 |
TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG?
Sept/Oct 2008
By Arline Zatz
To blog or not to blog – that is the question. With tens of thousands of people creating blogs on every subject imaginable today, many writers are wondering if this form of communication is worthwhile. What are the benefits? What are the downsides? Is it worth the time it takes to keep a blog up-to-date? Can blogging boost one's career or income? To discover the pros and cons of blogging, I interviewed NATJA members who already have one or more blogs, and this is what they've found:
Ann Terry Hill began her travel blog (www.travelsavvynews.com) in 2007, and feels "quite happy with the results. It has greatly increased my exposure and credibility and, hopefully its new look will increase circulation. Right now I'm receiving approximately 1,000 visits monthly, over 15,000 hits, and steady growth monthly."
Christina Bridge is proof that ideas for creating blogs can pop up even while working as yacht crew. "Wherever I went, I always took my chicken mug with me," says Bridge. "Originally, I wrote the blog to let friends and family know where I was in the world and named it, Travels With My Chicken Mug (www.travelswithmychickenmug.com. I got my first assignment after sending the link to the editor of Dockwalk. Two years later, I'm blogging for a living, and receive several hundred hits. I love it."
Luxury Lifestyle at www.completelyfabulous.com is the topic Denise Reynolds chose in April 2007. It seemed a natural for her after attending attended Sree Sreenivasan's session on New Media at the annual ASJA conference. "He emphasized the importance of blogging as part of a writer's platform." Reynolds writes weekly, and has begun setting aside half a day on Mondays to work exclusively on her blog. "My goal," she says, "is to have at least three posts per week. Blogs may look like journal entries, but in reality it takes time to do it well. In addition to the text, you need to incorporate meaningful Web links, source or create photos, add keyword tags, categorize, moderate comments, etc." Reynolds has combined the blog with her web site at (www.denisereynolds.com. "My blog has provided a visible way to focus writing on my area of expertise which includes luxury lifestyle, food, wine, travel, spas, and more. When viewed together, the sites provide a showcase for my writing portfolio, bio, and credentials. I've picked up tens of thousands of dollars of writing work from new sources this year alone. There's no doubt that both sites have brought me contacts, story opportunities, and assignments that may have otherwise passed me by."
Writing about travel and food at www.foodflirt.blogspot.com is Jacqueline Harmon Butler's topic "I began writing this two years ago, but don't keep track of visitors." notes Butler, "However, I know my career has benefited because the blog displays my food writing, and I've gotten jobs and job offers "
Jean Boyle originally wrote her blog (www.kitsapandbeyond.com) for a newspaper covering photos of the area, happenings, and things to do. "I did this for a couple of years and got lots of positive comments. My current blog, with the same name and URL, features mostly pictures, but is not as likely to get comments. However, whenever I post a picture of my dog Abby, a white Shepherd, she gets fan mail. I began writing the blog mostly for fun, then business." Boyle's old blog received about 20,000 hits a month; the current one gets considerably less. She spends a few hours a week maximum maintaining the blog.
Lanora Mueller began blogging "to learn about web design and publishing, to explore the field of travel journalism, to create an outlet for my travel writing and photography, and for self promotion." An ambitious gal, Mueller blog originated at www.WritingTravel.com (hosted on TypePad at www.travelwriter.typepad.com) in July 2006. I decided I needed more aesthetic presentation for my travel photography, so I set up a NordPress photo blog at LanoraMueller.com. My photo galleries are hosted on www.writingtravel.smugmug.com, at www.photos.LanoraMueller.com and accessible through links on both WritingTravel.com and LanoraMueller.com. Including the photo sites in my traffic totals, I get between 12,000 and 15,000 hits per month."
