If you’re considering a backpacking trip around the world, you should be writing a travel blog. One thing to remember is you won’t be alone. The travel blogosphere is vast and growing daily.
There are heaps of reasons why you – and literally hundreds of other people – write travel blogs.
You meet fantastic people who share your interests, you have a chance to document your travels, and hopefully you will inspire other people to escape their comfort zone and explore the unknown.
If you’re writing a travel blog, chances are you want people to read it. You have something to say, photos to share, and advice to give. What if you’re not getting as much traffic as you’d hope for?
What if no one seems to be reading, retweeting, or commenting on your blog posts?
One of the most rewarding aspects of writing a blog is knowing there are people listening to you. Remember, your blog won’t become successful over night – yet you should undoubtedly be aiming for success.
So, grab a coffee, a beer, or a cup of tea and think about these
7 Reasons Why Your Travel Blog Doesn’t Get as Much Traffic as You Want:
1) You Post Too Often
More and more people are becoming interested in travel blogs. That’s exciting. Be they cubicle dwelling virtual travelers, career breakers planning a trip, or other travelers on the road, the number of people that follow travel blogs is growing. Rapidly.
So is the number of travelers writing a travel blog. The market is quite simply flooded with blog posts.
If you’re posting four or five times each week, your readers – who are inevitably following other travel blogs – simply won’t be able to keep up with the travel photos, travel advice, or stories you have to share.
2) Your Posts Are Too Long
Writing a travel blog isn’t easy. You’re forced to balance traveling, with planning, with meeting other travelers, along with everything that goes into actually running a travel blog. You have to come up with ideas for posts, format them, answer emails from your followers, and deal with advertisers.
So don’t make it any harder than it has to be.
As your readers are busy, don’t make them read small novels – anything over 1,000 words is too long. Keep your blog posts short and sweet and more people will take the time to read them.
3) Where Are the Photos?
Blog readers are visually influenced. Regardless of what you’re writing about, you should be including photos. Lots of them.
Photos add life to your blog and make your posts easier to read.
Creative Commons offers up heaps of fantastic photos you’re free to use – just be sure to give credit when credit is due.
4) You Only Talk About Yourself
By the very nature of being a traveler, you’re bound to have stories to tell. That’s fantastic – but there is a time and a place. Believe it or not, your travel blog often isn’t the place.
You got really drunk last weekend? Fantastic. You went on a great tour with a funny guide? Sweet as.
Your audience doesn’t need to know, and doesn’t want to know, what you’re doing each day you’re on the road. Keep your posts appealing to a wide range of people and your traffic numbers will inevitably increase.
5) You Don’t Read Other Travel Blogs
The travel blog community is fantastic – it’s filled with open, helpful, and genuine travelers who share your same passions. One of the best ways to gain traffic and traction in the travel blogosphere is by reading, commenting, and promoting other blog posts.
The faces behind the blogs you visit regularly will slowly make their way to your blog – and by leaving compelling comments, you’re bound to pick up traffic from other commenters as well.
6) You Don’t Use Enough Lists
One of the most important things to consider when writing a blog post is the title. This is what determines whether or whether not someone will potentially even click through to read your post.
Your post titles should be both compelling and list focused.
- 7 of Australia’s Most Spectacular Views received 100 retweets in less than a week
- 7 Reasons You Should Experience Backpacking in Thailand has received 75 retweets
- 20 of New Zealand’s Best Views has received 108 retweets
- 7 Tips for Successful Long Term Travel has received 121 retweets
Your posts will gain far more traction and traffic if you consider what sells well in the social media community.
7) You Haven’t Waited Long Enough
Your travel blog won’t become successful overnight. It’s as simple as that.
Even if you’re doing everything right – and have been for months – you still may not be getting as much traffic as you want. Keep at it.
While many travel blogs pop up each day, an equal number fizzle out. Stay focused and continue to offer compelling, new, and photo-rich content and the traffic and interaction on your blog will steadily increase.
What’s your take? Leave your feedback or traffic generating tips in the comments section below.
Backpacking Matt 
Great post, Matt! You make some really, really great point here. The most important being that success (no matter how you measure it) doesn’t happen overnight.
And, while I know plenty of bloggers will turn up their noses at your hint to include list posts, I’m glad you mentioned that. As long as your blog isn’t just list after list, list posts are great. And you’re correct in saying that they do really well on social media, too.
I would add two things. First, I would tack on a counter point in your “You Post Too Often” point. Beacause the opposite could also be true – You Don’t Post Enough. If you’re only updating sporadically every month or so, people may lose interest, or simply just forget to check in. You at least want to be consistent, whatever it is that you’re doing. (And, to play devil’s advocate a bit, I’ve found that my frequent posting schedule HAS actually increased my traffic!)
And I would also add: You’re Not Engaging Your Readers. Whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook, or simply by trying to involve readers on your blog, if you’re ignoring these steps, you can bet your traffic is probably going to suffer. Even if I’m telling a personal story on my blog, I try to turn it around at the end by posing a question to my readers. Many bloggers (you included) do this, and it really does work. By ending with a question, I think it motivates readers to leave comments more.
@Amanda Cheers for the thorough comment.
I think anyone that turns their nose up to the list post tip doesn’t quite get blogging. That’s what ‘sells’ if you will. List posts – similar to pictures, headings, and posts that are both short and sweet – are exactly what most internet users want. Our generation, and bloggers specifically, are busy and preoccupied people. With Facebook, Twitter, Google News, GChat, Flickr and (god forbid!) work to focus on, there is only so much time to spend reading blogs. Lists are quick, to the point, and marketable.
I think there is a fine line between posting too much and not enough. You’re exactly right – you don’t want followers to forget about you. Nonetheless, I think if you make sure WHEN you post, you’re producing flash content that readers WANT to read, you’ll find your traffic continues to stay steady. People will continue to check back – clicking through to your site hoping for a new post. Aim to be that blog that people say, “Damnit! Why isn’t there a new post up? I better check back tomorrow.”
That being said, I’m sure your devils advocate point is true as well – a steady stream of posts, predictable updates if you will, also will ensure your traffic numbers stay high.
I feel you on ending with a question – engaging your readers. A ‘call to action’ if you will to get the comments going.
I find a lot of people are really impatient. I blogged for 8 months before people really started noticing me and that was after a lot of work. Most people don’t even know I started my trip in Mexico and traveled through Central America!
@Ayngelina You’re a perfect example of someone who has kept at it and reached success – I’m always blown away by the interaction you get in comments on your blog. I’m afraid far too many bloggers give up because they don’t see the success they want overnight – or even after 3 or 6 months. I think to be successful at blogging, you really have to love what you do.
