bloggers do today.

Things like themes, plugins, advertising and more started to make sense to me, and I discovered that with my own WordPress.org blog everything you touch truly becomes yours because you own your blog.

Since taking blogging seriously and starting a blog on WordPress.org, I’ve:

  • Had my writing featured on bloggingtips.com and bloggingfromparadise.com, my favorite blog since I began which I never thought I’d get to write on!
  • Landed instagram gigs with companies all around the globe
  • Gotten to work from home in comfortable clothes (that part is key) with my coffee every morning and my family and pets all around me (often asking how to blog)

I firmly believe that if a small-town girl from Chisago, Minnesota can find success blogging then anyone of you out there can too!

So if you’d like to start a blog the right way, then I think you’ll love this guide.

This WordPress blogging guide will follow 5 steps:

  1. How to find a DOMAIN NAME (and why you need one)
  2. How to install WORDPRESS.ORG on your own (don’t pay someone to do this step for you!)
  3. How to pick a beautiful WordPress THEME for your new blog
  4. How to write your first BLOG POST (and a few types of posts that I find work well across most niches)
  5. How to LAUNCH get people to find your blog for free

As point 5 indicates, we will definitely cover how to get people actually visiting your blog here. I am all about being a real blogger, transparent about what I do and why I blog. I think holding these core principles to my heart has helped the blog get going a little bit (even though we are small!) and I’d like to help you get your first visitors too from tried and true, ethical means.

I’ll also drop off plenty of WordPress do’s and don’ts to save you plenty of time, which I wish I had known on Day!

So, grab yourself a nice beverage, and why don’t we get started?!

Blogging Video

If you’d rather not watch, then follow the steps below to get your blog started up in no time.

Step 1) How to Find a Domain Name for Your Blog

Let’s start with some bad news: the first domain name you think of is probably already taken. Bad news behind us, you can definitely find an even better domain than what you have in mind! How? Use some keywords, your name, or even a catchy phrase. In short, be clever!

For example, when I chose deartraveler.com, I thought of how I’d write to my readers like Dear Traveler…. and the domain name came to me.

This domain wasn’t cheap though, we had to buy it on Afternic.com, which is an afterhours marketplace.

However, just pull up GoDaddy.com and search for a few domains. Don’t buy yet, just search.

Tips to find the best domain name on your first try:

  1. Put yourself in your readers shoes, and try to think of a domain people will like visiting
  2. Think of two word combos like Netflix, Facebook, Youtube, Tripadvisor, Homedepot, Chromecast, Finalcut, etc as these are absolutely huge domains
  3. If you can’t find your first few choices, see if your FirstnameLastname.com is available. This is surprisingly versatile choice, which good for any kind of branding you devote yourself too.
  4. If you’re still struggling, try your FirstnameLastnameKeyword.com, which will almost always work
  5. Don’t pay more than $15 for a domain name. Don’t pay for GoDaddy auction services because that guarantees nothing. Get a free domain name if at all possible, like we do here at Bluehost!
  6. Avoid dashes, symbols and hyphens like the plague.
  7. Always try to get the .com version of your domain name because it’s what people will try to type in to find you AND the .com is the most profitable if you make it big and sell your blog someday.

As noted in our last point above, you should try to include a keyword in your domains if you can. Why? A keyword tells Google what your blog is about from the get go. You basically insert yourself into the right conversation in terms of traffic right away.

Once you have a good domain name (which we will see how to buy next) we can move on.

Step 2) How to Install WordPress.org on Your Own

Next up comes the steps that can stop most bloggers in their tracks.

But it was SO easy guys!

So WordPress.org is what all the best blogs from PinchOfYum to 4 Hour Work Week to Britney Spears to Perez Hilton and beyond use.

We don’t want WordPress.com because you cannot post ads, you cant use plugins, and you don’t own the blog if you eventually make big money from it.

We want WordPress.org and that’s pretty much it!

To get WordPress.org you first need to setup a domain name (your .com) and web hosting (just an account where your blog lives).

