Travel BlogCamp

This is the first in a series of seven posts where I will interview bloggers and ask them a series of questions about their experiences. I read alot of nonsense online, about the “secret ways to earn money” from blogging. I am sorry but 99.9% of you who write a blog will not be a millionnaire, but if you are passionate about something, then create a blog and share.

Here’s my first online Q&A about blogging:

Please introduce yourself and your blog

My name’s Chris Mitchell. I’m a British travel journalist living in Bangkok, Thailand. My real job is writing for scuba diving magazines like Scuba Diver AustralAsia and Asian Diver. I run two blogs Travelhappy.info and Divehappy.com in my spare time. Travelhappy is about travelling in Thailand and South East Asia, while Divehappy is about scuba diving across Asia.

What are the challenges that you face writing a travel blog?

I’d say it would be standing out from the crowd – trying to find angles that have not been extremely well covered on other travel blogs in my particular areas. Anyone can set up a blog – the tricky part is remaining committed to updating it month in, month out.

Woody Allen’s quote about “90 per cent of success is just showing up” is definitely true when it comes to blogs. You just have to keep bashing away at it. You have to enjoy doing it, and feel a connection with both the worth of what you’re writing and your readers when they eventually start to connect with you.

What skills have you learnt since writing your blog?

Coming from a professional journalist background, I’ve found I’ve actually had to unlearn a lot of stuff in terms of writing for a blog rather than a magazine. A useful blog post that will prove popular with readers tends to be laser targeted to providing a solution to a particular travel problem – for example, how to get a bus from Bangkok Airport into the city.

There’s little room for embellishment or setting the scene – i.e. what’s considered traditional travel writing. A blog is there to provide facts and useful insider tips, backed up by proof of it being first hand information. Case in point is that I regularly publish my magazine articles online after they’ve appeared in print – they are never as popular as the blog posts I’ve written specifically to answer a reader’s query.

Do you think consumers find blogs useful to research their destination, and why?

Yes, I think blogs collectively serve as an extremely useful function because bloggers tend to speak their mind rather than writing in a stylised, idealistic way as is the format for most professional travel journalism. Bloggers provide an unvarnished truth and practical insight into destinations – and if you read enough of them, it’s like crowdsourcing – getting a mesh of opinions that lets you draw your own conclusions.

Not all bloggers are equally truthful and accurate, but it’s fairly easy to identify those who can be trusted the most if you read around a few blogs, and the insider tips they can provide (especially on what NOT to do in particular destinations) can be invaluable. Moreover, reader can talk direct to bloggers and usually get swift responses to specific questions.

It’s like having someone head out on the road in front of you. Traditional travel writing – whether it be guidebooks or magazines – simply cannot keep pace with the speed at which bloggers can post information and respond to comments from readers.

What do you enjoy about being a blogger?

For me, blogging provides freedom to write about travel topics I care about that doesn’t fit in the usual magazine format as well as passing on practical travel information that I wish someone else had told me about before I wasted time and money figuring it out for myself. It also provides an excellent way to meet other people both virtually and in real life, because they attract likeminded individuals.

I’ve made some good friends through blogging, and for me, much as I love the net in all its forms; nothing beats a sparkling face to face conversation over a few beers. A blog is like a business card on steroids – it provides a précis of your knowledge and passion.

For me, blogging is just another way to say hello and see who says hello back – Twitter and Facebook have speeded up this process to be sure, but a blog is an opportunity to provide a real primer about your interests rather than a random stream of tweets and status updates.