Travel Blog Advice » Travel Blogging

Travel Blog Advice For Your New Or Existing Travel Blog

Anil P. — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:00:12 +0000

There are literally thousands of travel blogs on the Internet and they come in all different shapes and sizes. Travel Blog Advice will teach you what you need to know about travel blogging including why you should start a travel blog, the potential benefits of a travel blog, and the ways to set up a travel blog.

For those of you who’ve had a travel blog for some time you may be interested in reading more about these topics.

My name is Anil Polat and I’ve been travel blogging for over 3 years and some of my other blogs include foXnoMad, Tech Guide For Travel, and How To Travel With Pets. I don’t have all of the answers but would like to share what I’ve learned about travel blogging with you. I hope that you’ll add to the discussion and leave your own tips and advice in the comments section of each post.

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Google Is The Godfather Of The Linking Mafia: Understanding Pagerank

Anil P. — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:00:02 +0000

You can boil down Google’s Pagerank system into an analogy of the Italian mafia and use it to increase your standing in the eyes of the ultimate boss – Google itself. Many travel bloggers complicate what Pagerank is, which can cause frustration and delay your page’s move up the ranks. Understanding the system makes it much easier to become a part of the network and a “friend of ours”.

Meet Don Google

Think of Google as the “Godfather” of an online mafia, which uses a vouching system to determine who it can trust and who it can’t. Your links are vouches, a travel blog’s displays of trust, visible back up to the boss.

A big part of how external links work are “follow” and “no follow” links.
“Follow” links are the only ones Google uses to create it’s map of the Internet – “no follow” links are ignored.
Sure there are other search engines out there, but Google controls more than 70% of the global search market.

Almost all links are “follow” by default so anyone you link out to is used by the search engine to develop its trust map. Keep in mind that the vouches are specific, in the sense that rank is is given to individual pages based on keywords like “traveling with teenagers.”

Higher Rank, More Trust

Not all links are created equal. Much like the movie mafia, the more trusted you are, the more weight your words of assurance will have. That’s the basic principal, the more rank a page has, the greater impact a link from that page will have on the other site.

Importance Of Relevance – Linking out to completely unrelated niches or using a pattern of unusual keywords like “playing poker online” stands out and reduces your site’s value in the eyes of Godfather Google.
Pagerank Isn’t Everything – The placement of incoming links (whether in text or on a sidebar) are part of Google’s algorithm and the reason corporate guest posts are so interested in contextual links.

It takes time to move up the ranks and older sites tend to be more trusted by Google. Ideally you want quality incoming links from sites with higher Pagerank to your homepage and any keywords you may be targeting. That said, any links have some value for your site.

Vouching For Everyone – Why Links Pages Don’t Typically Rank

Links pages are good ways to get links for your travel blog, since they announce to the world you’re keen for exchanges. These pages don’t typically earn any Pagerank however since they give out too much trust. In the mafia you can’t trust the person who trusts everyone and that’s a bit how links pages are. They give out trust to everyone, which is why Google doesn’t give them much clout.

Homepages Are Valuable – Many companies try to work their way up in the system by muscling their way on to your homepage, where typically your highest Pagerank is. Limit the number of external links coming out from your homepage and be choosy as to who you add there.
Make The Most Out Of Your Link Page – There are ways to have ranked links pages.

While you can have many associates (i.e. your links page) be selective about whom you want to recommend to the boss. You can accomplish this by limiting the number of outgoing (follow) links on a given page. It’s easy to give out a link and say you trust someone, but what are you willing to do for them? Would you add a description, link to them in a post, or perhaps make them one of a few on a travel links page?

Trust Goes Both Ways

Money talks and there are a number of companies who try to gain Google’s trust by buying your good word. Selling text links is against Google’s code and you should be careful who you link out to no matter how much they may pay you.

Getting Whacked – Link out to spammy sites or try to overtly manipulate the system and Google can reduce your Pagerank or worse – completely de-index you.
Don’t Forget Your Followers Too – As Gourmantic notes, people generally hate vague links. Use descriptive links to build trust with your audience too.

