How to Build a Wildly Successful Travel Blog (Your Questions Answered)

(Note: This is a case study about building a successful travel blog from day one. At the end of the case study I will compile the best posts into a PDF report and give it away for free… no email required.)

Now, a little about the site:

It will be in the travel niche, but with a very unique twist. I will elaborate more on this later as we get further into the case study.

The site will have over 500 pages of unique, HIGH QUALITY content when we launch.

We launch on May 1^st.

Our goal (which is admittedly ambitious) is to get 100,000 pageviews our first month. We don’t have a six-figure marketing budget or connections with any big-name travel writers so we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.

Lots of elbow grease ;)

5 simple “rules” of this thread:

1. I will not try to sell you anything.There won’t be any paid eBooks after this case study is complete.

2. After launch I will compile the best posts (including your questions and answers), turn it into a PDF and release it for free. No email required ;)

3. This thread will be updated weekly.Feel free to ask questions, but if I don’t respond immediately it’s probably because I’m working on the site ;). But when I do update this thread, I will answer all questions and provide an update on what we’re up to.

4. I will show you the website once it’s up.

5. Please offer your advice.If you have any suggestions or ideas as we progress, I sincerely hope you share them!

To one heck of a ride,

Adam

Tags: blog

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Quillen on February 1, 2012 at 9:56am

This is really exciting!

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Permalink Reply by Adam Costa on February 1, 2012 at 11:16am

Weekly Update: 89 Days to Launch

My wife and I have been busy...

... but we've made some incredible progress with the site.

Here's what's happened:

1. We have written 300+ pages of high-quality content for the site.

2. We have hired several writers to help produce more content than we can write ourselves.Plus - since it's a travel site - having additional writers lets them cover places we've never been to (yet). Our goal is to have at least 600 pages of content published when we launch on May 1st.

3. We FINALLY got our development done.

A Few Thoughts on Developing A Travel Site

My wife and I spent six months planning out the site. Seriously. We kept drawing pictures of how we wanted the site to look... and tearing it up when we realized it wasn't user friendly.

One we had a good idea of what we were looking to do, we created a short demo video outlining how we wanted the site to function.

Then, we emailed roughly 20 developers and showed them video. From there we asked them three questions:

Can you do this?
How long will it take?
How much will it cost?

We found a developer who started working on the site in September... and we're just finishing it now in February.

If there is one lesson I've learned, it's this: plan everything out ahead of time. If we wanted to launch any sooner I'd be really nervous about how long the development took.

But since we planned ahead, we've got the site developed with 89 days to spare.

Nice.

So now that development and content creation are taken care of, it's time to focus on marketing the site.

Which I'll discuss next week ;)

By the way, PLEASE comment on this discussion. Ask questions, provide advice... anything to add value to this.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Adam

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Permalink Reply by Michaela Hall on February 1, 2012 at 7:47pm

This is very interesting. I'm excited for you. I'm a new blogger and I don't have as much content as you. Here to learn and good luck!!!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Shubic on February 5, 2012 at 3:58pm

Hey Adam, I wish you the best of luck. That's one audacious goal of 100k page views in the first month. I'll bet it took me nearly a year to reach that, and my background is in online marketing and web development...either you have one hell of a "twist," or I really suck. :-) Let me know if I can answer any questions.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike's Road Trip.com

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Permalink Reply by Adam Costa on February 5, 2012 at 4:57pm

Hi Mike,

Audacious? Indeed. But we're gonna swing hard (my background is heavy into online marketing, and we've got a work ethic to put Atlas to shame ;)

Quick question(s):

Did you get to 100K PV with your MikesRoadTrip site, or another one? What were some of your biggest marketing wins? How did get your name out there, initially?

Inquiring minds wanna know ;)

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Permalink Reply by Adam Costa on February 5, 2012 at 5:01pm

Hi Michaela,

Thanks for your support. Ask questions along the way and we'll learn together.

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Permalink Reply by Shaun on February 23, 2012 at 6:08pm

Will be watching this thread closely with interest. I would love to 100k pageviews (or even half of that) on any of our sites. Driving traffic is the one area i fall down in, both our sites get some attention, but nothing like i would like.

www.aussietravellersforum.com.au is 4 yrs old and gets consistent traffic, but not as much as it could

www.weroamaround.com was just launched last month and is still under 1k pm views