Intro.

If you’re after the simple answer, then yes. You can start a travel blog without travelling. The term blog has changed meaning inadvertently over the years from when it was first used in the online world.

If you asked the same question in the 1990’s, or even 2000’s, I probably would have given you a different answer. At the time, a blog was more about your own story, as opposed to a list of articles which it is these days.

I’ll explain a little more in detail.

What Is A Travel Blog

A blog comes from the term ‘weblog’, which was a detailed account of what you have been up to. Similar to a diary, or a journal, your daily articles would be listed on your website in date order.

This is known as a blogroll, and is still known as the same today.

Travelers have for many years documented their adventures in this format, and people could follow their journey via this kind of blogroll. A travel blog was always a great idea to keep family and friends updated on where you are, and what activities you’re up to.

Today however, things are different. Although you mostly still get traditional travel bloggers that document their journeys, others are creating travel blogs that are more about making money. Or, they just want to share their knowledge of previous travelling.

How To Write a Travel Blog Without Travelling

It’s a very good question because as I’m writing this article, the world has pretty much gone into lockdown because of COVID-19. With this in mind, there’s not too many people still travelling the world, or even traveling in their own countries.

Does this mean you should abandon your travel blog? Of course not. In fact it can be a great time to begin, for two reasons.

1. Firstly, you may find yourself out of work in these disastrous times. There’s not many jobs about either, so it may just be a perfect time to start your own travel blog. You may have loads of free time on your hands, and this will fill up those hours.
2. Secondly, if you still intend to travel and write about your journey, it’s good to get a head start creating your blog. Websites as you would be aware, get ranked in search engines like Google. The age of your website counts highly towards your article ranking, so getting a start now can benefit should you travel next year.

Of course, these days you can start a travel blog without travelling. Here’s a few ideas you can use.

• Previous experiences of destinations you’ve traveled.
• Unique travel experiences you encountered.
• Write about ideal travel destinations for women, men, disabled etc
• How travel destinations have changed
• Types of travel locations, beaches, ancient ruins, villages etc.
• Sporting travel, such as golf tours
• Photographic travel

There’s loads of genres that you can leverage to build a travel blog around, without having to travel to globe. There’s so many online resources to gain information from also, which can help enormously.

The idea that you have to travel to start a travel blog, is no different than starting a blog about different dog breeds. You’re not going to own every kind of dog breed, just to be able to write about it. The internet is full of detailed information that you can use at your disposal.

There’s nothing to say you have to have gone to the destinations you write about. But it would obviously be an advantage.

How To Earn From a Travel Blog

Travel bloggers usually have multiple income streams from their blog. Sometimes this is just multiple affiliate programs, but selling advertising space on your blog could be another.

Once you’re an established blogger, you could even sell your own brand merchandise. That’s if you have enough followers that enjoy what you write about. You can also place advertisements in strategic places, which will also earn smaller amounts of income.

The most popular, and my favorite way to earn money through a blog is affiliate marketing. This is basically where you sell other people’s products or services on your blog, or website.

You can read about how to start affiliate marketing from scratch here, which will give you a rundown of the full affiliate marketing process.

Travel blogs can be quite lucrative because there are so many variable paths you can take. Many travel bloggers begin promoting travel merchandise such as passport wallets, bags, backpacks, travel watches or toiletry bags.

Where it becomes more profitable is when you promote travel insurance, tours, flights and accommodation. There’s all sorts of travel affiliate programs, even some airlines have affiliate programs.

To earn the big bucks though, start writing about luxury destinations with high priced accommodation. You can diverge to charter flights, yachting charters and high ticket hire vehicles.

This can all be done by starting a travel blog without travelling the world to experience it. Especially the big ticket stuff, because there’s a good chance you’ll never experience it anyway.

Blog About What You Enjoy

The reason so many people want to blog about the travel industry is because it’s much more exciting than other fields. You may have experience in taxation, but blogging about it would not give you any satisfaction.

I used to be in the engineering sector as a civil draftsperson, and I could have blogged about AutoCAD or how to draft. But having done it for over 30 years, I wanted a release altogether.

You may have a similar experience to this, which is why you want to write a travel blog. And I don’t blame you. Writing about exotic destinations is much easier to get motivated about than editorials on finance. (Apologies to the financial and taxation gurus out there!)

There’s nothing wrong with blogging about a subject that you don’t have much experience in, but you do need to be accurate and informed. Research is key, and finding the correct information is critical to providing up to date advice to your audience, who would expect nothing less.

Final Thoughts

I hope I’ve cleared up any clarification as to whether you can start a travel blog without actually traveling. Yes it can be done, but if you can incorporate your own experiences, that would give you more authority.

One more thing to note if you intend building a travel blog. There’s a lot of competition out there. That’s not to say I wouldn’t recommend it, because I like to encourage anyone to follow their passion.