Good tips, and some that I can certainly learn from. Love the new look by the way.
@Kim Thanks – Glad you’re digging the new look and all the best planning your trip RTW!
I’d have to say I strongly disagree with 3 of these points and mildly disagree with 2 more, and disagree with the advice contained in one more.
This is almost the opposite of the advice I would give to someone who wanted to start a travel blog.
1) Unless you are posting 20x a day, you probably can’t post too much. The sites with the most traffic post the most often: see Mashable, Techcrunch, Gadling, etc. I post every single day and that is one of the reasons for my traffic.
2) Longer posts do better. No one shares 250 word posts. My best performing posts are all over 1000 words. This is something which many other people have confirmed. Good articles take time to be developed and that is hard to do at 300 words. Google and social media both like longer articles.
3) Yes photos are good, but using stock images is counterproductive. You have to use your own photos as much as you have you use your own words. I use my own photos everywhere on my site almost exclusively. The only exceptions are when I’m not allowed to take photos or didn’t have my camera with me (or I was the subject of the photo). Here’s a great article on why generic photos don’t work: http://community.nytimes.com/comments/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/study-shows-people-ignore-generic-photos-online/
4) My blog is all about me. The only thing I can talk about are my experiences. I can talk about places I visit or other people I meet, but in the end, all blogs are ego centric to some degree. If it wasn’t, there would be no need to travel. Just post news items and press releases. People follow me because I’m me. Personality is what gives life to a blog. People follow a blog because of the blogger.
5) I read many travel blogs, but I don’t comment that much. While I like other travel bloggers, they aren’t my audience. Too many travel bloggers make this mistake and they wind up just sharing the same echo chamber with other bloggers and spend too much time talking about travel blogging. I only comment if I think I have something valuable to contribute (like this).
6) I don’t write lists. I am at a loss to understand how doing the same thing everyone else does can be a path to success??? Making lists will not make you stand out from a crowded field. Lists are to blogging what cotton candy is to nutrition. While retweets are a measure of success for a post, if you post the same article 10-20x over the course of a week or two, you’ll get lots of retweets. I guess I don’t get blogging….
7) Yes, things take time. I agree with this.
8) I’d also add that writing about blogging on a travel blog is a bad idea too. You are only catering to bloggers and not the infinitely larger general public.
I’m sorry, but I think this article is full of really bad advice.
You should post often, write long, use your own photos, avoid lists, focus on the non-travel blogging world, and let your personality infect the blog.
Doing the opposite of this has gotten me 21k subscribers, 14k facebook fans, 100,000 visits a month, a book deal, a mention by Time Magazine as one of the best blogs in the world and a gig with one of the most prestigious magazines in the US (which I’ll be announcing in 2 weeks). It works.
@Gary Great to see your comment – as you said, you rarely comment on other travel blogs and it was a welcomed surprise to see your comment here — even if you’ve ripped my post to shreds. When I was writing this, I knew very well I’d strike some nerves – though at its heart, I feel this is good advice for travel bloggers trying to break into a very saturated market.
I think you’re in a – well deserved – league of your own Gary. By being one of the first guys to break into the field of travel blogging, you’re ultimately well positioned in the blog market regardless of what you do. As @Legalnomads said, a new blogger needs to first figure out who their audience is. For a new traveler setting off in the world and the blogsphere, the logical place for them to go for support, inspiration, and advice on travel (and perhaps for tips on travel blogging 😉 ) is to other travel bloggers. So if that’s where their comments and readers initially come from — I think that’s perfect. I’m immensely grateful for the support, advice, comments, and emails I’ve received from other travel bloggers.
I’ll agree that making bad lists won’t make you stand out in a crowded field. You could retweet them 20 – 30x over the course of a week or two, and they still would be bad. Yet a list that makes good points, is supported with visually appealing photos (even if they’re not your own), and offers advice or inspiration to your readers is a great idea for the reasons I’ve already mentioned – namely, most blog readers are busy.
If Jon Traveler quit his job today and started to travel the world, I’m nearly certain his travel blog wouldn’t take off if he followed your advice. Saying this, if Jon posted 1,000+ word posts each day only about himself and his daily travel updates, he’d have a hard time gaining followers. Sure, you don’t want your sole traffic to be other bloggers (though I for one love the interaction in the community), but this is the logical place to gain readers, fans, and followers. Jon Traveler would undoubtedly have a hard time gaining traction online – if, as you’re suggesting, he never commented on other travel blogs.
My experience on posting is not the same. The more I post, the more traffic I get. I try for at least a couple of posts a day.
For those scoring at home, I only get 1/3 of Gary’s website visits a month, but in my defense, I did also got more than 100,000 downloads a month for the Amateur Traveler podcasts (audio and video) last year.
Patience is definitely a requirement for getting your blog out there in what’s become an increasingly saturated field, but I’m not sure blanket advice can apply to anyone starting a blog. Ultimately you want to stand out from the rest of the crowd – something that is more and more difficult as more and more people are blogging. I’ve had people tell me over the years that my posts are too long or that I talk too much about history or that I need to post more often, but in the end I chose to write about what I felt passionate about, and that’s what I continue to do.
I think the most important advice before any of the advice listed up there is to figure out who you want your audience to be. Is it other travel bloggers? Is it economics or philosophy students who want to escape and armchair travel? Is it professionals who need a break at work? In figuring out your audience, you can start building the tone of your blog accordingly.
And then, as you’ve said? Keep at it.
@Jodi Patience is key – as is finding your place in the market. I look forward to your blogs posts as they are – as you said – full of history and your passionate views are expressed through great writing. Standing out is increasingly difficult and something a new blogger has to find ways to overcome. I think the 7 tips listed above, used in one way or another, will help you stand out. As you say, blanket advice can’t be applied to everyone yet these are good points to at least consider.
Matt,
I tell you what, I was going to write a long answer, but I think there is a simpler solution…
Lets put it to the test.
You take one blogger who is willing to take your advice and I’ll take one blogger who will take my advice. We will each mentor the new blogger in whatever we think will work best. I wont even link to or retweet that person just to make it fair. I’ll only give advice.
We’ll see how they do after one year. If you want you can even write status updates every few months on your site. All the promotion of the contest can be done on your site or a 3rd party site.
What do you say?
@Gary Cheers for the offer, however I’m going to respectfully decline. Why would I agree to put a new blogger through a 12 month mentorship from yourself that I truly don’t feel would find them success? I don’t want to duke this out through a competition – that’s not what travel blogging is about to me. For someone new to traveling and travel blogging, there is so much support that can be found through interacting with other travel bloggers.
