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Even a couple of years ago, it was practically impossible to make money while traveling. Thanks to travel vlogging, a tribe of travelers today are able to do both at the same time — work and travel the world by visiting new places.

A travel vlog is a short video chronicling travels. Travel vloggers share their videos on social media to provide a glimpse into their travels.

In the last few years, travel vlogs have gained immense popularity. YouTube has played a key role in giving travel vloggers a platform to share their adventures and amass millions of followers.

From food videos to bungee jumping vlog, there are many types of travel business ideas for vlog videos. Many influencers around the world specialize in creating specific types of travel vlogs to entice their audience.

Travel vlogs are blogs in video format. They don’t need to be perfect or professionally edited because they are meant to capture travels as realistically as possible.

Travel guides provide helpful tips to interested travelers. In these videos, vloggers share guidance on things to do, how to plan trips and what to avoid when visiting new places.

Behind every travel vlog is a vlogger sharing interesting content with the world. Channel marketing videos are about the people sharing their travel videos. These include an about me video to showcase the content creators.

Many vloggers specialize in niche categories within the travel vlogging world. For example, some popular travel vloggers focus on food while some provide hotel reviews.

Vlogging is a great way to make money while travelling. And if you do it properly, you can pursue it as a full-time job. Here’s how you can turn it into a career:

The best thing about travel vlogging is you need very little to get started. You can have complete control over what you want to share and you don’t have to follow a set process. As long as you’re passionate about traveling, you can find the story you want to tell.

Starting a travel vlog may seem like a lot of work, but it’s not as complicated as you might think. Vlogging platforms like YouTube have excellent features to help you get started.

Thanks to its reach and popularity, YouTube is the best platform to launch your travel vlog. Before you start thinking of growing your subscriber base, there are some things you must keep in mind.

Here are 11 hugely effective steps that will help you get the most out of your video clips.

Travel vlogging has become an increasingly competitive space, with a large number of vloggers creating content regularly. To be successful, you need to ensure your vlog stands out. To be able to do that, you need to figure out what makes you passionate about traveling. Do you enjoy traveling because you get to try different cuisines? Or do you like to explore new arts and culture when you visit a different place?

Popular travel vloggers like Mark Wiens and GrrrlTraveler have amassed a large number of subscribers because they specialize in their niche. Mark specializes in showcasing different cuisines while he’s traveling while GrrrlTraveler provides great tips on solo travel for women.

Because it’s a competitive space, you need to keep an eye out on other vloggers with a similar focus. This is important because you’ll be able to find a unique theme for your vlog. Checking other travel vlogs can also help you stay on top of new trends and get inspiration for making videos.

As mentioned before, you don’t need a lot to get started. But you must consider investing in some equipment that can help you create new videos. In addition to a light and sturdy camera, you should have a good microphone and some lens that can elevate the quality of your videos.

Your first video sets the scene for your travel channel and gives audience an insight into what to expect. As such it’s evergreen content that can help you connect with your future subscribers. Here are some tips on topics you may consider:

It can feel a bit odd and adrenaline rushing to begin filming your first vlog. The trick is to not to aim for perfection. Let the focus be on the great story you want to tell in the video when you start vlogging. You can always edit the video afterwards.

Video editing is like putting different pieces of a puzzle together. Luckily, there are many editing software tools available to help you create great videos. Adobe Premiere and Final Cut are some of the most popular video editing software programs. You can also try Lightworks, which is free to use.

One way you can improve the quality of your travel video is by adding music. You can buy royalty-free music from Josh Woodward and Kevin MacLeod.

To start making money from vlogging, you need to ensure your videos reach your audience. This is where search engine optimization becomes crucial.

Title: The first thing you must optimize with the right keywords is the title of your video. Make sure the title makes sense when you add the keywords.

Description: The description bar in YouTube is designed to help content creators add relevant keywords and improve their SEO. Adding links to you blogs and other social media channels can come in handy here.

