5 Fantastic Travel Websites and What We Can Learn From Them
Is your website as amazing as your adventures? A website is the greatest marketing tool a Travel Photographer or Blogger can have. However, figuring out what needs to be included in your Travel Website can be a difficult task. I am here to help.
Here are 5 Fantastic Travel Websites and what you can learn from them.
The Blonde Abroad
The Blonde Abroad is a website all about female travel. With its clean, attractive design, this website has a clear brand and easy to follow layout. I do not usually recommend having this many links in the navigation, but with simple language and a mobile responsive design, she makes it work.
Kristen Alana
Kristen Alana is a Travel Photographer who uses her gorgeous website as a virtual portfolio. Her classy design is easy to navigate and clearly shows off her many achievements.
Loki The Wolf Dog
Kelly Lund and his pup Loki work to inspire others to explore the world with their pups. They use a clean, minimalistic design to draw people in.
Alex in Wanderland
Alex in Wanderland is a Travel Blogger and Photographer who has built up a life of travel through her website. She uses a nice clear brand and design to help ease visitors through her site.
Johan Lolos
Johan Lolos is a Travel Photographer and Blogger with a passion for the outdoors. His website has a great home page that immediately shows off his portfolio and a clean navigation.
What Can We Learn From These Sites?
Clear Brand and Colour Scheme
It is super important to have a unique brand and style for your business. Think about the last time you were in an office or living space that looked really well put together. The different furniture pieces worked well together, there was a definite style, and the colours complemented each other nicely.
The same goes for your website. You have only a couple seconds to convince someone that your website is worth staying on. Having a clear colour scheme and unique style may be the difference between someone scrolling down the page or pressing that back button.
If you don’t already have some colours in mind, find a photograph that you feel represents the vibe you want your website to have. Go to Canva’s Colour Palette Generator and upload the photo!
Clean Design
The second factor that has a huge impact on whether a visitor stays on your site is the navigation. I recommend having only 3 to 5 items in your main navigation. You can provide links to secondary pages in your footer.
What is the goal of your website? Is it to sell your photos and book clients? Great! Then have a Gallery Page to showcase your work, a Contact or Work With me page, and a link to your Store. You can provide an About Me Page, a link to the Home page, etc in the footer.
Having lots of navigation items can be confusing and look messy which can be off putting to visitors. Keep the layout simple and main items easy to find.
Simple Text
When it comes to text on your website, keep it fairly short especially on the home page. Most visitors will not read blocks of text so keep it to a couple sentences or use bullet points to get your ideas across quickly. Obviously there are exceptions such as on an About Me page or Blog where visitors expect to read blocks of information.
SEO Friendly
If you want visitors to find your site through searches, make sure to optimize your site for search engines. This can be quite tricky but there are a few simple things you can do. First, make sure your site is mobile friendly and uses an SSL certificate. Second, keep your site nice and speedy by optimizing images. Lastly, use keywords throughout your posts and headings in an authentic way.
Avoid Making Your Site ‘Spammy’
Pop ups and Advertisement bars can be a great way to increase your email list or publicize a giveaway. However, make sure that it does not take up too much space on the screen or it could harm your SEO. In addition, ensure that advertisements and affiliate links do not overtake the content of your site. If they get in the way of your information or require your visitors to constantly close advertisements in order to continue searching your site, they will probably leave.
1 Hour Coaching Call
If you would like some help on designing your site, I am currently offering a 1 Hour Coaching Call where I can answer any questions you have about your Squarespace Website. This can include questions about
Squarespace Design
Integrating 3rd Party Applications
Mobile Responsiveness
Search Engine Optimization
Custom CSS
and more…