To encourage someone new to not fully immerse themselves in the travel blog community is to take away from them what I’ve found to be one of the most rewarding aspects of writing a travel blog. I won’t do that.
Better to suggest what people should do rather than shouldn’t. So post as often as you can, preferably longer form pieces — longer the better. But don’t natter for the sake of natter. Always use your own pics – it’s your blog – and that’s why you should write about yourself. You want the reader to identify with you, not what you’re looking at. Other blogs are a distraction – concentrate on what you want to do with your blog, not what others are doing with theirs. And don’t write for other travel bloggers. Never ever ever write a list post. Wait. You’ll be looking at six months to a year before you get any traction.
I definitely think that these are some great tips, although there are always exceptions to the rule. Some bloggers can post every day, even if it’s just a photo, and get tons of traffic. Some bloggers can write super-long posts on the reg, and still get people to read them.
As a reader of many travel blogs, I find that I gravitate toward blogs that follow the basic rules of posting on the web: use photos, use bullets, use bold print when it works. Ones that are really badly designed or full of wordy text tend to lose me. And ones that post almost every day–I rarely actually read through every piece when my Google Reader fills up!
Overall, I think you have to stick with what Jodi says: know your audience. I know that I’m not the most typical “travel blog” but I’ve found something that I think works for me and something that, more importantly, I enjoy writing.
When it comes down to it, you have to know why you’re writing. Are you writing for more readers or are you writing for yourself?
I think it is really important to write for a wider audience than just the travel writing circle. The Travel blogging circle is a great community but even with so many new blogs coming out all the time it is still a small audience if you think about how many non-blog-writing travellers there are in the world.
I also make a point to only use my own photos on my site. I’d rather see the experience I’m reading about than stock photos when I’m reading and believe it brings authenticity to my writing too.
@Liv I think you can write posts that appeal to both travel bloggers and non travel bloggers. What I find is important is writing posts that are generally appealing to web users. As @AdventurousKate said, writing with short paragraphs, bold text, headings and the using of photos.
As far as using stock photos, I rarely do this. I’d say somewhere along the lines of 98% of the photos on this blog are either my own, my ex-girlfriend’s, or belong to guest posters. I’ll use visually appealing Creative Commons photos when writing posts similar to this that are offering travel or travel blogging advice.
Here’s me… being all patient. 😉
I agree (and try to stick to) most of your points, but these lists… I do realize this is what people want to read and what they have time for, but it’s a bit like mainstream films, if you know what I mean, you make them all eye candy like, but they have to meaning, while independent films have less product placement and the like, but are more meaningful and hold more interest, at least for a certain group of people. I think with my blog I’d rather aim at the category of readers. I do realize it’ll make my road to “success” even longer, but I really think one should cover the topic one wants to cover other than succumb to posting what people want to read (which I think oftentimes is very useless).
I have just started my travel blog and I’ve read a lot of travel blogs over the last few weeks to try and gauge what I like, what I don’t like, what seems to be working, what doesn’t work and so on.
I don’t think there can be one golden set of rules to running a successful travel blog, clearly Gary and Matt have both had success but what works for one blog might not work for the other.
Solid points but I think you may have left out the most obvious, if not the most difficult to say ; #8 Your Blog Sucks. Just because a person can flop their hands against the keyboard doesn’t mean the resultant post is unique, compelling, funny, interesting, helpful ect ect…
Or maybe I am just a dick 😉
Matt, while I think you make some great points, I strongly disagree with you on quite a bit of what you’ve written here.
1) Posting too often is a reason why your blog doesn’t get enough traffic?! That could not be more untrue in my case. I always get more traffic when I have a new post, even when I’m on a social media blackout (and believe me, Vietnam was one giant social media blackout).
I can understand that people may get annoyed by lots of items in their RSS readers, but we’re talking about traffic here, right? New posts lead to more traffic for me — always, no matter what.
And also, the majority of my readers don’t read any other travel blogs! The majority of them have no idea what RSS even is! You have to be careful — most people are not bloggers.
2) As Some Dude once said (too lazy to Google), “No bad movie is too short. No good movie is too long.” The same goes for travel blog posts.
Some of my most-shared posts have been long ones. Once again, it all comes down to the subject and the quality of the writing.
I actually think it’s most important to tailor your writing to the web. Learning to write for the web requires shorter paragraphs, the use of boldface, and many photos — in short, you’re writing for those with a shorter attention span.
3) Yes. By all means, include photos. Unlike Gary, I don’t think using stock photos decreases the integrity of your blog; however, I personally take care to only include them when I have no images of my own.
4) Wow. As a travel blogger who has built her site around her personality, I have a huge problem with this one. The most successful posts on my site — Adventurous Kate Goes to a Bangkok Ping Pong Show is one — have been incredibly personal, all about myself!
I think you need to rephrase this one, Matt. “Don’t be boring.” When I left for my Asia jaunt, I wrote that I didn’t want my site to turn into, “Then I went back to the hostel, then I met a friend, then we walked around, then we got some food…” That’s boring.
But if you can find an entertaining story — like the night you accidentally spent drinking with a Thai Mafia Don — there is nothing bad about that at all. If it will entertain your readers, it’s fair game!
In short, don’t write about hanging out at the hostel — unless you were tattooing the Australian flag on your face and racing two frogs named Carlos and Lady Gaga. (That post will be coming up in a few months.)
Let me add that personal travel blogs are my favorites. Also, I’ve always told you how much I love your (rare) personal posts!
5) Just copy and paste Gary’s response — I could not agree more.
I’d like to add — when writing, I always keep in mind that most of my readers are casual blog readers reading mine in between celebrity blogs, culture blogs and their friends’ blogs.
6) Lists do make a great addition to a travel blog, but they have to be GOOD lists. Am I going to take the time to read “10 Sites to See in Barcelona”? Probably not. But “Top 10 Strange Foods to Eat in Vietnam”? Totally.
Again, lists are great, and they DO send traffic (and the @lonelyplanet Twitter account LOVES them), but ultimately, it’s all about the content.
7) This is very true — you can’t expect overnight success. You also shouldn’t try to rush something that should happen organically.
I don’t know, Matt…I love your blog, and I know we have two totally different travel blogging styles, but I’m really, really surprised at this list!
@Kate Clearly, a post will result in traffic – in this way, more posting will theoretically result in more traffic. It’s my opinion that as the market is saturated with travel blogs, a new travel blogger will find more success by posting less frequently rather than more frequently. As @Nicolas said, 2 – 3x a week is probably ideal.
