The Art of Recreational Money Making

Basic Travel Blogging

2011-11-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

Travel writing has always consisted of written personal experiences of visited places around the world. For some examples a travel writer journals about participating in a cultural festival, describes a visit to a public monument, or relays an experience they found in nature. These journals not only included the writer’s experiences but perceptions about the local hotel accommodations, travel expenses, and restaurants. Often, in the past, these journals edited into articles would become part of travel guides or travel magazines. This type of authoring came from well established writers as a higher end achievement for years of success.

This is not true anymore!

With the development of internet sites aimed at helping individuals gain access to web hosting and domains, the public has better access for the individual who is interested in creating a blog site of their own on travel experiences. Despite interest …..not everyone has the ability to be a successful travel blogger. To be successful you must be able to engage people in the moment and be flexible to changes in new experiences that involve people, culture, and places. You must be able to bring this ability and match it with capable writing skill. It is a talent to be able to evoke a place, encounter, or experience in a sensate way to another individual.

Basic Travel Blogging

A travel blogger is focused locally not globally. This has two meanings. The first is when you first start travel blogging you should pick local spots to write about. Second and in a much broader sense, the focus of your blog should be on a particular destination, event, or topic. This will later help in developing an angle on what the blog is to be about. For example, it is not reasonable to blog on all of Paris but to focus on its museums is. The key is to keep the topic narrow and specific.

A good idea is to start your blog in the middle of your experience. This does not mean as you hit the airport but as the experiences are fresh in your mind. Waiting too long takes away from the smelling, hearing,and seeing aspects that enhance the experience for the reader. A quick tip is to use current tense as it encourages the reader to feel part of the experience as if it is currently happening. This verbiage intertwines with the descriptors of your senses to pull the reader’s interest into what you are presenting.

The addition of dialogue that is engaging can also enhance the reader’s experience. Readers love to hear about interacts you have had with others you meet but remember it has a purpose. The dialogue should communicate an effort to invoke a feeling in the reader. For example, a humorous exchange can entertain or make the reader laugh. The importance in selecting to include or exclude of a set dialogue should depend on how you want the reader to feel during and after they have read your blog.

You should include sidebars when you can. Sidebars are areas separate from the blog itself that give additional information more specific to a certain area within the blog. Often, these sidebars are composed of factual, graphic, or marketing points. We see sidebar areas that are hyperlinked and highlighted, normally in blue, for easier knowledge access as the reader is reading the blog. For example with a blog on comparing different forms of travel in Europe, a sidebar may include more specifics on discount travel destinations and rates.

Planning is needed to construct a blog that is reader friendly. In the first stages of planning, brainstorming is a wise step. Brainstorming consists of making a list of topics your blog could cover. You can assign a number to each of the topics to create hierarchal list addressing importance, relevance, and content you have available to
present. It is relevant to research both known information and other blogs similar to your topic of discussion. This will increase your knowledge base and enhance your blog content.

After you have written your blog, revisit it a few times prior to publishing. Each time you look at it you will be viewing it from a different perspective, add and delete as you go. An excellent idea is to read it out loud to friend or someone else. Does it have a logical flow? Could you use more descriptors? Lastly, submit on time. Make it as close to the time you had the experience you are writing about as possible. Readers want to hear about events close to the time they occurred and it encourages them to Travel!

Please visit Barnes & Noble or any other local bookstore for more information on travel writing and/or travel blogging.

Making Money While Traveling

2011-10-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

Are you in a career that is not satisfying to you and/or stuck in a lifestyle where you desire change?
You can take steps towards making that change by embracing the idea of Travel. You can explore new places, new people, new cultures, and gain the experiences you have been looking for. Imagine you can have these opportunities and make money while you travel to places all over the world.
Some basic tips are to keep your needs basic while traveling. Your needs will change and become fresh air, clean water, healthy food, social interaction, and creative stimulation. It is important to remember it is about the experience you are creating for yourself more than the material goods you could possibly acquire.
You got to slow down. People often say time is money. Time is free. Moving fast is shortening thetime you have left while correspondingly not allowing you to enjoy what you do have. If you are going to spend money, you will spend it doing and being wherever you are. Your needs are not going to change as you travel. When you are traveling you do not need to pay rent or a mortgage. You do not need a washer/ dryer, refrigerator, electricity, cable, or your health gym membership. No more getting up for work because the bills are gone. So you are paying less to exist and experiencing more.
Keep out of the cities. Cities are built and exist on the revue of your dollars. Cities are filled with people concerned about earning money off of you for the tourist you are. Alternatively, people you find that live outside the city are more relaxed and trusting of travelers. In the country,there is more space, food is more plentiful, and the air is cleaner. Many people are willing to open their homes to traveler especially if they assist with chores.
CouchSurfing and WWOOF are two excellent online networks that help travelers find a responsible host. Couchsurfing will help find travelers a place to sleep for a few days. WWOOF connects travelers with local farmers who trade labor for room and board. It is important to have a skill from carpentry to cooking. You can often find food and accommodations for a trade skill that is needed.
If you plan on staying in an area for a short time as you are traveling look for jobs that incorporate your travel plans. Put to work the everyday skills you possess that you take for granted. For some examples, there arecertified programs overseas that will pay a qualified applicatants to teach English. You can become a travel writer and publish articles to travel journals and their communities. Start a blog that generates revue by marketing ad campaigns. So many opportunities are out there for you to Making Money While Traveling!

2011-10-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

Working at Home: Get started now! There are very few of us who would say that we enjoy waking up early every morning to an ongoing 9 to 5 job. Many of us like yourself imagine working from home with no boss and a self-made work schedule to fit around your needs. We just do not know where to start….

A great way to start is by thinking about what you are passionate about. Be
that cars, traveling, sports, arts, and/or media.

PASSION is the key to have
for your topic of interest!

Starting an online business from home can take time and effort. It is a small investment to the hours that you spend every day working now at your current job. Coupling these minor challenges of time and effort against your desire to work from home in an area you are passionate about cannot compare. It will come easy to you.
A common problem people share starting out is that they look to ideas that other people are making money from. This is a mistake. You may not have a genuine interest in what others are trying to promote. This will affect your interest, how you promote, and thus your money earning capability. Closely examine what motivates you, a life-long interest perhaps and go from there…onward to your personalized journey to fun money making success!