Writer Guidelines for Guest Posts

NOTE: Our guidelines for guest posts are for travel bloggers, writers, authors, and adventurers only. If you are a business or SEO consultant trying to place an advertorial for commercial purposes, please see our advertising page.

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Go Backpacking.

As one of the top independent travel blogs, we receive pitches from potential contributors daily.

Please read on to better understand the kind of content we like to publish and ensure the best chances for your article to be accepted and receive many views long-term.

A Brief History

Go Backpacking was one of the first independent travel websites to promote budget travel online.

The site was created in 1999 by Dave Lee in his spare time to share his experiences from a backpacking trip to Europe.

In 2007, it was converted into a blog using WordPress and grew in popularity. 

Benefits of Guest Posting

Since 2010, Go Backpacking has featured the writing and advice of hundreds of guest contributors worldwide. 

Today's benefits include:

• Two do-follow contextual links: a specific post/page on your site and to your home page
• Author bio: link to your home page, plus any links to social media, newsletter, book, etc. 
• The byline on a recognized and trusted travel site
• Article promo through our social media and email newsletter 

What We're Looking For

Articles that work best on Go Backpacking reflect practical travel tips people can apply while planning or embarking on their next trip.

The article should be based on the author's personal experience, whether it's trip planning advice or about a specific destination.

The author's personal observations and anecdotes should feature in the story for a destination. This demonstrates authority. Additionally, at least one photo of the author in the place is required.

We recommend you check out the most popular content on the home page and review stories published in the last few months in the archives.

We're currently interested in (but not limited to) the following topics:

• U.S. National Parks
• Van or RV travel
• Destination-specific articles for Mexico and the Caribbean.
• Stories about countries we've previously covered (see the “Destinations” drop-down menu at the top of the website or search the site by country name).
• Money-saving tips: the more expensive the destination, the better (How to Travel Norway on a Budget, How to Travel Japan on $10 a Day or Less).
• Guides that are based on living in a place for an extended period (Medellin City Guide).
• One, two, or three-day city guides (One Day in Milan, 48 Hours in Denver).
• “How to” articles (How to Choose the Best Seat on a Bus).
• “Top 10” pieces (Top 10 Things to Do in San Diego).
• Women's travel advice (A Woman's Guide to Using Squat Toilets).

Terms

All submissions must meet the following conditions:

1. Offer high-quality advice based on the author's first-hand experiences.
2. Written by the author, not an Artificial Intelligence app.
3. Be published exclusively on Go Backpacking.
4. Not infringe upon anyone's copyright, regarding both text and images.

Word Count: we require 1,000 words minimum but prefer more. Ultimately, you only need to write as many words as necessary to convey your advice, ideas, or experience.

Photos: we need high-quality images, preferably with light editing in a program like Lightroom.

We prefer the author takes these; however, if that's not possible, they can be sourced from sites like Unsplash or Flickr Creative Commons as long as proper attribution is included (if necessary).

If an image can't be found there, a stock photo site can be used as a last resort.

Our rule of thumb is about one photo for every 250-300 words.

Portrait, landscape, or a mixture of both (horizontal and vertical) orientations are okay, and they should be a minimum of 1,500 pixels for the SHORTEST side to ensure they appear sharp on high-resolution screens.

Please try to keep the size of image files to around 1 MB or smaller.

At least one photo, preferably the best in the article, must be 1200×1200 pixels. These are the dimensions Google prefers for the “feature” image that may appear in search results.

Editing: we review and edit all submissions for proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, formatting, and SEO.

The cleaner your copy, the faster we can get your article scheduled. Should there be a need for more significant structural changes, the author will be given feedback on how the article can be improved. 

Advertising Disclosure

Go Backpacking is supported by advertising. We're a long-time member of the Mediavine Travel Network. Therefore, we display ads in almost all content. 

We also reserve the right to add a limited number of relevant affiliate links for the same reason.

How to Pitch Your Story Ideas

If you've read this far and agree to the terms above, please email me at [email protected] with 3-5 story ideas you think would work well for Go Backpacking's audience. 

Include a brief intro about yourself, including the blog or website you want to link to and why you are the right person to write about your proposed topics. Please keep it short! 

Use “Submission” in the subject line.

Questions? You can email me those, too.

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Last Updated on October 4, 2023 by Dave Lee