Real Travel Content From A Real Traveler
My years of experience as a traveler, writer and marketer allows me to produce high quality travel content. Content that your clients, customers or web surfers will appreciate. Content that will move them along the path that you want them to travel: whether it is signing up for your newsletter, contacting you for a special travel promotion, following an affiliate link or making a purchase direct from you. The information you provide to your target audience will be timely, focused and high quality. It will stand out from the clutter, making you an authority to be trusted in their eyes.
Travel Writing
In ancient times, BI (Before Internet), you would learn of far off destinations from articles in the Sunday’s newspaper’s travel section or by buying the monthly issue of a high gloss travel magazine such as Travel & Leisure. The magazines and larger newspapers would send writers out to the far reaches of the world to bring you the thrills of new destinations. Feature articles on the world cities detonated our desires to see Big Ben or the Berlin Wall. Well, the Berlin Wall is all but gone and so is sending writers out to the far reaches of the world to explore. Magazine and newspaper travel editors can now reach out to those far reaches of the world to find someone there to write the travel content they need without having to pay all the expenses of the actual travel. While a few magazines still retain some travel writers on staff most of the articles are done by freelancers.
Notre Dame Cathedral before the great fire
The age of the Internet impact has reached well beyond Travel magazines. Last year, after receiving a very modest royalty payment for my travel guide published a few years ago, I had a discussion with book’s publisher. The imprint is perhaps the largest travel publisher in Asia, but they will be closing their travel department and concentrate on other genres. They have decided to accept any new travel books and not to update existing ones. The same for their map publishing department. He told me sales of travel guides and maps are down 90% in the last few years. Everyone is getting their travel information online.
Internet content
The biggest problem with all of this travel information is quality. A large impact on traditional travel agencies has been affiliate programs. Travel affiliate programs can be a great source of income. However, numerous get-rich-quick schemes focus on these programs telling internet surfers they can get rich by buying the limited time “$149” website package where they too can become a travel agency. Just add content and people will flock to your website. These new “travel agencies” go out and purchase hundreds of articles for about a dollar each or less.
The content mills offering the articles focus on quantity not quality mostly typed by people who never left their hometown. The website owner then populates the internet with the cookie cutter articles.
“While visiting (insert city name) visit (insert attraction name) one of the highlights of (insert city name again). Visitors at (attraction name) will come to understand the (insert city) by visiting the (attraction).” We have all seen “articles” like that.
Another factor is the myth that anyone can write travel. Search travel writers and you will find guides that tell you if you can write a letter to a friend you can be a travel writer. Sadly may people believe it leading to more poorly written content online. Your concern is to raise above the clutter to be recognized.
Quality Travel Content
I have traveled extensively and at a full range of quality levels. I have also sold travel, so I understand different markets. Writing about taking a river cruise through Germany has a different tone that writing about backpacking in the same area. Are you are selling five-star hotels in Bangkok? Then an article about visiting Thailand on $20 a day is off target. The reverse is also true. As a traveler I can add meaningful additions to the content based on my experiences. The end result is that you get quality content, content focused on your needs based on your target audience. Content that leaves the clutter behind and shows you are the place to go for quality information.