Bluehost, a company you might have heard of already, is the best place for both of these tasks, because you get a free domain name and the web hosting is easy and dirt-cheap, meaning you won’t have to think about it much and you can just blog every day and do your thing.

I’ve been a Bluehost customer for years, love that they are #1 recommended by WordPress, and think it’s cool they have a 45-day money back guarantee.

So let’s this minor techie stuff out of the way!

Disclosure: DearTraveler earns a commission at no extra cost to you if you make a buy through our Bluehost links but this also makes sure you get the best discount we negotiated for you, so it’s a pretty cool win-win!

My boyfriend actually made a pretty fun YouTube video on how to install WordPress at Bluehost if you’d rather watch than read, but I figured having all the steps in front of you will be really helpful to keep track of, so here we go!

Firstly, Let’s Go To Bluehost.com

Quick Bluehost Background: They are one of the 3 oldest web hosts, founded in 1996 by Matt Heaton at Brigham Young University, Bluehost now hosts the most WordPress sites of any hosting company.

To begin, simply visit Bluehost.com

information iUse this link ↗ to get our latest Bluehost discounts updated daily, including a free domain (in your first year).

You will be welcomed by this page, stylish as usual in true Bluehost fashion:

bluehost homepage

If you’re happy with what you see so far, let’s continue.

Hover on WordPress and click on “WordPress Hosting” so you can go to the next step, which is step 2.

choose wordpress hosting from menu

The WordPress Hosting at Bluehost gets you everything the normal “Basic” plan from the Bluehost homepage gets you, but this WordPress version gives you even more for the same price, like $200 Adwords credit.

Obviously we want more! Plus, I always like your new blogs to be as powerful as they can from the start.

However if you prefer to choose the normal Basic plan for whatever reason, the steps below will be exactly the same.

So now you’ll be on this page now:

Click on Choose Plan and it will take you about half way down the page. Nice work.

Then, Choose Your Hosting Plan

Note: When choosing your first hosting plan, always keep functionality in mind. What is your website’s main goal?

In other words, if you build a small blog website or even a medium sized magazine site with say 10-20 authors (just as long as you’re not building the next Facebook) you don’t need to get the big kahuna of all hosting plans.

Aka, don’t overspend!

Whatever your goals are, it’s good to think of how much functionality you need right now (because you can always upgrade later on).

For this Bluehost WordPress install, we’ll opt for the “Basic WordPress Hosting” shared hosting plan on the far left:

bluehost choose wordpress basic plan

So we’ll grab a Basic plan, but if you know you will want to run multiple websites right away then a Plus plan is a good idea (but you can always upgrade later on).

These plans are super great if you don’t wanna do the techie stuff aka you just want to blog.

Click Select and let’s move on!

Okay, Now Grab Your Domain Name

After selecting your plan, the next step presented to you is to grab a domain which is also your website’s address.

Enter in your domain name du jour, remembering those domain name best practices we learned above!

get domain for bluehost website

If you aren’t ready to pick a domain name yet Bluehost has you covered, you can always read these steps on how to assign a domain name later on if you choose to pick a domain later on.

Here’s one of many real domains we got at Bluehost: bluehostwebsitewp.com

If you already have a domain name you previously registered, just enter it in the “Use a domain you own” box. Andd we shall proceed!

Next, Fill on Your Basic Details

The next step in our Bluehost WordPress install is simply to fill in the basic required information. The information you’ll need to provide is your first name, last name, country, street address, city, state (if applicable), zip code, phone number and your email address.

Please note that details and receipt for your installation will be sent to the email address you provide.

You don’t need to enter a business name.

choose bluehost plan

Time to Check Your Package Information and Package Extras then Finish the Registration

The next step is to scroll on down and check your package information. My first hosting order was for 12 months, which has served me very well. Do take a look at the addons that are included by default. You can uncheck all of them if you’d like (I recommend unchecking all of them).

package information and extras

Here’s what to consider:

Domain Privacy Protection: Costs $0.99/month (billed annually at $11.88). Adding Domain Privacy + Protection masks your personal information from the whois database, which is publicly visible to anyone on the internet. Easily protect your personal contact information from marketers, spammers, and unwanted solicitation by adding Domain Privacy + Protection.

