What we’ve covered in this post
- What are the best blogging platforms for travel bloggers
- Features to help you choose
- 6 best blogging platforms for travel bloggers
What is the best blogging platform for travel bloggers?
The best blogging platform for travel bloggers is one that offers high customization options for designing visually appealing layouts, strong multi-device optimization for simple display, robust SEO tools for ranking in search engines, fast site speed for better user experience, and many more.
In general, a blogging platform is a (CMS) Content Management System where you manage your blog site (website) and customize your blog pages and posts the way you want.
It doesn’t require coding since you can use a pre-built site template that you can easily customize.
Features to help you choose the best travel blogging platform
In general, no matter the type of blogging platform you are going to use if you want a platform that meets your travel blogging needs you must ensure that they possess the features below;
- Ease of Use – Look for a platform with a user-friendly interface.
- Customization Options – Look for a platform that has a wide range of professionally designed themes tailored for travel blogs.
- Multimedia Support – Look for a platform where you can enhance the presentation of travel photos & videos.
- Mobile Responsiveness – Ensure the platform looks great and functions well on smartphones and tablets.
- SEO Capabilities – ensure the platform has tools for optimizing content, meta tags, and keywords to improve search engine rankings.
- Speed and Performance – Ensure the platform can handle large images and multimedia without slowing down your site. Good hosting services that provide fast and secure performance.
- Monetization Options – make the platform supports display ads, flexible affiliate linking, sponsored content, and room for e-commerce such as dropshipping capabilities.
- Analytics and Tracking – Tools to track visitor behavior, page views, and other key metrics.
- Security – Secure your site with HTTPS to protect user data and improve SEO. Automatic backups to prevent data loss.
- Cost – Evaluate the cost of different plans and features to ensure they fit within your budget. Determine whether you need a free plan with basic features or a paid plan with advanced functionalities.
By evaluating these features, you can choose a travel blogging platform that best supports your goals and enhances your blogging experience.
6 Best Blogging Platforms For Travel Bloggers
[1]. WordPress.org [Free]
WordPress.org, often called self-hosted WordPress, is a free content management system (CMS) used to create websites and blogs.
It requires separate web hosting to use which enables it to stay online for website visitors to access, without web hosting, WordPress.org can’t be used or accessed.
It’s the most popular CMS globally, powering over 43% of all websites on the internet. That is more than 475 million blogs and websites.
Features of wordpress.org offers all of its users, including travel bloggers;
- Cost: Free (requires paid hosting).
- Ease of Use: Moderate (requires some learning curve, especially with customization).
- SEO Capabilities: Excellent (extensive plugins like Yoast SEO).
- Mobile Responsiveness: Highly customizable themes ensure mobile compatibility.
- Monetization Options: Extensive (ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, memberships).
- Customization Options: Very high (thousands of plugins and themes).
- Traffic Analytics and Tracking: Advanced (Google Analytics integration).
- Speed and Performance: Good (depends on hosting and optimization).
- Platform Security: Good (requires regular updates and security plugins).
Main Limitations
- Though it’s the easiest and the most attractive to most travel bloggers and general bloggers. WordPress.org is not completely free to use and still requires web hosting of up to $3/month to use.
How to start a blog with WordPress.org: HostGator gives you access to WordPress.org and a domain name of your choice for free.
[2]. Wix – [$17/month]
Wix is a popular cloud-based website builder that allows you to create professional-looking websites without needing extensive coding knowledge.
It offers a drag-and-drop interface, a wide variety of templates, and a vast app market to customize your website.
Wix powers over 222 million websites and blogs on the internet.
Features of Wix to all of its users including travel bloggers
- Cost: Free with basic features; paid plans start at $17/month.
- Ease of Use: Very easy (drag-and-drop editor).
- SEO Capabilities: Good (built-in SEO tools).
- Mobile Responsiveness: Excellent (automatically adjusts designs for mobile).
- Monetization Options: Good (ads, affiliate links, e-commerce).
- Customization Options: Moderate (limited compared to WordPress).
- Traffic Analytics and Tracking: Basic to good (integrates with Google Analytics).
- Speed and Performance: Good.
- Platform Security: Good (Wix handles security updates).
Main Limitations
- The primary limitation of Wix is its lack of full customization and flexibility for developers.