Just as there is a myriad of similar blogging topics, there are also unusual ones, such as The Philosophical Traveller: Taking the Long Way Home at www.thephilosophicaltraveller.blogspot.com and www.travelosophy.ca/blogs/index.php?op=2&uid=2 -- both the brainstorm of member Bob Fisher, who explains that "'these are a socio-political-economic commentary on the travel industry along with related themes and issues. I began blogging in September 2007 as a companion Internet information source to www.travelosophy.ca/Travelosophy. It is not time-consuming, but an occasional, integrated blog unlike other blogs, which are personal perceptions. I try to make this a true journalistic commentary in which I explore fundamental issues and themes as they relate to the travel and tourism industry."
Since December 2007, Julia Rosien has been managing a blog for women travelers (www.gogirlfriend.com), which gets 50,000 to 100,000 visitors a month. "We were indexed by Google News in February," says Rosien, "and although it's a company blog, I love it, love it, love it. I'm also the managing editor for www.restaurant.com, which sees almost 2 million visitors, and the soon to be launched www.spasense.com.
Linda Ballou, author of Wai-nani-High Chiefess of Hawaii, has posted articles and notices for her appearances and book signings, radio interviews, etc., on www.lindaballou.biogster.com since March 2008 "to create an awareness of what I'm up to on a regular basis. It's too hard to spread the word individually." Ballou says, "The blog is the easiest way to maintain an interactive Web presence. I don't record hits, but think this is something that builds as you use it. At first, I had resistance to blogging, but with the help of my Web master, Denise Cassino, who also helps me with Internet book marketing, I think I have a handle on it."
Neala Schwartzberg began her blog (www.blog.offbeattravel.com) in August 2008 "in order to have a place to rant, rave and make random observations related to travel, and to ask for other travelers' perspectives. I couldn't really do that on my main site (www.offbeattravel.com). I have several subscribers, and work on the blog about an hour each day. Some of that time is just setup and tweaking. I don't know if blogging will help my career, but it's fun."
Freelance writer and photographer Sue Frause chose to writing about Canadian-related matters, with an emphasis on travel, in June 2006. "I felt," she explains, "that the Internet is the future of writing, especially travel. My son encouraged me and helps me. The platform where I post my blogs is at www.blogger.com. I'm up to 2,000 visitors a month, have Google AdSense, but no money has been generated yet. You need lots of views."
Frause, who spends less than 30 minutes a day blogging, updates daily because she has found that "people are upset if I don't do this. It's been a great vehicle/outlet for me and makes me a more credible journalist and an expert in my field. I also write a blog for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about my life on Whidbey Island (www.blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com), which is also updated daily, and gets more than 10,000 visitors a month. Although non-paying, I've received paid writing gigs because of it and I love to write this blog. It's sort of a warm-up for my real writing. I'm also writing blog posts for www.crosscut.com, and that's a paid gig due to my Seattle P-I blog, which the publisher reads and enjoys." Frause's advice to her travel writer friends who refuse to write to free is that she "doesn't consider it as such." She feels "It's as important as belonging to professional travel organizations and it's been my very best marketing tool. I've also given a seminar to a PR firm on blogging. You snooze, you lose!"
In January 2008, Jennifer Miner and four of her friends started Traveling Mamas (www.TravelingMamas.com) -- a blog that they "write five days a week about travel-related topics, such as family travel, girlfriend getaways, ecotravel, romantic weekends, and travel-related product reviews. "We're having a great time," notes Miner. "We met at last year's Travel Media Showcase, enjoyed each others' company, and knew even then that founding a new travel blog would be great. Our page views are increasing at a steady clip, starting from about eight a day last January to around 500 a day now and, quite often, much more – which amounts to around 3,500-4,200 a week. We each spend around three or four hours weekly on the blog, more or less. There are a LOT of ancillary duties to running a blog besides the fun part – writing. This blog has helped our careers in several ways, both tangible and intangible. Besides raising our profiles, being invited on trips, etc., it has also fostered a sense of community for us. We enjoy our relationships with each other and other members of the travel/tourism industry, and writing this blog together only enriches these friendships.
Sandra and John Scott started their blog (www.sanscotttravel.blogspot.com) a year ago because they felt "it was easier and less expensive than keeping our web site up-to-date. We pay someone to update our website since we can't do it ourselves. Presently, we're getting about 25 hits a week and many readers post positive comments."
