Raise!
It’s the first Friday of Spring in the States and…pay day! This is my first paycheck to include my merit increase for 2006. It’s a nice monthly boost which will just barely cover my rather large rent increase for the next 7 months. Time is really flying now. It’s hard to believe it’s been 5 years since I conjured up the idea to travel around the world. Here’s the rough plan:
- Late September – submit resignation at work (shhhh!)
- November 2 – last day of work
- November 3 – move key possessions to storage, and shack up with my retired parents
- November 22 – celebrate Thanksgiving with family (parents only, as brother likely to be overseas)
- Soon after – fly to New Zealand (exact date to be determined based on cheap airfare)
Website Design Updates
- Added Top Commentators plugin so the top 5 people automatically get a link back to their website if they have one (middle right side)
- Removed Google Adsense from Blog (after reading an authoritative ProBlogger.net post on attracting advertisers)
- Added WorldNomads travel insurance banner to bottom of pages (recommended by Lonely Planet and BootsnAll.com)
- Renamed Sponsor Me! page to Advertise, removed content, and signed up for Quantcast to track site demographics
- Made site stats visible (lower left side)
- For now, leaving font size the same, as poll indicated reader preference was almost 3:1 against making it bigger (and despite sincere and appreciated pleas from Greg Laden)
- Added Countdown Timer to potential date of departure, using estimate of December 1 (upper right side)
- Added some personal info to About page
- Breathingplanet.net is an activist website and blog run by Andrew, a good college friend of mine. Check out the Projects section of the site to find links to a bicycle documentary shot in NYC which he directed, animations, music, and more.
- TravMonkey.com is a new travel blog site begun earlier this month by Paul. He is a master of creating captivating headlines, and he’s put some great content out right from the gates!
- TravelingChris.com is a blog started by Chris, a Canadian who just finished a stint teaching in South Korea, and is now on an overland journey from Bangkok to London on $5,000 Canadian dollars (currently in Laos).
- John Chow dot Com is a blog that helps you make money online. He is offering to link to your blog if you review his blog. His site is now 7 years old, and his knowledge is evident, as I’ve been reading his feed for about a week now, and learned tons about search engine optimization, and other important web and marketing concepts.
As always, please let me know your thoughts!
About the Author:
Dave is the author of 1527 posts on Go Backpacking.
Dave (Editor-in-Chief) blogged his way around the world from 2007-2009, and then started Travel Blog Success to teach others how to do the same. When not writing, he can be found salsa dancing in Medellin. Follow him on Twitter @rtwdave or look for him on Google+
The Travel Blog Success community offers practical resources and personal support to help you build a better travel blog.
Whether you treat blogging as a hobby, or dream of building a location independent business, you'll learn what's required to create a name for yourself in the online travel world.
Benefits of Joining:
- Personal support from Dave, including site critiques and tips on negotiating advertising deals.
- Ability to learn from others' mistakes, and save yourself time, energy and money.
- Chance to network with other travel bloggers of all levels, from around the world.
7 Comments
Some good improvements you’ve made, I’m trying to do something to improve my blog everyday and I might have to follow suit on a couple of yours.
Thanks Dan. Go for it! Many of the updates I’ve made are based on design ideas I saw on my favorite blogs. It also helps to have a hearty appetite for plugins.
By the way, with this comment, you moved to the head of the pack on the Top Commentators list!
Thanks Dan. Go for it! Many of the updates I’ve made are based on design ideas I saw on my favorite blogs. It also helps to have a hearty appetite for plugins.
By the way, with this comment, you moved to the head of the pack on the Top Commentators list!
Some good improvements you’ve made, I’m trying to do something to improve my blog everyday and I might have to follow suit on a couple of yours.
At the end of the day, it’s all about numbers. If you get bigger numbers to your site as a result of the plugin, then you have to expect a payoff, and that is giving some PR away to those who are making an effort on both of your behalves.
The new look old., ShelterPopSee the project Danny came up with using rocks and wire! – Danny SeoEnter Eddie’s big window giveaway. I’ll take the pink velvet, please., Eddie
7 Comments