http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/forum/suggestions Travel Writers Exchange Forum Home » Forum: Suggestions - Recent Posts en-US Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:44:28 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/search.php http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/looking-for-guest-writers-for-a-travel-blog#post-2782 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:12:59 +0000 Nikoletta 2782@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p><strong>Hello, everyone.</p> <p>Apartmentsapart blog is a company providing vacation rentals around the world and as a fun resource for our users we will provide tidbits and titillation brought to you by travelers in their own words.</p> <p>This is the kind of stuff we are looking for our blog:<br /> - Some crazy (truthful) and recent news from one of the cities such as monkeys escaped from the city zoo and rampaged through the city (links to source please)</p> <p>- A great point of interest and why it is worth seeing (no boring travel guides please, “yawn”). We are not looking for a tripadvisor clone here. We want to hear some unique reason you should see landmark X.</p> <p>- top restaurants/bars and the crazy stuff that happened to you there. Did you dance on the tables and drop your trousers? Do they do body tequila?</p> <p>- extreme sports activities available in the city and who offers them</p> <p>- a story about a famous personality (movie star/singer/porn star etc) who attended city and got into a fight with the local yobs.</p> <p>- More interesting stuff like: <em>events, resturants, parks<br /> city tours, shopping, famous buildings in cities, what to do in 24 hours, famous people form this city, travel tips, fast food, local food, sports grounds, football teams, celebrities that live in this city, cool photos of this city ( get from google images etc), racism in this city, famous, filmns made in this city, graffitti in X, dream apartments in X, luxury apartment pics in X, districts in this city, where to have breakfast in X, favourite cafes in X, coming pop concerts in X<br /> coming sports events in X, famous movies from this country, youth culture in X, airport comparison in x cities, population comparison in X,Y,Z, Political leaders in Z, Drugs in Z, Demographics/immigrants in X, Daytrips outside X, Train routes to other cities, Transportation Other countries that would train, Persecution of minrities in X, tourism nubers in 2009, 2010, 2011, Religions, Crime rates in cities, environment in X, pollution in X, Zoos in X, Communism in X, Poverty in X, Languages spoke in , Pop bands from X, Nuclear power in X, education sytems in X</em> </p> <p> :DIf you are telling a personal story of when you were in the city, please send pics of you when you were there. If you met someone famous – even better. Let’s see the pic with them!</p> <p>We have created pages for all these cities. If you loved your time in one of these then let us know!</strong> </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/interesting-travel-niche-can-it-work#post-1191 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:10:17 +0000 lolitsdan09 1191@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>Hey and thanks for the idea of dividing the blogs into Toronto Life and College Life. I will likely follow that idea very well. </p> <p>Well, I guess once I can get my license (the reason I left college on haitus inthe first place, since I needed security indriving) I'll get right on applying to Seneca. </p> <p>Another advantage is if i have a blog, I can share it with family and freinds in Delaware (my home state for now) and they'll know how I'm doing at all times I update the site. </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/interesting-travel-niche-can-it-work#post-1188 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:35:05 +0000 Trisha Miller 1188@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>Hi Dan and welcome!</p> <p>I agree with Rebecca - I would do two different blogs. One that focuses on life as a college student abroad - your target audience would be college students and exchange students, and possibly host families (and potential exchange students/host families researching the experience before committing to it). </p> <p>The second could be specific to where you're living - like all the cool things to do in and around Toronto, focusing primarily on people your age, but including enough for older people and families that you can stay niche-focused but still have a bit broader reach.</p> <p>You most certainly could combine them into one blog, if you structure and categorize well enough, but you will lose some people from both target audiences - people researching student life or info on being/hosting an exchange student may bounce from your site if they perceive it as being a Toronto blog, likewise those looking for fun things to do in Toronto will bounce if they see it as a student blog......</p> <p>Both are great niches, and you can cross post some content (changing it enough to avoid duplicate content issues), and cross promote them.</p> <p>Good luck! </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/interesting-travel-niche-can-it-work#post-1186 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:19:34 +0000 Amandah Blackwell 1186@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>Very interesting...I've been thinking about moving to Vancouver, B.C., Victoria, B.C, Kelowna, B.C, or Toronto, Ontario. We'll see &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/my-plugins/bb-smilies/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p><strong>Websites/Blogs</strong><br /> The idea you have could work because you could become the expert or authority on "International Student's college life" featuring Seneca College. They'll appreciate the exposure! You could answer questions such as What to expect? How to fit in with the students? What's a foreigner in a foreign country to do when he/she can't speak the language? What about separation anxiety from mom and dad; siblings and friends? How to adjust to a foreign country/culture? What about money? How's the driving? Where to "hang out" on the weekend? How do I apply for a Visa and Passport? How does applying for college in Canada differ from the U.S.? Things like that.