SiteLock Security: This feature costs $1.99/mo (billed annually at $23.88)  SiteLock automatically scans your website for malware to ensure they are not being blocked or spammed. Verifies your email address, phone number, and physical address for customers if you plan to create an eCommerce website.

CodeGuard Basic: This feature costs $2.99/mo (billed to the end of your hosting term). This lets you back up your site regularly, basically making it easy to revert back to a previous save if you make a mistake.

Bluehost SEO Tools Start: This feature runs you an extra $2.99/mo (billed annually at $23.88/hr). Bluehost says this tool will help with your Search rankings aka make you rank higher in Google.

1 Office 365 Mailbox: This package extra comes free for 30 days, but we all know how free trials work. It’s reliable and safe email provided by Microsoft.

The bottom line? Each one of these extras can be setup for free using a plugin or hack. For example you can accomplish what Bluehost SEO Tools Start gets you by installing Yoast SEO for free, which is what most professional blogs use. I’m happy to explain all my hacks to you in the comments!

payment options pay with paypal at bluehost

Take note that the amount you’ll be charged will be billed annually. You might be surprised that your monthly cost of for example $3.95 is already discounted, this price already reflects a discount.

Listen Up! Let’s Get You The Best Bluehost Discount / Coupon for this Bluehost WordPress Install!

Get another discount eh? Well, Bluehost has actually never offered coupon codes, but that won’t stop us from getting you a better discount than the rest of the pack. If you want the discount (and we can assume you do, unless you don’t like money) you can move your mouse to the edge of the screen and see if Bluehost will show you the “before you go” discount. Like this:

bluehost special signup offer

Click Claim Savings and you’ll get an additional discount!

Make sure to use this link to activate it and make sure you get to all the correct pages.

Note: I’m actually not supposed to show you about this additional discount, but I’ve been in your shoes, so hope you enjoy it.

fine print at bluehost
Read the fine print at Bluehost before making your final decision.

Back to business, Bluehost has a 30 day money back guarantee so you can get your money back if you don’t like your blog.

But this doesn’t apply to the domain name. So while you get a free domain at Bluehost, if you do cancel the hosting, they will deduct the cost of your domain name from your reimbursement.

Once you’ve completed setup (click Submit) then you’ll be greeted with this nice confirmation page:

bluehost your purchase was a success screen

Click on Create Account, and your next steps are a breeze. Congrats, you are now a member of Bluehost!

Next, Get Your WordPress Settings Entered In Just Right

bluehost wordpress setup collage

Create Password, click Create Account, go to login, then login 🙂

Next, it’s time to enter some WordPress info. Enter your Site Title (Which you can change whenever you want), a tagline (like a slogan), then check add a blog so your blog posts are stored on a blog page, and check online store if you want WooCommerce installed right away (this last checkbox is optional; the WooCommerce plugin can be installed at any time for free).

bluehost lets create a website graphic

Bluehost might ask a little more about you (they are like really trying to be your new best friend here).

Next you will find yourself in the Themes page. Click Skip this Step because all these themes are available from within your WordPress dashboard and you’ll likely need more time to decide on your favorite theme.

bluehost pick a theme skip this step

Plus, the default WordPress 2020 theme which you’ll get installed automatically with your new blog rocks (as you can see!)

Time to Understand Your Bluehost Dashboard

Okay, once you Skip that step on the themes page you will be taken to your Bluehost Dashboard homepage – Welcome!

This is a major hurray in the Bluehost WordPress installation process, so congratulations.

Close and say no thanks to any pop ups that come up.

Next we have to adjust your domain just a little.

As you can see on my screen below there are some numbers and a “temp” in the domain name. Let’s change that!

bluehost change temp domain

If Bluehost gives you a temp domain that looks like this, it’s simply a testing area, and we need to update it with your real domain.

