Comments on: Four Mistakes We Made in Our First Year of Travel Blogging

By: KiteZA

KiteZA — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:18:04 +0000

Very helpful, thanks.

I’ll take a look at improving my own blog with these shortly. I’ve already made my RSS feed more visible.. Hopefully that’ll help a tad.

I’m using Tumblr, which has a useful tool to send all of your posts through to Twitter, so that’s significantly easier (particularly when twitter.com goes down every 5 mins or so on my line).

Good luck for the next year!

By: Miley

Miley — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 03:17:18 +0000

How do you promote your RSS ? Ours has been on for years yet we only have handful of subscribers.

By: Jaime

Jaime — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:30:11 +0000

Im new to the blogging world. Thank you very much for this advice. I have the twitter thing down, I just need to be sure to work on the 1st 3 & keep at them.

By: ayngelina

ayngelina — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:41:13 +0000

@shannon OD also gave me advice that has really helped – TweekDeck. I have formed a few lists and one of them is ‘favorites’ so that when I only have a bit of time on the road I make sure I check out those I know I want to follow and when I have more time I can check out the others on Twitter. It has really helped me.

By: Becky Padmore

Becky Padmore — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:54:31 +0000

Hey thanks for the advice I agree it’s hard work but really important to keep up with those things…now to make that to do list!

By: Mariellen Ward

Mariellen Ward — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:14:08 +0000

I am printing this off and taping it above my computer!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:02:54 +0000

Remember that to many,tThe concept of RSS feed is new and not everybody understands it as we do. If you’re going to promote it, I think it would be make things easier if you prepared some instruction on your site where people can learn more about RSS and its benefits. There are some websites that provide easy Java Script snippets that you place on your website, and the whole process becomes much easier for your visitors.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:30:28 +0000

We now try to spend as much time interacting with other blogs as we do on our own. This is set to fluctuate, of course — but we’re really enjoying the dialogue!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:06:13 +0000

Oh, we feel your pain — we’re in the exact same position. After struggling with it a bit, we slack when we want to and right when we want to — after all, we already have day jobs — we don’t want something that we consider enjoyable to become tedious!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:56:37 +0000

Thanks for the comment — I agree that it’s difficult to be on the move and run a blog — so more power to you! Thanks for the comment — we’ll be sure to get you up on our blogroll!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:45:31 +0000

Thanks, Shannon — we’re working on putting together a post on what we did right in the past few year, too!

By: Kirsten Alana

Kirsten Alana — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:41:55 +0000

My site isn’t yet a dedicated travel site, as I am transitioning from doing full time wedding & portrait photography…but when I do make the transition, these are definitely notes I will come back to! Thank you soo much for sharing these tips!

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:42:16 +0000

Nice post!

I am definitely guilty of number two: neglecting to promote–and not just my RSS feed. I feel awkward about the self-promotional side of travel blogging and yet, when I do ratchet up my confidence enough to do it, it always ends with good things happening. So you’ve given me a good reminder to keep blowing that horn…

One thing I did right was bring the best of my professional practices from 20+ years in traditional print travel writing to my blog. For example, I have a comprehensive disclosure statement which I know from my analytics is well-read.

I say please and thank you to the PR people who support my site with prizes, subsidized travel, and even paid ads. (And I say “thank you for your interest but we’re not a match” when we’re not.)

I don’t make promises about what I’ll write. Ever.

I don’t lie about my numbers.

I generally keep to my all-Canada travel niche–but redirect good ideas to colleagues I think might be able to follow up.

So thanks for this post, because it’s nice to be able to reflect not only on what we might improve, but on what we’re doing well already!

best
Julie
TheseBoots.Travel

By: Merav

Merav — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:29:01 +0000

A great post which I think is relevant to any blogger. I like people who are not afraid to talk about their mistakes, share their experience and help others. It got me to subscribe to your blog
Thanks!

By: jon

jon — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:58:39 +0000

thanks for the tips.. Just starting out and trying to figure this whole travelblogging thing out as I made a ton of discoveries since moving to Ecuador two years ago.. I´m adding you to my links as well!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:07:06 +0000

All very good tips. I hadn’t really thought much about promoting my RSS feed… I guess I should start! It’s tough starting up a blog and knowing what you’re doing right and wrong. I suppose, as with everything in life, it just includes a lot of trial and error – and making mistakes! Thanks for sharing yours.

By: Travel Blogs: Best of the Week (July 4-10, 2010) | Adventurous Kate

Travel Blogs: Best of the Week (July 4-10, 2010) | Adventurous Kate — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:56:22 +0000

[...] Four Mistakes We Made In Our First Year Of Travel Blogging: Daniel of Two Go RTW lays out the mistakes that travel bloggers should try to avoid at all costs! I know that I’m falling behind in one area — commenting on other travel blogs, and skimming most of my Google Reader too lightly. Working full-time is no excuse! [...]

By: Adventurous Kate

Adventurous Kate — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:13:29 +0000

Hi, Daniel –

I was wondering whether I commented on others’ blogs often enough, and your post confirms it — I don’t! Thank you for sharing your mistakes. These tips are always helpful to the rest of us!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:43:17 +0000

This was by no means a comprehensive list, Emma! We made a lot, as well. Kudos to you, though. I know how difficult it is running a blog from home—I can only imagine the difficulties once faces from the road. Thanks again for commenting!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:39:49 +0000

It all really boils down to content, I believe. And although a lot of people will tell you otherwise, great content is the single greatest differentiator that will set you apart from the crowd. We’re not there yet but will concentrate our efforts over the next few months, time and energy permitting. There’s a signifant amount of travel bloggers out there—with more coming online everyday. The sobering fact is, however, that a majority of them would see better results learning how to write than learning how to further promote themselves. Great well-written content will rise to the top over time. People will find you, eventually!