Wine, spirits and travel is discussed at blog www.ronkapon.com which Ronald A. Kapon launched two years ago, "Personal satisfaction was my main goal writing a blog," he says. " I add to it when I have something to say, and know it has helped my career."
David Moorcroft recalls creating his blog (www.tripharbor.com/commodoredave) "when I was asked to contribute to the editorial content of a new online cruise community and marketplace called tripharbor.com. We get about 1,000 visitors each week. Including research time and finding photos to post takes me about three hours. I've been a travel writer specializing in cruising for 25 years, so the blog has not done anything yet to help my writing career. However, it has added another source of income to support my travel writing, and as it grows in popularity, I hope it will also help my career."
Mary Clark, who joined NATJA this year, began blogging in November 2007 – the same time she was hired to write travel columns for the Paris News located in Texas. "The blog," (www.thetravelinggene.blogspot.com) comments Clark, "not only contains the travel columns that appear in the newspaper, but often are vignettes from my time on the road around the world, and include interesting stories in the Paris area." Visitation is low, averaging 5-10 a day, but as the word spreads, Clark feels certain "it's sure to rise." Clark spends approximately four or five hours per column and posts twice per month. Although she feels the blog probably hasn't helped her career so far, she has "enjoyed the hits I get from around the world."
Tim Leffel has two blogs. The Cheapest Destinations Blog (www.travel.booklocker.com) -- up since 2003 and connected to his popular book, The World's Cheapest Destinations. Leffel recalls started this blog "to promote my book and provide ongoing news about cheap travel, but it has become my main mouthpiece and a way to connect to other world travelers. I spend about three to six hours a week on it and it has gotten me loads of media attention and sold quite a few books. It also makes almost enough money to pay my mortgage each month. It averages around 1,200 hits a day and has over 700 RSS subscribers." His second blog (www.practicaltravel.gear.blogspot.com) started began several years ago, "to fill a niche: reviews of travel gear that normal travelers would use -- not super-expensive items meant for weekend warrior stockbrokers. I started out with only one post every week or two, but now do three or four each week. It has led to more freelance work reviewing gear for other publications. I've done some articles based on my research, and it makes some money now. I spend three or four hours a week writing it, but twice that trying out the gadgets and dealing with press people who want me to feature their items.This one gets 400 to 700 hits a day depending on who is linking to a review, and I have close to 300 RSS subscribers. Perceptive Travel has a blog, too, which I administer, but don't contribute much. I have three writers who do their own thing there.
Dina Mishev devotes her blog (www.fleecefashionista.com), new in July 2008, to where to be sporty and in style in the world. Mishev notes "I wasn't getting the kinds of travel assignments I wanted –numerous first person pieces – from magazines and I wanted to generate buzz for a book proposal I'm working on. I spend about three hours a week, and I'm waiting to see if the blog helps my career."
Enjoying train travel, and writing his book "All Aboard! The Complete North American Train Travel Guide," led to Jim Loomis starting his Travel and Trains and Other Things blog at www.takeatrainride.blogspot.com, begun in March 2008. "As the name implies,Loomis explained that "the blog is mostly about travel, with an emphasis on train travel, including high-speed rail, commuter rail and mass transit. I try to post every day and would guess average time for each post would be 30 minutes. Probably the blog adds more credibility."
As you can see, there are many reasons to create a blog and all kinds of subject material.
(Arline Zatz is the award-winning author of Best Hikes With Children in New Jersey (The Mountaineers); 30 Bicycle Tours in New Jersey (Backcountry); New Jersey's Special Places (WW Norton); New Jersey's Great Gardens and Arboretums (WW Norton); 100 Years of Volunteer Wildlife Law Enforcement in New Jersey (NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife); and Horsing Around in New Jersey (Rutgers University Press). Her features and photographs appear nationally in newspapers and magazines). She can be reached at, http//www.funtravels.com)
|
