The best Travel Blog Names: ideas & tips for your brand
By Helen Wright
When I started passporstamps.uk back in 2014, I really had no idea what being a travel blogger would be like. As a journalist, I travelled a lot for work and I frequently visited destinations or places I loved and wanted to tell people about. When I decided to launch my own blog, I’ll admit, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. But once I had the idea in my head, I was determined to make it happen. The first thing I did was research travel blog names in order to find a personality for my new brand, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought.
Before you’ve even decided what you’ll write about, I bet you’ve already tried out some ideas for funky traveling blog names. Don’t worry – that is totally normal and I did exactly the same. Getting excited about a new project is part of the fun, but it’s worth looking at a few important factors when deciding on a name for travel blog.
How I found a travel blog name for passportstamps.uk
As I already worked full time and travelled a lot, I started my blog as a passion project and this was reflected in the travel blog names I tried out. My site went though a few travel blog name ideas, including helenwritestravel, travelstop, and travelifestyle. In the end, I thought deeper about the personal and emotional journey that I have when I travel. One of the biggest thrills for me is getting through customs with a new stamp in my passport. Even now, I absolutely love having new destinations added. I thought back to when I was 19 and backpacking for the first time, I was unashamedly proud that I’d collected so many different stamps on multiple pages. Some people might like to show off new shoes or a fancy car, I liked to flash my Indian visa or my border crossing from Thailand to Malaysia. It may sound a bit sad, but material souvenirs were never as special to me as those little blobs of smudgy ink. It was proof that I’d done something; gone somewhere. So that’s how I got my travel blog name – passportstamps.uk. And now I have something else to be really proud of too.
Travelling blog names and ideas
Going through your list of dream travel blog names can be quite stressful. It’s understandable that you’ll want something unique that reflects your personality and the type of content you’ll be producing. With so many sites to compete with, it’s also natural to want a travel blog name that stands out from the crowd. Being different is great, but choosing a name for travel blog that is wildly original isn’t as important as other, more technical factors. Sure, no one else has that name you’ve thought of, but going with something too wacky might do more harm than good.
The most simple way to think about it is this – will your audience understand the name and does it match the content you plan to upload? Something like ‘somuchtosea.com’ may be a clever play on words, but will that work if you want to write about Xinjiang Uygur (the place in north-west China which is considered officially the furthest place in the world from any sea or ocean). Okay, this is extreme of course, but you can see where I am going with this. The same applies to in-jokes or imaginative creative names. poemsofearth.com might be philosophical to you (the earth being so beautiful, it’s poetic, for example), but are the users you want to attract to your travel blog going to arrive expecting poems and be disappointed? If so, they wont stay long and Google will question your relevance to their search results, pushing you further and further down until you’re stuck down on page 75 (or lower) wondering why no one is reading your posts. Of course, it’s up to you, but generally when it comes to SEO on Google, the best strategy is to keep it simple and do what it says on the tin.
Some really good examples of this are budgettraveler.org and aluxurytravelblog.com. With these top blogs, it’s immediately obvious what the content will be about. If I am researching a backpacking break around Eastern Europe and these two sites appear on my search, I’m probably going to check out the former for cheap backpacking advice. Alternatively, someone looking for inspiration for a fancy honeymoon destination will likely opt for the latter. Both sites have simple names and content that perfectly matches their identity.
The best travel blog names: decide what you want to write about and find your niche
My website, passportstamps.uk, reflects the way I like to travel. I am never satisfied doing the same thing over again and I try to vary my holidays and trips up as much as possible. From haggling over handbags in the markets of Marrakech to screaming my head off on a speeding rollercoaster in Orlando, I want every travel experience I have to be different from the last. So when I started my travel blog, the result ended up being a digital footprint of my travel personality. Passportstamps.uk covers everything from backpacking to family travel, theme parks, luxury hotels, foodie destinations and budget city breaks. However, a lot of the big travel blog names have found success by honing down on a niche. A niche travel site will have a more streamlined audience and can often provide a greater satisfaction from SEO as they have outlined a user and can provide content that directly satisfies their search.
A great example of this would be differentville.com, a blog about going to unusual places, or quirky sights and attractions to visit in more common destinations. Having a niche travel blog may restrict your audience to begin with, but can result in a more loyal and targeted following and greater blog success in the long run.