</p> <p>You could start a separate website/blog for the travel part of it. You could always "link" the two websites. It depends on <strong>how in depth</strong> you want to write about traveling in Toronto, Ontario...What to see? Where to stay? Shopping? Dining? Nightlife? Concerts? Festivals? Museums? Hiking?, etc...</p> <p>As far as reaching teens, make sure your blog/website has things like podcasts and videos because teens love to be hooked up. Make it light and fun; nothing too serious. Study teen blogs and websites for teens. Check out teen magazines (I know)...Do your research...</p> <p>You may approach Seneca College about your website as well. Not sure if they have a paper or if you want to write for a college paper, but you could have your own column if you want &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/my-plugins/bb-smilies/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p><strong>Social Media</strong><br /> You may consider signing up for a Twitter account, but Twitter is mostly <strong>used by adults</strong> <em>not</em> teens. You could target parents of teens so chances are they could be on Twitter. Create a Facebook Page and MySpace (teens still use this).</p> <p>Hope this helps... </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/interesting-travel-niche-can-it-work#post-1185 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:41:23 +0000 lolitsdan09 1185@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>Hello, I'm Dan, and I was a grad this year from high school, who wants to consider studying internationally in Canada. I'm from the U.S. but want to study at Seneca College in Toronto, Ontario. </p> <p>I have a niche idea that I don't think is commonly done that I know of, and wanted to see if it's doable. Since i Want to study internationally in a foreign country, I was also wondering if I can write about it. My niche would be "International Student's college life". Technically, I'm going to a distance of a foreign country, just like traveling only I'm studying there, and my stay in for the course duration. </p> <p>Two broad Topics I feel I'd want to cover are: Life at Seneca college, which would include dorm/room life, activities/leisure reviews, studying/academics, and miscellanious events. Also, I could cover topics about Toronto, the city I'd be in, which I could talk about town events, town life, and town places. </p> <p>I do acknowledge that my target audience and readers would be slightly different than what most travel writers get. I may atract aspiring travelers, but I'm sure than a majority of my readers should be college-bound students in high school, or people aged 13-18. I know that a lot of college bound students would love to hear the realities of college, and I could focus on two things: I could easily get Canadian teens to read about my college experiences, and me being an internationa lstudent, they'd probably find me more interesting. For them, I'd have to focus on the "real" college life, rather than "distorted" college life they hear about. I know the way I present myself in my writing would effect how my readers would feel about college. </p> <p>Another I dea I could atempt, if I can do this, is get my writing published to the U.S. and write to American teens about what it's like studying in a foreign country. Maybe I'd convince a teen or two to come and study somewhere in Canada, or somewhere foreign. I don't even think I'd have to find just Americans/Canadians, if possible, I'd try to reach out to teens in overseas countries. </p> <p>I truely want to do this for the message, not just to pay off student loans faster. I am not ure if I'd even make a dime off this. I know I could easily start with a blog, I had that in mind, but I wanted to reach out to more than just the internet. Since I know teens don't always read the paper, parents could talk to their kid about this. It has a few possibilities that could try to work. So, in the event I go and study internationally to Canada, can thiswork for me at all, or would I be wasting too much time? Also, I would love to hear suggestions, and stuff like that. </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/handling-rejection#post-408 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:54:44 +0000 Amandah Blackwell 408@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>I know rejection can be tough, but it could be for the best. Perhaps you lost out on an opportunity that would have been worth more time than money. Maybe the job was not the right fit for you. Yes, it does help to look for the "silver lining" in any situation. Move forward and apply for the next opportunity. </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/web-writing#post-403 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:04:53 +0000 WriterMom2 403@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>This is a great topic. I think as writers it's important to keep up with the changing times. If you write blogs/articles for the blog, it's necessary to keep your skills sharp. This applies to travel writing as well. Organizations are creating blogs, and they'll want to optimize their website as much as possible. </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/web-writing#post-402 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:58:23 +0000 Amandah Blackwell 402@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>I receive The Golden Thread as well. I do agree that if you plan to make money from your specific "niche" via the web, it would be helpful to learn the ins and outs of web writing. </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/web-writing#post-401 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:55:14 +0000 Angela 401@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>I receive AWAI's The Golden Thread newsletter and they have many articles on web writing. This could be applied to travel writing. If you're going to drive traffic to your website, it would help to know about writing for the web and everything that goes with it. Just a suggestion. </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/handling-rejection#post-267 Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:12:36 +0000 rdwriter 267@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>I agree. It's one of the toughest thing about being in this business. You really have to develop a thick skin and learn how to handle constructive critisism. </p>