Hi guys, please check out my website and if you have any suggestions on how I could improve my writing, or the general content, please let me know. I am also trying to increase traffic to the site, so any help with that would also be appreciated.
www.diaryofapom.com - Newbie starting out with first travel writing website
(18 posts) (3 voices)
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Wow Matt - I looked at your site and there is so much advice I could give you that it's hard to know where to begin.....but really first I need to know what is your intention with your site?
Some questions that need to be answered are:
1. Do you intend to become a professional writer?
2. Who is your intended audience?
3. What is the planned topic(s) of your writing?Where I'm going with this line of questioning is this: There are a million travel writers out there, so if your intention is to become one, then you need a way to stand out from the crowd. There are writers who travel - not just frequently, but constantly - and write about every aspect of their total travel experience, your site is about one trip. There are many writers who focus on their own area and write about all of the events, restaurants, and local attractions (such as one of my favorite travel blogs, TheDCTraveler.com) - your site is about a place you went to once (as far as I can tell).....
So please post back and answer these questions and give me a bit more idea of what you want to do with the site, and I'll be happy to give you some very specific recommendations and steps you can take.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi Trisha,
Firstly thanks for getting back to me. I honestly didnt expect that anyone would reply but I am very grateful that you did.The aim of the site was mainly to keep friends and family informed of what we are up to during our trip. But I once I got into the writing, I found that I really enjoyed it, so I would like to get it out there and get a good following. Also we are hoping to be a source of help and guidance to anyone else doing a similar thing, as we are making lots of mistakes along the way, which hopefully others may avoid. And lastly to review any restaurants or attractions we visit, or tours that we go on, so that anyone reading can get a genuine feel for the value for money of it.
And of course generating some revenue to help with the tour wouldnt be a bad thing. My aim is to keep the topic as just our diary. A genuine insight into what we are experiencing each and every day of our trip. Nothing edited for any particular audience, just an open and honest account of our days. I aim to to update the diary one week at a time as we progress around Australia.
Thanks again for your help.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Okay then - that is very helpful, so let's get to it, shall we?
First off, I want to tell you that you do have a good writing style for your intention, and a good concept for where you want to go, but now we need to dive into some technical stuff.....
1. Who is your site hosted with?
2. How is your site built and how do you add content? Are you using an HTML editor?
3. What is your skill level with HTML and CSS?I'm a strong advocate of using WordPress (the software you install, not the free blogs hosted at Wordpress.com).....the reason I don't advocate using Wordpress.com is that they don't allow "commercial" blogs and limit what you can do for advertising, and if one of your goals is to earn some revenue, you won't be able to do it there.
By installing Wordpress and copying & pasting all of your existing content into it you'll gain a number of benefits:
- you can choose a theme that gives you a more stylized look, streamlines your site, and gives you consistency across all pages of look and navigation
- it will be easier to continue to add content
- you will have more options for adding content which can be important when you're traveling, such as the ability to email your posts to be published, or use a smart phone/PDA to update your blog
- Google LOVES WordPress blogs so it will be easier to attract traffic to your site
The beauty of WordPress is that you don't need much, if any, HTML or CSS skills although they do help if you want to do some tricky customization. Many people use it to run a website with no HTML or CSS skills at all, it's that easy.
But before you DO anything, be sure to view some of the tutorial videos available at http://wordpress.tv/category/how-to/ - they will show you how easy it is to install using your site hosting company's 1-click install, and how easy it is to choose a Theme and begin customizing it, and to enter content.
ALSO before you DO anything, tell me if you've visited any other travel blogs, and found any that you really like that you might like to emulate (with enough customization to make it in your own style of course).....
And of course if you decide to start using Wordpress, be sure to back up all of your site files to a safe place (maybe even a couple of safe places) before you begin.
Can't wait to hear back from you!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi Trisha,
I built the site using Dreamweaver, although it is my first real go at it so it is a bit amatuerish. I used CSS though so can update it easily without making too many changes to anything. I add content by copying it from my diary, which I write in 'word', and then pasting it into Dreamweaver, and uplodaing the page onto my server with the host company. I like the sound of wordpress though so will investigate.
The site is hosted with 'just-host' in Australia as they were very cheap for what seemed to be a comparible package to most other web hosts for small time sites such as mine.
I must admit that I havent really looked at any other sites yet, as I started out by just doing it for friends and family etc back home. But now that I am more into it I will check some out.
Posted 2 years ago # -
That's actually good news that you've used Dreamweaver - it means you have the basics and should not have any problems with moving to WordPress. I used Dreamweaver for many years, and still use it to modify my site's theme files on my computer to tweak style changes before I upload them to the server.......DW makes modifying the stylesheet very easy.
If Just Host doesn't offer the 1-click installation of WordPress, don't worry because it isn't hard to do and there are very good instructions at wordpress.org (where you can download the software for free).....also wordpress.tv does have a tutorial video on manually installing it if necessary.
The most important thing I learned this week is that some hosting companies do not understand where to install it if you let them do it for you - often they will put it in a sub-folder of your domain, such as "yourdomainname.com/wordpress" or sometimes "blog.yourdomain.com".......
Those options are NOT what you'd want - those are better left for large, existing sites for which there is not going to be a site replacement (or reconstruction) in wordpress but where the site owner wants to "bolt on" a blog - it works fine, but isn't ideal for most travel blogs. Ideally what you'll want is to have Wordpress installed in the root of your domain. This is best accomplished by creating a new folder on your server, at the same level (root) as your existing site files, into which you install and customize WP, then you change the folder where your domain "points" to in order to point it to the new one. Your site hosting company will know how to do this, and can tell you how to access the new folder while you're "building".......
I'm looking forward to hearing how the process goes for you, and am here for questions and willing to help!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Not sure how you want to earn revenue from your site, i.e., affiliate marketing, PPC marketing, CPA marketing, sell products, sell your own products, etc...If you're looking to earn income from you website and are interested in affiliate/PPC/CPA marketing, Google Howie Schwartz because he has a ton of information about these topics.
You could always write an eBook or sell DVDs, CDs, books, etc... on your website as well.
Good luck...
Posted 2 years ago # -
I am looking to earn some revenue from advertisements on my site and currently have google adsense on there to get me started.
I will have a look at word press and see if I think it will help me.
Has anyone got any other advice to offer on how to improve traffic to my site and get iy out there?
Posted 2 years ago # -
There's a page on TWE on the right-hand side titled Monetize Your Wrting. The categories underneath it are: Affiliate Marketing, Google Adsense, and Selling Travel. Not sure if you had a chance to check it out, but there's some good information about monetizing your blog/website....Rebecca
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hi Matthew
Migrating your site to WordPress will be a huge step in the right direction, because WP makes it easy to optimize your site for search engines - I strongly encourage you to use my favorite WP Plugin, All In One SEO Pack, to make it even easier.
If you stay focused and continue to add fresh content, throughout which you have worked in keywords related to your niche, then Google will take notice and begin to rank you for your keywords.
And of course it takes effort to continually promote your site via Social Media - Twitter and Facebook in particular are helpful. Always be sure that your website is shown as a caption at the end of any videos of your travels that you upload to YouTube, and below the signature of every email you send.
Take one step at a time and it will grow. We are here to help so keep us posted on your progress and we'll continue to offer suggestions - I just don't want to overwhelm you all at once!
Posted 2 years ago #
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