What to avoid when considering travel blog names
One thing to think about when you are thinking of a travel blog name is your ‘five year plan,’ or, rather, what you might end up doing in the future. When I started my blog, I was single, living in London and working as a magazine editor. Now, I work from home (or remotely, when I am travelling) and have two children under five. If I had called passportstamps.uk ‘youngfreeandsingletravel.com’ it wouldn’t have evolved along with my life. Having a niche blog can be a good thing, but it’s wise to choose a travel blog name that isn’t too restrictive and won’t box you into a corner. One example of a blog that has managed to maintain a niche and leave room to adapt is the festival blogger vickyflipfloptravels.com. This blog is centered around music festivals, but the name is flexible enough to incorporate other activities (where one might wear flip flops, I suppose), such as general travel. Choosing travel blog names like this is a good call because you never know what you’ll want to talk about in a few years from now.
One of the most important things, when considering travel blog name ideas, is to do some research and ensure there is not a prolific blogger or brand that has a similar name. A lot of bloggers have used terms like ‘wanderlust’ ‘nomadic’ and ‘adventurous’ in their names and if you plan to compete for SEO (search) traffic against a blogger like Nomadic Matt, it’s likely this blog will supersede yours. This will have an adverse effect on how many people will come across your travel blog name when searching for inspiration or advice on Google.
Do you really want a travel blog name? Would a lifestyle blog name be more suitable?
I absolutely love writing a travel blog. Trust me, it’s a lot harder work than it looks, but it’s so much fun and very rewarding. I have learnt a lot from operating my own site and having this platform has led to some amazing opportunities for me, which I am so grateful for. One thing I do recommend you consider before deciding on a blog name is whether you will be able to sustain enough travelling to keep the blog afloat. Having a full time job may hold you back (but it is certainly possible to do both) and, financially, travel can be expensive to sustain.
If you’re thinking of starting a travel blog to get free holidays, you may become disillusioned very quickly. Freebies and brand sponsorships don’t start dropping into your inbox until your blog is more established, so you’ll have to support your own travel costs until then. Even after blogging for six years, I self-fund around 70% of the travel content you see on passportstamps.uk. If this isn’t an issue for you, or you want to start a travel blog as a passion project (as I did), then I 100% recommend you do it. You’re in for a whole new world of fun!
With this in mind, if you’re not sure you’ll physically be able to travel enough to sustain a travel blog, it might be worth going for a more lifestyle blog name. That way, you can easily incorporate travel, but also blog about other aspects of lifestyle such as interiors, family or beauty and fashion. One of the best examples of this is inmysundaybest.com. This blogger features beautiful images in both London and beyond, as well as mental health, beauty, books and gorgeous, accessible fashion. Of course, you don’t actually have to travel far to write a travel blog. Like Bristol-based bloggers sheandhem.co.uk, you can blog about the place where you live, especially if you are passionate about it. This blogging duo focuses on colourful fashion, parenting and places to go out and about in their hometown of Bristol, UK.
is your travel blog name available on social media?
Before you settle on a blog name, take a look and see if the name is available on all social media channels. Blogging and social media go hand in hand (in fact, they are essentially the same thing) and it will help you build brand awareness if your travel blog name and social media handles are all the same. Having a unified name on social media, that also matches you blog, will make life easier for you in the future, especially if your travel blog name becomes popular.
This is something I didn’t do particularly well when I started my blog. My channels are all slightly different, which is frustrating. However, they are similar enough to be found in search, so that is helpful. On Instagram, I am @passportstampsuk, On Twitter I am @passportstampuk – with no ‘s’. This is because @passportstamps was already taken and @passportstampsuk (to match Instagram) is too long for Twitter… On YouTube, we are youtube.com/passportstamps. On Facebook, we are Passport Stamps UK and on Pinterest we are PassportPins. They are all within my ‘passport stamps’ theme, but it has always annoyed me that they aren’t all the same!
Travel blog names that work well for SEO
The best travel blog names that are going to work for your site will vary depending on the type of travel blog you plan to write. The key thing to focus on is to let your audience know who you are and what you’re about straight away, without them having to delve any deeper (because they probably wont). There are different styles of travel blog and the best travelling blog names will change depending on the type of site you build:
PERSONAL BRAND BLOGS
It has been proven, since the blogging industry boom, that personal brand blogs are popular with audiences. Having a human face, journey and stories attached to the blog offers a connection to the audience and likeminded readers can easier relate to a brand with a face. A good example of this in the travel world is Flora the Explorer – I love that she jumped at the chance to capitalize on this name and, of course, Nomadic Matt. Nomadic Matt has a great travel blog name because it both identifies him as the blogger and ‘nomadic’ clearly displays his blog as a platform for travel. It’s worth noting that if you want to start a travel diary or personal brand blog, your travel blog name doesn’t have to be clever or catchy. Something simple like ‘Helen On The Move’ does the job just as well. Like I said earlier, it does what it says on the tin – and Google likes this.
