Are you a traveler or journalist looking to share your journey with the world? Today, we’re happy to introduce our new WordPress theme that helps you do just that. It’s called Wanderlust, and in this post, I’d like to give you a little tour of everything it has to offer.
With the rise of the digital economy, there’s been an accompanying rise in digital travelers and location independent workers. I know this because I’m one of them!
And as people like you and I spread around the world, we want to share our travel experiences with everyone else (or at least our friends and family, right?). That simple little idea is the impetus behind Wanderlust.
From the ground up, Wanderlust is built to support those who love exploring the world and sharing their experiences with others. It’s the perfect theme for travel bloggers, travel sites, or wandering journalists.
If you’d like to learn why that is, keep reading and I’ll show you some of the nifty ways in which Wanderlust can help you share your travel experiences with the rest of the world.
Why Is Wanderlust Perfect for Travel Sites?
Look, we didn’t set out to create just another WordPress theme. Instead, we packed Wanderlust full of the features travel bloggers actually need. Here’s how Wanderlust helps you share your life on the road:
A Focus on Visual Imagery
If there’s one commonality across pretty much every single travel site, it’s this one:
A huge emphasis on visuals.
And it makes perfect sense! You’re visiting all of these interesting and beautiful places, so your visitors naturally want to see everything up close and personal. That makes your visual content the lifeblood of your site.
So how does Wanderlust help you showcase all of your cool pictures and videos? Let’s start at the beginning – your homepage.
Wanderlust features 3 different homepage styles, with each one putting your striking visuals front and center.
When visitors land on your homepage, they’ll see a bold, full-width image from your featured posts:
Below, they’ll see even more beautiful visual elements for your latest posts:
You can showcase your posts as boxed or full-width grids, as well as the standard WordPress “post list.”
And it’s not just the homepage which is focused on showcasing the amazing shots you’ve captured on your travels. Wanderlust’s post styles also make it easy to display your content.
In total, Wanderlust ships with 9 different custom post styles that allow you to showcase everything from text, to video, to image galleries.
For example, if you want to showcase a travel video in one post, the Video Banner post style lets you put it front and center:
If you’d rather showcase an image gallery, that’s easy too! Just use one of the 3 image gallery post styles:
And you are, of course, always free to choose the standard post format:
Easy to Make Your Own
Your travel blog is an extension of your personality. That’s why we don’t force you to use our style. Wanderlust is easy to customize and make your own.
Change colors, homepage layouts, etc. You’re never locked into how the demo looks!
Wanderlust makes the whole customization process easy, too. Want to change the color of a specific element? Just use the color picker tool!
Want to add a new widget? Just drag over one of Wanderlust’s custom widgets.
Simple Enough for a Busy Traveler
We’re guessing that you created a travel blog because you like traveling, not because you enjoy playing around with bloated WordPress settings!
That’s why we made Wanderlust easy enough for a busy, on-the-road traveler to use. You don’t need to be a code guru, nor do you need to make managing your travel site your full-time job.
Wanderlust gives you all of the customization settings you need, and none of the ones you don’t. All of the flexibility, with none of the “drowning in theme options.”
We also built in support for popular plugins like Contact Form 7 so that you can easily set up important pages like your contact page.
Social Media is Baked In
Social media is where you connect with readers and other travelers, so it’s naturally an integral part of many travel blogs.
We know this, which is why we baked social media into Wanderlust in two important ways.
First, you can easily add a gorgeous feed of all of your latest Instagram posts in either your sidebar or your footer:
Not using Instagram? No problem! You don’t have to use the Instagram feed. But it’s there if you need it!
Beyond showcasing your Instagram feed, Wanderlust also makes it easy to highlight all of your various social network profiles. Just pick and choose your social networks and link them up via stylish icons.
Your visitors can also share specific posts on their own social media profiles with the built-in social share buttons:
Built for SEO and Performance
Optimized code is one of those things that, done right, you never even notice. Your site just hums along without any issues. It’s great!
But if you have a poorly coded theme, your site will load slowly, bug out sometimes, and just generally be a pain to use.
Don’t worry! We’ve made sure that Wanderlust falls into that first category.
How so?
First, we built Wanderlust on the well-vetted Bootstrap Framework. Then, we followed that up with an emphasis on clean, unbloated code. And finally, we topped it all off with SEO-optimized layouts and easy integration with your favorite SEO plugin.
Wrapping Things Up
Ready to start sharing your awesome travel experiences with the world? At just $39, Wanderlust is affordable for even the most budget of backpackers.
If you’d like to get started, you can purchase Wanderlust here. Or, if you’d rather see it live and in person, you can view the demo here.
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