Travel Blog Advice

StumbleUpon is one of the most powerful but least understood tools for generating traffic and promoting your travel blog. Many bloggers avoid using it because they don’t understand what StumbleUpon is and how it can help their site. It’s pretty easy to grasp, simple to use, and once you get some of the basics down, a potential way to draw hundreds of new hits to your travel blog.

What Is StumbleUpon?

Basically StumbleUpon is a site that recommends other websites to its users based on what they like. StumbleUpon users indicate they like a website by giving it a thumbs up, sometimes with a short review of that page as well.

1. Create a StumbleUpon account and create a basic profile. Make sure to include a link back to your blog and write a little about yourself.
2. Once you get that setup, grab the Firefox StumbleUpon plugin. Even if you don’t use Firefox on a regular basis, it’s the easiest way to use StumbleUpon and Firefox is a free download. I would strongly recommend using Firefox just for this purpose if nothing else.

Within the StumbleUpon toolbar you’ll see a thumbs up, thumbs down and ‘Info’ icon. When you like a site or blog post give it a thumbs up. Doing so will typically cause a pop up window to appear where you can write a short review. A review gives a stumble more weight than just a thumbs up. Also be sure to add a tag (travel is usually good enough) and a 1-2 line description of the page. That’s all you need to do to stumble a page. Doing so will allow StumbleUpon to send members to that page.

• You can see the stumble status of a given page by clicking the ‘Info’ icon on your Firefox toolbar. You’ll see who has given a particular page a thumbs up, review, and how many times a page has been viewed.

What To Stumble?

Stumble the pages you like, but not too many from your own travel blog. Limit stumbling yourself to 2-4 times a month and stumble other pages you like 30 times a month. That’s a good ratio to shoot for to improve the clout of your stumbles (which StumbleUpon ranks). When stumbling your own material, do so on posts that have good titles and topics that are straightforward. Posts that are very specific tend to do well in StumbleUpon and get more traffic.

• Posts with titles like “My Trip To Thailand Was Boring” don’t do as well as “Learn New Languages Using These Free Online Resources“.

Using Su.Pr – What The Heck Is That?

It’s a website that integrates with Facebook and Twitter that automatically shortens urls and adds a StumbleUpon toolbar to a given page. Use http://su.pr (with your StumbleUpon credentials to login) to promote other sites you’ve stumbled, including your own on Twitter and Facebook. When you’ve got a post that is doing well, has a few stumbles, and good title, use su.pr to drive even more traffic to it. You’ll see the number of clicks as well as stumble hits from the interface. [EDITED 3/6/10: You don’t need to be selective with your use of su.pr, you can use it as your primary link shortener.]

It’s All That Simple

There are many more ways to use StumbleUpon and other tricks and tips people have learned. If you’ve got some personal advice feel free to list it here and ask any questions you may still have. One thing I’ll add is to stumble your photography if you take pictures since posts with photos tend to do well when stumbled and promoted using su.pr. Stumbling is a good way to use a social network to expand your travel blog and build traffic when you’re traveling too much to write by stumbling older posts in your archive.

While we’re talking about StumbleUpon, if you’d like me to stumble any of your websites please email me or let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to. You can also feel free to stumble both Travel Blog Advice and my main travel blog foXnoMad and I’ll return the favor any way I can.

[photos by: topgold (StumbleUpon logo)]

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]

Lately my inbox has been full of requests from people wanting to submit guest posts. Only that these people are representing companies with a “team of writers” who want to provide “useful content” for foXnoMad and my other sites. You too may be seeing more of these types of requests in your inbox and there are a few things you should know about them.

It’s All About Links

Links are one of the most important ways to build Google PageRank and establish your blog on the Web. While some of these companies don’t outright say it, they want to embed several links within the body of these posts on specific keywords. So, you might see something in there like “…that’s where you can get cheap flights” or similar. There’s nothing wrong with building links but embedding keyword links and using a guest post as a cover doesn’t have your best interests in mind.

• This is more so if you sell text links or do paid reviews on your blog. An embedded link is like giving away free advertising.

Poorly Written Quality

You’ll find that many of the PR companies who contact you are working for a team of travel sites. Many companies outsource the writing, typically very cheaply on sites like Elance.com. You can go on there yourself and see how many people are looking for 10 or 20 travel articles for very low rates. The content produced is generally poor and depending on your posting frequency, you don’t want to waste a day with something that’s just not that great.

• Also, since I’ve got several travel blogs and sites, I’m often submitted guest posts for different sites that are very similar to one another. They aren’t original and the writer has likely never seen the blog they are writing for.