Linking to spam or irrelevant sites is akin to introducing an FBI informant to a mafia family. You’re now vouching for that link which isn’t worth a dime and making the Godfather look bad. If that happens, guess who’s going to be penalized?

What Pagerank Gets You

Pagerank doesn’t necessarily mean your travel blog or blog posts will always be the first result of a given search. Nor does my mafia analogy mean it’s a bad, corrupt, or unscrupulous system. It’s just an easy way to understand what’s at work and how Google tries to build and rank trust with all of the sites on the Internet (most of whom it doesn’t know personally!)

Higher Pagerank means (in basic terms) that Google trusts your site and places more value on the recommendations (aka. links) you give out. Sites with higher Pagerank also tend to get indexed frequently and scrutinized under a closer lens by the big boss. Don’t obsess over Pagerank, understand that it’s a trust and value system. By making your travel blog a useful website within your niche you’ll naturally gain authority, moving up the Google (Page)ranks.

[photos by: shaun wong (Don Corleone), Nfoka (men talking), vasta (Sopranos photo exhibit), Steve Wampler (money grab)]

The Importance Of Finding A Niche For Your Travel Blog

Anil P. — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:00:06 +0000

When starting a travel blog it’s easy to come under the impression that “travel” is all the niche you need. Yet if you’re trying to reach a wide audience while managing a travel blog and at the same time generating post after post, a specific niche or angle can help keep you on the right track. The general travel blogsphere is a crowded one with many niches yet to be discovered or occupied. Without one your voice gets lost and leaves your screaming louder at deaf ears in a crowded room.

Covering It All

It’s tempting to try and cover every travel subject and topic for fear of missing out on any potential readers. Creating or falling into a niche doesn’t limit you from covering most any travel topic however, so long as you approach it from the angle you’ve developed on your site. If you don’t know where to start you can begin by asking yourself these questions:

What is my travel blog about?
How do people view my travel blog?
What do I enjoy writing about?
What posts seem to click or are more popular than others?

You don’t have to come up with something immediately, but the answers to these questions can help you get started thinking just what your travel blog is about. Figuring out a niche also helps you develop your voice and determine what it is you want out of your travel blog.

Your (Consistent) Voice Will Flow Like Water

When you have a niche your posts will begin to flow more like water, connected to each other by a common bond. It becomes easier for your readers to follow each post as opposed to having them bump down the road as you bounce around from topic to topic. Your posts should be like an open hand to any new readers and your voice is the path they’ll follow to keep hearing what it is you have to say.

It’s Never Too Late – To refine your voice or focus in on a specific niche or angle to tackle the giant subject that is travel.
Doesn’t Have To Be Dramatic - Take incremental steps to refining your voice. A niche isn’t some tangible place your blog is headed, but more of an outlook rather than a topic. Most people fall into their niche or voice and it’s a gradual process.

A good place to find or create your voice is to look at your tagline (or come up with one). What does that single line say about your travel blog to you? It says a lot to your readers and can be the spark to finding the niche for your site. On foXnoMad for example, my tagline “travel smarter” is what guides most of my posts. Whether it’s a tech post or one about how to bring your pets to the US, the approach is similar. Breaking down big travel tasks into smaller more manageable ones so that hopefully when you’re done reading you’ll be traveling smarter in one way or in a specific place. More than a niche it’s an approach but one that helps my determine how I want to take on a given topic.

Your Personality Is A Big Part Of Your Niche

The voice of your travel blog says a lot about who you are and your personality is one of the most important factors to building a successful travel blog. How you see the world and one aspect of how you travel can be your niche – your niche is inherently you. Do you like to travel luxury or perhaps are in love with China? Maybe trains are your thing but that doesn’t mean you can’t write about planes – the approach is just as important as the topic.

A niche for your travel blog, one that you can sum up in a sentence or two, not only focuses your travel blog but your writing as well. You’ll find it easier to write about travel with a path in mind rather than trying to approach it from a new angle every time.

[photos by: Joaquin Villaverde (shouting face), rogersmj (water flowing from tap)]

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A Review Of Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) 2010

Anil P. — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:00:08 +0000

The second annual Travel Blog Exchange Conference (TBEX) 2010, held in New York City over June 26th and 27th, was like a slightly unfinished product with a few rough edges around some stellar moments.

