Is the Travel Blogging Niche Saturated? And is this a Bad Thing?

I made this NicheLaboratory.TV video about the travel blogging niche.

Have you ever wanted to blog about travelling?

This travel blog says that travel blogging is like opening a Chinese restaurant in ChinaTown.

Really?

Well I’m currently living in China, so I have plenty to say about this “advice”.

From 03:50 onwards in this video I show some REAL traffic statistics from a travel blog I started back in 2012.

Has it been successful?

Watch to find out!

My Take on Travel Blogging

I guess my advice would be fairly similar to that offered by Global Girl Travels. Travel *is* a good niche but to succeed in it you need to find a unique take on things.

Two real world examples:

1. My friend has made a blog, forum and website about being fed up living in the country you’re born in. Wouldn’t you rather be Happier Abroad? This site was started in 2005 and is now a very successful brand.
2. I’ve blogged about my global travels but I have focussed on one particular aspect of living abroad. I do illustrate my blogs with photos of my travels. But I’m not a travel blogger. I don’t blog about tourist sites or food or how lovely it is to ride on elephants in Thailand blah blah.

The good news is that there are plenty of good opportunities left in travel. Just stay away from hotels, flights and that kind of thing.

Some more tips:

• If you’re blogging about a particular country then you’re never going to be able to compete with somebody who actually lives there or is from there.
• Remember that whereever you live is exotic to somebody else. Why not blog about your own country.
• You could have a lot more success if you blog about places other people don’t often have chance to visit. For example many people have visited Thailand and the country is filled with digital nomads blogging about it. But how many foreigners have visited or lived in China? Not so many. In fact I routinely go a whole week without seeing a single Western person in China. Stuff I blog about China tends to do well because there is nobody else here to blog about it.
• If you’re in it for the money then have a good hard think about how you can actually monetise your blog. I very much doubt you could make enough money from advertising to support your travels.
• Remember that your holiday photos probably aren’t that interesting to other people.
• Consider broadcasting yourself. YouTube is far from saturated and there are some great opportunities in video right now.
• Keyword research works very well in the travel niche. Keyword Researcher Pro is excellent for finding the many questions people ask about specific destinations. This is how I started off my tiny travel niche site. Or you can use Niche Laboratory Pro to get an executive overview of an entire niche in seconds!

Have YOU tried the travel niche? Did you get any success? Are you thinking about making a travel blog? Leave your comments below.