It’s been a busy two months touring Indonesia by motorbike. So busy, I haven’t had any time to work on the blog. Well, besides photography. Every day I worked to get the best photos possible of incredible Indonesia, land of volcanoes, jungle temples, rice terraces, and a surprising variety of cultures and religions.
Now I have some time to focus exclusively on the blog, while staying in one place. I have many articles about the Philippines to write before I even get started on Indonesia.
But now that I have time to work, it is also time to think about what TerryTreks should be. There are so many travel blogs out there. What should this blog’s niche be?
For a while it was U.S. National Parks. Then I headed to the Philippines, so that’s what it’s about now. Soon it will be about Indonesia.
My focus has always been on photography, because writing is much more difficult for me. So the blog is a showcase for my photos.
But is that enough? I want to try to mix in articles about travel topics that interest me too, such as minimalism, lightweight travel, gear, and technology.
Sometimes I will share travel tips on how to visit a destination, but the blog has not been a travel guide. Should it be?
My travels in Indonesia were to places few people go to, independently, with my own motorbike. I hope to do more travel like that in other countries, so maybe that is the direction the blog will take. Would that be interesting?
I’m asking these questions because I want to know what you want from my travel blog. Let me know, either in the comments, or by email.
What you’re asking is the question of all questions. And extra difficult in the travel space, I bet.
Really boils down to what do YOU want it to be?
Want to SEO the heck out of each post and lure people in with lists and how-to articles? That may be a good approach. Not a guidebook per se, but a how to travel long term / what it’s like kind of thing.
Is there an appetite for that? Would be worth doing some keyword research.
A lot of the travel sites I know of do double duty as a “live anywhere, follow your dream” kind of classroom, inspiring others to do just that.
If you want it to be an outlet for your creativity, more of a personal thing, that’s cool too. But expect a smaller audience with that.
My wife and I spent 4 years building a blog until it got the point where it sustains both of us full time. At first, we tried to make it about us, a personality-driven thing. But that didn’t work. None of the women in our potential audience *knew* my wife yet; they didn’t care. We had to spend the first couple of years jamming out how-to articles and videos, teaching people how to lead healthier lives. Only after a couple years did people care enough for us to create content about her and our family.
Now, ironically, we want to be less attached to it, and we’re transitioning back to more of a resource, less of a personality.
What worked for us was:
1. Be super helpful. Find out what people need and give it to them.
2. Give give give
3. Think about monitizing only after we’d built deep relationships with a broad base
Thanks, Mike, I always value your feedback! I think I have to mix in more how to type articles and listicles, like you suggest. Otherwise I will run out of travel content. After all, I can’t keep traveling constantly!