Hundreds of travel bloggers and members of the travel industry came to the conference to meet with their peers, many for the first time. It was this excitement and energy that fueled the pre-TBEX events as well as the TBEX conference, helping to downplay the weekend’s shortcomings.

The TBEX Talks

It seemed as though the TBEX talks tried to cover all of the aspects of travel blogging, reaching out to a mixed bag of travel bloggers, making it difficult to be too focused any one group or topic.

Many of the talks seemed to miss the segment of newer travel bloggers attending the conference.
Gart Arndt gave a particularly enlightening talk on “travel porn”.
The videos submitted by other travel bloggers and writers shown at various intervals of the conference were excellent. There were some great tips, ideas, and advice on editing and creating good travel videos.
You can listen to the entire second day of talks here.

The talks were varied although the need for in-depth breakout sessions was clearly evident. Also, the talks themselves were also hampered by frequent late starts, some scheduling confusion, and a lack of wi-fi. All of that said, there were some very useful nuggets in each of the talks and good leaping off points for further research.

Networking, Networking, Networking

The highlight and strongest point of TBEX 2010 was the massive networking potential. There were parties, cocktail hours, and events in the days leading up to the actual conference. So many familiar faces and Twitter icons all floating around the same venues, it was impossible to try and connect with everyone.

Getting together this many travel bloggers, digital nomads, and location independents, is truly a feat and was in itself, worth the price of admission.

In a digital world and industry, personal connections are still more powerful than any other kind. It was surprisingly nice to find out that so many people I had come to know through their travel blogs, Twitter, and Facebook were, in person, similar to their online personalities.

Planning For TBEX 2011?

Next year, TBEX will be held in Vancouver on June 11th and 12th. If you are planning on attending I’d recommend getting your tickets for TBEX 2011 as early as possible (pre-registration is now over) even if you’re not quite sure you’ll be able attending. The cost is $80 and if you find you won’t be able to make it, there will be plenty of buyers come closer to conference time. I suspect TBEX 2011 will sell out quickly so don’t miss out or get stuck having to purchase tickets above cost.

I’d also recommend, if possible, arriving a week or at least 3 days in advance. There are a number of events scheduled and a good way to make the most out of your time at TBEX by meeting people in advance of the actual conference.
Travel Blog Exchange has a complete round up of TBEX reviews and posts.

I plan on attending TBEX 2011 and arriving in advance to take part in some of the activities I missed out on at TBEX 2010. I’ve read that some of the shortcomings are to be addressed and the crowds to be even bigger, which can only mean an improvement across the board.

Are you planning on attending TBEX 2011, or were you at TBEX 2010? What were your thoughts and impressions? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments below.

[photos by: galavantinggals (TBEX 2010 logo), z_everson (TBEX swag), Sue Waters (Twitter faces)]

How External Links Work And What They Do For Your Travel Blog

Anil P. — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:00:30 +0000

Links are what form the social map of your website for both your readers and for search engines. Internal links help search engines and your readers connect as many points from different parts of your travel blog as possible. It’s easy to increase the number of interlinks on each of your travel blog posts if you keep it in mind when you edit your posts and the same is true of external links as well.

How External Links Work

An external link is a link to your travel blog or one of your travel blog posts or pages from another website. External links are strong indicators for Google to whom has authority on the Internet and can greatly increase your search engine results. The basic external link components consist of the following:

Keyword: This is the actual text that is linked. For example Sewri Fort, Mumbai or overnight stay in Papeete, Tahiti. (You’ll notice that the second link isn’t the name of the specific post but my own text.)

In terms of external linking, it’s better SEO practice to use very descriptive keywords when linking out from your website. Keywords like, this is so cool, are much less effective. That’s because the keywords and URL of the linked text are associated with each other by search engines so when giving out link love, using descriptive keywords adds more “punch” or impact.

