As Editors for We Are Travel Girls we see a huge amount of travel article submissions of varying quality, where simple adjustments could really improve the post. With this in mind we have put together our top 14 tips on writing a great blog post and helping to get your story chosen for our site!
This post details what we are looking for when we read through our submissions and was written to help you get your post published! Please consider these tips when you are writing a new article for your own website or for We Are Travel Girls.
If you have a travel story you want to submit please do so on our contribute page.
1) THINK CREATIVELY & BE ORIGINAL
With literally thousands of blogs out there it’s hard to be original, but you should still try. Whether this is originality in what you are writing about or your writing style, both can be important.
If you are writing about a destination, try and look for a unique thing to tell your readers about. There are hundreds of posts about the top 5 main attractions in Paris, so think about different ways to engage your readers. Venture away from general posts about tourist attractions and instead narrow your focus to specific topics that may not have been written about as much, such as The Most Instagrammable Doorways In Paris or Hidden Rooftop Views In Paris.
2) PREPARE
Before you visit a new destination think about what posts you want to write and do research, check out photos other people have taken, the best time to visit a place to avoid crowds and identify the specific locations you want to see or photograph. This will ensure that you get to all the information you need and get the right photos to match the story you intend to write. There is nothing worse than getting home and realising you missed an incredible spot or that you need to source images because you didn’t get the right ones.
3) RESEARCH
Information is readily available to you over the Internet. Take the time to add some history or background that relates to the post that you are writing. Whilst you probably learnt a brief history of the destination from a tour taken whist visiting a place, remember that the reader didn’t and would be interested in knowing a little history too. Often this can be the most captivating part and more important to the reader than simply the easiest way to to get to a place or what your favourite gelato spot was.
4) PICK A GREAT TITLE
This is the first thing your audience will see, and along with a featured image, could make or break whether the reader clicks through and actually looks at your post. Keep the title short, and if you can naturally include keywords to help with your SEO then do. After 65 characters Google will truncate your title on search engine results so keep within this. Also use words that evoke a reaction from the reader, like “20 Awesome Places… “, “Epic Destinations You Cant Miss” or ‘Things To Avoid In…”.
5) BEGINNING, MIDDLE & END
Remember at school when you had to write a story or an essay, there was an introduction, a middle section and a conclusion? Well nothing has changed! Make sure to properly introduce your post and draw the reader in with the first paragraph. Use short paragraphs at the beginning to encourage your reader to read on, because a huge block of text at the beginning can be daunting for the reader.
In the main body of the post, try to guide the reader through your thoughts by using transitions at the end of each paragraph. It is jarring to go from talking about a great hike you went on to missing your connecting flight in the next paragraph, so try to pay attention to what you will be talking about later and ease the transition.
End your post with a call to action, ask your readers to comment or share their own tips, sign up to your blog or whatever it is you want to reader to do in response to your post. Engaging readers is one of the most important parts of any post and you will know you have created a good article when it organically creates a conversation in the comments section!
6) LAYOUT & DESIGN
Even if you get all the above right, you can still mess up the post if your blog layout, design and font size is not appealing to the reader. Make sure you pick a font and font size that is easy and attractive to read. Break up the text with headers and sub headers, because you can lose a reader’s attention if there are extremely long paragraphs with no breaks.
7) SENTENCE STRUCTURE & GRAMMAR
Each paragraph you write should consist of a few sentences, preferably no more than five. Re-read them, and make sure they are not too long and use connecting words effectively. But make sure you don’t repeat these too often. We see lots of submissions where the writer uses the same connecting word such as ‘also you can..’ , ‘also you should..’ and ‘also there is..’ all within the same paragraph, which reads terribly.
Check your grammar, use correct punctuation, and use full words and sentences. Slang or shortened words may be fine for texting your friends, but they are not for professional blog posts.
8) USE LINKS CORRECTLY
This is so simple and makes the reader experience better. Add links to landmarks, monuments, restaurants, tour companies, literally anything that you are recommending in your article. Yes, this will direct the reader away from your site, so just makes sure you links open a new window and the reader will come back and finish reading your post.
Once you have these, make sure you regularly check through your site to ensure links remain active. Broken links will not only have a negative impact on the reader experience, leading to potential loss of followers or customers, but it will also negatively impact your Google search ranking. Add it to your monthly site checklist to go through your site and check these links still work.