- Paid plans have Wix ads and also run under their sub-domain
- Its basic plans start at $17/month
[3]. Squarespace – [$16/month]
Squarespace is a popular cloud-based website builder that can allow you to create a professional-looking food blog without needing extensive coding knowledge. It offers a drag-and-drop interface, a wide variety of templates, and a vast app market to customize your website the way you want.
It powers over 5 million websites and blogs on the internet.
Features of Squarespace offers all of its users including travel bloggers
- Cost: Paid plans start at $16/month.
- Ease of Use: Very easy (user-friendly interface).
- SEO Capabilities: Good (built-in SEO tools and support).
- Mobile Responsiveness: Excellent (responsive templates).
- Monetization Options: Good (ads, affiliate marketing, e-commerce).
- Customization Options: Moderate (limited compared to WordPress).
- Traffic Analytics and Tracking: Basic to good (integrates with Google Analytics).
- Speed and Performance: Excellent.
- Platform Security: Excellent (Squarespace manages security).
Main Limitations
- It’s expensive with a basic plan starting at 16/month compared to when starting a standard blog with WordPress using a simple web host like Hostgator which costs less than $4/month.
[4]. Weebly– [$10/month]
Weebly is a popular cloud-based website builder that allows you to create professional-looking websites without needing extensive coding knowledge.
It offers a drag-and-drop interface, a variety of templates, and a vast app market to customize your website the way you want.
Weebly has over 50 million users worldwide.
Features of Weebly offers to all of its users including travel bloggers
- Cost: Free with basic features; paid plans start at $10/month.
- Ease of Use: Very easy (drag-and-drop builder).
- SEO Capabilities: Good (built-in SEO options).
- Mobile Responsiveness: Excellent (responsive designs).
- Monetization Options: Good (ads, affiliate marketing, e-commerce).
- Customization Options: Moderate (fewer options than WordPress).
- Traffic Analytics and Tracking: Basic to good (integrates with Google Analytics).
- Speed and Performance: Good.
- Platform Security: Good (Weebly handles security updates).
Main Limitations
- Doesn’t offer extensive customization options like WordPress.org
- It doesn’t offer a reasonable feature with its free plans and paid plans start at $10/month.
[5]. Ghost – [$9/month]
Ghost is a popular blogging platform known for its simplicity, speed, and focus on content.
It’s designed to be a minimal and distraction-free environment for creating and publishing blog posts.
Features of Ghost offers to all of its users including travel bloggers
- Cost: Paid plans start at $9/month.
- Ease of Use: Moderate (focuses on publishing with a clean interface).
- SEO Capabilities: Good (built-in SEO tools).
- Mobile Responsiveness: Excellent (responsive themes).
- Monetization Options: Good (memberships, subscriptions, donations).
- Customization Options: Moderate (less than WordPress but good for a streamlined platform).
- Traffic Analytics and Tracking: Basic to good (integrates with Google Analytics).
- Speed and Performance: Excellent.
- Platform Security: Excellent (Ghost handles security updates).
Main Limitations
- It requires little technical capabilities to use all of its features.
- The paid plans start at $9/month more expensive compared to when starting a standard blog with WordPress using a simple web host like HostGator for less than $4/month.
[6]. Godaddy [$9.99/month]
GoDaddy is a versatile platform that offers a range of services, including web hosting, domain registration, and a website builder.
While it’s not primarily a blogging platform in the same sense as WordPress or Blogger, you can use GoDaddy’s website builder to create a blog.
Goddaddy has over 21 million users worldwide.
Features of Medium offers to all of its users including travel bloggers.
- Cost – Plan starts at 9.99/month
- Ease of Use – User-friendly with a simple setup and intuitive control panel, great for beginners.
- SEO Capabilities – Basic SEO tools for on-page optimization, but less robust than dedicated SEO platforms.
- Mobile Responsiveness – Offers responsive templates that adjust for different screen sizes.
- Monetization Options – Supports affiliate marketing, ads, and e-commerce features for selling products.
- Customization Options – Limited customization compared to platforms like WordPress; offers basic theme modifications.
- Traffic Analytics and Tracking – Provides basic analytics, but integrating Google Analytics is recommended for detailed insights.
- Speed and Performance – Generally good speed, especially on higher-tier plans; performance varies by hosting type.
- Platform Security – Includes SSL certificates, backups, and malware scanning; additional security features available.
Main Limitations
- It has limited customization options.
- Paid plans start at $9.99/month while using HostGator you can start a standard travel blog on WordPress.org.