Some Signs To Look For

Not all guest posts written by companies are bad or simply out to get links, although many are. These aren’t links back to an original site, like you would in a guest post bio line, but to specific keywords as I mentioned above. Some of the signs to look out for are:

• Not being addressed by your name in the email. My name easily found on my about page, and prominently on the sidebar of my main travel blog. If yours is too, any email from someone you don’t know that doesn’t address you by the first name should make you wonder. (By the way if you don’t have your name or picture on your site, consider that it’s one of the ways to build a successful travel blog.)
• No distinct website. Many of the emails are from companies working on behalf of other travel sites, lots of them in fact. If you can’t quickly narrow down one website behind the guest post I’d say be weary.
• Multiple Emails. If you’ve got more than one site, wait a day or two after getting an email for a corporate post. You’re likely to get one at any additional website email addresses you have.

In the guest post if there are any random keywords, going to multiple sites, and no single author you can pin down, you’re probably just providing a free link back, inside a mediocre post, to a few other travel websites.

Have A Policy

It’s important to have set policies around certain aspects of your travel blog, including guest posts. A set policy will save you time from having to filter through requests about guest posting, advertising, or anything else. My guest post policy is that I don’t allow links within a guest post unless I personally know the author. Otherwise, I give a 1-3 line bio with a link back to a travel blog and typically I add a link back to their site at the end of the post as well. I evaluate each guest post individually and don’t promise anything upfront.

• Whatever you decide (even if it’s running corporate guest posts) have a policy and some set rules. It will save you a bit of headache in the long run.

I’m not against building links with other travel sites – it’s an important part of what I do – but I don’t think it’s worth a disingenuous guest post that will take up a valuable thing for my readers…time. Consider that time is the most important thing your readers have – so when you ask them for some, make it worthwhile. Besides, those same companies offering you guest posts would likely be willing to pay a bit for a text link if you just ask.

[photo by: thornside, mandiberg]

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]

That’s a question I hear on a regular basis, partially because I have the affiliate ads up on Travel Blog Advice and foXnoMad, have written two reviews, and interviewed Matt about it. People email me once or twice a month asking this question and having read and sold more than a few copies decided this would be a good forum to answer – is Nomadic Matt‘s eBook worth it?

The Short Answer

Do I think Nomadic Matt’s eBook is worth $17? Yes I do, assuming you use it correctly and depending on what you want to make out of your travel blog.

The Longer Answer

Nomadic Matt’s book, How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog has good information about monetizing your travel blog but is really about creating a network of sites to help fund your travels. The principles in the book are sound and can help you generate a decent income on the road, but it takes a lot of effort upfront, a level most people won’t or won’t be able to put it.

• It’s difficult to say a dollar amount is worth something. Personally if I learn from a book and it help my travel blogs, generally it’s “worth” it for me. In terms of money, will you make back that $17 from travel blogging? Probably, but how long that takes depends on you.

I also don’t make a habit of reviewing products I don’t believe in or like. For the most part, if I don’t like something I don’t write about it. Products like the DIY SEO Guide and Travel Blog Success will improve your travel blog and it’s in your best interest to read as much as you can. It’s difficult to draw a direct correlation between purchasing one thing and seeing results on your blog.

For $17?

It’s important to invest in your travel blog if you want to seriously want to monetize. The book was originally $27, a bit on the expensive side, but I still thought it a worthwhile read. All businesses have operating expenses and I think it’s important to spend and get your hands on good information when you’re starting out and trying to grow your audience and revenue. The more you learn the more selective you can be down the road.

• If you’re interested in monetizing your travel blog, I’d also recommend Business In A Backpack ($20).
• For a more detailed explanation of SEO, how it works, and how to use it I recommend the DIY SEO Guide.
• New travel bloggers should strongly consider Travel Blog Success, the advice in the forums are worth the price of admission.
  

How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog is straightforward, contains a lot of useful information, and may also give you access to advertisers (ask Matt) that can help you make more money with your existing blog and potentially a lot more money if you branch out. It has helped me a believe it can do the same for you. So yes, I do think How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog is worth “it”.

Have you purchased the eBook? What were your thoughts? Please share them in the comments below. Did you think it was worth the $17 (or $27) you spent on it?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is something most travel bloggers ignore initially, then think is automatic, and finally end up playing catch up on when they realize it’s important for making money with your travel blog. SEO is important at every stage of travel blogging unless your aren’t concerned about being found online.

An excellent resource that explains SEO from the ground up is the DIY SEO Guide, written by Shannon O’Donnell and Andy Hayes. It’s particularly adept at explaining the technical details of what you can do to your website to make an online presence. Both Andy and Shannon are SEO experts (the good kind) and I’ve read the DIY SEO Guide and highly recommend it.