9) BREAK UP TEXT WITH PHOTOS
Good blog posts should quickly grab the readers’ attention with a combination of words, layout and photos. There is nothing eye-catching about a bunch of text with no corresponding pictures. Use photos to break up big chunks of text. If you keep your reader visually stimulated they will be more likely to finish reading your post!
10) RE-SIZE YOUR PHOTOS
Ever browsed through a post such as ’25 Images to Inspire Your Wanderlust’, and got bored by photo number 3 after waiting patiently as the images slowly appear on your screen? Yes, we have too! I am surprised at how many blogs and websites don’t resize their images appropriately so that these load quickly and do not slow down your site. It’s easy to do and greatly enhances your readers experience.
Typically we ask contributors to submit their photos between 300KB – 500KB which is optimal for our site. Do a bit of research to work out what size best suits your site based on your hosting package. Then look at your posts from another computer and on slower wifi to check they load ok.
11) RE-NAME YOUR PHOTOS
Google reads the name of your photos to add these to search results and this will help with your SEO if you get it right. Make sure to name your photos according to what they are of, like this: name-of-the-photo.jpg How To Re-Name Your Pictures.
12) SOURCE PHOTOS
If you didn’t manage to get a great shot of something you are writing about then consider sourcing an image. Readers are often visual and want to see what you are talking about. There are plenty of places to source photographs available on the web, one of the most well known paid services is Getty Images. Alternatively if you are looking for royalty free stock images then Un-Splash is a great site for sourcing images you can use for free, plus they have a handy plugin for WordPress so you can select photos straight into your post.
13) PROOF READ
If you are using WordPress, a spell check function is built into the site, so use it! Or if you prefer, write your post in Word and check all grammar and spelling and then transfer it into your site. If you can, have someone proofread your post, after staring at it for hours its easy to miss errors so always get a friend, boyfriend, family member to read it through before publishing.
14) SEO
Now you have done all the work writing a great post, you want to make sure people read it! Whilst you may be able to promote your posts via your own social media channels you want it to do well in Google’s search ranking. At the bare minimum you should be completing the basic SEO features (load Yoast SEO plugin) at the bottom of your post, adding a keyword and editing your meta description, the description that appears under the post on Googles search result pages. Whilst Google no longer uses this description for their search engine algorithms you should still make sure to write 150-160 character description that will entice the reader to click on your post.
FINALLY – WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
As editors we are looking for submissions that stand out to us, either the destination is unique, the posts is inspirational or the photos are outstanding. But alongside this we look for you to follow the detailed guidelines that we have included on our submission page and here in this post. These have been written to help our contributors get their posts published, with a high volume of submissions we do not extensively edit posts and look for a high quality submissions that have followed the guidelines.
We also suggest that you look through our Destinations page and see where we have not yet published a post yet. For example, we have very few posts on staying fit whilst travelling, hiking or diving, and plenty of countries we haven’t yet written about where you could be the first!
We hope that this article has helped you discover some quick and easy ways to improve your blog posts. If you have any questions about the blogging or have your own tips to share please leave these in the comments below.
Do you want to share your own travel tips by guest writing for We Are Travel Girls? Please visit our Contribute page for guidelines and to submit your article.
Read More About Blogging
- 6 Reasons To Write For We Are Travel Girls
- Complete Guide To Starting A Blog In 2019
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Courtney @ Everyday Cuvée says
Thank you for the wonderful tips and suggestions! Now my ideas are churning for my upcoming travel posts!
We Are Travel Girls says
Thats great Courtney, we hope you consider writing for our site!
Courtney @ Everyday Cuvée says
I am planning to submit once our journey begins!
Morgan says
Thanks girls! Super helpful post and quite topical at the moment. Always look forward to reading your tips.
We Are Travel Girls says
Thanks Morgan, glad you liked the post! We look forward to seeing some submissions from you!
Anette Benening says
Wonderful suggestions! Great blog posts are made with love and dedication. Being original is a must for a blogger who want to stand out from the crowd. Newbie writers could be not so self-confident in the originality of their work, but tools like a free plagiarism checker from Unplag will allay any doubts with your writing.
As for grammar, I use spell checkers like Reverso, just in case (you know, typos happen), but, of course, there a lot of inbuilt tools, for example, Ginger and similar ones.
We Are Travel Girls says
Anette, thanks for your advice and comments! This is really helpful for our readers and we will check them out ourselves too!
TheWickedSoul says
what a great read! This inspires me to pen down my first ever Travel Blog :) Time is Now!