Your blog is a perfect example of a successful blog that is based around a personality. I guarantee you have people checking AdventurousKate.com thinking, ‘I wonder what she got up to now!’ — or — ‘I wonder if she’s been skinny dipping on Koh Lanta.’ And this is fantastic. It’s bringing you heaps of traffic and followers that come to your site for a specific reason. I guess in many ways it depends on what theme and direction you want your blog to take – and there is probably no right answer for this. Ironically, with a blog name of Backpackingmatt.com – you’d think my blog would only be about my travels. However I’ve tried to take it in the direction of offering practical travel advice that is beneficial to a wide range of travelers – backpackers, budget travelers, or travel bloggers.
It’s a cocktail that is tricky to mix. It’s not simply Red Bull, Sang Som, and Coke. Not all of these points will work for all bloggers. Yet a combination of them will surely help a new travel blogger break into the saturated market.
I’ve tried to stick to these – more or less – for 16 months and am happy with where they’ve gotten my blog. Granted I don’t have ’21k subscribers, 14k facebook fans, 100,000 visits a month, a book deal, a mention by Time Magazine as one of the best blogs in the world and a gig with one of the most prestigious magazines in the US’ but I have a blog that gets traffic levels I’m happy with and readers, fans, and followers — and now mates — that I connect with on a regular basis.
As a still new and still growing travel blogger, I have read through this post and every last comment absorbing what is being said. I agree with a lot of the comments for various reasons.
Myself, I like reading personal posts and if that personal story happens to include some fantastic suggestions then lucky for me!
I think that everyone has to really target their own audience and find their own voice. Some people can write small novels as posts and not include pictures and still have a multitude of readers because of their voice and writing style. It’s not difficult for me to read through 1,000+ of a post if I’m laughing along or feel like I can hear the blogger telling me the story.
For my growth personally I think that I need to learn the virtue of patience first and foremost. I get easily discouraged when I can’t seem to get interactions on Facebook or Twitter and when I don’t get many blog comments but even after more than 6 months, I still have a lot of work to do.
A major thing about my own writing that I’ve noticed is that I haven’t found a particular category of writing to focus on. I mix personal stories with recommendations of the things I have seen. I don’t know if that makes my content confusing to people but I don’t think that I should have to choose just one thing, it is my blog after all.
For the traffic and commenting, I do find it discouraging but I have to keep in mind that many of the blogs I follow are also followed by many other people and therefore they may not find the time to keep up on what all of their readers are writing, as sometimes even I don’t. I have found a group of people that are loyal to my blog and I do my best to return that loyalty because I appreciate it. That’s what blogging is about to me.
I actually think it’s a little bit rude that ‘popular’ bloggers don’t comment on other blogs. Of course, if you don’t like, don’t read or don’t feel compelled to comment on a particular blog or post then by no means am I saying you should write something generic. But I think that by not commenting much at all it’s almost as if saying that you can’t be bothered to support anyone else that is attempting to do what you have done. I don’t appreciate people who can’t support what I’m attempting to do. Since the only way of seeing support of a blog is by retweeting or commenting, then to me that shows that I’m not being supported and I won’t waste my time attempting to get to know a popular blogger like I’m battling to be friends with the cool kids in high school.
@Annie as you and @Camorose have said, it’s very much a mater of finding your own voice – finding what works for you. Yes, I can read blog posts that are 1,000+ words if they’re entertaining and well composed. Though it doesn’t work for everyone, it works well for some – but hey, it’s hard to do a list post if you don’t generalize a wee bit. 😉
I don’t think there is anything wrong with an ‘I scratch your back, you scratch mine’ outlook in the blogging community. Isn’t that in some ways what blogging is about? Reading, commenting, and interacting with other bloggers. Isn’t that why the comments section is there? I remember how excited I was when I first started blogging and would notice a comment by the lovely @foxnomad. That feeling of knowing a talented and successful blogger was reading and commenting on my blog was fantastic.
@Kate I don’t think using stock or creative commons photos hurts the integrity of a blog. I do think using original photos, however, is better.
Most people flip through travel magazines looking at photos. Photos are important and most people can tell a stock image.
Also, someone once asked me what travel bloggers I thought had the most personable blogs and I had you on that list. You have a very unique style.
People don’t follow blogs. They follow bloggers.
@Annie I suppose I’m one of the cool kids. I have over 100 travel blogs in Google Reader that I follow. I read a LOT. I think that is support. I just can’t comment on everyone’s blog. It is impossible. I have a hard enough time updating my site. I do occasionally comment, but only when I have something to say. Most posts don’t require commentary. Likewise, I retweet a lot of stuff, but I can’t retweet everything.
This notion of “if you don’t comment on my site, I wont comment on yours” is exactly the problem with focusing on other bloggers. It becomes an obligation after a while. There is no merit in getting a comment or a retweet if you are just doing it out of obligation instead of actually liking it. Mutual back scratching turns blogging into a game, not content publishing.
You also can’t scale reciprocity. If you do that, the size if your site will be limited by the number of comments you can make.
Sorry Matt, but I have to agree with a couple of commenters here when it comes to the topics photos and personal stories. Of course it all depends on your target audience but after reading your intro I think I can assume that you rather aim for the personal travel bloggers than for the ones who blog about a specific topic (food, Spain,…)
For personal bloggers, I think personal stories and photos (as Gary already mentioned) are a must. As a reader I want to be able to relate to the blogger, and that is hard to do with only a 500 word about page.
For example, the blog of Adventurous Kate is not very educational (sorry Kate) but still I read every of her posts, because she has a good writing style and because she experiences a lot of adventures. In the meanwhile it feels like I know personally, and I feel curious about what will happen next.
If you don’t give your posts a personal touch, there is quite a chance that you’ll end up with a blog that gives a little bit of info about a lot of places, info that has most probably been given before by other bloggers.
About the amount of posts, I think 2 to 3 a week is quite ok. When someone posts on a very rare basis, I forget about the person. When someone posts daily, I skip a lot of his/her posts.
I find this post very intriguing and I do agree on some points Matt pin pointed. I find that long posts are ususally more significant but let’s face it who has the time to read all of them ? So the art of involving people while reading is making the difference, you may use bulletin list, a dialogue or whatever technique but if your topic is not enough interesting or showing your experience with a touch of your personality people are not likely to come back.
Hey, I just discovered your blog – this is a great post!
It makes sense that most bloggers don’t have time to comment on everyone’s blog and I completely understand that. I realized that I made it sounds like a “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” and that’s not what I wanted to say. A lot of the blogs I comment on don’t comment back on mine and that doesn’t mean that I don’t consider them supportive. I understand that not everyone likes my content.