Follow vs. NoFollow - When linking (externally or internally), you can make the links either “follow” or “nofollow”. The difference is that search engines will ignore “nofollow” links. You can specify the HTML code like this: KEYWORD
HTML that doesn’t specify links as nofollow will by default be regarded as follow links. When linking to other travel blogs or articles you like, it’s standard to give follow links in most cases.

For those of you considering selling text links, Google doesn’t approve of text link ads that are “follow”. To find out why, here’s a post on how to manage text link ads on your travel blog.

Big Fish, Little Fish

One of the easiest ways to understand how search engines (and Google especially) use and evaluate external links in their algorithms is to look at it as a vouching system. While there are many factors, for the sake of simplicity, let’s look at Google Pagerank.

An external link from one site to another is like you vouching for a friend you recommend for a job to a prospective employer. External links work the same way – your link is saying, “hey this is the site to go to if you want to lead people to information on 10 train travel tips.” The higher that Pagerank, the more clout the “vouch” counts for (again, an oversimplification but the basic principle).

The more (follow) external links you have with a specific keyword pointing to your site from other authority sites, the higher your travel blog or post will come up in the search results. This is why people are willing to pay for text link ads and also why Google doesn’t like it.

Giving Is A Good Way To Get

External links to your travel blog or specific posts won’t come out of the blue at first. You’ll need to proactively go after them and one of the best places to start is on your own blog.

Get good links for your travel blog now.
Add your blog to the T-Bag Travel Directory.

It is also important to be generous. Keep in mind of, when typing a post, related posts on other travel blogs or websites you might have come across. If the link is relevant and natural, work a link back into your post. On most blogs (WordPress does it by default) a notification will be send to the site you linked to after the post has gone live. That person might come back to visit your site or even link back to a post of yours in the future.

Search engines also take notice of how much you link out as well as link in. A blog that links out frequently is much more engaged in the eyes of the search engines and can add to your site’s SEO clout.

While typing up a post, you can also leverage social media like Twitter to ask if anyone else might have a related post about the topic you’re writing about. You can use those links to add to your post and potentially make a new online buddy as well.

Be Natural And Useful

It’s not good to link to things for the sake of linking. Make sure that your external links are relevant and useful but also fit naturally into the text. It makes for a much smoother read than by writing: “here is a post about this. Here is a post about that. This is a post that’s similar.” Instead just work the keywords into your sentences or use another way to work them seamlessly into your content. Also, for both your readers and a good SEO, use descriptive keywords. Most people get annoyed with vague links, leading to less clicks from both new and regular readers.

Giving external links is good for your travel blog and the other sites you link to. There’s no need to go overboard or to “catch up” with posts full of links if you forget after a few days. Add a few minutes after editing each post and pull some of your favorites from memory, ask around online, or do a few simple Google searches to find useful external links for your readers.

[photos by: greyloch (little spider-girl), lammikrb (over here), urlgirl (goldfish), MarcinMoga/Lolek (red gift box), alles-schlumpf (linked paperclips)]

13 Recommended WordPress Plugins For Travel Blogs

Anil P. — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:00:47 +0000

Traveler bloggers tend to go crazy with plugins, those little add-ons to WordPress, when first setting up their blogs. Plugins are easy to install and there are thousands of them out there. It can be difficult to choose which ones are worth the installation and hassle of configuration. These are some of my recommended plugins for your travel blog and why.

All In One SEO Pack – A highly configurable plugin designed to tweak your website, pages, and individual posts for search engine optimization (SEO). If you aren’t running this plugin and Google PageRank and traffic numbers are important to you, it’s an essential add-on. To further improve your site’s SEO optimization, change your permalinks. (Download All In One SEO Pack)

Google Analytics – There are many WordPress plugins designed to give you a variety of statistics about your readers but in my experience Google does it the best. You’ll need a Google Analytics account setup for this plugin to work, and it removes the need for you to tweak any code. If you’re obsessed with statistics, you can also try the Popularity Contest plugin. (Download Google Analytics)

Google XML Sitemaps – Creates an XML-sitemap compliant sitemap which makes it easier for Google, Yahoo, and Bing to ‘read’ your entire blog. It updates automatically and submits the sitemaps to each search engine for you. (Download Google XML Sitemaps)

