If a picture is worth 1000 words, using multimedia in your travel writing speaks volumes. Thanks to numerous open source applications, travel writers can now quickly and easily include video, timelines, data visualizations, and other interactive media directly into their travel articles. The following lists five indispensable tools for travel writers looking to add content [...]
New writers and bloggers ask me all the time how I’ve used social media to advance my reach since the launch of Brendan’s Adventures last year. I constantly tell them that I treat social media use like any business would treat advertising. You have to decide if the cost of the advertising is worth the [...]
Are you using Facebook and Twitter to promote your self as a travel writer? Every so often I get an email from someone who asks me why I haven’t responded to their Facebook friend request, or why I haven’t followed them on Twitter…… …most of the time the reason is that they’ve — perhaps unknowingly [...]
S-E-O. Do those three little letters cause panic whenever you think about Search Engine Optimization? How does a non-techie travel blogger optimize a site without writing text that sounds artificial and spammy? What if SEO advice appeared conveniently in the WordPress dashboard? Travel bloggers, meet Scribe, the online SEO tool that helps optimize [...]
Welcome to our first installment of Ask The Editor! One of the things that keeps me busiest is answering the many emails I receive. Although I encourage travel writers to use our Forum, where we have some great writers, bloggers, and tech-geeks, in order to get a wider variety of answers than just mine. However, [...]
A couple of months ago I was honored and privileged to be asked by Andy Hayes to review an advance copy of a new eBook from Travel Online Partners. Many of you already know Andy through social networks and his consumer travel website and travel blog, “Sharing Travel Experiences“, but you may not know [...]
Google offers a wide variety of free products, services, and tools. Some of these tools are designed to help websites become successful. I use Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools on a regular basis to gather the information I need to improve my blog. Yes, I look at how my numbers are doing – [...]
While we are all travel “writers”, you may also want to consider adding podcast interviews to your repertoire. Or even if you don’t want to use these recordings to publish on your site it is a great way to have a record of your conversation to listen to again as you write your article. There [...]
Imagine that you’re traveling in a foreign country. Like any smart traveler, you’ve stored your most important and valuable items, such as your passport, airline tickets, credit cards, and extra cash or travelers checks, in your hotel room safe. You arrive back at your room after a day of sight-seeing or lounging by the pool [...]
Twitter has become enormously popular. Celebrities such as Oprah are on Twitter. Ok, Oprah is probably not tweeting herself, but someone from her organization is. It’s a great way to keep fans and followers up-to-date on what is going in your life or to promote your blog or website. Instead of spending hours every day [...]
I’m assuming that a majority of travel writers are relying on their blogging platform and its built-in plugins to optimize articles for the best search engine results. The problem with this method is that you are relying on automated code to guess the best target market. For example, my article “5 Extreme Winter Sports That [...]
So you want to start your own audio podcast? Perhaps you always dreamed of having your own radio show. Or perhaps you just want to document your travels for your friends and family. You can create your own internet radio show by creating a podcast. A Plan The first thing that a podcaster needs [...]
Who doesn’t love a giveaway? Especially one that is for a really great prize? Yes, we have a really great prize you can win! I’m thrilled to announce that Lisa Lambden, whom we interviewed last week about her new project, the New York Video School, has graciously offered us the opportunity to [...]
So why should we focus heavily on Google? The answer is crystal clear considering that Google commands a 78% market share while its other major competitors (Yahoo! and Bing) only make up a combined 19% market share. This is why all bloggers (including travel writers) should make it a priority to target the search engine [...]
Many travel writers write their blog posts, reviews, and travel articles when they return from a trip, but they still need various writing tools, with which to take notes, while traveling. These tools can range from a simple notebook and pen to a laptop computer. Which one you choose is largely based on personal preference, [...]