I just mean that it’s important to me to feel like someone is reaching out to me in some way, either by commenting or retweeting my stuff, replying to my comments on their posts thoughtfully or connecting in another way. I don’t like being made to feel like travel blogging is a game or a business because that’s not what I got into it for and with the popularity turn it has taken I’m starting to feel pressure to ‘be the best’ and feel like it’s easy for new bloggers to get stomped on sometimes.
No need for anyone to wax defensive here, but clearly two very disparate pov have emerged. Personally I think such differences of opinion are a GOOD thing, and can lead to a better, more well-rounded and diverse environment for the travel blogging sphere as a whole.
That said, I admit that – reading the “7 Reasons” as posted, I likewise found myself falling decidedly outside the tightly posited points for most all but the last: Patience young grasshopper, patience.
And furthermore, as a fresh new travel blogging grasshopper here, myself – I’d be DELIGHTED to squander/bet on a “12 month mentorship” as @Gary’s guinea piglet.
After all, there’s clearly no one-size-fits-all for success (in any endeavor), so a friendly little duel of travel blogging philosophies could only prove helpful to all, yes?
Really enjoyed this post! You are all right, I’ve learned what the word PATIENCE means only with the travel blog! And photos are definitely a must, plus not very long post. List post are very useful for travelers and bloggers, too.
@Matt Don’t worry about me ruining the career of other people. I have already had several people volunteer who want my help who have read my offer. I’ve also been helping several other bloggers the last year who have seen dramatic increases in growth, so I know what I’m saying works for new bloggers.
It isn’t a competition, it’s education. You learn what works through gathering data, not by making claims without any evidence. The community would learn by making this public.
Since you don’t want to take me up on this offer to help educate the travel blogging community and drive traffic to your site, I tell you what I’ll do….
I’ll pick several up and coming travel bloggers and informally mentor them for the rest of 2011 for FREE. No cost, no course, no ebook, no nothing. I’m going to put my time and money where my mouth is.
I’ll publish the results on my personal blog: Gary.arndt.com
Anyone who is interested in taking part can contact me.
@Gary Wow mate, that’s fantastic! It’s great of you to be giving back to the community, and I do sincerely look forward to following the results of your mentorship.
I think if this post has accomplished one thing, it’s to point out that there really isn’t a streamlined approach to designing a successful travel blog. What works for some won’t work for others. These tips have worked well for me and I was glad to see conflicting views – as @Paul said, these drastically different opinions are good for a new blogger to consider. Ultimately, it’s up to you to find your voice, your niche, and your strategy for success.
For someone starting out in travel blogging articles like these are great as you not only get the authors opinion but that of other established bloggers.
I’ve found that interacting with fellow travellers on Twitter has been the best way to get involved and get my site out there.
Also reading other blogs is a good idea as you get to see the style of others and get great tips though it is very important you find your own voice to be truly unique.
Hell Matt, I thought I got in trouble with a funny post about my hatred of Top 10 lists, but must say I admire your gumption for getting out there on this one. Kudos, dude.
I agree and disagree with a lot of this, but if you are talking to a newbie blogger about getting traffic to their site, I think the mechanics of what they post (how often, what about, lists, etc.) is far less important than simply finding your voice and… the one thing I haven’t seen mentioned to much, work hard at social media. StumbleUpon. Twitter. Reddit. Facebook. Commenting on people’s blogs, etc.
There isn’t any right or wrong way, or more importantly, perfect way of doing a blog. That’s why a bunch of us that have gone through different types of methods have found success through different means.
@Michael Thanks for the admiration – I expected some disagreement, but I didn’t see the tone of the comments going the way the have.
As you and @Lauren point out, Social Media is a great way to find new readers and promote your work. Do you think you pick up many readers on Twitter who aren’t also travel bloggers? I’m not sure of the answer, just curious of your thoughts …
Great back and forth this post is stirring up. You’re a smart cookie — I’m sure this will become one of your most commented posts.
Anyway, I was surprised that you didn’t include “You Don’t Promote Yourself Enough.” I’m saying this more from a freelance writer perspective since I don’t have a top travel blog, but using Twitter and Facebook in addition to email is crucial to getting everyone to read your stuff. Don’t just post the link once on Twitter — post it several times a day for several days.
Many people forget, though, that a lot of folks don’t use Twitter and Facebook, and these are people who would otherwise read your stuff if they had a different way of accessing it. I find it’s helpful to send mass emails of all the places you’ve been published or the link to your latest posts to colleagues, contacts, friends and family, especially good old Aunt Edna who won’t see your link on Facebook.
Just my thoughts.
@Lauren Perhaps my number 8 should have been, “You Don’t Piss Enough Established Travel Bloggers Off Enough.” 🙂 A great suggestion is posting a Tweet several times a day. I do, and I think this is key to making sure all of your followers see the latest work you’re trying to promote. Thanks for the comment and get that flight booked to Aotearoa!
@Gary — That’s really nice to hear! Thanks — and thanks for the reminder about how important personality is.
@Nicolas — Thanks so much! And if you want educational, you could always glean wisdom from learning what NOT to do…
@Matt — Thanks for the kind words. And I really hope anyone hasn’t been collating our Lanta-related blog comments to each other, or they’d have quite the story to tell…
Your tips are great! The first one is especially interesting since most bloggers will say the opposite, and tell you to post daily if possible.
I think you’re absolutely right though! I made a post about Germany last week, and decided to leave it for awhile, without writing any new posts for awhile – well, the number of comments on that post was over double what I normally get, and I gained a lot of new followers! 🙂
Wish I had more time on the Internet because I disagree greatly with you. If you want more comments from other travel bloggers this may work, but it doesn’t matter about traffic. We post every day, we mostly talk about ourselves and we don’t make lists a lot and we receive a lot of traffic.
I strongly agree with Gary on this. You are writing this post for people that want a lot of comments from other bloggers. Most people outside of the travel blogging community don’t follow a lot of blogs and don’t care how often you post. People follow all the blogs Gary mentioned and they post many times.
I find the blogs that have a lot of interaction are focusing on writing for Travel Bloggers and getting comments from other travel bloggers. But what kind of traffic are you getting outside the travel world. Most of these people won’t comment at all, but they will read regularly. I don’t think it is good advice for new travel bloggers at all to focus on getting traffic. Develop a personality and a niche that will get people traffic.
