Never hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro? Me neither.
Never stayed in an 8-room hotel within a small European village built 450 years ago? I sure haven’t.
Never sailed around the Maldives in a catamaran? Not even close.
When you look at some travel blogs, they can be intimidating. The authors seem like world travelers who somehow have unlimited bank accounts. They know all the ins and outs of traveling, how to handle any situation that arises, and all the hole-in-the-wall places you need to eat and stay.
Want to know a secret?
You can have a better blog with better information than they do… even if you haven’t traveled a lick in your life.
How can that be? Why can a novice traveler be better than a grizzled veteran who does all this crazy and exotic travel?
Because novice travelers have the same perspective that millions of other people have as well.
How I Started With Zero Experience
When I started my first cruise blog — GalvestonCruiseTips.com — I had never taken a cruise.
That’s right. Never been on a cruise ship.
Wouldn’t that automatically disqualify me for giving advice on cruising? Wouldn’t I be just as qualified to write about quantum mechanics since I had the same amount of experience with that subject — zero?
It’s actually the opposite. Being new to cruising, I had a ton of basic questions that weren’t being answered by most websites and blogs. Sure I saw sites showing off the uber-royal suites that I could never afford. And others had behind-the-scenes access that is only granted to some elite media members.
But overall, experienced cruisers — who wrote most of the cruise content out there — forgot exactly what it was like to be new to cruising. The questions I really wanted answered were never talked about.
Just to give you some examples of what I wanted to know and had trouble finding:
- Which parking lots were near the port and how much they cost?
- What the security process was like at check-in?
- Whether I had to buy excursions through the cruise line or if there were better deals?
If you’ve taken a cruise, then you already know these answers or don’t think they are that important. But as a first-timer, I wanted to know the answers and couldn’t find them.
That meant my own questions served as a perfect starting list of things I could write about.
If you know my story, then you know that I used this as inspiration to start writing. I wrote everything from a beginner’s perspective — as if I was writing to someone who didn’t know the first thing about cruising or cruise travel.
That was easy, because I was writing to someone that was just like me.
102,000 Visits Per Month Later…
So can a novice traveler writing actually make it?
Not only do I think they can make it, but I know you can do quite well. For example, in January I saw more than 102,000 visitors across my sites.
I also had articles published in the travel section of USNews.com and I was quoted in articles across the web. I was even been profiled in one of the most popular business podcasts.
Meanwhile, I’ve been able to earn thousand of dollars a month writing about something that I love.
And remember, just a few years ago I had never taken a cruise. Today, I’ve taken a ton, and I’m an expert.
I’m telling all this not to brag, but to speak from real experience how a a total and complete novice on travel writing turned an interest into a hobby… and a hobby into a full-time job.
In fact, I know that being a novice can actually help you. It’s not always easy, but it’s definitely possible.
Click here to learn how to start your own travel blog today.