At Newport Interactive Marketers’ August 2015 event, Travel Bloggers’ Secrets You Can Use, our three amazing panelists, Tamara Gruber of We3Travel, Lillie Marshall of Around the World “L”, and Priscilla Pilon of The Weekend in Paris shared invaluable insights about blogging and blog monetization and marketing.

Top 6 Blogging Tips
1. WordPress is the best blogging platform
2. Make sure the theme you pick works with Google Analytics and is mobile responsive
3. Blogging cameras of choice are Nikon D5300, Sony Alpha 5100, Mirrorless Olympus, and GoPro.
4. People are captivated first by a photo – use lots of visuals to keep your blog engaging
5. Focus first on building your blog and your own presence before putting all your effort into someone else’s site.
6. Don’t post things live in case of stalkers, and never post pictures of children without their parent’s permission. Beware of geo-tagging!

Top 10 Marketing/Monetizing Tips
1. Want to work with sponsors? Produce high quality content that engages people and build up your following and then the sponsors should come to you
2. It’s important work only with brands that you really believe in because once your reader stops believing you, you’ve lost everything
3. Native advertising is an effective way to monetize without jeopardizing your reader’s trust
4. Steer away from negative content
5. Form alliances and private Facebook groups with other bloggers to grow your collective followings
6. Don’t write a post for someone for free – but the payment doesn’t have to be money. Giving content to high-traffic sites is a value to your resume
6. Be sure to link all of your photos: photos on Google and Pinterest should link to your website and have descriptions
7. Don’t be afraid to automate! Tools like Hootsuite and Tail Wind can pre-schedule your posts at the best time for your demographic
8. Use tools like Tweepi to find out when the ideal time for your demographic is
9. Use Google trends to improve your SEO and see where you come up in searches
10. Be active and consistent on your all social media sites

Meet Newport Interactive Marketers’ Travel Blogger Panelists
Priscilla Pilon travels the world, but is an admitted Paris addict. She is the Publisher of The Weekend In Paris as well as the Travel Editor for The Daily Basics, a contributor for Upscale Living Magazine, The Daily Meal, and Travel Squire. She is a co-founder and partner of Impressionners, social media company & she is an entertaining public speaker to boot.

Tamara Gruber created We3Travel to inspire families to explore the world by providing tips, reviews, destination information and sample itineraries that make family vacation planning easier. Since 2013, this family of three has been showing parents how, with a little planning and preparation, they can take kids anywhere — and have fun! From the cathedrals of Europe to the rainforests of Costa Rica to the battlefields of Gettysburg we are raising a global citizen, one trip at a time. We3Travel was recently named one of the Top 20 Family Travel Blogs in 2015 by Holiday Lettings (a TripAdvisor Company).

Lillie Marshall launched Around the World “L” in 2009, which has been consistently selected for Top 100 Travel Blog rankings since. The site uses vibrant photos and engaging writing to feature a wide range of voyages, from solo budget trips to luxury family travel, now that Lillie has a young son. Lillie is also a public school teacher in Boston, and runs TeachingTraveling.com, a blog that interviews “Teacher-Travelers.” Lillie has one of the largest social media followings of any teacher in the world and her travels just this past year have taken her to Turkey, Ireland and Quebec.