@Dave & Deb You’re correct, I’m writing this to people that want a lot of comments from travel bloggers. I’m writing this for new travel bloggers who might be discouraged with the rate their blog has taken off. I remain convinced these tips work – yes finding your own voice is key, as is making sure you’re posting interesting and compelling posts that don’t necessarily focus on your personal travel narrative.
Comments from other travel bloggers often serve as that indicator of success to a new travel blogger. Once you see the comments, you realize people are reading and listening to what you’re saying. Once you’ve gained this traction, other readers will follow.
Unsurprisingly, I guess, I found myself reading this post and disagreeing – usually quite strongly – with much of it. I post regularly, have very few posts under 1000 words and abhor top ten (or top anything) lists, yet somehow seem to have ever increasing subscribers, traffic, advertising approaches and whatever other measure of success I care to dream up. The bit about waiting, though? Now that I do agree with.
Gary has articulated that line of argument better than I have, so I won’t carry on about it. What I would like to call out as great advice for new bloggers though is Michael’s point about finding your voice. Honestly, that’s the best piece of advice that anyone can give when you’re first starting out. If you sound like most other travel blogs, you’ll end up like most other travel blogs – failing within the first year and giving up.
Don’t be afraid to be different – if you’re good enough, you’ll stand out from the crowd and be a lot more popular than if you play it safe and doing the same thing as everyone else.
@Dave Glad everyone seems to at least agree with one point – it’s not an overnight process! 🙂
If you’re finding success by writing routinely over 1,000 word posts, fantastic – as you’ve said, it’s a mater of finding your voice and what works for you.
Top 10 lists have received a lot of chat recently with @MobileLawyer’s latest post. Interestingly, I’m not sure I’ve ever used 10 as a number and seem to find the most success with 7. I abhor bad list posts, but ones that are well researched and well written are a useful tool for gaining traction. I like @Steph’s notion of making sure your posts are ‘digestible.’ Internet users are busy – and not just travel bloggers – so making sure you have something that can quickly be read and processed – on an iPhone, at work, or in your Google reader is key to getting posts read.
Before I comment I will state my position in this travel blogosphere: I am a new blogger who has only started The Travels of Kenan Lucas a few months ago.
To begin with, I think that a lot of the comments you have generated on this post contain the situation where people are arguing past one another.
What exactly does everyone mean by ‘travel blog’ anyway? The word can be interpreted extensively as opposed to only having a narrow definition. Travel blogs come in all shapes and sizes: they could offer practical travel advice, tell stories to share with families and friends, concentrate solely on a particular topic (travel photography, food, etc) – it is hard to create a formula for success when the genre is so varied.
Obviously Matt your approach is to offer practical advice – so following that, in order to reach a level of success with a travel blog (one which is offering advice as opposed to personal travel stories) what you have said in this post is in my eyes 100% accurate. It appears that a lot of the responses to this article have missed this point entirely.
My own blog contains more of a personal narrative and I must say it has taken my MONTHS to find my own voice but I feel I have actually reached that point right now. I fell into the nomadic lifestyle/self help/7 tips bandgwagon early on, but I have now realised it is not me. Instead, I tell stories. I seek to entertain rather than inform. I am going about just doing my own thing, and I am not so concerned about readership at this stage.
But I must stay that definitely feel a lot of the negative comments on this post are unwarranted and they do not understand what you were seeking to spell out.
In any event, keep up the good work and I enjoy reading your short, photo-heavy, list-based posts 🙂
@Kenan Thanks for the comment – as I said to you, I think you’ve touched on something I only recently began to think about. I’ve designed Backpackingmatt.com with the hopes that it becomes a comprehensive resource for the budget traveler – considering that motive, I always try to keep my posts aimed at ultimately helping the independent backpacker or budget traveler that find their way to my travel blog.
Interestingly, I’d argue then that I’m always thinking about writing to that ‘non travel blogger’ audience. I do my part to keep up to date with others in the community, but I don’t necessarily write to that audience.
I’m glad you’ve found your voice – as everyone agrees, this is what is key to writing a blog that ultimately becomes successful.
I think maybe some people are missing your points in their quest to jump on you for being wrong. Which is weird… because last time I checked there’s no right or wrong way to blog. While I don’t necessarily 1000% agree with you on all your points, I might rephrase them like this:
1. Don’t post crap- wait until you actually have something to say instead of flooding the internet with filler content.
2. Be succinct.
3. Photos, yes, always.
4. Connect with your audience. Talking about yourself is all well and good but nobody is going to care unless you are able to connect it back to them.
5. Be in tune with the industry. Stay connected with fellow bloggers.
6. make sure your content is easily digestible. Whether it be lists or stories, people have pretty short attention spans so it’s good to write in an accessible way.
7. Patience. Yes, god so much patience.
I don’t really write about travel blogging on my own blog (it’s not my niche), but if someone were to ask me for my top advice on building a successful blog I would say:
Write Well.
All of the other stuff: social media, self promotion, posting frequency and formatting, that’s all good stuff too of course, but if you don’t have something interesting to say in a readable way, then you’re pretty much sunk.
Love the new header by the way!
Steph
@Stephanie Touche. 🙂
Thanks for clarifying – I think each of your summations are pretty dead on. I don’t claim to be an expert – these tips are what I believe have worked best for me. It’s my hopes that any developing blogger can read them, take them for what they are, and ultimately decide what works best for their blog.
Great post Matt. I was wondering whether only travel bloggers suffer from this….
But anyway, you are completely right. Talking about me, I started blogging 11 months ago and only now I have gathered a somewhat solid base of readers. You have to keep on promoting your earlier posts (maybe even re-write them after a while as you keep on learning) as your Twitter or Facebook audience also steadily grows.
You can anticipate growth of your blog, but please let it grow organically. Sometimes you can try and cross the line by pro-actively approach companies who might willing to advertise or pay for a post. But don’t rush it.
I am having big fun writing down my travel stories, it’s like sitting around a digital fire with your readers. The blogsphere is amazing (not only travel that is :).
Emiel
@Emiel I completely agree with promoting your earlier posts. As you pick up new readers and followers daily, many of these new fans will miss out on great posts in your archives. This is one of the reasons I wanted to bring the Featured Posts slider to my homepage as it allows me to promote oldies (but goodies).
This has been VERY useful advice! I’m relatively new to the blogging community myself and have so far experienced this issue. I agree with all of the above, especially reading other peoples travel blogs – They’ve truly inspired and helped me find what I like/don’t like in the art of writing as well as provided me with a wealth of knowledge and useful information.
Great suggestions! At first I was posting too long, but now I’m trying to keep it between 500 and 1,000 words and putting something up about every other days. I think that’s easier for people to follow and get into. Reading other people’s blogs, I’ve found how much detail is worth reading and when it’s just too much for readers who don’t know me.