We Are Travel Girls says
Thank you so much! We look forward to seeing your new blog!
loudy says
really good suggestions. This will help me within my next posts . Thank you so much for sharing it
We Are Travel Girls says
Thank you so much for reading and commenting, glad you liked the post!
Megan Langston says
These are great suggestions; the grammar and proofreading pieces in particular. I see the same connecting words and repetitious sentence style in a lot of the copy I edit. It’s easy as a writer to get comfortable with a word or phrase and run with it. Changing it up can make a big difference in the readability (and enjoyability) of a blog post! Thanks for the great article.
We Are Travel Girls says
Thanks for reading and commenting Megan! Thank you for your sharing your own ideas too.
Andele says
Great tips! I always forget about re-naming photos, whoops! ?
We Are Travel Girls says
Thanks for reading and commenting Andele – glad you liked the article!
urban music says
Hiya! Iknow this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask.
Would you bbe interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog article or vice-versa?
My site addresses a lot of the same subjects as yours and
I think we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you are interested feel feee to send mme an e-mail.
I look forward tto hearing from you! Superb blog byy the way!
We Are Travel Girls says
Hi – I’m afraid we do not exchange links. If you would like to guest post on We Are Travel Girls please go to http://www.wearetravelgirls.com/contribute. For other collaboration enquiries please email us [email protected]. Thanks for your comment and support for WATG!
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excellent put up, very informative. I wonder why the opposite experts
of this sector do not understand this. You must continue your writing.
I am confident, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!
We Are Travel Girls says
Thank you for reading and commenting, glad you found the post informative. XO, Becky
Caked on Makeup says
As a new blogger, I am grateful I came across your site and these awesome suggestions! I will be putting them into practice immediately!
We Are Travel Girls says
Thanks four your comment! Glad you find our site useful! X
people search facebook says
This is the roght webpage ffor anyone who wishes to undwrstand this topic.
You know sso much its almost tugh to arggue with yyou (not that I really wiill need to…HaHa).
Youu definitely put a band new spin on a subject that’s been discussed for decades.
Excellent stuff, ust great!
We Are Travel Girls says
Thanks for reading and commenting! Pleased to hear that you like the article. XO, Becky
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Zhanna says
Thank you very much for the tips. I’ve planned to submit my post to wearetravelgirls.com for quite a while, but was not sure what and how to write it This guidelines help a lot not only for the post that I’ll be submitting soon but also for my own blog. Ladies, you are awesome!
We Are Travel Girls says
Thanks so much Zhanna! Glad that this post was useful for you, we also have some other information on our submissions page which should help with your article. Looking forward to seeing a submission from you! Thank you so much! Becky x
Amigo says
Very good, I have been reading here a few times and thought to
to leave a comment . I’ll share this on my facebook.Keep up the
good work and best of luck with the site.
Becky van Dijk says
Thank you so much! Glad that you found this guide useful and thank you for sharing! Becky – Founder, We Are Travel Girls
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Victoria says
Hello! I love your tips on writing a great blog. I’m planning on submitting a piece but it’s forbidden to take photos in the setting I’m writing about. Any advice!? I looked at your linked suggestions for photos but there’s nothing relevant. :) Thanks in advance!
We Are Travel Girls says
Hi Victoria, thanks for your comment. May I ask the location you plan to write about? I think we could look to source images if they are available. Thanks, Becky – Founder, We Are Travel Girls
Victoria says
Hi Becky- Thank you for getting back to me. It’s a guidelines for first time visitors to a Turkish Hamam.
Dolores says
Today, while I was at work, my sister stole my iPad and tested to
see if it can survive a forty foot drop, just so she can be
a youtube sensation. My apple ipad is now destroyed and she has 83 views.
I know this is completely off topic but I had to share it with someone!
We Are Travel Girls says
Hi Dolores! Thanks for your comment. Sorry about your iPad! I think your sister owes you a new one!!! X, Vanessa, Founder – We Are Travel Girls
Man in Paradise says
Its true, Prep and Research are very powerful to good blogging. It is also good to go all out and write what is on your mind, then organize it later. Sometimes you can write more creative this way. Nice blog, will be back.
Grazia says
Thank you so much for these tips! I love both travelling and writing and I’m building my new blog hoping to be an inspiration especially for those girls who are still afraid to go on adventure ( unfortunately in my country -Italy- female solo travelling is still unpopular).
I really appreciate this post and the whole community and who knows, maybe in the future I could give a contribution too ;)