What's the most challenging aspect of being a travel blogger?

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Permalink Reply by David Whitley on January 25, 2009 at 1:06pm

It's that trade off between doing work that earns you proper money and maintaining the blog for me. After a day working on other things, the motivation do go and do a blog post is often quite low.

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Permalink Reply by Darren Cronian on January 25, 2009 at 1:12pm

Thanks for the reply David.

True, from my experiences, if you concentrate on the content and networking and the money will come. I suspect it depends on how much pressure you have to generate revenue. Thankfully, for the past three years I have not thought too much about generating revenue and concentrated on building a community and brand, now I hope with that work it'll lead to more revenue in 2009.

We'll see.

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Permalink Reply by Carrie Williams, Community Manager on February 8, 2009 at 3:56pm

For me, I think the most challenging aspect is the site design. I never seem to run out of ideas (content wise), and I have the time to update my blog regularly. However, I'd like to learn a little more than the basic HTML skills I have and make my site look a little more professional. I'm sick or wordpress templates. Even though they are so easy to use... and save me time... I'd like my blog to look better.

I agree that it is challenging to promote your blog. But now that we have TBEX, I have found it to be a HUGE help!

:)

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Permalink Reply by Dave on February 9, 2009 at 2:05am

Time and peaceful good internet.

It truly amazes me when I see travel blogs that are constantly updated with people on the move.

The biggest problem I have is finding bandwidth to upload 5M photos into storage for back up, then selecting and converting some into small res for the site, writing a blog and posting.

If I have a private room I can work on the laptop and then quickly upload somewhere. In a dorm I just don't unless it's my last night. I a village I don't either. Otherwise just finding the time alone to get something done, when there's a door and whole world outside, yet being stuck inside typing away and waiting for photos to upload is a killer.

How some some folks do it I don't know. Let alone the whole social networking stuff. I barely get time to check my mail!

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Permalink Reply by Craig Martin on February 9, 2009 at 5:36am

Spreading myself too thinly is my problem too: I like getting things started; I struggle with admin tasks.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Arndt on February 9, 2009 at 9:01am

Doing it on the road with poor internet access and often limited time online.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Martin on March 3, 2009 at 4:50am

Yeah, tell me about it. I know you struggle with photos, but you try uploading audio or video podcasts with a dodgy, timing-out connection. Internet time and quality is always #1 for bloggers living on the road.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Snow on February 10, 2009 at 2:34pm

Honestly, trying to pay the bills with what I make. As paying markets get fewer and farther in between and there are all these new writers willing to write for free, it's become a real challenge to cobble together an income some months, since I mostly freelance. I've started to put together my own blog, but the past three years I've also dealt with the loss of both parents to cancer and my gramma to a stroke, so plans often had to be put on the backburner to help take care of the family. This year I will, though. :)

After the pay, I'd say If I'm not traveling at the moment, just keeping on schedule with all the little things that pop up everyday. If I am traveling, keeping my health in check and watching out for allergy triggers, especially when I review restaurants. A few years back in South Beach, the chef decided to change the ranch dressing on a chicken sandwich to a Caesar dressing with anchovies. Since I'm allergic to seafood, including fish, I had a reaction at the first bite and stopped breathing for a few seconds until my friend used my epipen. Very scary.

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Permalink Reply by Grant Currie on February 12, 2009 at 10:02am

For me its balancing a huge workload against reading others blogs and then thinking about what I am going to write. Oh yeah and that other little matter of my family.
If you are passionate about your blog or website you will write what ever the circumstances, even if it is a few lines.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Duffy (@Wandermom) on February 12, 2009 at 2:49pm

Time. No question.
I'm a working mom with 2 kids and a f/time job. That in itself is demanding enough.
Once I carve out time, I enjoy researching and writing posts, but if I want to 'work the network' reading + responding on other people's blogs and participating in the travel-blogging community that comes at the expense of either family time, work time or exercise. For now, I'm focusing on trying to post (fairly) regularly, using twitter to stay in touch with travel-blogging friends and reading blogs whenever I can squeeze in some time.
I've come to the conclusion that unless I stop working, I probably can't make money from my blog, but I'm OK with that for now.

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Permalink Reply by Carolina on February 13, 2009 at 9:05pm

Amen. Pretty much in the same place as @wandermom right now. I just started me blog in January and was contributing @travelsavvymom before that, and I'm finding that it's hard to raise a kid, work full-time, and blog. I have plenty of ideas, but not enough time.
And...there's so much networking involved. So I figured that I'm going to just enjoy blogging, not going to worry about ranking and all that. I don't have to make money off my blog, but it would be nice for that to happen one day.
I have to say that I was lucky to get my first paid freelance writing job this month, I'm happy to have gotten the extra cash, the experience, and my first article in print (if all goes well). So even though I'm exhausted, I was lucky to get a reward for all my hard work right off the bat.

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Hurst Lane on February 15, 2009 at 2:30pm

I'm in the same boat as wandermom and carolina - Not enough time in the day. I have a hard time telling people NO, so I end up having too many projects on my plate, while working full time (shiftwork with more hours to work in a week than normal jobs), playing taxi driver to all the kids activities, and still finding time to blog, on TOP of freelancing for various outlets (like the books and guides that are contracted).

Fortunately I have an awesome support system at home and my kids are at the age where they have learned to wash clothes and do dishes (Yay me!).

And then, there's travel and trying to find time at the end of THOSE days to connect to the internet and write something decent. Whew! I'm worn out just writing this comment. I've had a very hard time of juggling all these things in 2008 due to the fact that my f/t work schedule was changed, giving me only 2 days off in between shifts instead of the normal 4 I used to have. Add to that a kid who was in the hospital for weeks on end with no answers, and 2008 was pretty full. Now that 2009 is here, I've gotten used to the crappy new schedule (yes I said crappy) and now trying to squeeze in trips here and there, yet still manage to be a good mama.

I would try to live off of freelancing alone, but with publishers that don't know what it means to pay in a timely manner, I am not willing to risk my family's welfare. Plus, health insurance is important.

Gosh, Darren, now you have me dreading my day off tomorrow, which will be spent with 50 5th graders at a Rodin exhibit. My daughter behaves well, but her classmates are a whole nother ballgame :) Good times! LOL!

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