@Amy & @Lani You’ve touched on what I feel is another perk to following other travel blogs in the community. Not only do you get the opportunity to get introduced to fellow travelers, but it helps you to decide what will work best for your own travel blog.
But you should carefully select which blogs to read as there are too many interesting blogs online and you can spend all day reading instead of writing yourself.
P.S. Matt, I can’t get why, but browser shows misspelled title: “7 Reaons ” on the top of window.
Great, I’m already breaking a good 50% of the rules 😀 I just started my new (self-hosted, finaly, yay!) website and I’m finding it very exciting. I’ve had a travel blog for a couple of years on blogspot and now that I’m on wordpress I’m realizing there are a lot of features that I was missing out. Great tips 🙂
Gary’s initial response sums up my sentiments. I’m very new to travel blogging– Green Global Travel launched just 4 months ago– but it does seem to me that travel blogging is an insular world.
After 17 years as a successful freelance writer, I started GGT because I wanted to write in-depth stories about things I felt were important; because I wanted to post several times a day instead of waiting for assignments; because I *DIDN’T* want to write the same Top 10 Lists my magazine clients were paying me to write; because I wanted to write about traveling as a deeply moving personal experience.
My site (which I do not consider a blog, but a magazine, and run it as such) is not the most popular, it doesn’t get a ton of hits or comments, and it hasn’t made me one red cent outside of the 6 travel blogging competitions we’ve won. But I care more about the stories I write for Green Global Travel than I do about those I get paid 50¢-$1 a word for, and I’m willing to make LESS money in exchange for writing about the things I’m passionate about. To me, that’s what a blog should be.
Gary, if you’re looking for somebody to mentor, where do I sign up?
Bret
@Bret I’m not trying to encourage anyone to write about topics they’re not passionate about. Passion bleeds through words and is key to gaining a following. You have to believe in what you’re writing or your words will get nowhere.
I guess I don’t see how this post gives the impression that you should write about things you feel are unimportant.
Wow, as a new travel blogger, I found this post and the comments quite interesting!
Based on my experience thus far, I see where you’re coming from when you say don’t post too often – at this point, I’d much rather post good, quality content less frequently than rush to get something up just for the sake of having another post. If it’s not worth reading, people aren’t likely to return so then what benefit is there? My goal right now is to post once a week consistently, but I don’t pressure myself if I don’t have something I think is quality.
I also tend to disagree (like some others) about post length – I absolutely hate reading really short blog posts. I can’t tell you how many times I see an interesting title and eagerly click to read the post, only to be horribly disappointed at how short it is and lacking in substance. I would much rather write a lengthier post and have people skim through it, possibly finding something of interest, than a short post where people are left feeling deflated or disappointed. But, to each their own.
The tip about patience is so important, though. It’s been fun for me to slowly see my traffic numbers start to rise – when I first started I was getting maybe 10 visitors a day – now I’m consistently getting 50 and sometimes over 100. Of course that’s still quite small. However, considering I’m only 6 months in and I haven’t actually been traveling this whole time (it’s not easy to start a travel blog when you aren’t traveling!), I’m fairly satisfied with it. I’m confident that once I do hit the road and have a lot more to write about, those numbers will continue to go up.
Finally, I’ve found it important just to figure out my voice and style and be confident in it. I’ve realized I’m not going to appeal to everyone – not everyone will be interested in what I write and that’s ok.
@Katie Thanks for the comment – I’m glad you’ve found the conversation that this post has spurred interesting. Lots of dissenting opinions here … and I think good to take them all in and find what will ultimately work best for you.
In regards to your comment on post length, I completely agree that there is nothing worse than a post that is simply too short and lacking substance. As with anything I believe there is a happy medium – I’ve found 750-1,000 words to be just about right. Again I like @Steph’s comment about simply making sure the post is, ‘digestible.’
Very glad to see your traffic numbers rising – good luck and I trust things will really start flowing once you get on the road!
Great post and some food for thought, Matt.
I’m really sorry Matt, I must say I disagree. Although I definitely agree with the patience and using photo tips.
I think it is vital to your success to include stories about you and your life. To stand out from the crowd you have to be different. Everyone can write lists posts (I do) and destination pieces and so forth. The only way you can be unique is by including you and your voice in here. That is the only unique thing about you. I don’t follow real estate investors so to speak, but I follow Donald Trump- why? because of his brand and personality. There are hundreds of business tycoons but he gets my attention.
People follow people, they do not follow blogs. I never read articles or blogs that are written by generic voices. The only blogs I read are those written by people I feel I know and hence like. I share a lot about our life through our blog and fan page. When I meet people in person it always feels a little strange because they talk to me often about my own life, and I have to remind myself how they know all this stuff. It’s the stories of people’s lives that make the blog interesting. I think Kate said it well when she said the trick is to be interesting and find interesting angles.
As for posting too often, I do not agree with this at all. And it is something my blogging mentors have always taught me. Post as often as you can. This puts you out in front of people, shows that you are an authority voice, it builds your brand and gets you noticed. I post daily and this has to be one of the biggest contributors to our success. My traffic goes down if I don’t post, and I don’t want this to happen.
I think your comments in regards to this and the length of post and commenting is directed to one section of readers and that is travel bloggers. Travel bloggers don’t have time to read a lot of blogs, which is why they like them short and sweet and to not be posted often.
I don’t get a lot of comments on my blog, but my traffic numbers are big and growing pretty well. This makes me happy in one respect because this means a lot of my readers are not travel bloggers. This makes me happy, not because I don’t want other bloggers to read my blog- I really love this community- but, it means that I have a wider audience of travellers, or those who don’t but just might like to read what I write. And I appreciate the support of these silent readers so much.
It also does make me a little annoyed at sometimes because I think there is a little bit of the you scratch my back as to what Gary mentioned, which at the same time I can understand. But, I don’t have time to play this game. I read, stumble and tweet a lot of bloggers, and I also write comments when I can. I am ridiculously busy working part time, being a mother and now a sick pregnant one at that. If people get annoyed that I don’t always comment on their blogs then this is not being fair.
I find other ways to support. Craig and I put a lot of effort and time into supporting and sharing others work through our fan page. I also have a lot of bloggers contact me personally for advice and I take the time to always reply and help them as best I can. I think support can come in various ways and needs to be recognized as so.
This is why it is so important to have an audience who aren’t crazy busy blogging their own stuff and who just really love what you do and are loyal followers.
Choose your audience and write to them. Don’t write to other travel bloggers, it is too small a market. Obviously use the community for help and support as it is great.
