How to Start a Travel Blog about Australia and Make Money From It

by | Last updated Jan 20, 2025 | Work + Jobs | 0 comments

So you have decided to travel Australia and you want to make some money while you travel to support these travels. One way is to start a travel blog about Australia. And if you are wondering if you can make money from it, well, you can, if you monetise it. In this post I will run you through the process of how to start a blog about Australia and how you can make money from it. 

Now I have read many posts from other people saying how easy it is to start a travel blog. For some it can be very easy.  They say it will only cost you as much as a cup of coffee to set up. Or it will only take the same amount of time as to drink that same coffee. Well, I beg to differ here. For many of us some things can take a little longer and it will be a challenge. Therefore, we will need help from professionals in the initial stages and possibly ongoing.

You may have done some research already. And I guess you have been overwhelmed with the words domain, hosting, analytics, SEO, keyword, etc. A lot of these terms went straight over my head. It took a lot of research and reading to come to grips with them all. I will now do my best to explain them to you here in this one post. I have tried to make the information as simple as possible and provide the steps to help you start your Aussie blog. The biggest piece of advice I can give you here is to not give up. It will be worth it in the end. You can make a good living from blogging and I have been writing and blogging about Australia for some 30 or so years. It may not happen right from the start but with perseverance, success can follow. Are you ready to discover how to start a blog about Australia?

 

What Do You Need to Start a Blog?

 

1. A computer (not a tablet or smartphone-they are a bit small to design on).
2. An internet connection.
3. Funds for the initial set up.
4. Time, and lots of it.

READ MOREEssential Tech Gear for Digital Nomads

11 Steps to Start a Travel Blog

 

1: Choose Your Name (and brand)

 

There are a number of things to think about when choosing your name. Do you want it to become a brand? Or is it just a way to keep family and friends informed of your travels? Either way, you want it to be found easily on search engines? You also want it to reflect what you are actually about? What if the name you want isn’t available? Is it very similar to someone else’s name? What will you do if it is? Questions, questions, questions!

It can be a hard decision on what to call your blog as you want it to last the test of time. I suggest you draft some names on a piece of paper. Once you’ve done this, you will need to ensure the name is available. Check out sites such as GodDaddy to see if the domain name is available. See, you have already drunk that cup of coffee and may or may not have chosen your name yet!

When choosing your name consider what you want your blog to be about. Having a relevant name to the area you are blogging about can help people recognise what you are about faster. Will the blog be about travelling Australia, travelling a particular state or travelling a particular area. Perhaps it will be about how you are travelling Australia – in a caravan or car, on a budget or luxury? Or maybe travelling with your family or pets? Consider the direction and style of your blog and this might help you to choose the name.

For instance, I registered this blog Discover Australia Now as it reflects that my blog is about Australia and how to discover it now. I could have created Discover Victoria Now if I wanted to just write about my travels in Victoria, or perhaps Discover Melbourne Now, if I just want to write about discovering Melbourne. I could have niched down even further and called my blog Discover Yarra Valley Now. Or I could have used my name Shazza Travels Australia. 

Do a search on the Internet and check out other bloggers. See what they have called themselves. It will probably give you some inspiration. Once you have your list check if the names are being used. 

 

2: Register the Name (as a business name and domain name)

 

Once you have decided on your name you need to register the domain name. If you want your blog to be a business then it is advisable to register the name as a business name as well. This is best done in your home state.

What is a domain name you ask? I will use a block of land and a house as an analogy.

1. You buy a block of land (domain name) from a real estate agent (domain name registry).
2. Then you build a house (website/blog) on your block of land. The house sits on the land like the website/blog sits on a domain host.
3. Your block of land has an address (domain name).
4. I add furniture (content) to my house (website/blog).

To put that in to reality.

1. I bought the domain name Discover Australia Now from GoDaddy.
2. Then built my website/blog. My address (domain name) is www.discoveraustralianow.com
3. The domain lives on the domain host (Relentless Hosting).
4. I add content to my website/blog through static pages and blogs.

