Once you decide on a niche, think of a range of names using the methods below.
Personal name: Many entrepreneurs choose to name their businesses after themselves — not only one-person bloggers like Nomadic Matt and Wandering Earl, but renowned businesspeople like Disney, Ford and Chanel. This is a great way to add a personal touch but as a rookie blogger, be warned that it may be difficult to brand yourself as a professional site. If you do choose this option, avoid Nomadic, Adventurous, Vagabond, and Wandering as they are already associated with established bloggers. For originality, avoid Travels, Backpacker, Globe, and Journey too.
Descriptive: This option describes exactly what a brand is about (e.g. A Luxury Travel Blog, Solo Traveler). It can be good for SEO as it caters to specific search terms, but also runs the risk of being too generic. If you choose something more specific, avoid references to your age, occupation, or location (e.g. kiainkorea.com) as you may outgrow these.
Symbolic: Whether it’s a map, compass or atlas, symbols and metaphors offer a creative way to find a unique name.
Arbitrary: Perhaps the most well-known example of this is Apple. Apple. Nothing whatsoever to do with technology. It’s a bold option as it doesn’t immediately convey what you’re about but worth exploring nonetheless.
Altered: These names sound like words but aren’t really; they’re simply extended or altered versions (e.g. Spotify, Quizlet).
Invented: These are completely made up names (e.g. Exxon). Like arbitrary names, it may be difficult to convey your brand meaning but can be an effective way to find a unique name.
Blended: A combination of two separate words (e.g. Facebook).
Once you have a selection of names, check below to see if the .com domain is available.
Once you have searched for and found an available .com above, you can register it by clicking the green ‘Next’ button. Alternatively, read more about your hosting options in step 3. Before you proceed, it’s important to check social networks and register your handle if available (on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest as a minimum). A .com domain and social handles are important for strong branding.
We use Gandi for hosting our site, which we recommend. If you’re after an easy set-up, we recommend Bluehost who we use for our photography backup. They are WordPress’s officially recommended hosting company and have a super-simple installation process.
If you have chosen Gandi for your hosting, you can install WordPress following these instructions.
For Bluehost, simply click ‘cPanel’ on the menu and then ‘Install WordPress’ which will take you through a set of installation steps.
When asked you where you’d like to install WordPress, choose your domain (http://www.nameofblog.com). Once the process is complete, click ‘View Credentials’ at the top of the screen. This will tell you how to access your WordPress dashboard, usually like so:
URL: http://www.nameofblog.com
Admin URL: http://www.nameofblog.com/wp-admin
Username: yourusername
Password: yourpassword
You can now click the Admin URL and log in using the username and password.
There are thousands of WordPress themes to choose from. We launched Atlas & Boots with a photography theme called Incidental before switching to a more minimal editorial-focused one. We recommend Envato’s marketplace at ThemeForest for professional themes.
Alternatively, you can find innumerable free themes by searching in Google. These generally work well but be warned that the level of support will likely be less reliable than professional themes which offer direct access to their developers. Whichever route you take, make sure you choose a responsive theme (i.e. one that adapts to mobile and tablet screens).
To install a theme:
Our list of recommended plugins are below. To install a plugin, go to your WordPress dashboard (http://www.nameofblog.com/wp-admin). Click ‘Plugins’ on the left-hand panel and then ‘Add New’. Search for the relevant plugin, install it and activate it.
Phew. Now that the technicals are in place, let’s move on to editorial. The first step is to set up an editorial calendar. At Atlas & Boots, we blog three times a week and use Google Docs to plan a month ahead.
One of the joys of travelling is spontaneity but blogging is easier with a bit of planning. If you know what angle you’ll take on a specific city or attraction, it will help you find the right details while you’re there. For example, if you decide to write a piece on cheap things to do in Santiago or quirky things to do in Buenos Aires, you can make sure you visit the places you hope to mention and get all the information you need while there. Researching after your visit will be harder.
At the beginning of our trip, we often found ourselves asking things like “Hey, do you remember how much that ferry ride from Savusavu cost?” or “What was the name of that restaurant we went to in Port Vila?”
Writing a post weeks after an event can be tricky if you don’t note down salient details. To maintain consistency and genuine usefulness, consider creating a pro-forma to cover transport, accommodation, restaurants, and sights (what is it, where is it located, what are the departure and arrival times and locations, when does it take place, how much does it cost, how can you book tickets, what tour companies can help and so on). This will be a huge help when you come to write up your trip reports. We know that diligently scribbling down details doesn’t quite chime with the fun and free-spirited ethos of travel but no one said travel blogging was easy.
Over the course of the last year, Peter’s penchant for snorkelling, diving, jumping into waterfalls, and being generally cavalier has seen the destruction of one digital camera, one GoPro, and one iPhone. Despite this, we will continue to invest in photography equipment because imagery is so important in doing justice to destinations.
If you can’t yet afford a good camera or — like me — are a hopeless photographer, consider investing in good stock photography instead. Dreamstime is the world’s largest stock photography community and offers monthly packages to suit all budgets.
An accusation often levelled against blogging is that it’s not real writing.
Choice quote of the day: “Blogging isn’t writing; it’s graffiti with punctuation”.
— Kia Abdullah (@KiaAbdullah) November 6, 2011
Much of the time, it isn’t even that.
It’s inevitable that mistakes will creep into writing but so many blogs have a lazy editorial philosophy. It’s not rare to find inconsistent capitalisation, typos that could have been caught with the lightest spellcheck and trip reports riddled with clichés. It may be that this bothers me (a former print subeditor) more than most* but if you want to create a professional blog, you need to write quality content.
Here are some starting points:
(*It bothers me no end that Atlas & Boots has switched currencies between GBP and USD in past articles. We will fix this one day.)
If you write it, people won’t just come. Marketing is a necessary evil and you must actively promote your posts. You must set up your email subscription list as soon as possible and you must focus efforts on growing your social channels. At Atlas & Boots, we read marketing blogs Buffer, CopyBlogger, Moz, and QuickSprout to stay up to date on how to promote and grow our blog. Stay consistent in your schedule and don’t give up.
Good luck! 
This article originally appeared on Atlas & Boots — Travel with Abandon and is republished here with permission.