Keyword tags: Add your primary keyword and as many similar keywords as possible here.

Thumbnail image: Great video thumbnails can help you draw your audience to your vlog.

Advanced settings: Including additional details in the advanced settings is also useful to optimize your videos.

Subtitles and closed captions: While it may take more time to add subtitles and captions, YouTube recommends this to boost SEO.

Once you are done editing your videos, you can start uploading them onto your YouTube channel. Before publishing your content, you may want to keep the videos private. That way, you will be able to make edits and add keywords.

Keeping videos private before publishing can also help you schedule them.

A simple yet highly effective way to amplify the reach of your vlogs is to share them on social media platforms. This is also important because some of our audience may not even be aware of your vlog unless you promote them on your social media accounts.

Some effective social media channels to use for vlog promotion are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

With unique content and search engine optimization, you’ll be able to start building your followers. There are also some other simple ways to attract more followers to your vlog.

To achieve success as a travel vlog owner requires you to spend time understanding what your subscribers are looking for in content. How much time are they spending on your videos? Are they leaving comments to share how they feel? These are just some of the questions you need to ask from time to time to create content that resonates with the audience.

But it’s not enough to just pay attention to the audience behavior. You must focus on using the insights to develop new content. For example, if you find a couple of similar videos fetch you higher views and likes, then you should try to create new content based on the same format.

Although it’s a cluttered space, you can decode travel vlogging to achieve success. Here’s how:

Sony ZV-1 is a great camera for travel vlogging. It is a compact camera with topnotch autofocus, making it the ideal option for travel vlogging.

Here are some steps to create a free travel vlog:

Here are some free platforms to host your travel vlog:

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This article, "Starting a Travel Vlog for Fun and Money" was first published on Small Business Trends

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A business email is an incredibly important tool. It helps you keep your personal life separate instead of mixing it all together, and it looks more professional overall. Using business email addresses, you can create a better customer experience for others while also keeping things organized. There are plenty of free business email account options available for you to choose from.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the best free business email address options out there and how to get started.

A business email address is essentially just that – an email address connected to your business. It generally shares the same domain name as your business, so @yourbusiness.com rather than @gmail.com or @hotmail.com. Using your own domain keeps it consistent for customers and clients to reach you, and it’s easier to identify when browsing your website.

The importance of a professional email address or a business email account can’t be understated in today’s digital ecosystem. It is important for many reasons, such as:

There are several ways to make your professional business email address look good and gain customer trust. Let’s look at the top things you should consider.

When looking for platforms to create business email addresses, there are a few different factors to look at. You’re looking for a provider that offers custom email domains so you can create a domain-based email address. Most providers offer a web hosting account and a custom business email address that goes with it.

Formerly g suite, a Google workspace account is one of the best options for comprehensive email services. You can access other Google apps alongside Gmail, such as Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and more, so there is a lot of value. Basic plans start at $6 for Google workspace, and there is a variety of hosting plans available as your business grows.

Bluehost email is useful if you have a WordPress website or plan to have one. Bluehost is a hosting provider and offers a web hosting package alongside business emails. With a Bluehost account can create business emails with your own domain and tie your mail client with your website to make it easier to manage.

GoDaddy is another web hosting provider for a WordPress website, and they also offer free business email accounts with their hosting package. GoDaddy uses their own workspace and email client or a Microsoft email client. Options for email accounts can vary depending on what kind of hosting is purchased. However, it’s one of the easier solutions since you can create a free business email that is tied to your hosting account.

Zoho Mail is an email service provider that can be tied to your domain name. Zoho Mail provides a safe and secure email service for businesses, and you can easily tie your business email to an existing domain name for ease. Zoho Mail also comes with productivity tools similar to Google Workspace for added value. Zoho Mail offers a lot of privacy with their email service, and it can be a great option for smaller teams that are looking to scale.