DIY SEO comes with an audio introduction, the guide itself, and a worksheet to help you on your way through the course. I don’t recommend looking back on SEO, like myself and most other do; it’s harder to implement after the fact. Actually I heard that too when I first got serious about blogging 2 years ago and ignored everyone else’s advice as well. Looking back on it, I would have started with SEO and moved forward, not the other way around.

No matter what stage of travel blogging you’re in, if you haven’t taken a serious look at SEO and optimizing your website, check out the DIY SEO Guide which goes for $49. I like guides that actually come down to technical specifics, how to tweak a page or code, and DIY does such a good job of it I wrote a separate review for the Tech Guide For Travel. In addition to the guide, Shannon and Andy also have a guided tour where they’ll help you, step by step, with the SEO process. The $249 price for the guided tour is well worth the expert advice from two people who know SEO and travel blogging.

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.

At the end of December last month I asked you what your travel blog goals for 2010 are and Chris of Amateur Traveler responded he wanted to build a business around his blog. Chris recently left his day job to peruse his dream and was kind enough to take a few minutes to answer some questions about how he plans to go about it.

Tell us how your site, Amateur Traveler started.

I am a podcast addict. I current subscribe to around 60 podcasts on a wide variety of topics. That number is down from 100 podcasts. So shortly after I discovered podcasting 5 years ago I starting thinking about what kind of a podcast I could create. When we had some friends over for a Memorial Day BBQ we started swapping stories and the best stories were travel stories. I started the Amateur Traveler shortly after that picnic.

What is Amateur Travel all about?

The Amateur Traveler is an online travel show that focuses primarily on travel destinations and the best places to travel. It includes both a weekly audio podcast and a twice monthly video podcast. It also includes travel news and resources.

When did you decide to focus solely on Amateur Traveler?

I have been doing the Amateur Traveler for 4 and a half years part time. This means I have been working 60-80 hour weeks between a good day job and a great hobby. I had been at the day job (the VP of Engineering and Operations for a Silicon Valley internet company that creates and runs online communities) for 13 and a half years and it seemed to be time to pursue my passion and see if I could take the Amateur Traveler from a hobby to a business.

What is your business plan for Amateur Traveler?

1) start making calls to get ads on Amateur Traveler
2) create premium site (and some premium content) for Amateur Traveler
3) finish an eBook (free) on how to book travel to incent people to sign up for email list (almost done)
4) Amateur Traveler Amateur Traveler tours – first one is Vietnam in March, 2nd may be photography cruise in September
5) create a New Media Cruise / Podcamp@Sea in June
6) resell travel agent services to people who find how to book online travel to complicated
7) do more travel gadget blogging to get more affiliate revenue
8 ) create a California Travel site again targeted at more affiliate revenue
9)  Create cruises for nurses to take and get training – http://nursingatsea.com/

How are you supporting yourself now?

I am doing some part time social media consulting.

What do you think your biggest challenge has been thus far?

60-80 hours just on the Amateur Traveler is still not enough. I also have my son (the film / multi-media major) interning for me about 20 hours a week.

Any advice for other travel bloggers who may want to focus solely on blogging and turn it into a career/business?

I think that might be a bit too soon for me to say. Ask me again in 6 months. 🙂

Chris, I’ll certainly take you up on that. I hope that you will all check out Chris’ website, Amateur Traveler and listen to some of his podcasts for wonderful travel stories, and interviews.

Several of you have been asking about how to use Twitter in relation with your travel blogs. I’d like to point you to some resources to get you going if you’re new to Twitter and to reexamine your tweeting habits if you aren’t the most appropriate way possible – in a series of tweets of 140 characters or less.

• Get a copy of @AlmostFearless ‘s eBook Twitter For Travelers. You can read @TravelBlissful ‘s review to learn more.
• As @Heathercowper suggests, ask yourself – why should anyone follow you on Twitter?
• Read these 25 Twitter tips from other travelers. Check out the comments section too, lots of great discussion there.
• Be personal and tweet about travel, other bloggers, and a *bit*about yourself.
• Time your tweets well – morning in the US Eastern time is good for links/blog posts.
• Use bit.ly to track clicks. You’ll be better able to see what tweets are more popular and why.
• Consider TweetDeck – I didn’t like it at first but find it very useful. Also integrates with bit.ly.
• Get over your fears and learn about StumbleUpon. Start the easiest way, tweet occasionally from su.pr.
• Use Twitter to jump start your travel blog and harness the power of the tweetup.
• Don’t over-think following people. Follow people you like and start slowly, you don’t want to be following 800 and only have 10 followers.

I’d also suggest taking a look to see how others are tweeting, but it’s important to establish your own style and routine. Make your tweets useful, interesting, and efficient and you can easily build up a nice following.

[photo by: futurowoman]