Login Lockdown – By default it locks out any IP address from where 3 bad login attempts are tried within 15 minutes. The lockout lasts 1 hour and makes it much more difficult for someone to try and ‘brute force’ your blog password. Use this plugin as one of the ways to keep your travel blog safe. (Download Login Lockdown)

Maintenance Mode – This plugin creates a nice little ‘Under Construction’ page for your site when you need to take it down for an update or make some coding changes to your blog. It’s very customizable and easy to use. (Download Maintenance Mode)

Spam Karma – Although it’s no longer officially supported, this spam filter adapts and learns based on each comment and those you flag. It can be set for a number of levels to be more or less skeptical depending on the volume of comment spam you get. (Download Spam Karma)

Subscribe To Comments – One of my favorite plugins, it emails people who leave a comment of any follow up comments. It’s a great way to generate discussion and comments on your travel blog since most people who leave a comment don’t come back to look for replies. (Download Subscribe To Comments)

TinyMCE Advanced – Adds a number of icons to your post editing screen that were lost a few WordPress updates ago. It makes it easier to insert video, adjust pictures, and change font sizes. (Download TinyMCE)

Whydowork Adsense – If you use Google’s Adsense to make some money with your travel blog, this plugin makes it easier to put ads within posts. You can even configure it to show ads X number of days after a post is published or in random spots. (Download Whydowork Adsense)

WP-ContactForm – I’ve been coming across a number of travel blogs lately where getting in touch with the author has been difficult. Even though you’re on Twitter or Facebook, email is still the most common way people will want to get in touch with you. Use WP-ContactForm to create a contact page like this and place the ‘Contact page’ somewhere visible on your travel blog. It also comes with a built-in spam filter. (Download WP-ContactForm)

WP-DBManager – Although WordPress comes with a built in database backup utility, this plugin lets you create backups at intervals of your choice and can be configured to automatically optimize your database every month. Extremely versitile and yet another good way to backup your blog database. (Download WP-DBManager)

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) – Adds a number of related posts to the bottom of each post and in your RSS feed. (Download YARPP)

Yoast Breadcrumbs – Allows search engines and readers to more easily navigate your site. (Download Yoast Breadcrumbs)

There are a number of other plugins that I use across my blogs but are specific to certain functions wouldn’t apply to many of you. One thing you should do as your blog grows is monitor the plugins you install, keep them updated, and deactivate any you stop using. Running plugins takes resources and can each one can slightly slowdown the loading time of your blog pages. Use the ones you need and do some spring cleaning on the others.

I’d be very interested to hear from you – what are your favorite WordPress plugins and what do they do? Are you using any from this list above? Feel free to leave your recommendations in the comments and subscribe to them as well.

[photos by: Craig A Rodway (legos), Bill Gracey (padlock), bengrey (kid emailing)]

How Traveling Is Good For Your Travel Blog

Anil P. — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:14 +0000

As ironic as it seems, traveling, and blogging about travel can be more difficult when you’re actually traveling. That’s a common sentiment anyway, but when it comes down to it traveling may be a bit harder on you but it’s great for your travel blog. There are of course quite a few quick things you can post on your travel blog when you’re traveling too much to write, but the road is still your blog’s best friend. Don’t dread or neglect your blog when you’re traveling, with just a slight amount of prior planning you can turn even the simplest trip into a content generator that will ease your blogging duties for weeks to come.

Write Ahead

Writing a single blog post that’s well edited, linked to other relevant posts on your site and elsewhere, with photos or video to compliment the article takes time. Writing a second blog post right after doesn’t take nearly as much time. You can even break up the single post, expand on one of the points, or run a poll after or before the article and use it as material. That takes off the primary pressure of writing when you don’t know where your next wi-fi signal, clean table, or power outlet will be. The best practice is to write as far in advance as you can to the next point where you know you’ll have the magic ingredients any blogger needs – a reliable Internet connection and electricity.

Everything Is A Potential Post

Once you’re not consuming your mind obsessing over what you have (or haven’t written) you can focus on the world around you and how to write about it. There are ideas within topics around ideas everywhere. Traveling is the source of your writing passion, the driving force behind your blog. Don’t pass over the opportunity to use your travels for your travel blog. It’s when you don’t plan ahead that you bump into problems, you’ve got to focus forward, not backwards.

