9 New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger

Like many people around this time of year, I am looking back at the past 12 months and thinking that its a good time to make some changes. You know drop 10lbs, drink less, learn to speak Mandarin, or learn to play the didgeridoo. That old chestnut. Of course like most peoples resolutions, these will never come to fruition. I will diet for a week then think its OK to treat myself. Football playoffs start Saturday so tap the keg. I will realize that maybe I should learn my own language first. More like didgeridon’t. So lets skip those bad feelings and move on to something that I seriously need to be better at. Blogging.

 9 New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger

This year I went with a little more concrete goals, one being  – be a better Travel Blogger. With that in mind here are my biggest holes and short comings in my travel blogging self:

1. Travel More

Uh. Der.#1 of this years Resolutions for a Travel Blogger is self-explanatory. Last year was a little bit of a lull travel wise but it was a good time to get some house cleaning down on this site (and at home) as well as save and plan for this new year. It’s gonna be a doozy!

How will I tackle this New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger?

This year will be travel packed. Promise. With an around the world trip planned I will have content for days.

2. Take Better Photos (and more often)

For years I have gotten away with pocket-sized high-end point and shoot cameras and for years I have said I should really learn to take better pictures or maybe I should pickup a DLSR? Not one to draw attention to myself the idea of pulling out a massive camera has never appealed to me, also I am lazy and would never take the time to learn how to properly use it. Well get over it cause this is this the year you get better at your online photo presence. It has to be. I know the best camera you have is the one on you but at some point you have to step it up. I am at that point.

I am also terrible at taking a lot of pictures one day and then none for a week. Get over it.

How will I tackle this New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger?

I recently purchased a nicer camera and am even going take a couple courses on how to take better pictures. Maybe a stylish camera bag will help me get over my reverse camera shyness. To Amazon!

3. Post More Content

It is one thing to be traveling and writing about it. It is another to be daydreaming and writing about it. Traveling or not I know I need to be posting more and reaching out farther. Don’t I? Some of the bloggers I follow post daily. How the fuck do they do that? It takes me a day just to edit and proof read one page – and I still miss plenty of typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes.

How will I tackle this New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger?

Time to get faster at writing posts. One way to do that would be to…

4. Post Shorter Content

That said, I need to post shorter content. Not that I am putting out short story sized posts every few days but I know they can drag and they could be a litter slimmer. I get it. We all have places to be and Angry Birds to toss.

How will I tackle this New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger?

Time to trim the fat. Cut back on the details and get to the goods. Heck why not start now? This post is now 8 New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger. Boom. Next.

5. Post Less Noise

2013 was a bit of a social media social experiment for me. I posted and re-posted a lot of content on Twitter and Facebook. Although at times it may have come across as spam I can assure you I was just trying to see what works and what doesn’t. What people click on and what they don’t. What I found wasn’t all that surprising.

How will I tackle this New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger?

Shorter stories, more pictures (preferably of cats, hot women, or both) and short videos to come.

6. Express Yo Self

With the transition to a blog based more around travel tips and less about myself I lost something very special along the way. Me. That’s right, the best part. Again it is pretty tough to touch on what I am doing when I have not been traveling much. This needs to change though. I need to add more of my personal touch because hey, I’m just trying to give the people what the people want.

Having a blog entitles you to some self-glorification doesn’t it? I mean isn’t that the idea?

How will I tackle this New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger?

Get ready to see a lot more of my food. Maybe pictures of me in a speedo. I dunno, will figure this one out soon. In the mean time enjoy this picture of my cat:

7. Be More Social

2013 was a good year for me on some social media outlets. Others, not so much. Why? Neglecting them. In my mind setting up a Google+ account and a Pintrest account was good enough because really, who is on google+ and Pintrest? Well, turns out Google authors and EVERYONE. Social media is not my favorite thing in the world but I need to accept the fact that blogging only goes so far.

Another huge social side of things is reaching out to other bloggers. I have started to do this over the last couple months and will continue to do so. What I havn’t been doing is commenting on other sites. This stops now.

 (2 hours later)

 Sooo I headed out on the interweb in search of 5 (5!) sites to post comments on thinking it would take 5 minutes. 2 hours later and many great stories read I am done. Who has time for that?

How will I tackle this New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger?

Make time to interact with others. Comment on at least 1 (one!) site a day. And while you’re at it get better at responding to comments on your own site!

8. SEO Yo Self

Blarg. Is it not enough to type something witty and click publish? There you go world. You are welcome.

Apparently not.

Truth is you need to make yourself stand out in a sea of words and for the longest time I have been sinking. At least I was never as bad as Creed from The Office:

How will I tackle this New Year’s Resolutions for a Travel Blogger?

Work at it. Tweaking and refining the way I post content is not going to magically happen on its own. Double blarg.

9. Trim the Fat

See resolution #4.

Happy New Year’s all! Hope your resolutions are within reach. And to my Chinese friends: 放下芝士漢堡，並保持搖擺那甜美的迪吉里杜管。乾杯！

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