I think most of the travel sites making it are not journalists turned online, but online writers first. Why? Because journalists write in a way that isn’t very sticky for the web. A fantastically popular blog is not writing about the secret music scene in some obscure town on the coast of Africa. Yawn… It’s writing 10 best ways to have sex in a hostel. Or it’s writing a how-to guide for the most common questions with a clever twist. Yes there are destination guides, but they better be funny. Or have some very interesting ideas for trips.

If you want to write a guidebook online, then you have to be the definitive source. You have to have more and better information than what’s available on lonelyplanet.com or anywhere else. If you just have a smattering, forget about it. Total waste of time, IMO. Destination guides don’t get you subscribers, and they don’t drive social traffic.

Also– design does matter, it’s how people decide you’re credible. Sometimes you can get around this by having a huge site, that is bare bones designed making it look like it’s been around forever and is so good that the owners don’t have to update the look. But… for a brand new site, I think it behooves the author to get a professional looking design. There are just too many crappy fly by night travel sites out there…

Ultimately, I think the reason why travel journalist aren’t getting it– ie that they can make money online, is because no one is really telling them what it would take. And it’s not as simple as throwing up a site. If you started today with a brand new site, you really would have quite a climb to make it profitable. Just writing the content alone– but let’s not forget all the nicely written, beautifully designed, smartly positioned sites out there that fail to become “big”. And that’s what we’re talking about, because under 100,000 visitors a month isn’t going to pay the bills.

I mean, even this blog isn’t getting that kind of traffic. I’m just saying, it’s not easy.

Is it doable? Absolutely, but I’d advise people starting out to educate themselves. Problogger.net, copyblogger.com, entrepreneurs-journey.com– all those how to make money online sites, well… you have to read them. If you don’t agree with something, don’t do it, but you should at least know the most widely accepted theories about what makes good writing online, what makes money and what makes people return.

There is a reason why the dream of travel writers harnessing the web to turn UGC into something useful and providing the very best travel information online hasn’t materialized.

So I don’t really disagree, I’m just adding a big fat *

Writers interested in doing this should check out Mike’s site – it’s a textbook example of how these things can slowly be grown.

The design isn’t great but as David, say, it doesn’t matter. Tom Brosnahan earns a 6-figure income from his websites so I think he can live with the lack of website design awards on his walls.

One thing David omitted was another potential revenue earner – e-books. You can earn considerable amounts from these, by supplying info you don’t have room for on the website. I haven’t yet had time to do one myself, but I’ve got the info on how to do it. They are very easy to do, and one website owner I know (just a one-woman website) told me she’s earning $2000 a month from e-books alone.

Adding maps to my web pages was already on my ‘to do’ list, and David also omitted to mention that including photos is another good way to attract visitors. You must label them properly so they show up in Google search results, but lots of people do visit my sites through Google Image searches. They may or may not be interested in the site, and may or may not click on an ad – but you have to look at all ways of attracting visitors.

I found that starting a website was considerably easier than O had thought it would be – much easier and much more fun (because you make the rules and the deadlines) than writing a guidebook. Getting it noticed on Google is the key thing, because the most wonderful website in the world will only have a few visitors if people can’t find it on Google. It’s no good just telling a few friends about it, or sticking it in your email signature – you have to get it ranking high on Google. Again, I’m fortunate that the service I found taught me how to do that, but there are plenty of books out there that do the same. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but it’s evident from David’s second paragraph that you do it. And the sooner the better.

1. I’m not entirely sure on things myself. I haven’t done it myself (yet). But I can see what is possible.

2. For advertising, there’s Google Adsense and pay-per-click affiliate programmes that you can ad to the site. No selling involved. Alternatively, you can sell ads the old fashioned way – but possibly not the best bet for the types that don’t like selling. Adsense and affiliates do most of the work for you.

3. SEO is not my specialist subject either, but as far as I can see, the basic premise is to give things dull, explanatory _title_s, fire in sub-headings along the same lines and to use words and phrases that people will actually search for. ie. “Athens cheap hotels” rather than “Remarkably good value little joint in the Greek capital”.

4. Know your feeling. My specialist area – Australia – is too vast. I’d need to hone in on one particular area. But the expense of going out and doing it from the perspective of a guide writer rather than looking for individual stories as I usually do is prohibitive. That said, I am going to do it. I’m just not giving the subject away until it’s ready
For your good self, I’d suggest taking on a different niche. But there’s nothing to say that there’s not room for two extensive Turkey guides on the internet. The key would be presenting the information in a slightly different way. After all, there are lots of different guide books about Turkey. Why not lots of different guide sites?

Post originally from British Guild of Travel Writers forum.