Experiment

For those of you who’ve never made a travel video, interviewed a hostel owner, or done a photo essay, a trip is a good time to invest in some new mediums for your blog. The element that traveling takes away from your blog is time, once you resolve that issue you are free to move in new directions and generate content on top of new content in different ways.

Enjoy The Game

As I sit here typing this in a hostel in Berlin, among loud people enjoying a drink in a bar that’s filling up rapidly, I’m watching a number of stories unfold before me. The most difficult thing I, and you face when traveling and blogging is the physical act of writing and getting online. Don’t over-complicate the process of travel blogging and neglect the most important part – you. When you do find a good connection and a little bit of time, work and write so you can use the rest of the time to actually travel. It’s one of the best things you can do for your travel blog.

[photos by: mbowiersr, Tiago Daniel]

Dealing With Travel Blogger Burnout

Anil P. — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:00:27 +0000

Stephanie runs Twenty-Something Travel, a travel blog dedicated to assisting new or young travelers with the skills, resources and opportunities available to them for travel abroad. When not traveling the world she lives in Washington DC.

Taking up travel blogging is a lot like falling in love. At first it’s all exciting and new. Posting to your blog makes you feel euphoric and all of a sudden it’s all you can think about. You talk about it constantly until your friends beg you to shut-up.

Then, one day you wake up and the honeymoon is over. You start to notice all of your travel blog’s faults and resent the many hours you must spend with it. You don’t want to break up, but you are tired.

It was at almost exactly the 6-month mark that I hit the wall. I had worked incredibly hard during that time, and had achieved moderate success but I was getting seriously burnt out. I was starting to resent the amount of time I spent with my blog, and miss my social life. I had trips to plan, courses to take and I was stressed and overwhelmed.

Here is what I did to fix my ennui, and some steps you can take to fall in love with your travel blog all over again:

Line up some guest posters. Posting 4 times a week was getting to be too much for me but I felt like cutting back was letting my readers down. Instead I put up a simple call on twitter for guest posters and got an overwhelming response. I decided to start a series to feature one guest poster every week. Not only did it cut down on my responsibility level, it gave me a chance to showcase new authors and include different points of view on my blog. Everybody wins.
Take a new direction. If you mainly write destination pieces try your hand at something a little more philosophical. If you usually talk about yourself try interviewing someone new. Run a contest. Run a photo piece. Experimentation can make you look at your blog in a whole new light.
Write something non-travel related. Can’t possibly think of another single thing to say about travel? Sometimes it helps to stretch your writing muscles by writing on a new topic. See if you can guest blog somewhere unexpected. This will remind you that you love writing.
Do SOMETHING else. If you really can’t stand the thought of sitting down to write today, then don’t force yourself. Go outside and take a walk. Go to the movies. Read a novel. Just stop thinking about it for a few hours. Your blog will still be here when you get back.

Most important of all is to keep your eye on the big picture. Just because you don’t like blogging TODAY doesn’t mean it’s time to give up. Use your frustrations as an opportunity to re-asses what you love about blogging. That’s the path to a healthy, long-term relationship.

I’d also recommend taking a look at setting a weekly posting schedule, quick things to post on your travel blog, and selecting smart breaks from your travel blog to keep your mind (and travel blog) fresh. Thank you very much for the guest post Stephanie. You can follow Stephanie on Twitter @20sTravel and follow her blog at Twenty-Something Travel.

[photos by: MarkKelly, Gabriela Camerotti]

A Review Of Travel Blog Success

Anil P. — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:00:10 +0000

Experienced travel blogger and world traveler Dave Lee has just launched a new membership site, Travel Blog Success, aimed at helping people develop successful travel blogs. I was given a sneak peak before the launch and wanted to share some of my thoughts about it with you.

Travel Blog Success is a wealth of information about travel blogging as a whole. The membership site, with an introductory price of $75 (reduced from $135) for a plan of 12 lessons will save you time as your try to figure out two things many bloggers are after – readership and money. The 12 lessons cover some basic aspects of setting up a travel blog such as choosing a good domain name, ideas on formatting posts, and search engine optimization (SEO).