Microsoft Outlook is one of the best options for a free business email as it is simple and easy to use. It’s an easy email service that you can use to create a free business email. If you’re looking for additional Microsoft products, you can also gain access to those with a paid plan. Microsoft tends to be one of the gold standards for email clients, so it’s always a popular choice for a business email address.

The steps to create a business email address will vary depending on the email client you are using, but the process tends to be pretty straightforward. Here’s how to create a business email address:

There are quite a few avenues to look at if you’re looking for a free business email address. Many hosting providers tend to have it as a value-add to web hosting, so it’s worth looking at those options for – especially if you have a WordPress site.

Email service providers where you can create a free business email address include:

There are many platforms available to get a professional email address for your business. For example, you can use platforms such as Google Workspace, Microsoft Outlook, and Zoho Mail to get a business email address for your business using your own domain name to tie it back to your business.

Gmail for business has a variety of paid plans available depending on needs. For a business email address and other G suite apps, a basic plan starts at $6 per user. Prices go up to $12 or $18 per user depending on cloud storage needs and other considerations.

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This article, "How to Create a Business Email" was first published on Small Business Trends

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Women and minority business owners have historically had difficulty accessing capital. So there are now some grant opportunities aimed at addressing that inequality. Some are open to businesses nationwide. And others are focused on specific communities or educational initiatives. Here are a few for business owners to know.

Here’s a look at some of the latest small business grants available for women owners in America:

The NBA and LegalZoom have teamed up to help underserved small business owners with $6 million in grants. This is a multi-year partnership, with the grant opportunity as the first official initiative. They’ll be made available twice per year for the next three years. And mentorship and job training are also available. The companies say the grants will specifically serve women, minority, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ owned businesses. Applications are due by November 23.

PNC Foundation and Howard University just announced a $16.8 million commitment to support minority entrepreneurs. The grant goes to the university, which will then provide educational resources and community connections to foster entrepreneurship. The partnership is set to span five years. And PNC has also committed to enhance the availability of loans to historically underserved business owners.

Digitalundivided and JPMorgan Chase are partnering to support Black and LatinX women entrepreneurs. The initial program will award 15 of these businesses in Greater Los Angeles. But the companies plan to launch a national grant program in the coming months. Advancing Black Pathways is an existing program from JPMorgan Chase to support Black-owned businesses. So Digitalundivided’s mission of supporting Black and LatinX women entrepreneurs lined up perfectly for their new BREAKTHROUGH partnership. Applications for the first round are due on October 25.

Almost 60 percent of women entrepreneurs believe they do not have adequate access to capital. There are opportunities for grants and financing. But it may be difficult to uncover these opportunities. So Bank of America now offers an access to capital directory to highlight these opportunities. This isn’t a grant in and of itself. But it can make it easier to find the applications that are relevant to your business.

The state of Wisconsin just announced two grant programs aimed at helping minority owned businesses. The Diverse Business Assistance Grant aims to help local chambers of commerce support underserved businesses in their community. The Diverse Business Investment Grant goes to lending institutions that will provide funding to underserved communities, specifically minority businesses with ten or fewer employees. The state is also offering direct grants through its Equitable Recovery program, with applications due November 5.

The City of Seattle is providing grants of $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000 to businesses that have been negatively affected by the pandemic. Small businesses and nonprofits must be located within city limits, currently operating with two locations or fewer, have 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, and have an annual net revenue of $2 million or less. BIPOC and women business owners will also be given priority. Applications must be submitted by November 9.

This article, "Small Business Grant Opportunities for Women and Minority Entrepreneurs" was first published on Small Business Trends

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The third annual MetLife Triangle Tech X Conference is going by the theme Women and STEM: Harnessing the Great Reevaluation this year. The conference is going to bring together the most influential leaders in technology and business for a free two-day virtual summit.

The summit will look at the barriers women are facing in tech as well as the additional challenges brought on by the pandemic.

Click the red button and register to attend this free two-day summit from October 26-27, 2021.

Register Now

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar.

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This article, "MetLife Free Summit Looks at Women and STEM" was first published on Small Business Trends

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