This whole travel blogging thing is not easy. Ultimately you have to be writing what you are passionate about and you will attract the right audience for you.
I think you have given a lot of people some food for thought here Matt, which I think is brilliant. Your post and the comments can really help people to think more about their plan and how to implement. So even though I disagree on some things, I appreciate what you have written here.
@Caz Thanks for the detailed comment – I really appreciate your feedback.
I find it interesting that so many have jumped on me about the ‘You Only Talk About Yourself’ tip. I agree -as is the going theme in these comments- that it’s crucial to find your own voice and make sure your readers get a feel for who you are by reading your writing. Stories that bring life to your travel experiences are excellent, and I do try to occasionally bring these into my blog.
My advice is simply to not do this TOO often – daily trip updates and stories aren’t necessarily marketable and I think detrimental to the overall success of a start-up blog. Your blog is a terrific example of one that has a mix of personal posts as well as resourceful advice for a traveler.
As far as posting too often, I’m still convinced that the majority of internet users are extremely busy – even if they’re not following loads of other travel blogs – and don’t have the time to read long, drawn out posts.
I trust you’re busy and respect that there isn’t always time to read and comment on every post in your Google Reader. My last two weeks have been a blur of work, travel, and playing on my mountain bike and I must have 300+ posts to catch up on. Clearly, I won’t have time to tweet, read, and stumble them all – though I’ll make an effort at getting to some (namely the concise ones with lists & photos 🙂 ). For a new travel blogger – who I feel this post is aimed at – commenting on other blogs is a great way to get traffic back to your own blog. Sure, it’s often blogger traffic – though not always. If you have something compelling to add, it’s very possible that you’ll pick up new followers who are simply following the blog you’re commenting on.
Thanks for this – you make some very valid points and there’s definitely a lot I can take away from this being a new travel blogger.
One of the things I’ve found the most challenging so far is feeling the need to post every day, but after reading your article I will definitely be getting over this soon!
Woman Seeks World’s latest blog post…My London Top 50
Agree with you Matt in regards to commenting can really help a new travel blogger. It gets a lot harder to do the more success you have with blogging. There is just not enough time unfortunately.
Yeah a mix of personal and informative is definitely a good idea. That is what we try to focus on. That helps you target your google readers coming through as well.
I think ultimately the length of the post doesn’t matter as long as the quality is good. You have to also consider the aspect of posting every day as a good strategy for receiving attention from Google. Also getting the traffic coming to your blog each day with a new post helps your traffic stats. You can find ways to post daily without burdening your reader too much, like photo of the day, videos, or short updates etc. Be creative with it
Maybe its a good thing @Bret that “travel blogging is an insular world.” meaning many respected travel bloggers have opted in here to offer a wealth of counter points to this short list post with generic photos.
Without their input one could have taken this post as gospel 🙂
While we all seek a readership beyond the travel blogging fraternity their initial support does help in improving ranking so those beyond do get to find and read us too.
If it wasn’t for that I would otherwise worry that we were all chasing our own tails in a tight vortex of RTs that never saw those the light of day beyond our blogging world.
@Linda Without that initial support from members of the blogging community, I imagine many new travel bloggers would simply give it up (as many unfortunately do anyway). Those comments, RTs and words of encouragement help to fuel the fire that I imagine has helped to make many of today’s successful bloggers as successful as they are now.
Wow, I think at this point I have completely forgotten what your 7 points were all about Matt 🙂 I think the biggest mistake travel bloggers make (new ones at least) is mixing up voice with personal day to day journal blogging. I think everyone can agree that you need to have a voice, you need to show your personality whether it be while writing a list post or a ping pong show post. Of course by virtue of writing about those Bangkok specialties you have already created an amazing backdrop and story vehicle that will in most cases propel a reader further down your page than a desired to count to 10. In the end this is what matters, that your site doesn’t, as JoshyWashington so eloquently puts its, suck 🙂
It also depends on what you want from your website (yes, I’m avoiding using the term blog these days). Is it traffic you want or readers. So you want people to know your brand for your words and advice, your humor, your naked girls (I will sign up to your RSS in a second), or some other reason. Depending on who your “traffic” is we all need to make decisions about what types of posts, how long, and which pretty pictures to use. People love my narrative travel stories. These get passed on, commented on and are easy to resurrect from the archives. These almost always are over 1000 words. If you have a compelling story line that advances the interests of the reader, that make them care about and relate to the protagonist, they will follow you to the end.
I also wrote a top 10 post. it was about Japan and I wrote it to get a backlink form a popular website. The end result was that it was once of my most popular post and ended up getting included in a new guide to Japan. It still brings me traffic today and some of those visitors convert into readers. What does this prove? Only that lists are only as good as the personality and authority behind them. I did everything on my Japan list and the readers know it.
I also have to admit that I rarely post comments. According to conventional advice I’m supposed to, and maybe if I did I’d have more readers and comments (not that I’m upset with my current numbers). But the truth is that I just don’t have time. I started a second blog (Travel Blog Challenge) to write about the backside of blogging so that I wouldn’t go off topic on my travel blog. It’s also one of my ways of giving back to the travel blog community.
I wish I had read this earlier as I would have jumped at the chance to be mentored by Gary. One thing that people seem to have missed in this whole discussion is the quality of discussions that a post generates can be as important as the quality of the post itself. The fact that you got so many high quality bloggers to jump into this discussion is a bonus for you. Well done.
@Todd Thanks for the comment – glad you chimed in even though you were jet lagged! Interesting you point on not calling your website a blog – or interesting you called your blog a website. 😉 When I first launched Backpackingmatt.com in its current form, my goal was to produce a blog that would be beneficial to a wide range of visitors. I didn’t want to write about daily updates, per se. In this sense, you could then argue that I’m not ‘writing for the travel blog community.’ I enjoy being a part of it, but ultimately I want my posts to resonate and most importantly, provide useful advice for other traffic I get – be they non-blogging followers or organic Google traffic.
As you again pointed out – and as @JoshyWashington first so eloquently stated – what is most important is that you’re not producing crap! I’ll gladly read a 1,000+ word first person narrative if it is well written, compelling, and brings me into the story. What better way to bring life to our travels? At the same time, I won’t read a top 5, 10, 8, or 6 list post if it’s poorly written and uninformative.
Sorry you missed @Gary’s offer – drop him a line, I’m sure he is more than willing to offer up some advice! As you said though, plenty of great dissenting tips and opinions to consider here.
Now, you’ll have to excuse my typos as I’m a couple glasses of wine in and well in need of a sleep!