Usually if you stick with blogging long enough you’ll figure these things out but Travel Blog Success will save you months and perhaps years of trial and error if you read through all of the lessons and interact on the community forum. You’ll likely benefit most from the technical details of building a blog and the nuts and bolts of SEO. In the end though, you need to find your own voice, style, and niche within the travel blogging community to succeed.

In Addition To The Lessons

One of the biggest benefits of Travel Blog Success though is the community behind it. Dave has done a good job of bringing in writers from some very successful travel blogs such as Vagabondish and the Indie Travel Podcast. The forums are also full of a wide range of travel bloggers and an excellent place to network, something that is a vital part of building a successful travel blog.

There is also an active travel blog on Travel Blog Success, podcasts and audio interviews, and access to Dave himself.

Travel Blog Success isn’t for casual travel bloggers but rather those looking to turn their websites into a business or take their blog to the next step. As for the cost there are two options, one for $29 per month for 3 months (a total of $87), or a one-time fee of $75. There is also a 60-day money back guarantee and compared to similar products the price is very reasonable for the blogging, SEO advice, and access to other bloggers you get.

Dave has developed two very successful travel blogs (both nominated for 2010 Bloggie Awards) GoBackpacking.com and MedellinLiving.com. I know the amount of effort Dave has put into creating Travel Blog Success and am confident it will be a thriving travel blogging community where most members (and their travel blogs) will benefit.

How To Set Achievable Goals For Your Travel Blog In The Upcoming Year

Anil P. — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:00:51 +0000

Setting goals for your travel blog is an essential way to expand your readership, keep motivated to write, and stay on track with your objectives. The problem is that many travel bloggers have, especially when first starting out, is setting too many goals that are too vague.

In the new year you can get ahead of the game easily by cutting up your goals into a small set of defined categories, keeping them short-term, and being as specific as possible.

Goals With Deadlines

Often when you’re travel blogging you set goals well in advance or without any context in time. Some examples or goals that don’t have good time limits (or any at all are):

I want to increase my RSS subscribers.
I hope to make some money with my travel blog.
I’d like to submit one Ezine, Hubpage, Squidoo article per week.

These are all worthy things to work towards but without wrapping them up and tying a deadline at the end of them you’ll find it hard to stick to and monitor how things are going. Here are the same goals but with some reasonable deadlines.

I want to increase my RSS subscribers by 15 within 1 month.
I hope to make $35 per month with my travel blog by July.
I’m going to submit one Ezine article per week until I’ve completed 25 of them (i.e. 25 weeks).

3 months is a good amount of time, I’ve found, to set goals and see results from your efforts in terms of monetizing, increasing readership, or adding features to your blog. It’s long enough to make a difference but not so far in advance that you’ll start to slack off (too much) as the clock winds down.

Be Very Specific

You can take this lesson to the extreme. I set very specific goals for my travel blogs and it’s when I started doing so that they really began to take off. Most of the goals aren’t too glamorous although they are well defined. Get down to numbers (i.e. adding 30 new Twitter followers within 3 weeks) and then run them by a friend or blogging buddy. I run my quarterly blogging goals by my wife and a few travel blogging friends who keep me down to Earth or tell me when I’m being too conservative in my estimates.

Use Categories, See The Connections

It’s difficult to make money from a primary travel blog if you don’t have many readers, a poorly designed website, or haven’t been getting links for your travel blog. You need to see the relationships between your goals and your methods to make sure you’re setting balanced ones. The most important goal I always set, and has lead to everything else, is simple – I always try and write useful, informative, and interesting posts and produce the best content I can.

I’ve written a few posts on how I try and do that you may find useful.

In the end people need a reason to read your blog (if you want more readers) and reason to pay you (if you want to make money from your travel blog) or a reason to link to you (if you’re looking to increase your Page Rank). Determine what those reasons are – or the reason anyone should help you reach your set goals and you’ll be one step closer to achieving them.

[photos by: Swiv, mikeyexists]