1. Photography
As a travel blogger, it’s pretty obvious that photography is going to be one of the top ways you stand out from the crowd.
Your travel photography needs to help set you apart from other bloggers, and help you build a loyal following. Be sure to invest in a quality camera and learn a few composition tricks along the way.
Of course, many travel bloggers write about places they haven’t been yet. Ensuring you find quality stock photos on sites like Unsplash and Pexels is key to keeping your blog full of top-notch photos that your audience will love.
Use your travel photos strategically within your blog.
Incorporate photos into blog posts
Anytime you create a new travel guide or write about recent or upcoming trips, include photos from your time in that location. Spreading photos throughout your content is not only a great way to break up your text, it keeps the reader engaged.
Create a photo library or gallery
Give your readers a quick peek into all of your travels by creating a gallery page on your blog filled with photos. Include photography that you have taken along the way, and feel free to throw a few stock photos from dream locations.
Depending on how you set your gallery up, you can also link your photos to corresponding blog posts in an effort to generate even more traffic and clicks through your content.
Use photos as category headers
Take a page out of Legal Nomads’ book and create a category section on your blog’s homepage for visitors to decide what kind of content they want to read. This is also the perfect opportunity to show off some of your photography.
Use photos in your social media content
Stand out on social media by creating an Instagram or Facebook feed filled with stunning photos from your various trips and vacations. This can be a great way to build a community on social media and keep your followers interested in your content.
2. Video
Bring your readers even further into your adventures by sharing video clips on your travel blog and social media platforms.
There are several different ways to incorporate video into your content, and you don’t need a fancy video camera and editing software to make it happen. There are so many types of video that you can create just using your smartphone.
Test out a few of these different types of video.
Record a video tour
Pull out your smartphone or video camera and use it to record yourself traveling around town. You can include clips shot from car or bus windows, subway or tram stops, and the various sightseeing you do along the way.
Put together your video tour with an audio clip overtop to create a short video tour of your entire trip. This is a great way to give your audience a sneak peek without having to invest a ton of time into video production.
Create a timelapse
A timelapse is a video clip that speeds up frames to create a fast-paced video of something like a sunset, traffic and more.
The easiest way to create one of these on your own is with a video app like Hyperlapse from Instagram. You can record on your smartphone while you’re on the plane, for example, or while you’re traveling from place to place.
These are fun and engaging videos that your audience can have fun viewing.
Compile a photo montage
Another great way to use video is by creating a photo montage where you play a song or audio clip over a slideshow of your recent trip photos.
This is a more low maintenance type of video, but can still help you to share your trip in a
Vlog
Vlogging, or video blogging, can be a fun way to connect with your travel blog readers on an entirely new level.
This is when you’re actually recording yourself and you’re talking to the viewer about your trip and your plans, and creating a conversation about what you’ve been doing.
You can create one episode per travel destination or you can even put together a series for each of your trips.
3. Blog Post Graphics
Another essential visual you need to help promote your travel blog is a header graphic for each blog post.
There are many ways to create these, whether you start with a template or use one of your travel photos as a background. Add a text overlay with your blog post title so your audience knows what they’ll be reading about.
You’ll want to create blog post graphics in different dimensions to promote your blog posts on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other social platform you’re using.
In terms of SEO, that unique graphic in the article is valuable and worth investing in. You want to be sure you’ve created an eye-catching blog post graphic for each piece of content.
4. Media Kit
As a blogger, having a media kit to help promote your blog is essential. This is a great way to reach out to brands about partnerships and give them insider information on your audience size and demographics.
When creating a media kit for your travel blog, you first want to start by compiling the information that needs to go inside of your media kit.
These are the essentials you’ll need to input into your media kit:
- A section all about you and your blog
- Stats and audience demographics
- Services (if any)
- Samples of your best content
- Recent press coverage
- Partnership packages/rates
- Contact info
When you’re ready to get started with your media kit, be sure to follow these design tips to ensure it grabs the attention of the prospective clients you’re reaching out to.
Choose your format
While a PDF document is the most traditional format for a media kit, you don’t have to stick to the norm. Instead, you can get creative and use an infographic or presentation format instead.
Decide what makes the most sense for your travel blog and go for it.
Utilize your travel blog’s brand colors and fonts.
You’ve likely created a brand guide for your travel blog, right? Or at the very least a logo with a color scheme.
Use those same colors and fonts from your logo in all of your promotional graphics, and especially within your media kit. Sticking to a single color scheme and font selection can help strengthen brand recognition of your blog.
Include margins and white space
You don’t want to design your media kit from edge to edge. Instead, keeping some white space and margins surrounding your content and design elements is the best way to make sure you don’t clutter up your design.
Pay attention to how this media kit page has an obvious margin around its content:
Source: https://www.visme.co/templates/media-press-kit/professional-photography-artist-press-kit-1425279052/
Incorporate data visualizations when you can.
When you’re sharing your travel blog’s traffic and social media following, using charts and other data visualization tools is a great way to showcase that information.
It’s more creative than simply listing numbers, and can help with the overall design of your media kit. Check out this example using half pie charts to showcase their following.
Source: https://www.visme.co/templates/media-press-kit/influencer-press-kit-1425280373/
Stay away from large blocks of text
Your media kit isn’t another blog post. You want to share all of the information required in as few words as possible.
Use a short paragraph to share info about you and your blog, listicles, data visualizations, icons and photos, and more to avoid crowding your media kit with too many words.
Source: https://www.visme.co/templates/media-press-kit/chef-blogger-press-kit-1425280374/
Make it interactive
When you use an online graphic design software like Visme, you can publish your content to the web without having to download it as a PDF.
This means you can create interactive elements like embedding a video, adding audio clips or even creating popup or hover effects.
Your prospective clients and partners will be incredibly impressed with your unconventional media kit features, so give it a try.
Embed it on your website
Visme also provides an embed code, giving you the ability to embed an interactive media kit right on your website. This way you can create a landing page and have your media kit available for public consumption by linking to it from your navigation or footer.
This can help you to have potential partners reach out to you instead of having to do all of the outreach on your own.
Speaking of email outreach, this is one of the best ways to find brands to work with that are relevant to your travel blog and interested in partnering with influencers. Using a tool like Respona is a great way to find contact information for potential partners.
5. Infographics
Another great visual to use to promote your travel blog is an infographic. These are incredibly popular on visual social media sites like Pinterest and Instagram, and are perfect for sharing facts and figures related to travel.
There are many different types of infographics. While some focus more on data visualizations, others share historical timelines, step-by-step processes and even maps.
Here are a few examples for how infographics can be used within your travel blog posts and social media content.
Sources:
- https://www.visme.co/templates/infographics/8-tips-to-make-international-travel-easier-1425277690/
- https://www.visme.co/templates/infographics/pros-and-cons-of-solocouplefamily-travel-1425279793/
- https://www.visme.co/templates/infographics/vacation-comparison-chart-1425277689/
6. GIFs and Memes
Put some personality into your travel blog by incorporating these popular visual formats. You can search Giphy.com for relevant GIFs or create your own branded GIFs to stand out from other bloggers.
This is the perfect example of a branded animated GIF you can create yourself to promote your blog posts, travel guides or lead magnets.
You can also find or create your own memes to add humor to your blog. Jumping onto viral memes on social platforms like Twitter is a great way to get attention for your blog.
Create Your Own Travel Blog Visuals Now
Get started creating visuals to promote your travel blog today. Whether it’s a media kit to find new partners and affiliates or a photo slideshow to share your latest trip, visuals are essential to properly engage your audience.