To change that temp domain, click on My Sites, then Manage Site.

bluehost manage sites

Then click on Settings, then enter in your domain name again on the line that says Site URL, and lastly Save Updates.

bluehost my sites url change

Now you’re finally done with all these little steps of our Bluehost WordPress install, and you’re ready to login and start a-bloggin’!

Finally, Logging into WordPress, Ahhh!

Now let’s get you into your new blog!

You can either visit yourdomain.com/wp-admin to login like most of us do on the go, or you can login through your Bluehost Dashboard.

logging into wordpress through bluheost

bluehost rocket man

Once the spaceship man takes you to your dashboard, you can click on your Site Title (right by the home icon) to go from Back End to Front End of your new site.

backend vs front end how to get there wordpress

The Big Launch

In order to launch you’ll need a good theme, a few blog posts and maybe even a couple pages too.

I prefer building everything from scratch, however you can also install premade WordPress templates.

If you get Elementor page builder, or Divi, or Astra theme, they each come with plenty of free premade WordPress templates you just click to activate and your site looks good right away.

Let’s see how you would install Astra theme – or any new theme for that matter.

install new theme and launch wordpress website

#1) Click on Appearance

#2) Click on Themes

#3) Click on a theme to preview it. When you are ready to actually change your theme, click on Install then Activate.

#4) At the top there is a Coming Soon Active button. This means you can see your new theme, but anyone else who is not logged in will just see a default coming soon page. To take down this coming soon page, and launch your site to the world, click on this button then on the next screen click Launch your site. 

You did it! You successfully created a WordPress blog!

Better get those blog posts rolling out soon for your new visitors!

Step 3) How To Pick the Right Theme for Your New Blog

When you pick a WordPress theme for your new blog it’s important to remember one thing: the first theme you find and/or the first theme someone recommends you is probably not the best theme.

We all want to make the default theme work, whether it’s WordPress 2019 or what. Don’t. Because a hundred thousand other people use and it’s not unique.

Also, we all hear about a theme that’s amazing – for example a lot of travel bloggers recommend StudioPress themes – which are not good for beginners. These themes look amazing on popular blogs because they’ve had a designer put $100s of dollars of hours into it. However themes like StudioPress are not ideal for the beginner who just wants a blog that looks good out of the box. Don’t do it unless you are comfortable with advanced theme design. Period.

When looking for a new WordPress theme, you should consider the factors like whether it has demo sites (like the previews) which are easy to install, responsiveness, number of 5-star reviews, number of downloads and generally what the buzz is about this theme.

Themes you should take a look which meet the above criteria at for easy setup:

Astra – Amazing free starter site templates for ad agencies, fitness, fashion blogs, restaurants, hotels and more. Also lots of pretty blog designs. This is easily one of the best WordPress themes of 2019.

Simple Catch – Super beginner friendly, clean, mobile friendly blog layout thats work for lots of bloggers over the years.

Vantage – Professional, simplistic business theme with icons, nice fonts and a cool slider, plus a blog,

Virtue – The best free theme for eCommerce and portfolios.

OceanWP – Super easy to use demos, Elementor friendly, how many people create their first landing page, about page, services, and contact page.

Step 4) How To Write Your First Blog Post

When you look at a blank blog with a ton of white space it’s kind of intimidating. Luckily, my blogging guru has a 3-post guide that helps us figure out what 3 blog posts to write. Those posts you should write are:

  1. Welcome to the blog
  2. Ultimate guide
  3. Controversial piece

Why write these three posts? Because if you don’t write theme (or some variation of them) your blog will be empty when people show up!

Step 5) How To Get People to Find Your Blog for Free

It’s no secret that we all want traffic to our new blogs. However, it’s also not a secret how to get blog traffic! The best way to get traffic to a new blog is simply to talk about your blog. For example anytime I’m talking to another couple at the bar or the airport, I’ll mention the blog. You’d be surprised how many people open up their phones to check out a WordPress link or Instagram profile!

Which brings me to my next point: Start an Instagram for your blog, like now.

