Are you new to travel blogging? If you’re looking for resources to start your travel blog and reach a wider audience, you’ve come to the right place.
I started Should Be Cruising in 2018 with no budget—just my own hope and desire to share my travel stories with other people around the world.
Since then, I’ve been able to grow my travel blog hobby into a full-time income source.
Here you’ll find all my secrets—everything you’ll need to start and grow your travel blog.
From web hosting and blog themes, to design tools and social media automation, these resources will help you build an amazing travel blog of your own—as well as an engaged community.
Disclaimer: I may receive a small commission when you make a purchase from a link on this site, at no added charge to you. I am not sponsored by any companies I mention in this list.
Website hosting
For its first two years Should Be Cruising was hosted on Bluehost, and I had such a positive experience with them.
They have super-helpful customer service agents, it’s easy to set up, and the price is amazing. Plus they give you a free domain name and SSL certificate!
Bluehost is a great, inexpensive self-hosting choice for bloggers who are just starting out—before your site starts getting a lot of traffic!
I currently use SiteGround to host Should Be Cruising, and I’ve been pleased with the massive increase in my site speed as well as their knowledgeable customer service via both chat and telephone.
Siteground is great for sites that have outgrown “beginner” hosting plans, and they offer very inexpensive rates for your first year.
WordPress themes
The first paid theme I was ever truly happy with was the beautiful and responsive Travel Pro by Blossom Themes.
I still love this theme—I actually now use it for my hobby site Leafy Little Home and I get so many compliments about how pretty and professional my site looks.
It’s also way faster than the drag-and-drop themes I’d tried before. Best of all, whenever I was stuck trying to get something to look just right, their techs were just an email away with helpful tips or custom code.
Try any of their basic themes for free, and only upgrade if you want to.
Right now I’m using Trellis by Mediavine as my theme. It’s blazing-fast, but I wouldn’t recommend it for new bloggers.
But if you have experience with WordPress themes and are looking for a lightweight theme to speed up your site, you may want to consider Trellis.
Ad networks
When I first started with ads on my site, I used Google AdSense. But AdSense doesn’t pay very much, and they have zero customer service.
When Ezoic approached me to join their program, I was skeptical. Not only did they hold my hand through the entire process of switching, but my ad revenue increased fourfold with the same traffic.
Design
Canva is hands-down the most useful resource I’ve found for my blog. I literally use it several times a day to create graphics and put text overlay on photos.
I’ve even used it to design my packing lists and my business cards!
You don’t need any design experience to use Canva (I certainly didn’t have any). Best of all, the basic version is free!
Canva Pro is $12.99 a month, and comes with tons of features like 100+ million free stock photos, a background remover, and the ability to make PNGs with a transparent background (great for making your site’s logo).
Social media
Tailwind is a smart scheduling tool for both Pinterest and Instagram. I save countless hours every week by scheduling my pins in bulk. Then Tailwind pins them at the best times for my account – when my audience is active.
Tailwind is also home to Tribes – they’re like Pinterest group boards, but members actually share your content!
MiloTree is a smart popup that invites your readers to follow you on your social media platforms as well as to join your mailing list. You choose which platforms you want to show, and how often.
Since I’ve been using MiloTree, my Pinterest follower count has been growing super-fast!