It should be noted that many of the places that allow you to register the domain name also offer hosting packages (see next point). There are many places to register your domain name.

 

3: Set up Hosting for Your Domain Name (website/blog)

 

What is hosting? Why do I need it?

Hosting is basically a place you rent a little slice of the web to display your website/blog. Compare it to buying a piece of land on which you will build a house. The land will always be there but the house may be renovated/rebuilt a number of times. Basically a website/host provider acts in exactly the same way. You buy a little piece of space for your website/blog.

 

4: What Blogging Software will Your Website/blog be Designed in?

 

Most website/blogs are now designed in WordPress. WordPress was especially designed for blogs. But what is WordPress I hear you ask? WordPress is basically a ‘content management system’ or CMS for short. It allows you to put words, pictures and style your website/blog without you needing to know coding or programming. Your host will allow you to download WordPress for you to work in.

It should be noted there is WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is for free blogs and you usually have WordPress in your website/blog name. WordPress.org is for people who want to own their own website/blog name. The second option is most preferable and this is the one you want. And WordPress will need to be installed on your website.

 

5: Design Your Website/blog

 

Designing your website/blog can be a very a time consuming thing. I actually went and did a WordPress course to learn the basics. My course helped me to set up my name, buy my hosting and then design my website/blog. The course was one morning a week for 8 weeks. If you know nothing about WordPress, like I didn’t, are not tech savvy and don’t want to be consumed (sometimes with frustration) in designing your website/blog I would suggest you enlist the help of a specialist WordPress website/blog designer. The cost involved will vary but you will need to weigh up the time and potential frustration of doing it yourself to having someone do it for you.

A WordPress website/blog allows you to have static pages like on websites. This is where you put information for people to refer to. Then there are Posts which are blogs.

6: Choose Your Theme

Before you start putting information or your website or posting blogs you need to decide on the Theme of your website/site. This is basically the appearance of it and you will need to choose fonts, colours, layouts and the overall appearance. The home page is basically like a book cover, it is what will attract people. WordPress comes with a number of free themes for you to choose from. 

7: Choose Useful Plugins

Once you have chosen your theme you can add pictures and words to make it your own. Then you will need useful plugins. What is a plugin you ask? Well a plugin allows you to do extra things to your website/blog. Such as have a shop on your website/blog. I use Woocommerce for my shop. Possibly SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) plugin like Yoest SEO to help you add keywords so people will find your website/blog when they do searches. There are also useful plugins like SMUSH that reduces the size of your photos to help with speed. Speaking of speed. People will leave your website if it loads slowly. If it takes longer than a second or two most people will leave. So a caching plugin such as Litespeed Cache will help to cache your updates and allow you site to load fast.

TIP: I decided to hire a specialist web designer to help me with the logistics of setting up my website. I’m more creative than technical so instead of creating hours of frustration trying to work out the technical side of things, I hired a specialist to set everything up. It cost around $400 and took about a week. It was a simple design with a few pages and some good plugins. She gave me loads of information to be able to create blog posts myself. I found my web designer through Fiverr.

 

8: Map out Your Web Page Design with Pages and Categories

Before you start writing it is wise to think about the pages and categories you will have on your website. This will allow you to put your blog posts in the right places for people to find them. For instance, on my travel website Discover Australia Now I have a Page called Destinations which is divided into States and Capital Cities. This makes it easier for other people travelling Australia to find information on a particular state or city. Then I have a page dedicated to types of work you can do while travelling Australia. So if you were looking for work to fund your travels around Australia, you would check out that page. I think you get the drift, so think about what you want to write about and put them on specific pages so visitors to your site can find the info they are looking for.

