how to start a travel website

How to start a travel website: Step-by-step guide

Bryn Glover,

Starting a travel website can be an exciting venture that allows you to share your passion for exploration. You can provide fellow travellers with valuable information and might even start turning a profit if you follow the right steps.

Whether you’re a seasoned globetrotter or an up-and-coming travel enthusiast, this step-by-step guide can help you get started on your online journey towards a successful travel website.

Table of Contents

Types of travel website

Before you start building your travel website, it’s important to make sure that you know what sort of site you’re starting. 

In the travel world, there are a range of website types to choose from, each with different needs and features to consider. Take a look at the list below to confirm what route you intend to take.

  • Travel blogs: one of the most common forms of travel websites, a blog can be started by anyone at all who wants to share their adventures with the world. Often paired with an active social media account, these sites will often be content-rich, focusing on articles, images and video primarily.
  • Booking sites: coming in various forms, these sites typically allow tourists to book hotel rooms, flights, excursions and other attractions. Booking sites will often focus on user experience to provide easy booking screens that incorporate online payment options, calendars and other tools designed to help the user plan and manage their trips.
  • Local travel sites: these are often maintained by people living in the area being covered, or by people who have spent a lot of time there. Typically, these sites are designed to provide insight into an area – whether that be a region, town, city or something else. Often these sites will focus on providing ‘insider’ information about the area.
  • Travel forums: these sites allow people to share their points and have discussions online about travel. Often, a single person or organisation will moderate the site but will leave users to provide the majority of content. These can be an excellent space to ask niche questions about an area you plan to travel to.
  • Review sites: in some ways similar to the travel forum sites above, a review site exists so that travellers can provide feedback on their own experiences. These sites are usually moderated and may compile pages or articles that aggregate scores and feedback from the people leaving reviews in the first place.

Of course, there are some other types of travel sites, though the list above covers the most popular formats. Knowing which of these you plan to build is a great starting point.

Step 1: Choose your niche

Before you start building your travel website, it is crucial that you define your niche.

You should consider which aspect of travel you are most passionate about and what unique perspective or expertise you can offer. For example, you might want to cover:

  • Adventure travel
  • Budget travel
  • Luxury travel
  • Food tourism
  • Family travel
  • Solo travel
  • Eco-friendly travel

Choosing a niche will help you to stand out in a crowded field and can attract a relevant audience that is interested in your content. 

You may also want to plan for which parts of the world you want to cover. Will yours be a national travel website focused on your home country or another country? Or will it be a global website covering the whole world?

Step 2: Research your target audience

Understanding your target audience is essential if you want to tailor your content to their interests and needs.

You should conduct thorough market research to identify:

  • Demographics: the age, gender, location and income of your audience
  • Interests: what kind of travel information are they looking for?
  • Pain points: what challenges are they facing in the travel world?
  • Finding out and combining this information will help to guide your content creation and marketing efforts.

If you want more advice on the research stage of this journey, you might want to visit our how to create a business plan page for more tips.

research your audience

Step 3: Choose a domain name

You should choose a domain name that reflects the niche you plan to work in as well as your personal brand. Your domain name should also be easy to remember, so avoid anything long or complicated.

You can use a domain registrar like GoDaddy to check whether your chosen domain is available and then purchase it too.

For more comprehensive advice, visit our how to choose a domain name page.

Step 4: Set up your website hosting and content management system (CMS)

To make sure your travel website is accessible on the internet, you’ll need to choose a reliable web hosting provider and set up a content management system (CMS).

You can visit our best website hosting providers page for tips on hosts.

If you plan to use a website builder, you likely won’t need to worry about hosting. The best website builder plans include hosting as standard so you don’t need to worry about taking out a plan with a separate provider. If you’re looking for the simplest route online as possible, the website builder is probably the right choice. 

Best travel website builders

Your travel website will probably focus on a range of content types, with articles, photos and videos often used to display the amazing places you visit.

The website builders below prioritise ease of use and design to provide professional tourists with the most solid base for their online endeavours.

BrandPlanCostMore info
WixLite£9/monthFull Review
SquarespacePersonal£12/monthFull Review
GoDaddyBasic£6.99/monthFull Review

Step 5: Design your travel site

The design and appearance of your travel website will play a significant role in both attracting and retaining visitors.

You should select a visually appealing template that aligns with your travel niche. You should make sure your site works well on a range of devices and that it can be accessed quickly and easily.

Key design elements to consider include providing:

  • Easy-to-use site navigation
  • High-quality images
  • Clear fonts and wording 
  • User-friendly page layouts

If you’re using a website builder, you’ll be able to customise all of the features listed above from the website management dashboard.

Step 6: Create high-quality content

Content is the heart of any travel. You should use your market research and expertise in your niche to develop a content strategy that might include:

  • Engaging blog posts sharing experiences and tips
  • Destination guides
  • Travel Itineraries
  • Travel product reviews
  • Photography and videos

Consistency is key; make sure to update your website with fresh and interesting content often to keep your audience engaged.

You should also bear in mind what sorts of content work best for your website. If you know that your audience wants to see images and videos, then focusing on text-based articles may not be the best long-term strategy.

Step 7: Optimise for search (SEO)

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is vital for driving organic traffic from search engines like Google to your website.

Conduct keyword research to identify the terms and phrases your audience searches for and then build content that incorporates those terms. Optimise your articles by including these keywords in your titles, headings and throughout the content itself.

Step 8: Build a social media presence

Social media marketing can be an excellent option for anyone looking to break into the world of travel.

Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are perfect for sharing your content and engaging with your audience.