Instagram is THE PLACE for blog photos, whatever you do. Plus, you can always link your blog in your bio or at the bottom of posts. It’s entirely free, and you can always hashtag what you’re up to and people who follow the hashtags will show their love. FREE LOVE + TRAFFIC = WIN!

Before You Leave, Let’s Cover Some Questions EVERYONE Asks Me!

There are many questions as you start a blog which can be roadblocks if you don’t know the answer!

So I wanted to start by quickly answering the most common questions that prevent my readers from starting a blog!

How do I choose the best blogging host and platform?

Many of us will ask friends or Google it. I’ll save you time. Nearly every professional bloggers use WordPress.org as their platform (it’s the biggest community and has the most plugins and themes) and the vast majority pick Bluehost as their host (because Bluehost works with WordPress to provide the best WordPress tools).

How much does a domain name cost?

If you bought a domain name at GoDaddy is costs $13/yr and you can use it on our blog today. If you haven’t bought a domain yet don’t buy one because Bluehost will give us a free domain name.

How long does it take to make money blogging and how much effort is needed?

To make some basic coffee shop money ($25-50/mo) is pretty easy, you can publish sponsored posts or make money with Adsense in 3 months time and each dollar feels great. Earning regular income ($100-1000/mo) takes longer, you’ll need to work on your content, style and get solid traffic and this will take at least 6 months. Earning money you can live off of ($1000-3000/mo) took me personally 24 months. Again, each dollar feels great because you are your own boss and are actually making it – so enjoy small gains and don’t get ahead of yourself!

How do you format a blog post (i.e. is it like an essay?)

A blog is much more conversational than an essay. The best bloggers, take Neil Patel, for example, have developed blogging styles where it appears they are talking to you. The most you can engage readers with questions and really showcase your own personality the better. A blogpost needs an introduction, then a problem (which you are solving, like “how to cook asparagus in under 15 minutes”), then you’ll need a solution and lastly some proof you know what you’re talking about and a conclusion.

What are the addition costs to blogging?

You can buy a premium theme ($30-100) and premium plugins ($15-30) but these costs are unnecessary as WordPress comes with tons of beautiful free themes and almost all plugins are free to use (to add social icons or make photo galleries, for example).

How do you become relevant in blogging and rank in Google?

To become a relevant blog requires networking. You’ll need to reach out to bloggers in your niche and ask to guest post, or be featured in expert style roundups. A lot of it boils down to your ability to network, so if you’re good at that then you’ll a leg up. You can do it all from home. It gets easier as you get more recognition but can be trick to get started. If you need a guest post, reach out to my boyfriend DearBlogger because they feature new bloggers all the time on his blog!

How many posts per week are necessary and what is too much and too little?

This question has no real answer but is helpful to think about. You just want to be regular. Think of yourself like Seinfeld. Imagine how hard it’d be to follow Seinfeld episodes if they came on at a different time and station each night! The point is to be regular. And let your readers know your schedule. One post every Tuesday morning is a great goal to start with (Tuesdays just have that innate quality of being good for bloggers). Earlier in the day and earlier in the week is generally a good rule for optimizing social media shares.

Conclusion: What Will YOU Do with Your New Blogging Powers?

WordPress might feel like a lot at first, but it’s just a little shy 🙂 You have to convince it to love you!

After you make a blog, maybe you’ll start networking, guestposting, and bringing the world into your little corner of the web to teach them.

Maybe you’ll create the next tech hub like Mashable or TechCrunch (both started as WordPress blogs).

Maybe you’ll make the next huge podcast like Tim Ferriss of the 4 Hour WorkWeek did. Or the next cooking sensation like PinchofYum.com. Up to you!

Whatever you want to make, we’re here to help, and will be sharing more stories as the DearTraveler journey grows!

1 thought on “How To Make a Travel Blog in Under 25 Minutes”

  1. Thanks for convincing us to use WordPress.org! Was totally not sure it was the #1 blog platform 😌

    So excited to see where this guide goes! 😍

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