9: Write Your First Blog Post

This is my favourite step, writing posts. Here are some simple tips for creating your blog posts:

  • When I have an idea for a post I do some keyword research to find out what people are looking for. Then I ensure I include those keywords in my post.
  • Posts should be around 1000 words plus. The more words you can write on the topic shows that you are an authority on it.
  • Create a catchy title that will reel readers in. Using words such as ‘best’, ‘ultimate’, ‘how to’ are great to use.
  • Break up your content by using sub-headings (H2 and H3).
  • Write short sentences and only have about 4 or 5 sentences in a paragraph – with no more than about 300 words in each paragraph.
  • Add images to break up the text and enhance the reader experience.
  • Proofread your post for correct grammar and spelling before you hit submit. 
  • Think about how you can make money from your blog and include links to them in your post. See next step.

10: Ways to Make Money from your Blog

There are a number of ways to make money from your blog. They include:

  • Monetise your website by adding affiliate links to your blog post. As I have a travel blog I include affiliate links for accommodation with Booking.com. There is also travel insurance with WorldNomads. I get a lot of my travel gear from Anaconda. These are just a few of the affiliate programs I am with. There are affiliate programs for many niches. I suggest you do a Google search of affiliate programs to find one that suits your niche. The way an affiliate link works is: if you click on the link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission.
  • Join an ad network such as Google Adsense or Mediavine. Having ads on your site can generate a lot of income, but it does depend on how many times people click through to the ads.
  • Creating and selling your own products can generate money on your blog. You could create electronic products such as ebooks or a course or physical products such as t-shirts.
  • Many who travel Australia work online. They offer services such as VA (Virtual Assistance), creating pinterest pins, accounting or coaching. Read this post about 18 jobs you could do online as you travel Australia.

11. Marketing Your Blog Post

Now you have a blog post which you hope to make money with you need to let people know about it. So how do you do that? Options include:

  • Social Media. To help spread the word I have created social media profiles on a number of platforms. Most of them send traffic to my blog but some work better than others. It is trial and error what works best. The major social media channels are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Linkedin, TikTok and YouTube.
  • Email Marketing. From the day you launch your blog, you should be collecting email addresses from your readers. Then you can keep in contact with them with newsletters and marketing. To collect email addresses you will need to sign up with an email marketing provider. Some are free while others aren’t. Check out Mailchimp, ConvertKit and MailerRite, they seem to be the most popular.
  • SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimisation. Remember when I mentioned keywords? Well when you write your content, you will want to put in keywords. It is the keywords that Google looks for when people type in a request. For instance, if I want to know how to make money blogging, I would type this in to Google and all the blog posts that have this keyword, will show up, preferably on page 1. So consider SEO when writing as this is one of the best ways to market your work – to be found.

Are You Ready to Start Making Money from Your Blog?

I’m a huge fan of starting a blog to make money, after all I have done it, and am doing it. I love that I get to write about Australia and in return I make money to live, work and play Australia. My blog pays me to travel Australia. Have you started or are starting an Aussie travel blog?  I’d love to hear from you about your blogging challenges and triumphs in the comments following.

Flinders Street Station Melbourne is a great place to write about in an Australia travel blog.

My Favourite Travel Resources that help me discover Australia now.

* For accommodation I book a bed in a hostel through HostelWorld or a hotel room via Booking.com. For free accommodation I house sit through Trusted Housesitters.
* I purchase camping & caravanning gear through Caravan RV Camping, Amazon and Anaconda.
* I power up my gear and electronics with a Bluetti Powerbank.
* For clothing and travel gear I like North Face  (particularly their jackets and their hybrid backpack/suitcase) and Anaconda. For bags (I take my messenger bag everywhere) I like Bagsmart.
* If I need to rent a car I check out options at DiscoverCars.
* When I need travel insurance I get a policy through World Nomads or SafetyWing.

 

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About Me

Bells Beach Surfing Recreation Reserve Sign shaped like a big white wave with Sharyn McCullum On the Great Ocean Road.

G’Day! Sharyn here, an Aussie discovering Australia. Let me show you around so you can discover Australia too.  Read my story here.



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