Imagine getting a call from a local newspaper or television station and the person on the other side of the line offers you a job as a travel writer. If this was to be the case, world-renowned airports, new hotels, and first class cabins on major airlines may be the places you will hang out for most of your life as you prepare stories for either a newspaper or travel website you will be writing for.
Great as the above scenario may sound, very few people are likely to ever get that call, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t employ yourself as a travel writer and see the world while others pay for it. You can accomplish this dream by starting a travel blog, vlogging on YouTube, or take photographs and sell them or integrate these three into a business model.
- Starting a travel blog
It’s easy to be intimidated into not starting a tour and travel website because there are already millions of other websites you will be competing with. However, think about it this way: how many businesses are already operating in the town where you live? Possibly several thousand but there are still people opening new businesses in that town. The same applies to your travel website; it can still prosper in the middle of competition if you know what you are doing.
In order for you to be successful as a blogger, you’ll need to find a way of giving your audience something unique. This is called creating a niche. Invest time in researching other travel websites and identify a gap. Maybe other bloggers are overlooking museums in poor countries or anything other that comes to your mind.
Many people make a fulltime income by blogging. While this involves hard work, planning and starting from the bottom, it is low risk anyway. Start by writing about interesting places around you without spending a lot of money as you build your audience.
- Vlog on YouTube
Even though YouTube has made it a little more difficult to make money from the site, you can still make quality videos about places you travel to and build an audience. If you already have a blog, you can use it to support your YouTube channel while also using your channel to support your blog. Take time to think about novel ways of building a community around your blog and channel.
- Sell photographs
Go to any sites that sell images such as Getty Images and check how much an original image can cost. You’ll discover that a single image can sell for around $500. Again, start small and take interesting images from places around you and look for sites on the internet where you can sell them. Who knows, you could end up starting your own site that sells images.
- Do the work
Whatever you do, remember that if it’s going to be worth your time, it will be hard work. Take time to create a business plan and fill in a gap you identify from your research.
