Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
🌍 The Toolkit Behind The Layered Traveller
30
items Building a travel website is about much more than writing articles. Every guide, Pinterest pin, image, video and email is created using a collection of tools behind the scenes. This is the real toolkit I'm using as I build The Layered Traveller from ...
Sections
7
🏗️ 1. Building the Foundation
✍️ 2. Writing & Research
🎨 3. Images & Design
🎥 4. Video & Content Repurposing
📌 5. Growing an Audience
💰 6. Travel Monetisation
🏗️ 1. Building the Foundation
Every travel website needs a home. These are the platforms that power The Layered Traveller behind the scenes.
My all-in-one platform for getting started in online business. Without the education and tools available here, I would not be where I am now.
Start Free. 4,000 AI Credits Included.
While my Wordpress based site is within Wealthy Affiliate you can use Wordpress on it's own if you want to.
WordPress, Your Way
Kadence has been my theme of choice for this project. I use the free version, it has given me everything I need so far. Very lightweight and adaptable. There are a good amount of free starter templates if you aren't sure where to start.
Kadence | WordPress Theme Directory
I am currently using RankMath as my SEO PlugIn, I haven't had issues with it so far. I took advantage of a great sale and went PRO to access some extra functions. But the free version has enough to get started.
Rank Math - Best Free WordPress SEO Tools in 2026
I still find analytics overwhelming and sometimes hard to understand. The SiteKit plugin gives you a great easy to digest overview of my sites traffic.
Site Kit - Site Kit by Google
Here is why I started The Layered Traveller as a Case Study.
Starting a Second Website: A Practical Case Study from The Gentle Eearner
✍️ 2. Writing & Research
Every article starts with an idea. These are the tools that help me research, organise and write content before it ever reaches my website.
This is my breakdown of SiteContent the writing tool inside Wealthy Affiliate. Just one of the tools I use to assist my writing.
SiteContent & the AI Article Designer: How They Work Inside Wealthy Affiliate
A chatbot of some description is a great partner to have. I think it is important to use them as an assistant not a replacement for you. I use ChatGPT to brainstorm, refine, edit, strategise. But rememember the responses are only as good as your prompting and always check the output, it is not always 100% correct. There is no replacement for the human element.
ChatGPT
Is a great organisational assistant. I use it to record ideas, keep track of social, content calendars. Tracking internal linking. If you use the limited AI credits smartly you can use the free account to set up good systems.
The AI workspace that works for you. | Notion
Great for taking notes, planning projects, use sheets for tracking. So many possibilities.
Google Docs - App Store - Apple
Understand the reasons behind someones search is important to creating content people actually want.
Understanding Search Intent: A Gentle Earner’s Guide
Writing sporadically about unrelated topics is not the way to grow. Building articles around related topics builds your websites authority.
Pillar and Support Content | The Gentle Earner
🎨 3. Images & Design
Photography is still my first choice, but these are the tools I use when I need graphics, Pinterest images or to creatively fill photography gaps."
This platform is brand new, just out of Beta, I was lucky enough to be one of the testers in the last couple of weeks. It's abilities are amazing. It is invite only, you can create a free account through this link and give it a try.
Kre8or — Create, Remix & Earn with AI
Image Studio is the Image Creation Studio within Wealthy Affiliate. It is where I started to explore image generation. It has come a long way since it's launch. It has been great for filling the gaps in my own images.
Image Studio Has Officially Launched! (Get 20K AI Credits Free)
I use Canva mostly around Pinterest, I have built templates with my websites branding that I can just drop images into which makes bulk creating alot quicker.
Canva: Visual Suite for Everyone
A gallery of just a snapshot of what Image Studio and Kre8or are capable of.
See What’s Possible
🎥 4. Video & Content Repurposing
One trip can become far more than one blog post. These tools help me turn articles and travel footage into short-form content and hopefully longer form in the near future.
I find Capcut easy to use in making videos, short form only so far, but I am sure it will transfer well to long form when I get there. I have a simple workflow.
CapCut AI Video Editor: Smart Online Video Editing with Advanced AI Tools
Sometimes videos just need to be smaller. For a better user experience on your website, for easier uploading or transfering. This free tool is easy to use.
HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder
I almost didn't start video at all, here is why.
Starting Reels After Avoiding Them: A Gentle Learner’s Guide
Put together in CapCut
You don’t expect this in Istanbul 🇹🇷 #travel #istanbul #balat #walkwithme
📌 5. Growing an Audience
Publishing is only the beginning. These are the platforms helping people actually discover my work.
Pinterest is probably underutilised to a degree. I know I ignored it for a while, it is it's own search engine.
Pinterest
This platform we are on right here has become a way to share my work with a new audience.
Benable | Find & share your favorite everything
This is what I use to capture the emails of and keep in touch with my audience. It will also potentially become a monetisation opportunity in the future.
Kit: Email Marketing Automation & Newsletter Growth Engine for Creators (formerly ConvertKit)
The newest addition to The Layered Traveller toolkit. Create just about anything you want with zero coding experience required.
Join Lovable - Build for the web 20x faster
💰 6. Travel Monetisation
I am very early in the monetisation journey as my website is only a few months old. I was very wary of introducing monetisation too early. Of course everyone wants to make money but I was careful of how I went about it.
I am just dipping my toes into monetisation, I have been focussed on growing my content first. I have just joined Stay22 but have hear great things about them and look forward to seeing how it goes.
Layered Traveller Referral – Stay22 Travel Hub
Just joined. Getting everything setup at the moment!
Travel Affiliate Partnership Platform | Affiliate Programs - Travelpayouts
Amazon is a good starting point. But its short cookie window can make it challenging to get those first few sales.
Amazon.com Associates Central
🌱 7. See It All In Action
You have seen all the tools that I have been using in this list. Here is what I have done with them and how you can follow along with the Case Study if you would like to.
This is what all these tool together have built.
Home -
Just one of the many videos that I have now built combining Image Studio, Canva and CapCut.
This week in Travel 🌍 #travel #solotravel #traveldeeper #recap
You can follow my Case Study here if you would like. It is a bit of a rollercoaster as I learn and grow.
The Travel Site Case Study: Building a Website Step by Step