For several months earlier this year, I was working with a client who asked me to spend time looking through travel blogs. A LOT of time. I feel like I must have touched on well over 5,000 different blogs, probably wrecking bounce rates along the way. If you are doing anything to get found, likely I’ve seen your site, and about that whole bounce rate thing, I’m sorry. Sometimes, you do what you gotta do to pay the bills and student loans, ya know?
(Aside, I loved the company and the work, so I’m not really complaining at all, except that I didn’t get to spend more time reading many of the amazing sites I found.)
Here are some things I found along my journeys through the winding and distant parts of the internet where travel bloggers share dispatches from around the globe. I hope they can serve as a guide for you, either setting up your new blog, in the midlife of you online presence, or as you near ‘retirement.’ They aren’t necessarily focused on any particular objective, other than running a successful site.
Get listed!
In the age of trying to understand the hydra we call Google, one thing is known for certain: inbound links directly correlate with the search presence of your site, since they validate the content therein. That means that you need to hunt for linking opportunities almost as often as you hunt for new readers and newsletter subscribers. There’s one super easy way to do this: bloglists and directories.
Many bloggers, especially established ones like Gary at Everything Everywhere, keep a list of bloggers who have opted to have their information posted on the site. This does two things: it creates an inbound link, and it also gives you an opportunity to get sourced in a variety of situations, like when I (representing a travel brand) was searching for travel bloggers. If you’re on the list and someone is looking for the list, you will likely get seen.
You must never disappear unexpectedly.
Whether you’ve reached the end of your writing rope, or you have an unexpected and awesome life-consuming trip appear 24-hours in your future with little time to pack or worry much less write, you can’t just leave us hanging. We, your audience, are why you write on the internet, instead of a pen-to-paper journal or Microsoft Word document. We, your audience, deserve better than a great mystery of why a writer we have committed to following is suddenly gone with no warning.
This is especially true if you are planning to stop writing completely: in your final post, outline a schedule for what will happen to your site and content over the next 12-18 months. Detail how long your posts will be online, if you’ll still use social media, how long your domain will remain live, and where people can reach you afterward. Let’s face it, there are always good internet friends we forget in times of non-writing, but who we love and appreciate and would like to keep touch with; leave that olive branch for those who care in return and are willing to pick it up.
Keep things updated, please.
There are a few crucial pieces of information necessary to succeed at being sourced for a travel brand partnership, or if you want to make friends on the internet, or if you’re leaving your site at some point: 1. You must be currently writing (unless you’re leaving, in which case, tell us!). 2. You must have a way of being contacted. Preferably, this is an email address, though I forgive you if you have a contact form. I don’t share my email address, so I can’t judge you. I just like having clean inboxes and don’t want to be fighting bots all the time as they try to spam me for Rolex watches and Viagra. Hint: I AM NOT YOUR TARGET MARKET.
Anyway, having a working email address or working contact form is SUPER easy: Gmail and WordPress are there to help. Use those plugins, people!
The #1 Most-Advised Behavior is…
Build your email list. Really, you should drink the koolaid on this one: it is the hardest part of running a travel site, especially because it’s basically a separate wing in the manor that houses your business, but it’s where the money comes from. Businesses want your email lists, or they want you to use your email lists on their behalf. They want to monetize the people who want your information, and they’re willing to pay for it.
Literally every article I’ve come across which talks about both succeeding and monetizing a travel site mentions that a mailing list is crucial, including this awesome post by yTravel. Given that they’re making a heck of a lot more than most of us doing the whole travel site thing, I’m inclined to take their advice on it. There are tons of ways to grow a mailing list, from competitions and giveaways to begging your friends and family to sign up. However you do it, make it among your top 3 priorities for your site, and you’re already going to be miles ahead of most of the market. Trust me–I’ve seen most of it.
Finally, just ask.
This was a point that I first experienced when I was at TBEX North America in early September, but I can’t help reiterating it. Everything you’ll see on successful travel blogs says that you can’t win in this market anymore. There is no ‘First Mover Advantage,’ (see, I did learn something in my MBA program!), and the market is really saturated. If you want to stand out, you have to ask to be noticed. It’s not going to kill you, I promise! Ask for partnerships, ask for guest posts and to do guest posts (more inbound links, hooray!), ask for advice–sometimes this last ask will get you more than just advice, but either way you’ll be smarter about your travels and writing for it. Every single big travel writer in the market right now started out more or less where you and I are–all they did was ask the right people at the right time. Now they’re the ones getting asked.
Let’s get therapy-ish for a minute, because I know that asking is scary. Asking means having someone look at your site and potentially say, heck no, you suck, get out of my face. That has happened to me, not in those exact words, but it definitely has. Usually it sounds more like, sorry, your audience isn’t big enough or at this point, your target demographic doesn’t really match with our existing campaigns, but the point is always the same: there’s still room for improvement. Take each ask as an opportunity to grow personally (and professionally, as it means one more person has seen your site!), each no as a lesson in how to pitch better, and each yes as reinforcement that you’re on the right path. I can’t promise you’ll be paying the bills with your site, but I can promise that your commitment to it will make you a better writer and a better person.
After studying thousands of travel blogs and sites, I can tell you, this last point is the most important: the world doesn’t need more travel bloggers asking for free stuff… it needs good people doing good work and inspiring others to see the world for the beautiful place that it is.
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