Create a successful travel blog.

“We had re-branded my blog in the summer of 2014 as I was really enjoying my time writing and sharing my travels online. I had named it “Simply Wright”, a play on my last name. I knew if I was going to create a travel brand, I needed to rethink my branding strategy. I was wildly inspired by World of Wanderlust and decided to follow suit. I bought her guide on how to create a successful travel blog and started taking the steps right away. I came up with the name “Bon Traveler” as it was homage to my French heritage. My tag line — travel well and travel often. We decided on a color code for the website and got to work. It brought me so much joy to write a guide, share it online, and receive a note from readers sharing how much it impacted their trip. I knew it was where I was at my best — being a creative in the medium of travel. Travis helped me do the back end of the blog and I built out the majority of my blog on Squarespace by hand. (a skill I’m glad I took the time to learn then as it’s helping me with my new business now). Almost every day for those six months leading up to December of 2014, I wrote a blog post. They weren’t great pieces of writing, but I was doing something more important: developing the habit of writing consistently, refining my social media management skills when sharing content, and learning more about the travel industry. Ultimately those six months taught me the importance of progress over perfection.”

“I began laying the groundwork in fall 2009 and AdventurousKate.com went live in late January 2010. I wasn’t one of the very first bloggers, but I was part of the earliest travel blogging community. My plan was to write about my past travels and, when the time came, eventually write about my dream trip around the world. Thanks to Twitter and blogging, I made tons of new friends in the industry. People like Cailin, Stephanie, Michael, Lillie, Ayngelina, and Michael. Nearly a decade later, we’ve accumulated marriages, babies, breakups, career changes, and trans-continental moves, but I’m still friends with all of them. Back then I blogged short posts daily. Monetization didn’t cross my mind. I wanted only one thing — to be one of the most popular travel blogs in the world. I wrote constantly; I networked with my travel blogger friends on Twitter; I became obsessed with this new and interesting community.”