Social media can be a powerful tool for driving traffic and engagement in any type of website but it is particularly important in a niche like travel, where imagery is such a vital part of any content strategy.

Step 9: Monetise your website

Once your travel website has gained traction and is getting a steady stream of visitors, you can begin to explore options for monetisation. This might include:

  • Affiliate marketing: promoting travel products or services and earning a commission for sales.
  • Sponsored content: partner with travel brands who’ll pay for articles on your site.
  • Advertisements: display ads on your site through platforms like Google AdSense.
  • Ecommerce: create and sell travel guides, e-books or photographs.

Whichever route you take toward monetisation, you should continue to focus on user experience. If you make money at the expense of visitor satisfaction,  you might soon see your traffic start to dip.

If you do want to sell from your travel site, you might want to compare the best ecommerce website builders to find a brand that works best for you.

Step 10: Engage with your audience

You should respond to comments on your site, emails that are sent to you, as well as messages across your social media accounts.

Encourage discussion and sharing to create a sense of community among your followers.

Top tips for building a travel site

You’ve read the guide, now it’s time to remind yourself of a few of our top tips. Bearing this advice in mind will help you build a travel site that can stand the test of time.

Do:

  • Your research – from industry and audience analysis to SEO research to inform what content you write. Make sure to prepare yourself as much as possible before you start – strong research and a good plan will save you a lot of stress down the line.
  • Invest in quality – whether you’re thinking about articles, reviews, imagery or videos, a travel website will perform better when you focus on top-quality production. Think about the sort of sites that you like to visit, and think about how they create content for pointers.
  • Consider other channels – a travel website is a great hub to focus on, but it’s also important to remember other channels that can drive interest. Social media is the perfect example and is probably one of the most effective tools for promoting your brand.
  • Put the time in – building a website doesn’t happen overnight. And building a successful website takes even longer. Keep trying and focus on doing the right things over time to see results.

Don’t:

  • Forget the details – it might seem small, but remembering to check your work is vital. Look for spelling mistakes, inaccurate information, and missing details from your website metadata. While it’s impossible to catch everything, it’s important to try.
  • Cut costs – where possible, it’s better to pay for quality. This doesn’t have to mean breaking the bank though. But when you’re making a decision and there’s only a little bit of price difference, our recommendation is to opt for quality.
  • Get too complicated too fast – it can seem like the best idea to throw everything you’ve got at your website all at once. But that can leave you with a lot to manage, and not a lot of time. Sometimes working slowly but more carefully can pay greater dividends in the long run.
  • Give up – it’s easy to lose spirit when things take longer than you thought they would. It happens to everyone! In a competitive field, it’s important to keep plugging away to achieve success.

How much does a travel website cost?

Before you start building, you’ll probably want to know how much it might cost to build your travel website.

The first thing to remember is that the cost will depend on how you build. 

For example, if you plan to build it yourself using a website builder, then you can assume the prices below will be correct, or similar to what you will pay:

  • Wix – £9/month
  • Squarespace – £12/month
  • GoDaddy – £6.99/month

Bear in mind that each of the prices above reflects just the most basic plan from the provider. You might need to pay more each month for more advanced features. 

The cost above also may not factor in third-party tools or help you need. If you employ a content writer, for example, you’ll need to budget for them.

If you don’t want to build your website yourself, then the cost may vary considerably based on a huge range of factors. In general, though, you can expect to pay the following:

  • Domain hosting – £7 to £40/year
  • Web hosting – £3/month; £36/year
  • Web designer – £50/hour

Exactly what your price ends up being will depend on a range of things. Do you want an agency to build your site and then hand it over to you? Or do you want them to continue managing it for you? The second option will likely incur an ongoing fee.

Which of these routes you take will normally depend on the type of site you’re building. 

  • An established business with incoming revenue may be more likely to hire someone to do the work for them. 
  • On the other hand, a small business or individual starting in the travel world is more likely to do it themselves.

Pros and cons of starting a travel website

  • Share your adventures, tips and guides with a global audience. From articles, reviews and video content, you can build a brand in the world of travel.
  • Make money through travel. Whether you earn commissions from recommendations, get paid to write content, or advertise on your site, a good travel brand can turn from a side hustle to a full-time business when done well.
  • Build a hobby that you’re passionate about. A huge number of people create and run travel websites just because they love adventure. Writing about your travel can help to reimmerse you in the places you’ve visited, even when you’re back home!
  • There’s a lot of competition. For many of the reasons in the pros column, travel is a massively competitive field. That doesn’t mean you can’t succeed though, with the right amount of effort and creativity.
  • It can be a lot of work. Creating high-quality content is a must for those in the online travel world. This can be easier said than done though, especially if you can’t travel as often as you’d like to – yet.
  • You need some expertise. You don’t need to be an expert in everything, but it helps to be an expert in something that goes into your travel site. Often you can learn everything you need to know, but it does help to have some of the skills you’ll need already in the holster.

Starting a travel website: Final thoughts

Starting a travel website can be a rewarding experience that will allow you to share your passion for travel with fellow adventurers.

By defining your niche, understanding your audience and then following the steps we’ve outlined in this article, you can get started on a successful online journey.

Bear in mind that building a successful website of any kind will take time and dedication. Be persistent and stay consistent with your content to provide a platform that your audience can come to rely on for the information they need.

Picture of Bryn Glover

Bryn Glover

Bryn is the founder and editor of WebsiteJumpStart. He has worked in the digital field for over a decade and was editor for Startups.co.uk - the UK's leading small business website - and for NerdWallet UK before launching WebsiteJumpStart to help people and businesses get online with ease.
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