When I created passportstamps.uk, I decided not to go for a personal brand. At the time, I didn’t think people would be interested in me personally and I mainly wanted to feature inspirational travel ideas and destinations that appealed to everyone (not just someone who fitted my exact demographic). I wanted passporstamps.uk to be more ‘magazine style’ because I come from a journalist background. When I visit a destination, I look out for things that appeal to all audiences and not just to my personal tastes. Examples of this might be featuring art galleries (I am not much of a fan, sorry!), LGBTQ hotspots, family areas (before I had my own kids) and nowadays, fun spots for hot, young child-free singles and couples – that I only get to frequent once in a while when I go on a trip without my family! Since having a family, and building my Instagram, I have started to feature more first-person, storylike content – such as our road trip around Oregon, USA – and these posts are popular.
It’s also worth noting that having a personal brand blog can also be problematic further down the line. If you ever wanted to sell your blog, it will be harder to sell an established travel blog with a name attached. Especially if the USP of your site is very personal to you and your brand. It’s also a less seamless transition if you wanted to expand your platform and feature other writers. This is something I always wanted to do with passportstamps.uk to hear different voices and opinions across my site. On passporstamps.uk you can read features by other travel authors, including Flora Neighbour, Rosie Mullender and Luke Chilton. This is also something that A Luxury Travel Blog and The Travel Hack do and I think the variety is refreshing.
GENERAL TRAVEL BLOGS
I would say passporstamps.uk comes under the umbrella of a general travel blog. My site does not have a niche (although, through my day job, I have become an authority on both Orlando, theme parks and family travel). Posts on my site appeal to a wide audience and feature a variety of destinations and travel guides. If this is the kind of blog you are aiming to create, I would avoid a personal brand blog and opt for a general travel blog name.
GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL BLOGS
This would be a blog that focuses on one area, such as talkthestreets.com, which covers life in Portugal and improving language skills in Brazilian and European Portuguese through travel. A geographic travel blog would be considered a niche travel blog but has the potential to be very successful, especially in terms of SEO.
NICHE BLOGS
I have already covered niche blogs higher in this post,but this would be travel blog name ideas that focus on a specific thing, such as welove2ski.com (a dedicated skiing travel blog) and curbfreewithcorylee.com (a travel blog from a wheelchair user’s perspective.
Now, just a few remaining things to be aware of when thinking about SEO. Consider how your travel blog name – or rather, your brand name – will look from a professional perspective. It’s a good idea to avoid slang terms or misspellings (such as HunzOnTheRun.com) and numbers, which make Google a bit angsty and can look a little amateur (TravBlog4you.com). Where possible, go for a .com domain if you can. Annoyingly, passporstamps.com was taken when I started out, but as I talk about worldwide travel from the UK and label most of my destination guides in GBP(£), it makes sense for me to have a .uk and .co.uk site (I am registered with both).
Some great travel blog name ideas
It’s very hard for me to suggest a name for your new travel blog, but I did have a bit of fun and jotted down some possible blog names you could try for. At the time of posting, none of these seemed to be active URLs but this is the Internet – and things could change in a second! Good luck – let me know if you go with any of them.
Follow Helen Wright on Instagram @helenwrites
WHIMSICAL
Wander in Wonder – wanderinwonder.com
World at my Feet – worldatmyfeet.com
Step Around The World – steparoundtheworld.com
travellifestyle.com – travellifestyle.com
INSPIRATIONAL
My New Travel Life – mynewtravellife.com
The Whole World at my Feet – thewholeworldatmyfeet.com
New World New Me – newworldnewme.com
Anything and Everywhere – anythingandeverywhere.com
ADVENTURE
Around the World Adventure – aroundtheworldadventure.com
Dadventures (family blog) – dadventures.com
Out and Active – outandactive.com
Sweat it Out travel – sweatitouttravel.com
Bucket List Adventures UK – bucketlistadventures.uk
