To stay afloat, I need to up my game. Period!
May 19 2021
To stay afloat I need to up my game. Period!
The blog, Nomadic Backpacker is going well but when the sky's the limit, I still have a long way to go.
Traffic IS increasing, as are coffee donations through Ko-fi.
April was my best month for hits. 880 unique users as listed on Google Analytics with more than 2000 page views.
May has been my best month for coffees.
My dream for the end of the year is 100 unique users hitting me up per day. The average daily unique user hits for April were 35.
I hope that I can increase my coffee donations by 50% by the end of the year. It seems logical that an increase from 35 unique users to 100 each day will give me more donations. But it is not a given thing!
I am happy with my progress. I never reckoned Nomadic Backpacker would be an overnight success story. I knew it would be a long slog.
But I put in the hours. I just need to be patient.
***
Chasing down material for blog posts is fun. It gives my travels a purpose. Life is no longer frivolous.
I came to San Cristobal with the idea to push out 6 or 7 posts in 4 weeks.
But despite the State of Chiapas still having the 'green light', the archaeological sites of Tenam Puente and Toniná remain closed (Palenque is open but am planning to go there after Guatemala when I loop back into Mexico).
The sites are closed as the government doesn't have enough money to keep them open. They don't bring in enough revenue. They are concentrating on keeping the sites of Teotihuacán, Palenque and Monte Albán open. The sites that the tourists come here to see.
But despite these setbacks, I produced posts about Sumidero Canyon, Chumula and Zinacantan. I also have published 2 posts about my preparations for Guatemala and have 2 more that will be published shortly. And there will be the border crossing post. So yeah, I am still managing to produce content.
I need to start doing more posts about blogging and focus on my sub-headline, The Art of Long Term Travel and the trials and tribulations of daily life.
I have many ideas for posts but not enough. And such posts are not as easy to write nor SEO. Posts about places to go to and how to get there bring in organic hits. Posts about daily life and the like keep readers coming back for more.
It's more than 28 1/2 years since I first set off to backpack Australia. I have now been to 98 countries, poised to go to my 99th, 93 UN countries and 6 others I regard worthy as being a country in their own right.
I have so much experience that I can draw on to inspire those who want to make the leap.
***
I need to increase my traffic.
I am not a big FB fan. (Twitter is my go-to Social Media platform) but I am aware of the advantages of using it. In Oaxaca, it was suggested that I share my posts about Oaxaca on the EXPAT FB groups.
This worked remarkably well. Posts suddenly started getting up to 60 user hits a day. When I moved to San Cristobal I did the same with equal success.
The blog has gained momentum. I need to keep it rolling. When I move to Guatemala, I need to find similar sources.
I need to increase my readership. I need to have it so more people are thinking, 'I wonder what Trevor posted this week?' And they click on their bookmarks and hit me up.
I regularly click on 10 travel blogs, sometimes I am doing this on a daily basis. Even if there are no new posts, I like to browse. Comprehensive blogs such as Vagabond Journey have so many interesting stories, I can always find a new article I have missed.
I wonder how many are hitting me up in a similar fashion without having seen a NEW POST ALERT on Twitter or FB?
Donations if you have PayPal can be made through Ko-fi or via PayPal directly (I pay less commission this way) and using a credit card via my personal profile on VagabondJourney.
The blog, Nomadic Backpacker is going well but when the sky's the limit, I still have a long way to go.
Traffic IS increasing, as are coffee donations through Ko-fi.
April was my best month for hits. 880 unique users as listed on Google Analytics with more than 2000 page views.
May has been my best month for coffees.
My dream for the end of the year is 100 unique users hitting me up per day. The average daily unique user hits for April were 35.
I hope that I can increase my coffee donations by 50% by the end of the year. It seems logical that an increase from 35 unique users to 100 each day will give me more donations. But it is not a given thing!
I am happy with my progress. I never reckoned Nomadic Backpacker would be an overnight success story. I knew it would be a long slog.
But I put in the hours. I just need to be patient.
***
Chasing down material for blog posts is fun. It gives my travels a purpose. Life is no longer frivolous.
I came to San Cristobal with the idea to push out 6 or 7 posts in 4 weeks.
But despite the State of Chiapas still having the 'green light', the archaeological sites of Tenam Puente and Toniná remain closed (Palenque is open but am planning to go there after Guatemala when I loop back into Mexico).
The sites are closed as the government doesn't have enough money to keep them open. They don't bring in enough revenue. They are concentrating on keeping the sites of Teotihuacán, Palenque and Monte Albán open. The sites that the tourists come here to see.
But despite these setbacks, I produced posts about Sumidero Canyon, Chumula and Zinacantan. I also have published 2 posts about my preparations for Guatemala and have 2 more that will be published shortly. And there will be the border crossing post. So yeah, I am still managing to produce content.
I need to start doing more posts about blogging and focus on my sub-headline, The Art of Long Term Travel and the trials and tribulations of daily life.
I have many ideas for posts but not enough. And such posts are not as easy to write nor SEO. Posts about places to go to and how to get there bring in organic hits. Posts about daily life and the like keep readers coming back for more.
It's more than 28 1/2 years since I first set off to backpack Australia. I have now been to 98 countries, poised to go to my 99th, 93 UN countries and 6 others I regard worthy as being a country in their own right.
I have so much experience that I can draw on to inspire those who want to make the leap.
***
I need to increase my traffic.
I am not a big FB fan. (Twitter is my go-to Social Media platform) but I am aware of the advantages of using it. In Oaxaca, it was suggested that I share my posts about Oaxaca on the EXPAT FB groups.
This worked remarkably well. Posts suddenly started getting up to 60 user hits a day. When I moved to San Cristobal I did the same with equal success.
The blog has gained momentum. I need to keep it rolling. When I move to Guatemala, I need to find similar sources.
I need to increase my readership. I need to have it so more people are thinking, 'I wonder what Trevor posted this week?' And they click on their bookmarks and hit me up.
I regularly click on 10 travel blogs, sometimes I am doing this on a daily basis. Even if there are no new posts, I like to browse. Comprehensive blogs such as Vagabond Journey have so many interesting stories, I can always find a new article I have missed.
I wonder how many are hitting me up in a similar fashion without having seen a NEW POST ALERT on Twitter or FB?
Donations if you have PayPal can be made through Ko-fi or via PayPal directly (I pay less commission this way) and using a credit card via my personal profile on VagabondJourney.
